Tim’s Blog

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Magnificent Magnolias.

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Magnolia 'Wildcat'.

April is the month when flower power really arrives in the garden. It feels like things are springing into life almost as you watch them, with new buds opening everywhere each and every day.

It takes real floral star quality, then, to shine through all this colour, life and activity, and be crowned the undisputed (by me at least….)  ruler of the garden in April, but this month nothing can come close to touching the Magnolias.

Aside from their flowering spectacular, which I’ll come back to shortly, Magnolias have a fascinating story to tell. They are considered to be the first flowering plants ever to have evolved on this green earth. Fossils of those very early flowers date back over 100 million years and preserve records of flowers that look almost exactly the same as today’s wild Magnolia species.

Magnolia 'Felix Jury'.

What’s more, these very early proto-Magnolias evolved well before flying insects. It’s actually the arrival of their flowers that triggered an evolutionary arms race that would eventually lead insects to take to the wing so that they could more effectively reach those same flowers.

If you take a close look into any Magnolia flower today you’ll most likely find a seething mass of tiny, pin-head sized pollen beetles, and it’s actually these little guys who today, as 100 million years ago, serve as the plants’ principal pollinators. All beetle-pollinated flowers share a few common characteristics – very large, simple flowers coloured white pink or red with masses of pollen and virtually no nectar.

Magnolia 'Judy Zuk'.

Nectar arrived later, in more highly evolved flowers where it serves to attract the likes of butterflies, moths, bees and eventually bats and birds to serve as pollinators. Magnolias do, in fact, exude a nectar-like substance in small quantities, although it’s function is to capture pollen from passing beetles (to improve pollination chances) rather than to feed flying insects.

There are well over 100 species of Magnolia currently recognised and many more hundreds of cultivars and hybrids, but until very recently here in Britain you’d be very lucky to see more than three or four of these anywhere outside of large specialist gardens and collections.

Magnolia 'Atlas'.

M. x soulangeana is the rose purple and white bicolour-flowered plant (eventually a medium/large tree) that is so widely planted here in the UK, including as a street tree. M. stellata is the smaller Star Magnolia, usually grown in pure white forms, whilst M. grandiflora is the North American evergreen species in which the best forms have large, felted leaves, and which is often seen planted against the walls of stately homes. M. x loebneri is the fourth, though less commonly planted Magnolia, producing huge numbers of strappy flowers of white or pink.

For the last 50 years or so handfuls of dedicated breeders have been working on improving the selection of Magnolias available for the garden. Some of the aims were to improve hardiness by pushing back flowering time (thus avoiding the earliest frosts) widen the selection of sizes, colours and perfumes and attempt to create smaller Magnolias better able to fit the average garden.

Magnolia 'Daybreak'.

There are a huge range of wild species to draw from, but developing new Magnolias is a painfully slow business that also requires huge amounts of space so that new crosses can be grown on to flowering age – we’re talking decades rather than seasons. Still, now there really is a kaleidoscope of colours and forms of these majestic plants out there just waiting to be planted.

Although three of those widely grown varieties are still very much worthy of any gardeners attention, the ubiquitous hybrid M. x soulangeana has been completely surpassed and superseded as a garden plant.

Magnolia 'Sweet Merlot'.

The magnificent giant Himalayan tree species (all very slow maturing and early flowering and hence pretty frustrating outside of very large, sheltered, southern gardens) have been crossed with later flowering and smaller growing species and hybrids, bringing intense violets like ‘Black Tulip’, ‘Sweet Merlot’ & ‘Old Port’,  near reds – ‘Felix Jury’ is one of the best yet – a wide range of true pinks including  ’Daybreak’, ”Star Wars’, ‘Apollo’ & ‘Spectrum’, and many large flowered bi coloured & whites like ‘Athene’, ‘Sayonara’ and the truly giant flowered ‘Atlas’.

Magnolia 'Eva Maria'.

The very late, American yellow flowered M. acuminata has been crossed with everything possible, creating a very exciting, extremely hardy range late flowered hybrids.

Colours range through pinks – ‘Daybreak’ (which is also regarded as the finest of all Magnolias for fragrance) ‘Pink Royalty’, ‘Rose Marie’, ”Coral Lake’, ‘Denis Ledvina’, ‘Blushing Belle’, ‘Phil’s Masterpiece’ – creams – ‘Ivory Chalice’, ‘Yellow Lantern’, ‘Gold Cup’ – yellows -’Daphne’, ‘Yellow Bird’, ‘Limelight’, ‘Lois’, ‘Judy Zuk’ – and even peach – ‘Peachy’, ‘Eva Maria’, ‘Amber’, ‘Apricot Brandy’.

Magnolia 'Goldstar'.

Finally, the smaller M. stellata (itself one of the parents of M. x loebneri) has been successfully crossed and backcrossed to widen the range of smaller Magnolias. The yellow/cream flowered ‘Goldstar’ is a real favourite, as are the semi-doubled ‘Wildcat’ & ‘Powder Puff’ and the beautifully formed, pure white ‘Donna’.

Once it’s been planted (and well tended of course) a Magnolia will grow to form a very substantial garden feature for generations to come, so it’s got to be worth taking the time to seek out and plant one of the superior forms that are now available. In gardening terms the reward, each spring, will be almost unparalleled.


Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Tim's Blog | 1 Comment »

Bog Gardening.

Monday, April 5th, 2010

A mature bog can rival any other ornamental zone of the garden.

Bog gardens aren’t one of the more frequently seen garden features, and probably aren’t often near the top of the list for many gardeners when considering what features to add to a new plot. This is a shame, because they can provide attractions to rival any pond, and with very little effort.

Bog gardens are also the ideal solution for making practical use of a wet, poorly drained or otherwise awkward spot in the garden, as well as providing a perfect introduction to the delights of aquatic life for those with young children who might be concerned about safety around a pond.

Rodgersia tabularis - luscious leaves, around 90cm across.

All of which might make the bog garden sound like a second-class citizen to the pond proper, which is definitely not the case. In nature boggy, marshy regions are at least as frequent and widespread as open water and come with their own very rich and diverse eco systems, habitats and range of plants.

In the garden there are actually a huge range of plants that either thrive in bog gardens, or actively need them to survive, and in order to be able to welcome some of these plants into your own garden you, of course, have to provide them with a suitable habitat.

Wild boggy regions are, at least in these Isles, very much endangered, restricted and reduced in area, most having been drained long ago for agricultural use.

Making a bog garden in your own plot might not go very far to redressing the balance of these endangered habitats, but it certainly will encourage a range of insects, amphibians, birds and even (if you’re very lucky) reptiles, as well as giving a little pocket that marsh and bog plants can call home.

Where to position a Bog Garden.

A small trough bog garden.

One of the satisfying aspects of bog gardening is that they are pretty easy to create and don’t take too much maintenance – always a plus.

Much like ponds bog gardens they need to be positioned where they will receive the most direct sunlight possible – preferably for at least half the day during the growth period.

If you have a muddy, wet, frustratingly soggy spot in the garden already, so much the better.

Think how satisfying to be able to stop fighting the problem and basically let nature take it’s course!

With the right container bog gardens can be added to pretty much any location.

If you have a pond already then the drainage side is also an ideal, and entirely natural location for adding bog garden. Just be sure that the bog area is lower then the surface of the water, you want the pond to drain and overflow into the bog, definitely not the other way around.

Siting the two side by side will also give you the largest possible range of plants and allow for a natural transition and blend between the two habitats.

Just as with a pond, it’s equally possible to create a bog garden in an otherwise perfectly well drained site, however, so don’t feel that you need to have a semi marsh in your back yard before you can begin.

Making a Bog Garden.

Excavation for a new bog garden.

You can create a bog garden on pretty much any scale that suits your fancy and your site, and you certainly don’t need a big space, much less natural water flowing through your garden.

Once you’ve decided on a site, and an approximate size, and assuming you have a soil based garden, then you can get to digging.

Bog gardens are shallow habitats, and you only need to go down by around 30cm. The easiest option is then to line the base with a butyl type pond liner, although if you do have a naturally year-round wet site this may not be necessary.

The liner needs to have a small number of holes cut into it to allow for a slow, percolating drainage, otherwise it may turn into a shallow pond. If you have a very heavy clay soil (which is often likely to be the case in an existing wet spot in the garden) then this can be used as a natural lining, and, once you’ve dug out, you may well find the resulting hole starts to fill with water from the natural water table and/or with rainwater.

The same garden, now with a liner and sand base.

Small bog gardens can also be created entirely within containers, if need be, which allows them to be added to pretty much any location, from paved yards to rooftops. Choose a wide, relatively shallow container – old basins are ideal and can be highly decorative.

Whichever method of construction you’ve chosen add around an inch of sand into the bottom, to assist wit drainage and then backfill the bog garden-to-be with a 50/50 mixture of garden soil and compost that can also enriched with well-rotted manure for optimal results.

Next comes the water. Ideally rainwater should be used, but tap water works fine too so long as it’s left to stand in the new bog garden for a few days, allowing the chlorine to evaporate before planting. Fill the lined bog garden to overflowing point, at which point you will have created a big, gloopy, muddy bath. As the soil starts to settle, and a little of the water percolates away, the whole thing will settle and firm up somewhat, at which point it’s ready to plant.

Plants for a bog garden.

Ligularia stenocephala The Rocket

There are a really wide range of possibilities for planting, depending on whether you want a naturalistic or very ornamental look, or a combination of the two.

Yellow Irises (Iris pseudacorus) and purple Irises (I. sibirica and I. ensata) are hard to resist, and Candelabra Primulas, Rodgersia species, Trollius, Astilbes, Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris ) Ligularia, Persicaria, the fabulous Ostrich-Feather Fern (Matteuccia spp.) and even more spectacular, autumn colouring Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis) are all pretty irresistible.

A semi-tropical, exotic look is easy to create too, and the addition of Rheums (Giant Rhubarbs) or, where space allows, Gunnera (REALLY Giant Rhubarb) along with Zantedeschia (Arum lilies) and the fabulous Lysichitons will do the trick with ease.

Lysichiton americanus - think BIG!

Once established many bog plants will grow pretty rapidly and will spread and colonise new areas of their new habitat, so don’t fill every available space, as you might think of doing in a new border.

Finally, when everything is planted, consider adding rocks, logs, driftwood, whatever feels right for your garden. Old stumps and rotting wood make for great and entirely natural additions – just the sort of thing that you find in bogs worldwide in fact – as well as providing valuable wildlife habitats and shelter.

Keep a watch on the moisture levels, depending on the weather and the location of your bog garden, you may need to top up with water from time to time to keep everything suitably marshy.


Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Tim's Blog | 1 Comment »

T is for Trillium.

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Amongst the most prized of all spring flowering plants are the Trilliums, a uniformly fascinating, beautiful and nearly unique genus of 43 species native to North America with a small handful hailing from Asia.

Trillium grandiflorum f. roseum

Whilst any display of spring flowering perennials is a pretty magical site, pushing, as they do, from near barren ground to display their flowering and leafy wears for all to see, there is definitely something really special about Trilliums.

They are the kind of plant that, when in flower, will cause even the most jaded non gardener to stop and stare, alongside the many converts and aficionados who will doubtless already be drooling with delight.

Trillium basics.

Trilliums grow from fleshy underground rhizomes (swollen stems) each of which produces just one single growth point. In mid spring – typically April in the UK – this slowly enlarges to form a single upright stem with a whorl of leaves on top of which opens a single flower. Over time these rhizomes reproduce themselves and form new growth points and eventually spread to create whole colonies.

Trillium chloropetalum.

There are, broadly speaking, two different groups of Trillium, each characterised by the flower, which either grows directly from the centre of the leaves, and is rigidly upright, or is held aloft on a short stem, and is often nodding.

The leaves of some species are almost as decorative as the flowers, being large, heart-shaped, and splashed, patterned  and blotched with silvery/grey/green, whilst flowers vary from snow white to pink and yellow with a large number of intense crimson, red-violet and blood red. These are plants that aren’t shy about making their presence felt in the garden, that’s for sure.

Cultivation.

Trillium cuneatum.

It’s fair to say that Trilliums come with something of a reputation for being hard to grow successfully. This reputation undoubtedly puts many gardeners off trying the plants, which is a shame, because, given half-decent conditions Trilliums are not problematic in any way and clumps will slowly enlarge and persist for many decades with really very little care, attention or intervention.

One thing that certainly is  true is that plants can be slow to establish, particularly if they are planted as dormant rhizomes. In fact they can sulk and fail to appear above ground at all for the first year – during which time they are actually making new roots and seeking to establish themselves into their new site.

Trillium flexipes.

All Trilliums are much better planted whilst in growth, preferable from freshly divided or already potted specimens, when they should get away quite happily and establish more readily.

In the wild Trilliums are plants of the forest floor, emerging before the leaves on the trees above them, and fading away by mid summer. Once established they can tolerate relatively dry conditions, but for the first year or so they benefit greatly from being kept moist.

Soil should be humus rich and well drained and the position should ideally provide dappled shade – just like any woodland floor in fact.

Trillium underwoodii.

The Asiatic species are much less frequently seen in cultivation and all prefer a richer, more moist soil. In the wild they often associate with bog margin plants like Skunk Cabbages (Lysichiton spp.) and given sufficient moisture at the roots these species they will also tolerate a sunnier spot than their American cousins.

Two species (T. undulatum and T. nivale) lovely though they both are, are much tougher to please and can’t really be considered suitable for garden cultivation outside the preserve of specialist collections.

Propagation.

Trillium erectum.

Most Trillium are pretty slow to bulk themselves up and it’s the patient gardener who gets to dig up and divide his or her clumps. Some species, though, do spread more rapidly and a few forms and hybrids, in particular, have proven to be keener to bulk up, but none could possibly ever be accused of being vigorous.

In the wild, of course, the species spread themselves pretty successfully by seed, and for a few lucky gardeners their plants do the same job without any assistance. Generally though Trillium seed is slow to germinate and the young plants painfully slow to mature to flowering size – four to seven years being the norm.

It’s this slowness to mature and reproduce that has given Trilliums their rather unjustified reputation for being tough to cultivate. Once you’ve seen a North American woodland floor carpeted, bluebell-like, with Trilliums, out-competing rival plants as far as the eye can see, you’ll have a tough job to believe that these guys could possibly be hard to grow!

Pests.

Trillium luteum.

Trilliums are pretty tough customers, absolutely bone hardy and, happily, are not attractive to many pests. Slugs and snails can be troublesome but are easily repelled from individual plants or small colonies, and it’s definitely worth protecting those beautiful leaves from being munched.

Rhizomes can rot when the plants are dormant if the soil is allowed to get saturated or is very poorly drained, and plants can retreat back under ground in severely dry conditions, but that’s about it in terms of common problems.

Trillium species.

Although some of the species are extremely expensive and rarely offered for sale there are a decent number of species and a few varieties that are fairly widely available and at reasonable prices.

Trillium grandiflorum double.

T. grandiflorum is the most widespread species, both in the wild and in cultivation, and makes for an excellent introduction to the genus. The flowers are large, sideways facing, pure white and very showy.

There are also a handful of extremely choice double-flowered cultivars as well as a beautiful pink form in cultivation. T. ovatum, is similar although smaller flowered, whilst T. cernuum and T. catesbaei have nodding flowers in white, often flushed with pink. T. flexipes is another widespread white flowered species, and one of the most willing to increase itself in cultivation.

T. rugalii is a particularly beautiful species. The nodding white flowers have heavily recurved petals that display a central contrasting ovary of deep maroon red.

Trillium albidum.

T. albidum is another gem, with upright flowers of white veined with rosy purple. It’s also gorgeously fragrant, reminding me of violets and roses. T. erectum is another widespread and easy species with recurving flowers of intense crimson red.

Probably the showiest of all Trilliums though are those with upright flowers of deep blackish maroon-red held over very large, marble-patterned leaves. There are a number of closely related species (T. cuneatum, T. sessile, T. chloropetalum & T. kurabayashii are the most widely cultivated, T. decumbans, T. underwodii & T. maculatum the most spectacular) that are variations on the same theme. They can be tough to distinguish from one another, and many in cultivation are wrongly labelled in any case, but they are all nothing short of awesome when in growth, so you won’t go far wrong with any of them.

Trillium flexipes hybrid.

There are several yellow flowered forms of different species, but the widespread T. luteum is always lemon-yellow and is the only yellow Trillium likely to be encountered in this country.

Several species naturally hybridise in the wild and others have been crossed in cultivation.

Although these hybrids aren’t often available, they are almost always extremely beautiful and highly unusual – as well as easily grown – so it’s definitely worth seeking them out whenever possible.


Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Tim's Blog | 2 Comments »

Indecent exposure.

Monday, March 29th, 2010

All gardens are subject to exposure from the elements, but for some this is their single most defining feature, the thing that determines what can be grown or even if anything much can be grown at all.

Rooftop gardens must contend with both exposure and potentially unstable containers.

It might be assumed that exposure in a garden is always due to its elevation – be it on a hill-top, near the coast or on a high roof or balcony – but it can equally be about location. The funnelling effects of valleys, woodlands and (particularly in towns) buildings can mean that gardens that might at first sight appear to be fairly sheltered are actually subjected to serious battering.

In some locations exposure is seasonal or determined by the direction of the prevailing weather fronts. Our Devon valley garden is a good example of this. Surrounded on three sides by woodland, but in a westerly facing valley, for much of the time things are pretty calm and sheltered, but when the weather shifts to the west, straight off the Atlantic, then the wind is concentrated by the valley and funnelled by the surrounding woods to create powerful gusts that have uprooted some medium sized trees and smashed the tops from others.

This happens here pretty much every Autumn, so it’s a seasonally exposed location, but of course others suffer that kind of effect all year round and the common factor that has to be addressed in all cases is the wind.

Bamboo used as a windbreak.

Wind in a garden can cause damage in a variety of ways. Structural damage can occur to garden features and buildings (greenhouses, sheds etc.) as well as to plants.

Trees and shrubs in full leaf have a huge “sail effect” and can be seriously damaged or even killed outright by strong gusts, whilst herbaceous beds can be flattened in a matter of moments with often heartbreaking results. Exposure is also a particular problem for fruit and vegetable plants. Flowers can easily be damaged, burned or torn right away before they’ve been pollinated so no fruit can form.

Wind breaks.

Wind permeable fence.

Solid fences may seem like the first solution to keeping wind out of a garden (particularly a small-ish one) but actually all that they do it to funnel and concentrate the wind, sometimes making a bad problem even worse. A better solution is to filter the wind to dissipate its destructive energy before it can reach your precious plants.

Where space allows trees and evergreen bushes planted at the garden margins and in staggered succession (rather than in large solid blocks) are the very best solution. We use large bamboos that grow quickly and are infinitely flexible, allowing them to easily absorb all the energy without risk of being damaged themselves. In smaller spaces open slat fences and permeable plastic mesh  netting can perform exactly the same job.

Planting care.

Low staking to stabilise a young tree.

Wind rock – where trees and shrubs are moved at the base of the trunk and at the root – can case major long-term damage, and often death of a plant. Trunks are weakened, roots torn away and large, drying air pockets formed underground, all pretty serious. It’s crucial to stake plants adequately when planting to prevent the process of wind rock from ever starting.

Stakes should always be low or the stem/trunk will fail to thicken up properly, causing further long-term weakness and lack of stability. Soil should be well firmed in, although take care not to compress and solidify, particularly with clay soils. Roots need access to air and water rather than being entombed into a giant brick. Containers should be very substantial and/or secured to surrounding fencing, wells etc.

Don’t neglect watering, not just at planting time, but for a good period (generally 2 to 3 years) afterwards too. Exposed gardens are subject to huge evaporation and water loss comes from plant leaves as well as from the soil, so it will be up to you to compensate. Installing an automatic plant watering system might be a useful option too.

Finally, you can expand the selection of plants that will succeed with some judicious pruning. Obviously taller plants will be subject to more exposure and damage, so, where appropriate for the plant, it makes sense to keep things low and compact.

Plant choices.

Although there are various strategies for dealing with exposure, and improving your site to widen the scope of plants that you can grow, it’s equally important to come to terms with your gardens limitations.

A highly exposed, but highly attractive coastal garden.

There aren’t many natural environments that plants haven’t successfully colonised, and by drawing inspiration from nature you can create wonderfully rich and abundant gardens full of plants that have evolved to thrive under the very conditions that would otherwise be struggling with.

The first port of call is the coast, where plants cope with maximum exposure all year round. Plants that naturally occur in coastal situations will always work well in any exposed spot, but it’s also well worth visiting coastal gardens to check out what is already succeeding for others.  Many Mediterranean plants also work well as they have evolved all sorts of strategies to minimise water loss, including small, silvery, waxy or furry leaves and compact growth for instance.

As with any garden, it’s always better to grow plants that are actually naturally happy to be in your type of location rather than choose those that will struggle to survive and create a succession of cultivation problems for you.


Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Tim's Blog | No Comments »

Hidden spring gems.

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Once upon a time pretty much all of the Northern Hemisphere was covered by forest. Most of this was deciduous forest, which meant that in early spring the forest floor was bright and light beneath the still leaf-less canopy above. And so it was that over vast stretches of time, and all around the globe, a truly enormous diversity of small plants evolved to exploit this window of flowering opportunity.

Deinanthe caerulea.

These, then, are the hidden spring gems. Plants that will reproduce later in the year, safe beneath their giant leafy over-head protectors, but which burst into sudden and often simultaneous flower in spring time.

The number of forms and varieties of these spring gems is pretty mind boggling, and more or less all of them are garden worthy when sited correctly.

I’m going to blog in more detail about a couple of specific genera next month, but, to wet your appetite, here are a ten of my favourites that you just might not have come across before.

Scoliopus

Scoliopus bigelowii.

I really can’t resist starting with these little guys as S. bigelowii is a plant that I’ve previously cited as my very favourite – always an impossible choice though.

Native to the forest floors of the Western American seaboard, with particular strongholds in Oregon, the two species of Scoliopus were long considered to be closely related to Trilliums, but new genetic studies have relocated them into the huge Lily family.

Scolipus emerge very early in the year, often in January, and always by Feb., and start by producing a pair of leopard-spotted, glossy leaves (closely resembling many British orchids) between which comes the little flowering stem. It’s these flowers that have always fascinated and intrigued me. They consist of 3 tri-partite elements – 3 filamenous petals, 3 much larger sepals, 3 stamens and a 3-chambered ovary.

They are miniature architectural wonders that demand close inspection so early in the year. Scoliopus are absolutely bone hardy and enjoy moist, shady conditions – watch out for slugs though!

Uvularia

Uvularia grandiflora.

Another small genus of North American natives, the uvularias are airy beauties, with hanging, bell-shaped flowers in a variety of shades of yellow.

Easily grown in any woodland-ish spot, they will slowly clump-up to form a very pleasing feature.

U. grandiflora is the most frequently seen and (as the name suggests) also has the largest flowers, with lovely twisting petals of pale yellow.

The pretty, but much less robust U. sessilifolia is smaller in all respects with solid, elongated bell shaped flowers of primrose.

Glaucidium

Glaucidium palmatum.

G. palmatum (the only species in the genus) is a Japanese woodlander that has become known to western gardeners as both a bit of a legend as well as a mystery.

The legend part is due to the plants’ ethereal beauty, with robust clumps of maple-shaped foliage giving rise to large flowers of lavender blue with silken textured petals.

The mystery is to do with the plants’ true identity. Is it a form of Peony, a member of the Buttercup family or maybe a poppy?

Botanists are still unsure but gardeners, at least, don’t have to be too concerned and can simply enjoy it’s beauty.

Jeffersonia

Named after US president Thomas Jefferson, the two species of Jeffersonia are amongst the most delicate, ephemeral and aristocratic of all spring flowering woodland plants. The elegant leaves of North American J. diphylla emerge paired, and clasped together like hands in prayer, before unfolding like the wings of some exotic jade green butterfly. The exquisite, pure white cup-shaped flowers rise above the foliage and always charm everyone who sees them. J. dubia represents the genus in China, and has equally attractive, near-circular  foliage and flowers of the palest blue.

Kirengeshoma

Kirengeshoma palmata.

K. palmata is without doubt one of the finest as well as one the most easily grown of all the woodland herbaceous plants, and really should be in every garden that has any shady area (that would be pretty much every single garden surely?!)

The Japanese native has stems that can rise to 6 feet (although mine stubbornly peak at around half that) clothed with deep green, jagged-toothed Maple-shaped leaves and topped with cascading clusters of creamy-yellow flowers.

It really is a head-turner at all stages of growth in the garden.

Deinanthe

Kirengeshomas are rather improbable herbaceous members of the Hydrangea family, and that’s also the home to the two species of Deinanthe.The plants have handsome foliage but their principle appeal comes from the clusters of cup-shaped flowers of the very palest lavender. Not widely seen in cultivation – mostly because they are very slow to reproduce by division – deinanthes are actually pretty tough little customers, and easily accommodated in a shady garden spot.

Dodecatheon

Dodecatheon meadia.

Commonly known (along with maybe a dozen or more other plants…) as “shooting stars”, Dodecatheon meadia is a really superb little primrose relative native to a wide swathe of the southern states of the US.

At first forward-facing, the pure white petals perform a 180 degree rotation as they open, to create a wonderful contrasting display alongside the gold and blood-red centres of the flowers.

I grow the plants alongside hellebores and other woodland marginals, where clumps happily increase year on year without any special treatment.

Anemonopsis

Anemonopsis macrophylla.

There are a really large number of Anemone relatives that excel as garden plants but if I had to plump for just one it would have be the Japanese A. macrophylla.

Plants produce large mounds of large (as the name suggests) heavily divided, ferny foliage which are pretty enough in themselves, but bursting from the midst of these leaves come jet black flowering stems.

These are stiffy upright and rise way above the foliage to display a galaxy of airy little flowers, each a miniature marvel in white with different degrees of purple staining.

Saruma

Saruma henryi.

A fairly recent introduction into Western cultivation, the Chinese Saruma henryi – the only species in the genus – is a close relative of the highly desirable Asarums (aka wild gingers).

I’d have to say it’s a pretty unique garden plant – I’ve certainly never come across anything quite like it.

The foliage is perfectly heart-shaped and densely furry and emerges a deep purple – all highly appealing – whilst the crinkly, mid-yellow flowers that tip on top superficially resemble small wild roses. Sarumas are, like most of these plants, very hardy and pretty straightforward to grow in a woodland or pseudo-woodland garden spot.

Scopolia

Scopolia carniolica.

Black or near black flowered garden plants are always highly sought after, and Scopolia carniolica is certainly no exception.

An ornamental member of the Nightshade family (from whence come potatoes and tomatoes as well as our hedgerow native Deadly Nightshade) this little beauty hails from eastern Europe.

Emerging in early spring the leafy shoots soon give bear pendulous, bell-shaped flowers of intense, metallic deep violet-black.

There is also an extremely rare yellow-flowering form, but, to my mind at least, this can’t match the sinister charms of it’s dark-flowered sister.


Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Tim's Blog | 4 Comments »

Micro gardens.

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

The phrase “micro gardening” has recently been coined in the States to refer specifically to small urban spaces that are used to grow your own food in containers. Well, I’m stealing/appropriating that phrase and enlarging it to refer to gardening of any variety, when undertaken in a teeny-tiny space.

A small but smart balcony garden.

One of the great things about the upsurge in interest in gardening as a key leisure pursuit for just about every man woman and child in the country is that people who didn’t previously have a garden of any description are now looking to green whatever spaces they do have, no matter how small.

As well as allowing the satisfaction of growing your own food (quite possibly for the first ever time) pressing small spaces into garden action also provides a creative outlet for many.  From balconies to yards to miniature rooftop spaces, where there’s a will there’s most definitely a way, but there are also a few basic principles that might help you to make the most those itsy bitsy spaces.

Space.

A sculpture makes for an excellent focal point.

Whether you’re starting from scratch and converting a previously unused area into a mini garden or re-jigging and adding to an existing green area, space, and how you use is your most important consideration.

When space is at a premium you might think that the best approach is to make use of every inch and fill all nooks and crannies with plants.

When done with extreme care and planning this can create a kind of all-enveloping cosy feel. More often than not it ends up as a jumbled crush where the plants are competing for light, water and your attention, and where the eye has no guiding lines or focal points.

The sheer number of plants does not cause this feeling of busyness and confusion though, it’s brought about by clashes of varieties, colours & shapes. In many ways the smaller the space the more important it is to give forethought to design or at least the themes of the garden.

Decide at the outset what function(s) you want the garden to perform (recreation, relaxation, distraction, food production are just a few) and the broad look that you would like, and then stick closely to it.

Using a tree as a central feature.

There are a few specific tricks that can help to make a small garden look bigger. Dividing the space up, particularly with a central barrier (an arch, pergola, large shrub, level change or small tree perhaps) will prevent the whole area being seen at once – a very good approach where space allows.

It’s also best to avoid too many straight lines, they simply encourage the eye to run quickly from one end to the other and will make a small space seem even tinier.

The crafty use of large wall mounted mirrors can bring an immediate feeling of space as well as boosting light levels.

A mirror can really open up space and light.

Cannily placed decorative objects, lights and particularly things that make a sound (water, wood, metal) can also give an added sense of depth.

Finally, in a small space it’s vitally important to make use of all the height of your garden.

It’s easy to take a bird-eye view and only consider the flat ground plan, but that’s not how you ever see or use a garden, and the walls and overhead/canopy zones can be pressed into use without even touching upon the usable space in between.

Scale.

Materials and plantings harmonious and coordinated.

Possibly the biggest mistake that many gardeners make when tackling a small space is to miniaturise everything.

The exclusive use of small plants, containers and furnishings will not make a space look larger; on the contrary, they will simply enhance the sense of the tiny.

It’s important to remember that the walls, houses, fences, boundaries and structures that surround a garden are also (visually at least) part of that garden, and will tend to dwarf a collection of tiny plants and objects, making everything seem out of proportion.

Much better to use less/fewer of everything, but to choose things that are both regular in size and harmonious with one another.

Some of the very best micro gardens have only a small number of objects in them , but each is artfully placed and together they create a feeling of completeness, rather than clutter.

Colour.

Foliage colour to the fore.

The same principles apply to the use of colour, but even more so. If you’re going for flowering plants choose a limited palette of colours and try to consider flowering times and colour combinations. Cool colours – blues, whites, greens – tend to enhance space whilst hot colours reduce it, but the most important factor is that colours harmonise rather than clash.

Choose two or three colours at most and try not to deviate from them. It can also be much more fun exploring the limits and possibilities of a fixed set of options rather than simply growing everything that catches your eye.

Foliage, rather than flower colour, is actually likely to be the most important planted element in a small garden, and the wide array of available textures, shapes and fragrances, as well as foliage colour possibilities, can be explored to the full.

Hard landscaping.

Walls form a vital planting surface.

The term hard landscaping refers to everything in a garden that isn’t a plant. In a micro garden that might simply be a pot or two, but it could equally be a floor surface or pathway, furniture, wall decorations, steps, raised beds, stones, and many others.

In all cases the same basic principles of simplicity and harmony should be applied.

To avoid a jumbled, messy confusion choose as few different materials as possible, make sure that they work well together, and try to repeat them where possible – if you have a wood deck surface consider matching wooden planters, trellis and furniture for example. Simplicity, harmony and repetition of materials & colours will do wonders to open up a micro garden.


Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Tim's Blog | No Comments »

Hooray for hellebores.

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Some of the colours of the hellebore rainbow.

There’s no doubt that hellebores are pretty special garden plants.

Flowering at the tail end of winter, with only snowdrops and the occasional early Iris, Cyclamen and Crocus for company, these improbable members of the buttercup family never fail to inspire as they push up their multicoloured flowers and divided leaves through snow or ice, or whatever the winter weather has to throw at them.

Emerging so much earlier than most other spring-flowering plants hellebores would probably command attention even if they were small and weakly coloured.

Apricot with dark nectaries.

Thanks to generations of dedicated enthusiasts, there’s not much chance of that, and these perennials now pack a truly dramatic punch with large cup-shaped flowers in a kaleidoscope of colours from vivid green and pure white through yellow to apricot, pinks & purples and on to the most intense slate blues and deepest violet blacks.

Flower shapes vary from very rounded and cup shaped, to starry with a range of different shaped doubles. Some also have dark red or black-ish nectaries, which gives a different look altogether.

As if that range weren’t enough the flowers of many forms also come with a multitude of different markings. These have evolved to guide pollinating insects safely and accurately towards the reproductive organs of the flowers, but luckily for us it’s not just the eyes of passing bees that are dazzled by the endless different combinations of spots, blotches and lines.

A bit of Botany.

Near black - both flowers and foliage.

Before going any further I need to qualify exactly which hellebores I’m referring to. Helleborus is a small genus of around 15 species, all but one of which are native to Europe. H. foetidus (the rather unkindly named Stinking Hellebore) is actually a British native, but the large majority hail from central southern and eastern Europe, with particular strongholds in scrubby mountainous regions of the Balkans.

The only non-European species is the beautiful H. thibetanus, which, you won’t be surprised to hear, is a native of Tibet.

H. niger (the so-called Christmas Rose) and H. argutifolius are both very well known garden plants, but the large-flowered, multi-coloured garden hellebores are all very complex, multi-species hybrids based in part of the species H. orientalis.

Double white spotted.

Strictly speaking these should be called H. x  hybridus, but in reality hardly anyone used this name.

As a group the plants have widely and pretty consistently come to be known as the Orientalis Hybrids (as well as picking up the unfortunate and totally misleading moniker Lenten Rose)….having said that for simplicities sake I’m going to continue referring to them here simply as hellebores.

Cultivation.

Reverse picotee white spotted.

One of the other great appeals of hellebores is that they really are incredibly easy, tolerant and rewarding plants to grow.

In their wild habitats the species invariably live on slightly alkaline, rocky and generally pretty impoverished soils.

In cultivation they will happily grow in virtually anything you care to give them, although they will of course grow better and certainly provide a better flowering display if they have something halfway decent to sink their roots into.

Hellebores are essentially plants of open, light woodland, so a good, organic-rich soil with a free draining structure will give optimum results. They are also partial to a good feed, and though far from essential, a heavy mulch with well rotted manure in late autumn will see the plants respond with extra lush and large growth the following spring.

Green streaked picotee.

Despite their woodland origins hellebores are actually very sun tolerant and can be grown in a really wide array of garden positions, including that most difficult of all situations – dry shade.

In many ways, though, they both grow and look their best when integrated into a shady or woodland border situation, which of course also closely mirrors the habitats of the wild species.

Ongoing care.

Hellebores are evergreen, with flowers emerging before the foliage and on separate new stems.

The main care involved in growing them in the garden revolves around what to do with the previous years foliage. Many gardeners simply do nothing and leave the whole plants intact year round. There is something to be said for this since the old foliage will certainly help protect the soft new stems as they emerge in winter.

New spring flower stems.

However, those old stems and leaves can also act as snail hotels as well as potentially harbouring various fungal diseases, so the alternative approach is to cut all the previous years foliage and stems right back to ground level in mid winter.

This has the added advantage of allowing the new flowering stems to be displayed to their fullest, without last years raggedly, blotched old leaves marring their pristine beauty.

Propagation.

It is possible, with much care and patience, to divide large plants in order to propagate from highly desirable individual clones. In practice though, hardly anyone fiddles around dividing their hellebores, because they are one of the easiest and most reliable garden plants to grow from seed.

A selection of yellows.

Actually, if you leave the seed heads to develop and ripen on the plants then you’re pretty much guaranteed to find a little crop of satellite babies sprouting around their parent the following spring.

It’s great fun, and really very easy to hand pollinate your favourite coloured plants with one another to see what new colours and patterns result, but simply gathering the copious seed that naturally develops will do the job as well.

Although it is released by the plants in late spring and takes around 9 months to germinate – naturally timed to sprout as the same time that the adult plants come into growth – hellebore seed does not store well and quickly looses viability. It’s simple enough to deal with though, and should be sown as soon as possible after harvesting.

No special treatment is needed although the seed does require winter stratification to stimulate germination, so, after sowing the pots/trays etc. should always be kept outside to experience the winter cold.

Pest and Diseases.

Red picotee with dark nectaries.

Again, these are thankfully few and far between. Slugs and snails will attack young shoots but once the leaves have matured they are far too tough to be appealing to any mollusc. Aphids can likewise congregate on new growth and if not removed will lead to distorted and damaged foliage and flowers.

More importantly aphids are also suspected as the agents responsible for passing on Hellebore Black Death – an all too common viral disease that leads to large black streaks and distortion in the foliage, stems and flowers of hellebores.

A much less serious but also quite widespread problem is Black Spot, a fungal disease that causes “dead” brown blotches to appear on the foliage. Removal of old foliage and good general garden hygiene will greatly reduce the occurrence of this and indeed any other fungal problems.


Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Tim's Blog | 1 Comment »

Growing from seed.

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Growing your own plants from seed is surely one of the most satisfying tasks in all of gardening. You save (often considerable) amounts of money, you have full control over what you grow and how (so you can be sure that the whole process has been organic, for example) and you can often grow all sorts of plants (both ornamental and edible) that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to find.

Seed strategies.

Crocus seeds, cleaned and ready for sowing.

In nature plants and their seeds have evolved a whole range of strategies and timetables to ensure successful germination, so, before you begin it’s pretty important to know a little bit about whatever it is you’re trying to grow.

Plants that flower early in the growing season typically (though not always) produce seed that germinates quickly, with the new plant-lets growing to reasonable maturity in their first year. If they are perennials those young plants will then be able to harden off and over-winter successfully.

Later flowering plants (including most trees and shrubs) generally produce larger seeds that come with a more substantial built-in food supply and reinforced protection. Their strategy is to over-winter as a seed and germinate the following season (or sometimes the one after that) with rising spring temperatures. This gives the young plants an entire growing season to reach sufficient maturity to make it through the next winter.

Germination.

Whichever natural cycle your seeds are on your job is to mimic the conditions that would naturally trigger their germination.

Apart from very specialist seed (some employ fire or the digestive juices of animals for instance) there are three key factors that determine when a seed will germinate: temperature, light levels and water.

With those quick germinators – anything from 48 hours to a few weeks – this means picking a sowing time and location that will be warm, light and moist enough to trigger germination more or less immediately.

Slow germinators almost always require a cold dormancy period (known as stratification) that mimics winter, followed by a rise in temperature and light levels that signals the arrival of spring.

Timing.

Quick germinating seed can be sown outdoors once spring is well underway and temperatures are not going to dip below freezing point. Depending on what plants you’re growing the seed can be sown directly into the position that you want the final plants to be in (as you might with some vegetables or wild flowers) or into pots or seed trays, which gives considerably more flexibility in terms of end location and seedling care.

Outdoor germination can be slow and erratic (much like the weather that triggers it) and the process can be sped up considerably by artificially boosting temperatures. Even the protection of an unheated greenhouse will make a big difference, and a heated frame or an indoor windowsill will be quicker still.

Seed prepared for fridge stratification.

When germinating seed indoors it’s important not to start them off too early or the light levels will be insufficient to support the seedlings and you’ll end up with weak, spindly plants that are forever trying to reach the light. Generally, any time from early spring is ideal.

Seed that requires a period of stratification can be sown into pots outdoors in autumn and, so long as they are protected from marauding seed-eaters, they will germinate naturally with the coming Spring.

Alternatively you can provide an artificial dormancy by sealing the seed, together with a little compost, in small plastic bags into the fridge for 60 to 90 days before sowing in the usual way. This strategy that allows such seed to be started at any convenient time of the year.

Sowing.

If you are sowing in any way besides using the open ground then you really only need four things for your seeds: a container, some compost a transparent cover and a label.

The container can be a plant pot or a purpose made seed tray, but old margarine and fruit and vegetable containers do at least as good a job – make sure they have lots of drainage holes puncturing the base though.

Compost should be very free draining. Seeds germinate very well in pure perlite, vermiculite, fine grit or coarse sand, although they will need to be moved on whilst still very young before they exhaust their in-built food supply. A 50/50 mixture of any of those same materials with a good compost is ideal and will allow the seedlings to stay in their nursery a good deal longer.

Scattering to sow medium/fine seed.

I like to sterilise everything – pots, and compost – with boiling water first, it prevents or at least reduces the occurrence of algal slimes, mosses and other wind-blown seeds that would otherwise hinder the new seedlings.

Fill your chosen container around 2/3 full of the compost mix, and sow the seeds onto the surface.

Very fine seed can be scattered, larger seeds placed and spaced individually, taking care not to sow too many into one container  – much better to save some seed or sow a second or third potful.

The sown seeds should then be covered to roughly their own depth with compost, or better still with sterilised perlite, vermiculite, fine grit or coarse sand. Very fine seed does not need to be covered at all, and can simply be surface sown.

New seedlings in a plastic-bag tent.

Don’t forget to label your seeds at this stage. It’s useful to add the date of sowing along with the name of the plant and possibly, with larger seeds at least, the number that were sown, which helps you keep an eye on germination rates

The final, but crucially important stage is to cover the whole pot. You can use a sheet of glass, cling-film or plastic, but I find the best strategy is to use a clear plastic bag to form a little tent that can be secured with a rubber band if it’s not the greatest fit.

The bag creates a little mini-greenhouse, with a stable environment that allows full light through but keeps a high and even moisture level where no watering is required.

Pricking out.

Carefully potting up a young seedling following pricking out.

Once the seeds have germinated they can be left in their little tented pots for quite some time, depending on how large the young plants are.

The plastic bags should be pierced to gradually acclimatise the seedlings to the lower humidity levels outside. Within a few days the bags can be removed altogether and the pots placed in a light, protected position, which may be indoors or outdoors depending on temperatures/seasons etc.

Once they are strong and stable enough the young plants can be pricked out, either for further growing on in individual pots or for planting in their final positions.

If using a margarine pot or similar it’s easiest to cut the pot open and gently divide the seedlings up. Whatever type of container they have been germinated in it’s crucial to avoid any damage to the young root systems and very delicate stems at this stage and the seedlings should only be handled by their leaves.

Young Sarracenia plants - potted up and growing on.

As ever, replant with the compost same level that the plants were at in their germination pots and, if potting on, you can now use a slightly richer, and more compost-rich (though still very free draining) mixture to help feed the plants.

Remember to keep an eye out for slugs and snails and position/protect accordingly – just one rampaging mollusc that can almost instantly decimate an entire crop of new seedlings.


Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Tim's Blog | 4 Comments »

Going native – using British plants in the garden.

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Cypripedium calceolus - Lady's Slipper Orchid.

The resurgent interest in naturalistic planting and in achieving a generally less formal look to our gardens has coincided with a growing awareness of wildlife-friendly gardening.

One of the very best ways to maximise both of these aims is to seek out and plant British natives in our gardens.

The last Ice Age left us with a relatively impoverished flora, and certainly those from equivalent climates in Asia or the US dwarf the total numbers of British plant species.

Nevertheless, a little research will turn up an amazing array of beautiful British natives of all types. Incorporating some of these into a garden will create a haven for native wildlife, as well as helping to properly situate a garden into its natural surroundings.

Dianthus armeria - one of our native Pinks

There’s a highly useful and endlessly dip-into-able on-line resource run by the British Natural History Museum to be found at:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/fff/index.html

By simply tapping in your postcode you will be provided with a list of all the plants that are native to your immediate region.

Plants are listed by category – Annual, Biennial, Climber, Bulbs/Rhizomes, Herbaceous Perennials, Shrubs, Small Trees, Large Trees, Marsh Plants, Perennials and Aquatics.

What’s more the garden worthy plants are highlighted, and both common and Latin names provided.

Cornus suecica - a ground-covering Cornel.

Of course just because a plant grows naturally in your local area that doesn’t mean to say that it will thrive in your garden where conditions, habitats, soil and water levels may be utterly different. Equally plants from far distant parts of Britain may be perfect for your garden, which might mimic the conditions those plants have in the wild. Either way, the database can be a very handy starting point.

Although many town gardens are walled in and may not really connect with a surrounding landscape, together they do form a large wildlife corridor and the plants choices that you make can profoundly affect the health of your local wildlife.

Convallaria majalis Rosea - the pink Lily-of-the-Valley.

In more rural locations boundaries tend to be a bit fuzzier, and all gardens are, to one extent or another, borrowing the landscape around them, either as a view or just as a backdrop to the planting.

The more you can mimic, or at least harmonise with that surrounding landscape the more your garden will merge with it, appear more natural and immediately seem much larger too, as the exact limits of the cultivated area become harder for the eye to discern.

Although it is quite possible to plant an all-native garden you don’t have to be quite so rigid and restricted in your choices. A wide variety of close relatives of our native plants can also be drawn upon without really altering that natural look and feel.

Rosa spinosissima - Scottish rose.

Equally there are also a large number of cultivars and selections of many of our native plants, some of which improve upon the ornamental qualities of the wild plant, or at least increase the number of garden uses to which it can be put.

When planning your plantings a good approach is to plant exotics near to the house and then gradually blend into more native/natural plantings towards the boundaries.

Amongst such an embarrassment of riches in the British flora I’m going to highlight a large cross section, including some of my personal favourites together with a number of existing garden favourites that you may not even realise are British natives at all.

Euonymus europaeus - the Spindle tree.

Starting with the big stuff, that last ice age did the most damage to our tree populations, and left us with quite a limited selection.

A number of the trees that we think of as “native” (Sycamore, Yew, Beech, Chestnuts Horse and Sweet) are actually all introduced.

Still, those natives that do still exist have all been endlessly selected from down the centuries.

Scots’ Pine, (our only truly native conifer) English Oak, Spindle, Hazel, Willows, Alder, Hornbeam, Field Maple, Rowan, Cherry, Hawthorn and Silver Birch are all now available in a huge range of highly ornamental cultivars – golden leafed, cut leafed, dwarf, columnar, twisted, purple leafed, autumn colouring, heavy fruiting – you name it and it’s probably out there waiting to be planted.

Viburnum lantana.

One of our most attractive native shrubs is definitely Viburnum lantana (the Wayfaring Tree), which again comes in a multitude of different selected forms. Crab-apple, Elder, Daphne mezereum and Viburnum opulus (Guelder Rose) are other good shrubby options.

There are also 13 different British native rose species to choose from, three beautiful Cornus species, a number of fruiting plants from raspberry and gooseberry to bilberry, not to mention our native heather species.

Dominating (ornamentally at least) the climbing plants are Ivy (hundreds of different, often extremely atractive forms are available) and Honeysuckle, both of which are already widely used in many gardens of course.

Humulus lupulus 'Aureus' - Golden Hop.

Golden Hop (Humulus lupulus ‘Aureus’) is another great option, and even our native Clematis (C. vitalba) has a certain fluffy charm.

Where the British flora really comes into it’s own though is in the perennial and bulbous departments.

There are literally hundreds of highly garden-worthy native ferns, grasses, woodland and meadow plants, not to mention orchids, marsh and water plants:

5 species of Primula, the marsh fritillary, Paris quadrifolia, 2 native Iris, gladioli, sedums, Aquilegia, foxgloves, bugle, wood anemone, marsh marigold, hellebores, violets….

Aquilegia vulgaris - our native Columbine.

Lily-of-the-valley, 11 species of Geranium, snowflakes and snowdrops, Arum, Dianthus, poppies, pattern-leafed celandines, euphorbias, 3 species of thyme, saxifrages gallore, bluebells, daffodils, ox-eye daisies large and small, cornflowers, mallows, wild sages and some of the world most beautiful ferns and orchids….well, hopefully you get the idea.

These are certainly not plants that you have to struggle to accommodate in any garden, and, once you start to investigate, the ornamental possibilities are pretty much endless.


Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Tim's Blog | No Comments »

Plant Pests – Ten Top Organic Solutions.

Monday, March 8th, 2010

With Spring temperatures rising daily it won’t be long before a new wave of crawling, wriggling and flying invertebrates make their way to our gardens to see what juicy new fare we’ve thoughtfully supplied them with.

Always remember, though, that there are an equal number of beneficial insects (not to mention birds, amphibians and mammals) out there in the garden, so any artificial intervention, even of the organic variety, needs to be well targeted and used with thought and care. So without further ado…

Companion planting.

Basil - the pungent odour repels many insect pets.

This is where you truly get the plants to do the work for you, and is particularly useful (essential even) when growing vegetables.

Very many plants contain an array of chemicals that have evolved as natural insect defence mechanisms. Different chemicals occur in different plants and in different parts of plants too, and there are a huge number of proven combinations that will have a dramatic effect on pest numbers in the garden.

A few examples include:

Basil, planted with tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, asparagus or any ornamental susceptible to aphid damage; borage, also with tomatoes as well as strawberries; garlic with cucumber, peas, lettuce, carrots & celery; alliums with fruit trees; geraniums with roses and all brassicas.

Attract the predators.

An adult Green Lacewing - one of the gardeners top allies.

Whilst you might imagine that the presence of, say, aphids or Cabbage White caterpillars in your garden will be enough to draw the crowds of beneficial insects, these helpful beasties also require additional food sources, particularly pollen and nectar rich flowers.

A number of herbs, including borage, chamomile, hyssop, lovage, and in particular thyme are extremely attractive to a hoverflies, bees, wasps and parasitic wasps, all of whom you most definitely want on-side.

Ladybirds and lacewings – both amongst the most voracious or garden predators – will flock to angelica, yarrow, dill, fennel, tansy and coriander.

Birds will be drawn by bird-feeders and water, and amphibians by the presence of a pond, and all will stay to dispatch countless pests.

Mollusc barriers.

Laying a beer trap.

Snails and slugs hate crossing sharp, spiky materials and surrounding individual plants or indeed entire beds will create a natural boundary that keeps the molluscs out.

Grit and crushed eggshells are often used, but ceramic shards go one better by actually absorbing the mucus trail of any slug or snail that attempts top breach the defence, preventing any slimy progress.

Meanwhile, outside the barrier you can lay down traps to collect the little beasties. Stones, wood, carpet, or any dark, flat object that well keep moist through the day will provide an ideal hideout for slugs and snails and handily concentrates them ready for collection. Good old-fashioned beer traps – jam-jars or old yoghurt pots half-filled with beer and part-sunk into the ground – will also collect droves of drunken drowned molluscs.

Garlic and chilli spray.

This is a pretty well known brew with a wide variety of recipes and an even wider variety of garden applications. The basic idea is to combine two of natures most powerful and pungent agents into one pest-fighting force. Take 2 whole bulbs of garlic with half a dozen small, hot chillies, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, 1 dessertspoon of liquid soap (to improve adhesion) and 3 cups of water.  Blend the whole mixture thoroughly, strain out the lumps and then add an additional 4 cups of water to dilute the liquid for spraying.

The garlic will deter almost everything from attempting to eat any foliage that has been so treated, whilst the fiery chilli will kill all sap-suckers and leaf-munchers on contact, so you get a double whammy effect. This heady mixture may burn young foliage, so you might want to dilute further, or test on a small section first.

Batter red spider mites.

Batter? Surprisingly perhaps I’m not suggesting coshing mites over their tiny arachnid heads, but am actually referring to the kitchen variety batter. A few tablespoons of flour, blended together with around a cup each of milk and water will smother and suffocate Red Spider Mite – a particularly pernicious little pest that thrives in dry conditions and in greenhouses.

Soap.

Liquid detergents (i.e. washing up liquid) are well known for smothering and killing aphids and various other sap-suckers. The trouble is that the surfactants in most detergents do not readily break down in the environment, and have been shown to cause more problems than some herbicides and pesticides. Vegetable based liquid soaps, however, will do just the same job without any of the potential hazards. The soap and water mix won’t do much to deter future pests and will quite quickly dissipate, but can provide the ideal instant solution for a newly-spotted infestation.

Rhubarb tea.

Rhubarb leaves.

The leaves of Rhubarb plants contain natural toxins that you can easily employ in the fight against aphids, white fly and caterpillars.

All you need to do is harvest some of leaves, chop them into small-ish pieces, add some water and bring to the boil. Leave the mixture to steep for a few days, after which time you can strain and bottle the juice which can be sprayed over the plants with the problem pests. The juice should be diluted to the colour of weak tea and the addition of a few drops of liquid soap will encourage it to stick to the foliage more effectively.

Molasses and vinegar.

Another rather unlikely spray that is easily put together uses a blend of 1 tablespoon of molasses with ¼ litre of vinegar and ¾ litre of water. This can be applied on a weekly basis to any and all plants (edible and otherwise) that are susceptible to predation by sawflies, moths or butterflies and should prevent eggs from being laid and cut the cycle off before it even starts.

Sticky yellow stuff.

Whiteflies - much enlarged from lifesize (luckily!)

Infestations of Whitefly can be particularly tricky to deal with and extremely damaging if left untreated. Unlike many insect pests they are highly mobile and readily fly away from most attempts to knock them out with one of the various vegetable sprays listed above.

Their weakness, though, is the colour yellow to which they are highly attracted.

To make an effective Whitefly trap all you need do is find something bright yellow – plastic or a chunk of painted wood will do just fine – coat with something sticky and water-repellent, such as Vaseline or vegetable wax, locate amongst your whitefly infestation and you have yourself a natural whitefly trap.

Fingers and eyes.

Although last on this list, really this should be the first option. The most obvious and easiest of all solutions to roll out, very many infestations can be stopped in their tracks by a keen eye and a squishing finger. Slugs and snails can readily be collected with a spoon on damp evenings and vine weevils picked from foliage by torchlight, whilst the likes of aphids, scale insects, lily beetles and caterpillars should be hunted down in daylight.


Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Tim's Blog | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »