Gardener's Diary Blog
February 9th, 2009
I am lucky enough to have a grove of witch hazels in the field just above my office-it really is a grove-there must be close to 40 big plants up there- and enjoy keeping an eye on them on a daily basis from the middle of December. Few plants fill me with greater wonder, especially when they’re surrounded by snow, as they have been in the last few days. Their flowers are completely untouched by the level of frosts we have here. They can look a bit shrivelled up first thing in the morning after a hard night, but unfold, as good as new, with the slightest hint of warmth.
It’s a bit like an orchestra, beginning quietly with a few instruments, rising to a crescendo as more and more come crashing in. We have reached full volume now, with those which opened well over a month ago still going strong, and the later ones more or less in full flower. To see them backlit by the setting sun is quite something.
The one which has caught my attention more than any other this year has been a variety of H.mollis called ‘Wisley Supreme’. The flowers are large, a positively luminous, clear lemon-yelow, with the typical dark crimson centre, and sweetly scented. It has been stunning since before the end of the year. The same can be said of ‘Orange Peel’, with again, large, strongly fragrant flowers. It is well named, with petals like zest of orange. ‘Harry’ opened a little later, with even larger, more golden-orange flowers. This is a good variety, somewhat marred by a tendency to hang onto its dead leaves. This regrettable trait is shared by ‘Livia’, which has the truest ruby-red flowers.
The first of the later group to open was ‘Aphrodite’, with flowers which are a unique burnt orange colour. Next was ‘Aurora’, another outstanding and very distinctive variety, with the largest flowers of any witch hazel, and with an exceptionally strong, delicious, rich scent. I have never been able to come up with a satisfactory word to describe the colour, but Val Bourne got close in her article in this weekend’s Telegraph with “butterscotch”. It is a most unusal colour, but warm and glowing, especially in the snow!
Last of all-and this one really is only just about open now-is ‘Angelly’, another good, sharp lemon coloured one, which remains a beacon of colour long after all the others are over.
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February 9th, 2009
January 8th, 2009
I perhaps shouldn’t admit to this, but I have enjoyed the current cold snap (which at the time of writing appears to be on the way out.) However much inconvenience it causes, snow always seems to cheer me up-it must be the child in me. Another cheering aspect of the season is the Witch Hazels, bravely flowering away-especially the scented ones. They are all lovely, but the scent of some is such a huge extra bonus and is what makes Hamamelis mollis, the Chinese Witch Hazel and its varieties and lemon-yellow ‘Pallida’ my constant favourites. One of the other miraculous things about Witch Hazels is their complete indifference to frost. The other morning when the temperature went below -8 at Bridegemere, their flowers were decidedly shrivelled first thing, some with snow sitting on top of them, but a little warmth from the sun was all that was needed for them to perk up and smile at the world around them again.
We are delighted with anything which flowers at this time of year; but something which has struck me during this period is the enormous value in the garden of the buds which stay tight shut all winter, only opening in the spring. This is an important attribute of some of our most popular evergreens, and a great boon to flower arrangers. Skimmias, which we grow for their red berries and sweetly scented spring flowers, are a prime example. Their cone-shaped clusters of buds, generally more conspicuous and highly coloured in the male varieties, are at least as valuable. ‘Rubella’, with large, deep red clusters, is the best known for this feature, but there are several others which add extra interest and contrast. Some are dwarfer, with prolific, lighter pink buds, like Fragrant Cloud and ‘Godrie’s Dwarf’, or unique ‘Magic Marlot’, with pretty cream-variegated foliage. ‘Kew Green’ is one of the most distinct, with large cones of apple-green buds.
Pieris too, which like Skimmias thrive in humus-rich, lime-free soil, (they are less insistent on shade) contribute greatly to the winter scene with their drooping clusters of flower buds, often enhanced by reddish-brown stems, or actually dark red in varieties like ‘Valley Valentine’. Last year we stocked a particularly pretty silver-variegated variety with pink buds. it was labelled ‘Variegata’, but was something better. Anyone who knows what it was lkely to be, please let me know!
The other great evergreens for the winter bud effect are Viburnum tinus and some of its named varietes. ‘Eve Price’ is the best known, with delightful carmine pink buds. Even better, in my opinion is ‘Gwenllian’, with deeper-coloured buds. Darker still, though in smaller clusters, are those of a variety we are stocking here for the first time this year, ‘Spring Bouquet’. I am intrigued by this one, which is less obviuously attractive than the other two, mainly because it is less compact, but as well as these wonderfully dark buds has glossy, mahogany red stems and bronze new leaves, both of which add to its value in the garden and for cutting. It is also said, by those who know it, to be exceptionally free-flowering once established; and to be the most fragrant of all the Viburnum tinus varieties.
January 8th, 2009
September 8th, 2008
Well, we’re just coming out of the ’silly story’ month. The papers are dredging to the bottom of their in trays to find news that isn’t about the credit crunch or falling house prices. I remember one about Fred, the tortoise, who snuggled down amongst the grass cuttings and somehow got dumped into a landfill 30 miles away. This leads to my first tip for autumn, take care when you’re tidying up the garden because you might not know what you’re chucking away! Even if you like your garden to look pristine, don’t forget to leave some bits of wood in the corner for the bugs and beasties to enjoy.
I’ve heard some other useful tips too. If you have grown sunflowers over the summer, leave the heads standing as the ripened seeds are manna from heaven for birds. But if you don’t have any naturally available seed, we’ve got all sorts of varieties, some mixes designed for different bird species to attract them to your garden and to help them keep fit and healthy over the winter.
It’s getting cooler and the tendency is to move indoors – us, not the birds! But the garden still holds its attractions. Wildlife can still benefit from your help. You might have heard that our local honey is at risk, all due to a severe decline in the global bee populations as a result of reduced habitats and because of viruses, mites and fungi. Various research programmes are underway and there are plans for agricultural suppliers to plant wildflower meadows but we can help out too by sprinkling some wildflower seed mixes in our gardens – if you’ve got the space! Also think about your planting for next year so you can be sure of attracting some stunning butterflies. Verbena bonariensis is a favourite of mine because once it’s in the garden, it seeds itself and they are also an elegant accompaniment to many other plants.
Autumn and early winter is the best time for planting new trees too so the best you can do is either plant a native tree species or plant a fruit tree to extend your ‘grow your own’ patch.
Like a lot of people I had a ’staycation’ or at least I headed down west to Devon with some of my family rather than heading off overseas. You will not be surprised that it was grey and drizzly but spending some time with my nephews was an enlivening experience, seeing the natural environment through their eyes. It never ceases to amaze me what you can find in a rock pool and despite our best efforts with sandcastles, we never stopped the tide from coming in!
Finally, some news about what we’re doing here at Wyevale which you will see in Plan Apple News too. We’ve just announced that we’re getting out of expanded polystyrene bedding trays and there won’t be any more in the garden centres from January next year. This is because they can’t be recycled and we’re replacing them with recyclable trays which also contain about half recycled materials. So we’re beginning to square the circle!
I have found one use for expanded polystyrene though, before you chuck your old trays away. You can break them up and put the pieces in the bottom of deep pots before you add the (peat-free) compost, so you’re not using up so much compost and the pots are lighter to move if you need to ferry them around the garden.
See you next time!
Alan
September 8th, 2008
May 8th, 2008
Hello All,
May is here! I must be getting getting old because I hear myself saying the year is flying past. So far I am feeling good about our environmental plans. The board of Wyevale have enthusiastically agreed our ten Sustainability commitments and real action is underway. The most satisfying part has been the hugely positive reaction to our trial recycling scheme. It was clear our customers wanted somewhere to take back their flower pots. Yes, we all know there are sheds full of them. It is still a trial but those store that have them have been swamped. We hope to roll out to other stores as quickly as possible. The press have also been fantastic. It is incredible but breakfast BBC covered the store 9 times on Easter Monday!
In February we heard that a major DIY chain had agreed to stop selling patio heaters. Great news - we were the first making the same decision over a year ago… an important decision. With all this talk about climate change patio heaters had lost their credibility.
My predictions for the rest of the year - gardens and growing your own food. We have known for a long time about the environmental benefits of buying local food. What can be more local than your back garden? Even i am going to have a go - I have a rood terrace and not a garden. I am trying tomatoes, corn (yes, corn!), peppers and herbs. It is a wind and sun trap, so a tough growing environment. Let’s see what success I have.
Happy growing green!
Alan Knight
Note from editor: If you have any questions regarding the pot recycling scheme please leave a comment. We appreciate your feedback and will get back to you shortly.
May 8th, 2008
February 25th, 2008
My last blog, “Farewell to Winter”, in which I looked back over the past two months in the garden here at Bridgemere, I decided had gone on for quite long enough. So this is a p.s. to enable me to mention some Witch Hazels which enhanced our winter garden over many weeks, and to salute the remarkable Dutch plantsman who bred them, the late Jan van Hejningen, who died last autumn.
From the many hundreds of seedlings he raised, he only selected as worthy of naming and introducing those he considered to be both first class and distinct from any already in circulation. The three outstanding ones of this season amply fulfil his exacting criteria. Like all the plants he named, they each begin with the letter A-a little quirk of his. The first two to open, around the middle of January, are quite unique in a number of features. The flowers of ‘Aphrodite’ are a distinctive shade of burnt orange and are unusual also in the shape of their petals, which are broader at their tips. They are only just beginning to fade, in spite of a succession of sharp frosts, in the last few days of February. Those of ‘Aurora’ are the largest of any Witch Hazel, of a colour which is hard to describe-a sort of luminous, pale biscuit orange. (Sounds odd, but one gets to like it.) All three of these varieties are well-scented, but ‘Aurora’ is particularly good. ‘Aurora’ also has an excellent, upright, vase-shaped habit. The third variety, ‘Angelly’, may not sound so special, in that its flowers, though abundantly produced and of good size and quality, are yellow- a nice, clear, lemon-yellow,- like so many other Witch Hazels. However, the thing that sets it apart is that it is the last of all the Witch Hazels to open and continues to look good, long after all the others have faded.
The last Witch Hazel he raised, attempts to propagate which have only been made since his death, may yet prove to be the most wonderful of all and the one for which he will be most remembered. Its name is ‘Albion’ and its flowers are-wait for it-white, with a carmine centre. Don’t get too excited now- it takes years to build up stock of Witch Hazels from a single plant- and for many years this one will be as rare as the proverbial white hart-worth waiting for though!
February 25th, 2008
February 25th, 2008
I confess, I love winter. I hate it when it slips by too quickly, as it usually starts doing around the beginning of February these days. January is especially precious. The year is a blank sheet, with no crossings out. Resolutions can seem achievable. I’m sure I managed to fulfil some of mine before the end of the month; not, I am sorry to say, the one about writing at least one blog a week…
I have, however, been keeping a bit of a diary, in which I have recorded some random highlights in the garden so far.
There was a lot going on from the earliest days of the year, only some of which had anything to do with global warming.There is a little daffodil, for example, Narcissus ‘Rijnveld’s Early Sensation’, of which there is a group near the entrance to the garden at Bridgemere which has flowered in January, whenever it isn’t actually covered with snow, for as long as I can remember. It’s just a nice, ordinary looking daffodil which happens to flower at this time of year-that’s the way it’s programmed.
Not far from this group is a shrub which produces purple flowers on bare twigs, opening from deeper coloured buds, from the around the second week of the month. People wondering what it is are surprised to hear it is a deciduous Rhododendron, R.mucronulatum ‘Winter Brightness’. We used to grow a crop to sell on the garden centre, but no one wanted to buy it, for the young plants were small and twiggy and not at all most people’s idea of what a Rhododendron should look like. Now that we have this plant in the garden, showing what it can do, we should perhaps try again!
Much more like an ordinary Rhododendron is ‘Christmas Cheer’. Flowering in May it would be unremarkable, covered with pink flowers for weeks in January and February, it has been amazing, only finally going brown after a few nights of hard frosts. This one was been earlier than usual this year. It owes its name to the practice, in the days of big houses with head gardeners, of forcing it under glass for Christmas. Outside, in normal conditions, it flowers in March or even April.
So many winter flowering plants have the additional bonus of being sweetly scented. We have three splendid plants of Daphne ‘Jacqueline Postill’ in the garden, all about 6ft. high, which have been filling the air around them with their glorious scent for a good six weeks; and when they have recovered from their recent blasting by the frost, will carry on well into the spring.
Sarcococca confusa, the Christmas Box, of which we have several plants thriving in dry shade in the garden, had people stopping in their tracks with its powerful fragrance. This is a wonderful little shrub, always neat and attractive, with its glossy, dark green leaves-prized by flower arrangers- and tiny white flowers in winter followed by long-lasting, shining black berries.
I find the scent of the shrubby winter honeysuckle, Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ delicious, but not quite so strong-you have to make a point of sniffing it. It is lovely to pick and bring inside, where the warmth brings its scent out more. The same is true of the enchanting, too little known Japanese Apricot, Prunus mume ‘Beni-chidori’, which has had scattering of bright carmine-pink flowers open since the beginning of February. It is best grown against a warm wall-not because it isn’t hardy, but to give some extra protection to those early flowers.
The scent I love above all others in the winter garden is that of Mahonia japonica. The pale lemon-yellow flowers are not as showy as those of varieties like ‘Charity’ and ‘Winter Sun’, but they open over a longer period-well into February-and their fragrance is pure lily of the valley.
February 25th, 2008
December 20th, 2007
Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ is one of my long standing favourite shrubs. There has been a scattering of flowers open since the beginning of the month-a small version of the typical honeysuckle flower, yellow and white and sweetly scented. This is earlier than usual-I don’t normally expect them until mid-January. They will carry on opening now right through to the spring. It is a great delight to pick small pieces for the house, where they last well and where their scent is amplified by the warmth.
When siting ‘Winter Beauty’, bear in mind that, lovely as it is in winter and early spring, it is pretty dull during the growing season and can get quite big-which is fine if you have the space. You can keep it more compact by cutting a proportion of older stems right out at the base after flowering. It is easily satisfied in any reasonable soil, in sun or light shade.
I have known L.nitida ‘Lemon Beauty’ for years, but have only this winter come to realise what a good plant it is. It is a low, arching shrub, about 3 x 3ft., with tiny dark green, evergreen leaves with a pale yellow margin, providing valuable and long lasting material for flower arrangers. Grown entirely for its foliage, it does not appear to resemble ’Winter Beauty’ in any way; you would have to be not just a gardener but a botanist too to understand the link between them. However, though its flowers are of no account, it is a most useful and versatile plant, growing contentedly in sun or in the shade of trees, where it makes an excellent space filler and is a cheerful and attractive sight throughout the year.
‘Baggeson’s Gold’ is a better known relation, with even tinier golden leaves and a denser, taller, more upright habit. It is also less naturally elegant, but stands trimming well. ‘Twiggy’ is a neat dwarf version, which I saw used very effectively the other day planted in a group, in the garden of John Massey of Ashwood Nurseries. ‘Twiggy’ and ‘Baggeson’s Gold both need a sunny position to keep their golden colour.
December 20th, 2007
November 28th, 2007
I was reading an article about Clethra in a trade publication the other day, and it brought back to me on a dull, overcast, November afternoon how the sweet scent of this shrub filled the air around the information office here for weeks on end in late summer and early autumn.
W e have grown Clethra alnifolia, the Sweet Pepper Bush, for many years. It is not easy to grow well as a nursery crop, having a tendency to become straggly, (which I have now learnt can be overcome by cutting it hard back in the spring); and it is slow to get going after the winter. When it finally takes off, the leaves are glossy and attractive. The white flowers, which open in July are not showy, but are sufficiently well scented to earn it a place in the garden.
Things began to get more interesting when new varieties were developed in the States, which were generally more compact than the species and much more prolific in flower. Outstanding in both respects is ‘Sixteen Candles’, which is well named, with plentiful, upright flower spikes-very much like candles- on a neat, low, rounded bush. ‘Anne Bidwell’ is equally dense and compact, but slender and upright; ‘September Beauty’ is similar, but later flowering, as its name suggests.
There are delightful pink flowered forms too. I was much taken this summer by ‘Hokie Pink’, with masses of very pretty, highly scented pink flowers and by ‘Fern Valley Pink’, a looser, more vigorous selection, with pendulous, rather than upright flower clusters. It seemed be in flower over an exceptionally long period. ’Ruby Spice’ is an excellent deeper, rose-pink variety.
Clethra tomentosa is a rarer species, with distinctive, soft greyish leaves and long panicles of pure white flowers later in the season. Last September I was bowled over by a new variety called ‘Cottondale’, with panicles which must have been a good six inches (15cm.) long. This year, the promising clusters of buds have barely opened fully by late November, so I fear will never make it. A sad disappointment, caused I am guessing, by a shortage of sun in the summer. It will be interesting to see what will happen next year; I am reluctant to give up on it after its astonishing display last autumn.
Clerodendrum trichotomum is another shrub (or small tree) which delights with scented white flowers at more or less the same time of year (a coincidence that it should also share the same three initial letters of its name!), enhanced in the new variety, ‘Purple Blaze’, by striking purple new leaves, and followed by amazing, shiny blue fruits.
November 28th, 2007
November 14th, 2007
I have recently been introduced to Goji berries, which have apparently beome all the rage as the latest super food. They are delicious, I think-nice and chewy, with quite a distinct flavour-just the job for scattering on your breakfast cereal. The very day after I had eaten my first handful of these berries, there was an article all about them in the Daily Telegraph. There I discovered that they are the fruits of a shrub called Lycium barbarum, The Duke of Argyll’s Tea Tree. Coincidentally, we had produced a crop of this shrub in the nursery at Bridgemere a couple of year’s back. I had never come across it before, though I gather it is naturalised in parts of the South Coast, where it has been found excellent as a seaside windbreak, growing and spreading in the poorest of soils. Native to China, it has been grown in Britain for 300 years, so one would expect it to have spread around quite a bit. It comes across as an unspectacular plant, though with an elegant, arching habit. It has small purple flowers, followed by the now famous orange or red berries, which I have read can be highly ornamental, but have never actually seen. The plants we grew here didn’t sell terribly well. Alas-we were clearly ahead of our time-for now, we suddenly have people asking for it and have none to offer.
As soon as I discovered this exciting link, I rushed along to the patch of Lycium we had experimentally planted on an out of the way bank. Not a berry was there to be seen, so I do wonder a little how productive it is going to be in people’s gardens. All the dried berries in health food shops are imported from China, where they have been valued for their medicinal properties for generations and, I presume, are produced abundantly in their native climate.
The fruit of Cornus mas, the Cornelian Cherry, has been regarded as a super food for some time in Eastern Europe, where large numbers of free-fruiting clones of this shrub have been planted in recent years. ‘Jolico’ is the best known of these.
Cornus mas, which is native to Central and Southern Europe, is grown in this country-and has been probably for at least as long as the Lycium- primarily for its bright yellow flowers borne on the bare branches in late winter and early spring. The leaves, like those of most Cornus, colour richly in the autumn.
I must confess that, until recently I had not paid much attention to the fruit, which is anyway, at least on the straight species, not reliably produced in our climate. In the last few years, however, I have noticed that the variegated form, C.mas `Variegata’, regularly produces bright red berries, which are well set off by the attractive white-edged leaves; and this autumn I have been particularly struck by the crops of comparatively large, glossy fruits on the variety `Golden Glory’ AGM, selected for its prolific flowering. My interest in this fruit was further heightened when I was given a pot of jelly made by an adventurous fruit growing friend. It was delicious!
November 14th, 2007
November 8th, 2007
There is nothing new about plants flowering outside their normal season. Rhododendrons-thankfully confined to only a few varieties- have been flowering in autumn for as long as I can remember. This is a regrettable tendency on the whole, as people regard it as freakish and, of course, the performance will not be repeated in the spring, which is when we all want it to happen. However, when an entire batch of a rather lovely and uncommon Deciduous Azalea called ‘Bright Forecast’ flowered prolifically through this September and October, one couldn’t help but admire it. It will be a winner if it will just settle down to flowering at the proper time of year!
Witch Hazels have also always had a tendency to produce some stray flowers in the autumn. The flowers are invariably mean and small, and in red or orange varities, a sad wishy-washy yellow, causing outrage among customers who feel they have been conned!
November 8th, 2007
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