Monthly Archives: June 2020

Noticing what is around you.

21/06/2020flowers, foliage, foxgloves, plantsJackie Elwin

I have found that most of the time while working in the garden or doing slug patrols, you tend to be so focused on the job in hand that you may not notice what else is going on in the garden. It is a good idea just to wander around and really see what is happening around you. Our rhododendron is flowering quite happily after it’s move last November so it never went in a sulk after all. Mind you, I did keep it well watered just to make sure, then gave it a wee feed just before flowering. We planted a couple of new shrubs (Enkianthus companulatus and Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophyla ‘Eva’). And to fill in a bit of space, added all the foxgloves that were found in the wrong place (just till I figure out what should go in there long term).

Rhododendron Gomer Waterer

Just along from the corner is arch that I have been trying to grow a rose over (Rose Generous gardener), in place of the Clematis montana alba that died. It is not an ideal place for them as they can only get the sun in the morning, and they are under the sycamore trees of the golf course. I need to keep them well watered and that has meant watering them almost every day this year. They are looking good so far, and once the elder is bigger I think the contrasting colours will look even better.

Rose, geranium and elder.

The foxgloves are the tallest they have ever been in this garden. Harry is a about 6′ 1” and he is standing next to one that looks about 7′ tall. There is one in the middle of the stumpery which is even taller. Although I read (Guiness world records) that the tallest ever foxglove was grown by Lydia Foy in Ireland in 1997 – 10’10” (3.29m) WOW!

Harry and the tall foxgloves.

In the conservatory there were a few nice colour combinations or just nice colours that I liked. I had a vase of roses and honeysuckle together and the buds of the honeysuckle were a bright deep red colour before they opened to release their exquisite scent. Little things catch my eye, like the purple foliage of the axalis against the pale green velvet cushion. Dangling roots of the sempervivums, and the little tufts of hair at the points of some of them. Others have web-like hairs across them, and some go through a colour change from green through to a mahogany brown. The tips of other sempervivums are very pointed and look like they have been dipped in ink.
It is always worth taking a few moments to do nothing but look and be aware of what is around you.

Purple oxalis leaves against pale green cushion.

Purple oxalis leaves against purple cushion.

Honeysuckle buds beside purple rose in vase.

Honeysuckle buds.

Seedling against purple rose.

Sempervivums (mixed).

Sempervivums.

Sempervivum with hairy tips..

Sempervivum roots and web/hairs.

Woodland/stumpery/cottage garden?

14/06/2020flowers, plants, stumperyJackie Elwin

In the stumpery – woodland area I have mixed some wild plants along with plants you might associate with a cottage garden like foxgloves and geraniums as they like a semi – shaded aspect and are often found in woodlands. I mostly let the foxgloves seed about where they like but if there are too many, otr they are just too close to the path, they get hoiked out and replanted in another area. The foxgloves are looking great just now and are mostly untouched by beasties. There is some damage on a couple of flowers – possibly snail damage. A couple have toppled over but most of them are standing up by themselves. The main colour scheme are shades of pinks, red, mauves, purples with splashes of white and gentle yellows. I don’t particular like orange plants in this garden but I do like coppery foliage of some plants especially ferns.

Foxgloves standing tall.

Foxgloves and geranium.

Foxglove damage.

We have had a very sunny and hot May but so far a rather foggy, cold, and drizzly June. The knapweed in my previous post is looking very bedraggled, and covered in mildew and brown leaves. I want to chop the whole thing back to the ground where it will shoot again, but there are loads of buds on these horrid looking stalks. What I may do is; once I have chopped it back, I will take off most of the foliage and put the stems in a vase, so that when the buds open – the bees can still visit them and I can enjoy both the flowers and the bees.
The deutzia is covered in flowers. It is usually covered in bees too, but not today as it is so cold there are only a few brave bees about. It may be Deutzia ‘Mont Rose’ but I don’t know for sure as I bought this from a sale with no label on it and no body knew what the plant was. It is under planted with a red astilbe which is now getting a bit smothered, but I will be cutting the deutzia back after it has flowers so the red flowers of the astible will become more visible.

Deutzia ‘Mont Rose’

Geutzia ‘Mont Rose’ closer.

There is also a Jacobs ladder on the corner near the deutzia but I am not sure that I want to keep it. When in flower it does look pretty but the slugs go for it and the stems are quite easily broken and it always looks a bit scruffy.
The tierella are looking a bit ‘lumpy’ this year and have taken ages to get going. I need to lift and divide them, then re-plant a little deeper. As they can take about a year to establish their roots it is often better to do it in spring rather than in autumn, so that can wait until next spring. After a few years they have a tendency, like the heucheras, to kind of extend themselves up wards out of the soil and can look very straggly, lumpy and generally scruffy. There are more tierellas in the sunnier bed by the patio, but they have been so trodden on by the massive wood pigeons that I am thinking of replacing them that can withstand that kind of treatment.

In corner, where the gutter down spout empties, the weigela, rodgersia, Soloman’s seal, and the ferns are looking good. The weigela is covered in flowers which the bees love. There is a pink astilbe there and it has grown quite tall, slightly taller than I had expected. I planted a variegated form of Jacob’s ladder at the front along with he twhite version of ragged robin to brighten up that slightly more shady area of the corner. The weigela often needs trimmed back to keep it under control so that can be done when it has finished flowering.

Weigela corner.

The new nepeta arrived this week so they have just been planted in
the right hand border ,where it gets a bit more sun than the stumpery,
and this time some organic slug pellets were sprinkled around them just
in case. I lost the first lot of plants so I don’t want to lose this
lot. I do slug/snail patrols every morning and Harry does a patrol at
night to try and keep on top of the slug/snail number. Nepeta are
another one of these plants often found in a cottage garden and they
have a very gentle habbit and pretty flowers – again bees love this.
Behind the nepeta are the circisium which are always covered in bees and
beside that are the poppies (Patty’s plum) which have huge flowers on
them. They do need staking though and I was a bit behind with this so
they had already fallen over by the time I asked Harry to stake them so
they are looking a bit trussed up now.
In the next few days the
weather should brighten up a bit and will hopefully be a bit warmer
too. It is much nicer to do the weeding when it is warm than when it is
cold and drizzly.

The stumpery and raised bed in May.

03/06/2020plants, raised bed, stumperyJackie Elwin

The view of these areas from my (wheelchair user’s) eye height must be quite different from my Husband’s who is over 6ft tall. He would be able to see over some of the plants and see what lies beyond, whereas I, being closer to the ground, see more of the weeds, slugs and snails. This April and May have been extremely hot and sunny, with very little rain so most of my time has been spent keeping things watered well (young, new plants especially). In 2014 we put a lot of paving in the stumpery area for me to be able to access most of it, but in doing so it looks quite bare and brown during the winter months. Come spring however it becomes lush and awash with colour.
Along the back of the garage there are 2 small apple trees with a few crocus and iris reticulata bulbs, and cyclamen. I have tried a variety of plants to brighten that area without adding too much competition n to the apple trees. This year I was looking forward to a tulip and wallflower combination from Sarah Raven. Hmmmm it didn’t quite match Sarah’s website image. Beautiful tulips and wallflowers, but, the Tulips Menton flowered way after the Tulips Sarah Raven, and were very tall – 32 inches (81.5cm)!
The old curling stone had blue ajuga all around it, but it started to look very straggly in places so I added a little white saxafrage (unknown).
The purple knapweed is doing well but the plant has a habit of keeling out to the side leaving the middle bare, and also getting mildew so doesn’t look too attractive at times. But it is flowering and the bees love it. Also the forgot-me-nots and the brunneras, and some of the honesty are covered in flowers. The stumpery is left to go a bit wild and I have left a lot of nettles all along the side wall. Other so called weeds are more or less tolerated here, and just get dead-headed before they seed everywhere.

Stumpery looking to back wall.

Stumpery looking towards bench.

Stumpery from the brunnera side.

Curling stone with blue ajuga reptans and white saxafrage.

Purple centaurea (knapweed)

Tulip Sarah Raven

Tulip Sarah Raven, and Menton with the Ruby wallflowers.

Very tall Tulip Menton.

Tulip Sarah Raven, and Menton with the Ruby wallflowers.

What it should have looked like. (Image from Sarah Raven’s website)

The raised bed is looking pretty full and overgrown, but I love it like that. It isn’t your typical raised bed for disabled people. I have filled it with woodland plants so I can get that feeling of being right inside the woodland. I can see, feel and smell the plants up close. The syringa is in full flower and smelling gorgeous. Shame the flowers are all at the top now. It will have to have a good prune so that it can produce flowers slightly lower down so that I can experience them more.

The combination of the bright green of the saxifrage against the deep purple of the acer is fabulous and these delicate flowers just flutter and quiver in the breeze.

My favourite fern had been chopped back as usual and is looking scrumptious right now and it will continue to billow out over the next month or so. There is a lovely purple aquilegia growing far too close to it and kind of spoils the look of the fern, so the aquilegia is going to be howked out once it has finished flowering.

And it isn’t just the big plants that I adore – have a look at the mosses on the wall. The furry moss is so tactile and I stroke it every time a go past. The tiny sporophytes of some moss species are just as beautiful and fascinating.

Now that the rain has come – so too have the slugs and snails. Back to the early morning and evening slug patrol to keep these blighters at bay.