Gardeners Diary

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May 16, 2010

Casualties

Posted by Barhi under Gardeners Diary | Tags: , , |
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So what did you lose last winter? By now you should have a pretty good idea, whether it is shrubs (or parts of them) that have failed to come into leaf, or perennials that just haven’t reappeared from the ground this year.

Last winter was a pretty hard one in the UK. Even down here on the south coast, we actually had snow lying and icy conditions. Further north, things were obviously a bit harder, with deep snow lying for weeks.

Slight signs of life in the cotinus

I have been very pleased to find that virtually everything survived the winter. The plant that seems to have suffered most is cotinus.  Two of my three cotinus shrubs have lost major branches.  Luckily part of the plants have survived, but the shrubs are now looking a little unbalanced.  This weekend, I was going to tidy up some more twigs that I thought had also been lost, but on closer inspection, there appears to be slight signs of life on them.  So, I’m going to wait a couple more weeks to see if they actually will come back to life.

A new hosta (with canine protection)

Other than that, I seem to have been very lucky.  There are very few “holes” in my planting.  There have been a few spots where I could put in an extra plant but really very few.  Thank goodness the days of mass plant purchasing seem to be over.  It wasn’t just the effect on my pocket, but rather the thought of having to dig holes and plant up to forty plants at a time.  These days, it tends to be ten or less in one go.  I bought three new hostas – this one has gone in a place that hisorically has not been good for plant survival.  I’m not sure why it is, but the plant got immediate protection (the metal plant support), just in case it is the dogs that reduce my survival rates. 

Our main herb pot

We always anticipate losing a lot of our herbs, after all they are mainly suited to a Mediterranean climate.  This year, only a thyme and chives made it through, and the mint of course, but that is in a seperate pot.  A couple of new herbs we are trying this year are Sorrel, for salad leaves with very interesting green and reddish leaves (at about 4 o’clock in the photo) and  Hedge Germander, said to be good in vermouth, but I liked its lovely dark green leaves (at about 10 o’clock in the photo). 

Keeping herbs in a pot is a must for us to avoid contamination from the dogs, but it is easier only having bitches.  Luckily when dogs visit, the location of the pot, behind them as they come out of the door and on a small step, seems to mean that it is not an attractive target for leg lifting :).

We were very lucky this winter – hope you were as fortunate.

 

May 9, 2010

Fuschia Heaven

Posted by Barhi under Gardeners Diary
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This was my fuschia buying weekend.  I love those blousy flowers, in small doses.  I therefore have just three pots of them.  I used to add other bedding plants into the mix, but over the years I realised that it was the fuschias that I really appreciated most so decided to concentrate on them.

I know I should over-winter my plants each year to save having to buy each spring, but although I have tried, I really haven’t had much success.  So now I don’t bother and have the pleasure of visiting my favourite fuschia nursery on an annual basis.  They can have the worry of keeping the temperature at 50ºF during the winter, and I can have the pleasure of choosing new plants each year.  Like many of its type, the nursery is a small one family affair.  The owner used to exhibit at flower shows, but as he gets older has decided just to sell from the nursery.  Each year, I phone up to check opening times, hoping that they are still in business and so far, they are :).

I always try to buy plants that are not yet in flower – why should the nursery have the benefit of the flower that I am paying for?  Of course this means that I need to rely on the nursery for information, but he labels them well so it is not a problem.  As with the rest of my gardening I leave out the yellow (or in the case of fuschias, the orange) section of the colour wheel, and then it really doesn’t matter which colours I put in the same pot, as they will all work well together.  I find that buying larger plants is much better value for money.  They are only slightly more expensive than the smaller ones and you get much more, both flower and leaf, for your money.

The lovely thing about planting in pots is that it is much less work that digging up earth.  The compost stays in the pots over winter, and all that I have to do is top up the levels, making sure that there is still about an inch between the top of the compost and the top of the pot for watering.  Then I make the planting hole with my hands by pushing the compost to one side, the plant goes into the hole and then the compost is pushed back and job done.  One trick the grower told me is that if you have hardy fuschias, you should plant them about an inch below the level at which they grew in the pot.  This will give them better protection against the winter weather.  Another trick that you may find useful if you want an imposing pot and don’t want to pay out for a very big one (or have to fill it with compost and / or filler such as polystyrene) is to place your pot on top of an identical inverted one as is shown in my picture.  This way you can see the flowers much more easily and they are less vulnerable to canine encounters.

 

April 27, 2010

Perfect Day

Posted by Barhi under Gardeners Diary | Tags: , , , |
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I had a lovely day out today.  I went to one of my favourite nurseries with three dog owning friends and then afterwards, a pub lunch.  It was a beautiful day, blue skies, fluffy clouds and warmth in the sunshine.  What more could one ask?

Hardy’s specialises in hardy perennials – my favourite group of plants.  Unlike many places, they actually propogate a large proportion of their stock.  A large part of the nursery was seperated off as they prepare for the Chelsea Flower Show, hopefully they will once again get a gold medal this year.

Despite having less space to display the saleable stock, we still managed to spend two hours there, going up and down the rows seeing what took our fancy – and of course talking.  It is amazing the memories that plants can invoke and the thoughts that they can bring.  Given that we all have dogs in common as well, our conversation was very wide ranging.  

I usually tend to leave my dogs behind when I go plant buying – I need their space in the car to bring home my booty, but one of our number brought her dog with her.  The nursery was happy for her to be with us and  she was in her element with a number of other customers (and nursery staff) coming up to say hello.

One of the benefits of my cottage gardening style (and my small garden) is that you don’t feel that you have follow the gardening text books and always plant in groups of three or five.   I regularly buy just one of a plant, particularly when it is a plant that I haven’t tried before.  This is not only reduces the demands on the purse, but also means that when I find a plant that is happy in my garden, I can get a variety of the family to increase interest. 

I was remarkably restrained in my purchases today, filling only half of my trolley.  The fact is that I was all too well aware that despite the hard winter, the vast majority of my plants had survived and that I really don’t have a huge amount of space to fill these days.  That said, I did manage to find some little beauties. 

All in all, it was a great day and we all enjoyed it so much that we are planning to make it an annual event.  If you want to join us in North Hampshire in April 2011, let me know.

 

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