Monday 26 May 2014

Friday 23rd May 2014

Bridge talked about her visit to Chelsea Flower Show this week and to a talk given by Fergus Garret and Dan Pearson at the Royal Geographic Society which was arranged via Gardens Illustrated magazine – highly recommended. Dan Pearson talked about The Garden Bridge, an exciting new project which will span the Thames at Waterloo.

Plant identification:
Some of the plants this week were from photos that Bridge took at Chelsea. 
Tellima grandiflora




Libertia 'Goldfinger'

















  • Libertia ixoides ‘Taupe Sunset’ – a perennial with thin spiky leaves with unusual variegation: good for containers as fairly drought tolerant. At the Garden House we have Libertia ‘Goldfinger’ in clay urns. It is currently flowering - sparse small white flowers - but is essentially a foliage plant.
  • Tellima grandiflora – hardy perennial, tiny creamy lemon flowers on long spikes, fresh green heuchera-like leaves. > 80 cm. Likes semi-shade; good for shady borders and wild gardens.
  • Euphorbia oblongata – good acid greens/yellows for flower arranging. It is a short lived perrenial often grown as an annual. It grows > 1m and has loose flower heads. Sun. Euphorbias were popular at Chelsea e.g. Euphorbia palustris > 1 m., E. Cornigera   >75 cm leaves with pale midrib, and the smaller feathery-leaved.  E. Cyparrissus ‘Orange Man’All euphorbias have milky sap which can irritate the skin on contact, especially in sunshine.
  • Rosa ‘Warm Welcome’ – electric orange small blooms. Small climber. Scented.
  • R. James Galway’ – Pale pink flowers with dark centre, shaped like a centifolia rose. Climber. Scented.
  • R. ‘Dublin Bay’ – velvety dark red climber with hybrid tea shaped blooms, disappointingly no scent.
  • R. ‘Cecile Brunner’ – small, abundant pink flowers, perfect buttonhole rose. Scented. Climber.
Rushfield Nurseries near Henfield are good for roses.
Peter Beales, Norfolk- based specialist rose nursery, on-line and always exhibiting at the big flower shows. Also David Austen Roses, their main rivals!

Activities in the garden this week:
  •          Trialling tomato plants outdoors in various containers.
  •          Creative planting of bedding in unusual containers
  •          Seed sowing: more biennials and Painted Lady runner beans with pretty flowers
  •          Clearing hostas etc from side passage and planting and clipping box in containers
  •          Plant out annuals and fennel
  •          Weeding large border


Thought you might enjoy this pic of Sue and Mandy on a shopping trip (only 2 of the tiny blue carrier bags were mine!). We had a fab visit to the open garden at Newtimber and managed to do just a little bit of plant swapping and shopping.



Sunday 18 May 2014

Friday 16th May 2014


We started off talking about auriculas following a specialist talk at the Garden House last week that a few group members attended. Auriculas are perennials that are prized for their delicate colourful flowers and can be grown in pots or in alpine borders. They don't like getting wet and need some shade.

We also looked at some alliums including Nectaroscordum siculum which is long stalked with bell shaped flowers and are just emerging in the garden now. They like full sun or partial shade.


Activities in the garden this week:

  • Planting up the large pots with Gaura, Margarites, Nasturtiums and Pelargoniums
  • Removing tulip bulbs from rest of the other pots and planting up 
  • Weeding and tidying up Tulip tree bed
  • Potting on chillis that have been grown from seed
  • Seed sowing of biennials and pricking out
  • Planting more ammi and cornflowers 
  • Pruning the hawthorn and clearing the bed underneath ready for cosmos

Vicky got a breather from path work this week as more pebbles are being ordered for the last bit of path work. Check out website of Maggy Howarth for images of amazing mosaic pebble paths.








Plus Mandy's amazing hat not only knitted by her but with wool that she had dyed with woad




Sunday 11 May 2014

Friday 9th May 2014


 

Most of the tulips have gone over now and we are emptying pots in the Garden House - bulbs can be stored for planting again in late autumn. They can be kept in a shed but need to be in a container that allows for the air to get to them so they don't rot off. They can also be planted straight into the ground if they are to be kept for next year. It is not too late to sow cosmos directly into modules and cosmos are usually resistant to slugs and snails and keep flowering through into early autumn.

We had some discussion about tender perennials - these are plants that have a life cycle of more than 2 years but would get damaged by frost if left out in the garden throughout the whole year. We looked at some examples in the plant identification:
  • Nemesia 'Wisley Vanilla' - flowers all summer and smells of vanilla. It is happy in sun or part shade and is usually treated as an annual- remove faded flower stem to encourage re-blooming.

Nemesia 'Wisley Vanilla'
  • Verbena 'Sissinghurst' - has clusters of pink flowers - it flowers from May until the frosts if dead headed regularly. It likes full sun.


Verbena 'Sissinghurst'
  • Felicia Amelloides or blue marguerite is a South African tender perennial- it likes well drained soil and full sun
Felicia Amelloides
  • Nicotiana 'Marshmallow' - an unusual variety of Nicotiana ( tobacco plant) with faded red, pink and white flowers which will be planted in pots in the Garden House. Nicotiana seeds need to be sow in March & April and the plants will flower through July, August and September.
Nicotiana 'Marshmallow'

Activities in the garden this week:
  • pot up and organise the display of pelargoniums
  • potting up new hydrangea plants for display outside the garden room
  • planting out broad beans, peas and chard
  • clearing a bed in the greenhouse for some special lettuce plants
  • pricking out cosmos seedlings
  • emptying pots of tulip and narcissus ready for planting up
  • planting up viola pots
  • more path work for Vicky



Wednesday 7 May 2014

Friday 2nd May 2014

Today most of the group went to work on a garden in Preston Drove apart from Vicky and Julia. Vicky continued with the path work with some help from John and Julia potted on cosmos and tomatoes. 

There was a plant ID from Paul's plants for sale, all in flower now, mid spring:
Lychnis flos-cuculi 'White Robin'


  • Lychnis flos-cuculi - a beautiful white form of Ragged Robin. It likes damp soil (which most of us don't have) but the pink Ragged Robin is a native of SE so must be ok on chalk. clump-forming herbaceous perennial with an upright, branching habit. Can be grown from seed. 
  • Geranium phaeum lividum - pale lilac-pink flowers, this hardy geranium likes semi-shade.
  • Chives on a larger scale than usual with large pale flowers - decorative and edible, a selection from Graham Gough at Marchants Hardy Plants,  

Bridge also talked about the value of biennials - e.g. foxgloves, wallflowers, honesty (lunaria), sweet rocket (hesperis matronalis) - as they flower in the gap between the spring bulbs and spring flowers like primroses, and the early summer flowering plants like roses and alliums.

There was also a discussion about  Leather Jackets - larvae of crane flies - which are often a pest of lawns but can turn up elsewhere, and may come in bought-in turf. Look like fat greyish caterpillars. Sue reports they have been eating her vegetable plants.

Photos taken of Friday group outreach team :









Photos of the dedicated path team:


 





Elaine's garden looking lovely a couple of years on from Friday group visit