I was only introduced to the Astrantia a couple of years ago. I won this plant in the raffle at our local Gardening Club and knew very little about it. Members advised me that it was a cottage garden plant and that it would like light shade. I planted it carefully and waited. It grew very well and expanded well beyond its space so last autumn, I lifted the clump, split it and spread it around the garden.
It seems to do well in both sunshine and light shade. It is a pretty, understated flower but I don’t know the name of the variety. I have since been told that people have difficulty growing this plant from seed and yet it can seed itself around a garden. However, it does have one downside. I was down on my knees weeding (my foot is still a problem) and there was an awful smell. With a little investigation and suspecting that cats were the culprit, I discovered the source of the odour was actually the Astrantia! Still, it hasn’t put me off. I am planning to buy a pink or lilac one too.
This Vibernum or ‘snowball’ tree is a popular feature at Springfield – when it is in flower. For the rest of the year it looks uninspiring but is a healthy, old established shrub which has now grown into a medium sized tree. It does tolerate hard pruning but it did suffer last winter. The flowering has been relatively poor this year but in previous years it has been one huge snowball made up of lots of snowballs! The flowers are supposed to have a nice scent but like the Astrantia, I find them rather unpleasant. However, we like having this tree in the garden and try to make a point of admiring it when it is in flower. This photo was taken the week and it was just finishing flowering and interestingly, the final flowers were all on the same part of the tree.
The vegetable garden is becoming more productive and the trugs are filling up. We have lovely Little Gem lettuces, lots of mangetout (which we eat raw in a salad or lightly steamed as a hot vegetable) and a good crop of Charlottes - which are ‘First Early’ potatoes. However, these are Late Earlies, if you know what I mean, because of the cold spring.
The radishes needed a bucket rather than a trug to bring them up to the house because we have a glut of them. I have not mastered the skill of producing just enough of the 'catch crops' when we need them. I do succession sow radishes but the rows either catch up with each other or one row fails and we have a gap in supply. I had to pick all those that were ready today, wash them and put them in the fridge because the recent heavy rain is inviting slugs to dinner. Still, homegrown radishes are much more flavoursome than those you buy so we don't mind pigging out on them for a few days. They are lovely dipped in salt but we use them as dippers for a greek yogurt, grated cheese and mixed herb dip.
I expect all the salad onions will be ready at the same time too but they will stand for a while and don’t attract pests. There are several Lollo Rosso lettuces and a whole row of Webbs Wonderful that will probably bolt before they get to our plates. I miss the chickens and today there were enough leaves to share with them.......
The baby 'bunching' carrots are those I sowed in pots in the greenhouse, during the late winter and I am very pleased with the results. We have had 10 generous portions from 2 x 10 inch pots. I just sprinkled the seed thinly on the surface of peat-free compost, sprinkled extra compost on top and kept the pots watered and fed occasionally. The taste is sublime and it is a real treat to eat carrots which taste of carrot. The carrots in the raised bed outside are growing slowly but hopefully we will get larger carrots for the main season which will store for a while. However, I did not erect a baffle - working on the principle that they were sown very late and the carrot fly will have flown past before the carrots were up and about wafting their scent across the open fields behind us. Only time will tell, of course.
There are pleasing eyefuls of colour dotted around the garden. Roses and clematis lift our spirits and this clematis is the gaudiest of all at the moment. It is called Fireworks and a single flower is bigger than doc’s hand. They might not be the most sophisticated flower choice but who cares? We need an overdose of colour after such a long, cold winter and disappointing spring.
When we moved here 9 years ago, there were many unfamiliar plants. It was like arriving at a party and I didn’t know many of people here. But as I got to know them, many of the new plants became good friends and I would really miss them if they disappeared.
We have both white and pink clumps of Dicentra and these pretty ladies been a revelation. The pendulous heart-shaped flowers dangle on the arching stems, delivering both colour and movement every season. Dicentra does well in shade or sunshine, has a long flowering period and does not suffer from any pests or disease. This glorious pink one sits underneath the purple/copper beech tree and the contrast between the pink flowers and bronzy leaves is striking.
The Laburnum tree was another new friend I made and believe it or not, I named it the ‘yellow tassle’ tree until a neighbour explained what it is. For some inexplicable reason I always think of the Laburnum tree as a male. Perhaps it is because most of the year he is a little rough around the edges and quite boring! He is poisonous too, if consumed in large quantities but he is worth having around because once a year, in early spring, he puts on a dazzling show.
Some plants are friends because friends have given them to me. I met my treasured friend, Sally, over 30 years ago and she brought me a Honeysuckle Americana as a housewarming gift. I had always thought of these plants as shy, shade lovers but at the time the only available place to plant the Honeysuckle was in the south-west facing border at the back of the house. But it adores the heat and the red and yellow flowers are seductively fragrant. Like most things this season it is flowering later this year and currently it is worth stepping out through the French window just to take a really good sniff of it. I also have a later flowering, pale pink climbing Jasmine growing through it and the two of them are quite chummy, rubbing shoulders as they scramble up the house.
Chocolates are nice but the gift of a plant is nicer. It lasts longer, offers calorie-free pleasure and you never forget who gave it to you. The only thing you have to watch is that you don’t kill it. Now that would be a bad omen for your friendship!
I read with amusement a while ago that Camellias can be grown successfully in containers. Our Camellia, which has been at Springfield for decades, had grown to over 20 feet high and 10 feet wide at the last calculation and our acid soil suits it. We don’t know the variety (maybe it is a Williamsii) but it has delivered consistently for the 9 plus years we have lived here and is a mass of bright pink flowers in late winter. For us, the Camellia in full bloom is a sign that spring is on the way. In the past we have had flowers in February though this year, the late spring caused it to come into flower much later. We thought it may miss flowering this year but we were not disappointed.
However, the size of our Camellia is now history because it started to look unruly a couple of years ago and Something Had To Be Done. Today, Doc set out with the loppers and it now stands 8 feet high, diminutive compared to what it was. We are hoping it is sighing to itself: “Oh thank goodness, you have taken me in hand!” rather than “Oh help, I am dying.......”
The time to prune a Camellia is immediately after flowering so that there is enough time during the active growing season for it to form new buds for next year. However, with such a hard prune in mid June, we doubt we shall see a single flower next year. We are prepared to take the hit and hopefully, our beloved Camellia will come back rejuvenated and with increased vigour in a few years time.
According to the RHS, hard pruning and renovation is safe and reliable. I shall feed it with ericaceous feed, leaf mould and mulch with bark. With some decent rainfall (never use tap water on a Camellia) it should perk up by the end of the season. We have faith in it, we must believe it will flower again.
As I type, Doc is still trundling up and down the garden, taking the amputations to the bonfire. Whilst he had the loppers in his hand, a couple of rhododendrons received a similar treatment. I wish I could help him but my foot is still painful and I am confined to light duties.
The Camellia is related to the tea plant (Camellia Sinensis, I think), which also belongs to the Camellia family of large trees/shrubs. Doc is addicted tea and would drink it all day, every day, before food, with food, after food and between food. By the time he comes in this evening, he will be in need of a very large cuppa. It is well deserved and thoroughly appropriate under the circumstances. Better go and put the kettle on.
For the past few days it has felt like summer - and not a moment too soon. The garden is energised and today I brought out my sun hat. Dare I say it, but it was too hot to garden this afternoon!
Fingers crossed, my inability to grow aubretia may be at an end. Slugs are a menace in our garden and although we treat the raised vegetable beds with biological warfare (nematodes), it is too expensive to treat the rest of the garden. However, I had an idea how to keep them off our vulnerable ornamentals and my method is free! With great dexterity I picked some holly leaves and arranged them around the base of an aubretia plant and despite heavy rain for several days, not a single slug enjoyed a nibble. I am wondering if the prickles really do put them off and that my as yet unpatented method keeps the slugs saying 'ouch'. I will have to be careful myself when weeding.
Two lilac aliums have sprouted up with some yellow poppies in the border at the front of the house, underneath the kitchen window. We planted some bulbs years ago but it was the wrong situation for them - not enough sun and the soil is not very good. Anyway, years later two have come up to greet us, right underneath the bird table! Perhaps they will seed and eventually we will have a decent stand of them.
The box balls that were at the front door have been moved to near the garage to make way for the fuschias and some summer colour to welcome the postman. However, they are in need of a trim and I was never very good at cutting the children's hair, so I am unlikely to do a good job in re-shaping them. I could always ask my hairdresser to have a go with them........
The oak tree that had been partially felled a few doors up from us, was finally cut down today. It used to tower above the gardens on our side of the road. Impressive though the operation to remove it has been, it is sad to see the tree go. But it was sick and now there is an opportunity to replace it and look to the future.
Some gardeners believe that no colour combination clashes in nature. We have masses of different coloured rhododendrons and this pink one was planted probably a hundred or more years ago when the house was built. I don't know if the yellow azalea was planted at the same time but here they are, living side by side in perfect harmony. The azalea has a wonderful scent and we don't mind the yellow and pink together.
The orchard has been mown and the spent daffodil foliage cut down. However, we like to pretend there is a meadow theme going on down there so Doc has mown paths and left nature to itself. We are not sure whether this is a good idea or not because there are signs that Orange Hawkweed could take over. We do have cow parsley and some unknown wild flowers, though it depends which website you browse as to whether a plant is a beautiful, native wild flower or a pernicious weed.
I could do with a sit down but there is work to do. Time for tea and then its back to the plot to water the tomatoes in the greenhouse. I am struggling with my painful, post-fractured foot (see previous posts!) but I am determined not to give up. It is amazing how much I can do in an hour before I need a sit down and I have learned the art of prioritisation. Doc has also learned a thing or two such as how to take orders!
