Pampered Box

I went to the hairdressers last week and listening to the scissors snip, snip snipping, I was reminded that our two box balls outside the front door were also in need of a makeover.

The Box burst into life in the early spring with lots of bright, lime-coloured shoots which soon concealed the dark green shape underneath.  Although I was itching to prune the shoots back immediately, I resisted.  Pruning sappy growth before it has toughened up, leaves topiary looking unsightly rather than architectural.  Late May and June are the best months turn shaggy box topiary shapes into neat and tidy ones again. 

It is a good idea to choose a dull day to trim box as partly cut leaves can dry and scorch in bright sunshine.  To make clearing up afterwards easier, I stand the pot on a polythene sheet.  It is recommended you use a pair of hand held trimmers which look a bit like sheep shears.  For a perfect shape, you can twist a length of garden wire into a circular shape slightly smaller than the mass of foliage and move it round the plant with one hand as you snip with the other.  Personally, I prefer to wing it using standard sheers and the more faffing I do, the less I like the finished result. Remember, just like hair, it grows out again.  
 

I think cone shapes are easier to trim because you can rest three canes on the sides of the cone and push them into the ground. Secure the canes at the top to make a wigwam and bind the sides together with garden wire. Restore the cone shape by standing above the plant and pruning in an outward direction from the centre.

I often give the box a second trim in the season, but no later than August so the plant can recover before growth slows in the autumn. 

Box is quite thirsty when grown in a container so I make sure the pot is large enough and I feed it with a general fertiliser during the growing season. I even water it now and then during the winter months too. 

I have wondered about trying to grow more challenging shapes and have seen wire topiary shapes for sale at the garden centre.  Looking at my ever-so-slightly lopsided box balls though, I have the feeling that maybe I should quit whilst I am ahead. 

 

Wisteria Sinensis (Chinese Wisteria)

A large heap of organic compost goes a long way in the quest for a beautiful garden.  However, you also need a never-ending supply of patience.  Try to growing a Wisteria and your patience will be tested.  If you buy a plant that is not grafted and you could wait 20 years for the first bloom.  Thankfully, garden centres and nurseries now stock grafted plants - but even so, you will have to wait up to 5 years before you see any significant action.

If you try growing a young wisteria you will have to get used to it sitting in the garden for a few years, doing nothing in particular yet still needing your attention.   In fact I will go as far as saying that young wisterias look quite ugly, with those straggly stems that have to be coaxed and trained.

But upon its first show of colour, a Wisteria is truly a wondrous display of pink, lilac, white or purple flowers that hang like bunches of grapes.  It is a celebration of gardening and the best plant for drama, colour, and fragrance.  It encourages garden envy like no other plant and is has earned its place as a must-have for any garden. 

Ours has flowered for the first time this week.  It can hardly be called a show stopper yet, but half a dozen flowers is a promising start and has lifted our spirits.  I found the label it came with but unfortunately neither of us can remember when it was planted!  I really must put the date on all plant labels in future.

If you are thinking about growing a Wisteria you need to consider a few things first.  Wisterias are not self-supporting and the stems need something to twine around.  They can be grown as standard trees but mostly they are grown against buildings and walls, or draped over arches, pergolas and pillars.  Remember though that the support needs to be robust.  When it takes off, wisteria can be rampant and very heavy.  Consider too, that a Wisteria needs lots of sunshine so plant it in a spot where it has space to grow and preferably in full sun for the best blooms.

I have read that the most popular variety is Wisteria sinensis, the Chinese wisteria.  It twines anti-clockwise and the fragrant mauve or lilac flowers bloom before its leaves appear.  The Japanese wisteria, W. floribunda, twines around supports in a clockwise direction and there are blossoms and leaves at the same time.  This is confusing for us because our plant label says we have a sinensis and yet we have flowers and leaves at the same time.  I wonder if our plant had the wrong label attached to it?

For many people, pruning their wisteria causes great anxiety.  However, it is not difficult to do.  Just follow a few simple rules and you won’t go far wrong.  Firstly, prune your specimen twice a year so it will be floriferous and not grow out of the space you have allocated to it. 

In July or August, cut back the whippy green shoots of the new growth, to 3-5 leaves.  This restricts the plant’s growth and stops it escaping from the garden. 

Winter pruning is best carried out in January during the dormant season.  However, if it snows, do it in February.  Cut back the same growths to 2 buds and give the plant a tidy up.  Make sure the flowers will not be covered by too many leaves and check the supports are firm. 

Persevere with a Wisteria and you will be rewarded with colour and scent that turns your garden into a paradise.  And the bonus is that you will be the talk of the neighbourhood!

 

The Herbaceous Peony

There is nothing quite as delicious and extravagant as a peony.   They have huge, blousy and richly coloured blooms, laced with scent which makes them truly exciting.  Ours were here when arrived so we don’t know this particular variety but the colour is stunning.  It is the star performer in May and neither of us can pass by without gazing them.  

Peonies have a reputation of being difficult to grow but as with most plants, if you give them what they need they seldom disappoint.  The only time our plants struggle is when there is heavy rainfall and wind just as they come into flower. 

The flowers are bigger than my hand and the stems cannot possibly support the weight.  One of our must-do jobs in the early spring is to stake the plants as soon as we see the first fresh foliage peeping out of the soil.  If we forget and try to do it later on, the stems break and there is just an unsightly pile of petals and foliage.

Don’t believe anyone who says that an herbaceous peony cannot be successfully moved.   Do it in the autumn and try to cause as little disturbance to the root system as possible.  Plant it at exactly the same level and water it well - very well.   If you don’t do this, it will sulk for a couple of years and refuse to flower.  

I could not resist cutting a few flowers to enjoy in the house but if you have young plants it is best to resist doing this until its second or even third year.  Always leave at least a quarter of the stems on each plant to photosynthesise and feed the roots through summer and autumn.

I have decided that several clumps of this wonderful plant are not enough.  We are going to a rare plant fair soon, so I shall be looking out for some different varieties.  I simply cannot get enough of them.

A Garden is Dangerous

It is well documented how dangerous gardening is.  Even the word ‘garden’ is an anagram of ‘danger’. As soon as spring arrives, we keen gardeners feel the sap of enthusiasm rise and we rush outside to dig, chop, carry, bend, kneel and stretch - not for an hour or two but the whole day.  If we survive that first day in the green gym, the second will surely to send us reaching for the anti-inflammatory potions and the comfort of a hot bath.

The secret ,of course, is to build up the activity and alternate tasks so nothing is too repetitive. Treading carefully and gentle exercise is not a sign of weakness but human beings are not rational, are they?

Doc takes no notice of sensible advice.  He is a doctor, so what does he know about aches and strains and accidents?  He thrives on physical work.  He is fit for his age but his idea of taking things steady is ticking off 18 holes on the golf course followed by 4 hours attacking the monster weeds in the garden.  For an encore he will wash a car or two.  Still, he sleeps well and has the luxury of indulging in double portions of pudding because he burns up lots of calories.  (Some people have all fun, don’t they?)

Doc also displays bravado when it comes to climbing ladders and this is one area that for me, is a step too far.  For years I was the annual 'shaking' anchor woman at the bottom of the ladder whilst he heroically cleaned out the gutters.  Since my foot problem developed, I am no longer a trustworthy anchor and we have defaulted to GAMIN (Get A Man In) for that particular task. Then last week, I unthinkingly let slip that I had spotted that some of the panes in the greenhouse roof had slipped, leaving gaps for rain to come through.  Doc seized the opportunity to repair the situation.  Despite the fact that the greenhouse is large with a steep pitch, he was scathing of my suggestion to call in an expert.  He was adamant he was capablehe of fixing the problem and it would save us a lot of money.

I tried to bribe him with the promise of cake but he declined. He put on a pair of heavy duty gardening gloves and up the step ladder he went, one creaking step at a time.  The sheets of glass were large and he had to carefully and accurately manouvre each one into a new position. The air was, as they say, thick with tension.  At one particularly wobbly moment I covered my face with my hands and peaked through the gaps.  I was terrified and imagined the Paramedics running down the path with a stretcher.  The Smalls will be furious, I thought.   “Why did you let him do it?” they would yell.  Thankfully though, Doc was lucky and in the longest hour I have spent for quite a while, he repaired the seals and secured the glass.

The look of self-satisfaction on his face worried me.   It was the kind of look John Wayne wears in those old movies.  It is the look that goes with the words “A Man has to do what a Man has to do.”  The trouble is that what John Wayne did was film trickery and Doc is made of real-life perishable flesh and bone.

Before Doc put his gun back in his holster and swaggered back up to the house, he set out the mousetraps in the greenhouse, primed with peanut butter.  (We have been having little visitors in there for some time and their munching of my lettuce plants has to stop.)  Of course, being post-menopausal, my memory fails more times than I can remember and I forgot the traps were strategically placed amongst the pots.  Thanks to my ailing foot, I am also quite unsteady on my legs.  However, I am pleased to report that I did manage to escape the claws of the traps but I don’t think I will mention to Doc that it took super-human effort and skill to avoid disaster.  Given my disability, I am impressed by my nifty dance moves and creative use of a window catch.  Yes, gardens are dangerous but a “Woman has to do what a Woman has to do......”