Ne'er cast a clout till May be out
Thursday, June 4, 2015
The origin of the old country proverbs may be lost in the
mists of time but they still have relevance in these modern times.
Many people will be familiar with the words of the proverb in the
Headline to this News Item but it has always been something of an
enigma. Is the reference to May the month or the may tree
(hawthorn) ? There is a correlation between the two as the hawthorn
usually flowers during the month but at vastly different times
depending on the prevailing weather conditions. This year at the
end of a prolonged cold Spring, flowering did not occur until the
last week of May so either way it should now be safe to take off
your clothes! ("clout") On a more serious note and this is a
gardening website after all, having had frosts in my time here as
late as 4 June, I am certainly wary of planting out anything
vaguely tender before the month end, and later sowings and
plantings always catch up anything sown earlier. This news reflects
a difficulkt month but also the first signs of of summer just
around the corner. I hope you enjoy the journey.
The native hawthorn at the bottom of the Paddock Garden
allowing a pink (unknown cultivar) clematis montana to climb into
the upper branches
Weather
Twice the monthly rainfall than the long term mean and a much
colder month overall than average especially at night when we were
so close to a frost on numerous occasions that the horticultural
fleece had to come out again. There were 26 nights with a minimum
temperature below 10C (6 under 5C) lowest of 2C on 1 and15 May and
even 31st had a min of 3C. There were some warmer days with a max
of 21C, the magic 70F in old currency. Even then I didn't cast a
clout whimp that I am! The shorts are however ready for the first
prolonged warm spell we get - like my plants I have to build up to
it!!
One plant that has really enjoyed the cool wet May is
the Himalayan blue poppy. All those we grow are meconopsis Fertile
Blue Group "Lingholm Hybrids. When backlight by the sun they are
exquisite.
Garden Update
At last in the second week of the month I completed all the
weeding only to turn around and see where I had started 3 weeks
previously the weeds had started to grow again! I fed all
the borders with pelleted chicken manure which is the only feeding
that most of the herbaceous perennials get all year. Many vistors
are surprised at this but I have found over the years that
excessive feeding only leads to exuberant leafy growth which is
floppy and more prone to pests and diseases, and often less flowers
too. The only plants that get exttra feeding on a regular basis are
roses and flowering shrubs using a high potass and phosphate
fertiliser (like rose food), clematis, lilies and long lived
perennials especially hellebores which get a dose of well rotted
farmyard manure. Of course all the veggies except the legumes and
root crops have regular additions of manure and fish, blood and
bone fertiliser my preferred general purpose feriliser. Because we
are on acid soil I also lime heavily after potatoes and use
calcified seaweed which is a great long lasting general tonic
and soil improver. I can't believe the quality of the vegetables we
have harvested since I started using this in 2013
After a late sowing there has been good germination of all root
crops including the problematic parsnips which many people struggle
to germinate. Some good brassicas are now in taking us up to late
summer with all the autumn and winter varieties due for planting in
the next few weeks. Hispi cabbage is ready for cutting now from a
mid January sowing in gentle heat. And the first lettuce and radish
too - my first memory of growing veg at the age of 6! Two rows of
peas up (Hurst Green Shaft the only variety we grow) and no trouble
so far with rodents or rabbits - I hope it stays that way with 3
more rows to sow. This way we have fresh peas from July to
September
On the subject of crops what about this - fields of
oilseed rape in full flower in fields near Skenfrith,
Monmouthshire. So beautifully composed it could be a painting . You
just can't take your eyes off that black barn and the track that
leads you to it.
I am so glad I delayed planting the potatoes because they missed
the late frosts and are growing strongly but will crop later than
usual. Hope we don't get early blight this year.
Plenty of flowers on the strawberries which last year we were
eating in early June - mid to late June looks more likely
this year. Having struggled to establish raspberries to replace old
canes I grubbed out 2 years ago, I planted 2 tayberries, a
raspberry/ blackberry cross which is rampant and thorny but is
looking good and promising a good harvest of luscious dark berries.
At the rate it is growing it will soon outgrow the fruit cage but
by that time hopefully the new rasberries will be productive.
In the flower borders I need to continue to fill gaps and to
plant out module sown late flowering annuals like nicotiana,
rudbeckias, cleomes, cosmos and sunflowers. The wildflower mix I
sowed in April has germinated fantastically well and there is
promise of some really speciall flowering in the wilder borders of
the gardens. It has been so much easier to direct sow than to grow
them in modules and plant out iundividually and it will of course
look much more naturalistic. I am thrilled that once again this
year we should have cardoicrinums in flower in a few weeks time.
There are 2 plants to flower for the first time and one which was
an offshoot from one of those that flowered last year. (This is one
of the ways they reproduce themselves when the main bulb dies after
flowering and by all accounts this cycle can continue for many
years as the clumps get bigger and bigger) Normally these take 2-3
years, but for some reason this one looks like it will do it iin 1
year.
Cardiocrinum giganteum with emerging flower bud already
over 3 feet tall
The moist Paddock Pond edge is ablaze with candalabra primulas
of various kinds, trolliius, iiris sibirica and some superb hostas
in what appears to be a vintage year so far. They are revelling in
all the rain and the cooler temperatures.
Pics of the pond edge next month when the iris are in flower
Hosta "Frances Williams", divisions from a plant of
first purchased in 1986 and still going strong. Agood slug
resistant form.
Hostas in the rockery outside the conservatory. The
white medio -variegata in the front is the wonderful "Lakeside Love
Affaire" What a great name for a lovely hosta
Finally I am just about keeping ahead of all the jobs in the
nursery thanks to all the pricking out and potting on that Moira
has done this month. Just as well we have plenty of plants as we
are now selling them at the Myddfai Community Hall and Visiitor
Centre, in addition to visitors to the gardens and at the talks we
deliver across South Wales.
Just opposite the Hall is the Village church. There is a
tradition in the part of Wales to erect elaborate archways decked
with greenery and flowers. Old timers in the village have told me
that Lloyd George spoke on these steps during an election
campaign. No Tv or social media in those days!
What's looking good?
Despite the slow start to May the bearded iris were no later
than usual and have put on a tremendous show. After flowering last
May I spilit the large clumps, replanted single fans and fed them
with bonemeal . It appears to have worked wonders. Some years ago
we had an unforgettable visist to Monet's garden in Giverny,
France. The bearded iris were at their peak lining walkways in
their multi coloured hues and scenting a warm May day with a
delicate but unmistakeable vanilla perfume. I was hooked and at the
Courson Flower Show the next day I bought my first bearded iris
from Cayeaux, a world leader in iris breeding. I still have that
pale blue iris, which has been split so many times that I have
rather too many of them, so I am slowly starting to gather more
cultivars and extending the range of colours.
Aquilegias as always, and whatever the weather, can be reiled
upon to flower profusely in May. How long that will continue is in
some doubt now as cases of a new disease, aquilegia downy mildew,
have been reported in the horticultural press. It is not clear how
widespread it is but the main concern, as with most instances
of plant speciific forms of downy mildew, there is is no
cure. For more information go to www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=866
Most of my aquilegias are grown from seed gathered
in the Gardens and you get some amazing differences with seeds from
the same mother plant as in this case
The slow growth and plenty of rain has encouraged plants to
build up their roots so that when they have broken into growth it
has been impressive, particularly in foliage plants like hostas
which look absolutely fantastic. Some clumps appear to have doubled
in size which is most notable on the smaller forms in the rock
garden outside the conservatory. The opportunity to take many pics.
of pristine hostas was good timing because I was asked in
March to contribute an article to the 2015 edition of the Bulletin
of the British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society. We now have around
300 hostas in the gardens sounds a lot but there are in excess of
4,000 registered cultivars worldwide and many more unnamed
forms.
Whilst waiting for the flowers to come in quantity there was
time to concentrate on the part that foliage plays in the
appreciation of plants. It can be all to easy to ignore but flowers
come and go whilst foliage provides substance and impact for most
of the year. Particularly in Spring early foliage emerges in a wide
range of shades through all the green spectrum to bronze,
yellows, and glaucous blue, Diiferent leaf forms and patterns add
to the overall impression and I took so many pics that I can feel
anoither talk coming on!
Rodgersia "Irish Bronze" does what it says on the
tin, and stays this wonderful bronze shade until turning green late
than most other forms we grow. It has made a large plant 4 feet
tall and 5 feet wide.
Podophyllum "Spotty Dotty" a highly sought after and
expensive shade lover. Justified when you look at that unique
foliage
The prehistoric gunnera recovering after being severely
frosted in April. The largest herbaceous plant you can grow outside
in the UK
An even earlier plant which came to me as dryopteris
namegatae
And from the sublime to the ridiculous our 40
feet beech tree showing the tracery of black branches against the
newly emerging leaves. Even David Hockney a great tree painter
would struggle to improve on this.
Shades of blue make a big impact at this time of year and there
are planty of fine choices. I thought I had just about categorised
the main players but then in a council car park in Chipping Norton
last weekend I was blown away by a magnificient specimen of
ceonothus which I think was the form impressus. Almost too intense
a blue for the camera to captutre successfully in the bright
sunshine. (a new Nikon Coolpix P610 which is incredibly versatile
with a 60x zoom, macro to 1cm and bulit in wi-fi and gps to record
exactly where the pics were taken. What will they think of
next?)
And by way of complete contrast is theis dwarf
viola cornuta: a great value border plant growing in almost any
situation, flowering for up to 8 months a year with scented
flowers and long lived - What more could you
want?
The intense blue of corydalis "Tory MP" putting on a
celebratory show in part shade
And a stunning hydrangea serrata "Cap Sizun"a recent
introduction currently bulking up in the large polytunnel
before being planted outside
Two other plants I just had to share with you even
though they aren't blue!
Papaver orientale "Gravetye Beauty" a superb 4 - 5 foot
tall form hence the stake.
This rarity would defy most attempts to name it as is
quite unusual - a salvia from Africa with rust coloured flowers on
a silver leaved plant. "Salvia africanum"is tender and lives in the
large tunnel. It is about 2 feet tall.
Wildlife and countryside
Some disappointing absences in the migrant birds this year with
no sightings of pied flycatchers, redstarts or house martins, and
only spasmodic appearances of swallows. Herons however are regular
visitors to the Paddock Pond which possibly explains why there are
so few tadpoles this year after a very good spawning.
A lone swallow looking for a mate
You don't have to travel far by road not to be aware of the
current wildflower show all along most verges, although our
local council still has the annoying habit of cutting many of them
back before the flowers reach their peak putting our rural county
to shame compared with everywhere else we have been in Wales and
Eng;land over the last few weeks. One particularly impressive sight
near Buckingham for a mile or so along a dual carriageway (so
no pics!) was a combination of field poppies, hedge parsley,
stitchwort and yellowoil seed rape Better than anything we
could conceive proving what we know be true - that nature really
does it best. Although to be fair to many counciils the recent
practice of sowing wildflower mixes in lieu of carpet bedding
has extended the naturalistic feeilng into towns and city centres -
and even I am trialling it in the less formal areas of the gardens
here.
Hedge parsley or Cow parlsy whatever the local name is
for anthriscus just outside the garden gate
Visits and visitors.
We are now open for visits by prior arrangement from June untill
the end of August and for the 16th coninuous year, are supporting
the National Gardens Scheme. Please click the Visits tab in the
heading to this website for more information.
Just one talk in May to our local gardening club in Llandovery
which was a great success, my latest talk entitled "Stunning Summer
Perennials" continuing to be well received.
A couple of outings this month to the RHS Malvern Spring
Festival, where the cold dull weather took the edge off the
day,
a
Stunning lupins from West country Nurseries in a
"Persian Carpet" flower scheme. " weeks later this same display
deservedly won Best in Show at Chelsea
Filming a superb show garden BBC TV. We counted
over 20 staff invloved in the filming!
The other trip to friends in Buckingham included on the way home
a stop off at Kiftsgate, a particular favourite of ours. We have
never visited at this time of year and it was like a visit to a new
garden, the different palette of plants giving totally new
perspectives. Immaculately presented as always, a warm welcome from
he owners and superb choice of unusual or rare plants for sale
especially roses. And what a setting commanding views of Evesham
Vale from an elevated yet sheltered position. I can't recommend it
too highly to you. If you get the chance -GO!
The beautiful house sits comfortably in its grounds. It
has been gardened by 3 generations of lady gardeners
But it isn't afraid to successfully tackle modern
either!
A huge collection of deutzias opened our eyes to
what this underated genus has to offer in the spring garden. Cut
back hard after flowering the plants are more floriferous and
shapely. This one is "Strawberry Fields"
This elegant magnolia is a late flowering and
highlky choice form: m.wilsonii with downward facing elegant
scented flowers on a small tree
And finally news of a Garden Party on 5 July at Glan - Yr -Afon,
Pumpsaint, owned by our good friends Anne and Philip. They are
members of Cothi Gardeners, an active local gardening group.
The opening is in aid of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation as
one of the members of the Group, Jane, at the age of just 41,
was recently diagnosed with that disease. It is hoped that
the opening between 1 and 6 pm will be a great success and
that lots of money will be raised. For further details visit www.cothigardeners.com/events/