Patience, persistence, perfection!
Sunday, June 30, 2019
After last month's marathon web news I have resolved this month
to try andexercise more self control. I tell myself this most
months but once I get going I never know when to stop!!
Headlines are often a stumbling block to starting,but once I
have decided on one it is relatively easy to make a start. This
month's Headline:- Persistence, Patience and Perfection is
quite different as it came about whilst I was thinning 7 long rows
of carrots - more on this garden task later on. I was trying
to rationalise the back breaking task of pulling up many tiny
carrot plants, to keep me on track 6 hours into the task! The
qualities needed to do this are much the same as what I
practice every day in the garden in all the other jobs I do.You
always regret later cutting corners which usually adds to more work
or problems later. Whether I think the same about the
continous weeding of this wet summer is another matter!
Weather
Like most other parts of the UK the weather here has been
challenging and had a negative impact on how well the gardens
have looked. Very little colour apart from green! and ground
so sticky that it is very difficult to work on.
Basic weather Stats:- 9 Days of sunshine, 9 Days of
precipitation, 12 days of changeable weather, a mix of
precipitation and sun. Thunder on 10th. Temperatures:- Max
26C on 29th, Min4C on 22nd, 3days of strong wind at the end of the
month rated at 45 mph on local forecasts. Some minor damage to
plants. Rainfall 7.7" Exceptionally high for Carmarthenshire
which has a June average Rainfall of 3"
This fine study in green includes helleborus x
ericsmithii, and in the middle of the group if you can spot it,
arisaema sanguineum and an unlabelled fern.
A spell of warmer and drier weather towards the end of the month
was welcome and in the space of a few days, colour flooded into the
gardens as roses, lilies, alstroemeria, delphiniums, geraniums to
name just a few got into their stride.
None more so than philadelphus "Belle Etoile" one
of three varities of the genus in the garden and by far the
best and most pwerfully scented which on a humid and hot evening
can be enjoyed from 40 yards across the House Garden. 2 weeks on it
is now plastered in flowers.
There is however a positive side in that streams and rivers have
risen and so watering the borders and nursery has
rarely been necessary for the first time in three months. Something
Moira is especially grateful for as she does all the watering in
the nursery.
The Paddock Pond has now been freshened and
topped up from the stream which runs into it.
We have however been more fortunate than many other places
in that there have been no floods here and no serious thunder and
lightning.
Reviewing weather records I discovered that we had 2 similar
Junes in 2011 and 2012. If it is any consolation, in those
years the weather finally picked up later. In a recent TV
News bulletin the forecaster said that the UK had low pessure every
day in June up to 16th.
A marvellous sky on the hottest night of the year
so far with what looked like a mackerel Sky. In country lore that
sort of sky is supposed to predict changeable weather but there was
none forecast for the next 24 hours. However the old country lore
won the day - "Mackerel sky never long wet and never long dry" and
sure enough during the night there was light rain into the early
morning!
Garden Update
I have already referred to veggies in the heading to this News
in relation to thining carrots which applies equally to beetroot ,
parsnips and swede.
I thought I am getting too old for this but as I
don't like bendy carrots it is worth it!
It looks wasteful but however thinly you sow the
seed there is always too much. It was and may still be possible to
buy degradeable strips set with carrot seed at the corect
spacings.
Most vegetables have enjoyed all the rain with the exception of
onions, and the more tender vegetables (it has also been quite cold
at times) with courgettes showing yellow patches. Potatoes
have very generous haulms and showing the odd flowers but are still
some way off the first harvest.
The first of the brassicas are now cropping. Lettuce and salad
leaves also., cabbages and kohl rabi with brocolli heading up.
Khol Rabi is an astonishing vegetable which is a swollen
stem. Tasting similar to the stalks of heading broccoli but much
sweeter. We roast it but there are other ways of cooking it. The
most we have enjoyed it is grated into coleslaw in lieu of white
cabbage, with all the other vegetables. It is crunchy, nutty and as
I said sweet. delicious!
With the absence of rabbits for the first time in ages, it has
been such a joy to be able to grow most veg without a potective
layer of horti. fleece, which may be needed soon once the carrot
fly and cabbage white butterflies begin to appear in larger numbers
- just the odd one or two seen so far. After the
disappointing crop of brassicas last year I have gone bonkers
growing a large and varied range to ensure that we have no
shortages later in the year and into winter. Brussel sprouts
already growing strongly but it will be some time before they are
ready and you don't really want to eat them much before
October.
With a smaller vegetable patch than I used to have, I
save space by sowing or planting out salad leaves and lettuce
around the perimeters of all the other vegetable beds.
Lawns look lush but cutting them has reduced from three times to
once a week and whilst the rain continues one less chore to do! but
I do try to keep on top of cutting the lawn edges which creates a
sharp line between the lawns and the adjoining borders.
Many of the high impact summer perennials have needed staking
before they start to flop, by which time it is almost too late to
do this.
Shrubs are very valuable in mixed borders which most of
ours are, and this dark leaved physocarpus with clear white flowers
makes a terrific contribution and blends in well with its border
comapanions through the seasons
Even larger shrubs like the dark leaved elder
"Black Lace", and the oldest shrub in the garden a ponticum
rhododendron which was here when we came.
Pests and diseases :-Slugs and snails, aphids
on hellebore leaves, capsid bugs on a wide range of plants,
blackfly on beans, leaf miner on brassicas which I have never had
before, and hemorocallis gall midge starting to destroy the flower
buds before they open. All fattened or mis shaped buds need to be
removed once observed. There is also rust on hollyhocks,
mildew on a variety of plants and lately some blackleg on some
potato stems. Quite a summer!
Gall midge
Hemerocallis liloasphodelus is always the first to
flower and with a perfume is a welcome arrival. The buds are mostly
in a good condition
Capsid damage on newly emerged dahlia
leaves.
An interesting garden bug (the froghopper or spittle bug)
has become common in the last month or so and is the source of much
scientific interest because it it is suspected as being a carrier
of the dreaded Xyella disease that has ravaged trees
and olive groves on the continent but has not yet been reported in
the UK. Most people will be familiar with a frothy foam with a grub
contained in it, on a large range of hosts but it seems to like
lavender as much as anything.
And in the tunnels whitefly are beginning to multiply which is
usual once the tomatoes have been planted.
What is/ was looking good?
Latterly higher temperatures and lack of rain
has at last brought on the roses very well.
Always one of the earliest
flower is a delicate and gently scented rose, just like it's name
sake "Jacqueline Du pre" The much loved and long since deceased
cellist.
Fittingly on the morning of the D Day celebrations this
intensely coloured oriental poppy came into flower:- a
fitting tribute to all those brave souls in the
conflict.
Not a Flanders popy but of the same family
No Photoshop on this honestly, just the bright morning
sun shining through the flowers.
Two separate events converged at almost the same time to draw my
attention to polemoniums, a genus of plants that I have not grown
for a long time. When I did grow them they didn't do that much for
me and I soon got bored with them, but to be fair I only had one
which was rather spindly and a wishy washy pale blue. This does
happen sometimes and then long after you re -visit them you
wonder on re-acquaintance why you gave up
on them.
I won a raffle prize last year at an HPS meeting that had
no pot label and was the last left to choose from. Several of our
knowledgeable members suggested in was a Jacob's
Ladder, the common name for the genus. It went into a
cold frame for the rest of winter where I found it in flower at the
beginning of the month, and what a difference to the one I had
grown all those years ago. The yellow red tubular flowers are
attractive and it is unusual in that it comes from South America
and is the only one in the genus of 25 species not to come
from the northern hemisphere.
Polemonium pauciflorum
There is also a good range of cultivars to choose from,
and once I get into plants new to me I start to collect them and
have since added white polemonium caeruleum f.album.; the true
species, as the name suggests has blue flowers. From several
variegated forms I have also collected polemonium reptans "Stairway
to Heaven" which originated from a plant society in New
England. It is an unusual variegation with pink, cream and green
tinges in the variegation.
Stairway to Heaven
The arrival of the June edition of the RHS The Plantsman
magazine was the other element in the convergence and contained a
detailed article on the subject of polemoniums which was most
timely and added much needed information to my limited knowledege
of the genus.
As a major horticultural figure of my acqaintance always says,
"The more I learn about plants the more I realise how little I
know"!
A new genus for me occurred in late August 2018 on an HPS visit
to a members garden. Elaine Horton is a fantastic plantswoman
who has acquired a large collection of plants of all kinds from
friends in horiculture and the nurseries she has run. In her garden
on that late summer day was a striking fairly short umbellifer in a
pot near to the house and almost all the visitors fell in love with
it and there followed a discussion as to its identity which is
always fun in a group of knowledgeable plant nuts. Elaine brought
the discussion to an an end when she proclaimed the plant to be
from the genus seseli. With 11 species listed in this year's RHS
Plant Finder I have started to track some down and now have 4
at last count. Im an obsessive plant collector and thank goodness
for some space still available in the garden to squeeze in a
few more acquisitions! Moira always says to me when I obtain new
plants that my obsesion for plants matches hers for shoes!! But
secretly she still enjoys the plants almost as much as I
do!
Two yet to be planted forms. The large one is
Seseli libanotis, Common name is Moon Carrot! Don't ask. and
the smaller one below is gummiferum (yet to flower so something to
look forward to)
And this short form came to me as S. alpinum but as it
is not listed in the current Plant Finder the true identity needs
to be researched. A very attractive flower which
looks good in the rock
garden
No garden is complete without a good range of hardy
geraniums which are the bedrock plant throughout most months of the
year. Just a few of the large choice available.
And here are just a very few of the many we have in the
garden here.
"Cloud Nine" is a recent introduction with palest of
double blue flowers to about 2-3 feet in favourable conditions.
Found in a Nursery in Llanybydder, Carmarthenshire by the
nurserywoman, Helen Warrington of Ty Cwm Nursery.
Longer established is the white form of geranium
pratense with large flowers on a plant to at least 4 feet tall
here
Ger. X"Magnificum" which you see in many gardens. Makes
a large clump but sadly has a relatively short flowering
season.
And finally is there a garden worth it's name in the UK
that doesn't have a long flowering, robust pink geranium of one
provenance( largely unknown) or another? The original identity lost
in the mists of time. What an underrated star!
Tritelia "Rudy" from small bulbs is often forgotten
throughout the rest of the year but comes to it's best in
summer.
i
Salvias outdoors are already getting into their stride
but this unusual form is another of the forgotten plants because
being tender it spends most of its time in a polytunnel until the
risk of frost has passed. Salvia africana is one of a few not to
come from salvia heartlands in the Americas. Really different
flower colours and shapes on a woody plant.
Rhodohypoxis in a number of forms makes a big
contribution to the rock garden which is looking very well this
year
Asiatic lilies like this choice almost black form in the
Red Border are some of the first in the genus to
flower
But lilium martagons in a range of forms have
caught up the asiatics. This red beauty is "Claude Shride." now 6
years old it has clumped up well. We have 4 others of this group in
the garden
And a lily we could not live without is
cardiocrinum - they look beautiful and their perfume is exquisite,
another of those that can be smelt all over the
garden.
Whist we are proud of ours, given how many years
they can take to flower (up to 7) from seed, Those in Aberglasney
Gardens are long established and we were pleased at long last at
the end of the month to see most of them all in flower at the same
time in such a natural setting.
The Paddock Pond planting is still making a great
contribution now that it has been esatblished for some
years
Dactyloriza orchid possibly a cross with
spotted orchids in the garden. This is a fine form with intense
colour. They love really moist conditions
I am a big hosta fan as many readers will know and at
last count some years ago we had over 250 here. Probably more now
but I haven't got the time to do a re-count! They seem to more
generally popular this year and have been regularly in the
public eye at RHS Shows. There have also been a number of features
in horticultural magazines where growers and others in the trade
have given lists of their 10 favourite hostas. So here are mine and
it was quite a task.
Our hostas are either in monoculture beds like this one
here, or grown in a mixed border with other plants
A smaller collection of shorter forms outside the
conservatory
Favourites in no particular order
"Lakeside Love Affaire"
"Snowden"
"Yellow River"
"On Stage"
"Night before Christmas"
"Devon Green"
"Snake eyes"
"Patriot" and some lovely Viola cornuta white form
sitting well together
"Love Pat"
"
"Good as Gold" Flowers are another reason to grow
hostas but some growers cut them off seeing them as only a foliage
plant
Wildlife and countryside
The effect of the wet weather can be seen in the
countryside with grass harvest only now having been cut by many of
our neighbours. If it stays wet silage will be the only harvest
option - what a contrast to last year when the harvest was in just
before the fields dried out.
Ox Eye daisies are along many roadsides but
we have these along the boundary hedge at the top of the garden and
they seed everywhere! Not clever of me to sow them
there.
Choice wild rose along another boundary at Cilgwyn along
the river Ydw
Lacking warmth there have been very few butterflies and
dragon/damsel flies on the wing Bees however seem to be coping
better, both the hive bees from just down the road and masses of
white tailed bumble bees from their refuge in the firewood stack
under the verandah. There are in all 26 species of Bumbles in
the uk and all of them live in social colonies totalling a couple
of hundred bees. They have made a tremndous difference to the
poilination of the broad beans whch are always covered in bumbles
so hopefully a good crop may be forthcoming soon. When tying up the
beans as they continue to grow I never realised quite what a scent
they have - no wonder the bees get so excited! Or how gentle they
are when you are close up to them. They rarely sting unless their
nest or they feel threatened
Plenty of wasp nests already, this one just outside the
conservatory.
Red kites still continue be seen every day overhead from
the comfort of a chair in the garden, so why would we want to go
with friends to see the kites being fed morsels of meat scattered
every afternoon in fields 8 miles or so from here? Two simple
reasons, it is a nice outing for friends who do not see them as
often as we do, and secondly even for us the sight of
approximately 100 kites swooping en masse from the sky to feed is a
truly a spectacular sight and the noise they make from their wings
as they swoop down is incredible. Visitors come from all over, many
armed with cameras fiitted with huge telescopic lenses. If
you are ever in the area I can thoroughly recommend it to
you.
There are always some gate crashers at the
feast!
Visits
After last months round of garden visiting the weather has not
encouraged us to go garden hunting, and we have had an increasing
number of jobs to do at home, none more frustrating and time
consuming than erecting a kit form of a gazebo using totally
illegible and unclear instructions. We sent for the
cavalry and our friends Liz and Paul rode to the
rescue! With 4 minds on the job and the extra manpower what was a
problem was quickly solved.
So as I suggested last month I have carried forward pictures
from a visit to The National Botanic Garden of Wales towards the
end of May wich was looking quite fantastic, especially in
The Great Glasshouse. In june we had one quick trip to a local
Plant Fair and an HPS outing to 2 NGS gardens in West Wales.
Botanic Gardens.
Protea
Echium
Another the very tall echium pininana - just room
in the Great Glasshouse
This astonishing flower head looked like it was
part of the glasshouse structure. It was not accessible so no name
could be established.
Banksia is probably one of the earliest to have been be
discovered in the massive collection of plants in the
Glasshouse
Kangaroo paws generally don't do it for me but on
the day of our visit they were looking spectacular with such vivid
colours on a very dull day. Maybe it will change my
mind!
And this close up of the red flowers did! - so
much of interest to admire.
Happy gardening to everyone and thanks for reading. Let
us hope we have the sort of weather to make for a memorable July as
there are so many flowers waiting now to burst into bloom including
the dahlias which at last are growing away strongly. The July News
should be worth reading