cut flower garden

Creating a cut flower garden

/ karen / 9 Comments
Forget me nots, cow parsley, wild allium, mint, honeysuckle, aquilegia, white flowering dead nettles and red clover.

I tour garden clubs in the East Midlands giving inspiration for growing cut flowers at home. An hour’s talk is only long enough to give a flavour of the subject. Here are some notes to accompany my talks.

Chose a backbone of useful shrubs:

Dogwoods:

Cornus Westonbirt.

Cornus Westonbirt has the brightest red stems in winter. Only a few stems are needed to add a vertical element to flower arrangements. To get the brightest stems, cut the shrubs back to 20cm in March. New stems will grow back strongly.

An autumn bouquet with just three stems of dogwood.

Physocarpus Diabolo:

A beautiful backbone shrub, growing to 8ft. Comes into leaf early in spring. Produces pretty pinkish white flowers. Flowers then produce interesting seed heads. good strong stems for floristry and a lovely dark colour to set off all flower colours. I grow mine on a north-facing border directly in front of a hawthorn hedge. Copes with dry soil and semi-shade.

Physocarpus seed heads

Viburnum Eve Price

The pink flat heads are viburnum Eve Price. Surrounded by ivy, gypsophila, rosehips. Euonymus, and Rosa The Fairy.

Viburnum Eve Price flowers all winter. It has evergreen leaves and is tough and hardy.

Plant Roses:

Timeless Cream

Timeless Cream and Timeless Purple are part of the new home florists’ range . Few thorns and wonderful scent.

Timeless Purple

Grow a patch of wildflowers:

I have a bed 3m long by 1.2m wide with paths surrounding it. Grown from a packet of wild flower seeds (Mr Fothergill’s or Sarah Raven). The plants that emerged included white oxeye daisy, blue cranesbill geranium, pink campion. These come back every year. The grasses grow in a strip along the edge of the lawn. Quaking grass is particularly lovely.

More perennial plants: Grow white argyranthemums.

Argyranthemums with ammi, verbascum and rudbeckias.

Argyranthemum or shasta daisies grow to 70cm and can be grown in a garden border in full sun. They need dividing every three years and will need staking. They provide flowers from June to September. Most garden centres sell these plants.

Annuals to grow for cut flowers :

Sweet Peas:

Wiltshire Ripple

Sow Sweet Peas in October in long root trainers with 50 percent compost and 50 percent grit for drainage. Place the pots inside a clear plastic storage box to protect from mice and the weather. Storage boxes can be brought indoors and stacked up like a mini greenhouse if the temperatures go below freezing. Lids can be removed in good weather. Do not allow seedlings to get too wet over winter. Plant out in good soil in April.

An A-Frame structure made from hazel poles purchased from farm fencing suppliers. These are used as binders in hedge laying. Ammi, gladioli and cosmos are planted down the middle. Calendula on the outsides.

Locally, Musson Fencing sell bundles of hazel rods in winter and early spring. They sell out quickly so it’s best to order your supplies.

https://www.davidmussonfencing.com/

Alternatively, Rutland Willows make bespoke willow and hazel supports and frames and run courses to make your own. We have had many hurdle fences and supports from them and have been very happy with everything.

https://www.rutlandwillows.com/

Sweetpea High Scent

At this time of the year (mid-May at the time of writing) I would probably buy in pre-grown plants from Easton Walled Gardens. A good excuse to visit them and have a walk around the beautiful cut flower gardens and landscape. Order your seed now to be delivered in late summer for October planting.

Annuals:Calendulas.

Calendula Snow Princess

Sow calendulas in autumn and overwinter them in pots in a greenhouse. Or sow now. Use plug plant trays, one seed per cell. Use seed compost with 50 percent vermiculite. Cover seed with vermiculite. This helps with drainage. Most seed sowing failures are due to watering – either over or under watering. A soggy compost is death to seedlings. Better to be on the dry side that too wet.

A note about compost: I use peat-free Melcourt seed compost and I add vermiculite, or horticultural sand whichever I have to hand. I don’t use multi-purpose compost for seed sowing. It contains fertiliser which burns delicate seedling roots. I move plants on quickly, water with seaweed extract every time I water and get plants in the ground or into big pots as soon as possible.

Tips on seed sowing:

Use spotlessly clean pots and seed trays.

Warm the compost in the greenhouse before using. Or bring indoors. Never use cold, wet, soggy compost – especially old compost from the bottom of pallets at garden centres.

Read the back of the seed packets for information such as whether to cover the seeds or not. Also follow germination temperatures and time to sow guidelines.

Use fresh seed. Home-saved seed is always likely to germinate faster than bought seed.

Buy seed from the best companies – Mr Fothergills, Chiltern Seeds, Higgledy Seeds. Do not buy from garden centres where seed will have been too hot, too old, or might have got wet. Best to buy mail order.

Water with a fine rose so as not to disturb the seeds. Always use tap water as water barrels contain pathogens which might cause seeds to wilt and die.

Protect new seedlings from too much sunlight. They are like babies.

Sow very thinly to prevent damping off. Make sure you ventilate the greenhouse in hot weather also to prevent mould and damping off problems.

Only sow half a packet at a time. If that fails for any reason, you’ve got a second chance with the other half of the seeds.

Always harden off plants before planting outside. This takes about seven days and involves bringing the plants in at night be putting them out in the day.

Soil Improvers:

We use and highly recommend PlantGrow fertiliser and mulch. There’s also a liquid feed which I use on established plants needing a boost. The 10 percent discount code for blog readers is bramble10. I’m not paid to recommend them, but I do like to support family companies and this one is based in Norfolk.

More annuals: Cosmos:

Cosmos Psyche White.

Cosmos should be started early as it needs a long growing season. It’s best to start seeds in February in a heated propagator at 18C. Most garden centres are selling pre-grown plants now. Sarah Raven sells small plants in spring. It’s safe to plant them out in the first week of June. They will flower until first frosts. My tip is to grow just a few but grow them really well. Pinch out the tips to make them bushy when they are about 4” tall. Support them with canes and tie them in well as they rock about in windy weather.

Cosmos Apricot Lemonade.
Cosmos Seashells Pink
Seashells White

More Annuals: Sunflowers

Sunflower cut flower mix from Mr Fothergill

Sunflowers can be sown in April and May. Earth Walker and Velvet Queen are good varieties. Look out for the multi-headed dwarf sunflowers. I grow mine amongst the sweetcorn and the vegetables help to hold the sunflowers upright in stormy weather. Calendulas and courgettes are grown at the base.

Velvet Queen

I start seed off in a propagator at 18C. Plants are grown on until they are about 20cm tall. Any smaller and the slugs will eat them. Spray with garlic extract to protect from slugs and snails. The recipe is on the blog in the search bar.

Dahlias:

Dahlia David Howard grown with Alstroemeria Indian Summer.

There’s still time to buy dahlia tubers from the garden centre and pot them up indoors. Take cuttings now to get more plants. Each tuber can provide 7 cuttings without detriment to the mother plant. Cuttings need to be tiny, 2-3cm only and placed in a 9cm pot with the 50/50 compost vermiculite mix in a propagator at 18C. They will readily root and can be planted out the first week of June. Cuttings will flower this year. If buying potted plants, there are some good mail-order nurseries offering stock. Todds Botanics are recommended.

Nuit D’Ete is a lovely cactus-type dahlia.
Dahlias, cosmos and dogwood. Senecio Vira Vira is from Coton Manor nursery.
Protect dahlias from earwigs. Add pots of straw or newspaper to the top of canes. Tip them out each morning.
Dahlia cuttings.
Today’s bouquet.

Don’t forget to just look around the garden and use what you have! I have cow parsley, poppies, alliums, Dutch iris, aquilegia and violas just now. Not many flowers are needed to make a jam jar posy. These were not planted specifically for cut flowers, but taking just a few won’t harm the spring display.

Answering questions from last night’s talk: How do you grow cow parsley?

Chose plug plants from. https://www.naturescape.co.uk/product/cow-parsley/

These won’t compete with lush grass, so use a spade to lift a patch of turf. Plant plug plants into the bare soil. Plant with cranesbill and foxgloves. Plants will die, but will set seeds for next year. Keep the patches free from vigorous grasses. You can plant delicate shaking grass though. If you have a large enough space, I would plant a swathe of them to get the best effect.

Peak cow parsley time in my garden today.

Question 2: What honeysuckle are you growing?

Common honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymenum caprifoliaceae. I recommend Jekka’s Herbs for plants. Wonderful scent and beautiful red berries. Plant with the roots in the shade and it will climb to reach the sun. If you plant the roots in the sun, the plant often succumbs to mildew and aphids. It is a woodland plant, essentially. Its habit is to climb and then flop down. In nature you often see plants dangling from high up in trees. So it is not ideal to try to control it and plant it over an arch or on a trellis. It will always want to go skywards. It wants to use other trees and shrubs as a climbing frame. Be careful when buying honeysuckle as some varieties do not have any scent, which is such a disappointment if you’ve waited several years for the plant to flower!

Question 3. Where can you buy the little wooden and metal stand containing four glass bottles for flower arranging?

My stand came from Jonathan Moseley. He sells floristry materials, flower cutting snips and vases at various flower shows all over the country. He also has an online shop. I use this stand every day and place it down the centre of the kitchen table. Vases can also be arranged in a circle with a pillar candle in the centre. I have created mini posies for this photo, but equally you can just pick a few stems and place them directly in the jam jars and they look ‘arranged.’

All white theme with Italian ranunculus, cow parsley, hyacinth and Lily of the Valley.
Wonderful scent from such a small arrangement.

Don’t forget that cow parsley can be used even when the flowers are going over. The little lime green seed heads are still attractive. I also use seed heads of parsnip, onion, carrot, chives, mustard and leeks. I found out by accident by leaving some vegetables to go to seed. I now leave them on purpose to supply free seed heads for floristry. Fluffy clematis seeds are also saved for winter decorations.

If this has inspired you to grow something for your own cut flowers, then I’m very happy. I’m hosting a cut flower course at Barnsdale in September. It’s a lovely garden and the owners are kind and generous people. There’s a lot included in the price. I can highly recommend the cream tea!

Link : https://shop.barnsdalegardens.co.uk/products/growing-flowers-for-cutting

Thanks for reading my blog. Please leave a comment below if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer them. Or e mail at k.gimson @btinternet.com.

Also visit Cathy’s blog for more inspiration:

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2025/05/12/in-a-vase-on-monday-sundae-on-monday/

Spring Courses

/ karen / 3 Comments

There’s nothing better than combining a love of flowers and gardens with learning a new skill. Here are some tempting courses on offer this spring.

Botanical artist Lauren Lusk

Tuesday 29 April, 2025.

Broadwell Manor, Broadwell, Gloucestershire.

Auricula appreciation and painting day.

https://broadwellmanor.com/events/

Lauren Lusk

Details on the Broadwell Manor website say Lauren trained at the world-renowned Central St Martins. Lauren found it impossible to ignore the lure of plants, which were the focus of her degree show. Her love for the natural world is perhaps to be expected, given that Lauren is Rachel de Thame’s eldest daughter and she grew up surrounded by plants. Some years after graduating, Lauren decided to focus on botanical painting. Predominantly working in the time-honoured, traditional but painstakingly slow technique of applying layers of watercolour to vellum. For this workshop she will be showing how to use watercolour on paper to paint the charming detailed ‘faces’ of individual auriculas. Lauren was recently featured in House & Garden Magazine and her work is being widely commissioned and collected.

Lauren’s botanical painting
Auricula theatre featured on the Broadwell website.
All photos ©️Broadwell Manor/ Lauren Lusk

Lauren recently produced a series of paintings of flowers and graphite drawings of insects for A Flower Garden for Pollinators, written by Rachel de Thame. 

Rachel’s book was reviewed on the blog here:

https://bramblegarden.com/2024/12/16/a-flower-garden-for-pollinators-by-rachel-de-thame/

Lauren’s website is:

https://laurenluskbotanical.com

Monty Cholmeley

Wednesday 23 April 2025

Easton Walled Gardens

Introduction to Watercolour Workshop 

The website says: This workshop is aimed at complete beginners and you will leave with an understanding of how to mix colours, both on the palette and on the paper. You will also take home your own set of watercolours and a brush to continue practicing! 

Meet at 5.30pm in our Coffee Room, before embarking on a two hour class from 6pm-8pm, where you will learn the basics and beyond of working with this special medium. You will leave with techniques you can replicate at home and a deeper understanding of colour.

Tickets include coffee and materials.  

8 places available. 

Photos ©️Easton Walled Gardens

Monty Cholmeley is the son of the owners of Easton Walled Gardens.

He is well known for his art work and photography.

More details and prices on the website.

http://www.visiteaston.co.uk

David Stevens

Photo ©️ Barnsdale Gardens

Saturday 12 April

At Barnsdale Gardens, Rutland

Planting Design

The website says: If your garden is not achieving everything you envisaged and you’re unsure what to do, then why not join internationally renowned garden designer David Stevens for this very special workshop.

David will take you through all the basics, as well as looking at specific plants, showing how they work best in a garden, planting techniques and preparing a planting plan.

David is in great demand as a designer and lecturer in garden design all over the world, so this day is a treat not to be missed!

Price includes tea/coffee, lunch and entry to the Gardens.

To book look on the website

https://barnsdalegardens.co.uk/index.html

Barnsdale spring flowering cherries. Photo ©️Barnsdale Gardens

Also at Barnsdale this year there’s botanical painting courses 12/13 Nov and a focus on painting dahlias on 17/18 Sept.

I am pleased to be leading several courses at Barnsdale this year.

Growing Flowers for Cutting, 3 September:

https://shop.barnsdalegardens.co.uk/products/growing-flowers-for-cutting

Creating borders with 365 days of colour. 10 October.

https://shop.barnsdalegardens.co.uk/products/365-days-of-colour

Thank you for reading my blog. Are you planning to attend any courses this year? Please leave a message in the box below. If you are new to the blog, please follow and sign up for notifications via e mail, and remember to say hello in the comments below! Happy gardening!

Welcome to garden club members

/ karen / 8 Comments

A big welcome to members of Southwell Garden Club! I hope you enjoyed my talk last night! Here’s more photos of my garden, to give some inspiration for creating spring colour.

Our garden was created from a field. We moved here when we were in our 20s.

We planted 260 tiny sapling trees which came from a scheme promoted by the Woodland Trust and Rushcliffe Borough Council. The plants were free to anyone converting farm land to woodland.

Down one side of the plot I planted a kind of ‘avenue’ or ‘holloway’ of ash trees given to me by Michael Beeby. He was a lovely, keen gardener who lived in our village and wanted to save the little seedling saplings growing all over his garden. He regularly visited the garden to see how his trees were getting on. Sadly he passed away a few years ago. In memory of a kind and generous gardener I’ve named this area of the garden the Michael Beeby Walk. And every time I walk along this path I think of Michael and how he cared about nature. He was always smiling, always supportive and encouraging. He’s not forgotten.

There are some wonderful sunsets from the garden
Trees on the hill

There’s a gap in the hedge. I walk to this point every day and look through the hole in the hedge. I see hares, deer, owls. No one can see me.

I mark the changes in the seasons. Each day, the view is different.

All the trees we planted have grown to produce a lot of shade. Over the years, the lavender, penstemons and salvias have had to give way to woodland plants. Snowdrops thrive in the cool shade. Madeline is a favourite with its elegant ‘lightbulb’ shape and delicate yellow markings.

I have a little helper in the garden. He’s three years old. We are at the same stage in life, both marvelling at the beauty in everything. Living in the moment.

Polar Bear, a new variety, late flowering.
Viridapice with green tipped markings
Robin Hood. Named for the X markings. Appropriate as we live right on the Nottinghamshire border.
Plain, simple single snowdrops, Galanthus Nivalis. Still my favourite to be honest. In my grandfather’s Sankey terracotta pots.

Hellebores also thrive in the semi-shade of trees. I bought a few colours from John Massey at Ashwoods Nursery in Birmingham. They have seeded all over the garden in shades of white, cream, pink, and inky- black.

Some remind me of stained glass.

Floated in an inch of water in an old zinc container.

A favourite double cream-white hellebore.
In amongst the hellebores we have wild violets. The sweetest scent. Originally from one single plant my grandfather brought here over 30 years ago. Now the whole gardens is full of them. I look at them and think of him.
Wild anemones. Such a joy, emerging just as the snowdrops are going over. And full of bumblebees today.
Crocus Joan of Arc. The best white. Also bumblebee heaven!
Phlomis Fruiticosa. Also ladybird heaven! An important plant to grow as they hibernate within the soft woolly leaves.

A posy for my mum with flowers from the garden. Small flowering cherry, Prunus Kojo-No-Mai blooms on bare stems and has glorious orange and red autumn foliage.
Come back another day for some summer-themed flowers.

Thank you for inviting me to talk, and for reading my blog.

I’m karengimson1 on instagram.

Please leave a comment in the box below, and sign up for e mail notifications for further posts. Enjoy your gardening!

Christmas Wreath Workshop with Rachel de Thame and Arit Anderson

/ karen / 30 Comments
Everyone busy at a table set out in Rachel de Thame’s hall.

Some opportunities are too good to be missed! I’d been watching announcements for weeks, but couldn’t attend any of the dates offered. Then all of a sudden two people dropped out on the one day I was free. So this week I unexpectedly found myself driving to Gloucestershire to take part in one of Rachel de Thame’s first Christmas wreath-making courses. I can still hardly believe my luck!

I wish I’d taken a photograph of the path leading to the front door. It was lined each side with piles of evergreen foliage ready for the course. Mindful of the fact that this was Rachel’s home, I didn’t get my camera out. But it was obvious from the first glance that we were all in for a treat of a day! Stepping inside the front door, Rachel’s entrance hall was set out with a long table and buckets of flowers and foliage in all four corners. There was such an array of different foliage materials, much of it pruned from Rachel’s garden. I fell in love with the pink hydrangea heads and orange rosehips straight away. I also decided on using the skimmia kew green as a background for my wreath.

Rachel first demonstrated how to make a wreath using a copper ring and moss attached with reel wire. Rachel was using wire she’d saved from previous years and recycled. The base of the wreath was entirely conifer sprays trimmed to about 5” and attached first to the left and then the right all the way round the circle. Flowers, berries, and seed heads could then be attached on top. Arit Anderson who was guest host for the day, demonstrated making a wreath using the same copper ring, but with moss attached with twine. Arit’s wreath was a looser design using twigs, seed heads, grey pussy willow and grasses. Arit explained the wreath could be safely composed after Christmas, as all the components would eventually compost down. The copper rings could be saved for another year. Even the ribbon we used was biodegradable.

Rachel’s wreath, showing the fir sprays being attached to the mossy base.
Arit with the mossy base attached with compostable twine.
Arit displaying one of the wreaths in the window.
Rachel and Arit with fir cones, dried hydrangea heads and foraged grass and poppy seed heads.

Before getting started on our own wreaths, Rachel demonstrated how to make an arrangement for a fireplace. I must admit, I wanted to take both the arrangement and the fireplace home!

Surprisingly, that huge arrangement all started with a relatively small glass bowl. Rachel rolled up some chicken wire and used florist tape to attach it to the bowl. She added long lengths of ivy, Portuguese laurel and pittosporum. Then colour was added with spray chrysanthemums and grey pussy willow. I have walked past endless amounts to trailing ivy in my garden and never realised it could be turned into anything as beautiful as this. But now, I’ll have a go!

Our day included a three course lunch. We had home-made soup, followed by a buffet of amazing salads, followed by chocolate brownies and cream. Plenty of tea was also consumed! The table in Rachel’s kitchen was set out with such style. I really enjoyed every second I was there! Everything was literally perfect.

Beautiful flowers set out on the table

Best of all though, I had the company of the famous Woodapuss sitting next to me. I’d seen her many times on the television. I can report that she is as lovely in real life as on the TV. Such a calm and happy cat, very affectionate. I was quite happy to sit there making a fuss of her. A highlight of my day.

After lunch we wandered around Rachel’s garden foraging for materials to use for our wreaths. It was such a treat to see the walled garden where Rachel grows her tulips and cut flowers. The walls are such a gorgeous soft, creamy colour, and we found holes were solitary bees had made nests.

Back to the house, and we all made a start on our wreaths. I decided to go for a base of eucalyptus and rosemary, for the scent. Then I wove rosehips in to the mix, and finished with two hydrangea heads. Arit showed me how to gather the hydrangea heads into a ball if they were too spread out, and tie them at the base. This made a much better focal point. We then chose a gorgeous burgundy ribbon to finish off.

And here it is! Displayed on Rachel’s front door which is painted a deep glossy green.

What a great day we all had! I learned many new techniques in floristry, made some new like-minded friends, fussed Rachel’s cat, and went home with a beautiful wreath for my own front door. A really wonderful, perfect day.

Thank you Rachel and Arit for such a happy and memorable event! A truly special start to our Christmas festivities.

Thanks for reading my blog. Rachel has plans for lots more courses and events at Broadwell Manor in 2025. To find out more contact info@broadwellmanor.com. Or follow on Instagram @racheldethame.

A Flower Garden for Pollinators by Rachel de Thame

/ karen / 25 Comments

Books for Christmas and New Year reading

Published by Greenfinch

Hardback. 208 pages. £25

Update: The prize draw copy has been won by Natalia at Lucky Bees. Thank you for leaving a comment and entering the draw. And thanks to the publishers for sending a copy for the draw.

If there was a vote for the most beautiful book produced in 2024, Rachel de Thame would win it. Rachel, best known for her newspaper column, magazine writing and appearances on BBC Gardeners World, joined forces with her daughter Lauren Lusk to produce a book which is joyful on every page. Lauren, a talented illustrator, hand painted many of the flower pictures featured in the book, and added a myriad of bees, moths and butterflies dancing across the page. To open the book is to step inside Rachel’s garden and walk alongside her as she meanders through the colourful wildflowers, cottage garden plants and herbs. We feel as if we are there, with her, seeing and hearing everything she describes. She writes: “I stopped deadheading, stood still in the middle of the space and was amazed by the number of butterflies darting across the garden. Bees, hoverflies and other small flies zipped from flower to flower. I closed my eyes and listened to the various hummings and buzzings. The garden was fizzing with insect activity, and as I resumed snipping faded dahlias and cosmos, I felt the air stir against my cheek as if whipped up by a tiny fan, and was astonished to realise it was the backdraft of rapidly beating bee wings, centimetres from my face.”

The book is split into seasons with Rachel’s selection of favourite plants each given a page of description.

Crocus tommasinianus.

Lauren’s illustrations are beautifully-detailed. It’s not possible to capture their beauty accurately with my camera phone pictures. they are much brighter and clearer in the book.

Muscari armeniacum
Cosmos ‘Purity’
Autumn in Rachel’s cut flower walled garden
Anemone ‘Hadspen Abundance’
Commonly called Japanese anemone
Winter features snowdops, winter flowering shrubs and clematis
Lauren’s bees and butterflies dance across the page

This is a book I’ve found invaluable this year in particular as we have had a crash in numbers for both bees and butterflies. We had no butterflies at all on the buddleja when it flowered. Summer didn’t really start until mid July. What I learned is that we have to plant a succession of plants all year round, so there’s always something for pollinators to feed on. Our climate is so unpredictable we can have all four seasons in one day! As I write this, a bumble bee is drunkenly buzzing about the garden- no doubt enticed out of hibernation by the unusually high December temperatures. It’s due to be 12C tomorrow. And we had snow, followed by flooding just two weeks ago.

Back cover of the book

I think you’ll find Rachel’s book a mine of information if, like me, you want to help the pollinators that make our gardens such a thriving and ‘alive’ place to be. I have no hesitation in recommending A Flower Garden for Pollinators. It’s a delight from start to finish.

Rachel de Thame is a television presenter and writes for The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph and top homes and gardens magazines. She hosts courses at Broadwell Manor with guests Arit Anderson, Arthur Parkinson, Hazel Gardiner, and Butter Wakefield. More information below:

https://broadwellmanor.com/

Please leave a comment and your name below to be included in the prize draw. One name will be randomly selected on Tuesday 17th December at 6pm. There’s no cash alternative and the editor’s decision is final. Sorry, uk entries only. Thank you for reading my blog.

Jam jar flowers….

/ karen / 27 Comments

For In a Vase on Monday.

For a modern floral arrangement, four small bottles in a wood and metal holder make life very easy indeed.

These bottles remind me of the ones we used to get at primary school containing milk. Every day we had rich, creamy milk which we sipped through a straw. I loved it! Our teacher, ever ready to put science into action, got us to pour the cream, the top of the milk, into a jam jar. A lid would be added and we each had to shake the jar for as long as we could. The resulting butter was spread on crumpets warmed on the woodburner in the corner of the classroom. We all took it in turn to be ‘wood monitor’ and had to fetch the logs from outdoors. We also had a pencil, paper and skipping rope monitor. It taught us duty and responsibility at a young age. I can’t remember anyone complaining about their tasks. Probably the only thing I didn’t like about school was the outside toilets. They were freezing in the winter and full of dust and spiders. You had to run from the classroom right round the other side of the playground to reach the little row of toilets. And you had to dash there in all weathers, even if it was snowing or raining. Just before I moved schools, a new indoor cloakroom was built and I can distinctly remember everyone being very excited about the new, posh indoor loos! No more spiders or slip-sliding about in the snow. Happy days!

My pretty little floral arrangement was a gift from Jonathan Moseley after we worked together at the Belvoir Castle Flower and Garden Show. Jonathan was the celebrity speaker giving talks and demonstrations on floristry, and I was running planting sessions for children. I loved Jonathan’s green and white selection for the little bottles. He chose English anemones and Italian ranunculus. Aren’t they beautiful!

Jonathan is well known for using flowers grown in his own garden and weaving them into arrangements using British tulips and lilies. Here’s some Lily of the Valley from his Derbyshire garden. The scent was glorious!

He added cow parsley from his own garden too. He mentioned that you can use cow parsley even when flowers are going over, as the little green seed heads are just as pretty.

Scent is essential in flower arrangements and Jonathan added white hyacinths into the mix. I grow Carnegie White for my flower posies.

I think my favourite flowers are these frilly white ones. They lasted at least two weeks, as I changed the water daily and snipped a tiny amount off the bottom of each stem.

I’m growing white anemone coronaria ‘Mount Everest’ in a large pot in the greenhouse. These have provided a few blooms each week since February. Farmer Gracy and Taylors sell corms for planting in autumn or spring. Soak the corms in water for a few hours before planting and space them 10cm apart and 5cm deep. They can be grown outdoors, but I find the rain spoils the flowers, if you want to use them for floristry.

I’m particularly fond of green flowers, so this one fitted in nicely.

Aren’t flowers just amazing! This one is a white and green ‘Pon Pon’ ranunculus. They remind me of a flamenco-ruffled dress!

Green ranunculus.
Flowers looked just as beautiful from both sides. This would make a fantastic display for a dinner table. It’s not too high that guests can’t see each other. The bottles and stand set is available on Jonathan’s website.

Jonathan is a writer, broadcaster and demonstrator as well as an ambassador for British flowers, and regularly appears on television programmes such as Alan Titchmarsh’s Love Your Weekend.

https://jonathan-moseley.com/

Why not go over to Cathy’s blog to see what others are writing about this week for Cathy’s In a Vase on Monday meme.

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2024/06/03/in-a-vase-on-monday-dining-out/

Are you growing any flowers for home floristry this year? Get in touch and let me know how you are getting on with your growing plans. Please leave a comment in the box below. Have a happy gardening week! And thank you for reading my blog.

Winner: Second Nature book give-away

/ karen / 6 Comments

Update: I’ve re – run the prize draw as Fiona hasn’t got back to me at all. The new winner is Natalia Clarke at Luckybees. enjoy the book Natalia!

The winner of the prize draw for Susie White’s gorgeous new book, Second Nature is Fiona Pryor. Please e mail me for details, Fiona. My e mail is k.gimson@btinternet.com.

Thank you to everyone who read the review and left a comment. You can read the review here:

https://bramblegarden.com/2024/04/10/second-nature-book-review/

Meanwhile, some photos from my garden this weekend. Spring has been a long time coming, and now I can’t bear to be indoors. Every minute is spent in the garden!

Potting shed window. Scented jonquils and forget me nots.
Pheasant’s Eye narcissi.
Possibly Narcissi Geranium. Wonderful scent. Reliable grower. Always comes back every year and naturalises in long grass.

Tulip Mondial. A lovely double white with green markings. Long lasting flower. Stands up to the weather. Copes with the rain.

Some tiny species tulips growing in an Italian pot. Part of a mixed cut flower collection from Gee Tee Bulbs. Species bulbs will always come back the following year. Bulbs do not have to grow to such a huge size as the Dutch bulbs to re-flower the next year.

A hybrid ‘cowslip.’ A bee has passed pollen from my red primroses to a yellow wild cowslip- and the resulting seedling is this little beauty. Isn’t nature wonderful!

Thank you for reading my blog. Look back for more book reviews and giveaways next week. Have a great Sunday!

Nick Hamilton’s grow-your-own vegetables hints and top tips.

/ karen / 4 Comments

While visiting Barnsdale Gardens for the winter walk-and-talk, I had a chance to peek into the impressive kitchen gardens. Not only are the gardens beautiful, but they are highly productive too. They are gardened organically. Plants are put in closely together, and there are many little pathways meaning a lot of the work can be undertaken without stepping on the soil. Nick is a very good teacher. He explains everything in an easy to understand way with a lot of patience and humour.

Photo: Steve Hamilton

Nick shared with me his advice and list of ‘top five’ winter vegetables:

Brussels sprouts – Generally eaten over the Christmas period, but if you grow your own then you could harvest this vegetable from August to at least March. As a child, I remember them as having a bit of a bitter, old socks taste, but those days are well and truly gone with the modern varieties being sweet and flavoursome. In order to get the continuity of cropping to give the longest harvest period I only need to grow two varieties, ‘Nelson’ and ‘Red Ball’.

Kale – A well-known superfood that not only gives us something to eat but, if you select the right variety, a very beautiful and interesting addition to the ornamental winter garden. I like to grow a variety called ‘Redbor’, which is widely available, but I do not grow it in the veg plot, preferring instead to move it around my ornamental borders. The reason I do this is because ‘Redbor’ has the most wonderfully deep coloured, red leaves that enhance in colour with the colder winter temperature, but then are elevated to another level during frosty weather.

Chard – A hardy, leafy leaf beet this is an excellent substitute for spinach. I have been bought up to try and eke out the most from everything in a garden, so choosing a variety that gives ornamental interest as well as excellent production is an absolute bonus. Such a variety is Chard ‘Bright Lights’, which comes up as a mixture of different colours of leaves in shades of yellow, green and red, all with a prominent white mid-rib.

Jerusalem Artichoke – What a fantastic winter veg to grow! I love it not just because it is adaptable in the kitchen but also because it is a tuber that is perfectly hardy, so can be left in the ground all winter and dug up as and when required. I grow a variety called Fuseau because it is less knobbly than others, so easier to peel. It does like to spread, so I control it by growing mine in containers that I sink into the ground and then lift when needed.

Leeks – I can’t imagine a winter without leeks adorning the culinary delights that appear from my kitchen. This year I have grown the varieties ‘Winner’, ‘Pandora’ and ‘Jolant’, which will give me a continuous harvest from August until April. Something my taste buds and stomach are very grateful for. We do have a couple of problems to deal with however, which is why we grow them, from sowing until the end of the crop, under an insect-proof netting to prevent attack by leek moth and/or Allium leaf miner.

Photos credit Steve Hamilton

Barnsdale Gardens is Britain’s largest collection of individually designed gardens based in the East Midlands.  There are 38 gardens on show including the beautiful kitchen gardens. Courses run throughout the year on growing and planting fruit, flowers and vegetables, and there’s also courses on pruning and maintenance. See the website for opening times and course details. I’ve signed up for the newsletter which means I get all the news first and can plan my visits when there are special events happening.

I wrote about a Barnsdale’s winter gardens walk and talk here:

https://bramblegarden.com/2024/02/28/a-winter-walk-around-barnsdale-gardens/

What vegetables are you planning to grow?

I’m loving my white-stemmed chard and white kale. Here’s some I’m harvesting now, having sown the seeds in summer and planted them in a cold frame and unheated poly tunnel. They overwinter as small plants and start growing after Christmas. You can just see two eggs in the basket too. The hens have started to lay again! A sure sign that spring is well and truly on the way. Hurray!

Sweet, tasty, and pretty too!

Willow Weaving Course at TASK Academy

/ karen / 22 Comments

For 20 years I’ve worked alongside skilled willow weavers. I’ve watched them create fences around the gardens I’ve designed. Clematis and roses climb through woven tripods and willow animals ‘scamper’ across the lawns. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at weaving, but never had the chance. I wouldn’t have dared to interfere with their work. We are all on a deadline to complete the gardens. Time is money, and my job is to set out the plants and try to keep ahead of everyone planting them! This week though, I’ve finally managed to get my hands on some willow and have a go! I attended a one-day taster day for land-based skills at TASK Academy in Worcestershire.

Our project was to make a small woven cone out of year-old willow that had been soaked for four days. I loved the contrast between the red and yellow willow.

Our teacher Mel Bastier holding the willow cone I made.

Mel Bastier explained the basics and showed us how to make a small woven structure which could be used as a bird feeder. I decided to use it for floristry. I’m always trying to find new ways of displaying flowers without using florists’ foam.

First we fed willow through holes in a base form which held the willow in place for us to work on. The base form would be much larger for plant supports, but it’s the same principle.

We wove more willow in and out of the uprights until we had made a collar. Then more willow was twisted up to the tip to secure the structure. Finally we added a handle. Mine was quite long as I wanted to hang the cone on my farm gates and amongst the orchard trees.

At home, I collected some moss from under the apple trees. I wrapped it around a jam jar and secured it with garden twine, kokedama style.

The moss makes a natural ‘nest’ for a flower posy. You’d never know there was a jam jar inside.

I pushed the jam jar into the top of the cone and filled it with cold fresh water. Then I wandered around the garden collecting the last of the snowdrops, (if you pull them, they have long stems) the first daffodils, hellebores and primroses.

I stood the flower arrangement on the potting shed windowsill to add some hazel catkins. The flowering cherry just opening is Japanese cherry, Prunus Kojo No-Mai.

Hellebores are seedlings of five plants bought from Ashwood Nurseries. I must have nearly 100 plants around the garden, all offspring of plants purchased 10 years ago.

Although it’s not as showy as the rest, I love this small pink hellebore with its lime green markings.

Daffodils came from Taylors Bulbs. Good strong varieties that come back into flower reliably each year.

I’m very pleased with my willow cone. I loved making it. It’s a very calming thing to do, learning a new skill, among friends, with kind and patient teachers. Mel made the willow crown sculpture at RHS Wisley for the King’s coronation, and she’s also made many structures for flower shows and private gardens.

I would love to return to TASK to make some plant supports like these.

I must admit I fell in love with this hare. Maybe, in time, I might be able to make something similar! If I do, it will be all thanks to Mel and the team at TASK.

TASK Academy is run by award winning landscaper Rupert Keys. If you’ve looked on in wonder at the lovely greenhouse owned by Frances Tophill on Gardeners World, Rupert and his team made it! Frances won Platinum and Best in Show for her garden at BBC Gardeners World Live in 2022 and Rupert built the garden and created the greenhouse out of recycled window frames. I lost count of how many awards he’d won to be honest. Safe to say, he knows what he’s talking about and has the experience.

TASK run land-based courses for the landscaping industry and also for anyone wanting to learn how to create dry stone walls, learn garden design, bricklaying and willow weaving.

I can wholeheartedly recommend them. I loved learning something new and found the team very kind and encouraging. Experts who can also teach with patience and understanding. A perfect day that I’ll always treasure.

Find out more at https://www.taskacademy.co.uk/

Thank you also to Emma Mason PR for inviting me along!

Have you recently attended any courses of any kind and learned a new skill? Let me know how you got on!

Also see Common Farm Flowers for floristry courses where I learned how to make my jam-jar posies and bouquets and grow cut flowers all year round.

See Cathy’s In A Vase on Monday here :

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/

Happy New Year! A soggy walk around my January garden.

/ karen / 20 Comments
Dried flower heads on hydrangea paniculata hybrid.

Welcome! I garden on a one acre plot in north Leicestershire. Most of the garden is planted with native trees and shrubs. There’s a small pond, a mini water meadow full of marsh marigolds and lady’s smock, a small vegetable plot, greenhouse and poly tunnel. I grow as many flowers, fruit and veg as I can in containers and small divided beds. I aim to have something to pick from the garden every week of the year. This post is for my mum who can’t easily visit at the moment and the photos give her a flavour of what the garden looks like today. You are welcome to join me on a slow stroll around the plot as I seek out anything cheerful at this time of the year!

When there are plenty of flowers around, these cyclamen hederifolium barely get a second glance, but in January when everything is bare, the patterns on the leaves draw me in. I love moving from one plant to another comparing the intricate markings. No two plants are the same.

These grey-leaved cyclamen coum shine out in the shade under the ash trees. Soon they will have dainty white or bright pink flowers.

These are just starting to flower and there’s plenty of buds to open. They thrive under deciduous trees, flowering before the leaf canopy emerges.

I found some small brunnera plants. These have blue forget-me-not flowers in spring. They grow in deep shade alongside the cyclamen.

Arum italicum can be a thug, spreading all over the garden. But in deep shade, it is fairly well-behaved. It has bright orange berries and creamy white spathes. Good foliage for jam jar flowers.

Wild primroses are starting to push up through the leaf litter all over the plot. They seed about freely and provide pollen for early-emerging bumble bees.

When there’s not much to see, grasses provide a ‘stop and stare’ moment by the pond. These are beautiful all year round, and especially on a windy day.

I’ve never seen eranthis hyemalis flowering so early. Temperatures have been well above average all winter, but it’s also been extremely wet and most of the flower borders are under water again today. 2023 saw the wettest July to December period on record for the UK. Records started in 1890. With the ground already waterlogged, the recent rain has caused massive flooding in our area. The River Trent in Nottinghamshire burst its banks. Homes and businesses have been flooded out. It’s heartbreaking to see so much damage. So I won’t complain about my garden. It will drain away naturally and all will be well. Luckily I’ve taken cuttings of all the salvias and penstemons that are currently waterlogged, so there’s a back up plan if they don’t survive.

Shrugging off the wet weather, hellebores are starting to flower. These came from John Massey’s Ashwood Nursery near Birmingham. Some of these have been under water this week, with just the flower buds bobbing about in the air.

Early flowering snowdrops looking slightly muddy. Mrs Macnamara is a reliable variety and bulks up fairly quickly. Luckily it’s a very tall snowdrop – and as you can see, survives a few days under water. I think we can say it’s definitely robust!

The wildflower patch- now a bog! Luckily the greenhouse and poly tunnel are on higher ground. We have had to check for stranded goldfish as this area is alongside our pond.

Anyway, today there was sunshine. And the top of the willow trees look golden against a bright blue sky. A moment of joy after all that rain. Tiny grey pussy willow buds are starting to show. And there’s catkins on hazel and alder trees.

Monty is a good barometer for the weather. He’s been hibernating indoors during the rain. But today he emerged and set upon the straddle stone as a watch-out post, keeping his paws perfectly dry. Now as I write this he’s back in front of the fire, and I’ve checked the weather reports. Snow is forecast!

Snow will look pretty atop these black rudbeckia seed heads. I leave them for natural bird food and structure over winter.

I’ve left the flat sedum heads too. I just can’t call them by their new name. Hylotelephinium sounds like a type of outdated phone rather than an ice plant!

Some feverfew seed heads remain. Nothing spectacular, but I feel like accepting any tiny glimmer of beauty at the moment. It’s a quiet time, and I’m not being too fussy. Just grateful.

Eryngium Miss Willmott’s Ghost, looking more ghostly than usual. Looking closely, I found a ladybird and a lacewing, headfirst, nestled between the seeds. Peacefully may they slumber until spring.

Well, even I admit these are ugly, but there’s a certain something in those dark brown seeds emerging from the peony lutea pods. They glisten like amber in sunshine. Mum grew some plants from these and they flowered for the first time last summer. Seven years after sowing!

Planted underneath, in deep shade, there’s plenty of Skimmia Kew Green. Such a gorgeous scent in spring. Much overlooked in modern planting plans.

A quick peek in the greenhouse. Always plenty of gorgeously-scented pelargoniums and citrus. Sadly, the big white patch at the end is polythene patching the glass due to storm damage just after Christmas. A big end panel will have to be replaced. And then a careful clear up as there are shards of glass in every plant pot.

However, still seeking joy – I found a ladybird in an aonium.

And some pretty fuchsia leaves looking healthy in amongst the lemon trees.

A hairy, peppermint-scented pelargonium. To rub these leaves is to be transported.

There’s new shoots. Daffodils for cut flowers soon.

And food. Herbs such as thyme, marjoram, parsley, and micro greens. These are pak choi, sown in October. They can be eaten as tiny leaves now, or left to grow on. I take the leaves from the outsides, and the centre continues to grow.

Hens enjoy the heat in the greenhouse over winter too. They are only bantams, so don’t cause any damage and search out pests most assiduously, particularly vine weevils.

A ceramic bird I couldn’t resist. Bought from The Green Man in Staunton Harold. See my post on a pre-Christmas visit to Calke Abbey and Staunton Harold. Recommended for a day trip.

Ballerina rosehips

Thank you for joining me on this ramble around my garden. How has your plot fared in the rain? I hope you didn’t suffer too much damage in the recent storms. I haven’t been able to keep up with the names of the storms, there’s been so many! Please do leave a comment in the box below and sign up for e-mail notifications for new posts. Have a lovely weekend!

Winter cuttings on BBC Radio Leicester

/ karen / 20 Comments

If you were listening in to BBC Radio Leicester on Tuesday, you’ll have heard me talking about taking winter, or hardwood cuttings. We were taking dogwood cuttings this time.

Here’s the link at 1.26 on the i player timeline.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0gv6761?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I use dogwood in almost all of my jam jar posies for my mum. It makes a lovely vertical accent, and helps to support the weaker flower stems. Here stems are supporting paperwhite narcissi and daffodils and tulips from the cut flower patch. These are Dutch Grown bulbs.

My favourite dogwood is the bright red Westonbirt which really glows all winter with sunlight behind it.

Here it is with Dahlia David Howard, persicaria, sedum and grasses. I love the red stems shining out and glowing in the jam jar water.

This time, the jam jar flowers are chrysanthemums and salvias set off with grey-leaved senecio viravira and golden oak leaves which dry and can be used all winter.

More dahlias including a red unnamed seedling, Alstromeria Indian Summer and cosmos Psyche White grown from Mr Fothergill’s seeds.

Salvia Phyllis’s Fancy, chrysanthemum Swan and the last of the dahlias and rudbeckia. And a tiny sprig of orange abutilon at the front.

Dogwoods have fabulous berries which look like pearls.

Continue reading →

In a Vase on Monday

/ karen / 15 Comments

We’ve had two nights of frost, so flowers growing outdoors are getting scarce. Luckily, there’s plenty of chrysanthemums in the greenhouse and poly tunnel. I bought these originally from a Hardy Plant Society sale. They don’t have a label, but I think they are an heirloom variety called Cranberry Wine. If you know different, please let me know! As always, my flowers are for my mum. Each week, I run round the plot and find stems of shrubs, twigs from trees, and anything in flower to create a bouquet called ‘all of the garden.’ It gives mum a flavour of what my garden looks like. Flowers last about a fortnight if the water is refreshed each day.

Here’s a view of one end of the greenhouse with pots of chrysanths in amongst the lemon and orange trees. I clean the greenhouse out at the end of summer, wash down all the glass and repaint the structure. It’s a second-hand Alton cedar greenhouse we bought 30 years ago for £260. I heat it to 3C using solar panels and an electric thermostat controlled fan heater.

Behind the chrysanths you can just see the bougainvillea which flowers through to January. Then I stop watering it for a month or two and trim back all the long extension growth. In spring I start to water it again, top dress with fresh compost and give it a potash and seaweed extract feed.

When I’ve picked all the flowers, I cut back the chrysanthemum foliage to the ground. New shoots start to emerge after Christmas and hundreds of tiny cuttings will be taken. Isn’t it a beautiful flower. I love the colour and the delicate overlapping petals tipped with white.

Pittosporum Silver Queen is the background foliage. I have two huge plant pots with 5ft shrubs. They don’t seem to mind being regularly trimmed back to make bouquets. I love the white picotee edge and the tiny, highly-scented flowers.

I’ve forgotten the name of this tender perennial plant again! It has lovely soft aromatic foliage and spires of blue flowers in winter. A very lovely plant and highly recommended. When I can think what it’s called! Update: Thank you Eliza Waters for reminding me it’s Plectranthus. I have several varieties, all with gorgeous pale blue flowers. Recommended. Easy to grow from cuttings

A spray of the pretty blue flowers. Bees love them.

You’ll also notice a pale pink chrysanthemum. This also came from the HPS in Nottingham at one of the recent lectures. Another lovely flower. Name to follow when I can retrieve the label from the garden. it’s currently raining, pitch black and 3C!

There’s one stem of alstroemeria, the first to flower for winter. I get them to flower out of season by giving them a dormant period in late summer, then top dress with fresh compost and start watering with a tomato fertiliser. They will come into flower between January to April- just when some colourful flowers are needed. Normally they flower all summer long.

This shrub is just the right colour to go with the chrysanthemums. Birds love the berries. It’s common name is pheasant eye bush. Stems look like bamboo in the winter when all the leaves fall off.

In amongst the chrysanths there’s some salvia Hot Lips which is still flowering its heart out on 27th November. Really good for such a tender plant. It sometimes flowers until Christmas. I cut it down in spring, having left the tall stems intact to protect the crown from frost.

Here’s a close up of the salvia. A good match for the chrysanth. Foliage is Senecio Viravira from Coton Manor nursery.

Thank you for reading my blog. I had a bit of excitement in the week when 1,000 people checked out the blog in one day. Usually the figure is nearer 300. Anyway, I’m grateful if just one person reads it to be honest. Hopefully it will inspire someone to have a go at growing their own flowers at home. I love the challenge, and mum loves her bouquets.

Thank you to Cathy for hosting the IAVOM meme. Why not check out her blog and see what gardeners are growing all around the world. It’s fascinating to see what everyone puts in their vases every week! I learn something new every time. Gardeners are so generous with their help and advice, aren’t they.

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2023/11/27/in-a-vase-on-monday-sultry-serendipity/

Views From the Garden

/ karen / 18 Comments

Capturing the very last flowers at the start of November. I can’t remember a time when there were so many plants still in flower. The Indian summer high temperatures and sunshine in October prolonged the flowering season. But alas, Storm Babet, and now Storm Ciaran have brought wind and rain. I ran out into the garden during a brief spell of calm and sunshine to capture the garden, and give me something cheerful to reflect on over the coming cold, dark months.

Fuchsia Deltas Sarah. A hardy variety purchased from Coton Manor in Northamptonshire. And can you spot the tiny spiders web which loops around the flower? This reliable fuchsia grows in a large blue glazed pot alongside a clematis sent to me from Raymond Evison’s Guernsey nursery. A very kind man, he sent me the gift to celebrate his 60 years breeding and developing gold-medal winning clematis plants. One day I’ll get to visit the nursery. Meanwhile, I’m watching the news and feeling very anxious about the impact of the latest storm on Jersey and Guernsey. The damage is heartbreaking.

Alongside the fuschia there’s a pot of salvias. This one is Phyllis’s Fancy, a favourite very late-flowering variety. It’s not hardy and will be whisked inside the greenhouse later this week. Meanwhile, it’s the perfect blue to match Deltas Sarah.

Growing in pots and in the ground, this lovely pink chrysanthemum puts on a reliable autumn display every year. It’s called Clara Curtis and came from my father-in-law Keith Gimson’s garden.

I like the small, button-flowered chrysanthemums. This one is Picasso, a rare and endangered variety. I bought it from the Hardy Plant Society where there’s a propagating programme to save it for the future. I have to take cuttings and return spare plants to other society members. Cuttings are very easy to take. I put the pots into a cold greenhouse or poly tunnel and shoots start to grow in January. Early cuttings are grown on in a propagator and potted up before being planted out in May.

Salvias really do join the party late! This one is Royal Bumble, purchased from Mary Thomas and Piecemeal Plants. Plant pots will be thrown in a hurry into the potting shed at the weekend. Plants are cut back and kept relatively dry and dormant all winter, being brought back out next spring.

This lovely blue salvia came from a collection sent mail order from Middleton’s specialist nursery. I wrote about Middletons here:

https://bramblegarden.com/2021/06/18/new-plants-on-trial-salvias-from-middleton-nurseries/

Salvia Hotlips often flowers until Christmas in a sheltered spot.

Dahlias are producing their very last flowers. I wrote about these yesterday in my ‘flowers for my mum’ post.

Petra’s Wedding made my top five list! I wouldn’t be without it!

Also in my top five is Dahlia Eveline.

A lovely surprise! The very last rose! Ghislaine de Feligonde is a rambling rose and grows on a shady pergola. It is totally disease and trouble free. I bought it as a cutting from a plant sale at Little Ponton Hall. A lovely reminder of happy day out with gardening friends. Highly recommended.

The last ornamental thistle. Echinops ritro Veitch’s Blue. Mr Fothergill’s sell 9cm potted plants. Birds, especially long-tail tits, love the seed heads.

I’ve forgotten the name of this beautiful small-flowering hollyhock. It came from Mary Thomas. Hopefully Mary will read this blog and help me out with the identification!

A bedding fuchsia, unknown variety, growing in a pot under the office window. I’ll look in the morning to see if this flower has managed to open out, or if it’s been blow away down the lane!

I’ll also look tomorrow to see if the old oak tree still has any leaves! This was the view from the top gate at the orchard end of the garden- before the latest storm. The branches were thrashing about in the rain. It must be 150 years old. I very much hope it will survive another 150 years for other people to stand at our garden gate and gaze on its majesty. Thanks for reading my blog. Please leave a comment in the box below and sign up for updates via e mail. How has your garden fared during the storms? Do get in touch and let me know.

Flowers from the Garden 1st November 2023

/ karen / 12 Comments

Ahead of Storm Ciaran, I’ve picked the last few dahlias for my mum. Orange dahlia David Howard has again produced the most flowers from August to November. It wins first place in my top 5 dahlias.

I wrote about the history of David Howard which dates back to the 1960s here:

https://bramblegarden.com/2022/10/30/flowers-from-the-garden-31st-october-2022/

Second place in my top five is the deep red cactus-flowering dahlia Nuit d’Ete. Even in bud it’s very beautiful. It lasts a long time in a vase, if the water is changed daily.

Nuit d’Ete in full flower.

Number 3 in my top five is Eveline. Gorgeous white flowers with soft lavender petal tips. Strong and reliable, producing masses of flowers.

Number 4 is Petra’s Wedding, with small pom-pom-shaped flowers. Stems tend it be lax, and flowers heavy, but feeding with liquid potash helps to strengthen the stems. Staking also helps to train the stems, and I use twiggy stems such as dogwood in my posies to prop up the flower heads.

Turning the bouquet around, there’s number 5 in my list, deep red Arabian Night. Masses of fully double flowers on strong stems. Red Westonbirt dogwood stems add vertical interest and support the flowers. I love to see the red stems catching the light and shining out in the jam jar water too.

You’ll notice a lovely pink-flowering grass in my posy. It’s called Red Chief and cost £5 in a garden centre sale last week. I love a bargain! I haven’t many grasses growing here, and thought this one would add movement and texture to autumn vases.

The little pink spikes adding vertical interest are persicaria. A hard-working perennial flowering right through late summer into November. The dark foliage around it is Physocarpus Diabolo which is gorgeous all summer, and at this time of the year has very pretty seed heads.

Physocarpus seed heads
Physocarpus foliage.

Salvia completes my posy. Sadly, I’ve lost the label, so I don’t know the name. Grey-foliage is Senecio Viravira, also known as dusty miller.

Tucked in at the base of the posy is hydrangea Little Lime which is just turning a lovely papery-pale pink. I’ve picked a huge bunch of these flowers for my Christmas table decorations. I’ll miss Wilkos as I used to pop in there and buy their mouldable wire fairy lights for just a few pounds. The lights are fed through the hydrangea heads and create a very pretty display.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s flowers picked for my mum. Many thanks to Cathy for her ‘In a Vase on Monday’ meme. I join in on whichever day I can, and I love seeing what Cathy and others are growing for their cut flower vases. Gardeners join in from all around the world and it’s fascinating to see how many of us are growing the same flowers at the same time in different countries.

Take a look here :

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/

Stay safe in the winter storms. I hope your garden doesn’t suffer too much damage in the high winds and torrential rain coming our way tomorrow. Thank you for reading my blog. Please leave a comment below and sign up for updates via e mail.

Apple and Rosehip Jelly

/ karen / 8 Comments

If you were listening in to BBC Radio Leicester this afternoon, here’s the recipe I mentioned for Apple and Rosehip Jelly. My mother-in-law Joan used to make a crab apple jelly similar to this one. Bags of fruit would be tied to the kitchen cupboard doors to drip overnight. Fruit jams and jellies would make a very tasty winter treat, spread on warm buttered toast, or on cakes and scones. This recipe is adapted from a Women’s Institute recipe dating back to 1943. The WI members became famous for making jams and jellies as part of their war effort. Rosehip syrup was a particularly valuable source of vitamin C for children. When my brothers and I were young in the 1960s and 70s, we had a spoon of syrup and a spoon of malt before setting off for school. We also had a spoon of caster oil, which wasn’t quite as welcome!

Ingredients:

makes about 6 jam jars

2kg eating apples

1 kg rosehips

Approx 2.3kg caster sugar -depending on amount of liquid produced.

1 sachet of pectin

Method:

Put a tea plate in the freezer for checking the setting point later.

Wash and core the apples. No need to peel them.

Place apples in a preserving pan and add enough cold water to just cover them.

Simmer until soft.

Roughly chop the rosehips. I used a food processor.

Add rosehips to the apples and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Spoon the pulp into a muslin or jelly bag suspended over a bowl. Don’t allow the bag to touch the bowl.

Start to spoon out the juice straight away so that the bowl doesn’t overspill. Leave the bag overnight to drip.

Measure out the liquid.

For every 600ml add 500g sugar. Return the liquid to the preserving pan.

Heat gently to dissolve the sugar.

Bring to the boil and boil rapidly until the setting point has been reached.

Check using the tea plate and a teaspoon of the jelly. A setting point is reached when the jelly wrinkles when pushed by your finger.

Ladle into clean sterilised jam jars and add labels.

Rosehips should be gathered at the end of October when ripe, but before being damaged by frosts. They are classed as a ‘superfood’ due to their antioxidant properties.

I whizzed the rosehips in a food processor, or you could roughly chop them by hand.

This is the jam and jelly straining kit I bought from Dunelm. The metal frame unscrews for winter storage. The bag is adequate for this amount of pulp. I set it up over a Pyrex pudding bowl, but I did start to scoop out the juice as soon as it started filtering through as I was worried the bowl might overflow overnight. The netting bag is washable and reusable, but you can also buy replacements.

And this is the finished apple and rosehip jelly. It doesn’t taste much of apples, but does taste of roses and summer! Absolutely delicious!

You can listen in to gardening on the radio at 3.10pm every Wednesday. Just ask your smart speaker to tune in to BBC radio Leicester. Or you can listen again on the i-player.

Today we also talked about starting paperwhite narcissi for Christmas.

Here’s some I grew for a January flower wreath using a jam jar covered in moss attached to a willow heart frame. We are having to find all sort of ways to get round not using plastic florists’ foam. My hidden jam jar works really well.

We also talked about growing amaryllis for Christmas presents.

Here’s some I grew last winter. I can highly recommend Taylors Bulbs as the size and quality is first class. Bulbs should flower within 6-8 weeks from planting and make a lovely home-grown present.

Ben Jackson and I talked about picking the last dahlias. This one is Eveline from Mr Fothergill’s.

This one is David Howard. I’ll be leaving mine in the ground again this year, covered in a foot of of dried leaves and a cloche to keep them as dry as possible and to protect them from the frost. If you have wet heavy clay soil, it’s best to dig them up and put them in a frost free place such as a garden shed or garage. Thanks for listening in and reading the blog. Have you decided what you are doing about your dahlias yet? We’ve had three night frosts this week, so I’m covering mine already.

Photos From My Garden- Remembering Summer….

/ karen / 8 Comments

Sending out a warm welcome to old and new readers. Hello to new readers from the garden clubs where I’ve given talks recently. At both Nether Heyford and Spratton this week there were questions on what to grow for colour in the garden in June. When I got home I had a quick look through my photo album and found some of my favourite summer flowers. Above is my 1930s summerhouse which stands on a circular turntable and can be swung round to face the sun all day long. In the folding glass doors you can see a reflection of the trees, hedgerows and fields behind our garden. Above the doors, I often place a wreath of fresh flowers and in this photo it’s a selection of roses from the garden.

Constance Spry grows over the entrance to a 60ft pergola. It was one of the first David Austin roses, introduced in 1961. It only flowers once, but the display is so stunning it is worth growing. The myrrh-like scent is fabulous, and reminiscent of fruit salad, ripe melons and pears. It grows to 6m so needs a strong archway or trellis support.

I picked the flowers at dusk when the scent was particularly strong. In the basket there’s also Mme Isaac Pereire (1841) a fuchsia pink climber which grows alongside Constance Spry. And Rose de Rescht (1840) a compact floribunda shrub rose. Both repeat flower all summer.

The wreath is made from 4” lengths of ivy from the hedgerow and white elderflower heads. With the doors open, the breeze wafts the scent of roses and elderflower inside. A rather lovely place to sit and make plans for the garden. The black and white cat is called Grace who came to us from the RSPCA. She was handed in with a box full of kittens. The only kind thing the person did was take her somewhere where she would be cared for, and for the rest of her life she snoozed peacefully here. The summerhouse was a favourite place. Sadly she has now passed away and is still sleeping in the woodland behind the little house.

Growing into a mature beech tree is rampant rambling rose Cerise Bouquet. I never tied the plant in, it simply hooked itself up through the branches and produced huge sprays of cascading stems. Even the most severe storms can’t dislodge it. Sadly it has no scent, but it is a wonderful sight in June and then repeat flowers on a more modest level right through to November. Being a rambler, it is disease free and no trouble. I never prune it, or feed it. It just grows! The Cornus Controversa ‘wedding cake’ tree in front was very badly affected by the 30C temperatures last summer and has lost some of its tiers. I think this winter we will bite the bullet and cut it down by half to see if it regenerates from lower down. It was planted 25 years ago, and is quite slow growing. I was quite upset by the number of plants that succumbed to the heat, but now I’ve come to terms with it. Gardens aren’t static, they change and we have to sometimes let go of much-loved plants. It’s never easy, is it.

One rose that seems to shrug off everything the weather throws at it is this lovely white variety, Pearl Drift. I grew this from a cutting I took on holiday one year. I nearly always come back from holiday with a memento of where we’ve been -always asking permission before taking my cutting, of course! I have a lovely pink flowering American Pillar taken from a rose which grows along a fence in front of a pretty cottage in Sandsend near Whitby.

Growing under the roses are many different geraniums. This one is the wild cranesbill, Geranium pratense. It seeds about the garden, originally blowing in from the country lane outside our garden gate.

As you can see, there’s plenty of cow parsley on the lane too. And I must admit that 50 percent of the garden is covered in cow parsley in spring. I’m not complaining. It’s rather lovely to have the garden echoing what’s going on outside the garden gate.

There’s plenty of room for ornamentals too. In the front garden, lining the path to the front door, there’s gorgeously-scented Mrs Sinkins pinks.

I always pop a few stems in amongst my jam jar flower posies for my mum. As you can see, cow parsley gets picked too, with white love-in-a-mist, wallflowers and alliums.

Thank you for joining me for my reminisces of June flowers. And for a wander down our country lane. I hope the photos have given you some ideas what to grow for summer colour. Do please sign up for e mail updates and follow the blog. It’s been rather lovely looking through my photo album as the temperature suddenly dips to zero here! We’ve had three nights of frost now, and it’s all change in the garden as trees turn golden and tender plants are tucked up in the greenhouse. Are you all ready for the cold? Do please leave a comment in the box below. Let me know what your highlights were this summer and how your garden is looking right now on the cusp of winter weather.

Views from the garden September 2023

/ karen / 16 Comments

I’ve spent the day clearing out my 20ft second-hand Alton Cedar greenhouse. This was purchased for £260, the best £260 I’ve ever spent. Admittedly, it was 32 years ago- but the greenhouse is still almost as good as new. I’ve painted it black, although it was a harsh bright red when it arrived. The staging is also painted black which really sets off the pelargoniums housed there. Plants live in pots along the front path in front of the greenhouse during the summer. It just gets too hot indoors, and they appreciate some fresh air and rainwater. But at this time of the year, I sweep it out, wash down the windows and give it all a quick re-paint. Everything must be back inside before the first frosts.

In the background you can see my 10ft sunflowers that I thought were small multi-headed types for cutting. I’d need a ladder to harvest those! Instead I’m leaving most of them to dry out for bird seed. A few blew down in the recent storms, so I’ve put them in jam jars on the kitchen table. I’ve made a note to carefully check the seed packets next summer so I don’t make the same mistake twice! They are beautiful though, and the bees and butterflies enjoying the pollen are currently a wonderful sight.

Next to the greenhouse there’s a matching 20ft polytunnel where I grow fruit, vegetables and flowers. Tomatoes and peaches have done really well this summer. You’ll also see a little pile of cobnuts in the basket. Alongside the greenhouse there’s a huge hazel tree which squirrels usually strip overnight. This year there were more nuts than they could manage, so I’ve harvested some to make into cakes and biscuits.

Peaches have been a great success this summer. My trees are grown in large 15” containers in the poly tunnel. This protects them from peach leaf curl which thrives in wet conditions. Keeping leaves dry is the best way to combat the disease.

Baskets nearly always contain flowers as well as fruit and veg. This is Rose of the Year 2022, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ Highly recommended for fabulous scent, repeat flowering and disease resistance. I’ve also picked some seedling nasturtiums. I’m particularly fond of this peachy-coloured one and keep it going by taking cuttings which root in water. I collect seeds too, but it might not come back exactly the same colour as nasturtiums readily hybridise. There’s also a few herbs, mint, marjoram and rosemary which add a lovely scent to any jam jar flower arrangement. The climbing beans are pink-flowered Celebration which don’t go stringy and crop late into the season.

Still on the theme of peaches, these are the little pastry custard tarts I made with slices of fresh peach, autumn raspberries and home-grown blueberries. The recipe is for my column in Garden News Magazine which I’ll share next week. They are very quick and easy to make.

I’ve had this potted purple bougainvillea for about 30 years. I’ve trained it into a round-headed shape so that it doesn’t take up too much room. It will be the first plant to go back in the greenhouse as it’s not at all hardy. Bracts stay colourful until December and I often use it in my Christmas table arrangements.

In pots alongside the bougainvillea are these beautiful grey-leaved tender perennial plants. They have long sprays of pale blue flowers. I’ve temporarily forgotten the name! Each winter I take insurance policy cuttings just incase I lose the parent plants.

There’s a border full of low-maintenance day lilies in front of the greenhouse. In autumn when the day lilies are starting to die back, these beautiful spires of persicaria appear. This one is Persicaria Rosea.

The flowers deserve a close inspection, they are so dainty.

There’s also a white persicaria. Sadly, the label has been lost so I’m not sure of the variety. It thrives in dappled shade and flowers from August to November. The photo is out of focus as it was such a windy day, but it’s a very pretty flower nonetheless.

And finally, this one is also growing in with the daylilies. This persicaria is either Firetail or Firedance. They are good for cut flowers, lasting at least a week to 10 days in a vase if you change the water each day. The spire shape gives a nice contrast to round, daisy flowers.

In amongst them are several types of phlox. This one is Blue Paradise- very highly scented and long-flowering in late summer.

The back field behind the summerhouse had oats growing there this summer. It’s been wonderful to sit in the shade and watch the field slowly turning to a shimmering gold. On a windy day, the crop ripples like waves and before it ripens the green-grey colour reminds me of the ocean. Instead of seagulls we have barn owls silently gliding by at dusk. There’s no sound at all from the beating wings and they quarter the field without knowing we are watching from the little wooden house.

We are always pleased and much relieved when the farmer manages to get the crop in before bad weather arrives. They work through sunset and into the night if rain is threatened. We lie in bed and listen to the tractors going up and down the fields and along the lane. At 2am there’s suddenly silence again and we know they have successfully got in the crops. Rain falls the next day and it’s wet for a week.

This is the view from our five bar gate at the top of the paddock. For a few weeks after the harvest, the fields retain their golden glow, and I drink in the scene and hold on to the memory as autumn and then winter darkness descends.

When we moved here, it was just a decrepit house and no garden. The farmer who built the house sold us an acre of land alongside it, and we planted 250 sapling trees given to us by the woodland trust and local council. At the time, there was a scheme giving free trees to anyone returning farm land to nature and we planted a small woodland area. All along the boundary, we left viewing points through to the fields beyond. The ever-changing seasons are a delight to spy through these holes in the treescape.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please sign up for e mail updates and I would love you to press ‘follow’. I often join in with Cathy for her ‘In a Vase on Monday’ meme. Mostly I write about what flowers I’m growing to give to my friends and family, and what produce I’m growing for family meals. I don’t grow in traditional rows, everything is mingled together and much is grown in window boxes and containers, with many different varieties ripening early, mid-season and late. There’s nearly always something to ‘forage’ from the plot.

Planting Bulbs, Corms and Tubers

/ karen / 13 Comments

A warm welcome to members of Heath Garden Society! Thank you for inviting me to talk last night. Here are a few photos to inspire you with your bulb planting this autumn!

Snowdrops. Galanthus Nivalis is the common single snowdrop. I wait until they are coming into bud and then dig up a clump and pop them into my Sankey terracotta pots. These pots are special to me as my grandfather used them and gave them to me before he died. I love to use them and think of him gardening with them too. He enjoyed planting primroses, auriculas and miniature daffodils in them. I’ve planted Tete-tete in these and placed them on the potting shed window where I can look at them while I’m working.

I highly recommended Galanthus Madeline if you like a snowdrop with yellow markings. These were the three I bought from Thenford. A friend suggested we buy a pot and split it between us. This is a great idea if snowdrops are expensive. I think we paid £6 or £7 each, which turned out to be a bargain. The snowdrops bulk up quickly and are strong and reliable.

Within just a few years, my little clump has grown! I love something that thrives and shines out in the winter garden. These are planted under deciduous trees. They’ll flower before the trees come into leaf and then be protected from strong sunlight and heat by the tree canopy. We leave the tree leaves where they drop in autumn and snowdrops particularly love leaf mould.

I can also recommend new variety Polar Bear. These are huge flowers with unusual swept back petals and distinctive green markings. These flower later than the others in my garden and it’s lovely to extend the snowdrop season with something special like this. Luckily, these are usually on sale at Dobbies garden centre and are a fairly reasonable price, about £4-£6 a pot. Look out for them next February.

I wrote about Polar Bear here :

https://bramblegarden.com/2020/03/10/last-of-the-late-snowdrops-and-snowy-pictures-of-my-garden/

Snowdrops and miniature daffodils make a lovely button hole posy. These ones were put onto a willow wreath for my summerhouse.

These little posies are placed into tiny glass or plastic test tubes and wired into the silver birch wreath. It’s easy to make the wreath. Just cut a length of weeping silver birch stems and twist and wind them around, tying at the top. Wire in some 4” lengths of ivy, moss and wild clematis or ‘old man’s beard’ as we call it. Daffodils, iris, cyclamen and crocus will last a week in the test tubes if kept topped up and it’s simple to just add fresh flowers when needed.

Here’s another tiny posy with snowdrops, crocus, cyclamen and a blue flower I think is called squill. Perhaps you know it? There’s an amazing strong scent for such a small arrangement in a tiny glass vase. Winter flowers are often beautifully-scented as they have to work hard to attract the few pollinators that are about.

Talking of scent, I don’t think you’ll get anything with a stronger scent in winter than Paper White narcissi. We start ours off in plant pots at the end of September. Six bulbs to a 7” pot. They’ll take about nine weeks to flower, depending on temperatures. You can bring them on for Christmas by bringing them in from a cold greenhouse. Always start them off in a cool place, or they will grow tall and leggy and won’t root as well. You can extend the flowering season by bringing pots indoors in sequence right through to March. Paper Whites are not hardy so they won’t grow outdoors, but I start mine off in an unheated poly tunnel which gives them just the right amount of protection to grow well. If I want to make a big indoor display, I select pots with flowers all at the same stage and just place them in a large cache pot, topping them off with moss to hide the pots. No one would know that I’ve cheated! We use Dalefoot sheep wool and bracken compost specially created for bulbs. This compost is a favourite of mine as it gives Lake District farmers an income for their wool- which would otherwise go into landfill. Also the compost doesn’t break down and disintegrate like some other peat-free types. The other compost we use is Melcourt multi-purpose with added John Innes. We add grit and vermiculite to these, depending on what we want to grow.

Here’s some Paper White and Soleil d’Or brightening up January!

Such a lot of scent from such small flowers.

Planting a selection of varieties mean you’ll have daffodils from January through until May. Cedric Morris is first to flower outdoors. February Gold (above) usually flowers at the end of February. Tete a tete in March. The last daffodil to flower is Hawera in May.

Another new variety which has become a firm favourite is Snow Baby (above). This flowers for a long time, coping with strong winds, hail, snow. It starts out pale lemon and fades to white. Such a beauty on short, strong stems.

I like to have heritage types in the garden, along with the latest varieties on trial. Historically, fruit growers used to have daffodils amongst their apple and pear trees to give them a spring income, and fruit bushes such as redcurrants and blackcurrants for a summer income. I like to keep up traditions like this, so I’ve planted heritage narcissi Geranium under my trees. These make a lovely scented bouquet in spring.

Here I’ve combined the old with the new. Narcissi Geranium with a new tulip called Exotic Emperor. These are ‘lasagne’ planted. Four inches of compost is placed in the bottom of a large Italian pot, and 25 tulip bulbs set on top. Another 4” of compost is set with another 25 tulips. More compost and 25 daffodil bulbs. Another 4” and 25 more daffodils. Then top up with white Carnegie hyacinths, white Joan of Arc crocus and snowdrops. I’ll have flowers from February through to May. I only have one expensive Italian pot so I want it to work really hard for me. It’s placed under my office window so I can look out at it while I’m working.

If I could only grow one tulip it would be Exotic Emperor. It reminds me of swan feathers. I love the green flash too. Double tulips last much longer than single tulips. There are more petals to open, which makes them good value.

Queen of Night is another tulip I use a lot in my garden design work. It’s long lasting and stands up to the weather.

Here it’s growing with Allium Purple Rain, a hybrid between Purple Sensation and Christophii. Highly recommended. Also look out for new summer-flowering allium Millennium. Hardy’s plant nursery sells this variety at flower shows and mail order.

For a pretty, fringed tulip, try Curly Sue. And my favourite pink tulip is Violet Beauty. We buy from Gee Tee Bulbs. Links to the nurseries are at the end of this blog post.

Rapidly moving on to autumn – as your talk was all about bulbs, corms and tubers- here’s Dahlia David Howard partnered with Alstroemeria Indian Summer. I leave my dahlias in the ground over winter, covered with a foot of dry leaves, some compost bags and finally, cloches. As long as they don’t get soaking wet and frozen, they will be fine.

Nuit D’Ete is another top favourite. I love the cactus flowering dahlias for their striking petals. This one also has tinges of deep plum red and black in the centre. A really striking and beautiful flower.

I’ll leave you with a picture of my 1920s summerhouse which is on a turntable. It originally lived in Derbyshire at Flower Lilies Hall. We spent a year renovating it and now love sitting inside looking out at the different views of the garden. Thank you for visiting my blog and reading about my garden. Please leave a message in the box below, and sign up for e mail notifications for further blog posts. I concentrate on growing food and flowers at home- I never have to buy any cut flowers for friends and relatives. It’s all about choosing the right varieties and getting a succession of produce all through the year. It’s a fun challenge and one I love to share with you all.

Links:

https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/

Hardy’s cottage plants:

https://www.hardysplants.co.uk/

Also look at In a vase on Monday meme:

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2023/08/28/in-a-vase-on-monday-bluesy-floozy/

A visit to Jane’s garden

/ karen / 13 Comments

I had a lovely invitation to visit a friend’s garden for an instagram meet-up and afternoon tea. This is the first view of the garden through the fold-back doors from the kitchen. Isn’t it gorgeous. Worthy of a front cover on a gardening magazine, I think.

Jane Wilson has created some beautiful viewing points. This path leads to the garden shed – which is no ordinary shed, having been made from recycled materials, stained glass windows, and painted a lovely shade of green. The path is made from tiles which used to be the kitchen floor! Nothing is wasted here, if it can be repurposed in the garden. The pale pink peony is Sarah Bernhardt and the rose planted over the arch is Eden. A pale pink rose, May Queen, was planted 25 years ago.

The covered seating area next to the shed is a cosy place to have a cup of tea. There’s so much detail here it takes a while to take it all in. At night there’s fairy lights to add atmosphere. I love all the throws and cushions which make it a comfortable place to sit back and survey the planting.

This is the view from the sofa. Topiary and weeping trees, plenty of foliage for structure, and bright, cheerful peonies which are thriving in Jane’s garden.

Peonies do particularly well in Jane’s sheltered back garden .

We had a bit of competition for the sofa from Jane’s gorgeous greyhound, Harry, a rescue hound, who’s really found a heavenly home with Jane and the family. After staring at us for a while, we felt guilty, and got up to make room for him. It’s clearly his favourite spot in the garden! Isn’t he beautiful. A truly graceful creature, deserving the best seat on the patio!

Jane decorated the seating areas with jugs of fresh flowers picked from the garden. I love this sunny buttercup, pink campion and cow parsley posy.

Jane made the tablecloths and cushions for this second seating area. She’s very talented with sewing and upholstery – as well as gardening.

Another home-made summerhouse in the opposite corner of the garden. There’s a stream running in front of it down to a small pond.

There are several ponds in the garden. This one is in a shady spot and is surrounded with ferns, bamboo and London Pride.

A larger pond has this rain chain which drips down, making a lovely trickling sound. Jane says you don’t have to spend a fortune on garden ornaments; this one came from Aldi and wasn’t expensive.

Views through the planting. There’s a beautiful white-flowering Crambe cordifolia in the centre of this bed. Huge dark green leaves are as architectural as the sprays on tiny white flowers on tall stems. It’s a good plant for adding movement and drama to a planting scheme.

Scented roses are looking healthy and full of flower buds. This one is a David Austin Rose, Gertrude Jekyll, one of many planted in this beautiful garden.

Another beautiful bloom – and now I can’t decide if it’s a rose or a peony! I’m sure Jane will let me know when she reads this post.

Had to give Marv a cuddle. He’s the same age as my cat Monty and as you can see, long-haired too.

Jane’s daughter Sophie made this cake for the garden party. We had a lovely spread of savoury and sweet food and plenty of cups of tea!

Mirror and ‘finds’ displayed in the garden

Thank you Jane for inviting me to your garden party. I loved every minute of it. It must have taken a lot of effort to organise the event, but it was truly appreciated. It was great to meet up with your other Instagram friends too… Mandy, Sue, Elaine, Jenny, Anna, and Julie, Pat, Tracey and Nick. I felt as if I’d known them all for years, and yet only met most of them that same afternoon. It’s good to meet up with fellow gardeners and have a good catch up.

You can see more photos of Jane’s garden on instagram at janewilson5352 .

There’s also a link to the wilson family’s fund raising page :

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/SophieandJohn2023?utm_source=copyLink&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=SophieandJohn2023&utm_campaign=pfp-share&utm_term=ad9feff4e7374171a979ca7ee23467c8&fbclid=PAAab2Sp-_VU2xUPAoMqj3Zc4hnAv9Y69omlPIMuhYuDKa1JEQ2GBrpRPe_SQ_aem_ASobz_bYbSDw3phQAlALohZXWNtUbSDd5TiU6wIqANWm54uiPLHBX5Z7LkQpmt1ttWo

Have any of you taken part in a bloggers or instragram meet up? It’s lovely to meet people you’ve followed for years, especially if there’s a shared interest such as homes and gardens, wildlife and growing flowers and veg. I had a great time visiting Jane and meeting all her friends, and I hope you enjoyed seeing her garden too, through the photos on this blog post. Have a great gardening week everyone.

Flowers from my garden for my Mum

/ karen / 17 Comments

Sweet peas and roses are plentiful on 28th June. Rosa It’s a Wonderful Life is the favourite this week with five or six rose heads on each spray. It’s almost a bouquet on its own!

Flowers are fully double with a delicious fruit salad scent. Leaves are very healthy with no sign of disease.

Perfect in bud. Flowers start a deep apricot colour and fade to pale pink.

It makes a striking feature in the garden, with all shades of peach and apricot at a time on one rose bush.

For background colour, I’ve chosen dark purple-leaved physocarpus Diabolo which in summer has clusters of pale pink flowers. These turn into deep purple seed heads.

Sweet peas are growing along a hazel A-frame in the veg plot. This year I’m growing a selection of white sweet peas alongside old favourite High Scent.

Mum sowed these oxeye daisies from a packet of wild flower seeds six years ago. We planted them together in one of the 1.3m by 3m divided veg beds in front of the greenhouse. They are the perfect partner for roses.

When they have finished flowering, I’m planning to move them to the new wildflower area surrounding the pond. They are taking over the veg patch , which I’m not complaining about. I love their joyful exuberance. Daisies are probably my top favourite flowers.

Also looking good at the moment are the home florists’ range of roses. This one is Timeless Cream. I’ve also got Timeless Purple. Highly recommended. Very few thorns and long lasting in a vase.

Timeless Cream in bud. Would make a perfect buttonhole rose.

And Rosa Mutabilis also blends in. This is the longest flowering rose in my garden, starting in April and still in flower in December.

Have a great gardening week everyone. I hope this has given you some inspiration on what to grow at home to create bouquets for friends and family all year round.

Also catch up with Cathy over on her #InAVaseOnMonday meme. It’s fascinating what everyone’s growing in gardens, all around the world.

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2023/06/26/in-a-vase-on-monday-three-little-maids/

Rose of the Year 2024

/ karen / 8 Comments

Roses are among my favourite flowers in the garden, so I was delighted to be invited to the launch party for the Rose of the Year 2024.

And here it is! Meteor is a floribunda rose with golden yellow flowers, flushed red. This is a later than usual bloomer. I’m fact my sample rose is in bud at the moment (14th June) and looks like it won’t be in full flower for another two weeks. This is a good trait, as it spreads the flowering period in my garden.

The prize-wining rose was chosen as rose of the year because it:

Repeat flowers through the season

Has healthy foliage with excellent disease resistance

Has a bushy growth with erect habit and strong stems

It grows to 70cm high and 40cm wide

Lightly scented, fragrance like fruit salad on a summer morning

Meteor is suitable for pots or containers as well as planting in borders.

Plants will be available this autumn from rose nurseries and garden centres. Meteor was bred by Kordes Rosen, a member of the British Association of Rose Breeders.

Marilyn Stevens

Roses UK promotes the Rose of the Year, international rose breeders and British rose growers. Other activities have included theme design and management for the Festival of Roses Marquee at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show and rose naming projects.
Marilyn Stevens, Roses UK project manager, said: ‘Our mission is to
celebrate roses! We’re keen to encourage gardeners to plant healthy
varieties and to consider companion planting to complement their roses.’ The British Association of Rose Breeders funds Roses UK.

The launch party was held at Waterperry Gardens near Oxford on 13th June, a glorious location for such a prestigious event.

Here’s head gardener and gardens manager Pat Havers who gave us a tour of the gardens following the launch party. More on the gardens to follow in a separate blog post…..

Peach Melba, a fully double climber is Rose of the Year for 2023 and was launched at Iford Manor last summer.

This beauty is called It’s a Wonderful Life, and was Rose of the Year 2022. I used the flowers in this week’s posy for my Mum. The scent is reminiscent of water melon and summer fruit salad. It readily repeat- flowers, which makes it ideal for the cutting garden. This rose was bred by Colin Dixon who has won the rose of the year title 10 times.

Roses UK is @rosesukroses on twitter and Instagram and http://www.rosesuk.com web site.

If you were listening in to BBC Radio Leicester today, I was talking to presenter Ben Jackson about these roses. Do have a listen in on the i-player at about 3.05pm.

Flowers for my Mum. Home-grown from the plot

/ karen / 11 Comments

Summer annuals, such as cosmos, haven’t started flowering yet. We are about two weeks behind, due to a very cold spring. So for this week’s flowers from the plot I’ve had to rely on biennials, perennials, climbers and shrubs. Each week, I pick a selection of flowers to take to my Mum as a ‘snap-shot’ of what the garden looks like. It’s a way of sharing our love of flowers and keeping her connected with what’s happening here.

Love-in-a-mist was sown last autumn and over-wintered in an unheated poly tunnel. I was testing out a theory to see if I could get early flowers by the last week of May. There are masses of flowers, but these are only a few weeks earlier than the ones growing in a sunny south-facing border outdoors, so I probably won’t repeat this exercise. The cost of compost and use of space doesn’t warrant the slightly earlier flowers.

The tiny deep purple flowers are Geranium Phaeum which pops up all over the plot in places I never planted it. It’s a long-flowering perennial and doesn’t take up much space, just meandering about through established shrubs and in a dry, shady woodland border.

The other jewel-like purple flowers are perennial wallflowers from Coton Manor plant nursery. These are highly recommended as they flower for a very long period and are low maintenance and easy-going. I bought just one plant and took cuttings immediately. I soon had 20 plants to cover a quarter of one of my vegetable and flower beds sited next to the greenhouse. I have 10 beds which are 1.5m wide by 3m long with small slab paths running between.

The last of the orange biennial wallflowers are being picked now. I’ll sow some more seed for next year. Sooty is a favourite deep purple/ black variety. The one above was part of a mixed packet of seed named Orange Bedder. It’s been flowering for several months. Deep red buds open to a lovely marmalade orange and the markings on the petals remind me of a dragonfly’s wings. The scent is wonderful, especially in the evening, and attracts clouds of moths. And circling above the plot, eating the moths, we have pipistrelle bats. We have seen them here since we moved in and created a garden 30 years ago. We thought they roosted over winter in the farmhouse next door, but they must have found other accommodation as the farmhouse has been completely renovated and there are now no gaps in the slate roof.

Forget me nots fill another whole bed, providing ground cover for the soil until the bed is required for summer crops. Forget me nots pull up very easily and suppress any weeds, so you are left with a nice clean bed to start planting out crops such as sweetcorn, onions, French beans, and courgettes. This year I have planted a dozen sunflowers in amongst the sweetcorn, an idea I spotted at Easton Walled Gardens last summer. Nasturtiums will clamber up the sweetcorn as it makes a sturdy support for annual climbers and scramblers.

Welsh poppies pop up in every crevice all over the garden. I did previously try to eradicate them, but they persisted and I’m quite pleased they did now. Such a cheerful plant with flowers that look as if they are made of silk. I have the yellow and the orange types here. Background foliage comes from the Physocarpus Diabolo which grows in a north facing border and provides material for flower arrangements all summer long.

Dead nettles and cow parsley add a touch of white to the posy. Dead nettles continue to grow out of the bouquet and flowers last a long time. I was intrigued to see four out of the 12 gardens at Chelsea Flower Show contained so called weeds. I laughed out loud when I heard pots of dandelions were selling for £30. I’m actually a millionaire if dandelions, nettles and buttercups are taken into consideration. My whole plot is full of them!

I have a new little helper in the garden! My grandson, Finn. He loves running between the cow parsley along the woodland paths and picking flowers for his great grandmother. I’m hoping he will have a life-long love of nature and flowers, just as we did, growing up running free in our grandparent’s gardens. Have a happy gardening week everyone.

Do join Cathy for her ‘In a Vase on Monday’ meme. If you are busy, like me, it doesn’t matter what day of the week you post your posy of flowers from the garden. It’s a good community to be a part of, sharing what we are growing in gardens all around the world.

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2023/05/29/in-a-vase-on-monday-self-care/

Garden Club Talks. Cut Flowers

/ karen / 23 Comments

A warm welcome to all new readers who’ve attended my garden club, or U3A talks. Here’s a selection of photos from my talks to accompany the plant lists. I’m available in the East Midlands area for talks. If you’ve enjoyed one of my talks, please pass my details on to neighbouring clubs and societies. I give a donation to charity with each talk. My e mail is k.gimson@btinternet.com.

Echinacea White Swan grown from seed. Plants also come from Miles Nursery, Hoby, Leicestershire.

I’ve been a garden designer for 25 years. Pollinators- bees and butterflies- are always a priority when choosing plants.

I highly recommend Jean Vernon for advice on helping bumble bees and solitary bees. I reviewed her best-selling book here: https://bramblegarden.com/2022/06/14/attracting-garden-pollinators-by-jean-vernon/.

Here’s where I grow my plants. I have a second hand 20ft Alton Cedar greenhouse which cost £260 30 years ago. I’ve painted it black and made matching staging. Alongside is a 20ft poly tunnel. We bought the hoops from a nursery closing down. The metal hoops cost £20 on condition we took down a 40ft tunnel and cleared the site. It took us a day to take it down and a week to install the poly tunnel at home. The new plastic covering cost about £140. You can just see the potting shed which replaced one made from pallets which lasted 20 years! This one is made from recycled wood and 1920s window frames which came from a house in the village having double glazing fitted. The roof is black onduline which is fairly cheap and easy to build with. My luxury, having saved money on second hand items, is an electricity supply to the potting shed and greenhouse. At the moment the greenhouse is heated to just above freezing. Orange and lemon trees thrive there.

In front of the greenhouse there’s 10 beds with 2x2ft slab paths between. The beds are about 1.2m wide by 3m long . Vegetables and flowers are mixed together. One bed contains wild flowers. Two beds have hazel A-frames made from hazel rods. These rods come from farm suppliers and are used as binders for hedge laying. They are fairly cheap and last three years if repaired every spring. Natural string is used to tie them together, so at the end of their life, the whole lot can be shredded and composted.

Sweet peas are sown in October and February and planted out in April. Down the centre of the A- frames are gladioli and lilies. Perennial argyranthemums and annual Ammi are interplanted and calendula set at the front. The frame supports all the flowers and no further staking is needed, which saves time.

I grow new varieties and heritage types. Above is a new one called Wiltshire Ripple from Mr Fothergill’s. Highly fragrant and with long stems ideal for cut flowers. Try their new Suffolk Punch sweet pea, launched this year to support the Suffolk Punch Trust which is helping to conserve this heritage working horse breed.

Here’s a posy with dark blue sweet peas, Ammi, argyranthemums and lavender Hidcote. There’s always mint and rosemary in all my arrangements for the gorgeous scent. The grey foliage is Seneccio Vira Vira from Coton Manor Nursery.

Here’s the argyranthemums made into a mossy wreath with ivy, Ammi and Blue Boy cornflowers.

My wreaths end up on the 1920s summerhouse which is on a turntable to follow the sun.

Here’s a rose wreath with highly-scented Constance Spry, David Austin’s first rose, and Mme Isaac Periere, a heritage rose dating back to 1841.

Inside the potting shed. The wreath is made from a metal frame covered in moss. 10cm lengths of Ivy are poked into the moss all around the outside and inside of the ring. Roses and stems of elderflower are added on top. These will last a week if sprayed with water every day.

These roses are new from Whartons. They are a home-florists’ range for cut flowers. This one is Timeless Cream. Highly scented, with few thorns, long stems and it also repeat-flowers through summer to autumn. You can find out more about British rose growers from Roses UK which promotes the industry and spreads the word about new and heritage roses. http://www.rosesuk.com/

It goes well with carnation Bridal Star, white Antirrhinum Royal Bride, Ammi, and cosmos Psyche White. Blue gladioli (Pheasant Acre Plants) mint and Agapanthus Fireworks (Wyvale Nurseries) compete the posy.

Cosmos Psyche White. Mr Fothergill’s seed. Started in February and planted out end of May. Flowers from June to November.

Agapanthus Fireworks, a new variety which flowers all summer.

Calendula, a seedling from Touch of Red. Mr Fothergill’s seed.

If you’ve attended one of my talks, I hope you’ve enjoyed this reminder of some of the flowers mentioned. Your leader will e mail a comprehensive plant list, and I look forward to returning next year with a different talk on another gardening subject.

Award for Flower Carpet Pink Rose

/ karen / 8 Comments

Flower Carpet Pink is the 18th rose to be inducted into the World Federation of Rose Societies prestigious Rose Hall of Fame. Who knew there was such a thing as a Rose Hall of Fame! Or that there were 17 other roses mentioned there already. I learn something new every day. The announcement came at the Word Rose Congress held in Adelaide earlier this month. I’m going to show my complete ignorance here and say that I didn’t even know there was a World Rose Congress either. However, for what it’s worth, I have always loved the Flower Carpet roses for their disease resistance. As an organic gardener, roses that don’t need spraying are a blessing. Ones that repeat flower and don’t need much pruning are even more welcome. I use the pink rose in garden design projects, but at home I have Flower Carpet Coral which grows amongst white peonies, hellebores, and blue campanula in a semi-shaded border. The blue and the coral colours look wonderful together.

Flower Carpet Coral

It’s fascinating to know the history behind these plants. Flower Carpet Pink was Bred by Noack Roses in 1988 and introduced in the UK in 1991. Like many gardeners, I appreciate its glossy foliage, abundance of flowers and easy-care characteristics.

Rose grower Robert Wharton, licensee for Noack Roses in the UK says ‘With environmental consideration such as water and chemical reduction increasing in importance Flower Carpet with its excellent drought tolerance and superb health will be a feature in gardens and green spaces well into the future.’

Creator of Flower Carpet Pink, Werner Noack passed away recently and his son Reinhard accepted the award from Henrianne de Briey President of the WFRS. Reinhard said ‘Such a success is not the merit of only one person – three generations of the Noack family, our employees and national and international partners have all contributed to make Flower Carpet Pink a true rose of the world’.

The Flower Carpet collection won 11 gold medals and 14 awards in rose trials held around the world. Both Reinhard and his son Steffen continue Werner’s work in creating both beautiful and useful roses, including Cherry, the latest addition to the Flower Carpet family.

Flower Carpet Cherry

The Flower Carpet collection has combined sales of over 100 million plants globally since the launch of Flower Carpet Pink.

Flower Carpet Gold


The World Federation of Rose Societies, World Hall of Fame was established in 1976. There have been 18 inductees over the past 46 years, with Rose Peace being the first. There is also an Old Rose Hall of Fame which celebrates the popular historical roses and roses of genealogical importance.

Flower Carpet® is grown in the UK by Whartons Garden Roses and is available from garden centres and nurseries.

Here’s some more roses from the Flower Carpet series.

Flower Carpet Amber
Flower Carpet Ruby
Flower Carpet Sunset
Flower Carpet Sunshine
Flower Carpet White

These make good roses for flower arranging, and in the open-centred roses, bees love the pollen. Are any of you growing roses from the Flower Carpet Range? Thank you for reading the blog and leaving your comments in the box below.

Flowers from my garden- a week later….

/ karen / 24 Comments

Last week I posted an ‘all of the garden’ bouquet with everything in flower. I thought you might like to see how the flowers look seven days later. I visited my Mum today and took all the flowers out of the vase and cut four inches off the bottom of the stems. I cleaned the jam jar and added fresh water.

What a joy to see Alstroemeria Indian Summer still looking fresh and colourful. As I said last week, I bought this new plant from Mary Thomas who has a nursery in my area. Mary lives in Sutton Bonington and opens her garden for the NGS. She also has a plant nursery, Piecemeal Plants and has a stall at the Belvoir Castle Flower Show where I treated myself to one or two special plants. To have them still in flower in mid-November is making me very happy indeed!

Chrysanthemums give good value in a cut flower garden and will last three weeks in a vase, if looked after by refreshing the water and just trimming the base of the stems slightly every few days. Mum hadn’t touched her flowers for the week, but they still looked as fresh as newly picked. This variety is Swan. The pure white petals surround a green centre which eventually fades to white to match the outer petals. A good value plant. We bought cuttings from the RHS Malvern Show a few years ago. I think I shared a batch of cuttings with a friend. There was a special offer of 12 cuttings of different types. The price for the offer worked out at about 80p per cutting. Plants are grown in 10”pots stood outdoors all summer. Usually I take them in the poly tunnel or greenhouse in November as frost and rain might spoil the petals, but this year we have had such mild conditions, the plants are still outdoors.

This is the very last David Howard dahlia of the year. It’s my favourite dahlia and goes really well with the alstroemeria, as if they were meant to be together as a pair.

The petals of the rudbeckias have dropped off, but I decided to keep the stems as the dark brown stamens made interesting ‘buttons’ of colour and shape. A contrast to the flowers.

This little rudbeckia is hanging on, grown from a mixed packet of seed from Mr Fothergills. I just couldn’t throw it out. It might not last another week, but we shall see.

I was surprised and delighted to see the little wild flower Oxeye daisy still hanging on. Such a lovely reminder of the banks of white flowers which flower all summer here. It’s so strange to see them blooming in November as the days grow dark. But welcome even so.

As usual, foliage is important in my jam jar flowers. This is a lime green bedding plant I keep going from one year to the next by taking lots of cuttings and keeping them in 3” pots over the winter. They are popular for hanging baskets and containers, but also make very good foliage for cut flowers. And I’ve temporarily forgotten the name. Perhaps you know it? There’s also a grey version, but I prefer the lime green.

There’s also rosemary which goes into every posy I create. Everything I do has a meaning and rosemary is for remembrance, as you probably know. I’m surprised to see the huge 4ft high plant I have in the veg plot in full flower today. Such beautiful Mediterranean blue flowers and gorgeously -scented leaves. I couldn’t be without it.

I couldn’t be without my senecio viravira which also goes into every single posy I create. It’s such a pretty leaf and sets off all the other colours. Plants are not always hardy so again I’ve taken cuttings in 3” pots, just in case.

Also, not easy to photograph, but Salvia Phyllis’s Fancy is as fresh as the day I picked it.

A slightly better photo. You can also see the red stems of dogwood which give colour to autumn arrangements.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this weekend’s updated photos. It only took me ten minutes to rearrange the flowers and refresh them. It’s so rewarding to see how long home-grown flowers can last. And my mum’s kitchen window is full of autumn colour and scent for another week. A worthwhile project and it makes me – and my lovely Mum very happy.

Have a lovely gardening week. And thanks for reading the blog and leaving a comment below. Follow Cathy for the ‘In a Vase on Monday’ meme. She has a very special anniversary tomorrow, so many congratulations Cathy! And thanks for hosting such a lovely, friendly meme with members growing and arranging flowers all around the world for the past nine years.

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2022/11/07/in-a-vase-on-monday-life-more-sweet/

November flowers for my Mum

/ karen / 20 Comments

Monday 7th November 2022

Surely, these must be the last flowers for cutting this year…. I keep going out expecting to see foliage blackened by frost and buds turned to mush. But no, the garden is still blooming!

Star of the show must be these marmalade orange flowers, Dahlia David Howard. Plants have done nothing all summer, but suddenly a month ago, after some rain, new leaves appeared and flower buds. I didn’t think they would come to anything as it’s so late in the season.

Coming into flower again is my new alstroemeria Indian Summer which I brought in July from my friend nursery owner Mary Thomas. It was in flower when I bought it, and it’s decided to get going again now. Doesn’t it look wonderful alongside the David Howard dahlias.

They look as if they are meant to be together in a bouquet. Such a pretty combination, don’t you think?

Another surprise is this red and white dahlia. It arrived all by itself. I bought a white one and a red one several years ago, and together they have produced a seedling baby combining the two colours. It’s rather pretty and flamboyant. I love the open centre as it has plenty of pollen for bees. I probably enjoy bees and butterflies as much as the flowers in my garden to be honest.

I sowed the seed for these sunflowers speculatively in August. I sowed them direct, in amongst the cosmos and calendula. Temperatures were so hot in the 30s for days on end that seeds germinated almost overnight. The result is a bed full of miniature sunflowers only 4” across. I don’t suppose this will ever happen again as we are unlikely to have another summer like this one.

Another mixed up sunflower, or it could actually be a rudbeckia. It has a very pretty chocolate coloured centre. I love any daisy-type flower.

Not a perfect flower, it’s slightly nibbled around the edges, but this is an ox-eye daisy which usually flowers in mid-summer. We have these wild flowers dotted about the whole garden, especially along gravel paths where seedlings flourish. I’m digging some up this week and moving them to a new patch of bare ground around the pond.

More white flowers just starting to bloom now are the chrysanthemums. This one is called Swan. It opens with a green and cream centre and fades to pure white. Very long-lasting in a vase, it will keep for nearly three weeks if you change the water daily. Highly recommended. I grow it in 10” pots stood outdoors for the summer and brought under cover in winter.

Verbena Bonariensis is a pretty filler for these bouquets. We often have flowers right through until Christmas, although they are starting to diminish. They are still worthy of close inspection even when there are more seeds than tiny flowers.

Also joining the last-minute party is salvia Phyllis’s Fancy. I bought this for the name as much as the flower. I’d love to know who Phyllis is. It certainly is fancy. Salvias are quite hard to photograph. I have a new camera which doesn’t seem to understand exactly what I want to focus on, but the photo is striking even with most of the flowers blurred. It’s the most wonderful purple and lavender flower.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my last-minute flowers. Can you spot the abutilon poking out of the bottom on the right. I think this is Kent Belle. Three stems of red dogwood (Westonbirt) add structure to the arrangement.

I learned from Georgie Newbery of Common Farm Flowers to add stems in a spiral by holding the bouquet in one hand and giving it a quarter turn before adding another stem. This way the arrangement looks good on both sides, and will actually stand up on its own. It’s a satisfying moment when it does!

Thanks for reading my blog. Flowers are for my lovely Mum this week. After a six week absence due to illness, I’m owing her quite a few bouquets! Join Cathy over on ‘In a Vase on Monday’ to see what others are cutting and arranging for their vases this week. It’s interesting to see the variety of flowers from all around the world. https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2022/10/31/in-a-vase-on-monday-spooky/

Flowers from the garden 31st October 2022

/ karen / 27 Comments

Who would think it was the last day of October? My dahlias didn’t have any flowers during August, September and the first half of October. But they have suddenly decided to put on a display. And what a display. They are all producing glorious stained-glass hues. The colours seem brighter and more glowing than previous years. They are so welcome after such a disappointing summer.

Labels have been scratched up by the hens and misplaced, but I think this is Dahlia Karma Choc, a decorative type with velvety dark red flowers. It got left behind in the garden last autumn, while most of the dahlias were dug up and stored in the potting shed. To be honest, it has done just as well as the others, so I’m going to risk it this winter, and leave them all out. I’ll cover them with a foot of dried beech leaves, a plastic cloche and recycled compost bags. They should stay fairly dry and be protected from frost. And if they don’t survive, I’ll have a rethink in the cut flower garden next summer. I might try something less trouble that doesn’t get nibbled by slugs, need staking and then can’t cope with a drought.

Karma Choc with grey foliage of Senecio viravira, known as Dusty Miller. I’ve taken lots of cuttings of the senecio as it’s not totally hardy. I’d be lost without it as it provides foliage for my jam jar arrangements all year round.

Dahlia David Howard has also decided to flower. These apricot orange blooms are much smaller than usual. Foliage is dark, bronze almost black. Plants were originally bred by nurseryman David Howard who spotted a promising seedling in 1960. It went on to win an RHS AGM, Award of Garden Merit. David founded Howard Nurseries in Wortham, near Diss and had a passion for dahlias and chrysanthemums. By the age of 16, he was supplying plants to Covent Garden while selecting and breeding his own varieties. The nursery thrived with David and a business partner buying first four, then 12 then 24 acres to expand. They gained such a renowned reputation that they supplied plants to the Chelsea Flower Show, and also to the Queen Mother and Prince Charles. David died aged 81 in 2019, and his daughter Christine now runs the nurseries.

This beautiful white dahlia flower reminds me of swan feathers. Sadly, I don’t know the name as this was given to me by a friend, but I’ll take cuttings next spring and increase my numbers because it’s such a lovely cut flower. The heads usually get quite heavy and dangle down, but Georgie Newbery of Common Farm Flowers showed me how to twist the stem around and turn the dahlia flowers into the centre of the bouquet which seems to work. The red stems you can see in the first photo are dogwood, Cornus Westonbirt, which also help support heavy flower heads.

Tucked in amongst the dahlias are a few teeny sunflowers. They never grew more than a few inches across! However, their bright yellow flowers are very welcome now, even in miniature.

This sunflower grown from a mixed packet of seed from Mr Fothergill’s has burnt orange flowers and a chocolate centre. Bees love them, and the seed heads are good for birds.

A beautiful double yellow sunflower with my favourite dark brown centre.

Cosmos also eventually decided to flower. I think this is Candy Stripe from Mr Fothergill’s. Another good flower for bees. And with daytime temperatures still at 18C we still have bumblebees and solitary bees out and about.

Argyranthemums braved the heatwave in summer and produced a few blooms, but now the plants have decided to go for it and plants are smothered in large white daisies. These last for two weeks in a vase, so I’m very grateful to see them in flower.

Cerise red dahlias, possibly Arabian Night, with red salvias which are also having their moment now.

And tucked in the middle is this fimbriated cactus dahlia, possibly Apache, which came from Gee-Tee Bulbs. Foliage is always important to me and in my bouquet today I have one stem each of mint, rosemary and lemon-scented santolina.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these bright jewel-like colours. I must admit, I usually prefer pastel shades. But after the summer we’ve had, any colour is certainly welcome. These flowers are for my Mum, who I haven’t seen for six weeks due to illness, so a joyful reunion, and I am pleased to have something lovely and cheerful to take from my garden.

Is your garden behaving strangely like mine, and deciding it’s summer all over again? Let me know if it’s just me, or if your flowers are blooming again. Have a great gardening week. Karen

Links: Join Cathy In a Vase on Monday: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/

Cut Flowers from my garden mid-October

/ karen / 23 Comments
Rosa Timeless purple

I’ve just realised that I never cut any flowers for myself. They are always for friends and relatives, all the pleasure being in the giving. It’s nice to have something home-grown to give away. However, I’ve been ill for a few weeks and stuck indoors. How frustrating it’s been looking out from my bed while the sun shone on the garden. I made lists of all the jobs needed doing, which didn’t help at all. But when I felt a bit better, I wobbled outdoors and cut these flowers for my bedside table.

The star of my little bouquet is this highly-scented rose from a new home-florists’ range. Timeless Purple has long stems with very few thorns. Flowers have an ‘old rose’ appearance and wonderful myrrh- scent. Modern breeding means it repeat flowers and is disease resistant. Flowers stand up to the weather. Old roses tend to ‘ball’ in the rain, where buds fail to open and drop off. Such a disappointment if you’ve eagerly waited for the rose buds to open, to see them going mouldy and wilting. These flowers shrug off the raindrops, and flowers aren’t marked by the weather.

The heatwave and drought meant there were virtually no flowers in my garden all summer, but autumn has brought a bonanza. Plants seem determined to make up for lost time. The argyranthemums grown from seed by my Mum have come into flower mid-October. Who doesn’t love a daisy? The cheerful white flowers go so well with the roses and salvias.

Dahlias also suffered in the summer heat, but are coming into flower now. The first frost will finish the display, but for now, I’m just enjoying this unexpected bounty.

It’s not easy to photograph salvias. Their colours are so vibrant they tend to blur with an ordinary camera phone. This is one of the many salvias that came from https://middletonnurseries.co.uk/

I wrote about my trial growing salvias here: https://bramblegarden.com/2021/06/18/new-plants-on-trial-salvias-from-middleton-nurseries/

Their jewel-like colours are very welcome at this time of the year, and look so wonderful set against golden autumn foliage. Stems have a delicious blackcurrant scent.

Talking of foliage, I picked some stems of my dogwood, Cornus Westonbirt. Leaves are turning a lovely plum colour, and the bright red stems will provide interest all winter, especially when the sun shines through them. These are such easy shrubs to grow, they simply need a prune to the ground each spring as the most colourful stems are produced on new growth.

Cornus Westonbirt

My grey foliage plants came from Coton Manor nursery in Northampton. Annoyingly, I can’t remember the name, but I have the label in the greenhouse and will just edit the name in tomorrow. I’m still suffering from terrible brain fog after being ill.

Fuchsias, also from Coton Manor, have decided to flower a month later than usual. They are growing in huge pots and I’ll just lift them into the greenhouse to protect them from frost. They flower till Christmas, given some protection.

Cosmos Psyche White has also decided to put on a show now. This is my favourite cosmos. It’s a messy double white with long stems and good repeat flowering. It lasts a fortnight in a vase. I’ve tried some of the new apricot cosmos, but they didn’t do well for me here, so I won’t bother with them again. I need tried and tested varieties that won’t let me down.

Cosmos Psyche White

In the greenhouse I found this lovely pink Passion flower which was in keeping with my colour-theme posy, so I picked it an added it to the jam jar. I grow this in a 10” pot which is carried outside for the summer and brought in again before the first frosts. Usually there are one or two flowers right through winter.

I wrote about the Timeless florists’ range here: https://bramblegarden.com/2021/11/01/diary-for-garden-news-magazine/

Join in with Cathy for her In a Vase on Monday here : https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/

Well, I hope this little posy of flowers has given you some inspiration for what to grow to have something to pick in late October. I try to have something to pick every day of the year. Sometimes there’s more foliage than flowers, but it’s lovely to bring the garden indoors, so to speak.

After being stuck in my room for so long, it did me the world of good to wander about outdoors picking a few flowers. For once, they are just for me, and I’m thoroughly enjoying them. Have a great weekend. Keep safe and well and enjoy your gardening.

Book Review: Secret Gardens of the South East- A Private Tour. My BBC Local Radio book of the week

/ karen / 29 Comments

By Barbara Segall

Photos by Clive Boursnell

Published by Frances Lincoln, autumn 2022

Hardback RRP £22

ISBN 978-0-7112-5260-8

One of my favourite things is to jump in the car and travel to a garden I’ve not seen before. It doesn’t matter if the garden is large or small, there’s always some planting combination or landscaping idea I jot down in a notebook, hoping to replicate it in my own garden one day.

The gardens of the South East of England are still a mystery to me. My car hasn’t ventured that far yet. But I’ve just read Barbara Segall’s exciting new book featuring 20 gardens in that region, and I’m getting out the map book already!

Balmoral Cottage, Kent. Topiary created from cuttings.

One particular garden in the book struck a chord with me. Balmoral Cottage in Benenden, Kent, where the owners grew many of the plants from divisions and cuttings from their parents’ gardens. Charlotte and Donald Molesworth bought the cottage nearly 40 years ago. Barbara tells the story of how Donald, a professional gardener, had been working next door at The Grange, the former home of Collingwood ‘Cherry’ Ingram – the plant hunter credited with returning endangered cherries to Japan.

Barbara writes, “That moment when you meet your future down a little lane, see a gate and opening it find the rest of time ahead of you…..? Well, that is literally what happened when Charlotte and Donald Molesworth found and bought Balmoral Cottage in Benenden in 1983.

For eight years Charlotte had been living in and teaching art at Benenden School, and on walks around the village, often stepped along the rough track leading to this tiny house, which had the best sunsets imaginable. Probably named Balmoral to celebrate a visit of Queen Victoria to Benenden, it was the gardener’s cottage for the Grange.

The Molesworths brought with them to Balmoral Cottage the first of many animals to share their garden lives, including bees, rescue dogs, donkeys (there have been nine) and companion sheep, hens and a cockerel.

They knew that they would need plenty of plants to make their garden and, being thrifty and resourceful they brought many plants from their parents’ gardens. From Donald’s family came woodland trilliums, dog’s-tooth violets and narcissus pseudonarcissus which have self-seeded and spread down each side of that original track. Charlotte’s mother’s garden was packed with old fashioned roses, cottage-garden plants and topiary, so her contributions included double white primroses and several thousand box cuttings.”

I love the fact they have created a special and unusual garden on a shoestring. They avoid buying anything new, scouring reclamation yards for potential items for recycling. “It’s our policy for helping Mother Earth,” they say. It’s resulted in a garden that makes you feel anything is possible. It’s not dependent on how much money you have, but on ingenuity, patience and skill. A very reassuring message for any would-be gardener, and one I welcome entirely.

Gravetye Manor, East Grinstead, West Sussex

I’ve picked out just one of the 20 stunning gardens explored by Barbara Segall in this richly detailed book. There’s a lovely mix of the extremely grand to the small and intimate. All are privately owned. Some have been in the possession of the same family for many generations, whilst others have recently been acquired and transformed by new owners. There’s a wonderful diversity of landscaping styles and a range of planting from traditional herbaceous borders to fashionable and contemporary prairies.

Sussex Prairie Garden, near Henfield, West Sussex
Sussex Prairie Garden. Curving paths through the grand spiral of the borders bring you up-close so you can experience the undulation of the plants and their blocks of colour from within.

Barbara is a totally engaging writer who draws you into the gardens and skilfully sifts out the essence of what makes them special. Not a word is wasted and reading her books is so easy. It’s a pleasure to skip through the pages and be transported to these glorious places.

Town Place, near Sheffield Park, East Sussex

The book includes visitor information about the gardens profiled as well as several others in this garden-rich area of Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Some open for the popular National Gardens Scheme, while others are open privately, and in some cases, for just the occasional day for charity.

Arundel Castle, Arundel, West Sussex. Caught in the early morning mist, the windows of Arundel Cathedral provide a dramatic borrowed landscape to the annual allium, rose and salvia extravaganza.
Arundel Castle team and bulb-filled borders sweeping up to the battlements. I particularly liked seeing the teams of gardeners included in the book. Credit is due for the wonderful work they undertake, looking after these special places.

Special mention must be made of the photographs by Clive Boursnell who initially visited 40 gardens and travelled 12,500 miles for this stunning project. Sadly, only 20 could be included in the book. But he talks about the warm welcome he received at every garden, as he travelled about in his camper van, capturing the atmospheric dawn and dusk photos. He turned up during a daughter’s wedding that was taking place in one garden. The owners, not phased by his appearance in the middle of a celebration, made sure he could get his photos of a particular rose trellis at its peak. Such small details and asides give an insight into the characters behind the gardens, their passions and their personalities.

Long Barn, Sevenoaks, Kent. The barn wall provides a strong backdrop as well as a hotspot for California glory (Fremontodendron californicum). Together with the lime-green touches of Euphorbia characias subs. wulfenii, they offer a counterpoint to the closely clipped hedging and lawns on the main lawn.

Barbara writes: “I hope you will find much pleasure in the book and visit the gardens when possible…opening garden gates to find untold beauty.”

I know that I enjoyed every page and can’t wait to investigate the gardens further.

Clinton Lodge Gardens, Fletching, East Sussex. The view through the Cloister Walk arcades, clad with white wisteria and Clematis alba Luxurians, to the Wild Garden, with its spring tide of Narcissus poeticus Pheasant’s Eye and white tulips.
Munstead Wood and the Quadrangle, Godalming, Surrey. The main flower border, some 61 metres long, blooms in waves of colour following Gertrude Jekyll’s original iconic, complicated drawing.
87 Albert Street, Whitstable, Kent.
Malthouse Farm Garden, Hassocks, East Sussex.

The publishers are giving away one book in a prize draw to readers who leave comments below. One name will be randomly selected. Sorry, only open to UK entries due to postage costs. The draw closes at 6pm on 21st October.

I wrote about Barbara here:

https://bramblegarden.com/2021/01/10/herbs-cooking-and-reading-blogs-keeping-cheerful-through-lockdown/

And Barbara’s previous books:

https://bramblegarden.com/2017/08/14/words-and-pictures-3/

https://bramblegarden.com/2017/10/13/win-a-copy-of-secret-gardens-of-east-anglia-and-heres-an-update-on-my-fund-raising-plans-2/

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you enjoy these words and photos from Barbara’s latest book. It was my book of the week on local radio gardening shows earlier this summer.

Flowers from my garden for the Queen, and my mother-in-law Joan.

/ karen / 30 Comments
Cosmos Psyche White (grown from Johnson’s seeds)

Flowers are the first thing we think of when we want to pay tribute to someone. Today’s flowers are in tribute to the Queen, and also my mother-in-law Joan. Two people from the same generation, both in their 90s, both sharing the same values in their love for their families and their sense of duty, loyalty and service to the community. Very different lives lived, but the same values and beliefs.

Rosa Timeless Cream and Bridal Star carnation.

For the past six years I’ve been writing about growing cut flowers for my wonderful Joan who suffered from dementia. We shared a love of flowers and flower arranging, and my hope was to keep a connection for as long as possible. Flowers were my only weapon against dementia. There’s no effective medical treatment. It’s the cruellest of illnesses. It deprives the sufferer of one of the main comforts of old age, the knowledge that they have a close and loving family. Faces and names are simply forgotten. There was such sadness when new grandchildren arrived and Joan could not join in our excitement and joy in the latest additions to the family.

Gladioli ‘Wine and Roses’ mix from GeeTee Bulbs. Flowers 100 days after planting.

I want it written down, as a record of our times living through the covid pandemic, that we struggled to keep a connection with our relatives suffering from dementia in care homes. During lockdown, we couldn’t visit at all, and agonisingly, Leicester stayed in lockdown for months after the rest of the country opened up. Then, after lockdown was over, we stood in car parks, waving through the care home windows. We were not allowed in. I’ve got these moments indelibly printed like postcards in my brain. Memories I can’t seem to forget. When we were eventually allowed to visit, it was in the garden only, with everyone wearing plastic aprons, blue plastic gloves, masks and face shields. It’s no wonder anyone with dementia would fail to recognise the person sitting two metres away, not allowed to hug, voices muffled from the masks. Time limited to half an hour. For someone with poor eyesight and hearing, it really must have been impossible to understand. Saddest of all, was the decision that no presents could be taken in, flowers included in this rule, such was the fear of passing on the virus. So my last tiny hope of Joan recognising me was gone. There is absolutely no criticism of the care home. They didn’t make the rules. They cared for our relatives in the most magnificent way, and we will always be grateful for everything they did. Life for care home staff must have been unbelievably hard as they tried to keep everyone safe.

Dahlia White Onesta (tuber from Wilko’s)

So today, the connection between the Queen and Joan springs to mind. The Queen because of her 70 years of service to her country. She was someone I greatly admired. Steadfast, loyal and hardworking. Joan too, from the same generation, cared first and foremost for her family, but also quietly and without fuss or expectation of reward, undertook charity work. Joan volunteered for Age Concern until her late 80s and she also helped with fundraising at the Methodist Chapel in Cosby. Joan particularly loved creating flower arrangements for the chapel and her husband Keith played the organ for every Sunday service and for weddings and funerals. It must have been over 60 years of service for them both. Joan was always making cakes or knitting something for chapel fund-raising. She knitted hundreds of teddy bears when the chapel launched an appeal for sick children of Chernobyl. She wanted them to have something to give them comfort during their suffering.

Calendula Snow Princess (Mr Fothergill’s seed)

Today, the Queen leaves her home, Buckingham Palace, for the last time as her coffin travels to Westminster Hall for ‘lying in state’ ahead of her funeral on Monday. Joan too is making her last journey today. Her ashes are being conveyed to Skiddaw in the Lake District. She will join her husband Keith at last. His ashes were taken there in August last year. A wild and beautiful landscape they both loved. May they all rest in peace.

Calendula Touch of Red (Mr Fothergill’s seed)
Calendula Snow Princess

Thank you for following my flower-growing journey. I have been a bit lost these past few months. I felt as if grief knocked me to the ground, and I haven’t been able to get up. However, I’ve watched fascinated at the activity following the Queen’s death. There have been so many ceremonies and procedures, her children and grandchildren haven’t had time to stop and think. Maybe this is the answer and a way to deal with death- keep busy and do something. When Joan died, I felt defeated. After so many years of trying to ‘think of something’ there was nothing else I could do. Now I’m ready to start again. Maybe I could volunteer at the care home in the garden. I’ve already put together a box of seeds and plants to donate to the garden.

Agapanthus Fireworks (Wyevale Nurseries) Long-lasting cut flower. Keeps for 10 days in a vase.

And my flower-growing will continue, but for a different, happier reason. My youngest daughter is getting married! I have decided to grow and arrange the flowers for the wedding, and I can’t wait to get started. I hope you’ll continue to join me on this new journey I’m making in life. And I hope you have enjoyed the flowers I’ve grown and arranged, shared here as my tribute to the Queen and Joan today.

Flowers in memory of Joan

/ karen / 24 Comments
Rosa Compassion

This blog records my gardening life, growing fruit and vegetables for the family, and flowers for friends and relatives. Over the past five years, I’ve written about growing flowers for my mother-in-law Joan as a way of keeping a connection when she started to suffer from dementia. Joan and I shared a love of flowers and flower arranging. When she no longer knew my name, she still enjoyed my flowers and knew I was someone close to her. Sadly, Joan died earlier this year. All bereavements are difficult to recover from, but I’ve been surprised just how much I’ve been affected by Joan’s death. I didn’t feel like talking, didn’t feel like writing, didn’t feel like gardening. All the activities I usually enjoy didn’t seem to make any difference. I suppose, all these years I’ve been able to ‘do something.’ There’s been a purpose to all the work of growing sweet peas, dahlias and roses for cut flowers. Just to see Joan smile and feel as if I was keeping a connection with her, made it all worthwhile. It felt like an impossible challenge sometimes when she got so muddled she couldn’t remember her children or grandchildren. But challenges drive you on and force you to try harder. I was absolutely determined that dementia wouldn’t get the better of us and destroy the special friendship we had. But in the end it did. I feel as if it stole the last few years of her life and any comfort she could enjoy from knowing she had a large and loving family. Dementia took her into a parallel universe where we just didn’t exist. And Joan’s death has left such a hole in our lives, it will take time to readjust and refocus. As a start, I’ve decided to post some flowers in Joan’s memory. Thank you to all the readers who have sent supportive messages over the past five years and have been with me on this journey. I’m a ‘glass-half-full’ kind of person, so I’m thinking what good can come out of this experience and what I can do next to help families with relatives suffering from dementia. I’ll keep you updated on my plans. Meanwhile enjoy these flowers. I hope they bring you joy, as they did for Joan for many years.

I started with the galvanised bucket which came from Jonathan Moseley and contained sunflowers last week. I wrote about them here: https://bramblegarden.com/2022/07/25/sunflowers-for-my-mum-in-a-vase-on-monday/

Jonathan put crumpled chicken wire in the bucket to help support the stems. We are trying to use water and containers instead of florists’ foam containing plastic which contaminates the environment. https://www.jonathan-moseley.com/

Jonathan used lemon-scented conifer as the foliage element for the flower arrangement. I’m using purple-leaved Physocarpus Diabolo which is one of the few plants looking good in the heat at the moment. I used seven stems.

Physocarpus is worth growing for its white flower heads which are followed by these glossy maroon-red seed heads.
I thought these Persian ironwood, or Parrotia leaves would add texture. They are turning pink already. Usually they turn red and then orange in the autumn.

I only had about ten flower stems to put in the arrangement. The whole garden has suffered in the heat. Sweet peas have gone over, the earliest I can ever remember. Anything in flower when the temperature hit 40C was bleached out and dried. However, the roses have been the first plants to throw out new flower buds. This one is Compassion, a gorgeous climbing rose with a fruit-salad scent.

This is a new shrub rose called ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ – Rose of the Year 2021. I wrote about it here : https://bramblegarden.com/2021/08/23/this-months-diary-for-garden-news-magazine/

These roses are perfect for floristry as they are long-lasting and disease resistant. Stems are virtually thorn free, and the scent is a cross between melon and pineapple, fresh and summery.

I found two stems of this gorgeous gladioli growing down the middle of the sweet pea A-frame. The willow frame means I don’t have to stake the gladioli and it makes good use of the bare space in the centre. These are butterfly gladioli which are smaller in stature than the usual cottage varieties. They are also called nanus, or small-flowered gladioli. These are more reliable in difficult conditions because you need much smaller corms to obtain flowers. The large-flowering gladioli have to have good, fertile soil which is also well-drained and you must start with top-size corms. I recommend Pheasant Acre nursery for supplies. https://www.pheasantacreplants.co.uk/

Gladioli flower for a good two weeks and are the right scale to go with cosmos and argyranthemums. I recommend Atom, Carine, Alba, Charming Beauty and Nathalie. Pheasants Acre Nursery sells collections at summer shows and are worth seeking out as there are often special offers.

I added a few stems of an argyranthemum my mum grew from seed. These grow to about 1.5 metres here and are good, reliable plants for summer floristry. Bees and butterflies love them too.

There is just one stem of dahlia Nuit D’Ete. Dahlias hated the heat and are now struggling in the drought. I haven’t watered them. It would be impossible to keep watering them as temperatures are still heading for 30C. I’m hoping they are just sitting there semi-dormant, waiting for the temperatures to dip and rain to come.

My plan of action for next year is to increase the mulching with home-made compost and sheep wool and bracken clay-breaker compost. I will also buy more builders’ bags of maize-based Plant Grow fertiliser. Plant Grow is helping plants cope with the extreme heat. But where I ran out of money and didn’t mulch, the beds are suffering. It just goes to show the power of mulch to hold moisture in during the summer and combat flooding in the winter. I recently visited Chatsworth for a head gardener tour to see the new Arcadia garden planted last year. Interestingly, all the new perennials, and the new rose garden, were planted into 6” of soil improver from Veolia. A no-dig project on a massive scale. I’ll be going back soon to see how the plants have coped with the heat. I’m also liaising with the gardeners as one of many people sharing experiences of working with different types of peat-free compost. All of us are mixing our own additives to try to find something that works well for us. I’ll share our findings when I know more.

I’ve added just two stems of highly-scented Bridal Star carnation. These are recommended for home-grown cut flowers. Plants repeat flower all summer. I’m growing mine in 10” containers in the doorway of the polytunnel. Flowers get some protection from the rain, tucked just inside the door.

This flower was a surprise. It’s a spring onion, gone to seed! I might grow some on purpose, as they make large 4” diameter flowers, later in the season than most ornamental alliums.

My wild flower patch produced these flat-headed creamy white achillea. Another plant which doesn’t mind the heat. These started out as a packet of mixed wild flower seeds from Mr Fothergill’s.

These lime green flower heads are from parsnips allowed to go to seed. Jonathan Moseley allows some of his herbs and vegetables to run to seed and they make striking and unusual additions to his flower arrangements. The white flower in the photo is Cosmos Psyche White. A tall-growing, reliable cosmos. I grew the new cosmos Lemonade last summer, but it didn’t do well for me and was a bit of a disappointment. This year I’ve gone back to tried and tested white cosmos.

There are a couple of stems of blue drumstick echinops. These perennials are probably Taplow Blue, and originally came as divisions from Joan’s garden.

How is your garden faring in the heat. Have you had any rain, or are you parched like we are?

Thanks to Cathy for hosting the In a Vase on Monday meme. https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2022/08/01/ina-vase-on-monday-glad-all-over/

Daffodils in memory of Joan

/ karen / 27 Comments
Polar Ice from Bulbs.co.uk

Regular readers will know how often I mentioned my wonderful mother-in-law Joan over the years, and particularly the flowers I took to her from my garden. Sadly, I’m sorry to tell you, Joan has passed away. When I saw these daffodils, I thought of Joan. She loved spring flowers, and daffodils in particular. I’ve some very happy memories of flower arranging side by side with Joan. She was a very special, kind and wonderful person. There are very few truly good people in the world, and she was one in a million. I’ve been quite heartbroken to lose someone who always stood by my side in whatever I was doing in life and supported me. These daffodils remind me of the times when the children were little and we used to take them for a walk around the village. With Joan pushing my baby in the pram and me holding a toddler’s hand, we stopped at all the front gardens with daffodils and exclaimed how beautiful each one was and marvelled at the differences between varieties. We were on our way to visit the village pond to feed the ducks, a weekly treat for the children, and at the same time, it gave us a chance to admire all the flowers along the way. Simple pleasures. It made us happy. I shall never forget. I’ve waited to make this announcement so that I could find something happy to say. Joan would not have wanted me to be sad. So I hope you’ll enjoy these few photos here, and smile and remember all the flowers we shared on the blog over the years.

Sailboat

Avalanche
Arctic Bells
Arctic Bells
Emerald Green
Pistachio
Euphony
Ice Wings

Envoy
Rainbow

Galantamine is a substance which comes from daffodils and is being researched for the treatment of Alzheimers. Joan suffered from mixed dementia, so another reason why I think of her and daffodils at the same time. Here’s a link to the government article about the research. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/welsh-grown-daffodils-help-tackle-alzheimers

Here’s a recent update from the BBC : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-61081542

My selection of daffodils comes from Bulbs.co.uk also known for its Walkers Daffodil Collection which won 26 consecutive gold medals at Chelsea Flower Show and numerous Premier awards at Harrogate Spring Show over the decades. This is the mail order subsidiary of Taylors Bulbs established since 1919 and farming 150ha of daffodils. Over 3000 tonnes of bulbs pass through their yard each summer. They have just launched a new website with a more comprehensive collection. There are 435 different varieties of daffodils listed, as well as many other types of bulbs. Here’s the link:

https://bulbs.co.uk/

I wrote about Joan, joining in with Cathy’s In a Vase on Monday meme for many years. The blog became almost a diary cataloguing what it’s been like having relatives in care homes during these pandemic years. There were many challenges. Here’s what I wrote in 2020.

https://bramblegarden.com/2020/12/07/in-a-vase-on-monday-virtual-flowers-for-joan/

https://bramblegarden.com/2020/09/21/in-a-vase-on-monday-flowers-for-joan/

https://bramblegarden.com/2018/09/30/sunflowers-for-joan/

https://bramblegarden.com/2021/08/17/in-a-vase-on-monday-flowers-for-the-care-home-at-last/

https://bramblegarden.com/2019/11/26/in-a-vase-on-monday-25th-november-2019/

Thank you for reading the blog. I’ll be posting flowers from my garden in memory of Joan on the IAVOM meme on a more regular basis now. Thank you for bearing with me. There have been very few write ups since Christmas as visiting Joan and looking after other family members has taken priority. I’m delighted to see about 100 of you read the blog every day, even when I don’t post anything new. It’s a comfort to see readers looking back through the archives.

Overwintering pelargonium (geranium ) plants – BBC Radio Leicester phone-in questions for Saturday 6th November 2021

/ karen / 15 Comments
Scented leaf pelargoniums in my summer containers

I grow a huge number of bedding pelargonium plants – better known as geraniums- for containers in the summer. They flower non-stop from June to November. They are little trouble and all I do is give them some potash liquid fertiliser once a week, and regularly dead-head them

These are tender evergreen perennials and can be kept over winter in a frost free place. This year I have nearly 100 4” pots, full of cuttings which will be kept in my heated greenhouse. This is a space-saving method to keep them from one year to the next. If you don’t have a greenhouse, a bright windowsill indoors is suitable. As long as the cuttings are kept frost-free they will fine. The secret is not to overwater them. In the greenhouse, I only water pots once when the cuttings are taken, and then I don’t water them again until next February when I want to start them back into growth. Cuttings kept indoors in the house will be watered very minimally as the temperatures indoors are higher than in the greenhouse. Full-size plants can carry on flowering all year round if they are brought indoors. Check them for pests and diseases before bringing them in and top the pots with horticultural grit to keep the surface of the compost dry. Wet compost promotes grey mould. Remove any damaged or diseased leaves. When watering, make sure to keep leaves as dry as possible by aiming the water at the base of the plants.

My father in law used to keep his prize-winning pelargoniums in the garage. He dug up his plants in autumn, shook off all the compost, removed all of the leaves and wrapped the remaining stumps and roots in newspaper. They were kept cool, dry and frost free until the spring. I’ve tried this method, but only found it partially successful as my potting shed got damp in winter.

Here’s a blog post I wrote about overwintering my pelargoniums: https://bramblegarden.com/2019/09/15/clearing-out-the-greenhouse-taking-pelargonium-cuttings-sunday-september-15/

Are you planning to keep your pelargoniums over the winter? Or do you sow yours from scratch each spring? Or buy them ready to plant from the garden centre in early summer?

This year I grew all my bedding plants, including some new varieties of pelargonium, from packets of seed. I was amazed how many pelargoniums could be grown from such tiny dust-like seeds. It was a money-saving option that worked out well.

Some more photos from my greenhouse and garden to brighten your day:

This is a Rosebud pelargonium

A collection of bedding pelargonium plants making a display in the greenhouse.

Common names can be confusing. Most people use the word geranium when they are talking about pelargoniums. But geraniums are a different plant genus. So to avoid confusion, people refer to them as ‘hardy geraniums’ – the sort you grow in beds and borders, as ground cover amongst other plants, and ‘tender geraniums’ (pelargoniums) grown in hanging baskets and containers.

A variety I’ve kept going for more than 20 years, taken from a cutting from my grandfather. It was his favourite pelargonium.

A miniature pelargonium which flowers all year round. This one came from Fibrex Nurseries, a specialist grower, highly recommended. https://www.fibrex.co.uk/. Miniature pelargoniums are wondrous things. I’ll write a new blog post explaining how to grow them. They are easy to grow and once you’ve grown one, you’ll want to start a collection. I warn you, they are addictive!

If you listen in to BBC Radio Leicester, the gardening programme has moved to Saturdays at 11am. Josie Hutchins and I take it in turns to answer phone-in questions and talk about what gardening jobs we are doing each week. If you have a question, please get in touch with The producer, Dale. We are one of the few local stations now offering gardening advice on the radio.

Overwintering Dahlias – BBC Radio Leicester phone-in questions for Saturday, November 6 2021

/ karen / 11 Comments
Dahlia Nuit D’Ete in my cut flower garden

Dahlias have been fabulous this year, giving masses of cut flowers from mid June until November. We’ve had unseasonably mild weather, which means we still have flowers today. But other areas in the county have had night-time frosts. So now is the time to dig up and protect your dahlia tubers for the winter.

Frost-blackened foliage . Photos taken last autumn.

There are two methods for saving dahlias for next year. You can either dig them up and store them in a frost-free place, or you can leave them in the ground and cover them with dry leaves, straw or horticultural fleece. Leaving them in the ground is only possible is you have well-drained soil. In heavy clay, and or where gardens flood, the tubers will rot.

Method 1. Digging them up:

If you are planning to dig them up, wait until the foliage has been frosted. This makes the dahlias absorb goodness back into the tubers and sends instructions to become dormant.

Using a fork, carefully dig up the tubers, taking care not to damage them. Remember to keep any labels with the tubers. Brush off the soil if you can. If they are wet and muddy you can wash off the soil and use a soft brush to clean them up. Or you can put them in a shed to dry and brush the soil off in a week or two. Washing and brushing helps to remove slugs and earwigs and other soil-borne pests and diseases .

Cut back the stems leaving about 3”. Turn the tubers upside down so moisture drains out of the stems. After a week, turn the tubers the right way up and store them in pots or seed trays. You can use dry compost or horticultural fleece to cover them. Keep them in a cool, dry frost free place such as a garage or potting shed.

Tip: You can plant tulips in the space left behind in the garden. I dig up the tulips next spring to make way for the dahlias again.

Method 2. Leaving them in the ground:

If you have well-drained soil, you can try to leave some dahlias in the ground. In a very cold, wet winter, this is risky.

To leave them in the ground, do not cut off the stems. Fold the stems over and collapse them back onto the tubers, this will stop the stems becoming like ‘straws.’ Cut stems will direct water straight to the tubers, causing rotting.

Cover the tubers with a thick layer of dried leaves, straw or horticultural fleece. I usually try to keep them dry by covering them with sheets of recycled corrugated plastic or old compost bags. Plastic cloches can also be used.

Tubers will be started back into growth next spring.

Here’s some dahlias from my plot. Nuit D’Ete with cosmos and persicaria.

My favourite orange dahlia, David Howard, shown here with chrysanthemum Swan.

Dahlia Evelyn with carnations and senecio grey foliage from the plot.

Dahlias can also be started from seed in early spring . This was from a mixed packet which included lots of jewel-like colours. This summer I’ve grown the ‘Bishop’s Children’ range which has lovely bright reds, purple and orange with attractive, dark-coloured foliage.

I wrote about Naomi Slade’s new book on dahlias here: https://bramblegarden.com/2018/06/24/dahlias-beautiful-varieties-for-home-and-garden/

How have your dahlias fared this year? Which method are you using to save them over the winter? Do you have any further tips to share?

Thanks for reading my blog, and listening in to BBC Radio Leicester for the gardening show on Saturdays at 11am. If you have any questions for either me or Josie, please leave a message here or get in touch with producer Dale. We are very pleased to still have a gardening programme when many other stations have now cancelled them.

I am @kgimson on twitter and karengimson1 on instagram.

Diary for Garden News Magazine

/ karen / 7 Comments

Latest news from the plot. Click on the photo to enlarge the print. There’s never enough room for all the photos I take. So here’s a selection of pictures to go with the diary recently published in Garden News Magazine.

I’m looking forward to growing this Limonium Pink Pokers next spring. The photo above was taken at Mr Fothergill’s seed trial grounds in August. I love the two-tone flowers and their delightful habit of twisting and turning as they grow towards the sun. They remind me of fireworks. I’ll start seed sowing indoors in February at 20C in a propagator and plant them out in June. They will be perfect for my jam jar posies. In addition, flowers can be hung up to dry. It will be useful to have flowers for winter decorations. Limonium, a half hardy annual, grows to 80cm and flowers from June to October. Available from Johnson’s seed, the premium range from Mr Fothergill’s.

In the article above, I mention growing dahlias from seed. I’ve been so delighted with the success of my seed-sown dahlias this year. I’ve had outstanding flowers, large single blooms with bright, jewel-like colours. It’s a money-saving option too. My Mum manages to fill her back garden with dahlias grown from a packet of seed. Started early in February, seedlings make small tubers and grow to full-size plants by mid-summer. There’s a non-stop supply of flowers for our vases. Plus bees love them too, so it’s an wildlife-friendly option. Pollinators have easy access to the flat, open centres of these flowers. You can sometimes see the ‘bee lines’ showing pollinators the way to the centre. If you don’t have any storage space for dahlia tubers over winter, don’t worry. You can get excellent results by starting from seed in spring.

Another beauty- grown from a mixed packed of seed. I also grew some ‘Bishop’s Children’ types
this year with very good results. Each plant had dark leaves which set off the bright flowers a treat.

I mention the new Home Florists’ range of roses specially bred for cut flower gardens. I’ve been amazed by the sheer number of flowers these provided. Such good quality flowers which last a week in a vase, if water is refreshed each day. The scent is reminiscent of old roses, particularly old-fashioned bourbon roses. The roses, by Wharton’s Nursery, can be found in most good garden centres, or on line. Look out for Timeless Purple and Timeless Cream. Both recommended.

In amongst my cut flowers, I grow vegetables such as peas, climbing beans, courgettes, sweet corn and beetroot. I’m growing Valido peas, a new maincrop variety which is disease resistant. Luckily it is resistant to mildew which means the plants keep cropping right through to the autumn. Often pea plants turn brown as leaves and stems die back. Valido copes with anything the summer weather can throw at it, and produces a heavy crop of delicious peas. I’ve saved some of my seed for growing in seed trays over the winter. Pea shoots will be harvested just a few weeks from sowing – and won’t have cost me a penny. Lovely nutritious shoots to add to my salads and stir fries.

Monty Kitten is more like a dog than a cat. He follows me around the garden and likes to get involved in everything I’m doing. He followed me out onto the grass verge when I put my jam jar flowers out for sale.

Finding newts in the garden is always a cause for celebration. It’s reassuring to find them under stones by my mini-pond, and in the greenhouse and polytunnel. They must be attracted by the moisture. I only use natural seaweed-type feeds, diluted in a watering can, to feed my fruit, vegetables and cut flowers on the patch.

Fruit and vegetables have grown well this year. In my basket there’s white-stem chard, perpetual spinach, herbs, white-flowered runner bean variety ‘Moonlight’ onions, tomatoes Blaby, Marmande and cherry types. There’s been a steady flow of blueberries from the plot. Ivanhoe is growing in a large 40cm diameter pot.

Here’s the link for the blueberry French toast recipe I mention: https://www.martinfish.com/in-the-kitchen/super-blueberries-in-julys-kitchen/

This is made by Martin and Jill Fish who provide cookery talks and demonstrations and have written a favourite book ‘Gardening on the Menu’ with advice on growing fruit and veg, and how to cook and preserve them.

Thank you for reading my blog, and my diary in Garden News Magazine. If you also listen to BBC Radio Leicester, the gardening show has moved from Wednesdays to Saturdays, 11am to 11.35. If you get in touch with the producers, I’ll answer any questions live on the show.

Have a great gardening week!

Rosa Timeless Cream (Home Florists’ Range)

This month’s diary for Garden News Magazine

/ karen / 15 Comments

Enjoy this month’s column from the Garden News Magazine. I love sharing all my ups and downs, growing cut flowers and vegetables. And if I can get a mention for Monty kitten and the hens, then that’s a bonus.

Here’s some additional photos to go with the write up.

My beautiful new rose, It’s a Wonderful Life. Rose of the year for 2022. Available to buy from October. It’s proving to be a good strong, disease resistant rose. Flowers stand up to the rain and it’s a repeat flowering rose. Highly recommended.
Pearl Drift. Another long-flowering disease resistant rose. No sprays are needed to keep it healthy.
Clematis Prince of Wales growing over a mature olearia shrub at Stockton Bury Gardens, Herefordshire, where the Rose of the Year was launched.
The view from the cafe at Stockton Bury Gardens. We enjoyed a lovely lunch outdoors, watching the sheep grazing in the orchards. Highly recommended for a day trip out.
I mentioned starting off new house plants from cuttings grown in vases of water. I was delighted to see new roots on my cuttings. I’ve potted the plants up and they are thriving. I haven’t tried this technique before for house plants and I’m pleased it’s worked out well. My daughter gave me the cuttings and it’s a great money-saving idea.
And finally, here’s a photo of Monty kitten, inspecting my flowers. He’s offering free purrs with every bunch of flowers sold. He’s much loved by everyone visiting Bramble Garden.

Thanks for reading, and have a great gardening week!

Monty -enjoying the shade along the woodland walk in the garden.

Vivara Butterfly House Review and Giveaway. #BigButterflyCount #ButterflyConservation

/ karen / 11 Comments

*Gifted item.

Are you taking part in the Big Butterfly Count this year? I’m just about to settle down with a cup of tea and count the butterflies in my garden.

Wildlife specialists, Vivara, are sponsoring the count this year and sent me this butterfly house to promote the citizen science project.

I’ve placed the house in a sunny sheltered spot in the cut flower and vegetable garden. I’ve put some twigs inside the house and hopefully butterflies will use it to shelter from bad weather. If I’m lucky, some might use it to overwinter in my garden. Last year we had peacock butterflies hibernating in the hen house and the potting shed. Adults overwinter in dark places such as sheds, bird boxes and holes in trees, and left undisturbed, they will be dormant until spring. As soon as the weather starts to warm up, they emerge and look for nectar-rich plants to feed on.

The butterfly house has a hook on the back and a screw and rawl plug for hanging it up.

I always look for the FSC mark on any wooden product which shows it’s been made from materials sourced from well managed forests. The butterfly house is a sturdy product which should last for years.

Vivara have one butterfly house to give away. Leave a comment at the end of this piece and a winner will be randomly selected.

A Comma butterfly on an echinacea plant in my garden.

Butterflies need all the help they can get. Numbers are falling drastically. The Butterfly Conservation charity which runs the Big Butterfly Count says last year a record 145,000 counts were submitted, but worryingly 2020 saw the lowest average numbers of butterflies logged since the event began 12 years ago.

Cold, wet spring weather is thought to be a factor. Here in Leicestershire we had a cold, dry April, followed by the wettest May for 50 years. It rained every day, and right at the end May, we had a week of frost with temperatures dipping to -4C. This week we’ve had flash floods with 15mm of rain in one day, and hail stones the size of marbles.

Taking part in the Big Butterfly Count helps scientists assess the health of our environment, and helps us understand how the climate is affecting butterflies.

To take part, spend 15 minutes counting the maximum number of each species you can see at a single time. You can do this in a garden, school grounds, or public park. Go on to the Butterfly Conservation website and record your findings, or download the i- record App. There’s a downloadable wall chart showing all the different butterflies which helps identify them.

Here’s some butterflies I spotted in my garden:

A Holly Blue butterfly on calendula
Cabbage White butterfly on echeveria flowers in the greenhouse
Red Admiral on verbena bonariensis
Tortoiseshell on the salad crop

Five Ways You Can Help Butterflies:

1. Join Butterfly Conservation. It’s half price until 8th August. There’s magazines and leaflets on gardening for butterflies. Also, invitations to local guided walks, and conservation volunteering days.

2. Run an event on behalf of Butterfly Conservation. Every little helps. You could host a coffee morning, a plant sale, a sponsored activity.

3. Volunteer for Butterfly Conservation. There’s office and outdoor work available.

4. Grow something for butterflies. They need nectar-rich plants for food, but also trees, shrubs and plants for caterpillars.

5. Take part in the Big Butterfly Count which runs until August 8th. It’s the biggest survey of butterflies in the world and provides a valuable insight into the health of our UK butterfly species.

Plants I grow to attract butterflies:

Buddleja is the one everyone knows about. Literally called the ‘butterfly bush.’ There’s some new miniature varieties for growing in small spaces and in containers. Look out for the Buzz series in lavender, magenta and white.

Lavender. Hidcote is my favourite as it is compact and doesn’t sprawl. Of all the lavenders, this one seems to cope with wet winters better than most. It needs well-drained soil and a sunny site.

Perennial wallflower- Bowles Mauve. Rarely out of flower all spring and summer. It’s a good idea to have a variety of plants from early spring through to autumn so there’s always something in flower for butterflies.

Marjoram. I discovered this when I let some marjoram or oregano plants escape from a pot. They grew to 60cm and scrambled through the bottom of a sunny hedge, providing pink/purple flowers all summer.

I also grow a selection of plants for caterpillars. Fruit trees, alder buckthorn, holly, blackthorn, oak, broom, lady’s smock or Cardamine pratensis, nettles, bird’s foot trefoil, all important caterpillar food.

Thank you for reading my blog. And thank you for all your kind comments on here and via other social media, letting me know how much my posts have cheered you up during the past two very difficult years. It’s much appreciated. Good luck in the prize draw! I’ll announce a winner on Sunday evening, 1st August, 2021.

Links: https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies

Vivara: https://www.vivara.co.uk/wildlife/bees-insects

My Garden Diary -June 2021

/ karen / 27 Comments

Life seems to have been incredibly busy these past few months. Two family members have been desperately ill. I’ve sat by their beds and held their hands. Willed them to stay with us. One emerged from a deep deep coma, and returned to us. The other one passed away, peacefully in his sleep. And so, I sit in the garden now and think of them. Hoping the one returned to us as fragile as a butterfly, will spread his wings and fly, and mourning for the one who did not, although it was his time to go and we must celebrate a life well lived, well loved, happy and fruitful. The garden, as ever, becomes a place of solace. I’ve ground to a halt after months of literally running from one place to the next, almost in a permanent panic. Back here, in the shade of the trees, there’s peace and calm. Whilst I’ve been busy, the nesting birds have raised their young, and many have fledged. A highlight of a particularly difficult and stormy day was suddenly finding six long-tailed tits, newly emerged from the nest- all gathered along a hazel branch, at eye level, fluffing up feathers, preening, eager darting eyes. Almost like pom poms on a string. What a day to fledge! We had 40 mile per hour winds and torrential rain. With the storm coming from the south east, the westerly edge of our wood was weirdly still and silent, and this is where our little flock gathered. The parents desperately calling to them, ‘tsuk, tsuk, tsuk’ but the chicks totally unafraid, studied me as much as I studied them. In all the excitement of leaving the nest, I was just one of the new wonders for them to discover. I’ve stored up this moment as a happy memory during a difficult time. It’s amazing the little things that give you hope in times of need. You never know when or where these moments will come from, do you. And often it’s the simplest things that provide a balm.

Enjoy this week’s views of the garden and ramble along the back field footpath where there’s masses of white cow parsley and the last of the hawthorn blossom now festooned with ribbons of fragrant dog roses. Thank you for reading my blog.

Cow parsley and wild three cornered leek, where snowdrops bloomed in winter.

Viburnum plicatum at the edge of the horseshoe pond. Layers of flat white flowers, covered in bees.

White Roses. Pearl Drift requires minimal pruning and no chemicals. It is resistant to blackspot due to it’s LeGrice breeding. Grows to 4ft and is reliably repeat-flowering. Highly recommended.

Semi-double flowers allow bees to access the pollen. Sweetly scented.

Dianthus Mrs Sinkins. Another highly-scented flower in the June garden. Repeat flowers if cut back and dead-headed. Grows in the overspill gravel alongside the drive.

White campion – Silene latifolia alba- arrived by itself and grows amongst the cow parsley. Much less rampant than the pink variety.

Wild dog roses, great big swathes, overhang from the top of the high hawthorn hedges. There will be plenty of bright red rosehips.

Along the holloway walk. The pathway is edged with snowdrops in winter, and white starry stitchwort in summer. I’m adding white foxgloves for next year.

I’ve left gaps in the trees to look out from the pathway, towards the back fields, this year planted with spring wheat. I’m looking forward to having a golden backdrop for the garden. Wheat and barley are my favourites.

Step out of the top five bar gate, and on to the lane. The cow parsley has never looked as lovely. Or maybe, I just haven’t had time to stand and survey the scene before.

Looking across the fields towards Bunny Wood. There’s an ancient footpath to the woods.

A well-trodden path, very popular with hikers and dog walkers. We sometimes see deer. Usually there’s hares – more this year than usual. At dusk we watch the barn owls quarter the fields. At the moment they are out in the day as well as at night, which means they are probably feeding young. Tawny owls also call out across the fields at night.

A hawthorn ‘archway.’ A favourite viewing point.

Plenty of cow parsley. As pretty as any florists’ flower.

Thank you for reading my blog. Let me know what gardening jobs you are doing at the moment. I’m catching up on planting and weeding. Everything is very late this year, but I expect things will catch up in time. Have a peaceful happy week.

New Plants on Trial – Salvias from Middleton Nurseries

/ karen / 33 Comments

UPDATE: NOV 12 2023. There’s a prize draw for a £50 voucher on instagram. Take a look @middleton_nurseries. The prize draw closes on Sunday 19th November. Terms and conditions, see Middleton’s instagram post.

Salvia microphylla Delice Fiona

Salvias provide such a welcome zing of colour from mid summer to first frosts. In my garden, pale blue and white ‘Phyllis’ Fancy’ was still in full flower on Christmas Day. Specialist growers, Middleton Nurseries, have sent me a collection of new varieties to try out. I haven’t paid for these, but in common with other bloggers, I’m happy to trial plants and products in return for giving my honest opinion. Here’s some of the plants they sent.

Plants arrive via mail order and were carefully handled by the delivery company. I always think it’s worth giving a good report when plants and products are delivered in a good condition and the drivers have taken the trouble to ensure the contents are undamaged. The box was also placed on the doorstep the right way up! These things always help somewhat. It’s exasperating when ‘this way up’ arrow stickers are not heeded.

Plants are snugly nestled inside a sturdy cardboard box and as you can see arrived in good condition even though temperatures were very high.

The cardboard container is easily folded open so plants are not pulled about when extricating them from the packaging. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve nearly decapitated a plant trying to get it out of the box. Some thought and care has gone into the design of this one, and it’s appreciated.

Plants are carefully tied to supporting canes and plastic bags are wound around the plant pots to stop compost drying out. My only criticism would be that the plastic bags could be biodegradable instead of single use. However, I’ve reused these on top of pots of cuttings to maintain humidity. So mine won’t be thrown away, and will be kept in the potting shed and reused time and time again.

There’s a very useful plant care leaflet included in the box, and a discount code for further purchases. I’ve signed up for more discounts, special offers and gardening club newsletters.

Each plant has a label which is packed full with information. It’s great to see the Union Jack flag on the label, indicating the plants are grown in Britain. I like to support British nurseries as much as I can.

I love this pretty, pale variety Salvia microphylla Delice Fiona. It has rich green leaves, pale pink flowers with a deeper pink centre. Instructions say it can be grown in part shade to full sun, requires moderate to occasional watering and grows 60-90cm high. Can be grown in containers.

Another pink variety is Salvia greggii Shell dancer with large pink flowers with the basal tubes and base of the lower lip coloured deep rose. The outer portions of the lower lip start with ‘hot salmon’ shading then lighten to nearly cream as it ages. The label says the plant is ‘seldom completely out of flower.’ That’s my experience of salvias, they do have a long-flowering period, which makes them such good value.

If you like the paler salvias, this one’s stunning. It’s from a new ‘So Cool’ range. This one is Salvia So Cool Pale Cream. Utterly captivating. New for 2021. Compact-growing, 30-40cm tall.

The first salvias I grew were blue. I love this variety, microphylla Delice Feline. The plant label says the flowers are deep violet with a white centre, flowers profusely until autumn and grows 60 -90cm tall. A new hybrid for 2020.

Another 2020 hybrid is Salvia microphylla Suzanne which has bright red upright flowers with white markings. 60-90cm tall.

And finally, Salvia microphylla Carolus has pretty mauve flowers which look striking set against the darker almost black stems and dark coloured basal tubes. Has a smaller-spreading habit than most microphylla varieties.

I can wholeheartedly recommend Middleton Nurseries for mail-order plants. I’m delighted with my parcel of new and very pretty hybrids. High quality plants, well-grown and expertly packaged. I’ll be posting photos throughout the summer to let you know how they develop.

Here’s some more information about the nursery:

Middleton Nurseries are located in the village of Middleton in Staffordshire and have been growing plants since 1975. The nursery is dedicated to growing a wide range of new and unusual herbaceous, perennials and rare breeds of salvias. Middleton Nurseries was started in 1975 by Stephan Zako and at first grew ‘pick-your-own’ strawberries. John Zako went into the family business after leaving Pershore College with a National Diploma in Horticulture. Using his expertise he slowly transformed the business into ‘one of the leading plant specialist nurseries’ with an extensive block of greenhouses.

In April 2012, the family sold the retail/ garden centre portion of the business and kept the nursery which enabled John to focus on his true passion of growing and breeding plants. The nursery specialises in salvias which they sell up and down the country at RHS gardening shows each year. Since 2021, Middleton Nurseries has become a third-generation family business after John’s son, James, joined the business.

Here’s a link for the nursery website: https://middletonnurseries.co.uk/

Are you growing any salvias this year? Are you as passionate about them as I’ve become? Get in touch and let me know how you are getting on with your gardening and growing this summer. Thank you, as ever, for reading my blog.

The Flower Yard. Book Review and Giveaway

/ karen / 32 Comments

By Arthur Parkinson

Published by Kyle Books

Hardback, 208 pages. RRP £22

ISBN 978-0-85783-917-6

Open the pages of The Flower Yard and you’ll enter a world full of exotic parrot tulips, jewel-coloured dahlias- and flamingos…

You’ll learn much about creating flamboyant Venetian-coloured containers, but you’ll also hear about Caribbean flamingos. For the author, Arthur Parkinson, once had the choice between becoming a zookeeper and horticulture. He chose gardening, and a year’s training at Kew. But in his strange and colourful book, he says he hopes one day to go back to more zoological rather than horticultural pursuits.

To my mind, his latest book seems to combine the two loves of his life. The exotic parrot tulips, feathery grasses and plume-like dahlias are as colourful as birds. And to add to the effect, there’s often a fancy bantam – his other passion in life- nestled in amongst the plants.

Even his words have an avian ring to them. Parkinson talks about planting ‘a flock of dolly tubs’ in preference to acres of land.

“I am not, however, desperate for a larger garden. I find the challenge of conquering the restrictions of an urban environment hugely thrilling. I love small town gardens, by which I mean gardens where plants come first in abundance. I have no desire for endless herbaceous borders, which so easily become tired and full of perennial weeds. Give me a flock of dolly tubs any day, ideally on old bricks or York stone. An old orchard would be, admittedly, heaven though, for hens.”

Back on the subject of birds, Parkinson writes about his choice of colour for plants. Pink, he says can be too light and sickly: “Before you know it, pink can make the garden verge into the Barbie-doll section of Toys “R”Us, outcompeting the other colours.”

Parkinson’s garden was once described by a friend as ‘a path of pots.’ It is, in fact, only 5m (16ft) long and filled ‘cheek by jowel’ with containers on either side, leading to the front door. The book follows a year of growing to create specific displays of plants – one for each season.

One chapter is headed ‘Archipelagos of galvanised metal and terracotta’ and Parkinson says: “I garden in pots because I do not have a choice, but I rarely resent this as it is like having great living vases of growing flower arrangements. You can fill pots easily, cramming them with colour and textures, creating islands of flamboyance.”

Arthur Parkinson’s brick path to the front door features rows of galvanised pots full of seasonal colour.
Frizzle-feathered bantams feature in many of the garden photos. I believe Parkinson takes some of these with him when he travels to give flower arranging and planting demonstrations. The author appeared on BBC Gardeners’ World, and also assists Sarah Raven with her floristry. He previously worked for potter Emma Bridgewater, designing her acclaimed garden at the factory in Stoke-on-Trent.
Photo shows ‘Amazing Parrot’ tulips in full flight with tulips ‘Black Hero’, ‘Antraciet’ and ‘Black Parrot’ giving striking contrast.
Sweet peas for summer
Peony ‘Rubra Plena’ supported by woven hazel with a pigeon-sized and ‘very talkative’ little Belgian Barbu d’Uccle Millefleur bantam hen. The breed’s beard-like plumes often need to be washed!
An Instagram posting with the dahlia ‘Emory Paul’ which the author says, is “Like a flamingo wonderland croquet mallet, gorgeous in some ways but its flowers do look almost painfully ridiculous with some reaching the size of useless footballs upon what are quite tall stems.”

I’ve made lists of all the tulips and dahlias to grow for next spring and summer. I love the dark, rich colours he chooses. And now I need to nip out and find a supply of galvanised containers ASAP. Quite honestly, what Arthur Parkinson doesn’t know about planting in dolly tubs isn’t worth knowing. He’s opened a whole new beguiling world of colour, and I can’t wait to create my own ‘islands of flamboyance.’ If I can add the odd flamingo or two in there as well, I will.

The publishers have kindly sent one extra copy to give away in a prize draw. Please leave comments below and one name will be randomly selected by computer. Thank you for reading.

Please note, my I-phone photos of the pages do not adequately capture the bright colours and brilliance of the original photos which were taken by the author.

Please check back at 6pm Sunday to see who has won the prize draw copy.

Products On Trial – Weed Control Paper Mulch

/ karen / 19 Comments

I’m trying out a sample roll of paper mulch in an attempt to cut down on weeding in the flower and vegetable garden. I haven’t paid for this product, but in common with other bloggers, the agreement is to unconditionally try it out and give an honest opinion.

Monty kitten was keen to help. To be honest, he gave more help than was strictly necessary, getting in and under the paper roll. He’s such good company in the garden, always by my side, climbing in and out of my wheelbarrow and tool bag. But paper’s a new attraction for him!

Instructions say place a heavy stone on each corner as you start to unroll the paper, and toss soil along both edges to prevent wind from blowing it away. Monty jumped all over it, which kept it in place nicely until I’d sorted out stones and compost.

I used a Hori-Hori to cut the paper to length, then set out the plants. I’m trying the mulch for dahlias and cosmos in the cut flower beds , and for courgettes, squash, sweetcorn, and strawberries in the veg beds. It would be good for garlic and chard too.

These are the cuttings I’ve been taking since February from dahlias overwintered in the potting shed. They are exact clones of the parent plants, so I now have about 100 new plants for free. All my favourite varieties.

I used my Hori-Hori knife to cut a cross in the paper and then dug out planting holes for the dahlias. A new sharp-pointed trowel made the task quick and easy.

The paper is thick enough to block out light, and therefore suppress weeds, but there are microscopic holes to let air and water permeate. Plants are so far growing well. I’m having to do much less watering than usual.

This product is supplied by Mulch Organic, a family business which offers environmentally-friendly alternatives to black plastic for mulching. They say the products are natural, made from renewable sources and eliminate the need for chemical herbicides. The paper mulch is 100 percent organic and biodegradable. It should last a whole growing season, and at the end of the year, can simply be tilled into the soil to decompose naturally.

There’s also a crepe version, with expansion ribs to allow for stretch for use over mounded beds. These also work well with drip irrigation systems, and can be used in poly tunnels.

As well as the paper rolls, there’s a mulch film made from cornstarch.

Here’s one last photo of Monty. We were out in the garden until 10pm as the temperatures were too hot in the day. I’m hoping the mulch will save time – giving me more time to spend sitting in the garden reading, with Monty on my knee. That’s the plan anyway. I’ll let you know if it works out!

Here’s some of the dahlias I’m growing again this year. This one is Nuit d’Ete.

Dahlia David Howard. A lovely deep orange flower. Cut flowers last 10 days in a vase.

Eveline is a lovely white decorative dahlia with a delicate blush pink centre and tips to the petals.

Thank you for reading the blog. Have you tried any products to combat weeds? Let me know how you are getting on with your gardening projects.

Here’s the links for more information: https://mulchorganic.co.uk/

I wrote about the Hori-Hori here https://bramblegarden.com/2020/07/10/niwaki-tools-review-and-some-garden-snips-to-give-away-gardening/

The trowel I’m using is this one: https://marshallsgarden.com/products/kent-and-stowe-capability-trowel-10907234?variant=32599100424243&currency=GBP&ds_rl=1278790&ds_rl=1284267&ds_rl=1278790&ds_rl=1284267&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8IaGBhCHARIsAGIRRYoqnS-u91aeS1AJK273Nb2YXeLUfNBNiKVEBso0HNaTi-PeyK5Fiq4aAp6zEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Visit to Goldstone Hall Hotel and Gardens – 7 June 2021

/ karen / 23 Comments

I’ve been out! Actually out in the car, driving to a garden. It’s only the second time I’ve been out for a garden visit in 16 months. A few weeks ago I visited Belvoir Castle, and this week, I chose Goldstone Hall for my floral excursion. It seems so strange to be out and about, meeting up with friends. Everyone’s experience of the pandemic has been different. Some say their lives changed very little, they continued to travel to work and managed to get out and about when lockdown eased. Others, like me, had to stay at home. Anyway, I’m picking and choosing which outings to go on, and slowly emerging back into a normal life. Here’s a slide show of photos I provide when I’ve been out. Goldstone Hall in North Shropshire didn’t disappoint. It’s a beautifully- designed and immaculately-managed 5 acre garden surrounding a pretty Georgian manor house. Although I didn’t stay overnight, (there are 12 bedrooms) I am planning to return with my Mum for a short break soon. The idea of waking up early, and quietly wandering around the masses of roses, vegetables and herbs, definitely appeals.

This Abutilon vitifolium is one of the first shrubs you see when you step into the garden. It’s a fast-growing shrub from Chile with vine-like leaves and abundant pale mauve flowers. It flowers mainly in spring and early summer, but can flower all summer long if happy in a sheltered warm position. It can easily be grown from seed and cuttings.

The main flower border runs along a sunny wall. There’s roses and clematis all along the walls, with perennials and grasses in front.

Here’s another view of the wall, taken from the front of the border. Some pretty wine-coloured aquilegias grow in patches all along the border. This one looks like the variety Bordeaux Barlow.

Lupins in the cutting garden look particularly lovely in early June. There’s masses of sweet peas, cornflowers, sunflowers and gladioli to follow.

A herb walk is a scented pathway with 100 different herbs planted alongside heritage vegetables, salads and heirloom fruit trees and bushes.

More herbs are planted within a parterre of box plants. The creeping thyme looks colourful in Summer.

The polytunnel is packed with produce. I am going to copy the idea for growing strawberries in lengths of guttering with a drip watering system attached. Would keep the plants off the ground and away from slugs- and it would be much easier to pick fruit.

Not an inch of space is wasted in the poly tunnel.

After a head-gardener tour of the grounds, we enjoyed a delicious lunch in this open-sided oak pavilion. Perfect for a lovely warm summer’s day.

We had new potatoes, freshly dug from the plot, a spinach and asparagus quiche, and salad – all grown in the gardens we had just walked around.

Here’s the recipe for the panna cotta we enjoyed.

The view of the garden from one of the reception rooms in the hotel. There’s a sense of peace and tranquility here.

More information about Goldstone Hall.

Goldstone Hall is an Royal Horticultural Society ( RHS) partner garden, and opens for the National Gardens Scheme and for garden group tours. There’s more on the website at https://goldstonehallhotel.co.uk/.

I wrote about Belvoir Castle here: https://bramblegarden.com/2021/05/21/visit-to-belvoir-castle-gardens/

Many thanks to the Garden Media Guild for organising our tour.

Thank you for reading the blog and getting in touch. Enjoy your gardens during this spell of lovely sunny weather we are having.

Lilies: New Book Giveaway Winner

/ karen / 5 Comments

Many thanks to everyone who read my review of Naomi Slade’s new book, Lilies – beautiful varieties for home and garden. I wrote the review here: https://bramblegarden.com/2021/05/25/lilies-book-review-and-giveaway/

The winner is: Darran Jaques. Names were put into a random generator and computer selected.

The next book up for review and giveaway is the stunning and unusual The Flower Yard by Arthur Parkinson. Pages are full of exotic tulips and jewel-coloured dahlias and, it has to be said, lovely little bantam hens! Coming soon…

Meanwhile, here’s some more photos of lilies from Naomi’s book, as quite honestly one can’t have enough pictures of lilies to drool over. They are absolutely glorious. Enjoy your week everyone, and thanks for reading my blog and getting in touch. It’s always appreciated.

Lilium Mascara
Lilium African Queen

African Queen
Kuchibeni

Lilies is published by Pavilion RRP £25. Photographs by Georgianna Lane.

Views from my garden 29 May 2021

/ karen / 15 Comments

It’s a while since I’ve joined in with the Six on Saturday meme. Caring for family members has had to come first. However, here’s a few photos from my garden diary today. Have a great bank holiday weekend. The sun has decided to shine at last, and there’s no rain, so we can all start to get on in the garden.

The last of the tulips. My favourite white tulip, Mount Tacoma.

Double tulips seem to last longer than singles. Petals keep opening out until the flowers are almost flat. Some tulips are better at coming back into flower each year and this one is reliable here, planted in a sunny border, baked dry in the summer. This is the secret of keeping tulip bulbs going. Plant them in maximum sun where the soil will dry out to give them a dormant period. You can also plant them at the base of deciduous trees, which will also give them a dry period, as trees take all the moisture in summer. Tulips will flower the following year before the trees come into leaf. Tulips planted in rich soil are pulled up, stored dry over summer, and replanted in November. I’ve also tried planting them in plastic pond containers, which are simply lifted out of the ground and stored at the back of the shed for the summer. The holes left in the ground are then filled with tender salvias which have been stored in the poly tunnel over winter.

Double – late flowering tulip Carnival de Nice is sometimes mistaken for a peony. Red and white striped petals slowly unfold until the flowers are flat. Lasts 10 days in a vase as a cut flower.

Here’s some more tulips still in flower today. Cold temperatures and rain virtually every day in May has suited tulips. They have provided a much-needed cheerful display all through spring.

We think this is Pink Diamond. It came in a cut flower collection from Gee Tee Bulbs. Extremely long-lasting flowers. Strong and resilient.
Flamboyant Parrot tulip, Texas Flame. Looks lovely amongst the blue love-in-a-mist flower buds just opening. These are enormous flowers when fully open, almost the size of my hand.
There are still some parrot tulips in bud.
The darkest plum coloured tulip is Queen of the Night. Some varieties offered under this name can be almost black. But they have a habit of ‘melting’ in wet conditions. And they don’t always come back the next year. I like this velvety deep red strain from Taylors Bulbs. Flowers are long lasting and cope with the rain. They have reliably returned for four years now, and seem to be increasing in number too.

The last tulip to flower here is Bleu Aimable. This single late tulip has lavender, mauve and blue shades. Flower colour improves with age. A great way to end the tulip season with a flourish.

Thank you for reading my blog. Are you heading out into the garden this weekend to catch up on jobs? The weeds have got away from me here, as it’s been so wet. But with lots of tea and cake and a determined list of tasks, I’m hoping to get on top of them. Have a great weekend!

Lilies: Book Review and Giveaway

/ karen / 24 Comments

By Naomi Slade

Published by Pavilion Books

Hardback. 240 pages. Photographs by Georgianna Lane

Published May 2021. RRP £25

ISBN: 978-1-911663-00-3

Lilium African Queen. An outward-facing trumpet lily. Suitable for large pots, planting at the back of the border, and for cut flower gardens.

For many years, all down the sides of my greenhouse, I grew tall pots of lilies. My favourites were the towering, elegant trumpet lilies, African Queen. They grew to 5ft and produced masses of rich apricot flowers with rose garnet blush shades on the reverse of the petals. Stunning to look at, and the scent was equally wonderful. That spicy, heady scent drifted all around the orchard, wild flower meadow and up through the mini-woodland. Beautiful, intoxicating and memorable.

It was lovely to stand in the greenhouse and see the flowers reaching almost the roofline. A good background for my summer container display within the greenhouse where rows of scented pelargoniums lined up amongst the citrus trees.

African Queen is just one of the many varieties featured in Naomi Slade’s new book, Lilies. The book is written in the same style as Naomi’s 2018 publication, Dahlias. I wrote a review of Dahlias here : https://bramblegarden.com/2018/06/24/dahlias-beautiful-varieties-for-home-and-garden/

Naomi’s new book is a celebration of all kinds of lilies. There’s an introduction, a section on the history and botany of lilies, followed by detailed instructions on growing and caring for lilies. Advice is given on where to buy bulbs, how to prepare the soil and plant, and how to water, feed and deadhead lilies. There’s enough information for beginners to get started, and enough detail for more experienced gardeners to have a go at propagating and preparing lilies for shows. Everything you need to know to get the best out of these lovely summer bulbs.

The lilies chosen for in-depth study are split into sections; Elegant and Dainty, Wild and Wonderful, Fiery and Fabulous, and Majestic and Magnificent.

Mascara is a black Asiatic hybrid featured in the Fiery and Fabulous section. It grows to 1m with upward and outward-facing blooms. It will grown in any good garden soil and makes a stunning cut flower.

Helvetia is in the Elegant and Dainty section. Upward-facing with reflexed petals, these lilies grow to 1- 1.2m tall and are highly fragrant. Recommend for the front of a border and containers. Would make a wonderful cascading wedding bouquet.

Another very pretty white flower is Polar Star. I’ve grown this in pots many times. 25 bulbs in a large Italian terracotta pot makes a stunning summer display. These have large fully-double upward and outward-facing flowers and grows to 70-100cm tall. Very long lasting in a vase.

lilium leichtlinii is one I haven’t grown before. It is not that common in cultivation, says Naomi. But well worth seeking out. Small pendant flowers with reflexed petals, growing to 1-1.4m tall. Unscented. Suitable for a naturalistic garden. Sophisticated in a vase.

Another lily with swept back petals is Ariadne. This Turks cap type grows to 1.2-1.8m with small pale, dusty rose flowers. Good for the back of the border and set against a foil of dark foliage, or a contrasting painted surface. Could be used for cut flowers, but you’d need a tall vase.

Georgianna Lane is a leading floral, garden and travel photographer whose work has been widely published. She captures the timeless elegance and beauty of this summer garden favourite.

Naomi Slade is a well-known figure in the world of gardening media. She writes and broadcasts about horticulture, design, environment and lifestyle. Lilies is beautifully well-written. A book you’ll delve into time and time again, and it’s so full of joy it will make you smile every time.

The publishers have one copy to give away in a prize draw. Please leave a comment below and names will be put in a hat and a winner randomly selected next Sunday.

Thank you for reading my reviews and for taking the time to comment. The comment box is below the hashtags at the bottom of the page. Or click on ‘comments’ next to the title.

Garden Day UK 2021

/ karen / 23 Comments
My flower crown for Garden Day UK, made by Bloom.co.uk

It’s time to celebrate Garden Day UK again. Garden Day, on May 9th, is a chance to down tools and just enjoy what you’ve achieved on your plot. It’s one day when you don’t have to do anything really. Just sit in the garden, allow yourself a moment to pause and reflect.

One of the lovely features of Garden Day is the wearing of a flower crown. Take photos of your crown, and upload them to social media. Tag @GardenDayUK to share photos of your creation.

I’ve been sent this beautiful crown to wear tomorrow. It’s made from miniature cream roses and pink and blue statice. There’s some gorgeously-scented herbs, rosemary and thyme, and some grey foliage as a background foil for all the flowers.

Flower crowns are really easy to make. Take a length of florists’ wire, wrap it around your head to check the length. Add about 8” so you’ll be able to twist the ends together. Add a circle of olive foliage, or lengths of rosemary as a background. Make little bunches of flowers, any you fancy, from your own garden or from the florists. Lay each bunch along the wire and bind in with thin florists’ wire, paper-covered wire, or string. When you have covered the circle, check the crown fits, and twist the bare lengths of wire together to form the crown.

I’m looking forward to sharing my day with my Mum. Whatever the weather, we will be either sitting in the orchard, or if it’s raining, in the greenhouse.

How will you be spending Garden Day tomorrow? Do share photos of your garden on social media. It’s a good way to connect with other keen gardeners and to share ideas and gain inspiration on growing plants.

Here’s some photos of my garden today:

There’s still some Pheasant’s Eye narcissus under the cherry trees.
There’s white bluebells under the beech trees. These are albino flowers, lacking the pigment that makes the traditional flowers a rich purple/blue. They have creamy-coloured pollen and a delicious scent.
Narcissus Geranium in the cut flower patch. Lovely white flowers with a deep yellow centre. The scent is glorious. Something to look forward to each spring. Reliably comes back each year. Lasts at least a week in a vase.
Creamy white quince flowers. Chaenomeles Yukigoten. A sprawling shrub which is best trained along a sheltered wall. Flowers are sadly not frost-hardy and have to be protected with sheets of fleece. Good for pollinators. Worth the effort of protecting the blooms.
Lady’s smock, or Cardamine pratensis. In flower in the boggy area around the horseshoe pond. This year we have seen more orange tip butterflies than ever before. Lady’s smock is a food plant for the caterpillars. Also known as milk maids, moon flower and cuckoo flower. Sadly, there are no cuckoos again this year. The last time we heard them was five years ago.
Cowslips have taken over from daffodils, flowering in the leafmould under the field maple trees in the wild garden.
For a few glorious days, emerging field maple leaves glow a bright emerald green. It’s a sight to gladden the heart.

Finally, we will be accompanied by Daphne ( speckled hen) Daisy and Dot, and Merlin the cockerel, as they search for slugs in the cut flower patch. If we are very lucky, there will be eggs for tea!

Happy Garden Day everybody!

Thanks, as ever, for reading my blog. Please leave comments in the box below the hashtags, right at the bottom of this post. Or click on ‘comments’ under the headline and the box will drop down.

Quick link for Garden News Magazine Readers – Peach Crumble Cake- and spring flowers 10 April 2021

/ karen / 15 Comments

Here’s a quick link to the recipe mentioned in this week’s Garden News Magazine. Let me know if you make my peach crumble cake. The recipe is great with tinned or fresh peaches, apples, plums, cherries, rhubarb and blueberries- anything you have to hand. Thanks for reading my garden diary column and for all your lovely kind comments and encouragement. It’s always appreciated.

Peaches and Plums – Crumble and Plum Jam

Some more photos from my April garden diary. Enjoy the spring flowers- and new additions to the garden, Merlin the cockerel, and Daphne, Daisy and Dot bantam hens.

Here they are, enjoying a dust bath. They soon found a cosy corner in the garden where I’d piled some old compost. Perfect for their favourite daily activity. I love the contented little sounds they make as they swoosh compost into the air in all directions. Hens are certainly messy creatures.

Here’s Merlin, searching for slugs, snails and grubs in the veg plot. I’m hoping they will help me with my organic gardening, no chemicals- approach.

I’m not forgetting Monty kitten, looking quite windswept as he sits on his favourite look-out post on top of the boat cover.

The greenhouse – with barely and inch to spare. I can just about still get in there.

The poly tunnel swathed in fleece as we hit -3.5C two nights in a row. It’s currently 7C at lunchtime with a freezing icy wind and sleet. The old peach trees are flowering despite the cold. I’ll have to pollinate them with a paintbrush. There’s no bees about in these cold temperatures.

Despite the cold, daffodils are looking lovely. So cheerful.

My favourite narcissus Snow Baby looking lovely in spring pots planted three years ago and still going strong.

My new spring pot with ‘instant’ plants from the garden centre. Cheering up the front doorstep.

Wild anemones flowering in the mini woodland garden. Bluebells are just starting to raise their heads above big strappy leaves and potted Lily of the Valley is scenting the potting shed.

A few flowers fresh picked from the veg plot.

My wild Tenby daffodils, flowering around the pond, still look good at dusk. These are planted in memory of my Welsh grandmother, HM Foulds. A very reliable and hardy daffodil, highly recommend.

You might like to read my last post here: https://bramblegarden.com/2021/04/08/garden-news-column-spring-flowers-and-peach-crumble-cake-april-8-2021/

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your weekend, and hopefully the weather will improve where you are soon.

I’m @kgimson on twitter and karengimson1 on instagram live.

Garden News Column, Spring Flowers and Peach Crumble Cake. April 8 2021.

/ karen / 22 Comments

Bulbs and spring bedding plants are making me smile, after such a long, cold winter. I couldn’t get out last autumn to buy any plants, so I’ve reached spring with nothing to put into containers. But restrictions have lifted- and I’ve had my jab (hurray!) and I’m able to get out there! I can’t adequately describe the shear delight of actually being able to visit a plant nursery and buy a few flowers. Never in my life did I think such a simple thing as going out and buying plants would be so joyful- and appreciated. I’ll never take it forgranted again. Never.

I bought some potted anemone blanda, Bridal Crown narcissus and bellis daisies. I didn’t go mad with my first trip out. Every plant was savoured, the scent enjoyed, the colours marvelled at. I set the Bridal Crown in the centre of a favourite terracotta pot, and nestled the anemones and bellis daisies around the edge. Bridal Crown is perfect for a centrepiece as it’s multi -headed, which means it flowers for a long time. The stems twist and turn in different directions, giving a fountain-like centre to any pot. Anemones have a charming habit of scrambling between the narcissus stems and filling the gaps. Bellis daisies are just so cheerful. I particularly love the double pomponette types. All in all, my plants have provided a much-needed breath of spring, and the containers are cheering up my front doorstep and all the garden table tops, just in case we have visitors, which is now allowed. It will feel strange to have friends and family walking around my plot, after a whole 12 months without anyone visiting.

Here’s this week’s Garden News article, mentioning my treasured plant pots.

Peach Crumble Cake Recipe can be found here:

https://bramblegarden.com/2017/08/22/peaches-and-plums-crumble-and-jam/

And more photos of the containers, which have survived two windswept nights of -3.5C temperatures.

The scent is wonderful.

Just planted. Instant plants can be put together to make a colourful display. No one would know the containers hadn’t been planted last autumn.

Anemone blanda, mixed blues and whites.

I popped in two large anemone coronaria. I would usually grow all these bulbs myself, starting them off in September and October. But there’s so much choice at the garden centres, you can easily catch up now, and they don’t cost a fortune.

Bulbs and corms usually from https://taylors-bulbs.com/

Blue anemone coronaria. I love the inky black centres. Bees love them too.

Bellis Daisy. I usually grow these from seed. Mr Fothergills have this variety: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Bellis-Goliath-Mixed.html?ccode=F21PGP&gclid=CjwKCAjw07qDBhBxEiwA6pPbHkNeoDM1SLR8gcldYQP_rNdLZWfQ9HtAJHyWNs49sqz6to8sDiHbthoCV0oQAvD_BwE

Here’s the Superseed Trays I mention in the article. I’m trying to reduce my use of flimsy plastic trays which are not recyclable. The plastic breaks down to smaller and smaller pieces and gets into rivers and streams and out to the ocean.

https://superseedtrays.co.uk/

Behind them there’s a Bustaseed tray, made from recyclable plastic. Again, with divided module cells which can be lifted out without disturbing plant roots. These will be useful for taking cuttings.

https://www.bustaseed.com/

More details of Whinnypoo manure Tea. Very easy to use and it’s making my lemon trees green up beautifully after a long cold winter.

https://www.whinnypoo.com/

I love trying new products and I’m always amazed by the ingenuity of new business enterprises.

I’ve adopted a rescue cockerel. His days were numbered as there were too many cockerels where he came from. Sadly, if you hatch out chicks, some of them with obviously be cockerels and then they become unwanted. I’ve named him Merlin because he has the most gorgeous petrol -coloured feathers. And he has magiced his way into my life, just when I needed something to make me smile again. He’s now been joined by three beautiful bantam hens, so he’s in heaven here.

And finally, the latest photo of my lockdown kitten Monty. He’s been a constant source of joy since arriving here last summer. Hasn’t he grown into a beautiful boy. He’s enormous and very fluffy, but he has such a kind and gentle temperament. And he’s always by my side, keeping me company in the garden.

How are you all doing? Are any of you managing to get out and about and see friends and family again? It’s a while since I last wrote on here. We had several very sad deaths amongst friends and family. The latest being a dear friend, Jo, who died just six weeks after a diagnosis of cancer. We will be attending her virtual funeral on Friday, and I’ll be planting a tree in her memory.

Take care everyone, and thank you for reading and for your friendship and kind comments. This has not been an easy time for any of us, but there’s always hope for the future.

I’m @kgimson on twitter

Karengimson1 on instagram.

February Recipes : Pear and Almond Pastries

/ karen / 33 Comments

I’m making these again today. I opened the kitchen cupboards and there was literally nothing cheerful in there! No biscuits, chocolate, cake. We’ve run out of everything. I wonder if we will look back on these times and ponder how we lived through this pandemic and learned to appreciate the simple things in life. I shall certainly never take for granted being able to just pop to the shops. Everything has to be so well organised. Lists on top of lists. All food is being delivered, for which I’m extremely grateful. But, oh, the dismay at discovering that I’ve forgotten something- just as I’ve pressed the button to order supplies. It’ll be a week before I can get another delivery. We do see an end in sight with vaccines on the way, so keep going everyone. Keep smiling. And make pastries, as there’s nothing nicer to cheer you up than the sight of these lovely tasty treats. Any fruit can be used, they are just as lovely with apples, frozen plums, raspberries, tinned peaches – any combination you like. Let me know what recipes are keeping you cheered up, and report back if you make any of these delicious pastries too.

Here’s the link for the recipe: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/11/02/pear-and-almond-pastries-family-favourite-recipes/

And a photo of spring flowers to bring some joy as well:

White primulas. My favourites. Though I have seen some deep red double varieties mixed in with burnt orange which might look lovely in a blue China casserole dish…. if only I could get out to buy some.

Narcissi Geranium and cut flower collection tulips from last spring. All my tulips are poking through the ground now, and daffodils are in bud and flowering early. The veg patch is covered in forgetmenots. I use them as a green mulch to protect the soil and keep down weeds. Some are potted up to stand on the summerhouse steps. They are very easy to dig up as they have a shallow, fibrous root system. They do well when lifted and grown on in containers.

Daffodils make a very welcome return. I’ve watered them with potash or tomato fertiliser, having taken advice from a medal-winning grower. The liquid feed helps to strengthen the stems and enhances the colour, making them stronger and brighter. A good tip as we regularly seem to be getting stormy spring weather. It’s so sad to see daffodils flattened by the wind.

Eranthis hyemalis – winter aconite in the woodland garden. They won’t last long as temperatures are currently 13C.

Green-tipped Galanthus Viridapice looking pretty on the potting shed window. Snowdrops too have been a very welcome and joyous sight. But in the mild weather, they have opened right out and will be going over sooner than usual. I shall water these too with weak tomato fertiliser in the hope of boosting the size of the bulbs and increase the number of flowers for next year.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

*I’m trying something new- doing Instagram live sessions from the greenhouse every day, essentially to keep in touch with my Mum and MIL Joan, and also to show my daughters how to grow plants from seed. Under normal circumstances I would be by their side helping them with their new houses and first gardens. But I can’t while we are in lockdown, so I’m doing what I can from home. I’m karengimson1 on instagram.

January in the Garden

/ karen / 19 Comments

Here I am, pottering about in my garden again. I must say, the weeks fly by and it’s soon time to write another column for Garden News Magazine.

I hope you enjoy today’s article. I’ve had some lovely letters of support from readers saying my ‘potterings’ have kept them upbeat and busy during the pandemic. I’m pleased to see many readers have been inspired to have a go at different gardening techniques, or decided to grow something new. And many say the recipes are tasty, and always turn out well. What a relief!

Here’s some additional photos the editor didn’t use for the column. It’s fascinating to see which ones they choose. I submit about 10 for them to select from. It takes about a day to decide what to write about, take the photos and then actually sit down and compose the piece. It’s 350 words – which is actually quite a challenge. I try to say a lot in not many words. I edit it three times before I send it, taking out any spare words each time. What a luxury it is to write the blog. No one is checking the word count on here.

My hazel plant supports in the snow. New rods have replaced any that snapped, and have been woven along the centre to add strength. We seem to be getting stormier summers, so plant supports have to be extra sturdy.

Some sweet peas I grew last summer. I’ve sown some in autumn, but the second sowing now will provide plants that flower right through to November. Successional sowing extends the season.

Seeds come from https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sweet-Pea-Seed/#.X_dxARDfWfA.

And https://www.visiteaston.co.uk/shop/gardening/seeds/easton-walled-gardens-mix.

Here’s a photo of ‘Sunshine’ climbing French beans. Highly recommended, easy to grow and prolific. We have a freezer full, and they only take a few minutes to cook from frozen. All the flavour and goodness is captured for tasty winter meals. I’ll be starting my bean seed in May. Don’t start them off too early as they cannot be planted out until the first week of June. If sown too early, they become leggy and weak. They are very fast growing.

Bean seeds come from https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Pea-and-Bean-Seeds/Climbing-Bean-Seeds/Climbing-French-Bean-Sunshine.html#.X_dw0hDfWfA

Here’s a larger photo of the willow heart flower arrangement in the potting shed window. It’s made from Paperwhite narcissi, alstroemeria from the poly tunnel and dried gypsophila and honesty seeds from summer. The foliage is eucalyptus saved from Christmas floral arrangements. Flowers are held in a jam jar covered in moss which has garden string twined around it, kokadama -style. We are all trying to do without florists’ foam, and using jam jars, and tiny glass test tubes works really well.

See more ideas, join zoom -and in person lessons- with Georgie Newbery at Common Farm Flowers : https://www.commonfarmflowers.com/collections/workshops

Paperwhites came from Gee-Tee Bulbs https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/

Gypsophila and honesty seeds from https://higgledygarden.com/

I mention new birds boxes. I wrote about CJ Wildlife supplies here: https://bramblegarden.com/2019/01/30/nest-boxes-and-bird-feeders-for-the-garden/

The RSPB nesting material is from: https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/nest-box-accessories/nesting-wool-refill.html

And finally, the rhubarb upside down cake recipe can be found here: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/04/18/rhubarb-cakes-family-favourite-recipes/

Thank you for reading and getting in touch. It’s much appreciated. And a very Happy New Year to you all.

I’m @kgimson on twitter

Karengimson1 on instagram

Do say hello on social media.

In a Vase on Monday- virtual flowers for Joan

/ karen / 20 Comments

Chrysanthemums are in full flower in the poly tunnel. They’ll provide cut flowers from now until January. I grow hardy varieties in 10″ pots. They stand out on the gravel paths, next to the greenhouse all summer. Chrysanths can cope with the cold, but wet weather spoils the flowers, so I lift the pots into the unheated poly tunnel the first week of November.

I don’t know the name of this bright yellow chrysanthemum. It came from my father-in-law Keith. He had been growing it since the 1950s, having been given a cutting from Aunty Dorris. When Keith was no longer able to garden, I took over the tradition on growing the yellow flowers for his wife, Joan. Until this year, I’ve managed to supply Joan with a bunch each week through November and December. They are her favourites. This year, covid has interrupted our plans – and I’ve had to e mail photos of the flowers instead.

I’m growing these pretty little white chrysanthemums too. These are called Stallion. They are multi -headed and last at least a fortnight, sometimes three weeks, in a vase. Flowers have a bright yellow button centre, and take on pink tinges as they age. Very useful as a filler in a bouquet.

We’ve had a message from the care home saying one family member can visit before Christmas. They will have to take a rapid covid test, sit in their car for half an hour to wait for the results, and then spend 30 minutes visiting our relatives in their own rooms. We can’t visit any communal spaces. And we still can’t take flowers, for some reason. But we can take tins of biscuits and jars of jam- anything that can be disinfected before being giving to the residents. I’m writing about it here because the blog has become a record of our times, living through this covid pandemic, and the effect it’s had on people living in care homes.

Hopefully, soon we will be able to have the vaccine and this nightmare will come to an end. I’m hopeful it won’t be long now.

Thank you for reading. I’m celebrating reaching the milestone 100,000 readers on the blog. When I started writing, I had no idea so many would read my potting shed musings. Thanks for being one of them. Have a calm and happy week.

In a Vase on Monday : Cathy https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/

Turning Garden Twigs into Christmas Decorations

/ karen / 40 Comments

As a few of you know, I talk on the radio once a fortnight, chatting about what I’m doing in my vegetable and cut flower plot. This week, I tried valiantly to make a few twigs from my garden sound exciting. It really tested my powers of description! Anyway, if you were listening in, here are the photos to go with my interview with Ben Jackson. I was waving my arms around, explaining how you can gather foliage and off-cuts from the garden, make them into a twiggy bouquets, add lights, and plunge them in a pot. I do hope it enthused a few people to have a go and make their own Christmas decorations.

Willow stems, dried oak twigs, pine foliage and Hydrangea Annabelle flower heads with orange lanterns, Physalis alkekengi.

I decorated the hydrangea heads with some florists’ silver spray from Oasis. You only need a tiny amount.

Some old man’s beard, wild clematis vitalba adds a fluffy texture and movement to the arrangement.

Mouldable copper wire fairy lights from supermarkets only costs a few pounds. Mine came from Wilkos and use rechargeable batteries.

Tiny flowers from the hydrangea heads flutter down around me. I scoop them up and use them as table decorations. They are like nature’s confetti.

Wire lights can be threaded through dogwood stems and any greenery from the garden. This ‘bouquet’ of twigs is pushed into a plant pot of garden soil and stood by the front door. It looks like a container full of expensive plants, but in truth, it has cost me nothing. Stems will stay fresh until after Christmas due to cold and wet weather. They can be composted in the new year. So there’s no waste to go into bins.

I’ve used pine, spare Christmas tree stems (the tree was too tall), ivy, dogwood and willow to give height, and skimmia at the front. You could pop some hellebores and white heather either side to cover the base of the pot. If you have plastic pots, why not cover them with hessian to give them a natural look.

Here’s some more ideas using willow. Wind the willow or dogwood into a rough circle and keep adding more stems. Eventually you can pull it into shape and secure it with thin lengths of willow. Kept dry in the shed, wreaths will last for years. Each Christmas, I add new foliage, pine and rosemary for scent, rosy-hued hydrangea heads and clematis seeds. These are simply fed in amongst the willow stems and secured with string or florists’ reel wire.

You can add rosehips and crab apples to the willow frame. Birds tend to enjoy them, so I have to replenish the decorations every day. We were very excited to see some very small birds, possibly long-tailed tits enjoying the clematis seeds. It becomes almost a cross between a Christmas decoration and a bird feeder.

Add whatever you can find in the garden and hedgerow. In this silver birch wreath, I’ve added ivy, with green and black ivy berries, and dried cow parsley seed heads. The wind sometimes blows the clematis across the back fields, but there’s plenty more in the potting shed, ready for the festive season.

These willow stems have been folded over to form a heart. Hold ten stems in one hand. Bend half of them over and tie in the middle. Bend the other half over to form the other side of the heart, and tie in. Tie further up the stems to keep the heart shape secure. Disguise the ties -or the mechanics, as we call them- with a mini bouquet of foliage. Here I’ve used Holly, ivy, Garrya elliptica, hydrangea flowers and a few crab apples.

Willow wreaths don’t always need any decorations at all. A pretty ribbon is all that’s used on this wreath for a simple shepherd’s hut.

I decorate five bar gates around the plot. A single heart is often all that’s needed. It will cheer any Christmas Day revellers, walking along the lane. From this gate we can hear the church bells ringing. The sound carries far across the fields. It’s a wonderful spot to stand and listen for a few moments, mug of tea in hand.

Let me know what decorations you are putting up in your house and garden this year. Will it be old favourites, like mine, or something new? Get in touch and let me know, and thanks, as ever, for reading. Today, I’m celebrating my milestone 100,000 blog visitors. When I started writing, I thought just a handful of people might see my posts. I’m absolutely thrilled to see 100,000 have read about my little plot. Have a great weekend everyone.

Links:

Listen to Radio Leicester, Christmas decorations, at 3.16.57 on the timeline on BBC Sounds https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08ymt0t

I learned how to make my wreaths at Common Farm Flowers with Georgie Newbery. Georgie is running online courses and sells wreath -making kits.

https://www.commonfarmflowers.com/collections/workshops

I wrote about Georgie’s courses here: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/07/01/online-hand-tie-posy-course-with-georgie-newbery/

There’s also lots of Christmas recipes on the blog. Just scroll down to view them.

In a Vase on Monday- flowers for my Mum

/ karen / 30 Comments

I’m catching up here. This is in fact last week’s IAVOM. Internet and computer problems defeated me. We are on the old copper wire telephone line, and not the new super duper cable -type. It’s too expensive for BT to extend the cable down our lane, so we are stuck with speeds that are too slow to upload photos or do internet banking. Anyway, the internet may have set me back, but I wasn’t to be defeated by the imminent national lockdown, I just managed to get this posy of flowers to my mum in time. Dahlias have been the stars of the cut flower garden this year. They have flowered non-stop since June. Pictured above is Dahlia Nuit d’Ete. It’s a semi-cactus type with long twisting, curling petals. Such a rich deep red. Flowers last ten days in a vase. The centre keeps opening out and the flowers curve back until they look a little like sea urchins.

Here are the dahlias tucked in amongst the last of the cosmos, salvia, scented white carnations, with grey senecio foliage and plum coloured Physocarpus Diabolo.

The carnation is Dianthus Bridal Star. Highly scented, but requires staking as it has a floppy- growing habit. I grow it in the greenhouse as rain spoils the flowers. Worth growing though for constant flowers from June to November.

Salvia viridis blue, (centre of photo) an annual, sown in March and planted out end of May. I grow these at the base of the sweet pea A-frame which makes good ground cover.

There are also pink and white varieties of this annual salvia. Masses of flowers from a £2 packet of seed. Well worth growing.

A surprise discovery this summer was eucomis flower spikes. These got knocked over by the cat and puppy playing football….. I’m sure the cat thinks it’s a dog, as it joins in with all the ball games, and tries to come for a walk down the lane with us. We usually end up carrying him home. Anyway, Eucomis Sparkling Burgundy, known as the pineapple lily, lasts 4 weeks in a vase. They make wonderful centre pieces. I shall grow some specially for flower arranging next year.

Another surprise came from a row of sweet williams, planted out last month. They have decided to flower in November. I’ve cut the flowers for the house, and I’m hoping they will flower again next spring. They look good, strong plants, grown from seed in June. Perhaps the unusually mild autumn has confused them.

I found one last white dahlia flower, Eveline. This decorative dahlia has beautiful pink-tipped edges to the petals.

As with everything I do now, Monty likes to join in. He’s recovering from a small operation. As you can see, he’s doing really well and gaining weight nicely, after a troublesome start in life. Just look at those whiskers. And those chubby paws. You can tell he’s much loved. Adored in fact. He’s made such a difference and is helping to keep our spirits up during the pandemic.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this whistle-stop tour of my cut flower bouquet-making, even if it is a week late!

How are you all coping with the lockdown? I’m getting the veg plot ready for next year. It will be the first time I’ve managed to get all the jobs done by Christmas. Really, I’m not going anywhere at the moment.

Thanks for reading. Keep in touch.

Links : In A Vase on Monday with Cathy and everyone all around the world. See what everyone is growing and putting into their vases this week: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/in-a-vase-on-monday-7th-anniversary-still-life-with-pine-cone-rosehip-and-moss/

Dahlias: https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/bulbs/allium?ppc_keyword=%2B%20allium%20%2B%20bulbs&matchtype=b&device=t&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7qP9BRCLARIsABDaZzjX1CDLqCmHVfZXKQlhD0CgIxy3R5bxaKm3UIyfWzGuTFZJ5Is0LLoaAqNFEALw_wcB

Salvias, sweet william and cosmos: Mr Fothergills https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Plants/Cut-Flowers/Salvia-Viridis.html#.X6lKQRDfWfA

https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Cosmos-Seed/Cosmos-Sensation-Mixed-Seeds.html#.X6lKiRDfWfA

Eucomis: https://www.sarahraven.com/flowers/bulbs/lilies/eucomis-sparkling-burgundy.htm?productid=689&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7qP9BRCLARIsABDaZzgFVGUJMTSL17KryADlTz-BWn7zWK6g3JRwHxL2vD2xbEcARt05zcYaAgr-EALw_wcB

Physocarpus Diabolo: https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/physocarpus-opulifolius-diabolo/T66380TM?of_opi=MFRWG5B5GM2DEJTGMVSWISLEHUYSM4DSN5SESZB5GE2DMNJX&source=FreeClick&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7qP9BRCLARIsABDaZzhpPm3ixsjzH8Lwf5pyOaN1DVftZ3xzb0-1ygsnWCs-irSEzWd8CcMaAnyaEALw_wcB

Carnation: Six Acre Nursery https://www.sixacrenurseries.co.uk/

Six on Saturday – 10th October 2020 -photos from my garden

/ karen / 36 Comments

Sunflowers have been the stars of the autumn garden. This one is multi-headed Helianthus Black Magic. I sowed seeds in March in 3″ pots and planted them out the first week of June. They survived high winds and torrential rain, even hailstones mid-summer. Summer now seems to see a pattern of stormy weather with winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour. Plants have to be sturdy to survive- and well supported, with a scaffolding of 6ft hazel poles. Many times I’ve feared for my sunflowers and tall-growing cosmos and salvias. They were bowed down, but never beaten. Much like us, really. With all our covid worries.

White dahlia My Love, with a mixed selection of sunflowers, rudbeckias and calendula, grown from seed from Mr Fothergills and Burpees Europe. This summer I took part in a social media campaign with the hashtag #GrowSomeSunshine. We grew sunflowers and made a donation to the NHS, posting photos of our flowers on twitter and instagram. The campaign, run by gardening journalist, David Hurrion, raised £3,175. I’m hoping David will repeat the campaign next summer. It’s been a cheerful way to support our wonderful nurses, doctors and NHS volunteers. I’ve had sunflowers right across the front garden, lining the path to the front door. People passing by the garden gate lean in and smile. Garden gate conversations have become a ‘thing,’ with friends from surrounding villages walking along footpaths to visit us and chat. Only two people have actually been in the garden. On sunny days, I set out chairs 2 metres apart and served biscuits in individual little wrappings. They brought their own flasks of tea. Small dispensers of hand gel sat neatly amongst the potted plants on the garden coffee tables. Things like this are starting to feel more normal now. I’m writing this here as a reminder in the future, when I want to look back and see how we lived in the summer of 2020.

I love the range of colours in modern sunflowers. This one grew from a packet of seed called All Sorts Mixed. Well-named as there were eight different sunflowers in the mix.

This one is almost pink. A lovely range from a packet of Helianthus Evening Sun. plenty of pollen. A magnet for bees. As pretty as a stained glass window.

And another photo of Black Magic, which starts off a deep, dark chocolate colour, and fades to beautiful bronze.

Scrumptious. Almost good enough to eat. Which is what will happen to them over the winter. I’ve saved seed heads and dried them on the greenhouse staging. A few will be brought out each day over winter. A feast for the birds. Sunflower stems are hollow, and make homes for ladybirds and lacewings. I’ll bundle stems together and stuff them in my ‘twiggery’ which is just a pile of twigs and stems, left in a quiet corner for insects to hibernate.

What’s looking good in your garden right now? Join in with the #SixOnSaturday hashtag on twitter and instagram and look to see what other gardeners are growing in the UK and around the world. I use it to plot and plan what to grow next year. There’s plenty of good ideas from keen gardeners. A cheerful way to spend an hour or two on a rainy autumn Saturday.

Thank you for reading.

Links for more info :

Six on Saturday :https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2020/10/10/six-on-saturday-10-10-2020/

Black Magic https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sunflower-Black-Magic-F1-Seeds.html#.X4G00xB4WfA

Evening Sun: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sunflower-Evening-Sun-Seeds.html#.X4G08xB4WfA

GrowSomeSunshine https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/grow-some-sunshine

Burpee Europe seeds https://www.burpeeeurope.com/sunflower-pikes-peak/

Allsorts Mixed https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sunflower-Allsorts-Seeds.html#.X4G1dhB4WfA

Rudbeckia mixed https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Rudbeckia-Seed/Rudbeckia-Rustic-Dwarfs-Mixed.html#.X4G1nRB4WfA

My Love Dahlia https://www.peternyssen.com/my-love.html

Update: Flowers for Joan. September 2020

/ karen / 39 Comments

Last Monday I wrote about my mother-in-law Joan and the flowers I take to her each week from my garden. Covid meant the care home where she’s living stopped all visits for almost six months to protect residents from infection. We had just resumed visiting and were meeting in the garden in 30 minute appointment slots.

The day after writing my piece, we received an e mail cancelling all further visits due to rising covid numbers in the UK. We can stand in the car park and wave through a window. Or we can attempt video calling.

I’m writing now to say thank you to all of you who’ve got in touch with kind messages and helpful suggestions. You’ve generally bolstered me up at a difficult time. I’m writing this blog as a diary of my gardening life, and also as a record of the times we are all going through, and the situation for the elderly, especially those with dementia who cannot ‘see’ their families in person. No criticism is meant for the care home. They are doing an unimaginably difficult job keeping everyone safe, and we are enormously grateful for everything.

Here’s some photos of Joan with my bouquets of flowers from the garden. The photos were taken when she was still living in her own home.

The flowers were loosely tied so that Joan could spend a few happy hours arranging them in assorted vases and fill the windowsills with colour. She especially loved having flowers in the house as carers would always comment on how cheerful they were and how much they enjoyed visiting Joan and her husband Keith. The carers said the couple were their favourites, and I’m sure it was because Joan and Keith tried to be as little trouble as possible -and there was always chocolates, biscuits and cake for them. They tried to look after the carers, and show their appreciation. A very special couple, and I’m proud to call them my in-laws.

This is a favourite photo of Joan on her wedding day on the steps of Cosby Methodist Chapel. Joan arranged the flowers for the chapel, while keith played the organ twice on a Sunday and for weddings and funerals, for more than 60 years.

I found this old photo in a family album. Florence May, Joan’s mother, is on the left, with Florence’s sisters, Jess, Hattie and Marion. All of them were to suffer from dementia. I stare at this photo and feel so sad. These young girls had no idea what was ahead of them. None of us ever do.

Thank you for reading.

This is what I wrote last week : https://bramblegarden.com/2020/09/21/in-a-vase-on-monday-flowers-for-joan/

And here : https://bramblegarden.com/2018/09/30/sunflowers-for-joan/

Thank you to Cathy for her #IAVOM meme, which I first joined in with when Joan was diagnosed with dementia and I started growing cut flowers to take to her.

#InAVaseOnMonday : https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/.

A video from the care home. https://www.facebook.com/MHAaigburth/videos/1565414246976429/. Please do not view this video if you are feeling overwhelmed with sadness at this time. Wait until you are feeling stronger.

UPDATE FRIDAY 2 OCTOBER. ‘Window’ visits have now also been cancelled, due to the rising covid numbers. Thank you again for reading my blog.

In a Vase on Monday- Flowers for Joan

/ karen / 41 Comments

I started growing cut flowers, and writing about them, when my mother-in-law-Joan was diagnosed with dementia. Joan loved flower arranging- she did the Methodist chapel flowers for 65 years. It was a passion we both shared. I instinctively knew Joan would start to forget me, and by taking flowers each week, I hoped to hold on to her for as long as possible. To keep a connection going. It was all I could think of. Before lockdown, Joan started to forget my name. But she never forgot the names of the flowers, and my posies gave us something cheerful to talk about. It gave Joan confidence. She could chat about a subject she understood when everything else in her life was confusing. Lockdown was an agony. I tried to send letters. Phone calls were too distressing, Joan couldn’t understand exactly why we couldn’t visit. Hearing loss caused further upset. I sent photos and updates about the family and her grandchildren. Leicester remained in localised lockdown, and the care home where Joan lives with her husband Keith, was within the extended lockdown area. So it was more than six months before we were able to visit.

And these are the flowers I took to Joan. Daisies have always been her favourites. The yellow rudbeckias came from some roots I saved when we had to sell their house. They lived in the same house, brought up three children, and enjoyed their garden for 63 years. The whole family worked together to help them live at home for as long as possible. But dementia not only steals memories of friends and family, eventually it takes away the ability to do even simple tasks. It was heartbreaking to watch Joan try to make a cup of tea. And yet she still wanted to try, because she loved looking after us. I really looked forward to popping around for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. Her cake tin -before dementia- was always full of flapjack, coconut chocolate squares, and fruit cake. I often write the recipes here on the blog so they are not lost in time. Joan made my life happier. She always cared, backed me up and sympathised, helped where she could. I miss it. I miss having someone who would always stop what they were doing and just listen. Some things in life cannot be changed, but to have a sympathetic ear makes all the difference. To have someone always on your side. I’ve been lucky, I know. I was so determined to hold on to Joan, but covid defeated me. On our visit, I could hardly breathe, hoping Joan would recognise me. But she had no idea who I was. And I wasn’t even allowed to give her the flowers. It’s against the rules. Even a simple bunch of flowers could be deadly. The virus could be on the stems where I’ve touched them. So after showing her my flowers, the care home staff asked me to lay them on the garden path, where they stayed, looking as lost and forlorn as I felt. I don’t disagree with the rules- the staff have an unimaginable job to keep everyone safe. But I feel sad that my small bunch of flowers couldn’t go on Joan’s bedside table to bring her some joy at this difficult time. I’m updating you all, as you have followed my journey these past few years and kept me company whilst I’ve pottered about my garden and tied up my bunches of flowers for Joan. It’s been a comfort to share my thoughts on here. I’ll not give up, of course. As soon as I’m allowed, I’ll take flowers again. There will be hellebores and scented hyacinths at Christmas, catkins and forget-me-nots in spring, and roses and daisies all summer. In a care home, it’s easy to lose touch with the seasons and Joan loved visiting my garden. She enjoyed the beauty of flowers and the countryside around us. Let’s hope we can make up for lost time soon.

Rudbeckia Goldsturm (black-eyed Susan) flowers from July to October and cut flowers last ten days in a vase.

Verbascum nigrum grows to 1.5m on the vegetable and cut flowers plot. Spikes of bright yellow flowers emerge all summer. Pollinators love the flowers too.

Achillea millefolium (yarrow) grows in a small patch of wild flowers, sown from a packet of mixed seed last summer.

There’s oxeye daisies, with wild carrot flowers as a pretty filler. The carrot turns green as it goes to seed, perfectly matching the green rim around the centre of the daisy flowers.

If you look carefully, you can see the tiny hearts of Capsella bursa-pastoris or Shepherd’s purse. There’s hope, and lots of love, in this small bunch of flowers.

Thanks for reading.

In a Vase on Monday : https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2020/09/21/in-a-vase-on-monday-also-rans/

A Walk Around My Garden, Sunday 23 August 2020

/ karen / 13 Comments

It’s been a challenging few weeks. We wanted rain. And we got it. A month’s worth in four days. Followed by Storm Ellen and 40 mile per hour winds. Anything not firmly staked, flopped over. Sunflowers and cosmos took a bashing. It’s taken a couple of days to prop up plants, tie them in, and sweep up twigs and leaf litter. I sometimes wish I was passionate about interior design instead of gardening. Wouldn’t it be lovely to create a scene, and have nothing smash it to pieces. But, sadly, I’m not remotely interested in being indoors. I’m only really happy when I’m outside, in the fresh air. Anyway, to cheer us all up, here’s some photos of what’s in flower in my garden today.

My new rose, Belle de Jour. Rose of the Year for 2021. Flowers open clear, bright yellow and fade to sunset shades of peaches and cream. There’s a delicate fruity scent and plenty of pollen for bees. Nice healthy green leaves, which is good for an organic garden like mine.

I think we can definitely say these flowers stand up to the weather. Some roses ‘ball’ in the rain. They fail to open and turn to mush. Luckily, Belle de Jour copes with a deluge; there’s not a mark on the petals. My rose came, by post, from Roses UK which promotes the British rose trade. I’m sure the new rose will be a huge success. It’s looking lovely in my garden already. And I’m always pleased to support British nurseries.

I’m growing a new variety of courgette, ‘Summer Holiday.’ Isn’t it pretty. I don’t know why, but this photo makes me so happy. It looks such a gorgeous little thing, bright yellow, with a twisty green stem. It’s a joy. And so easy to grow. I’m in favour of anything easy, this summer. Everything seems to have been hard work, so a highly productive trouble-free plant is very welcome. There’s a recipe for courgette and cream cheese soup to follow. It only takes ten minutes to cook.

Courgette flowers look beautiful too. They only last a day, but are a sunny, joyful sight. I’ve planted courgette and squash all along the base of my climbing bean frame. They make good ground cover and smother weeds.

Here’s the beans I’m growing this year. Don’t they look colourful.

Yellow: Climbing French bean ‘Sunshine’. A new variety.

Green: Climbing French bean ‘Limka’.

Purple: Dwarf French bean ‘Red Swan’.

All growing together along the hazel A-frame support, with blue morning glory intertwined. The dwarf French beans grow to around 122cm (4ft). Climbing beans are around 2.5m (8ft). Every day, I’m gleefully throwing handfuls of beans into the freezer. They will be such a treat mid-winter when fresh greens are in short supply.

I have a newly-planted border all along the path to the front door. It was infested with couch grass. Over the winter I dug out all the plants and turned over the soil, searching for every scrap of tiny white couch grass roots. I had to do this four times before getting on top of the problem. In May, I planted the border with annuals; sunflowers, nicotiana, cosmos, and underplanted them with salvias, which I treat as bedding plants as they are not very hardy here.

I favour dark dusky-coloured sunflowers. This one pictured above is ‘Black Magic.’ It’s a multi-headed sunflower the colour of dark chocolate. Bees love it, and the seed will feed birds in winter. I won’t bother growing ‘Italian White’ again. The first sign of a gale and the petals curled up and dropped off. Not hardy enough for my windswept plot.

If you like yellow sunflowers you would love these, growing in the back fields behind my garden. We cheered when we saw the farmer sowing the seeds in spring. It’s a wildlife -friendly mix to attract pollinators, and the seedheads feed birds and mammals over winter.

The ridgeway footpath goes all along the side of the sunflower field. We walk along it twice a day, as we are still in the habit of our lockdown exercise regime. And some of us are still not venturing far, as we can’t take any risks. I’m still getting over a serious illness from three years ago, and although surgeons gave me a second chance, I’m not strong enough to fight off infection. Doctors nowadays are forthright. And mine, straight to the point, said a ventilator wouldn’t be an option. So there we are. I have to be careful. I’m not dwelling on it. I’m just grateful for small mercies, sunflowers included, as I can gaze at them and feel happy. I don’t know how, but I can.

We still have swallows flying here. They must be finding plenty of insects. I’ll miss them when they go. I think of the journey they have to make, such tiny birds. Such a long way. It’s always an anxious time waiting for them to return in spring. Maybe, I’m going to have to get my courage up, and be like the swallows. Set off into the unknown. I can’t stay here forever, as lovely as it is, and as tempting as it’s become to say how well I’m coping. Someday soon, I have to set forth. Wish me luck!

On the footpath, going home, I pass by this old crab apple tree. It must be 100 years old, the size of its trunk. It makes a natural arch over the pathway. I like to gaze into the distance and wonder how the view might have changed over the past century. Probably not a lot as it’s still all farmland round here. But the people who’ve passed by this tree, their lives would have been very different 100 years ago. We have so much to be grateful for.

Nearing home, by our field gate, you can see the row of trees we planted 30 years ago when we were in our 20s. We never thought those little saplings would grow into a wood. And we didn’t know how much joy they would give us, watching the leaves change through the seasons, and giving a home to birds and wildlife. This summer, these daisies suddenly appeared. On sunny days, they have a strong chamomile scent. They may only be weeds, but they are a lovely sight, even so. Don’t you agree.

How has your garden fared this summer with the heatwave, drought and storms? It feels like we have faced many challenges, all round. Let me know what’s looking good in your garden right now, and whether you are managing to get out and about yet, or like me, waiting for your moment.

Links:

Karengimson1 on instagram and @kgimson on twitter

Roses UK: https://www.rosesuk.com/

Rosa Belle De Jour: https://www.apuldramroses.co.uk/

Summer Holiday courgette: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Vegetable-Seeds/Courgette-Seed/Courgette-Summer-Holiday_2.html#.X0GQChB4WfA

Beans: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Pea-and-Bean-Seeds/Climbing-Bean-Seeds/#.X0GQPhB4WfA

Sunflowers : https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sunflower-Black-Magic-F1-Seeds.html#.X0GQbRB4WfA

Six on Saturday meme : https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/22/six-on-saturday-22-08-2020/

Garden Diary for ‘Six on Saturday’ – 8th August 2020

/ karen / 35 Comments

Peach and blue tones feature in my garden diary this week. Dahlia David Howard is usually a much brighter colour than the flower pictured above. But we’ve had sweltering temperatures the past few days and heat has faded some of the blooms. I rather like this delicate hue. I’ve waited until dusk to take my photos. The dahlia bed is next to the orchard, and I can hear hedgehogs shuffling through the dry twigs and grass in the undergrowth. If I wait quietly, they will come out and feast on fallen plums. I never knew how much they loved plums until a few years back when we had a massive harvest and, each night, five baby hedgehogs turned up. It was magical to watch them enjoying the ripe and juicy fruit. In the day, there are butterflies sipping the juice, meadow browns and peacocks in abundance this year. Not so many painted lady butterflies as last year though.

Here’s my second ‘peach’ photo. Rosa Phyllis Bide. It’s a medium-size rambler with large sprays of semi-double flowers 6cm wide. I grow it because it is disease resistant and doesn’t need spraying with chemicals. All my roses have to be tough. If you choose carefully, there are many varieties less likely to suffer from the fungal disease black spot. Phyllis Bide is easy and trouble-free, and repeat flowers from June to November. There are sometimes a few blooms in December, eagerly snapped up for Christmas table decorations. Flowers are gorgeous set amongst creamy white beeswax candles. Bees also love the pollen, and catering for wildlife and pollinators is often at the heart of everything I do. In my garden, Phyllis Bide grows up a wooden post and into a lilac tree, adding interest when the lilac is out of flower. It’s about 2.5m tall with a 1.5m spread.

This is a late-flowering Phyllis Bide rose, covered in snow on 11th December. Sunshine soon melted the ice, and the flower was still perfect. Isn’t it beautiful. A heart-sing moment, captured with an old i-phone camera.

My third photo is from the polytunnel. I’m growing pots of dwarf peach and nectarines. This one is Prunus Nectarella. It grows to about 1.5m by 1m in a 60cm container. I’m also growing Garden Lady and Bonanza. Planted in pots, they can be carried into the greenhouse or poly tunnel over winter, which helps protect early flowers from frost. They flower in February when there’s few pollinators about, so blossom has to be pollinated with a soft paintbrush. It’s a lovely calming occupation on a cold winter’s day, and gives hope spring is not far away.

Peaches and nectarines suffer from a disease called peach leaf curl. It’s a fungus which infects leaves causing them to distort and blister. It results in early leaf fall, reducing vigour. Wet conditions are needed for the disease to thrive, so keeping them indoors over winter helps to protect them. All the effort of growing them is worth it. Eating a peach or nectarine that’s been allowed to ripen naturally on the tree is a delight. Shop-bought fruit just can’t compare.

I wrote about my peach crumble cake recipe here. Do try it – with any fruit you have, apples, pears, plums- or peaches, and let me know what you think. It’s become a family favourite here.

https://bramblegarden.com/2017/08/22/peaches-and-plums-crumble-and-jam/.

Now for the ‘blue’ photos this week. I’ve chosen morning glory, Ipomoea purpurea. This is a seedling from a selection I’ve grown for years. Morning glory is an annual climber reaching 4-5m given a warm sunny fence or wall. Mine grow up through my climbing French beans. I’m hoping the flowers will attract pollinators which will benefit my vegetables. You can see the nectar guides in this photo. Flowers have visible and UV guides or lines directing bees to the nectary. Sunshine has highlighted the lines. It’s almost mesmerising. I save my seed each summer and store it in a cool, dark place over winter. I’ll start them off again in 3″ pots on the kitchen windowsill in February. Recommended varieties include Star of Yelta, Grandpa Ott and Heavenly Blue. All easy to grow, and once you’ve bought a packet of seed, you’ll have morning glory for ever more. Such a lovely thought!

My second ‘blue’ photo is gladioli. Another summer treat. This one came in a blue-mix assortment from Gee-Tee Bulbs. I plant them down the centre of my hazel rod sweet pea A-frame, where they grow quite happily without needing stakes. As soon as the heads pop out of the side of the frame, I harvest them for my cut flower posies. Gladioli can grow tall and floppy, and in the high winds we seem to be getting more and more, they often end up crashing to the ground. Grown with sweet peas, or though a climbing bean frame, they’ll get plenty of support. Corms are lifted in autumn when I pull up sweet peas. I let the leaves die back naturally and then I take off the little offset corms which grow beneath the ‘mother’ corm. I’ll keep them dry and frost free over winter and replant them next spring. If you have lovely, free draining soil you could leave the gladioli in over winter. But I have cold, heavy clay which seems to be flooded every winter now. Corms would rot in the wet. Links for bulb suppliers are at the end of this piece.

And finally, my sixth photo is meadow cranesbill or Geranium pratense. Again, you can see the violet and silver bee guides. So delicate, it reminds me of a butterfly wing.

I wrote about my wild geraniums here. https://bramblegarden.com/2017/06/28/wordlesswednesday-wild-geraniums-on-the-march/

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s voyage around my garden. My plot has kept me up-beat during the covid pandemic, giving me something cheerful to focus on. Thank you for all your kind messages. It’s lovely to hear so many of you feel you’ve have had a brief respite from worry, just for a few minutes, reading my blog and virtually ‘walking’ around the plot with me. Keep in touch, and let me know what has helped you through this difficult time. Have you grown anything new, or found comfort in familiar things. Thanks for reading. It’s much appreciated.

Links:

Dahlia David Howard. https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/bulbs/dahlias

Rose Phyllis Bide: https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/products/phyllis-bide

Peaches, apricots and nectarines: https://www.chrisbowers.co.uk/dwarf.php

Morning glory: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Morning-Glory-Seed/#.Xy_rxhB4WfA

Gladioli: https://taylors-bulbs.com/summer-flowering-bulbs-advice/

Geranium pratense: https://www.naturescape.co.uk/product/meadow-cranesbill-plugs/

I am @kgimson on Twitter, karengimson1 on instagram.

Six on Saturday is a meme where gardeners from all around the world post six or more photos of what’s growing on their plots each week. It’s fascinating to see what’s looking good. Sometimes it’s the same plant as I’m growing, but in another country millions of miles away. https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

Talking on the radio – notes and photos for wednesday 22 July, BBC Radio Leicester Gardens Hour

/ karen / 13 Comments

I’m still talking on the radio once a fortnight – from the peace and quiet of my potting shed. It’s lovely to be at home rather than having to drive into Leicester. And when the music is playing between chats, I get on with a bit of watering or prick out a few seedlings, and nobody knows.

This week we talk about sweet peas. I’m growing new variety, Ripple Mixed, pictured above. It has mauve, pink, and purple markings on a pale pink background. The scent is strong, and stems are nice and long, making them ideal for cut flower posies. One to keep on my list for autumn sowing. I’m ordering seeds now to ensure I get the varieties I want. This year’s experience of buying plants and seeds – and the long delays receiving them- has taught me to plan ahead and order early.

Here’s a selection of sweet peas I’m putting in jam jars on the village green to raise money for Rainbows Hospice for children and young people. Rainbows cares for children with life-limiting illnesses and nearly all its funding comes from donations. The hospice has lost almost £1 million in fund raising this year, due to events being cancelled because of covid. I put leaflets alongside the flowers, hoping it might encourage someone to learn more about the hospice and make a regular donation. Every little helps.

Here’s the Wiltshire Ripple variety I mention, with its delicate picotee edge. I wouldn’t be without this one. Always a good strong performer.

This is Mayflower 400, another new variety, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers sailing to the New World. It’s highly-scented and a good strong grower. Long stems, and flowers last a week in a vase.

After talking about flowers, we move on to what I’m growing and harvesting from the plot. Plums are prolific again this year. This is Victoria, delicious and reliable. I’m making jam. It’s such a treat in winter to have a taste of summer. I stand the jars along the kitchen window and admire them. It’s like looking through pink stained glass. Very cheerful on a cold, dark day.

The recipe for plum crumble cakes and plum jam is here : https://bramblegarden.com/2017/08/22/peaches-and-plums-crumble-and-jam/

When my children were little, we fed them apple purée as their first solid food. BBC Radio Leicester programme host Naomi Kent is having a baby in two months, so we talk about the varieties of apple trees she might plant in her new garden.

I’m growing Spartan, a gorgeous deep red apple with a sweet honey taste. Apples are small and numerous, the perfect size for children’s lunch boxes. Lovely for juicing which is a somewhat messy process, but worth the effort.

I also grow Greensleeves (above) for cooking and eating. It’s sweet enough on its own, so you won’t need to add sugar for cakes, purée and puddings. Kept somewhere cool, apples will store until February.

Supermarkets often only sell a few apple varieties, typically Cox, Golden Delicious and Braeburn. Often they’ve been grown abroad and flown in. Sometimes they are coated with chemicals to improve their keeping qualities. And yet, in the UK, we have perfect conditions to grow your own apples. Traditionally, apple trees would have been 6m tall, but plant breeders have produced some compact varieties for small gardens and containers. Lubera have a range of ‘column’ fruit trees which have short side shoots and a narrow, vertical growing habit. I’m growing Malini Top Model which looks as if it will be about 50cm wide and eventually 3m tall. I’m growing it in a large plant pot and it has a good crop of apples in its third year. Lubera also have column types of pear, cherry and plum varieties on their website.

We had record amounts of cherries this year. I’ve been freezing them and preserving them in alcohol for winter treats. There’s a cherry marzipan chocolate recipe mentioned in the links at the end.

My cherry tree is Stella, a self fertile variety bred in Canada and introduced to Britain in the 1960s.

If you’ve got a small garden, opt for a cherry tree on dwarfing Gisela rootstock, which makes a compact tree. It’s much easier to protect trees from frost, if they are small enough to cover with fleece or an old bed sheet.

Good varieties to try include self-fertile Sunburst, Summer Sun and Celeste.

I’m fond of pears too. I have a Conference pear which provides plenty of fruit. If you are short of space, pears are easily trained along a fence or wall, in an espalier shape. Pears need more sunshine and warmth than apples, so it is a good idea to give them the protection of a warm wall. I’m going to plant a Concorde pear on the south wall of the house. Concorde is possibly a more reliable cropper than Conference.

If you have a more shadier garden, and you want to grow fruit, I’ve found success with Morello cherries, damson and quince, and crab apples for making jelly.

As well as apples, pears, plums and cherries, I wouldn’t be without my mini peach trees. I’m growing dwarfing variety Garden Lady and Bonanza in 45cm pots. We don’t get very many peaches yet, but the taste is so delicious and sweet. It’s a special treat to have home- grown ripe and tasty peaches.

I’d love to grow my own apricots. I’ve seen compact varieties Aprigold and Isabelle at nurseries. Our neighbour, Arthur, at our first house, had a fan-trained Moorpark apricot. He never did any other gardening, leaving it all to his wife Dorothy, but every day he fussed over his apricot tree, watered it and covered it up on cold nights. When it produced a magnificent crop each summer, he gave bags of fruit to his neighbours all along the little row of terraced houses. Happy memories of wonderful, kind neighbours. We have been so lucky to always have lovely people living next door.

So, to sum up, you don’t need a huge garden to grow fruit. It is possible to have a whole orchard- in pots on your patio. No need for rolling acres. Dwarfing varieties designed for growing in containers, some large pots, 45cm diameter, and John Innes no3 compost is all you’ll need. Set up an automatic drip watering system, or water the pots every day in summer. I add potash-rich seaweed feed every fortnight, and I refresh the top of the pots, taking out a small amount of compost and adding in some new compost, every year.

What fruit trees are you growing at home. Have you any recommendations for small gardens. Get in touch and let me know how you are getting on with your growing this summer.

Links:

Sweet pea seeds: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Tall_3/Sweet-Pea-Ripple-Mixed-Seeds.html#.XxrSvBB4WfA

Mayflower 400 : https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sweet-Pea-Seed/Sweet-Pea-Mayflower-400.html#.XxrS4hB4WfA

My plum jam recipe : https://bramblegarden.com/2017/08/22/peaches-and-plums-crumble-and-jam/

Apple and Almond Slice Recipe: https://bramblegarden.com/2019/11/07/apple-and-almond-slice-family-favourite-recipes/

Cherry marzipan chocolates: https://bramblegarden.com/2018/12/04/family-favourite-recipes-chocolate-marzipan-cherries/

BOOKS TO READ:

An Orchard Odyssey by Naomi Slade

https://bramblegarden.com/2019/09/27/an-orchard-odyssey-book-review-and-prize-draw/

The Creative Kitchen by Stephanie Hafferty

https://bramblegarden.com/2018/11/18/the-creative-kitchen-book-review/

BBC Radio Leicester : https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08jzr94. Gardening starts at 3.11.48 on the timeline.

Niwaki tools review – and some garden snips to give away

/ karen / 60 Comments

I don’t use chemicals in my garden. Some weeds are allowed to thrive, if they are useful to insects and pollinators. Dandelions are particularly good for bees, especially in early spring when pollen is scarce. There are some types of solitary bee that only feed on dandelions. I wouldn’t want to deprive them of their vital sustenance. But, I don’t want a lawn predominantly covered in dandelions. It’s all about striking a balance, so I start to thin them out in mid-summer. Niwaki sent a Hori Hori knife for a trial and It’s perfect for deep-rooted weeds such as dandelions. I was using a trowel before, which often didn’t get to the bottom of the tap root, and was hard work over a large area. The Hori Hori is sharp enough to easily slice through grass, and strong enough to gently lever weeds out of the soft wet ground. I notice, on the website, it says the knife is: “Mighty, but not invincible. It’s best not to stick it in heavy clay and yank back hard.”

When I’ve removed the dandelions, plantains and thistles, I pop a Seedball into the hole that’s left. Seedballs are wildflower seeds encased in clay. They can simply be scattered around the garden. They come in selections named bee, butterfly, poppy, urban, bat, bird and beetle. Hopefully, in time, I’ll end up with a flowering lawn, full of cowslips, self heal, wild marjoram and primroses. I’m aiming for a tapestry carpet effect.

The Hori Hori has a strong canvas holster which I think could be attached to a belt. The hand-forged carbon steel blade runs right through the handle, for strength. Tough and strong, it seems built to last. The handle is FSC beech wood and the blade is 7″ 17cm long.

As well as digging up weeds in the lawn, my knife is great for removing weeds from between paving slabs. I also spent a happy hour digging up ‘free’ plants which had self-seeded in the gravel. I found bellis daisies, perennial geraniums, sedums, erigeron daisies and several seedling trees- silver birch, maple and mountain ash. Much easier to lever them out with a sharp blade than using a trowel.

Bellis daisies seed readily around and make lovely bedding plants for borders and plant pots. Free plants are always welcome here.

Here’s a seedling mountain ash rescued from the gravel path. Beautiful spring flowers for bees, and autumn berries for birds. Great for any wildlife garden.

Erigeron karvinskianus also seeds readily between paving and in gravel. Another ‘free plant,’ dug up and transplanted into a 9cm pot.

My Hori Hori has quickly become a tool I reach for whatever task I’m doing, planting, weeding, slashing bramble roots. It’s comfortable to use and makes life much easier. And that’s what gardening is all about for me, managing the weeds, not totally obliterating them, just tipping the balance, and keeping me in charge, rather than always rushing around desperately trying to keep up.

I’ve asked the team at Niwaki to offer a reader prize. They have currently sold out of Hori Hori knives, probably due to the upsurge of interest in gardening over the covid period. So they are offering some forged garden snips instead. Keep an eye on the blog, and when they send me another item to try, the Hori Hori will probably be back in stock for a prize at a later date.

Meanwhile, to enter for the garden snips, just leave a comment in the box below and Niwaki will randomly select a name. Usual rules apply. Niwaki’s decision is final and there’s no cash alternative.

A winner will be announced on Monday. Please check back. Thank you.

Do you have any favourite garden tools. Nearly all of mine belonged to my grandfather Ted Foulds. And some belonged to his father, so they date back to the 1930s. They have certainly stood the test of time, and I wouldn’t be without them.

Links : Niwaki https://www.niwaki.com/store/hori-hori/

Seedball : https://seedball.co.uk/product/bee-matchbox/

I write for Garden News Magazine: https://www.gardennewsmagazine.co.uk/minimag

Six on Saturday – my garden in June 2020

/ karen / 36 Comments

Peace and calm.

The scent! Roses from the garden, and elderflower. I’ve been making elderflower cordial. A taste of summer, for when days get shorter.

Constance Spry. Planted when our youngest daughter Rachel was born. It weathers any storm. Reliable and hardy.

Rosa Claire, planted when our eldest daughter – also called Clare, without the i though- was born. Just beautiful. So many twists and turns and folds in the petals. Just like the patterns of life. Nothing in nature is ever a straight line. And there’s no direct journey to where you are heading.

Rosa Many Happy Returns. A lovely, long- lasting memory of happy events.

New rose. Kew Gardens. Sent to us by the team at David Austin to celebrate our wedding anniversary. A kind gesture after I posted this photo on twitter. I was amazed to see it viewed 74,000 times. We had so many lovely comments.

On our wedding day, I distinctly remember saying life might not always be a bed of roses. But we’d be ok if we worked together and helped each other.

Thank you for all your wonderful messages on here and on twitter. It literally made my day.

Links: SOS: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/category/six-on-saturday/

Kew Gardens rose : https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/kew-gardens

Rosa Claire https://www.rosesuk.com/roses/claire-rose

Hydrangeas Book Winner…..

/ karen / 2 Comments

Would SHIRLEY please get in touch. You left a comment on the blog for Naomi Slade’s new book Hydrangeas and you have won a copy. Many thanks for taking part in the prize draw. The publishers selected your name in a random draw. All the best, Karen at k.gimson@btinternet.com

Review here: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/06/05/hydrangeas-book-review-and-1-copy-to-give-away/

Winners of recent prize draws: https://bramblegarden.com/2020/06/12/winners-thank-you-for-entering-the-prize-draws-on-this-blog-here-are-the-recent-winners-names/

Thank you for reading and for leaving your comments. It’s much appreciated.

A Walk Around My Garden- Sunday 14 June 2020

/ karen / 22 Comments

Sweet peas, sweet williams and roses are in full flight. I’m amazed anything survived the recent torrential hail and high winds. Some of the tree leaves have holes where the hail went straight through them. But flowers were unperturbed.

Rose Cerise Bouquet climbs to the top of a mature beech tree. It thrashed about in the storm, sending a cascade of red petal confetti across the lawn. It’s such a floriferous rose, there’s hundreds more flowers ready and waiting to open. It will bloom, on and off, until November.

I also feared for the climbing New Dawn rose. The willow tree supporting it was almost stripped of its leaves. Most ended up in the pond. There was no water to be seen. Just rose petals and shredded leaves. However, remaining rose buds opened, and the tree has put out tiny new baby leaves to replace those whisked away in the storm. I’m sure nature is sending us a message. Through troubled times, there’s always destruction, fear and grief followed by renewal. We have struggled through Corona virus times. But we will recover.

Pinks and carnations are in full flower now. I’ve planted old-fashioned types, Mrs Sinkins white and Doris Pink. I’ve also invested in some modern ‘Devon’ hybrids, Devon Cream, Devon Wizard. Cranmere Pool, Letitia Wyatt. The names sound as delicious as the wonderful scent. A good one to look out for is ‘Memories,’ an improvement on the heritage variety Mrs Sinkins with good weather tolerance and it is also repeat flowering.

I wouldn’t be without sweet williams. I’m sowing next year’s flowers now. A pinch of seed in a 3″ pot, or a sprinkle in a half seed tray. Leave at the base of a sheltered house wall and they’ll germinate in a few weeks. I’ll prick them out into a full seed tray and then plant them into their final positions for them to settle and produce roots and leaves this year. Being biennials, they will grow now, and flower next year. A whole bed of flowers for just a few pounds. I’ll grow the highly scented auricular-eye type, and one called Sooty, which is almost black.

I’m just planting the last of the sweet pea seedlings. The October-sown plants are in full production. But I’ll want a supply right through until first frosts. This is the secret of growing. Always keep sowing a few more and a few more. Make sure you have a back-up supply incase anything goes wrong. I’ve just had a neighbour at the front gate. Do I have any climbing beans, by any chance, he asks? Luckily, there’s some in the propagator – a back-up in case mine get nibbled. He can have these to replace the ones taken by rabbits. We chat about the weather, slugs, snails and mice. And covid. What are we to do, he asks? I shrug my shoulders. Keep going, is the only answer I have. Don’t give up. Celebrate the successes and don’t be beaten by the failures. Help one another where we can, and try to enjoy the simple things. Look closely at all the beauty in the world. That’s all I can say.

I usually take part in the Six on Saturday meme…but this week I’m a day late. https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/six-on-saturday-13-06-2020/

Whitman Pinks:https://www.whetmanpinks.com/garden-pinks-en/page-3/

Peter Beale Roses https://www.classicroses.co.uk/

Mr Fothergills sweet Williams https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sweet-William-Seeds/

What’s looking good in your garden this weekend? Thanks, as ever, for reading. Your comments are always welcome.

Walk Around My Garden – Saturday 6 June 2020 #SixOnSaturday

/ karen / 34 Comments

This week, it’s mostly all about roses. As you would expect, wild roses have my heart. The garden is surrounded on two sides by tall hedges. We’ve never pruned them in 30 years. It’s one of those jobs we’ve always put off as being too big to tackle. Secretly, I love the wildness. Who says hedges have to be manicured. Who cares what people think. I love the tangle of honeysuckle and wild dog roses cascading from the top of 30 foot hawthorn. It’s a sight that gladdens my heart. I don’t mind if people assume we are too lazy to keep the hedgerow trimmed. I’ll hold my head up high. I’ve always been rather stubborn, you see. It can be a good thing when life gets tough. I’m quietly determined. I don’t make a big noise, but it’s amazing what can be achieved with calm tenacity.

Just pause for a moment and gaze at this pink hawthorn. This opens white, and fades to a beautiful shell pink. The hedgerows around here are mostly snowy-white Crataegus monogyna. Every now and again, there’s a pretty pink variant. It stops you in your tracks. You can’t fail to just stand and stare, it’s so breathtakingly lovely.

Rosa Canina takes full advantage and climbs high into the branches of trees and along the hedgerow. It’s a good year for flowers. Plenty of pollen for bees, and there will be masses of bright red hips providing winter food for birds.

Climbing through a mature willow next to the pond, there’s pale pink New Dawn. Again, I never prune this rose, or spray it. It just rambles where it likes. I expect the wind blowing through the tree keeps the rose disease-free. Blackspot tends to thrive in gardens where roses are surrounded by still air. In this windswept garden, luckily we have no trouble from either pests or diseases. It’s even too windy for aphids to get too plentiful. Those that survive, get eaten by birds.

We have a very overgrown pergola. The phrase ‘overgrown’ seems rather prevalent this week, I’ve noticed. The pergola goes from the back of the house, right round to the front drive. For half of it’s length, there’s this glorious rose Constance Spry. For about three weeks it has enormous highly-scented flowers. It only flowers once, but what a display! I’ve planted clematis, jasmine and ivy to extend the season. It’s a Rose I would never be without.

Constance Spry makes a lovely cut flower. Here’s it’s partnered with Sweet William which is just starting to bloom. It’s time to sow some more Sweet William for next year. I’ll use a half seed tray, good seed compost, and I’ll sprinkle the seeds sparingly. The tray will go at the base of the house wall on the north side, and seeds will germinate in about two to three weeks. I’ll then prick the seed out and put them in their own 3″ pots to grow on, or I’ll plant some in a holding bed on the veg plot. In August, they can be dug up and put in their flowering positions or planted out from the 3″ pots.

Here’s Constance Spry in a cutting basket with highly-scented Mme. Isaac Pereire, a heritage bourbon rose which dates back to 1841. This repeat-flowers all summer and mingles beautifully with Clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans. Plena means double, and these flowers are like purple pom-poms from August/ September onwards.

Finally, here’s the old china silk rose, Mutabilis. Much loved by bees. And, as you can guess, also grows quite happily without much attention, if any, from me.

As usual, after we’ve looked in the garden, there’s always a walk along the ridgeway path at the back of the garden. Today, there’s a video of skylarks. Turn the sound up loud. The farmer has planted wide bands of wild flowers around all the field margins. There’s a whole field of sunflowers and millet for wildlife. This year we have many skylarks. A few years ago we had a very poor summer with only one skylark. There is nothing sadder than the sound of a lonely skylark.

We’ve had some spectacular sunsets this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed this Saturday’s walk around the garden. Are you growing any roses in your garden? What’s looking good where you are this week. Thanks again for joining me in my garden. All welcome, for virtual visits!

LINKS:

I like to follow the Six on Saturday meme and see what everyone is growing. #SOS

https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/06/six-on-saturday-06-06-2020/

Dog rose: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/dog-rose/

Common hawthorn: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/hawthorn/

Rosa New Dawn https://www.classicroses.co.uk/new-dawn-climbing-rose.html

Rose Constance Spry https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/constance-spry-climbing-rose

Rose Mme. Isaac Pereire. https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/mme-isaac-pereire

Sweet Williams. https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sweet-William-Seeds/

Rose Mutabilis https://www.trevorwhiteroses.co.uk/shop/china-roses/mutabilis/

Skylarks: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/skylark/

Clematis : https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/210954/Clematis-Purpurea-Plena-Elegans-(Vt-d)/Details

Hydrangeas – book review and 1 copy to give away

/ karen / 33 Comments

HYDRANGEAS

By Naomi Slade

Published by Pavilion Books 9th July

RRP £25.00 hardback 239 pages

Photography: Georgianna Lane

ISBN 978-1-911641-23-0

Photo: my i-phone photo of Hydrangea Bluebird from Naomi Slade’s new book.

Having a beautiful book to read has helped me cope with the Covid Lockdown. Learning about favourite plants, and how to grow them, has given me something positive to focus on. And there is nothing more colourful and wonderfully inspiring than ‘Hydrangeas’ by Naomi Slade.

Photo: Hydrangea Polestar.

Naomi brings the subject of hydrangeas right up to date by focussing on the very latest plant breeding successes. Polestar, for example, only grows to a height of 50cm and is compact enough for a container. It’s one of the earliest to flower, and in my garden it’s in bloom from early June and continues right through to October. Even in winter, the papery, dried flower heads hold interest, as snow and frost settle on them. Truly, if you can have only one hydrangea, this would be the one. It would even fit in a window box or balcony garden.

Photo: Runaway Bride Snow White.

Runaway Bride Snow White, the Royal Horticultural Society’s Plant of the Year in 2018, produces flowers at the tips of the stems, like most other hydrangeas, and also from every leaf node along the stem. Naomi describes it as “airy and graceful, the modest green shrub adorned with pearls and strewn with confetti; a vision of purity that starts off a fresh, green-tinted white, and blushes to pink as maturity takes hold.”

I’ve always wanted to know the background to all these lovely varieties. Naomi selects the best hydrangeas and reveals how they were developed. Runaway Bride is the work of Japanese breeder Ushio Sakazaki who created many bedding plants, including the popular Surfinia petunias. He turned his attention to hydrangeas when he found a remote Asian species in the wild and, seeing its potential, crossed it with common Hydrangea macrophylla. The resulting plant produces wispy ‘lacecap’ flowers from late spring until Autumn. It makes a striking container plant, or would happily cascade over the top of a low wall.

As well as showcasing the latest hydrangeas, Naomi highlights heritage varieties such as the beautiful pale blue Otaksa. This cultivar dates back to the 1820s and was, rather romantically, named by Philipp Franz von Siebold after his Japanese wife. It is suggested the variety might have been naturally occurring and was discovered while Philipp worked as a physician and scientist for the Dutch East India Company in Japan. The couple had a daughter, Kusumoto Ine, who also became a practicing doctor – thought to be the first Japanese woman to have received medical training at this level.

It’s fascinating to learn then, that one of my favourite sky blue hydrangeas, Generale Vicomtesse de Vibraye, is a hybrid of H.m. ‘Otaksa’ crossed with H.m. ‘Rosea.’ Bred by Emile Mouillere in 1909.

The back story of how hydrangeas were discovered, hybridised, and sent to Britain as early as in the 1700s, adds interest to a plant that I’ve always loved, but rather taken for-granted. Naomi’s easy-to-read writing style carries you along and takes you on an international journey from North America, Japan, Korea, China and through Europe. And along the way you’ll learn that in Victorian times, a bunch of hydrangeas left on your doorstep implied the sender thought you a braggart! A rejected suitor might similarly send hydrangeas as a floral slap in the face and accusations of frigidity. Nothing surely would rescue the breakdown in that relationship!

Naomi captures the very essence of hydrangeas and what makes them special. I shall look at my own plants and appreciate them all the more, knowing where they have come from and what work has gone into growing them for today’s gardeners to enjoy.

NOTES: The publishers have one copy to give away. Please leave a comment below to be included in the prize draw. Names will be randomly selected by Pavilion Books.

Naomi Slade is a writer, broadcaster, author, consultant, speaker and photographer. A biologist by training, a naturalist by inclination, and with a lifelong love of plants, she writes regularly for national newspapers, magazines and other gardening media.

Georgianna Lane is a leading floral, garden and travel photographer whose work has been widely published internationally in books, magazines, calendars and greetings cards.

Hydrangeas features 50 of the most beautiful varieties from the elegant and airy to the bold and brilliant. There’s tips on growing in pots, hydrangeas as houseplants, feeding, propagating, pruning, and dealing with pests and diseases.

These are i-phone photos of pages of the book for the purposes of the review and, as such, do not do justice to the quality of the photography. Copyright of original photos: Georgianna Lane.

https://www.pavilionbooks.com/book/hydrangeas/

Naomi has a web book shop where there’s signed copies of all her books. There’s a 20 percent off offer on Hydrangeas at the moment, and books are available ahead of the 9th July publication date : http://www.naomislade.com/shop

In a Vase on Monday #IAVOM #MondayMotivation

/ karen / 35 Comments

Finding comfort in familiar things, I’m joining in with the weekly In a Vase meme. And this week it’s the first bunch of sweet peas – for my daughter Rachel, for her kitchen window at her first home. We still can’t believe she’s managed to complete the purchase, in the middle of a pandemic. Well done to her and her partner Sam for determination, riding the wave of crisis and uncertainly, and keeping strong along the way. It’s not been easy. But we will look back and laugh at all the ups and downs, I’m sure.

Photo: Albutt Blue.

I sowed my sweet peas in October in root trainers. I used Melcourt multi -purpose peat-free compost and added 25 percent grit for drainage. Sweet peas hate soggy feet. I started them off in the greenhouse to defeat the mice. Mice give up when the shoots are about 5″ tall as all the energy from seeds has gone into roots and shoots.

I’m growing heritage types varieties and a new sweet pea called Pilgrim 400 to celebrate the 400th anniversary since the Pilgrim Fathers sailed for the New World. The heritage types include lovely creamy white Mrs Collier. Seed came from Easton Walled Gardens near Grantham.

I made my sweet pea supports in February using hazel rods. These are usually used in hedge laying and are the binders that go along the middle of the hedge. Farm suppliers sell them for not much money.

I wrote about creating the rustic supports for my regular column in weekly Garden News magazine on 25th February. I must say, having the writing to concentrate on has helped me cope with the lockdown. It’s given me something cheerful to focus on. It’s lovely to be part of such a supportive team and I’ve appreciated the editor’s letters each week summing up our thoughts on the covid crisis and ‘steadying the ship’ with calm and sensible advice. It’s made a difference.

A week after I’d made the sweet pea supports we had high winds and snow. Luckily my frame stayed solid. A testing time for the garden- and us.

I planted out my seedlings on April 12th. The root trainers open out like a book, so there’s little damage to roots when you transplant them. Admittedly, these are made from plastic, but I’ve had mine for 6 or 7 years so far, and treated carefully, they will last a long time.

And here they are this week. The first bed has Charlotte potatoes. We’ll be eating those soon. The second bed has two rows of sweet peas. In between the A-frame there’s a row of gladioli, and calendula Snow Princess is grown as ground cover. There’s no room for weeds. Last year’s frame has been propped up, repaired and has climbing beans and squash planted this time.

I’m growing Wiltshire Ripple which has speckled flowers with a picotee edge.

This is High Scent. Another lovely picotee edge and wonderful scent.

Mayflower 400.

Old fashioned, highly scented mix.

I’ve planted new cosmos Apricot Lemonade in front of the frames. I’ll tie them in as they grow. There’s not an inch of space to spare, which is the secret of reducing watering, by covering the ground.

And here’s the first pickings. Such a joy. This scent is worth waiting for all winter and just speaks of glorious long, sunny, summer days.

With a little bit of Sweet William at the base, just coming into flower on the veg patch now.

And here’s a photo of Rachel when she was little, with her guinea pig Rosie. Thank you for all your lovely comments last week. And for your good wishes for Rachel and Sam. I was very touched by all your kind words. Thank you 😊 x

Links : Thanks to Cathy for hosting the IAVOM meme. Why not go over and see what everyone is growing and putting in their vases this week. It’s a world -wide community of gardeners. https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/

Albutt Blue https://www.visiteaston.co.uk/shop/gardening/seeds/albutt-blue

Pilgrim 400 :https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sweet-Pea-Seed/Sweet-Pea-Mayflower-400.html#.XtTdGBB4WfA

Cosmos Apricot Lemonade: https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/cosmos-bipinnatus-apricot-lemonade/ka9983TM

Haxnicks root trainers :https://www.haxnicks.co.uk/garden-products/rootrainers

Walk Around My Garden Saturday 30 May 2020 #SixOnSaturday

/ karen / 43 Comments

Rose Constance Spry. Planted when my youngest daughter was born. Roses speak of celebration, and this one really shouts a welcome -to-the-world for Rachel. It flowers for three weeks in early June and fills the garden with a glorious fruit-salad perfume.

Where I am today. Up a ladder. Trying to control the tangle of clematis, jasmine and ivy. This has been allowed to run wild for four years. Little and often might be my approach to tackling the problem. Otherwise, it seems an impossible task. The pergola runs from the back garden to the front drive. A shady walkway in the heat. I’m not going to rush the task. Luckily I’ve got a new Henchman ladder to help with the task. No more wobbling on unstable step ladders.

Alongside the pergola there’s a wedding cake tree, Cornus controversa variegata. Some of the layers have deteriorated. I need to take advice on pruning to try to get it back in shape. Pruning the pergola will give it more light. Behind, climbing to the top of a mature ash tree is Rosa Cerise Bouquet which flowers on and off right through the summer into October.

Another rose looking lovely at the moment is Rhapsody in Blue which has been moved three times. Just goes to show, you can move roses, despite what it says in the books. Highly recommended. Disease resistant and free flowering. Lovely scent and unusual colour.

My grandfather’s rose, Zephirine Drouhin. He gave me this before he died. It’s wonderful to have something from his garden to remember him by. I know it was a favourite of his. I’m sure he knew it would give years of joy. And especially at the moment when everything seems uncertain and Covid has caused so much stress. It is as if he is still helping me, through all the plants coming into flower now. A reminder that life goes on, the seasons keep going. So must we.

My grandfather grew all his fruit and vegetables. People did in those days. Luckily, I watched, followed like a shadow and learned. And he gave me some of his garden tools, so when I’m hoeing the garden, I think of him, working his veg plot and feeding his family. I wonder what he was thinking while he was hoeing his garden. Did he find the peace that I’m finding right now. Was it a comfort to him, as it is to me, through all the trials and tribulations life throws at you.

Foxgloves have seeded in one of the veg plot beds. I’m digging these up and putting them in the wild garden, to make room for winter greens, Brussels sprouts and kale. Flowers will be picked for jam jar posies. I’m putting flowers on the village green again this summer to raise money for Rainbows Hospice for children. There will be an honesty box for donations.

The first sweet peas. Always popular in my jam jar posies. These were sown in root trainers in October. I’ve just sown some more for late flowering through to November. This one is from a packet of seed called Wiltshire Ripple Mixed. All have speckled flowers and a picotee edge. The scent is just wonderful.

As usual, when we’ve walked around the garden, there’s a short ramble along the ridgeway path to my ‘hole in the hedge’ porthole. It’s a viewing point I discovered a few years back. I didn’t make it, nature did, and I watch deer, rabbits, foxes, birds, owls, and hares, quietly and unnoticed.

Today, the May blossom has gone over, but there’s beautiful dogwood flowers framing the view. In an ancient hedge, there’s always something of interest. A tapestry of flowers, rosehips, crab apples, and seeds.

It’s just a humble wild dogwood. But it is as beautiful to me as any ornamental and expensive cornus tree.

And finally, after all that walking, sit a while in my 1930s summerhouse -on-a turntable. In the heat, it’s turned to the shade, facing the wood and pond. A perfect place to contemplate life and all the reasons to be grateful. All the things I value are not the things that can be bought. Hopefully my grandfather would be proud of the person I have become. I’d love to tell him how things have turned out. And that I’ve been happy, thanks to his good advice.

Links : I like to read and join in with the hashtag Six on Saturday why not go over and see what other gardens look like today, all over the world. https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/category/six-on-saturday/

Henchman ladders like mine: https://www.henchman.co.uk/?gclid=CjwKCAjwiMj2BRBFEiwAYfTbCgG1JcfaQwtYjZ_lj7F3XBMAvXjIpri5d5vqMGjRlDY0i6E414m6RBoCRQMQAvD_BwE

Roses : https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/?gclid=CjwKCAjwiMj2BRBFEiwAYfTbCtnJOqLRzmev76pY_7u5maadGtrLFXf09qHEGmx4mHw71JE0ccaxkxoClDQQAvD_BwE

Sweet peas :https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sweet-Pea-Seed/#.XtIkQBB4WfA

In a Vase On Monday – 27 April 2020

/ karen / 36 Comments

I’m sure spring flowers are more beautiful than they’ve ever been. We’ve had no rain for six weeks. It’s a problem in the veg garden where I’m trying to get broad beans and potatoes to grow. But for spring flowers, tulips and daffodils, it means they are looking pristine. And blossom has lasted longer than usual. Here’s a selection of flowers for my vase this week. Get in touch and let me know what’s looking cheerful in your garden just now.

Sometimes luck has a lot to do with gardening. I spend time trying to work out clever combinations of colours. Then nature goes and does it better. Here is tulip Blushing Apeldoorn with the softest primrose yellow flowers. Overlapping petals are edged with a picotee orange. It’s a perfect match for narcissi Pheasant’s Eye. The tiny cup in the centre of the flower is rimmed with the exact same bright orange. It’s a picture, don’t you agree? And it has happened just by chance. I’ve taken note, and next year there will be several rows of these beauties lining my cut flower beds.

I love the way the light shines through the petals. It reminds me of a stained glass window in a church.

I’m also using an old favourite, Narcissi Geranium. The tangerine orange centre remind me of egg yolk, enhanced by pure white petals. The scent is a dream. Utterly gorgeous. I’d never be without this pretty, old- fashioned daffodil.

Forget-me-nots are such a good filler for any posy. The bright blue flowers seem to match the intensity of the sky this spring. And the yellow button ‘eye’ matches the daffodils.

Have you noticed how blue the sky is this spring? Climate scientists at Reading University say the reduction in traffic on roads has led to a fall in pollution, which is affecting the appearance of the sky. There’s fewer planes too. Skies look a richer brighter blue, much like you’d see over a tropical island. I’m enjoying the combination of blossom, spring bulbs and azure sky.

Thank you for reading. Get in touch by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page. And feel free to share these photos on any social media platform, kindly linking back to bramblegarden.com at the same time. You might ask, what’s the point of flowers at the moment with a covid pandemic going on. I’m just trying to focus on something positive and remind myself that nature often shows us the way to cope with all kinds of crisis in our lives. And cope we must, for some time to come, until the risks deminish enough for us to safely emerge and socialise again. When that will be, none of us can predict. Until then, I shall garden, plant my veg, pick my flowers and try to keep as upbeat as I can. You are very welcome to join me, virtually at least, at anytime you like.

Links : In A Vase on Monday. Cathy, thanks for hosting my favourite meme.

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/.

Six on Saturday – views from my garden April 11 2020

/ karen / 42 Comments

Tulip Mount Tacoma and forget-me-nots.

My favourite Italian terracotta pot near my front door. So sad there are no visitors to enjoy this lovely sight. I’m including it here, so you can all share in the magic of spring flowers. Fairly new introduction Exotic Emperor, a double form of the classic and popular Purissima. Has peony-like petals that curve and twist as they open, revealing a flash of green. Very lovely and my favourite. This is a fosteriana tulip, and here in the Midlands, it always flowers through April. Planted with Narcissus Geranium an heirloom bulb dating back to pre 1930. Beautiful, delicate fragrance. Perfect for cut flowers. I have a row in the veg garden for cutting. Multi-headed – some of the bulbs have four flowers to a stem. I love mixing the old with the new. I’m fond of traditional plants, but I love trying something new.

I’ve always grown the white Purissima tulip, so I thought I would try the new sport, Flaming Purissima, another fosteriana tulip. It is such a joy, with all shades of pink and red ‘flames’ over an ivory white background. Beautiful under a white cherry blossom tree. I’ve planted these in a trench on the veg plot for cut flowers. They last a week in a vase, and watching them turn from tight buds to open, flat, almost water lily-like flowers is a joy. These were introduced in 1999, and they reliably come through the winter and flower each spring for me.

So comforting to know we will have masses of cherries this summer. We leave the trees unpruned. Blackbirds enjoy the crop at the top of the tree, and there’s more than we can use around the downward – arching lower branches. I’ve planted narcissus Pheasants Eye under the trees as an experiment. They flower at the same time. They look so glorious, I’ll fill the orchard with them next spring. They cost very little and are a joy to behold. I’ve taken photos of the garden and made notes to remind myself to order bulbs in July and plant in September. If I don’t make a note, I seem to forget!

In the wild garden around the pond we have this un-named beauty. We planted these 30 years ago. I wish I’d recorded the name as I’d love to plant more as pretty and reliable as these. They have a wonderful scent too. Petals glisten and remind me of sugar coated violets. I wonder if you know what I mean.

And finally, a humble bellis daisy, growing in the cracks between the paving by the back door. I’ve been imploring (nagging) the family not to step on them all winter. I have a little patch 60cm square of delightful little daisies. There’s absolutely no soil there. I feel they deserve to live, having made such an effort to survive.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. This is not to say that we are not all desperately worried by what’s going on in the world, and in our own country. But I’m thinking this sharing of garden photos may help someone keep calm and carry on. There is really nothing else we can do at the moment. Stay at home, help the NHS, stay safe. And look around you and enjoy the beauty of nature. When this is all over, our gardens will still be there waiting for us.

Links: all bulbs were bought from https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/

The bellis daisies came originally from my Mum in a little pot stood on the patio all summer. Seeds can be bought from https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Bellis-Goliath-Mixed.html

Please leave comments below and let me know what’s flowering in your garden this Easter time.

What’s flowering in the garden 7th April 2020 -BBC Radio #SowAlong #BBCRadioSowAlong

/ karen / 21 Comments

If you have been listening in to Gardens Hour on Wednesdays on BBC Radio Leicester, you’ll have heard our ‘ten minute tips’ recorded in Ben Jackson’s garden. I always come home and plant the same varieties in my windswept country garden. Ben’s plot is in a lovely sheltered walled garden in a village. His soil is beautifully free-draining, in a garden which must have been worked for 100 years. Mine is cold wet clay, created from farm land over the past 30 years. It’s an interesting contrast and I love to see how plants perform in both our gardens.

Here’s an update on plants, showing what they are looking like today.

We planted tulips for cut flowers on 29th October. These are Exotic Emperor, a new early-flowering tulip, a double form of the popular White Emperor. It has a long flowering period with delicately green flamed cream petals. Looks good for nearly six weeks.

We planted a ‘cut flower mix’ and mine included this lovely Tulip Flaming Purissima. This comes in a range of creams and pinks. Very pretty and reminiscent of the old fashioned flame tulips made famous in the Tulip-Fever era. Very long lasting, and weather resistant.

We planted bulbs ‘lasagna’ style in layers. Here’s my big Italian pot by my front door. This had snowdrops and dwarf iris in January, dwarf tete a tete daffodils in February, and now today has Hyacinth Blue Jacket, Exotic Emperor tulips and scented Geranium narcissi. When these are over, I’ll replant the pot with scented -leaved geraniums for summer.

In both our gardens we planted a range of daffodils to flower from February right through till the end of April. Here’s my pheasants eye narcissi planted under the cherry trees in the orchard. I’m so pleased with these, I’ll mass plant them in September for an even better display this time next year. I’ve gone round the garden making notes and taking photos to remind me where there are gaps and what changes I want to make. If I didn’t make notes, I’d forget by the time September arrives.

Talking about daffodils, we planted these Paperwhite narcissi on December 2nd. Some flowered at Christmas, but I held some pots back in the cold potting shed and brought them out a week apart so that I could have flowers for vases right through to the end of a March. Flowering times are dictated by amounts of daylight and heat. So plants can be manipulated to flower over a period of time.

We planted up our dahlias on 31st January. These were overwintered in a frost-free shed. I took 2″ cuttings in February and these have rooted in the propagator in 3″ pots at 18C. Above are the dahlias making really good growth in their seed trays, half filled with compost to start them off. They will stay in the greenhouse until the end of May.

We sowed our tomatoes on 28 February, and I pricked them out mid March. They are growing nicely just out of the propagator and on the greenhouse benches. I keep the greenhouse heated at 6C.

On 9th March we planted our tiny plug plants which cost about 60p each. We planted them individually in 3″ pots and put them on a sunny windowsill.

They have grown really well, and I’ve managed to take three lots of cuttings from the mother plants, which means lots of bedding plants for free. Taking cuttings makes them grow strong and bushy too, instead of tall and spindly.

We also planted up some impatiens plugs into 3″ pots. These are now in flower and I’m putting them into their summer containers to grow on. I didn’t pay for these plants. They were free samples from the grower, Ball Colgrave.

If you are listening in today, Wednesday 8th April, this is where I’m talking from because I’m isolating due to covid. I’ve got 100 cosmos seedlings in 3″ pots including a new variety Apricot Lemonade. I’m also growing calendula pot marigolds which are great for bees and butterflies. I’m growing the very pale lemon Snow Princess, and pretty calendula Orange Flash.

I’ve just planted my new potatoes, Charlotte and Lady Christl in two of the divided beds. They are planted 12″ (30cm) apart, 4″ (9cm) deep.

I’ve also planted my broad beans, De Monica which is a new variety specially bred for spring sowing. I’ve sown double rows, with plants and seeds 9″ (23cm) apart. Seeds were planted 2″ (5cm) deep.

And this is the view from the greenhouse and potting shed. Turn up the sound to hear the birdsong. There’s a bank of wild cherry trees on two sides of the garden.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of my greenhouse and garden. Hopefully the photos have jogged your memory about what we’ve been growing for our ‘ten minute tips.’ I’ll keep you posted on the progress of all these plants. I’m hoping the garden is going to be quite productive and very colourful this summer. That’s three uses of the word ‘hope,’ but under the circumstances, I think we all need some hope, don’t we.

Links : BBC radio Leicester Gardening – Sundays 1-2pm and Wednesdays 12.30 -1pm at the moment, subject to change due to covid. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_leicester

DAB 104.9FM and at BBCSounds. Ask your smart speaker to tune in to BBC Radio Leicester.

Update: today’s programme starts at 2.36.23 on the timeline. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p087sjhn.

In a Vase on Monday- flowers from my plot 9th March 2020

/ karen / 24 Comments

Finding comfort in familiar things, I’m joining in with my favourite IAVOM theme today.

Spring flowers always bring hope. And we need plenty of hope at the moment, don’t we.

Here’s my flowers, picked fresh from the garden. They are in an unusual location, the drinks holder of my car. The perfect place for a jam jar of flowers, on their way to my mother’s house (via Radio Leicester, where I talk about what’s growing on my plot).

There’s some shoots of Japanese cherry, Prunus Kojo-no-mai, at the back of the posy. Some lace-edged heritage primulas, Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White, plum coloured Hellebores, and one very pretty bellis daisy.

The daises have grown all by themselves in the gaps between paving slabs at my back door. Something so pretty, just growing from seed carried on the wind. They have given me as much joy as anything I’ve planted and tended, probably because they have survived against the odds. There’s no soil there. And no loving care. But they have thrived. A message to us all, about resilience, maybe.

I love the slightly messy, many petaled flowers of bellis daisies. There are single and double forms. Seed packets cost a couple of pounds. Once you have them, they will always be with you. But not necessarily growing where you put them!

In my mother’s garden, the daisies romp delightfully across the lawn and into the border. She mows around them. It’s obvious where I get my empathy with plants from. My lovely mum has always been my greatest influence in life.

Wishing you all a peaceful, happy and successful week. I’d love to see what you are all sowing and growing in your garden just now. It’s very busy here, with plenty to do in the garden, as always. Hoping for some sunshine and nice weather – soon.

Links: In a Vase on Monday https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/in-a-vase-on-monday-pillaged/

Bellis Daisy: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Bellis-Goliath-Mixed.html#.XmZXWoGnyfA

BBC Radio Leicester, gardening starts at 1pm every Sunday with Dave Andrews https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002zx56. Listen back on Sounds, or ask your smart speaker to tune in to BBC Radio Leicester

Please share via any social media platform. I do not pay for any advertising, and I’m always grateful to anyone who spreads the word and signs up to follow, via e mail. Thank you. 🙂 🌱

Note: I was not driving when I took the photos in my car. Naturally.

Easton Walled Gardens -Open for Snowdrops Today- Sunday 23 February 2020

/ karen / 9 Comments

Last chance today to see the snowdrops at Easton Walled Gardens. Opens 11am -4pm. I visited last week for a preview and if you listen in to BBC Radio Leicester you might have heard me talking about the history of the gardens.

Here’s a slide show of my photos from the event.

There’s a link to the website for more information: https://www.visiteaston.co.uk/gardens/snowdrops

Daffodils are just starting to flower at the same time as snowdrops. It’s been very mild and wet they year.

Yellow cornus mas (cornelian cherry) and white snowdrops. A perfect combination.

The summerhouse and spring flowers. You can hire the venue for an afternoon. Lovely spot for tea and cakes.

A favourite view of the walled garden. Sweet peas will be grown along the sunny walls this summer.

Looking across the terraces for a view of the steps and topiary yew.

Apple tree pruning in progress. I love the shaped apple trees and heritage varieties at Easton. I watched carefully how the pruning is managed. Might have a go at home. Lots of inspiration in this garden.

The finished topiary apple tree. Trained around a circle. Looks architectural and productive. Very pretty with apple blossom and bright red fruit to follow.

Spring bulbs in the woodland near to the gatehouse. The hellebores are looking fabulous at the moment.

I particularly liked this pretty hellebore with a ruffled centre.

Stone troughs look beautiful planted with spring bulbs. I might copy this idea. I have a small stone sink covered in moss with nothing growing in it at the moment. Was just waiting to decide what to do with it.

I can never go home without buying a pot or two of bulbs. The cyclamen coum are looking very cheerful. I fell in love with the dwarf iris. There’s a pale blue one called Painted Lady. I couldn’t resist.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this slide show of photos. Even if you can’t get there today, bookmark the gardens for a visit in spring, and make a note of the dates for the sweet pea festival, which is always a lovely day out.

I wrote about Easton Walled Gardens here : https://bramblegarden.com/2017/02/13/happy-valentines-day-with-a-tour-of-easton-walled-gardens/

And here : https://bramblegarden.com/2016/05/20/a-visit-to-easton-walled-gardens/

As you can see, it’s a favourite of mine. Enjoy!

Diary of a Modern Country Gardener

/ karen / 36 Comments

Secrets for Every Season Straight From the Potting Shed

By Tamsin Westhorpe

Orphans Publishing ISBN 9781903360422

Hardback. 248 pages. £20

Illustrations by Hannah Madden

Book review and prize draw. Please leave a comment to be included in the draw.

We are all standing at our house windows gazing on waterlogged, storm lashed gardens, aching to be outside gardening. It’s doesn’t matter what kind of gardening, anything, as long as we can run some compost through our fingers and see green shoots emerging. It’s been a long wet winter.

Luckily Tamsin Westhorpe has a beautiful new book which transports us immediately to gardening heaven- Stockton Bury in Herefordshire. It is a very welcome and timely escape.

Tamsin is the 5th generation to garden at her family’s farm. The four acre garden within the farm has fruit and vegetable plots, a stream and pond, ‘rooms’ with different planting themes and a dovecote dating back to the time of Henry 1. The land has been worked by the family for more than 100 years, and the much-acclaimed garden is open to the public.

In her new book, Diary of a Modern Country Gardener, Tamsin lets us into her world as we see her facing all kinds of gardening challenges, accompanied by lots of laughter.

There’s expert advice on growing cut flowers, staging summer garden parties, selecting and planting trees, planting bulbs, storing produce, keeping chickens, coppicing hazel and more. I particularly like the ‘tool kit’ panels detailing equipment and materials needed for the list of jobs suggested each month. A useful reminder before getting going on tasks. There’s nothing worse than starting something, and then having to stop to search for forgotten items to complete the project.

I also like the list of ‘must-have’ plants for each month. January suggests Cornus mas, crocus tommasinianus, cyclamen coum, eranthis hyemalis, hamamelis, hellebores, iris reticulata, mahonia, snowdrops, viburnum Dawn and narcissus Bowles Early Sulphur. You can almost smell these spring delights. There’s something cheerful on every page.

As we follow her daily life there’s lots of hints and tips on what to do and when. But this is much more than a ‘how to’ book. It’s a book about solving problems, dealing with gardening conundrums, interacting with people, and simply enjoying every single moment.

I love books where you can really hear the author’s voice. Tamsin’s voice is loud and clear and full of humour. Her stories are compelling. She makes you want to jump in a car and drive over to see what she’s getting up to today. You’d have a real good natter, and come away smiling and fired up with ideas to get going on your own plot. She’s that kind of person who makes anything feel possible.

Her diary does exactly what it says on the tin; it’s a daily insight into the workings of a country garden. There are plenty of ‘secrets’ to be told. I won’t spoil them by retelling them here. But there’s a very interesting story about what she wears in the garden! Apparently her mother set the trend. You’ll have to read the book to find out more. It’s perfect escapism. And the one place you’ll all want to be is in Tamsin’s garden.

The book is beautifully produced and bound by well-respected Orphans Publishing, accompanied by truly gorgeous illustrations by artist Hannah Madden. A thing of beauty. Highly recommended. You’ll soon forget all about the weather! I promise.

Tamsin going through the proofs at Herefordshire Orphans Publishing.

Tamsin and Hannah Madden celebrating their first copy of the book.

Some pages from the book, taken with my i-phone camera. The quality of the photography is much better than I’ve managed to capture here.

About the author, taken with my i-phone camera.

Excerpts from the book for March

Excerpts for June

August

Tamsin Westhorpe’s diary was my book of the week on BBC Local Radio Gardening. It would make an excellent BBC Radio 4 read-aloud Book of the Week. A best seller, I think.

Thank you to Orphans Publishing for offering a free copy for our prize draw. Please leave a comment below to be entered in the draw. Please also comment if you do not wish to be entered in the competition, and let me know. Some of you may have already ordered a copy. The publishers will randomly select a winner. No cash prize alternative and usual rules apply.

Links: Tamsin Westhorpe https://www.tamsinwesthorpe.co.uk/

Orphans Publishing https://www.orphanspublishing.co.uk/

Stockton Bury http://www.stocktonbury.co.uk/

Garden Media Guild https://www.gardenmediaguild.co.uk/

Karen gimson on twitter @kgimson

On instagram karengimson1 and Pinterest.

Thank you for reading. I am very grateful for your 150,000 page views, all kind follows and shares. Please share this on any social media platform. It all helps me immensely.

In a Plant Pot on Wednesday – 5th February 2020

/ karen / 33 Comments

It’s a wonderful moment when potted spring bulbs suddenly flower. They seem to be in bud for weeks. Then virtually overnight, all the iris and dwarf daffodils burst into life. Colour at last. It’s much appreciated on a dark cold February day.

I planted shallow pans of bulbs on October 12th last year. Dwarf iris Katherine Hodgkin is a pale blue beauty with markings resembling blue ink pen lines. Each winter I try something new, and this time I’ve chosen iris reticulata Blue Note, very striking with deep indigo flowers and white markings on purple black falls.

Bulbs are grown on in the protection of the greenhouse over winter, but as soon as they flower I carry the pots about and set them on the garden tables. It’s so cheerful to look out of the house windows and see something colourful.

I’ve used pussy willow and hazel catkins to prop up the paper white narcissi. They have a habit of flopping everywhere, but look lovely with a few stems supporting them. On the right of the table there’s some cherry stems in a Kilner jar. Picked now and brought indoors they will open early for a glorious pink blossom display.

Scented paper whites might be too strong for indoors, but on the garden tables they are perfect. The creamy white flowers are a pretty accompaniment to emerging fluffy grey willow catkins.

A large Sankey terracotta plant pot of Narcissus February Gold makes a centrepiece for the picnic table. Hazel twigs are used for supports.

Here’s how I started out in October with a selection of terracotta plant pots, many inherited from my grandfather Ted Foulds.

I use a mix of 50/50 peat free compost and grit for good drainage. Bulbs are planted half way down the pots. They are watered once and placed on the greenhouse staging.

Pots are topped with extra grit to finish them off. This keeps the flowers clean and stops them being splashed with soil when watering.

Hyacinths are almost perched on the top of compost in individual 4″ pots. These are placed in a huge plant pot under the potting shed bench in dark, cool, frost free conditions and brought out just before Christmas when flower spikes are showing.

Here’s the view from the potting shed in October as I’m planting all these bulbs. A lovely reminder of all the sunny autumn days we had.

For contrast, here’s an oak tree from the lane where I live. Just as beautiful. Like a charcoal pencil drawing.

Have your spring bulbs started to flower this week? Are you trying anything new, like me, as well as sticking to a few old favourites too.

Get in touch and let me know what’s happening in your garden at the moment.

I am @kgimson on twitter

Karengimson1 on instagram

Links: I like to join in with Cathy for #IAVOM In a vase on Monday, but this week is was working, and my flowers are in pots! But I’ve read and caught up with everyone’s postings

https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2020/02/03/ina-vase-on-monday-in-the-queue-for-green/

Bulbs came from Gee Tee bulbs. https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/

Compost from Dalefoot : https://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/our-products.aspx

A Walk Around My Garden Saturday 1st February 2020

/ karen / 36 Comments

Suddenly we go from sorting seeds, writing lists and thinking about gardening- to actually getting out there and making a start. It’s a wonderful feeling to be outdoors. I can happily mooch about all day. This week I made a new sweet pea support out of hazel poles.

Usually I use our own hazel material, but I cut them down last year and I’m leaving them to grow taller for a pergola project. There’s always something planned for the future. For this year’s sweet pea frame I visited a local farm fencing suppliers and bought two bundles of rods. These are sold as binders for hedge laying, but make perfect pea and bean poles.

I push the rods into the ground in two rows 60cm apart, with 30cm between each pole. The ground is still very wet and it’s relatively easy to push them in. I tie each pair of rods at a height of 180cm and then weave more hazel and twiggy stems along the top and also at waist height to strengthen the frame.

Here’s my supports from last summer. I love the natural rustic look and sweet peas easily twine around the hazel poles without too much attention and minimal tying in. These supports will last about three years if they are reinforced each year. At the end of their useful life, they’ll be composted. For local supplies try https://coppice-products.co.uk/

Sweet pea seeds are growing well, but there’s still time to start yours now. Planted in early February, they will make good strong plants to flower from July until first frosts. I’m growing a mixture of heritage varieties from Easton Walled Gardens and some new ones from Mr Fothergill’s including Mayflower 400 celebrating 400 years since the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to The New World. There’s nothing like the scent of sweet peas. It’s difficult to buy them from florists, but luckily for us, they are cheap and easy to grow at home.

I’ve written about making a sweet pea support for the weekly Garden News Magazine. There will be photos from my garden in the 11th February edition. I’ve also written about starting my dahlias into growth to take cuttings, and refreshing the compost in my lemon tree pots and starting feeding and watering them. With temperatures being unusually mild for winter, I’m making the best of the sunshine and getting a head start for spring.

What projects have you got planned for 2020. Are you growing anything new, or sticking with old favourites. Get in touch and let me know what’s happening in your garden.

I am @kgimson on twitter

Karengimson1 on instagram

Links : SOS I like to join in with #sos at https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2020/02/01/six-on-saturday-01-02-2020/

And also with Cathy at #IAVOM https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2020/01/27/in-a-vase-on-monday-a-good-spread/

Hazel supplies https://coppice-products.co.uk/

Mr Fothergills seeds http://blog.mr-fothergills.co.uk/mr-fothergills-launches-new-sweet-pea-mayflower-400/

Easton walled garden https://www.visiteaston.co.uk/

In a Vase on Monday – Jan 6 2020

/ karen / 30 Comments

I’m back to work today, so I’m posting a review of my past #IAVOM projects, one for each month of the year.

Good luck to everyone who’s back to work, school or college today. The days are getting lighter, ever so slightly, so we’ll be able to spend our evenings in the garden again soon.

Meanwhile, enjoy my ‘slide show’ of photos from my garden, though the year.

JANUARY

Paperwhite narcissi, black hellebores, pittosporum and eucalyptus foliage. Decorating a willow wreath with flowers in a jam jar hidden inside a moss kokadama ball.

FEBRUARY

Snowdrops, crocus, cyclamen coum, puschkinia.

MARCH

Tulip Exotic Emperor, Narcissi Geranium, hyacinth, orange wallflower, and Westonbirt dogwood stems.

APRIL

Hyacinth Woodstock, pink hellebore, pink comfrey, daphne and forget-me-nots.

MAY

Forget me nots and Jack by the Hedge( Alliaria petiolata)

JUNE

Roses, Gertrude Jekyll and Constance Spry with a lace frill edge of wild elder flower.

JULY

White daisies and larkspur, Blue Boy cornflower, with a frill of Ammi majus.

AUGUST

Sweet peas, carnations and verbena bonariensis.

SEPTEMBER

Blue shades gladioli, cosmos and dahlia Nuit deEte.

October (early)

Sunflowers and calendula Snow Princess.

October (late)

All of the garden, fuchsia, salvia,rudbeckia, aster, cornflower, white anemone, sedum, argyranthemum.

NOVEMBER

Dahlia David Howard and blue borage.

DECEMBER

Sedum wreath on a moss-filled wire heart. No flower foam has been used again this year. Flowers are pressed into moss or plunged into tiny test tubes hidden amongst the foliage.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I am on twitter @kgimson

On instagram at karengimson1

On BBC Radio Leicester on Sundays and Wednesdays

At Garden News Magazine every month.

Links: In a Vase on Monday :https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/12/30/in-a-vase-on-monday-hazel-and-hazel/. Thanks to Cathy for hosting #IAVOM

Bulbs and corms from Gee Tee Bulbs : https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/

Seeds from Mr Fothergills : https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/

Sweet pea seeds: https://www.kingsseeds.com/Products/Flowers-N-Z/Sweet-Pea

Heritage sweet peas and garden to visit : https://www.visiteaston.co.uk/gardens/sweet-peas

Flower farmer courses and willow wreath-making at Common Farm Flowers: https://www.commonfarmflowers.com/workshops.html

Six on Saturday- Flowers from my Garden 4th Jan 2020

/ karen / 24 Comments

Winter flowers are more precious to me than summer blooms. In summer there’s an abundance of riches, and sometimes flowers go unnoticed with too much rushing about, keeping on top of the weeding. But in winter there’s time to stop and pause, and jewel-like colours lift the mood. Today I’ve picked my favourite blue Algerian iris. How can anything so delicate survive the cold! It looks like it is made of silk. I have a huge untidy patch of Iris unguicularis right by my front door. All summer we trip over the long strap-like leaves, and constantly threaten to dig it up. But from November to May there’s a daily flush of flowers, arriving in ones and twos. They last for a week, brought indoors. Perfect for a tiny Victorian glass vase. Iris unguicularis likes to be planted at the base of a south-facing wall. Heat and drought seem to suit it well.

My iris naturally flowers in winter, but there are also roses in flower, quite out of season. This is Rosa Phyllis Bide, a wonderful rambler which reliably puts on a show from early summer right through to autumn. I’ve also managed to find some Viburnum Dawn and Lisarose, and a sprig or alstroemeria from the poly tunnel. A cheerful, scented posy for the kitchen table.

After meandering around the plot I head for the garden gate and set off along the ridgeway walk. Fortunately it’s a dry day and the footpath conditions are improving. It’s been the wettest autumn for 50 years and farmers struggled to get in the harvest or sow autumn crops. In the distance there’s field after field of maize still standing. As far as the eye can see, fields stand fallow. There’s no lovely green shoots of winter wheat, barley or oil seed.

There’s only two crab apples left. Mammals and birds have had a feast. There’s been an abundance of fruit and berries this winter. Rosehips dripped like blood from the hedgerow. Huge flocks of fieldfares fly overhead and alight on the hedges to strip them bare. Resident blackbirds try their best to defend their ‘larder,’ but they are defeated by the noisy, marauding visitors. Luckily I’ve a store of cooking apples at home and I’ll throw a few out every day if the weather turns cold. Sometimes this bounty, regularly distributed, is the difference between life and death for birds. I generally rely on planting berried shrubs in the garden to provide natural food. But if it turns really icy, I’ll buy some mealworms, nuts and seeds.

As usual, I look for signs of spring. I know there’s a months of cold weather to come, but it’s heartening to find fat buds on the oak trees, above, and grey catkins on willow. Back home, the winter-flowering honeysuckle is in bloom and the scent wafts around the garden. It’s always a surprise to find such a delicious scent emanating from such insignificant flowers. I’ve wound some stems through a silver birch wreath, along with fluffy wild clematis seed heads. After Christmas I miss the decorations. I keep the festive feeling going, but swap to spring flowers instead. This will look lovely and cheerful over the summerhouse door.

I hope you’ve enjoyed a walk around my garden and along the ridgeway today. What flowers have you seen in bloom already? Get in touch and let me know what’s bringing you joy in your garden over the winter.

Links: iris unguicularis https://www.woottensplants.com/product/iris-unguicularis/?gclid=CjwKCAiAjMHwBRAVEiwAzdLWGOy0g3Obpt8I_71GTzDsIURPiShw3RWDCpwp4RC80YOuRaFAqW3ikRoCDakQAvD_BwE

Rose Phyllis Bide: https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/phyllis-bide?gclid=CjwKCAiAjMHwBRAVEiwAzdLWGOQWws_A5vY11U8becLKemzBaIcwDJ3IzRUq2t10myMB88ssr2Rx4RoC2H0QAvD_BwE

Wild crab apples: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/crab-apple/

Lonicera winter flowering : https://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/lonicera-fragrantissima/classid.4101/

Fieldfares: https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/species-focus/fieldfare

Happy New Year Everyone! Some news from my garden 31 December 2019

/ karen / 38 Comments

Photo: Paperwhite narcissi and pink alstroemeria from my greenhouse today. Gypsophila and honesty seed heads saved from the summer. Eucalyptus foliage and willow heart. Flowers are in a jam jar covered with moss and twine, kokadama-style. Lovely to have home-grown flowers for the New Year.

I love surprises. My grandmother used to say you can never predict what’s going to happen, so don’t worry about tomorrow. Concentrate on today. I’ve pretty much tried to follow her good advice. And just about everything she said has turned out to be true. So, I’ve been writing this blog for three years- not knowing where it would take me. And the biggest surprise is that it’s followed by a growing number of readers. I set out thinking I’d be pleased if just one person read it and was inspired to grow something from seed. Well, I’m amazed and pleased to say the blog was shortlisted this year for the Garden Media Guild Awards. The awards ceremony was quite a glitzy affair at the Savoy in London- not somewhere I ever expected to visit. It was hosted by Nick Bailey, and I sat next to Pippa Greenwood- someone I’ve always admired. Rachel DeThame and Anne Swithinbank were on the next table. Alan Titchmarsh won an award for practical gardener, and Carol Klein was given a lifetime achievement award, presented by Roy Lancaster. Marc Rosenberg won news journalist of the year. Bramblegarden didn’t win the blog category, but just to be a finalist was quite something for me. It took me right out of the potting shed and out of my comfort zone, which is a good thing, now and again, isn’t it.

My second lovely surprise came when the weekly Garden News magazine asked me to write about my garden, and the first of my articles is out this week!

Mum and I have been subscribers for about 20 years. Never in a million years did I think I would be sharing my garden with readers. But that’s what’s happened and they’ve asked me to write and send photos of what I’m growing on a regular basis.

There was a bit of a panic when they asked for photos of the garden. It’s not looking its best in winter, and the rain means I’m very behind with tasks. But I made an immediate decision not to have a frantic tidy up. My garden is what it is. There are too many brambles and stinging nettles, and those will be addressed over the winter. But, apart from that, it will be as it is, a rather messy garden with zones of productivity. I’ve got 10 beds, 1.3m wide by 3m long with little paving slab paths between. This means I never have to stand on the soil. For the past three years the whole garden has been ‘no-dig’ following the principles of Charles Dowding. There’s a 20ft Alton cedar greenhouse I’ve painted black, and alongside, a matching 20ft poly tunnel. The rest of the one acre garden is mostly trees, and low maintenance shade planting. It’s left to the owls, grass snakes and hedgehogs. I’m delighted to share space with them all.

Across the centre of the veg plot there’s a hazel wigwam or A-frame trellis. This has been patched up for the past two years and will be renewed this winter, ready for spring planting.

The hazel frame is perfect for growing sweet peas. The plants just scramble up by themselves. I don’t have much tying in to do. I plant gladioli down the middle of the structure to utilise the space. These grow about 1m tall and usually need staking, but the hazel frame supports them instead.

This is my favourite Wiltshire Ripple variety, which has a fabulous scent.

Here’s how I make my newspaper pots, using a spice jar to form the tube.

I stand the newspaper tubes in terracotta pans. It’s a good task to do when the ground is too wet to work on, which has been the situation here for the past three months.

Albutt Blue. It’s wonderful to be thinking about sweet peas – in the middle of winter.

I wish I could share the scent from all these flowers. Sweet peas are the essence of summer.

What plans have you for growing in 2020? Are you planting old favourites, or trying something new. Get in touch and let me know.

And remember, if you are writing a blog, you never know who might be reading, or what opportunities might come your way. Just enjoy your blogging.

Wishing you all a happy, peaceful and healthy New Year. Happy Gardening!

I am on twitter at https://mobile.twitter.com/kgimson/status/1149241935502225408

On instagram at https://www.instagram.com/karengimson1/?hl=en

Links: Garden News magazine: https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/garden-news-magazine?gclid=Cj0KCQiAgKzwBRCjARIsABBbFujlf4tfcbFd4OxHcjvuH6NR9Uk54A_wVM0S9IDq_ZeSvA0FtiofT0oaAg9_EALw_wcB

Garden Media Guild: https://www.gardenmediaguild.co.uk/awards

Sweet peas Mr Fothergills https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sweet-Pea-Seed/#.Xgur1YGnyfA

Sweet Peas Easton Walled garden https://www.visiteaston.co.uk/whats-on

Higgledy Garden Seeds https://higgledygarden.com/

Savoy London https://all.accor.com/hotel/A597/index.en.shtml?utm_term=mafm&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgKzwBRCjARIsABBbFujh9QGSEjYNiJ8ON9HjLVkRMH3UNhpD8tpccFO4povH1E6R5zr5qXIaAikZEALw_wcB&utm_campaign=ppc-ach-mafm-goo-uk-en-uk-exa-sear-a&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=uk-en-GB-V2352&utm_source=google

I like to join in with In a Vase on Monday, although it’s usually a different day : https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/

And Six on Saturday : https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/

Happy Christmas Everyone!

/ karen / 35 Comments

I’ve escaped from the house for half an hour. There’s two dozen mince pies in a tin. All my cooking is done. Icing sugar is liberally sprinkled all over the kitchen table. But clearing up can wait. I need to get outside into the garden. Surely, no one will miss me for 30 minutes…..

I’ve been saving crab apples for Christmas decorations. There’s Red Sentinel, Jelly King, Transitoria, and the common malus sylvestris which grows wild in hedgerows around here.

I’m trying to use less plastic and wire in the garden. So as an experiment I’m using cocktail sticks to secure my apples. I’m not using floral foam either. Flowers can be tucked into little glass jars and test tubes. Foliage can be woven into willow. It just takes a bit of forward planning. And I’m pleased with the results.

Wild clematis, old man’s beard, highlights the rosy red apples and rosehips. Such a joy to use what’s to hand in the garden. Within a few minutes I’ve gathered everything I need.

I planted dozens of rosa canina when we made a garden here and rosehips are plentiful this year. I never take all of them from one place. Always leave some for the birds. They’ll need them to get through a cold wet winter.

My willow and crab apple wreath cheers up the summerhouse for Christmas. I’ve heaped woollen blankets in there and created a little library of favourite books. A peaceful place to rest and survey the garden birds. We’ve plenty of robins and blackbirds in the garden. They will be looking for nesting sites soon. Behind the summerhouse, the fields lie fallow this year. It’s been too wet to plough and sow any winter crops. Winter barley and wheat would usually be providing bright green shoots by now. It’s sad to see the ground so waterlogged and unproductive. However, birds and mammals are finding ‘leavings’ from the summer crops. Today we saw 300 field fares land in the field. They must be finding left over seeds and grains.

This is the field gate we walk through as we set off across the back fields. There’s a footpath along the hedgerow. Usually, there’s only us rambling along, but at Christmas the lane attracts a great many walkers. I like to decorate all the garden gates with willow and foliage. It only takes a few minutes to twist six willow stems into a heart and wind in some holly and garrya elliptica. Some dried hydrangea Annabelle makes a focal point, and hides the string tying everything together. Three crab apples glow yellow in the afternoon sunshine. It’s a constantly changing arrangement as birds peck at the hydrangea and apples. I don’t mind. It’s wonderful to watch them enjoying the juicy fruit. I can easily add some more. I enjoy the birds as much as the arrangements to be honest.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s walk around my garden. Thank you for all your lovely, kind and encouraging comments all year. Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. See you in 2020, when there will be some exciting new developments at bramble garden to show you. Enjoy your gardening as well as your festivities. Now, back to the icing sugar and that messy kitchen table….. there’s trifles still to make. And Christmas puddings to steam.

Christmas Flowers -In a Vase on Monday

/ karen / 29 Comments

There’s something very appealing about rooting around in ditches, searching for moss covered twigs and pieces of crumbly old bark. I like nothing better than finding bits and pieces that might come in handy for floral arrangements. It brings out the inner ‘Borrower’ in me. I suppose it’s the same as beachcombing for pretty shells and driftwood. Very soothing and satisfying.

It takes me an hour or so to gather enough twigs, moss, ivy and rosehips for today’s projects. The hedges are thick with swags of ivy all adorned with clusters of glossy green berries. These will ripen and turn black in time and provide a feast for the birds. Luckily, there’s enough for everyone to share. I never take too much from any one area.

Wild roses have taken years to climb to the top of the hedges and rosehips form great cascading arches right down to the ground in some places. Meg, my little puppy digs and burrows around in the ditch. She loves this occupation even better than I do, always keen to help, emerging with mouthfuls of sticks and an eager expression. By the end of the morning, my baskets are full, and Meg is happily muddy. We head home, mission accomplished. Setting the finds on the potting shed table, I’ve plenty of red-berried plain green holly, some trailing larch branches festooned with tiny gold fir cones, tendrils of old man’s beard or wild clematis and a pile of wild cherry stems, thick with flower buds already. These stems go into water and straight into the house where the warmth will bring them into flower by Christmas, if I’m lucky. I stand and survey the haul for quite some time. Then I wind willow and silver birch stems into hearts and circles and start to weave in the hedgerow bounty, adding crab apples and dried cow parsley seed heads which remind me of shooting stars. Meg sleeps on my coat in a box under the table, satisfied with her morning’s work. Occasionally, there’s a huge yawn, but mostly deep breathing, like a well fed baby. And in the peace and quiet, I can get on with my tasks.

White alstroemeria and tiny white Stallion chrysanthemum from the poly tunnel pots, adding colour to the hedgerow greens. White gypsophila, dried from the summer.

Hedgerow finds with dried hydrangea flowers and pine.

Teasels and Garryia elliptica on the field gates.

Hydrangea Annabelle with a clematis Montana and willow circle.

Hydrangea and old man’s beard clematis catching the sunlight.

A simple willow heart and ivy.

Christmas hellebore. One of the Gold Collection varieties. A welcome addition to seasonal arrangements. Slit the stem lengthways for 4″ and stand in water right up to the flower head, before using in arrangements.

Summerhouse posy. Holly, lavender and fir.

Rosy hydrangea flowers, wild clematis and pine.

Willow, dogwoods, skimmia and conifer stems.

Potting shed window. Rosehips, crab apples and cow parsley seeds.

Links : In a Vase on Monday. https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/12/09/in-a-vase-on-monday-spike-revisited/

In a Vase on Monday- 25th November 2019

/ karen / 31 Comments

Flowers from my garden. For Joan.

Today’s flowers feature my father-on-law’s hardy yellow chrysanthemums. We don’t know the proper name for them, but in our family they are known as ‘Aunty Dorris.’ My father-in-law had been growing them since Aunty Dorris gave him a cutting in the 1950s. He grew them for his wife Joan, who particularly loved the sunny yellow flowers. Now the cuttings have been passed to me, and I’m keeping up the tradition of growing flowers for Joan.

The flowers have a gorgeous lime green centre which sets off the bright yellow petals. They last at least three weeks in a vase, with water refreshed every day.

Variegated ivy with golden flower heads provide foliage for my chrysanthemum posy.

Oak and beech leaves gathered from the garden add some lovely warm burnished tones.

Autumn trees across the horseshoe pond are reflected in the potting shed windows.

There are rows of beech trees all around the garden, remnants of an old hedgerow. Trees stand bare all winter, but juvenile foliage at the base provides copper-coloured leaves through until next May.

Chrysanthemums are often winter hardy, but the flowers are spoiled by rain, so I grow them in many 12″ pots. They stand outdoors on the paving all summer, and are brought in to an unheated poly tunnel around first week of November. After very mild temperatures, we had one night of -2C so I covered the flowers to protect them from the sudden chill. They were uncovered the next day, and night time temperatures have been 8 to 11C since then. The pots will supply a steady flow of flowers until the new year. Plenty for Christmas. And plenty for Joan, who is now living in a care home with Keith. I’m glad to be keeping up our family tradition. I often think of Aunty Dorris and wonder if she realised her cutting would lead to so much joy shared down through the years.

Here’s a photo of Joan on her wedding day, standing on the steps of Cosby Methodist Chapel. Joan did the flowers for the chapel for 65 years and Keith played the organ for weddings and chapel services. This photo, in a home-made metal frame, is a little battered as Keith carried it all around Korea for his army national service.

Thank you for reading. Please share this blog on any social media platform, share with your friends and neighbours and help me spread the word. Hopefully I’ll inspire someone to grow flowers, fruit and vegetables. It’s really simple, if you have a few pointers and little hints and tips along the way. Enjoy your garden.

Links: In a Vase on Monday https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/

Garlic Wash Recipe for Hostas. Defeating Slugs…

/ karen / 18 Comments

On Sunday, we had a question on protecting hostas from slugs – on the BBC radio gardening programme I sit in on.

My panel team mate Nick Turrell and I talked about using Strulch Mulch – a mineralised straw mulch that’s got a scratchy surface that slugs don’t like.

We also mentioned a garlic wash spray we have both tried and tested. We found it works a treat. It deters slugs, but does not poison them. This means the slugs are left available as food for birds and mammals such as hedgehogs. You’ll need to repeat the treatment regularly, especially after rain. I put my mixture in a 3l Hozelock sprayer and leave it in the potting shed ready to treat them. I’ve found it also deters aphids and is good for spraying roses.

The recipe comes from Sienna Hosta, a multi- gold medal winning nursery specialising in hostas. They do not use any other chemical treatments.

Here is a snapshot of their website showing their recipe for the garlic spray.

Here’s a link to their website.

https://www.siennahosta.co.uk/pages/garlic-wash-recipe

We also talked about no-dig gardening, protecting soils and coping with flooding. Charles Dowding is the expert on no-dig.

https://charlesdowding.co.uk/courses/

Here’s the link for Strulch Mulch.

https://www.strulch.co.uk/

Here’s a link to the radio programme BBC Radio Leicester’s Sunday Supplement. We are the middle hour of Dave Andrews’ show.

At 1.09.16 on the timeline at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07sc852

We also mentioned our appeal for hedgehog food from Leicestershire Wildlife Hospital. They have 260 hedgehogs in their care and are taking in around 10 a day. Hedgehogs are either ill, underweight or injured having been washed out of their nests in the floods. Hedgehogs eat meaty dog food, the solid loaf -type, and not containing gravy, jelly, or made with fish. They also desperately need puppy milk for the babies, and heat pads and incubators. They have an amazon wish list and an appeal fund.

http://www.leicesterwildlifehospital.org/

And also we talked about Belvoir Castle Flower and Garden Festival which was launched this week :

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/belvoir-castle-flower-and-garden-show-tickets-77976360393

A walk Around My Garden – 16 November 2019

/ karen / 36 Comments

Today’s photos have a golden theme running through them. For a few short weeks, everything glows. It’s a last gift from the garden before we descend into cold dark days. And it’s a very welcome gift. Even the flowers are golden. The last dahlias make a cheerful posy for the garden table. Tubers of favourite David Howard dahlia are tucked up under a foot of dry leaves now. Here I’ve found some blue borage and a few nasturtiums to go with the solo dahlia bloom. I feast my eyes on the sight. It will be another 9 months before I see dahlia flowers again.

Luckily, in the poly tunnel, my ‘Aunty Dorris’ chrysanthemums are coming into flower. My father in law has been growing these since the 1950s after receiving cuttings from his aunt. Sadly he’s had to leave his garden, and the precious plants have come my way. I’m determined to keep them going, in memory of Aunty Dorris and as a tribute to their shared love of gardening. There will be a steady flow of flowers to the care home where my relatives now live, right up until Christmas time.

White Swan chrysanthemums are also flowering. I grow them in 12″ pots in an open-ended poly tunnel. They don’t mind the cold, but the rain spoils their flowers. There’s often enough for Christmas table decorations.

Stepping out of the poly tunnel door, this is the scene. A bank of wild cherry trees make a golden veil. Next spring there will be snowy white cherry blossom, followed by luscious red fruit. There’s always something to look forward to. Nothing stays the same. I remind myself this, when there’s bare stems and cold dark days ahead. Winter is not my favourite time of the year, but I store up memories of the past, and at the same time, look to the future. My garden provides a kind of winter armoury.

Alongside the greenhouse, there’s a group of hazel trees. We harvest a few cob nuts each year, but squirrels take most of them. It’s cheerful to see catkins – or lambs tails- forming already.

Through the hazel and maple trees, you can just spy the summerhouse. Fallen leaves make a golden footpath leading the way.

Tall golden beech trees make a backbone for the summerhouse. It will be six months before we see lime green shoots and new leaves again.

Surrounding trees and the back fields are reflected in the summerhouse windows. Sunset is a favourite time to sit here and ponder on the growing year coming to a close. And also think about all the flowers, fruit and veg I’ll be growing next year.

What plans have you for your garden next spring? Are you enjoying the autumn colours just now, as we are here in the Midlands? Get in touch and let me know how things are going in your garden right now.

While you are looking at these photos there’s some music to go with them. Here’s the link to Yellow (Coldplay) sung by Jodie Whittaker for Children in Need. It’s very appropriate for my post this week. At 1.35.09 on the timeline. Or number 12 on the playlist.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07sc6bw

Children in Need; https://www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/shows/got-it-covered/

Links : SOS. I like to join in with Six on Saturday, but always have more than six to share https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2019/11/16/six-on-saturday-16-11-2019/

Apple and Almond Slice- Family Favourite Recipes

/ karen / 9 Comments

At this time of year, my kitchen work surfaces are covered with piles of apples. Little pyramids of golden cooking apples, tiny rosy red eating apples, giant Bramleys. My family complain. There’s nowhere for anyone to put anything down. I usually store them wrapped in newspaper in the potting shed, but I’m still trying to evict the mice, making many trips back and forth to the woods with my tunnel-like humane traps baited with peanut butter. I can’t kill them. They will take their chances in the leaf litter under the trees. I’m trying to ignore the tawny owl fledglings in the branches above, still being fed by harassed parents. I feel slightly guilty. But watching the mice run when I let them out, I think they stand a fair chance of surviving.

Meanwhile, I’m steadily working my way through the apples. My mother always says, if you’ve got an apple, you’ve got a pudding. It can be an apple pie, a crumble, a cake, or if you are pressed for time, just apple purée with lashings of creamy custard, or Devon clotted cream. A special treat.

Today’s recipe is another family favourite, an apple tray bake which is quick and easy to make and tastes of autumn. As usually, I’m recording it here for my children, in case they can’t find the scraps of paper these recipes are written on. It’s so lovely to see my grandmother’s best copper plate hand writing, as she lovingly wrote these recipes for me. Food, and cooking, bring back such special memories, don’t they.

 

APPLE AND ALMOND SLICE:

INGREDIENTS – FOR THE TOPPING

 

30g butter or vegan margarine

30g SR flour

25g golden caster sugar

2 tbsp. Jumbo oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon

25g flaked almonds

METHOD

Mix the butter, flour and sugar together. Fold in the cinnamon, oats and flaked almonds to make a crumble topping. Place in the fridge while you make the base.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE BASE

150g SR flour

200g golden caster sugar

200g butter or margarine

3 eggs ( or use 6 tbsp. soya oat drink if vegan)

100g ground almonds

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 large apples slices and tossed in lemon juice

100g any other fruit you have; blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, plums,

METHOD

Mix the flour, baking power , sugar and butter together. Whisk. Fold in the ground almonds and cinnamon. Add the beaten eggs.

Put half the mixture in the base of the tin. Put apples on top. Add the rest of the base moisture. Press the blackberries or other fruit on the top.

Cover with the crumble topping mixture.

Cook for 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer come out clean.

Gas mark 4, 180C oven, or 160C fan oven.

You’ll need a 20cm tray bake tin, at least 4cm deep, lined with baking parchment.

Put baking paper on top if it is browning too quickly. Leave to cool and slice into fingers.

Can be frozen for 3 months.

Enjoy!

 

You might also like : Review of Orchard Odyssey by Naomi Slade here :

https://bramblegarden.com/2019/09/27/an-orchard-odyssey-book-review-and-prize-draw/

 

Also The Creative Kitchen by Stephanie Hafferty https://bramblegarden.com/2018/11/18/the-creative-kitchen-book-review/

I’ll leave you with a photo of my 1930s summerhouse, looking autumnal today. There’s heaps of blankets to keep us warm when the temperatures start to dip. It’s quite cosy in here though.

In A Vase on Monday- 28th October 2019

/ karen / 21 Comments

The first frost sees me running up the garden, collecting dahlia flowers in buckets. Even slightly faded, tatty flowers are harvested. Every bloom has suddenly become precious. It will be a whole nine months before we have any more of these glories.

In amongst the dark blood red dahlias are these interlopers. I didn’t plant them. I’ve been growing cactus dahlia Nuit d’Ete for around 20 years. Alongside, there’s some white dahlias called My Love. Could they have crossed to produce this striped flower? It’s a mystery. A very pretty interloper, even so. It can stay.

Frost means the end of tender flowers such as dahlias. Plants will collapse virtually overnight. Last year I left the tubers in the ground and covered them with a foot of dried leaves and a cloche. The secret is to keep them relatively dry. However, this year I will lift them all. The ground is sodden. We’ve had 266mm of rain over the past two months, double the usual amount. Five months worth of rain in the past five weeks. There’s no way I’m going to be able to keep the dahlias from rotting, unless I lift them.

So, using very sharp florists’ scissors, I collect buckets of flowers for the house, before tackling the tubers. Tubers are carefully lifted to avoid bruising. They are cut off leaving 3″ of stem. Turned upside down to drain. Then put in a dark, cool, frost free shed. After a week or two, I’ll wrap them in newspaper, or put them into pots of dry compost to overwinter. They will be started back into growth in the greenhouse in February, cuttings will be taken, and the whole cycle of planting and harvesting will go round again.

I also picked some verbena bonariensis, diascia, the last of the Nicotiana Mutabilis, some very late gladioli, and herbs such as rosemary and lavender.

There is one last flower from Dahlia Obsidian, a tuber I bought from East Ruston Garden in Norfolk a few years ago. I like to buy a few plants when I’m on holiday to remind me of the visit. This one is particularly good for pollinators, being an open, single flower.

Added some Amaranthus, love lies bleeding. I have grown the red and the white form this year.

And this is what the flowers look like, all put together. I had enough flowers for four or five vases.

I put the verbena mixture in a Kilner jar that used to belong to my great aunt Betty. She was a keen cook and preserved everything in those jars. She gave me about 100 when I first set up home. Happy memories; I use them every day and think of her.

It’s warm and sunny enough to sit in the garden today. After all that rain, I’m not spending a second shut indoors! I’ve even written this sitting outside on an old garden chair covered with a cosy woollen blanket. My feet are getting cold, so I’ve put a few bricks under them as a makeshift foot stool. No doubt there will be more frost ahead, but I’m determined to get outdoors as much as I can this winter and not get stuck by the fire.

Have you had a frost in your area yet? Are you leaving your dahlias in the ground or lifting them, like me? Let me know how things are growing in your part of the world.

Links : Cathy IAVOM https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/10/28/in-a-vase-on-monday-not-fade-away-2/

Dahlia Nuit d-Ete https://www.peternyssen.com/nuit-d-ete.html

East Ruston Old Vicarage http://www.e-ruston-oldvicaragegardens.co.uk/pages/view/564/home.htm

Dahlia Obsidian https://www.sarahraven.com/dahlia-verrones-obsidian.htm

I am @kgimson on twitter

Karengimson1 on instagram.

Thank you for reading, and for getting in touch.

Six on Saturday- 26 October 2019

/ karen / 26 Comments

The last of the sunflowers. This one, above, looks like it can’t decide whether to open or not. It’s been wet here, 142mm of rain this month. Twice the usual amount. However, flowers coped well with the deluge. Dahlias love the rain. They just tip forward slightly to drain. Sunflowers have also thrived. My sunflowers are a mixture of Infrared and Allsorts Mix from Mr Fothergills. I sow them in seed compost in March in 9cm pots, grow on in the greenhouse until they have two pairs of leaves, and then plant out after all danger of frost has passed. I use Strulch mulch to protect from slugs. It’s a scratchy kind of mineralised straw mulch which slugs and snails don’t like. It helps to retain moisture and feeds the soil as it rots down. I also spray everything with home-made garlic liquid. The recipe comes from Sienna Hosta nursery. If it’s good enough for a multi- gold medal winning nursery, it’s good enough for me. It works, with the proviso that you have to spray repeatedly, especially after rain. I’ve got a 3L Hozelock sprayer set up ready, which makes life easier. It’s worth it to protect delicate seedlings from slugs, without resorting to chemicals. The garlic spray doesn’t kill slugs, but deters them, leaving them available as a food source for birds and mammals.

Seed merchants used to mostly supply yellow sunflowers, but in recent years there’s been a big increase in varieties available. I love the chocolate -coloured flowers and the mini-sunflowers, such as Teddy Bear, which can be grown in a container and only grows to 1m with 12cm wide very double ‘fluffy’ yellow flowers.

Glowing red, this sunflower reminds me of rich dark chocolate. This was the darkest flower in a packet of Velvet Queen seeds. Truly scrumptious.

Plenty of pollen for bees, and I leave the seeds on the plants for the birds to enjoy over winter. Insects hibernate in the sunflower stems.

Lovely markings on these sunflowers from the Allsorts Mix.

And finally, Thompson and Morgan produced a new and exclusive multi-branching sunflower which repeat flowers from spring until Christmas, if protected from frost. It has rather an unwieldy name- SunBelievable Brown-Eyed Girl. It’s perfect for containers. My potted sunflower was amazingly prolific, and produced about 100 flowers over the season. Plenty for mini flower arrangements like this one which has calendulas, and herbs mixed in with the sunflowers. It lasts about a week in a vase.

Tonight we put the clocks back and the evenings will gradually close in. We’ll just have to make our own sunshine- and grow more flowers. Don’t you agree?

Which plants have you grown this summer? Let me know which have been a success for you. It’s good to share ideas and information, and help one another- especially as winter draws near and we all need a bit of colour to keep our spirits up.

Links : SOS six on Saturday https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2019/10/26/six-on-saturday-26-10-2019/

Mr Fothergills Infrared https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sunflower-Infrared-F1-Seeds.html#.XbSrg4zTWfA

Allsorts Mix https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sunflower-Allsorts-Seeds.html#.XbSrtYzTWfA

Velvet Queen https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sunflower-Velvet-Queen-Seeds.html#.XbStyozTWfA

Thompson and Morgan https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/sunflower-sunbelievabletrade-brown-eyed-girl/tka1036TM

Calendula Orange Flash https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Calendula-Seed/Calendula-Orange-Flash.html#.XbSvAozTWfA

Garlic wash spray, Sienna Hosta Nursery https://www.siennahosta.co.uk/pages/garlic-wash-recipe

Karengimson1 on instagram

@kgimson on twitter

GardenMediaGuild member

The Flower Market Year – Book Review and Prize Draw

/ karen / 31 Comments

12 MONTHS AT NEW COVENT GARDEN FLOWER MARKET

By SIMON LYCETT

Published by Simon J Lycett Ltd

Hardback 192 pages, £21 approx

ISBN 978-1-9160912-0-7

Book photography by Michelle Garrett

Blog photos: bramblegarden

Florist Simon Lycett thinks nothing of working with 20,000 stems of roses for a wedding. I am trying to picture the scene, and finding it hard to imagine 20,000 flowers. Then Simon tells me this isn’t a one off. It’s something he gets to do on a very regular basis. I’m lucky enough to have a window on his extraordinary life, for just one day. I am visiting the New Covent Garden Flower Market, and Simon is my guide.

It’s still dark outside as I set off at 6am to meet Simon at the Flower Market in Nine Elms, London. We are standing amongst more flowers than I’ve ever seen, and we are inspecting the roses. Simon who has written a book about the market, explains that his customers have “magical weddings, the world over.” He loves the buzz of creating “magical settings in a world where everything is possible and the words ‘can’t do’ are never uttered.” It’s a revealing conversation, as he explains his customers expect total perfection. “They must have the best of everything. They’ll notice a little mark on the petal, and that’s no good. Utter perfection is what counts. The client is king.”

Simon, who regularly appears on television and radio, explains that everything starts with the selection of flowers at the market. And it’s clear that his relationship with the flower sellers is key. They seem almost like family, and it’s not surprising as Simon has been buying from the same people for 30 years.

We are introduced to Dennis Edwards who has been getting up at 2am to sell flowers for 54 years. His family are porters and sellers of fruit and vegetables. He’s the only one in his family to go into the flower market business. He describes it as a passion, rather than job. A life’s work to supply the creme de la creme.

In his book, The Flower Market Year, Simon says Dennis always has a few “specials” – buckets and trays of unusual items which he sets aside and keeps for Simon. “Dennis was the first person to ever serve me when, as a timid 20 year old, I ventured into the Flower Market for the first time. Dennis was then, and still is now, a Flower Market institution, always going above and beyond to find the very finest flowers and foliage, and ever in search of the unusual and the innovative, wanting to offer the largest, the biggest and the best blooms in the building.

“Born in Drury Lane, Dennis has worked in all three of the Flower Markets, firstly in the original Covent Garden Market, then, when it moved in 1974 to Vauxhall, in the New Covent Garden Flower Market, and now in the current (interim) market site a little further along Nine Elms Lane. In 2022, when all development is complete and he moves into the ‘New’ Covent Garden Market, he will be a record breaker!”

It’s fascinating to watch them talking. It’s as if each one knows already what the other is thinking. It’s clear Dennis instinctively knows which flowers Simon will need for his projects, and as I look around, perfection is key. I can’t fault anything. I’ve never seen flowers of such superb quality. It’s a scene that stays in the memory like a photograph because it’s so out of the ordinary.

Simon set out to record the workings of the flower market to “capture a real sense of the place,” with its salesmen and women, customers, porters, buyers and suppliers.

His book captures month by month what he’s seen and bought, and what’s inspired him to create floral decorations for his clients, for weddings, parties and corporate events. Simon doesn’t mention it, but on his website there are ‘thank you’ letters relating to HRH Princess Eugenie’s wedding (state entrance, grand staircase and reception room “absolutely stunning”) and also the marriage of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall (reception flowers, “magnificent”). Simon simply says “From humble beginnings we have grown into one of the most sought-after and well known names in the industry.”

Although Simon wrote the book to highlight the flower market year, his own fascinating life story is woven into the pages. Talking about buckets of blackberries, for example, he writes: ” When I worked at Pulbrook and Gould, stems of blackberries sold for the same price as spray roses and I will never forget the posies and arrangements created by the workroom there, featuring jewel-like bright berries glistening amongst stems of Oceana and Doris Ryker roses.

“Having left Pulbrook and Gould to become a freelance florist, I started to travel about the country, as much of my work was outside the city. For several summers when visiting my family in Warwickshire, or staying as I often did with friends in Northamptonshire, I used to fill the boot with anything I could gather from friends and family and sell it to one or more of the foliage suppliers in New Covent Garden Flower Market. The stems of blackberries that I cut and bunched used to pay for my petrol each week, and the car tax was funded by the branches of rosehips, damsons and wild apples that I crammed into the car before heading up the A40. ”

Selecting flowers from the market, Simon provides 30 ideas for flower arrangements, with step-by-step photographs and instructions. My favourites are the rose heart, the sweet peas in tins, and the artichoke bowl.

Having seen photos of his wedding and party flowers, it’s interesting to see the preferred choice for his own flowers- for his Scottish Highlands holiday home- is simple bottles filled with tiny sprigs of flowers and a few pebbles from the beach. Truly, he can make anything look special.

I’ve had a wonderful time with Simon, seeing the flower market in all its glory. What I’ve learned is that Simon relishes the magical weddings and corporate events with the ‘wow factor’ flowers. But he also sees the beauty in the simple things -a bunch of narcissi- the first of the season from the Scilly Isles. The scent of the flowers will always remind me of a lovely day spent at the market with a truly inspirational florist.

There’s one copy of the book to give away in a prize draw. Please leave a comment below to be included in the draw. Names will be randomly pulled out of a hat. International entries are welcome, as well as the UK. The publisher’s decision is final. There’s no cash alternative. Usual rules apply.

Links : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flower-Market-Year-2019-Months/dp/1916091202

https://www.simonlycett.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Florist/Simon-Lycett-Ltd-1503980453205762/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Local-Business/bramblegarden/posts/

Garden Media Guild events https://www.gardenmediaguild.co.uk/

@kgimson on twitter.

Karengimson1 on instagram.

Thank you to my amazingly loyal and growing band of readers. I appreciate your taking the time to read my blog, and for leaving comments.

In a Vase on Thursday 10th October 2019

/ karen / 37 Comments

Rich Venetian shades. Just the joy we need for October days. Temperatures are dipping and nights drawing in, but the cut flower patch is blazing with colour.

Dahlia Nuit d’Ete is flowering well, standing up to the wind and the rain. We had the wettest September for 20 years. And October doesn’t look like it’s getting any drier. We’ve had 134mm of rain in ten days. That amount usually falls in two and a half months! With swamp-like conditions it’s impossible to work on the borders. Luckily my cut flower patch is divided by little slabbed paths, so I never need to step on the soil.

Alstroemeria Laguna and Serenade

In amongst the dahlias there’s pink and red alstroemerias grown in pots. If you pull the flower stems out of the compost when you pick them, more blooms will follow. Pull instead of cut is the message. It seems destructive, but promotes further flowering. These are tall varieties suitable for cutting. I accidentally bought some dwarf types once, which looked pretty in the borders, but were hopeless for flower arranging. So take care when choosing plants.

Dahlia Arabian Night

An old favourite I’ve grown for years. Very reliable and doesn’t seem troubled by rain and wind. Earwigs don’t seem to go for the darker shades, preferring the whites and pale-flowered dahlias. If your plants are being nibbled by earwigs, place upturned pots of straw or corrugated cardboard on canes near the flowers. In the morning you can tip the earwigs and their bedding into a wildlife corner, or amongst fruit trees. Earwigs are voracious predators of aphids and vine weevils. Worth relocating away from your dahlias.

Amaranthus cordatus

Love lies bleeding. An easy to grow annual. Produces pendant tassel-like flowers. It’s also known as velvet flower, foxtail and prince’s feather. Sow seeds in half seed trays in March/April. Prick out seedlings into 9cm pots or full seed trays and plant out after frosts. Flowers all summer until the end of October and sometimes into November, depending on temperatures.

Penstemon Plum Jerkum.

A short-lived perennial. This came as a cutting from a friend. It’s a good idea to take insurance-policy cuttings in late summer. These plants are not totally hardy. It’s the winter wet that defeats them, so plant in well drained soil in full sun and protect from the worst of the weather with fleece. Take cuttings in July and August from non-flowering shoots. Cut below a pair of leaves, where there’s a concentration of hormones to promote rooting. Remove all but the top two leaves. Place the cuttings around the edges of a 9cm pot filled with 50/ 50 horticultural grit and compost. The edges of the pot provide the most free draining position for the cuttings, which helps roots to form.

Verbena Bonariensis

Another short-lived perennial requiring a sunny spot in well-drained soil. I lost all my plants in the Beast for the East big freeze last year. Luckily, it grows really well from seed and cuttings. Sow seed in the spring in half trays and prick out, as above. Or take cuttings in late summer. There are tiny side shoots just above a pair of leaves. Gently pull these down and you will have a short cutting.

Aeonium Zwartkop

Aeoniums are evergreen succulents with a shrubby growth habit. My plants collapsed in the wind and some of the stems broke off. They make a lovely, unusual addition to flower arrangements. It’s all about using what you’ve got in the garden. When I take the posy apart, I’ll cut the bottom few inches from the stems and stick them in a pot of very gritty compost. Kept frost free, the cuttings will readily root and I’ll have new plants to stand out on the patio next summer.

Trifolium pratense red clover

The lovely pink rounded flower on the left is just common clover. This year I grew a patch of wild flower meadow in a raised windowbox on legs. I’m always saying you don’t need acres of land to grow food, flowers, and veg. So I put it to the test. It worked a treat. I filled the containers with Dalefoot seed compost and sowed seeds direct in spring. Red clover flowered all summer, alongside blue harebells, yellow birds foot trefoil, scabious, corncockle, and vipers bugloss. It’s been a joy to watch bees, hoverflies and butterflies visiting my little patch of “meadow.”

Nicotiana mutabilis.

The pretty tubular flowers are colour-changing tobacco plants. These were sown and planted last year. They self-sowed over the winter, and have come up stronger and more beautiful this summer. I’m hoping they will do the same for next year, but I’ve saved seed and sown some more, just in case. Stems grow to 1.5m and produce clouds of trumpet-like flowers. They change colour as they age through various shades of white, pink and lilac. Glorious, and highly recommended. I’ll never be without it now I’ve seen it flower all summer long.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my Venetian shades bouquet, photographed on a windswept day in the garden. Golden beech tree leaves were swirling past my head as I was tying up the flowers. It seems autumn is on a fast forward setting. What is it like in your garden right now?

Links: I love to join in with Cathy’s In a Vase on Monday meme. But Mondays are my busiest working day. So I’m just going to post photos when I can. I’ll be reading all your posts when I get home from work.

IAVOM : https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/category/gardens/in-a-vase-on-monday/

Dahlias : https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/search-results?s=Dahlias+

Alstroemerias: http://www.postalplants.co.uk/catalogue.asp

Amaranthus :https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Amaranthus-Love-Lies-Bleeding-Seeds.html

Penstemon : https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/162416/Penstemon-Pensham-Plum-Jerkum-(Pensham-Series)/Details

Verbena Bonariensis; https://higgledygarden.com/2011/11/21/verbena-bonariensis/

Aeonium: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/details%3Fplantid%3D64

I’m @kgimson on twitter and karengimson1 on instagram. Please feel free to share this post, linking back to bramblegarden.com

Winners….

/ karen / 16 Comments

Many thanks for reading my book and product reviews. Here are the names of recent winners:

An Orchard Odyssey by Naomi Slade : won by 30 Days of Wild Parenting, Joshua Johnson.

Clip garden gloves: won by Wilma Wilson

Dancing with Bees by Brigit Strawbridge Howard won by Debi Holland.

Incognito insect sprays and sun cream collection won by Suella.

The Good Bee Book, won by Florasforum.

Links: Orchard Odyssey review: https://bramblegarden.com/2019/09/27/an-orchard-odyssey-book-review-and-prize-draw/

Clip Gloves: https://bramblegarden.com/2019/09/15/clip-glove-on-trial/

Dancing with Bees https://bramblegarden.com/2019/08/04/dancing-with-bees-a-journey-back-to-nature/

Incognito https://bramblegarden.com/?s=Incognito+

Good Bee Book https://bramblegarden.com/?s=Good+bee+book

Thanks again for reading and taking part. New Books to Follow: Wilding by Stephen Rutt. We Made a Meadow, Yvette Verner. The Light in the Dark by Horatio Clare. There’s also new watering hosepipes from Hozelock and a biomix plant feed maker. Are there any new products/ books you would recommend?

Clip Glove – on trial

/ karen / 42 Comments

Ever since my brush with blood poisoning earlier this summer, I’ve been extremely careful. I wear gloves for every gardening activity. I’m not taking any chances. I guard against thorns, insect bites and splinters.

Treadstone Products saw my post warning gardeners to take care:

Here’s the original blog post: https://bramblegarden.com/2019/07/05/infection-a-warning-to-gardeners/

It’s a warning that’s been read 150,000 times. Clearly a subject that resonates with many people, not just gardeners.

I’ve been trying out a range of different gloves. The latest is the Clip Glove, a new product from Treadstone. As usual, I’ve asked for a pair to give away in a prize draw. Please leave a comment at the end of the post to be included in the draw. Sorry, uk addresses only, due to postage.

What I like about the gloves:

  • Skin-friendly fabric. Cool and comfortable
  • Synthetic leather fabric. Hard wearing
  • Flexible enough to handle delicate cuttings and tiny weeds
  • Strong and durable materials
  • Special feature: clip attachment. Gloves can be clipped to belt, bag or for hanging up in the potting shed, or on the line to dry after washing
  • Loops to help you pull the gloves on and off
  • Recent winners of the garden centre industry GIMA awards
  • A choice of sizes for hands

I used them to weed the cut flower patch and plant out some sweet williams and wallflowers. On a hot day, 21C, my hands didn’t feel uncomfortable. In fact, I forgot I was wearing them.

The little tabs are really welcome. There’s nothing worse than struggling to get gloves on and off. Elasticated cuffs stopped compost going inside the gloves.

Flexible enough to easily grip garden tools. Stiffer fabric gloves make my hands ache after a while. These were worn all day with no problems.

I harvested my spring -planted garlic. Small but incredibly tasty. I’m just about to plant some for overwintering. I buy them from the Garlic Farm, Isle of Wight.

Sorted through my saved bulbs, removed old stems and placed them in paper bags ready for re-plating in November. These will be planted in the orchard, and fresh bulbs will go in winter containers,

Mixed some compost, added grit for drainage and filled terracotta pans ready for sowing winter micro-greens, herbs, salads, rocket, lambs lettuce, beetroot and watercress.

Weeded, tied in and mulched my favourite rose; Rosa Mutabilis ( https://www.classicroses.co.uk/mutabilis-shrub-rose.html ) This variety flowers on and off from spring to Christmas in various shades of peach and cream, opening cerise pink. Adorable and disease resistant. Good for pollinators, being a single flower. Just look at that golden pollen!

A good day’s work in the garden.

Links: Clip Glove https://www.treadstoneproducts.com/treadstone-garden/clip-glove/

Garlic Farm: https://www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk/

Tulips : https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/bulbs/tulips

Compost https://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/products/wool-compost-for-seeds.p.aspx

Seeds: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Vegetable-Seeds/Salad-Leaves/#.XX6wPozTWfA.

Note: Names will be put in a hat and randomly selected by Treadstone. There’s no cash alternative. One pair of gloves will be sent to the winner. No purchase is necessary. Usual rules apply.

Clearing Out the Greenhouse & Taking Pelargonium Cuttings – Sunday September 15

/ karen / 32 Comments

I start off with good intentions. Each spring, I determine to keep the greenhouse tidy. By September, all manner of clutter- bits of string, old labels, empty plant pots and dead plants- trip me up. It looks a mess. So this weekend I’ve emptied all the plants and swept right through. Phew. It doesn’t get any easier. It’s a 20 foot Alton cedar greenhouse, bought second hand and painted black. First I take out all the pelargoniums. The one above is called Tomcat. It’s like burgundy velvet. It flowers non stop from March through to November. In a mild winter it carries on flowering for 12 months. This year, I’ve decided to cut everything back and keep all the plants as cuttings in 9cm pots. The mother plants, several years old and getting leggy, have been composted. It’s hard to do. I tend to hang on to plants even when they are past their best.

There’s still a lot of colour, but the cooler temperatures and damp atmosphere creates mould. Botrytis is a killer of tender plants such as pelargoniums. Cutting them back and reducing the watering helps to combat the problem.

I’ve got an ancient wood and metal garden nursery trolley which I station outside the greenhouse doors to hold the plants temporarily.

Luckily, it’s a beautiful sunny day with temperatures around 21C. We’ve had one night of frost, but no damage so far. Night time temperatures are dipping into single figures though, so there’s no time to waste.

I quickly snip off 3″ cuttings from non-flowering shoots and pile them in my trug. To take cuttings, I cut above a pair of leaves to start with. Then I use a sharp knife to cut below a leaf joint where there’s a concentration of hormones to aid rooting. I use my fingers to snap off all but three leaves at the top. Any large leaves are cut in two to reduce moisture loss. The soft, tiny winged growth on the stems is rubbed off as they attract mould. I gently rub over the leaves to check for aphids.

I fill 9cm pots with 50% peat-free multi-purpose compost and 50% grit or perlite for drainage. Tap the pots on the table to settle the compost. Cuttings need air as well as moisture to grow, so I don’t squash the compost down.

It’s still warm enough to work in the potting shed. There’s a robin in the eaves, quietly twittering away. Sometimes robins can be incredibly loud, at other times its almost a whisper. It’s as if they are singing to comfort themselves. It comforts me as well to have such calm and joyful company.

All potted up, I water them once and set them somewhere cool, bright and frost free to root. The west-facing potting shed window will do for now, out of direct sunshine. They will spend their winter in the greenhouse though with a fan heater set at 6C. Next spring, I’ll tip them out and pot them into individual 9cm pots.

Back in the greenhouse, all the staging is cleared and jet washed down. Any spiders are relocated to the poly tunnel. I can’t kill anything. Slugs and snails go into a dry ditch beyond the boundary hedge. Food for other creatures, I hope.

When I’ve cleaned the glass and repaired the sliding door mechanism, I’ll push the citrus trees back in for the winter. It’s been a good summer for lemons and oranges. A few lemon cakes and orange marmalade might be in order….

Winter salads and micro veg are springing up in shallow terracotta pans. There will be more room now I’ve cleared out the huge pelargonium pots.

Luckily, there’s a few pots of colour left. This orange gerbera has been flowering for months. And my purple bougainvillea usually flowers into December. I haven’t quite finished polishing the glass, or replacing the comfy armchair, the biscuit tin and the radio. That will be tomorrow’s finishing touches. For today, after all that work, I’m collapsing in the summerhouse with a nice cup of tea and mulling over the autumn and winter season to come. I’m ready for anything the weather might throw at us.

Thank you for reading. Please feel free to share this post.

Follow me on twitter @kgimson

On instagram at karengimson1

On #sixonsaturday with https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/14/six-on-saturday-14-09-2019/

On #IAVOM with Cathy https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/09/09/in-a-vase-on-monday-daisies-and-an-infiltrator-2/

Pelargoniums https://www.fibrex.co.uk/collections/pelargoniums/ivy-leaved?page=4

In a Vase on Monday – 9th September 2019

/ karen / 25 Comments

I’m trying to find alternatives to floral foam. Today, I’ve used raffia to attach a coffee jar to my willow heart. A small posy of flowers nestles in the centre of the heart. I’ll be able to change the water each day, and flowers should last at least a week.

We are all having to re-think ways of working. For years I’ve used floral foam blocks for door wreaths and table decorations. But recently it’s become apparent that foam is not recyclable. I’m concerned about inhaling dust from the foam, and also what happens when particles of foam are flushed down drains and end up in water courses. So I’m using jam jars and glass test tubes instead, and hiding the mechanics with moss and fabric.

There’s still plenty of flowers on the cut flower patch. I’m growing blue and white gladioli from Gee Tee Bulbs, planted in June for a late summer display. Gladioli bloom in 90 days, so they are a good reliable flower for special occasions such as weddings. You know you are going to get flowers in time. I’ve planted mine in between sweet peas in the middle of the hazel A frame, which gives them support. And also in the middle of late-planted dwarf beans, a combination I discovered by accident last summer, and I’ve repeated it this year. It’s a successful way of saving space. The beans use the gladioli stems for support.

Gladioli can be cut into sections with each flower having a small stem. These individual flowers are good for tiny jam jars. They also make pretty corsages. It makes tall flower stems go further.

There’s a pretty deep red dahlia flower each side of the posy. I’ve grown this long-flowering dahlia, Nuit d’Ete, for 20 years. It’s a cactus type with huge flowers that last at least two weeks in an arrangement. I’ve noticed that waterlily and cactus types keep opening up with many petals packed in the centre. Single dahlias, good for pollinators, are not so long lasting as cut flowers.

Tucked in around the dahlias are cosmos flowers. This year I’ve been delighted with the seashells cosmos, and also a very pretty ‘all sorts” mix.

Double cerise cosmos flowers have a striking pale pink centre. Cosmos last a week in water. Pollinators love them too. Bees, hoverflies and butterflies were enjoying these today. They followed the flowers across the garden and continued working them after I’d created my heart arrangement.

Cosmos flowers I’m growing this year are pale pink, cerise, and white, and I’m trying some pink and white striped types too.

I’ve propped the heart up on the potting shed window to add finishing touches. There’s some amaranthus tucked in at the base of the posy. My flower heart ended up over the summerhouse door. Hopefully we’ll have some late summer sunshine to enjoy the flowers, and, fingers crossed, we’ll have a few more weeks of nice weather to sit outdoors.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your week. Hope it’s sunny where you are too.

Links : Cathy IAVOM. https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/09/09/in-a-vase-on-monday-daisies-and-an-infiltrator-2/

Geetee bulbs :https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/bulbs/gladioli/large-flowered-gladioli

Dahlias: https://www.peternyssen.com/nuit-d-ete.html

Cosmos: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Cosmos-Seed/Cosmos-Seashells-Mixed-Seeds.html#.XXbU5YzTWfA

Cosmos candy stripe :https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Cosmos-Seed/Cosmos-Candy-Stripe-Seeds.html#.XXbVPYzTWfA

Amaranthus https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/amaranthus-caudatus-love-lies-bleeding/tm01657TM?source=aw&affid=176013&awc=2283_1568068975_9d1ac917267a4f2bf8b84f6e84c0b540

Flower wreaths and eco flower arranging courses : Common Farm Flowers https://www.commonfarmflowers.com/

Six on Saturday. Wind-Swept Walk Around My Garden on 10th Aug 2019

/ karen / 16 Comments

I don’t like windy weather. It makes me unsettled. I worry about everyone’s gardens. So much effort goes into growing flowers, fruit and veg, it’s heartbreaking when it’s destroyed by the weather.

I’ve waited all day for the wind to drop. It hasn’t. So it’s a blustery, sort of a walk around my garden. My dahlia stems are pointing in all kinds of crazy directions. I should have staked them better. But I didn’t. This one is still looking lovely though. It’s a decorative double called David Howard. Beautiful, orange-blushed flowers 10cm across, set off by bronze-tinted foliage. Plants grow to about 75cm, unless toppled by the rain and wind……. sigh.

Double flowers like these last around two to three weeks in a vase. They keep on opening up, like a ripple effect, until the centre is revealed. Well-known florist Jonathan Mosley gave a demonstration at the Belvoir Castle Show recently and revealed a few tips on getting the best out of cut flowers: Use a very sharp kitchen knife to cut flowers, not secateurs which crush the stems rather than cut them cleanly. Walk round with a bucket of very cold fresh water, and drop stems straight in, so air bubbles don’t get the chance to form in the stems. Cut flowers early in the morning and stand them up to their heads in water in a cool dark place such as a potting shed or garage for at least 6 hours before using them in arrangements. Giving them a really good drink makes them last much longer.

I’ve decided to go for an apricot-coloured theme this week. It might help calm our shattered nerves. This is one of my favourite rambling roses, Ghislaine de Feligonde. It flowers in huge swathes in June, and then puts out the occasional flower right through the summer. Bees love it, it’s free flowering and doesn’t get blackspot. All cause for a celebration, I think. Plus is looks good in a a vase.

In keeping with the colour scheme, there’s some beautiful seedling spider day lilies bred by Pollie Maasz at Pollie’s Lilies. These ones don’t have a name as they are trial plants. Pollie selects the best from her trials and registers new names. It’s a fascinating process and I’m glad to have some of her “babies” to try out here.

I am very fond of New Guinea hybrid impatiens. They flower all summer for no effort other than watering and feeding with seaweed extract or liquid tomato fertiliser. I don’t even bother to dead head them, they seem to sort themselves out. This one is Magnifico Star Orange. Cheerful even when it’s raining and blowing a hooley in the garden. I can always pretend I’ve been transported to the tropics.

I love begonias. This one is from the Apricot Shades range and is good for containers and hanging baskets. It will flower its heart out until the first frosts, then I’ll bring it in to the frost free greenhouse for winter. Dried off and kept indoors, it can be started into growth each spring. A really good value plant and so many lovely colours to choose.

Finally, from my pelargonium collection, there’s this beauty. This is one of the species hybrid pelargoniums from Fibrex Nursery. I think it is Pelargonium Ignescens, but will stand to be corrected. I have quite a few from the nursery and the labels have long gone. This one dates back to the 18th century and has pretty soft, downy leaves too.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your walk round my garden today, despite the howling wind! This is the view from the far hedge, in the back field behind my garden. It’s a wonderful place to stand and observe the weather. You can see for miles and today the farmer has started – then stopped – harvesting the corn. In a day, the crop will be safely gathered in, and the scene will change again, with ploughing the next sound we’ll be hearing.

Links: sos are https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2019/08/10/six-on-saturday-10-08-2019/#comments

Dahlia David Howard: https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/57111/i-Dahlia-i-David-Howard-(D)/Details

Rosa Ghislaine de Feligonde https://www.ashwoodnurseries.com/shop/rosa-rambling-ghislaine-de-feligonde.html

Pollie’s dayliles https://www.polliesdaylilies.co.uk/

Fibrex https://www.fibrex.co.uk/

Six on Saturday – a walk around my garden- 3rd August 2019

/ karen / 43 Comments

Short of time, I usually post photos of my garden at dusk in a last-minute dash about the place. Today, I got up early at 6am. And, surprisingly, the back fields are as misty as an October morning. We are having some really strange weather conditions this year.

I opened up the summerhouse in the hope of a nice day. The weather report says it’s going to be 23C.

Things I can hear at this time in the morning: Cows in the field opposite. They line up along the hedge to see what I’m doing. Snorting, sniffing and generally jostling for space, they are noisy and rather nosy neighbours.

I like to walk the perimeter of the plot twice a day, at dawn and dusk. We’ve made a kind of avenue of trees accidentally. We just happened to place the cherry, maple and ash trees wide enough apart to drive a lawn mower between. It makes a lovely calm leafy track, and the view out across the field changes daily. This path is good for watching the owls. They can’t see us, but we can see them.

On the other side of the trees, there’s a small paddock, an orchard and veg plot. This year, there’s more cut flowers than veg, although we are enjoying Charlotte Potatoes, and broad beans at the moment. I planted some French beans a fortnight ago and they will be cropping in another couple of weeks. The cut flowers have all been battered down by the rain. We had a whole month’s worth of rain in 36 hours. Floods are out in surrounding fields. Growing in a total jumble is Ammi, dahlias, rudbeckia, nicotiana, borage, verbascum, sweetpeas, cosmos and pot marigolds. There’s cabbage and garlic squeezed in there somewhere.

On the garden table there’s pots of the new Agapanthus Fireworks. My trial plants flowered from March and have now produced another three stems. I’m delighted with my plants and can highly recommend them. They are easy to grow and flower for a long period without needing anything more than watering.

My trial Aeonium plant is also looking really lovely. It’s a gorgeous colour and shape.

That’s my six photos for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed your ramble around my garden- at an much earlier time than usual!

links :

Six on Saturday : https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2019/08/03/six-on-saturday-03-08-2019/

Agapanthus Fireworks : I wrote about them here : https://bramblegarden.com/tag/tulips/

Agapanthus from Wyvale Nurseries : http://www.wyevalenurseries.co.uk/news/news/agapanthus-fireworks-wins-new-product-award-at-glee/

Aeonium Review here : https://bramblegarden.com/2019/04/12/review-of-garden-beauty-web-shop-and-prize-draw-for-aeonium-schwarzkopf/

Please feel free to share this blog post.

Six on Saturday. A peaceful walk around my garden. 20th July 2019

/ karen / 27 Comments

Looking west.

Field boundaries awash with seedling clematis. I never cut them back. They grow as they please. Clematis Betty Corning is very similar. Long flowering in the shade of the hedge.

Rosa American Pillar survives without much care. This one came from a holiday cutting taken (with permission) from the front garden of a cottage at Sandsend. We used to rent the school house at the bottom of the valley for summer holidays with the family. A lovely reminder of sunny days, sea and sand.

Protected by tall hedges, the plot provides all the cut flowers, fruit and veg we need. No sprays or chemicals are used here. It’s a haven for wildlife – as well as me. Don’t look too closely. There’s plenty of weeds.

Flowers from the plot. On sale at Six Acre Nursery, Costock, Leicestershire. All proceeds to Rainbows Hospice for children and young people.

Sometimes I make door wreaths from the flowers. Here’s one I made this week.

Enjoy your weekend.

Links :

Six on Saturday : https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2019/07/20/six-on-saturday-20-07-2019/

Seeds from : https://higgledygarden.com/

Rainbows Hospice: https://www.rainbows.co.uk/

You might like to read : https://bramblegarden.com/2019/07/19/infection-update-19th-july-2019-gardening/amp/

Also, In a Vase on Monday: https://bramblegarden.com/2019/06/03/in-a-vase-on-monday-3-june-2019/

About Bramble Garden : https://bramblegarden.com/about/

Please share on any social media.

I’m @kgimson on twitter. https://mobile.twitter.com/kgimson?lang=en

karengimson1 on instagram https://www.instagram.com/karengimson1/?hl=en

In a Vase on Monday – 15th July 2019

/ karen / 33 Comments

I’ve discovered, by accident, the magical effect of a sunset on sweet peas. It turns them into mini “stained glass” windows.

Picking them at 9pm, I suddenly find it’s too dark to take photos. Nights are rapidly drawing in. Mid-summer lulls you into a relaxed state of mind. Surely there will always be time to meander round the garden. Then, quite soon after the solstice, everything changes. There’s no streetlights here; dusk means picking your way through tall corridors of dark trees, along grassy paths, past the horseshoe wildlife pond. If you are lucky, you’re accompanied by a barn owl, sweeping along the hedge in eerie silence. You’ll marvel how such a large bird can ever catch any prey without being seen. But they make not the slightest sound and pass by like a shadow. If they see you, they don’t panic and madly swerve as some birds would. They barely acknowledge your intrusion, calmly changing direction and floating over the hedge to continue on the other side. They seem not to flap their wings, but soar and glide as if carried by the wind.

Our boundaries are made from farm posts and galvanised pig wire. We like to keep a connection with the surrounding fields. After all, our garden was once part of the farmland. We’ve simply borrowed the ground to grow fruit and flowers.

There are 10 beds, 1.3m wide by 3m long, divided by narrow slab paths. This year it’s a muddle of potatoes, broadbeans, Sweet williams, daisies and verbascum. A rickety A-frame of hazel rods runs through the centre, for sweet peas. This year I’m growing a combination of heritage types from Easton Walled garden and Higgledy Garden, and new varieties on trial from Mr Fothergills.

Amethyst and rubies; sweet pea flowers shine like jewels in the sunset.

My flowers are being sold at Six Acre Nursery, Costock, Leicestershire, with all proceeds going to Rainbows Hospice for children and young people. I am a voluntary fund-raising ambassador for Rainbows, and I also give slide shows and talks to garden groups for charity.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this peaceful walk around my garden at dusk. There’s much to see, even in the gloom.

Links : Cathy In a Vase on Monday : https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/07/15/in-a-vase-on-monday-think-pink/

Easton Walled Gardens : https://www.visiteaston.co.uk/

Higgledy Garden Seeds. https://higgledygarden.com/

Mr Fothergill’s Seeds https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Sweet-Pea-Seed/

Barn Owl Trust https://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/barn-owl-facts/

Notes: Most birds make a flapping, swooping sound when they fly. Owls have special edges to the front of the wing that breaks the air into small streams of wind that rolls to the end of the wing. Comb-like feathers further break down the air into even more smaller streams to create almost silent flight.

Six on Saturday – a walk around my garden 29 June 2019

/ karen / 25 Comments

Foxglove. Sutton’s Apricot.

Ethereal. “Extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world.”

Exquisite, dainty, graceful, lovely. Will it seed about and make a glade. I hope so. There is so much hope in gardening.

Already seeding about successfully; pale geraniums. A hybrid, crossed with the native geraniums all along the lane, and my Johnson’s Blue varieties inside the garden gate. Looks just as beautiful at dusk when moths find the flowers irresistible. Seedlings vary from white though mauve to deep violet. Always a lovely surprise to see what turns up. You can buy a similar variety called Geranium Mrs Kendall Clark, or grow your own from seed.

I wrote about geraniums in my garden here https://bramblegarden.com/tag/wild-geraniums/

Wild dog roses – Rosa canina. The scent. The essence of a summer’s day. And beetles are welcome here too. Food for the bluetits and wrens currently feeding noisy fledglings all around the garden.

Rosa New Dawn. Another pale beauty. Easy to grow, climbs to the top of a willow tree and drips petals on to the pond. Never needs any sprays or pruning. Just looks after itself.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your walk around my garden today. After all that rain, it feels like summer is starting at last. It’s sunny and the temperature is 28C. I’ll be spending a lot of time sitting in the shade. Enjoy your weekend.

Links: SOS : https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2019/06/29/six-on-saturday-29-06-2019/

Foxglove Sutton’s apricot: https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Flower-Seed/Foxglove-Seed/Foxglove-Suttons-Apricot.html#.XRdUymfTWfA

Geranium pratense: https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/7914/Geranium-pratense/Details

Rosa canina : Hopes Grove Nursery

Rosa New Dawn :https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/new-dawn

You might also like to read : https://bramblegarden.com/tag/wild-geraniums/

https://bramblegarden.com/about/

Favourite Roses – Desprez a Fleur Jaune

/ karen / 11 Comments

None of the roses in my garden are sprayed. Desprez a Fleur June is tough and hardy and repeat flowers all summer. And it has a most beautiful scent.

Typically, all stages of flowering are on show at the same time. New buds are opening as the old flowers fade. It’s a beautiful combination. I love the range of colours from peach and apricot through to yellow and pink. One spray of roses could make a bouquet on its own.

Rose Type

Old fashioned heritage climber. Bred in France by Jean Desprez in 1830. Each rose has 26 to 40 petals, cluster flowering.

Habit

Climbing, up to 5m. I’m growing it on a trellis 1.5m wide, so it will be pruned to fit.

Repeat flowers, if deadheaded.

Very disease resistant. Leaves are pinnate, light green, glossy.

Very fragrant. Fruit salad/ pineapple scent.

Suitable For

Pergolas,arches, trellis, walls, fences, cut flower gardens, cottage gardens.

Soil Type

Any soil, but best on heavy clay, improved with well rotted farmyard manure, plant-based fertiliser and garden compost. As I’m a vegetarian gardener, I don’t use any bonemeal or chicken fertiliser pellets any more. My roses are beautiful- without causing any cruelty to any animal. I don’t use growmore either.

Planting position

Full sun, west and east facing. Can cope with semi-shaded position. Mine gets sun for a few hours in the morning. Then it’s in shade for the rest of the day.

Zones

Hardy in USDA zones 5/6/7/8/9

Tips

Mulch over the winter to conserve moisture. If there are aphids on the rose, tap the bush gently with a cane to dislodge ladybirds. As they are heavy, they will fall to the ground unhurt. Then blast the foliage with a hose pipe which will wash the aphids off. Water is a great natural inhibitor of sap-sucking aphids.

Links :https://www.classicroses.co.uk/desprez-a-fleurs-jaunes-climbing-rose.html

Also : https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/desprez-a-fleur-jaune

https://www.trevorwhiteroses.co.uk/shop/climbing-roses/desprez-a-fleurs-jaunes/

In a Vase on Monday- All White

/ karen / 26 Comments

I’m practicing for wedding flowers. You never know when you might need some….

White larkspur and Ammi majus. Such a simple combination. I’d probably add white sweet peas for scent. I’ve got heritage variety Mrs Collier growing on the hazel A frame. And some white love-in-a-mist. The bouquet would be tied with white satin and pearl pins, and not grey twine. But you get the idea.

Larkspur White King was sown on 4th September in 12″ pots in the polytunnel. I used a 50 /50 mixture of peat- free multi purpose compost and John Innes no 2 compost with some added grit for drainage. I used Sarah Raven/ Johnsons Seed, sown thinly, covered with a sprinkle of compost and left to grow on without pricking them out.

I also chose seeds from Higgledy Garden. These were part of a cut flower patch kit. Very good value and nice fresh seed. Everything germinated and grew well. Highly recommended. Plus, I like to support independent companies such as Ben’s.

White “cow parsley” type flowers in my bouquet are Higgledy Garden’s Ammi majus. This lovely airy flower always does better from an autumn sowing. Once you start cutting them lots of side shoots appear and you can harvest flowers right through the summer.

Higgledy’s larkspur mix contains some beautiful ice blue flowers, shell pinks and whites. All packets of seeds cost between £1 and £2.50 each. I probably spent less than £10.

Once I’d sown the seeds, I laid the packets on the pots and took photos to remind me what I’d grown and when. Labels have a habit of moving – all by themselves- on my plot!

Seedlings germinated by 21st September.

I had a bit of a problem with mice. Luckily they just thinned the seedlings for me. I put down peanuts and bird food for them, which they preferred. Hopefully the barn owl will have helped me out over the summer. I know she is feeding fledglings as we see her most nights, and we hear them calling for food. Loudly.

Those few pots of plants have been supplying me with posies for a several weeks now. I’m not sure they produce blooms any sooner than plants grown outdoors; but they have super long stems with plenty of flowers and haven’t been damaged by rain.

I particularly love the green markings on the back of the petals.

Green-tinged buds make a lovely contrast to the white flowers.

If anyone wants to get married next summer- I have the perfect plan for the flowers! Just saying.

links : Cathy IAVOM : https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/06/24/in-a-vase-on-monday-respite/

Sarah Raven / Johnsons Seeds : https://www.johnsons-seeds.com/Flower-Seed_0/Annuals_3/Larkspur-White-King.html#.XRDKaGfTWfA

Higgledy Garden, Ben Ranyard : https://higgledygarden.com/

Cut flower growing and arrangements -courses and books: Georgie at https://www.commonfarmflowers.com/

First Polytunnels :https://www.firsttunnels.co.uk/

Dalefoot peat free composts :https://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/

Twine : https://nutscene.com/collections/twines/products/candytwist-twine-nutscenes-bakers-twine-large-spools

Please feel free to share this post on any social media platform.

You might also like to read :

https://bramblegarden.com/2019/06/23/prize-draw-winner-hansford-coil-spring-chair/

And

https://bramblegarden.com/2019/06/20/ngs-garden-visit-oak-tree-house/

Or

https://bramblegarden.com/2019/06/15/six-on-saturday-a-walk-around-my-garden-15-june-2019/

Thank you 😊

Prize draw winner – Hansford Coil Spring Chair

/ karen / 1 Comment

Congratulations to Julie Skelton who has won a Hansford Coil Spring garden chair. Hansford’s James Samuels drew the name (out of a hat) at the Gardeners’ World Live Show where the garden furniture company staged a display.

I wrote a review of the chair here : https://bramblegarden.com/2019/05/31/product-review-hansford-coil-spring-chair/

Thank you to James for helping to organise the prize draw and supplying the chair.

Mine is perfect for relaxing after a long day in the garden. I particularly like the rocking element of the design, which is quite soothing if you suffer from a bad back. I’ve been sitting in mine while listening to the birds, watching the fledglings find their way around the wild garden. It’s been a joy this week. All the nests are now empty and I can report that the blackbirds who made precarious nests just 3ft off the ground, under the house windows, have successfully fledged their chicks.

Today, mum came to visit, and we planted out the rest of the dahlias grown from cuttings. We planted anything we could find in the greenhouse. I like taking cuttings, but I’m slow to move plants on. They languish in little pots. Eventually, I take pity on them, and plant the whole pot in a clump. More or less thrown into the ground. It’s amazing how resilent plants are. Mum goes home with two posies we cut from the garden; one of white flowers, and the other sweet williams, pinks, carnations and sweet peas.

The chair is light enough to carry around the garden. When I’ve finished working on the plot, I move it under a cascading New Dawn Rose. The evening scent is fabulous.

I never prune or spray this rose, it just looks after itself. Wonderful as the sun sets behind it and shines through delicate shell pink petals.

A lovely place to sit at the end of the day.

Links : https://hansfordfurniture.com/

Julie Skelton : https://www.julieskelton.com/category/garden/

BBC Gardeners’ World Live- Photos of Show Gardens

/ karen / 5 Comments

I’ve written about the Watchmaker’s Garden, which has a family connection, here : https://bramblegarden.com/2019/06/14/bbc-gardeners-world-live/

The Watchmaker’s Garden by Alexandra Froggatt.

Here are some of the other show gardens I saw on preview day this week.

Onward and Upward

Designer: Andy Tudbury

Andy’s 10th Show garden for BBC Gardeners’ World Live highlights the benefits of horticultural therapy, pioneered by the charity HighGround. A pathway takes you through the edge of a birch stand and wild flower meadow area, past a sculpture by Simon Probyn. The journey represents hope, re-birth and a new beginning. The path then leads you “Onward and Upward” to the recovery and leisure areas. HighGround focuses on horticultural therapy as rehabilitation for injured service personnel. They are based at a new DNRC centre at Stanford Hall near Loughborough, Leicestershire.

We watched the filming with Joe Swift on Andy’s garden.

Sculpture by Simon Probyn during the build for Onward and Upward.

Andy Tudbury http://www.halcyondays.biz/

HighGround https://highground-uk.org/

Canal & River Trust Garden- Making Life Better by Water

Designer: Chris Myers

Construction: Canal and River Trust volunteers

Inspired by ideas from trust volunteers David and Hilary Godbehere, lock keepers on the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal. The garden surrounds a central canal with a veg plot and flower garden alongside. The charity is dedicated to caring for 2,000 miles of canals and rivers in England and Wales.

High Line

Designer: Lucy Bravington

Contractor Dan Ryan of Design It Landscapes

Based on the elevated public park in New York where Lucy visited last year. Features Corten steel, industrial elements and naturalistic planting with three focal point trees, grasses and ferns.

A Glimpse of South East Asia

Designer: Robyn Brookes

Contractor Timotay Landscapes

Inspired by South East Asian adventures, the garden combines a tropical planting palette with a simple selection of natural hard landscaping materials. Antique silver paving, yellow paddle stones and Caledonian boulders contrast with charred timber. Water cascades into a shallow pool, creating a feeling of calm.

Oasis of Peace

Designer: Anna Pawlowska

Contractor: Morgan Oates

A space inspired by Moroccan and Mediterranean style. You can slip your shoes off and cool your feet in the rill on a hot summer’s day. Water encloses an island to create the feeling of a relaxing hideaway.

Gadd Brothers Garden Getaway

Designers : Dr Catherine Macdonald and Rhiannon Williams

Contractor: Gadd Brothers

Garden for a young professional couple who have recently had an extension to their period style home. It’s designed to suit a small linear garden which is accessed by simple sliding doors. Height comes from the multi-stem trees and wood and metal pergola. There’s a water feature and two seating areas.

Revelation

Designer Mike Baldwin of Derby College

Mike designed the garden based on a combination of scripture and garden history. The four horses charging out of metal gates (Revelation and Versailles) flanked by an avenue of photinia Red Robin. The middle section of the garden was inspired by “In my father’s house are many rooms, ” (Hidcote and Sissinghurst-esqe).

The Macmillan Legacy Garden

Designer Martyn Wilson

Contractor: Big Fish Landscapes

Inspired by the gifts left in wills to Macmillan Cancer Support and celebrates the idea of leaving a legacy. These vital legacy donations make up over a third of its funding and help support people living with cancer. The “presents” in Martyn’s garden will each contain a different species of tree and symbolise gifts left in wills to Macmillan.

The Home Solutions by John Lewis Garden

Designer; Waitrose partner Shaun Beale

Contractor : Golden Gardens and the APL

Takes its inspiration from the beautiful gardens within the Leckford Estate and combines them with a contemporary functional, useable space. The John Lewis Home Solutions service aims to give customers access to a wide range of tradespeople, all of whom have the John Lewis seal of approval.

Harborne Botanics

Designer: Toby Pritchard

Contractor : Creative Roots

Marshalls Symphony paving takes you from the house to the patio. Matching paving takes you along the rill and on to the hardwood decking. The planting features a variety of leaf shapes and sizes, suggesting a more exotic location than the British climate can always offer. Walling and charred timber create surrounding screens.

The Dahlia Garden

Designer Jon Wheatley

Contractor Stonebarn Landscapes

Below is a fruit, vegetable and flower garden. It was fascinating watching the filming. Although I didn’t stand and stare, as it must be hard enough to remember what to say without an audience watching! Needless to say, the plants in this garden are total perfection. An amazing array and such an achievement after a very difficult growing season.

BBC Gardeners’ World Live runs until June 16.

https://www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com/whats-on

In a Vase on Monday -27th May 2019

/ karen / 30 Comments

It’s been raining on and off all day, so by 8.30pm it was now or never to pick my Monday Vase. I just caught the last of the light. But the flowers are full of raindrops.

There’s a “first and last” theme to tonight’s posy. It’s the last of the forget me nots. They have been glorious for months, providing a blue accompaniment to all the spring bulbs. And it’s the last of the wallflowers. Their wonderful scent has drifted across the veg plot for weeks. The variety is Persian Carpet, and I’m just about to sow some more seed for next year’s display.

It’s a first for the dianthus barbatus ( sweet williams). I have some self-seeded magenta flowers, and some rows of a new dark red, almost black variety, called Sooty.

There’s the first flowers from the sweet peas too. I’ve got heritage varieties, Mrs Collier (white) and Dorothy Eckford (cream) – alongside modern varieties High Scent and Wiltshire Ripple, and new this year, Capel Manor.

It’s also first for the blue love-in-a-mist and Blue Diadem cornflower. The cornflowers will flower right through to October. Seed was sown last October and plants were over-wintered in the poly tunnel. To be honest, the flowers only seem a week or two earlier than the ones grown outdoors, so I probably won’t bother trying to over-winter them again. They took up a lot of space and needed a lot of watering. Too much trouble for something that grows so readily outside.

Self-seeded pot marigolds are putting on an early show. I love these pale orange flowers, sisters of a variety called Orange Fizz. I’ll definitely grow these again. I’ve just planted some tiny plug plants to flower until the first frosts. Variety unknown, as they came from my Mum. Her labelling system is worse than mine! I’m not complaining, as she’s also brought annual pinks, stocks, cosmos and some kind of daisies. I can’t wait to see what they look like. We hoed out a trench and planted them in rows, mum passing me the plants and me setting them in the ground. We got a system going and planted them in half an hour.

The last of the winter pansies have grown long and leggy. Perfect for jam jar flowers at this time of the year. I’ve just sown some new black varieties. They look as sumptuous as velvet on the seed packets.

As soon as I’d picked my flowers, the light began to fade. How lovely to still be able to wander about in the garden in the evening though. If I’m lucky I’ll catch sight of the barn owl again.

Links : In a Vase on Monday: https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/05/27/in-a-vase-on-monday-more-sweeties/

Links : Dianthus Sooty https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_450K_dianthus_barbatus_sooty

In a Vase on Monday- 6th May 2019

/ karen / 30 Comments

Happy Bank Holiday Monday! I hope you are all managing to get some gardening done today. It’s still cold and windswept here. Only 11C, but feels much colder due to the biting north wind. Rain and high winds have caused some damage here. The beautiful lime green beech tree leaves have been blown into the paddock. They only opened a week ago. So soft and delicate. It looks as if someone has laid them as a fine velvet mulch everywhere. Some of the fancy double tulips look as if they’ve been cut with a scythe. They are all cleanly sheared off half way down their stems. Heads just too heavy for gale force winds. So today, I’ve made table arrangements with the casualties.

Mount Tacoma looks pretty in three glass jars in a row. The short stems don’t matter for this garden table arrangement.

This late-flowering double tulip is a favourite . I love the flash of green on the outer petals. The flowers remind me of feathers.

If I could re name it, I would call it Swan. Beautiful, simple table arrangements for a laid-back bank holiday.

I’m cutting some branches from the orchard for tonight’s dinner table. Flower arrangements don’t have to be complicated. Especially on a bank holiday.

Here’s a view of the garden today. The hawthorn hedge looks like seafoam in the wind. Looks like there will be more rain, judging by the colour of that sky.

Half an hour later, the downpour has passed. There’s some blue sky and we can see for miles from the top of the garden. Skylarks are singing overhead. Always a good sign.

Links : IAVOM In a Vase on Monday. https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/05/06/ina-vase-on-monday-delicate/

Mount Tacoma tulips : https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/bulbs/tulips/double-late-tulips/tulip-mount-tacoma

Alton Cedar greenhouses : https://www.altongreenhouses.co.uk/

The view in the distance from the top of the garden is : https://www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/nature-reserves/bunny-old-wood-west