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Bringing your garden to life August 2012
Hampton Court Highlights from the show & images of our RHS display stand
Win 9 19 ÂŁ a bo e z Ga
Free Get the most out of your Orchid with our expert care tips and advice
Up to 50% - off! Do not miss out!
Roses
Editor’s Choice ‘This month’s Editor’s Choice is the beautiful Calla Lilly which look superb at this time of year. My favourite has to be ‘Odessa’ with richly coloured, satin-textured, deep-burgundy flowers that are elegantly curved and look majestic from all angles. We have a great selection of these lilies in-store starting from £6.99.
The rose is the nation’s favourite flower and with so many to choose from in a huge variety of shapes, sizes, colours and perfumes, there really is a rose to suit everyone’s taste. You can even have a rose bush named after you if you have money to spare! The rose has a long and revered history and since it is often associated with love and romance it has become a ‘must by’ item on Valentine’s Day when its price goes through the roof!
OR
T EDI
ICE O H ’S C
Check-out our mini-magazine devoted to the rose on page 11
Win 9 19 £ A bo e z Ga
The August issue is our best yet. We have some great contributors this month, including Stephanie Donaldson. Stephanie is an author and an avid blogger, Stephanie is also a contributing gardens editor of Country Living magazine, author of many gardening books and a very hands-on gardener. She is a long-time believer in organic methods, her expertise in this area led to her co-authoring the Prince of Wales’ most recent book, The Elements of Organic Gardening. Stephanie’s blog can be found here: http://blog.theenduringgardener.com/ You can also download The Enduring Gardener app. Click here to download Or scan the QR code to download
Ask an expert Having issues with your garden? Do you need expert advice? You can now seek expert advice and tips. Just email us your questions. Answers will be published in the following issue. Email: s.dontoh@capitalgarden.co.uk
Editor: Samuel Dontoh Layout: Samuel Dontoh Contributors Roses article: John Hoyland Orchids article: John Schofield Summer Pruning: Stephanie Donaldson Plant Photography: Samuel Dontoh Juice Recipe Guide: Samuel Dontoh Hampton Court Q&A 1: Robert Gee Hampton Court Q&A 2: Anoushka Feiler
A look at some of our most luxurious garden furniture. This is a must read for those looking for inspiration or seeking to wow their garden party guests.
A rose guide by award winning nurseryman John Hoyland. With excellent tips on growing roses. Rose care tips and a range of rose care products to ensure you get the best out of your roses. ►How to grow roses ►Rose care tips ►Best rose care products for your roses
Orchids are the largest family of the plant kingdom with over 25,000 naturally occurring species in the world. They are stunningly beautiful, and make for great centre pieces. However, we often receive questions about their care. So we have created a comprehensive care guide.
Stephanie Donaldson delves into the much debated topic of summer pruning in her article ‘Why summer pruning is a good idea’. Stephanie is the co author of Prince Charles recent book The Elements Of Organic Gardening.
You spend all year waiting, plaining and dreaming about the Hampton Court show, and just like that it has come and gone. We have some highlights from the show, and a Q&A with award winning designer Anoushka Feiler. ►Q&A with Robert Gee ►Q&A with Anoushka Feiler ►RHS Stand display
e r o t ! s In o w N
Hardy Fuchsia ÂŁ9.99 Beacon Rosa Photo taken at Alexandra Palace Garden Centre
Westminster Serenity Polyteak Fusion
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6 x Serenity PU Leather Armchair Height: 870 mm Width: 560 mm Depth: 660 mm 1 x Fusion Polyteak Table Height: 740 mm Width: 2000 mm Depth: 100 mm
This Westminster Serenity Polyteak Fusion and PU Leather armchair set marries two new garden furniture materials. The Polyteak table has the natural appearance of teak but with the added bonuses of being resistant to fading, warping and splintering. The Westminster PU Leather Armchair in white adds elegance and sophistication to any outdoor space Westminster PU leather is a textured polyurethane coated fabric which is water resistant, extremely durable and the ideal material for the construction of outdoor furniture. The foam used for filling in this Serenity range allows rapid drainage for any seepage through the seams following prolonged downpours. It is also easy to clean using warm water or household wipes.
£2389.00
Mark Gabbertas
Mark Gabbertas is an award winning furniture designer based in London. An intrinsic part of Mark's design process is the belief that the design of an object is always governed by an appreciation of commercial realities. He believes passionately that if a great design does not sell, perhaps it is not such a great design.
Cloud Truly taking the indoors out, Cloud is the ultimate expression of the outdoor living trend. A wide number of different units can integrate together to create almost limitless design possibilities. If you can imagine it, the chances are it can be created with Cloud. From
Create your own
www.capitalgardens.co.uk
Roses
Magazine
Patio roses
The essential care rose guide By award winning nurseryman John Hoyland
“A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses�
Rose s
It is not surprising that the rose is the favourite plant of British gardeners. With gorgeous flowers, full of beauty and romance, they come in a range of colours, many with scented blooms and many producing attractive hips in the autumn; they can be grown in borders, containers, over arches, pergolas and as groundcover; they are easy to grow and are long-lived and there are varieties that thrive in deep shade as well as full sun. What more could anyone ask of a plant? There are thousands of different roses available and increasingly, modern varieties are being bred for ease of growth, free flowering, and pest and disease resistance. There are so many varieties available that it is possible to find a rose for any situation in the garden – up a shady north-facing wall, through a floriferous herbaceous border, in pots on a sunny patio.
Shrub/English roses: bushy, low-maintenance roses, usually with large flowers. Plant singly or in groups in borders together with other shrubs and herbaceous perennials. Patio and miniature roses: average 45cm high, ideal for low hedging, containers or rockeries. Climbing/rambling roses: good for covering walls, fences or growing over arches, pillars and pergolas. Ramblers are very vigorous and are sometimes used to clamber through trees. Groundcover roses: low-growing and spreading roses that are ideal for ground cover, down slopes or banks or for quickly covering unsightly areas. Standard roses: tall-stemmed roses make attractive centrepieces or even a small avenue in borders. They can also be grown in large pots.
Light yellow. Mild fragrance. 25 to 30
This variety produces masses of slightly
Bred by Paul Chessum in 1995. Happy
petals. Average diameter 3.75". Medium
scented lemon-yellow blooms
Times produces slightly scented, small
to large flower, very double, borne
throughout summer, above glossy green
pink double flowers. Blooms in flushes
mostly solitary, in small clusters.
foliage.
throughout the season.
Summer Pruning
There’s a tendency to view summer pruning as a mysterious art In the ornamental garden it’s the early flowering shrubs that carried out by the experts, while the rest of us stick to winter should be pruned immediately after flowering. Philadelphus, pruning. Actually, summer pruning isn’t risky and sometimes kolkwitzia, deutzia and
should all be treated this
it really is a better option than winter pruning. One of the main way. To keep the shrub shapely, cut out a third of the old brown difference between the two techniques is that pruning in winter wood close to the ground – this will encourage new flowering stimulates growth; pruning in summer checks it.
Another shoots - and then trim away any over-exuberant growth. Where
important difference is that it is the ONLY TIME to prune a shrub has got overlarge and leggy it can be hard-pruned to members of the prunus family – plums, almonds, apricots, within 20 cm of the ground. When taking this drastic action nectarines, peaches, gages etc to minimise the risk of silver give the plant a thorough soaking, fork some bonemeal into the leaf infection. Silver leaf is a fungal disease and its wind-borne soil and top with a moisture retaining mulch. spores are released from late autumn through to spring when they can enter fresh pruning cuts.
Some plants are ‘bleeders’ and lose alarming amounts of sap if pruned in late winter or early spring. Birches and maples fall
Maybe it’s all the foliage that is off-putting when it comes to in to this category and are best pruned in summer. Similarly, summer pruning, it is all so much easier in the winter when you grapevines, which must be given their main pruning before the can see exactly what you are doing. Besides which, there’s a end of January to avoid bleeding, should have the vigorous new fear that cutting back new growth will also be cutting away next lateral growths left untrimmed until mid-summer. year’s fruit or flowers. Worry not, what you are cutting away is the over-vigorous growth that is crowding the tree and using So, get out there with your secateurs and get to grips with energy that is better directed to the fruiting buds. This is summer pruning, it really isn’t rocket science and your garden especially true of trained fruit trees such as cordons, espaliers will look all the better for it. and step-overs. Left to their own devices in summer they will quickly turn into unruly mop-tops and all the early training will © Stephanie Donaldson be lost in a forest of foliage. From their second year of planting, late summer is when all trained fruit trees should have their main pruning. Summer pruning will also restrict the growth and help shape other fruiting and ornamental trees.
Soft fruit can also be summer pruned. Cut any damaged wood from blackcurrants straight after fruiting and keep prickly gooseberries under control by removing crossing or damaged branches. By summer pruning red and white currants, extra light and air will reach the fruit and speed the ripening process.
Stephanie Donaldson’s Blog
How to grow roses The definitive guide Roses will grow in almost any soil, as long as it is not continually wet or boggy. To give your rose the best start in your garden, dig lots of garden compost or well-rotted manure into the soil where you are planting the rose.
Rose Care Tips ● When planting your roses you should be aware that using manure can burn the new roots of your rose bushes. Never use fresh manure on roses. It's much safer to use well-rotted compost for your roses to which some manure has been added. You can even use this to mulch your rose bushes after planting them.
After planting water the plant well. Established plants can tolerate prolonged dry spells but for the first year after planting make sure that the soil around the rose is kept moist. If you are growing roses in pots, they need to be regularly watered so that the compost doesn’t dry out but at the same time is never waterlogged. To be able to produce so many flowers, roses need regular feeding. In the spring, sprinkle a rose fertiliser around the roses. Follow this up with a mulch of compost or manure around the crown of the plant. Do this every year and you will have vigorous, healthy plants. Feed roses that are The rose family also grown in pots or includes pears, apples, containers every two cherries, plums, weeks from spring until peaches, apricots, and the end of summer with almonds. a liquid rose fertiliser.
Rose care
● Patio roses and many lowgrowing floribundas look great in containers. It is important to water them regularly as roses in containers tend to dry out more quickly than roses that have been planted in flower beds. ● Roses should be always be planted with an application of mycorrhizal fungi available under the brand name ‘rootgrow™’.
Rose hips contain more Vitamin C than any other fruit or vegetable.
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The first plants of each new species brought back to England fetched high prices. The largest amount ever recorded was in 1890 when ÂŁ1,500 was paid for one orchid, that is equivalent to around ÂŁ96,500 today!
Despite growing wild on the branches of forest trees in tropical areas of Asia and northern Australia, the exotic Moth orchid makes an excellent and easy-to-grow houseplant which will thrive surprisingly well in the average living-room. The easy going nature of this orchid, combined with its strikingly beautiful flowers has made it one of the biggest selling houseplants in UK. The blooms are large and said to resemble moths in flight – hence the Latin name from Greek words meaning ‘moth-like’. They can be pure white through shades of pink and purple but also red and orange and they are often strikingly patterned and mottled. In their wild environment the plants live on trees, using their strong fleshy roots to anchor themselves to branches below the leaf canopy. The atmosphere is warm and humid, the air around them is laden with moisture, and the light is dappled as they are sheltered from the burning rays of the sun by the tree’s foliage above. Our homes might seem a world away from this jungle-living, but they are actually not a bad substitute, offering warmth and shade. A window sill that does not get direct sunlight will suit them best and somewhere that is not exposed to wildly fluctuating temperatures.
Blooms appear on arching flower-spikes at any time of year and can last up to 3 months. A small plant may just have the one flower stem but an old, established specimen may produce as many as a hundred. Young plants will probably only flower once a year but as they age they may flower twice or even three times. When flowering has finished, or better still, when there are one or two flowers left the flower stem should be cut down to about 1 inch above the first ‘node’ on the flower stem. This will be below where the first flower appeared and will be a little bump on the stem. The plant may quickly form another flower spike from there. If the flower spike dies completely and goes brown the whole thing should be cut down.
Moth orchids like to be moist but not sodden and should never be left to stand in water. Living in the branches of trees in the tropics they have access to constant moisture but it drains away quickly. As a general guide water once every 4 to 7 days but it will depend on the time of year and how warm it is. If you can, collect rainwater (it would not have been a problem this year!) and use that to water the plants. Try to water in the morning so that any excess has dried from the foliage and crown of the plant before the evening to avoid bacteria and fungus developing. Repotting may have to be done every year as the open, barky compost gradually breaks down and holds too much moisture. Or the plant may be getting too big for the pot. Always use a proper orchid compost. If you are lucky your plant will produce more plants. Sometimes a flower bud will develop into a miniature plant on the flower stem with its own tiny roots. These can be taken off and potted up to make new plants that should themselves be flowering in a few years.
2 stem Multi Pink
2 Stem Ikaria
Arch Pink
Arch White
D E E F Orchids plants are the largest family of the plant kingdom with over 25,000 naturally occurring species in the world, as well as all the specially-developed hybrids! Drip feed Orchid liquid Plant food
Orchid Drip feeder
Orchid food
h C
i l il Chillies need warmth and can get overheated in hot climates. One great benefit of gardening in containers is that you can move your plants to better conditions as needed. Dry soil is disastrous for peppers; it will slow or even stop production. Your challenge will be to keep the soil evenly moist but not wet. Mulching will help retain soil moisture and keep weeds down. Starting early in the growing season fertilize with a weak solution of a balanced liquid fertiliser, a time-release fertiliser. Too much nitrogen will create plants with lush foliage and few peppers. Keep an eye out for aphids and flea beetles. If you smoke or handle tobacco wash your hands before you touch the pepper plants, because peppers are vulnerable to the tobacco mosaic virus. To harvest, use a clean knife to cut the stem of the pepper. Pulling or twisting can damage the plant and leave it susceptible to insects or diseases.
JUICE recipe GuIDE
Stamina Beetroot
Drinking beetroot juice has been known to boosts stamina and could help people exercise for up to 16% longer. A study by the University of Exeter found that the nitrate contained in the vegetable leads to a reduction in oxygen uptake - making exercise less tiring. This has a direct effect on stamina. So if you are doing a charity run, digging in your garden, a tall glass of beetroot juice may help you to achieve your goal in record time. Here are some juicing recipes for beetroot.
Serves 2 ● 3 small – medium beetroots (small to medium have the sweetest flavour) ● 3 oranges (peeled) ● thumb sized piece of fresh ginger
Wash the beetroot and remove the tops. Peel the rind off the oranges. Push all the ingredients through your vegetable juicer. If you use organic beetroot and ginger, you don’t have to peel them. Pour it into glasses, stir and serve.
Serves 2 ● 3oz beetroot, cooked and peeled ● 6 lf oz freshly squeezed orange juice without the pulp (approx. 3-4 oranges) ● 1 pc lemon, juice only ● 1/2 fl oz honey ● 6 pc ice cubes
Cook the beetroot, with the skin, in plain water until well soft. Drain and leave to cool. Peel the beetroot while still warm. Ensure that you wear gloves during that process, as avoid the purple flesh stain your hands deep red in color. Chill the beetroot well. In a blender combine the ice, honey and lemon juice all ingredients and blend well to a smooth pulp. Turn on the blender to high speed and incorporate the orange juice. Adjust lemon and honey to taste and serve well chilled.
Watermelon When you mention lycopene, the first vegetable that springs to most peoples mind is Tomatoes. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant that helps fight heart disease and several types of cancer — prostate cancer in particular. Watermelon, however, has the highest concentrations of lycopene of any fresh fruit or vegetable. Not many people enjoy drinking Tomato juice for its health benefits, this is why Watermelon is the perfect choice for an antioxidant juice. Watermelon does not offend many pallets.
Serves 2
● half a watermelon, seedless ● 2 tablespoons sugar (or vary to how sweet you want it) ● 1/2 cup cold water
Watermelon's official name is Citrullus Lanatus of the botanical family Curcurbitaceae. It is cousins to cucumbers, pumpkins and squash.
Scoop the watermelon into a blender, add the sugar, blend into puree until smooth. Pour and enjoy.
Add ice cubes for lovely summer drink.
Growing Watermelon
Serves 2
1 Sow seed in pots somewhere warm. Grow
● 8-10lb watermelon (seedless)
plants to a good size before
● 4-6 tbsp of rose water
planting outside, after the last
● 2 tablespoons of raw sugar (optional)
frost date (early June in most
● mint sprigs (optional) for garnish
areas).
● rose petals (optional) for garnish
2 Give each plant about 3ft to grow each way.
Carve the flesh from a watermelon, removing the seeds if you could not get hold of a seedless water melon.
3 Cover the soil with black
Juice the melon in a juicing machine, then mix in 4-6
plastic - ideally a woven
Tbsp. rose water and 2 Tbsp. raw sugar (optional).
plastic mulch as it will let the
Garnish with mint sprigs and rose petals. Chill before
rain through. Avoid hoeing.
serving.
circulation Ginger
Circulation issues blight the young and the old. It is normally more prominent during the winter, however serious sufferers are left feeling cold, even in the summer. The record rainfall has meant that temperatures have remained low and this along with other factors mean poor circulation issues are ever present this summer. This is where ginger comes in it has a warming effect on the body and this is excellent for circulatory problems and it helps alleviate cold hands and feet. Ginger is also well known for its anti-inflammatory properties and hence its treatment for joints and connective tissues.
Serves 2
The ginger root is not actually a root, it is a rhizome.
●
1 inch slice ginger root
●
1 Fresh lemon
●
Juice of 5 – 6 carrots with tops
●
1 Seeded apple
Juice all ingredients with a juicer or use a high powered blender and strain the mixture with a nut milk bag.
Serves 2 ●
1 medium piece (approx. 1/4 cup) Ginger
●
2 lemons, peeled
●
1 very ripe peach
●
4 red delicious apples
●
2 large cucumbers
●
3 carrots
●
1 bunch coriandar
●
2 bunches kale
●
1 bunch spinach
Juice all ingredients with a juicer or use a high powered blender and strain the mixture with a nut milk bag. Ginger can be a powerful flavour so reduce the quantity if necessary. However ginger’s delicious potency can also be wonderful for adding flavour to any juice recipe that seems a little too bland. The peach and coriander in this recipe also deliver a nice level of sweet to balance the ginger.
Hampton Court 2012 The Italian Job – Garden
EDI T
O R’
SC HOI CE
Q&A 3 years Bestique creates unique gardens, landscapes and interiors for homes, businesses or special events. www.bestique.co.uk
Anoushka Feiler In a very specific way the garden was inspired by people who suffer from an overactive bladder and their difference in life-quality once they receive treatment; these people talk about how they got their life back and how wonderful that was. This dramatic change in life quality inspired everything about the design. In a more general way I hoped that the design would resonate with all visitors in some way. We nearly all experience harder times and this garden hopefully reminded you how gardening and having a closer relationship with plants can be a tonic to some and a lifeline to others
Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden and Bury Court. I also love the High Line in New York.
Planting and seats. There was the wonderful double yellow line bench in the garden ‘A riot of colour’, the floating seats with plants underneath in the garden ‘Contemporary Contemplation’ and the thyme under planted seats in the garden ‘Falling Leaves’.
Two favourites – Echinacea purpurea ‘Fatal Attraction’ and Selinum wallichianum both for their deep purple stems.
Hosta ‘Praying Hands’ and Dianthus barbatus nigrescens 'Sooty'. I first pitched to the sponsor in November – so nine months of planning. The build took three weeks.
Yes, the plants I originally bought did not flower and the grasses were not mature enough so I had to buy new plants to create the same look just two weeks before the show.
Absolutely.
Think about what you need the garden for. Try to imagine it to be an extension of your house and divide the areas into ‘rooms’ that suit your different needs. ● Allow plenty of room for plant borders. ● When buying plants – buy lots of the same thing and plant together in odd numbers. Limit your planting to a few varieties rather than many.
Arrive with an empty boot and an empty mind.
Capital Gardens RHS Display
Q&A Groundwork, the community charity with a green heart, is 30 this year and strongly believe that bleak, grey areas lead to bleak, grey societies. Their aim is to empower more people to change under-utilised bits of land into parks, gardens, playgrounds and allotments that people can enjoy with their neighbours after the show, the gardens will be relocated to communities in need of urban green space in London, Birmingham, Ellesmere Port and Merthyr Tydfil.
Definitely. The whole project is great exposure for Capital Gardens. To be seen to be actively involved at one of the biggest flower shows in the world can only be a positive thing for us. To be working so closely with the RHS is a great advert and helps to raise our profile and cement our place leading the way in horticulture in London Garden Centres.
Robert Gee We wanted to use as many plants as we could which we stock in our Garden Centres to give people a good idea of what they might expect to find if they visit us. We felt it would be a great advertising opportunity. A large centre piece in each of the 26 planters was essential to give structure, along with an exciting mix of foliage, colour and textures. It was also key to use plants which we were confident that we could sell off at the end of the show and hopefully inspire people to come and visit us.
The Urban Oasis Feature by Groundwork by Designer and broadcaster Chris Beardshaw was amazing. It was a realistic display of how the city landscape can be dramatically changed with a little community TLC. An urban oasis can take many forms. This garden feature brought to life the many ways spare pockets of land can be put to use in amongst dense housing in our towns and cities. Community orchards, food growing schemes, reclaimed land after industry has left, ways to encourage children to play amongst trees, flower gardens, an experiment station – all this is possible in the most unlikely of places.
Our team of four spent a whole day at Hampton Court arranging the plants. This however wouldn’t have been possible without the time planning the project back at the centre. We practiced arranging the plants and designed the layout in advance to ensure that we took enough plant material on the day. In the final hour of the show we sold off a large majority of the plants to show visitors in a frantic frenzy. This helped us to collapse the stand quickly and dramatically reduced the amount of stock that we had to bring back to the garden centre.
Plan ahead. It’s all in the preparation. Be prepared to respond to unexpected issues that may pop up and be able to overcome problems on the spur of the moment. Sleep well beforehand! The hours are long and you have to stick to specified deadlines. Take lots of food and drink!
CAPITAL GARDENS SUMMER SALE STARTS FRIDAY 10 AUGUST 9:00 AM
FABULOUS REDUCTIONS in W 199 o £ A zeb Ga
Don't miss out!
If you are reading this you have been automatically entered into our gazebo prize draw. Good Luck.
Reductions on: Plants Garden Furniture Bbq’s Giftware Pots
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