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The Worlds FIRST Hardy Gardenia

Gardenia ‘Kleims Hardy’ 1 x 9cm pot £11.99 2 x 9cm pot £23.98

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£14.99

...that’s also scented, evergreen and perfect for pots

HURRY OFFER ENDS AUGUST 18th

Highly fragrant evergreen shrub Perfect for sheltered borders or containers Compact and easy to grow

Delighted with the plant... arrived in the time scale and was well packaged

Gardenia ‘Kleim’s Hardy’ Exotic single white blooms with an intoxicating fragrance that is simply divine. Gardenia ‘Kleim’s Hardy’ is the first of its kind that can be grown outdoors all year round. Its glossy evergreen foliage provides the perfect backdrop for the exquisite blooms in summer. A beautiful, compact shrub for sheltered borders and containers.

Height and spread: 90cm (36”).Supplied as 9cm potted plants that are well established and can be planted straight into beds or containers.

Despatch from August.

SPECIAL BONUS OFFER Gardenia ‘Crown Jewels’ Who’d have imagined you could grow a tough, hardy outdoor gardenia a few years ago? Large pearly white, waxy double blooms, contrasting dramatically against rich, glossy evergreen leaves. This hardy shrub will be a prized specimen from the moment it’s delivered to your door. And do not underestimate the fragrance, Gardenia ‘Crown Jewels’ has one of the strongest, most intoxicating scents that will fill patios, gardens and your home all summer long.

2 x 9cm pot £23.98 £17.99

Black & Gold Patio Pot This elegant patio pot features a stylish diamond-trellis pattern in burnished gold, with a matching pot saucer to complete the look.

Made from durable plastic, it is lightweight and easily moved around the garden. The weatherproof material makes it suitable for year round displays of patio shrubs or seasonal bedding plants.

ONLY

MAXICROP Plant Treatment For ONLY £1 we will treat your whole order with MAXICROP to give your plants: • Strong, healthy root system - More energy for growth • Greener, healthier leaves – Great nutrient availability • Reduced stress during transit • Better establishment and improved root growth

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AMAZING ALSTROEMERIA rare | unusual | exciting

FILL YOUR HOME AND GARDEN WITH COPIOUS EXOTIC BLOOMS FROM JUNE TO NOVEMBER Everybody loves Alstroemeria as they give copious exoticlooking blooms from June to November that last for up to 14 days in a vase!

Deadhead by pulling the flowers stems gently from the bottom of the plant, the resulting ‘wound’ then initiates new flowers.

Prefer well-drained soil in a partly shaded sheltered site.

Height 65-90cm, spread 40cm.

Fully hardy perennials. Your order is covered by our No Quibble Guarantee and will be confirmed together with a copy of our latest catalogue. Your 9cm pots will be delivered within 14 days.

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03 amate30 333 1113 subs.curgardenin g o.uk – see p /aug20 ag e 23

Jobs for this week * 4

Make the summer colour last 5 Try these late-blooming heroes 6 Time to prick out your seedlings 9 Peg down strawberry runners 12 Free seeds and bird watch

Great garden ideas 24 Night-scented flowers: perfume your patio with these fragrant picks 28 Smouldering colours: reignite your borders with berry and jewel tones 32 PeeGee hydrangeas: paniculatas you can grow even in a small garden

Gardening wisdom

28

“Infuse your borders with rich jewel and berry tones,” says Louise

“Keep your garden looking colourful for even longer,” says Ruth

Future

4

11 Peter Seabrook: clearing bamboo is a big job but can be done, says Peter 14 Bob Flowerdew: feast on fresh fruit all the way through winter, says Bob 16 Val Bourne: how exactly do honeybees toot and quack? Val reveals all 19 Lucy Chamberlain’s Fruit and Veg 36 Ask John Negus: your questions 40 Anne Swithinbank’s Masterclass 42 All Our Yesterdays: Arthur Hellyer’s pick of the best large-flowered roses 45 A Gardener’s Miscellany: trivia and quizzes about peppers and chillies 48 Tried & Tested: Tim tests six devices that help keep the wasps at bay 53 Letters to Wendy from AG readers 59 Toby Buckland: a pesky pond weed requires Toby’s urgent attention “Tips and varieties to help you fight late tomato blight,” says Lucy

19

Garden news 7

UK facing massive water shortage

“I’ve just lost two huge courgette plants to mosaic virus! They were just starting to produce bountiful courgettes when, in a matter of days, the leaves started to wilt, then turn brown, then they bore a whiteish powdery substance. A quick call to AG’s John Negus confirmed my worst fears, and what I thought would be a feast of plenty now had to be disposed of before reaching its prime. Heartbreaking, but all part of nature’s gift and curse.”

All Alamy, unless otherwise specified

Garry Coward-Williams, Editor

Contact us: Editorial: 07814 905439 Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com Advertising: 07817 629935

32

“These cone-shaped hydrangea are sure to add drama and delight to any garden,” says Graham

Cover: Dahlia ‘Chat Noir’ (pic: GAP) 8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

3

Deadhead sweet peas every day, because once seedpods form the plants will stop producing flower buds

Echinacea are reliable late-summer stunners

Gazanias flower until autumn, but then need lifting

Make late-summer colour last Ruth helps you keep your garden colourful into autumn

All photographs Future unless otherwise credited

W

E are in late summer, a time of gradually shortening days and occasionally soaring temperatures, though more recently our summers have been cooler and the early autumn days of September gloriously warm.

Whatever weather this summer has thrown at us, the main challenge now is to nurse plants that are in flower through the next few weeks to keep the garden looking colourful until autumn’s Protect bedding of nerines, buds from crocuses and cyclamen hungry swing into action. pests Varieties that will be looking their best now are crocosmia, echinacea, dahlias, early chrysanthemum and Verbena bonariensis. An added mix of border annuals and summer bedding should also be flowering well if cared for properly.

Many plants around now are famed for their hot colours, including fiery rudbeckias and calendulas, marigolds, Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and vibrant alstroemerias, while cooler, calmer shades are brought to the party by sweet peas, pastel nicotianas and the calming blues and whites of agapanthus.

4 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

Keep these going for as long as possible by implementing a regular schedule of care that incudes: Q Weeding: Weeds grow faster than cultivated plants and steal light, water and nutrients. They offer pests somewhere to hide, and when growing in close proximity to your plants will transmit diseases. Run a sharpened hoe over the soil every few days to cut young weeds and uproot stubborn perennial weeds.

Q Deadheading: Once plants have finished flowering they begin to set seeds and start the next generation.

Removing spent flowers before the seeds are produced ‘panics’ the plant into thinking they are under threat (no seeds equals no next generation), so they plough their energies into producing more buds for a longer time.

Q Watering: Concentrate your watering efforts on pots and baskets, new plantings and ripening crops that need moisture to swell and sweeten. Water in the early morning or evening and aim for the roots, not the leaves. A thorough soaking a couple of times a week is more beneficial than a quick splash every day.

Stop feeding Stop feeding plants Right up in midsummer until midsummer we say that one of the best ways to get plants performing well is to feed them with liquid and granular fertiliser. However, you need to stop in mid-August, because any nutrients given from now on will spur plants to produce fresh new growth.

These new shoots won’t have time to ripen and harden before the weather cools in autumn, leaving them vulnerable to damage by cold.

In fact, they may even be killed off.

The exceptions to this rule are cropping plants, such as tomatoes, that need a regular liquid feed to perform their best, and summer annuals that you plan to discard at the end of the season.

Keep feeding and deadheading annuals in borders, pots and baskets, and they will flower until the first frosts.

Easy division: In next week’s AG I’ll show you different and simple ways of dividing your perennials to make more plants for free.

Late-blooming heroes The right care can keep plants going until the first frosts

Berberis leaves and berries create a stunning bridge from late summer to autumn

Physalis lanterns light up late summer

Think out of the colour box Roses will flower right through into autumn with the proper care.

Treat for pests and diseases such as blackspot, and deadhead unless you want colourful hips to follow the blooms.

Dahlias are reliable late bloomers before dying back after the first frosts. Keep them watered and free of pests. I added liquid tomato feed to a drip feeder for our potted dahlias.

1

2

Alamy

Chrysanthemums are a traditional sight in late summer and autumn.

Watch them carefully as they are prone to pests and diseases, including rust, mildew, moulds and viruses.

3

Two of my late-season essentials are fleshy leaved sedums (hylotelephium) that survive the driest of summers and provide a late food source for insects, and stately Gladioli murielae.

4

Stop problems spoiling the party Mildew is a common problem during dry spells

Protect plants from snails, caterpillars and other pests

NOTHING is more frustrating than nurturing a plant from a seedling to maturity only to lose it to pests or disease in the final furlong.

Late summer can be a peak time for problems. Dry, still conditions are a breeding ground for problems like powdery mildew that disfigures plants with a white film.

Remove affected material – or whole plants, if needed – and dispose of them rather than composting. You can also treat with a fungicide or strengthener, such as Provanto Fungus Fighter Plus or SB Plant Invigorator.

When thinking about late-season colour, there is no need to confine yourself to flowering plants.

Shrubs such as roses and guilder rose provide hips and bright berries from late summer through the autumn, while the dried seedheads of alliums and agapanthus make attractive points of interest through your borders.

Shrubs and plants with red and variegated foliage, such as berberis, cotinus and euonymus, help break up a border of greens, while Lysimachia punctata ‘Alexander’ is a favourite with its spire of variegated leaves topped by golden flowers in August and September.

One of my favorites is physalis.

It has sweet white flowers in early summer followed by bright-orange lantern seedpods in autumn.

However, they are best grown in pots, as they are what John Negus called ‘rampant questers’ and will colonise whole borders.

Damp, still conditions can give rise to rots and moulds, especially where water collects or plants are touching each other. Improve ventilation and, again, remove affected material.

Late-summer pests include snails, such as the ones that had a go at my lily buds, and vine weevil grubs.

I use Grazers sprays to deter snails, problematic butterflies such as cabbage whites and aphids, as they move the pests on without removing them from the food chain.

Vine weevils can either be treated with a nematode drench or a systemic chemical. Always follow the manufacturer’s guidelines to the letter.

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

5

Time to prick out seedlings

Radishes are very quick to crop

Move on young plants so they grow robustly, says Ruth

W

E are midway through Prick out your summer and if you’ve seedlings into been sowing your free individual pots AG seeds each week, you when their first should have a garden full of colour, and proper leaves emerge several windowsills and greenhouse stations covered in seedlings!

I certainly have – and this week, I decided it was high time to pot on some of the larger ones, particularly some French lavender and Bellis daisies. The lavender is growing fantastically and the little plants already have their distinctive scent, but I really should have moved the Bellis on a week or so ago.

Still, better late than never, and hopefully the daisies will recover and flourish, and be ready to plant out in autumn for some early spring colour.

Seedlings are delicate things. They can be moved into 3in (8cm) or 4in are easily damaged or destroyed by (10cm) pots of John Innes No2 or fungal diseases such as damping off, multi-purpose compost. which can lay waste to a whole When moving plants from tray in no time at all by a lack a tray to a pot, always hold of water or by heavy handling. them by their leaves, never To give them the best by the stem, as it can be chance, remove the lid damaged by the slightest from their tray or pot as soon as the first plantlets pressure, which could kill appear, to improve air the plant.

Seedlings ready I prefer not to use gloves circulation, and don’t to be moved on when moving seedlings, so let them dry out.

I can feel the leaves better and They are ready to pot on when not squeeze them too hard. they get their first ‘proper’ leaves and

Step by step

Sowing now

Sow California poppies now

Don’t take your foot off the sowing pedal just yet – there are so many varieties that will still give you something this year, and next, if started now.

Violas and pansies (see page 12 for this week’s free seeds) can be started now, as can several hardy annuals for next year’s blooms.

Larkspur, California poppies, cornflower, nigella and calendula can all be sown in situ now to flower earlier than those sown next spring.

Summer edibles such as radishes and spring onions will crop this year if sown now, as will cut-and-comeagain lettuce (I like the peppery leaves that add a zing for sandwiches and salads).

Larger crops, including spring cabbage and Swiss chard, can be started now and this is the last call for sowing turnips, too.

How to prick out your seedlings Grow on your seedlings in a greenhouse or coldframe and keep them free from pests

Fill 3in (8cm) or 4in (10cm) pots with Carefully lift a seedling using a John Innes No2 or multi-purpose spoon or fork to scoop up the compost and dib holes in each. rootball, gently holding the leaves.

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2

Place the rootball and some of the Gently firm the compost around stem in the hole, making sure all the plant to support it. Fingertips the roots are contained. are the idea tool for this!

3

6 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

4

Either water using a can with a fine rose (sprinkler) or stand the pots in water to dampen the compost.

5

Got a story? email ruth.hayes@futurenet.com

More than three billion litres of water are lost each day through leaking pipes

Returning to school can cause financial hardship

Reuse grey water on the garden

Financial aid for gardening sector

UK facing ‘water shortage’ Experts say three billion litres are seeping away each day AREAS of the UK are in danger of running out of water in the next two decades, unless steps are taken to stop the three billion litres of water lost every day by leaking pipes.

A report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has accused water companies of being too slow to act on the problem since water privatisation two decades ago.

The document says: “The responsible bodies – the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and Ofwat – have collectively taken their eye off the ball, and urgent action is now required if we are to have a reliable water supply in the years ahead.”

As well as failing to fix the network of leaking pipes, water companies also released raw sewage into rivers more than 200,000 times in 2019.

Meg Hillier MP, the chair of the PAC, said: “It is very hard to imagine, in this country, turning the tap and not having enough clean, drinkable water come

out – but that is exactly what we now face. Continued inaction by the water industry means that we continue to lose one fifth of our daily supply to leaks.”

Mulching helps soil retain moisture Water shortages will hit gardeners who are already having to water more, thanks to climate change and the run of very hot, dry springs. Water Wise, the organisation that advises on maximising water efficiency, has a list of great ideas for saving water in the garden.

They include letting your lawn go brown (it will green up after rain), using sprinklers in early morning or evening, avoiding the use of pressure washers, and using ‘grey’ water from washing-up, hand washing and even bath water.

It also recommends mulching after watering to maintain moisture for longer, and planting drought-resistant plants.

Here at AG, we would also strongly recommend that you install as many waterbutts as you possibly can.

CORONAVIRUS has meant financial hardship for many in the gardening industry, so horticulture charity Perennial is helping families by giving towards the cost of school uniform and PE kit.

You can request Back to School support if you are working in (or your last job was in) horticulture, if your offspring are eligible for free school meals, you have an annual household income below £30,000, and/or are in receipt of means-tested benefits, or you are experiencing a crisis situation To apply, you must be a resident of the UK and eligible to work here.

Julia Hayne, Perennial’s director of services, said: “The cost of raising a family is rising, but we’re not seeing wages increase, and the situation has been made worse by the Coronavirus crisis.

“We’re here to alleviate some of the pressure, taking the stress out of going back to school.”

Perennial can provide support towards school uniform and PE kit up to a maximum of £150 per child.

Q For full details and to apply for help, visit perennial.org.uk/ backtoschool.

Bison and insects are this summer’s UK wildlife winners THIS summer has been rich in exciting wildlife news, starting with the B-Lines initiative by insect charity Buglife to restore and create more wildlife pathways to help the nation’s insects.

B-Lines is a nationwide collection of existing and potential wildflower habitats

stretching from coast to coast and covering 48,000 square kilometre. It is hoped it will help some of the UK’s rarest insects that would otherwise die out.

Catherine Jones, B-Lines lead at Buglife, says: “A complete England Bison are being B-Lines network is a landmark introduced to Kent step in our mission to reverse

insect declines and help pollinators.”

At the other end of the scale, European bison are coming to Kent in 2021. The project will help the species and regenerate a former pine plantation by creating a mix of woodland, scrub and glades, boosting insect, bird and plant life.

One male and three females will be released in Kent, and natural breeding will increase the size of the herd.

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Strawberries are a traditional summer treat and are so easy to propagate

After potting up runners, cut off any unwanted runners and remove the old, tattered leaves to make room for new growth at the crown.

Ruth’s top tips

Pegging runners Make new plants for free

Yummy berries from a healthy plant

Healthy plants produce many runners

Strawberry runner plantlets are quick to root – this one wasn’t even on the soil!

1

A berry easy way to propagate Ruth uses strawberry runners to make some new plants

T

HIS spring the strawberry plants in the spare ends of a raised bed have provided us with a generous, sweet and juicy crop.

They’re so good that I have vowed to get more plants for next year.

But why spend money – even though they can be bought for pennies – when you can make your own for free?

Each summer, strawberry plants throw out runners – long overground roots with a tiny tuft of new leaves at the end or sometimes mid-way along.

If left alone, the mini plantlets on the runners will quickly take root by themselves, but it is worth potting them up so you can plant them where you want them to grow.

Healthy plants will throw out many

runners, even though it takes up a lot of energy to do so. Unless you are getting rid of the plant at the end of the season, it is best to propagate from a maximum of five runners.

In around six weeks’ time, the new plantlet will have a healthy root system and have started to grow, at which point you can cut off the runner.

The new plants can then be overwintered in the greenhouse or coldframe and planted out next spring.

Strawberries aren’t the most long-lasting plants and after three years they become less productive and more disease-prone. After three years you should get rid of them and start again, ideally in a new patch of garden or a container with fresh compost.

All photographs Future

Cut back fruited summer raspberry canes to the ground without leaving a stub

2

3

Pruning summer raspberries Once your summer-fruiting (floricane) raspberries have finished cropping, you need to cut back the fruited canes.

Cut them right back down to ground level without leaving a stub, if possible.

You may need to use loppers to get right down there, especially as the remaining canes have sharp thorns.

Then choose between six and eight of the strongest young stems from each plant and tie them to supports.

Remove the rest of the young growth at ground level.

Secure the runners in place with bent garden wire or even old clothes pegs.

After pegging down the runners, water them well.

Year-old canes will carry fruit next year

Leave the pots where they are until the plants get established and are ready to be cut free.

4

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Listen to Peter’s free podcast every Thursday. Search for ‘This Week In The Garden with Peter Seabrook’ on iTunes

with Peter Seabrook, AG’s classic gardening expert

Alamy

Peter’s top tips

Check carefully the invasiveness and vigour of bamboos before planting in modest-sized domestic gardens. There are clump-forming types which do not aggressively sucker in every direction.

1

A mini-digger was needed to tear out the bamboo

Don’t get bamboozled!

Getting rid of invasive bamboo is a big job, says Peter

W

HILE warnings have been noted about the invasive nature of certain bamboos, it was something I had not personally experienced until recently.

I do have a pot-grown plant of Fargesia murielae ‘Simba’ (RHS AGM) amongst the large collection of shrubs grown specifically as show specimens, and this has been very well behaved.

All photography Peter Seabrook / Future, unless credited

“Its suckers ran out to the other side of the back garden” ‘Simba’ grows no more than 18in (30cm) high, and when roots are fully congested in the pot it can be either split into two or potted on into a larger sized pot. Last month, however, I was faced with a back garden renovation that had 36ft (11m) run of bamboo, planted as a screen many years ago.

It certainly formed a screen, swaying in the wind at least 12ft (3½m) high, with

suckers running out almost to the other side of the 20ft (6m) wide, terraced house back garden.

Practised use of the spade tames most over-grown shrubs and trees, taking time digging soil out from around the roots, severing thicker ones as they’re uncovered.

Then using the trunk and top growth as leverage fetches out most kinds.

This Phyllostachys was something else, though. The spade pretty well bounced off, so something much heavier and stronger was needed to tackle this monster. Fortunately, today we have powered diggers with tracks, which contract down to 28in (70cm), narrow enough to drive through a garden gate.

They need to be driven by skilled hands and feet, so I was fortunate to have the help of John, who could steer to within millimetres and control the bucket movements precisely. Even then, at the outset, our machine had met its match, such that the fibrous nature of bamboo resisted over a ton weight of leverage!

Bit by bit soil was removed, the rootball undermined, until large clumps could be pulled up. Now I have enough canes in pretty well all sizes to meet my needs for years…

Hydraulic power provides the muscle, but leaves a site still needing the spade to achieve level, root-free, well-cultivated soil, ready for sowing and planting.

2

Young suckers that are dug up with some root from vigorous growing bamboos and then potted will grow successfully pretty well year-round. Just see they do not escape from the pot!

3

Alamy

Invasive bamboo can make a jungle out of a small back garden

Yellow- and black-stemmed bamboos are very attractive, especially while young, but need space and can be tough to remove.

4

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

11

For best results sow undercover

Pansy ‘Early Flowering’ Mix seeds produce big, bright blooms for borders and containers

Add a lid, but remove after germination

Grow some winter colour Sow these bright pansies for beds and pots, says Ruth

I

T’S never too early to start thinking about your next gardening step, which is why sowing this week’s free seeds now will set you up for

a winter and early spring of beautiful, spirit-lifting colour.

Mr Fothergill’s ‘Early Mixed’ pansies flower in a riot of colours, either solid or

blotched, to bring variety and interest.

The blooms are large and showy, growing to a height of 6in (15cm). They are versatile, too, happy to put on a show in borders or in containers and baskets.

Because these pansies are hardy perennials, they will withstand the cold enough to be sown outside now in soil that has been raked to a fine tilth and cleared of roots, stones and weeds.

Cover them with a light sprinkle of soil, water and label the site so you don’t disturb the seeds or dig up the seedlings while weeding.

It’s also worth protecting the area from cats and pests, either with a lattice of twigs or a chemical deterrent spray that is widely available from garden centres and online.

You are guaranteed better results by sowing undercover in pots or trays of fresh seed compost, covering with a thin layer of compost or vermiculite, adding a lid and germinating them on a warm, light windowsill. Remove the cover after germination, grow the seedlings on and pot on individually when they are large enough to handle.

Harden them off and plant outside in autumn, avoiding areas where pansies and violas have been growing previously as the soil may contain spores of the highly contagious leafspot disease.

Bird Watch: The sedge warbler

Alamy

partner bringing more of the materials IT is late April before the sedge and showing a keen interest in all that warbler arrives here, dressed in was going on. She was also responsible varying shades of striped browns for the incubation of the four or five tinged with red, and creamy-white mottled buff eggs. underparts. It has slate-grey legs Sedge,warblers, in common with and a black beak. their tribe in general, feed on A prominent buff eye stripe insectivorous fare. (much more pronounced than in B Melville Nicholas the chiff-chaff or willow warbler) distinguishes it from the reed warbler.

Both sexes are alike.

The sedge warbler often belies its DESPITE what Mr Nicholas says, both the RSPB and British Wildlife Trusts state name by breeding far from water, and that sedge warblers are most for three years in succession a commonly seen and heard pair nested in a former garden singing from reedbeds and of mine, placing their cupwillow perches in wetlands shaped grass nest, cosily across the UK. lined with hair and willowMaybe their habits and down, in a low clump of habitats have changed in pampas grass. the decades since Mr N The female did most of Females do most of wrote for AG, but today this the actual building, her the child-rearing 12 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

Sedge warblers sing from the edge of reedbeds

unremarkable little sandy-brown bird can be found in damp places across the UK. They fly in from Africa (no mean feat for a small bird) and spend the spring and summer months here.

The male, keen to impress the ladies, is a great vocalist and will even add new phrases into his repertoire, so he never sings the same song twice.

These birds are at their most vocal at dawn and dusk, and the more varied their performance, the more females they attract.

The sedge warbler is easily confused with the aquatic warbler that sometimes crosses the south of England in autumn, en route to West Africa from its summer sojourn in Poland and Russia.

Ruth Hayes

Alamy

Then... AG in 1959 and Now... AG in 2020

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with Bob Flowerdew, AG’s organic gardening expert Kiwi fruit (Actinidia deliciosa) such as ‘Jenny’ do not need picking until frosts threaten and can last well into late winter

Bob’s top tips for the week

Getty Images

Apple ‘Falstaff ’ is a heavy cropping late-season fruit that can last until Christmas if kept in a cool, dark place

Now is a good time to destroy wasp nests before pests eat all of your apples, pears and plums; hire a professional just to be safe.

1

so make sure you have fresh fruit to see you through it…

All photography Alamy, unless otherwise credited

A

not much longer. Quinces and those odd LTHOUGH it may seem some way off, winter is coming – and relation medlars are about the same. now’s the best time for you to Kiwis may surprise you. These do not start planning fresh fruits to need picking until frosts threaten, when eat during those bleak months. they can be collected more effectively Apples are the obvious choice: there as the leaves drop, exposing them. Just kept cool and dry, kiwis last well into so many ripening up over the next late winter and are very rich in months, it would be silly not to lay vitamins as well as flavour. some aside. However, the first Then there are the citrus to ripen will seldom store fruits. Admittedly, you need well for long – it’s the later a frost-free greenhouse, ripening apples that will conservatory or bay last the longest, and you window, but their habit can help if you prepare is to crop in mid-winter, a suitable place to keep so these are natural them. Cool, dark, frostfavourites for fresh fruit. free and rodent-proof are Cape gooseberries ripen Tangerines, lemons and the right conditions, and in late autumn kumquats give the best returns. suitable apples – especially Grapefruits are reliable, but you storing varieties such as ‘Granny Smith’, ‘Winston’ and ‘Wagener’ – will don’t get many on a bush, and the same keep almost until Easter. is true of the larger oranges.

Little known, but superb, is the tough Pears are not so likely to store fresh evergreen mountain guava (Psidium for that long. However, a few may keep into the New Year satisfactorily, although cattleianum). Treated just like citrus, this crops delicious strawberry scented purple fruits in mid-winter. The Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) likes similar conditions to the citrus and can ripen its distinctive orange berries in paper husks every day of the winter, and is really well worth growing.

“Now’s the time to start planning”

14 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

Early apples ripen and then go over rapidly, so pick and use them before they are lost – make and freeze apple purée.

2

Getty images

Fresh fruit all winter Winter, we hear you cry! It’s nearer than you think, says Bob,

Future

A conservatory or bay window is great for citrus such as Kumquat ‘Nagami’, which will crop mid-winter

Let grass grow longer under fruit trees for better ripened fruits; this takes up water and nitrogen, and cushions windfalls.

3

When digging potatoes for storing, dry them in sun and air for a couple of hours before putting in a dark, cool place.

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Gardening Week with Val Bourne, AG’s organic wildlife expert

Worker bees make new queens by sealing eggs inside special cells All photography Alamy, unless otherwise credited

Guardian wasps near the nest’s entrance

Worker bees decide if they want a new queen (pictured) or not

Chatterbox queens Val explains how honeybee queens ‘toot’ and ‘quack’

T

HE fact that I’m a twin has definitely defined me! As a tiny premature baby I spent my first six weeks in a noisy incubator, and I’ve got dodgy hearing. I’m a chatterbox, too, and it started in the womb, apparently, because twins interact and make noises over the top of each other.

I blame my worst personality trait, interrupting people, on duetting with my brother before I was even born as I’m one of those people who constantly chimes in! My brother and I were also born on the hottest day of the year – something my mother never quite forgave us for. Needless to say, he was the pretty one with the curly hair and long eyelashes, so everyone thought he was the girl. I resembled Sir Winston Churchill – and some would say I still do!

Bees have to be buzzing fairly loudly for me to hear them, but one day recently, when I heard a loud buzz, I turned to the Best Beloved and said, “The last time I heard that noise a swarm of bees came round the corner.� Right on cue, a swarm of bees came into view,

“Honeybees are under threat of extinction�

16 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

flew over the garden, and into the field and beyond. This was a newly hatched queen leaving the main hive to start a new colony of her own, with a band of worker bees.

Scientists have made a fascinating discovery, using highly sensitive vibration detectors, about new queens that fly off. They’ve picked up two sounds from honeybee queens and named them ‘tooting’ and ‘quacking’.

Worker bees make new queens by sealing eggs inside special cells with wax and feeding them royal jelly. All the queens quack when they’re ready to emerge. However, if two emerge at the same time, they fight to the death.

Scientists have discovered that once a new queen emerges she stops quacking and begins to toot. This alerts the worker bees and they keep the other quacking queens captive – thereby avoiding a vicious duel.

Dr Martin Bencsik, from Nottingham Trent University, led this study and explained that you can hear the queens responding to each other – just like me and my brother. It has been assumed that the queens were talking to each other, possibly sizing one another up vocally to see who is strongest, but Dr Bencsik has proved differently. “The quacking queens are not talking to each other,� he explained. “They are communicating with the whole hive.�

Once the workers hear a tooting

noise, it means there’s a new queen moving through the colony and this tells the worker bees to keep all the other queens captive in their cells. The tooting only stops once this queen has left the nest and swarmed to create a new nest.

When the workers hear only quacking and no tooting, the colony releases a new queen. Dr Bencsik said this type of bee society was “absolutely splendid� to observe. “Decisions are group decisions,� he said. “It’s the worker bees that decide if they want a new queen or not.� Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are under threat of extinction, and beekeepers and their hives are crucial for their survival.

Researchers hope that their eavesdropping exercise will help beekeepers avoid interfering with this delicate collective decision making and to predict when their own colonies might be about to swarm.  I’m wondering whether my wasps’ nest is equally vociferous. We have four guardian wasps near the nest entrance, although you’d have to be brave to get close. It’s suspended under one of our garden seats and the other day I forgot all about it and put a newly arrived box of plants on the seat. About 100 wasps spewed out and frightened me to death.

I think I can guess what they were saying!

The British Beekeepers Association will remove a swarm of honeybees

TIP

If you see a swarm of honeybees, don’t tackle it yourself. Get in touch with the British Beekeepers Association ( bbka.org.uk/swarm), who will send a volunteer beekeeper to remove it.

Val Bourne

Newly hatched queens start a new colony of their own along with a band of worker bees

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with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert

Alamy

Tomato ‘Losetto’ is an excellent blight-resistant cascading bush variety to try

‘Tumbling Tom’ is great for pots you can move under cover when risk is high

Late tomato blight (Phytophthora infestans) spreads quickly, with tell-tale burnt brown markings on stems, leaves and fruits

T&M

Early blight disease is different, and is caused by Alternaria species. It’s mainly a problem on American potatoes and tomatoes, and is not common in the UK.

Alamy

Did you know...?

Focus on... Tomato blight

Worried your toms might need help in order to fight off the scourge of late tomato blight? Fear not, as Lucy outlines your best lines of protection and prevention

R

All photography Future, unless otherwise credited

EGULAR tomato growers will shudder over blight, which often appears in warm, wet summers. I should specify that I’m referring to late blight caused by the fungus-like Phytophthora infestans; this also attacks potatoes. So why exactly is tomato blight so horrific, and what can we do to protect our growing fruits?

readily mutates, and sadly this is its trump card. ‘Resistant’ tomato varieties are bred, blight mutates, and resistant varieties are then susceptible to this new strain.

Around 15 years ago, one mutant called Blue 13 emerged, which was far more aggressive and had increased

Chasing mutants The speed at which infections can spread is alarming, and crops are ruined in the process. Someone once described the symptoms as looking like creosote had been thrown on their plants overnight, which about sums it up. The pathogen

“The speed at which infection spread is alarming”

By growing under glass, you’ll make it a lot harder for late blight to strike

fungicide resistance. Others (notably Green 33 and Pink 6) have since appeared, and more have been listed.

Essentially, gardeners need to grow varieties bred to have the strongest resistance to date (see page 20 for examples), and expect this list to evolve as the pathogen mutates.

Fight with knowledge Understanding the late blight life cycle and taking action to thwart it is key (see the checklist on the next page). Moisture on foliage is needed for spore germination, and this is easily avoided via greenhouses and growing in pots to move under cover when blight risk is high.

Late blight prediction models have also evolved. Since late 2016, Hutton periods have replaced Smith periods as our alarm call for blight attacks; see blightwatch.co.uk for details.

Gardeners should feel reassured that plant breeders are doing all they can to ensure outdoor tomato cultivation continues to be a success.

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

19

with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert

Lucy’s top tips

■ Grow dwarf patio or tumbling varieties in pots, so you can temporarily move them under cover when the infection risk is high.

■ Rotate susceptible crops (like potatoes and tomatoes) in case any crop debris or more persistent spores perpetuate year-on-year attacks.

■ Invest in cloches or a greenhouse.

Tomatoes grown under cover are more difficult for the blight spores to access.

Grown under cover, toms like ‘Gardener’s Delight’ are hard for blight spores to access

Thompson-morgan.com

Suttons

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Three top toms to fight the blight

1

s b o j k c i u q 5

With sugar levels on the rise in dessert grapes, it pays to get wasp controls in place. Hang decoy nests to deter them.

It’s getting a bit late to sow carrots for winter now, so squeeze in a sowing in a sunny, sheltered spot as soon as you have time.

Blackberry season is upon us!

Many folk will be foraging from hedgerows, but if your plants are cultivated, take a (large) bowl to them now.

Plums and gages will be softening up beautifully this month, so check trees regularly to ensure you pick those fruits in their prime.

Aubergines are best harvested as soon as they are large enough; if the skins become dull, it’s a sign of over-maturity.

‘Crimson Blush’: A recently introduced beefsteak cordon that allows plots struck by blight in the past to at last grow a beefsteak. F1 hybrid vigour and double-gene resistance help this tomato fight off the late blight strains presently known in the UK.

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‘Consuelo’: A cherry introduction with double-gene resistance.

Another F1 hybrid, the flavour of this cordon variety is very sweet due to high Brix levels. ‘Rubylicious’ (cordon) and ‘Summerlast’ (dwarf patio) are also well worth growing.

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Top tip

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‘Mountain Magic’: This F1 hybrid cordon tomato produces red campari fruits ideal for slicing.

It repeatedly withstands late blight attacks due to double-gene (Blue 13 and Pink 6) resistance, and it gives tasty, high sugar level harvests.

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Both Alamy

■ Grow modern tomato varieties that presently show resistance/tolerance to late blight infection.

■ Sign up for online blight monitoring tools (such as blightwatch.co.uk) to check potential infections in your area.

■ Keep the foliage of outdoor plants as dry as you possibly can: position them somewhere airy and sunny, and avoid overhead irrigation.

Lucy’s tips

Avoid overhead watering outdoors to keep leaves dry

Six ways to help fight late blight!

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IF you have grown courgettes and pumpkins and fancy upping the ante, try chayote (Sechium edule). The growing needs of the ‘vegetable pear’ are similar.

Sown one seed per 3½in (9cm) pot under cover in late March, and transplanted out once the risk of frost has passed, they are ready to harvest in early autumn.

The plants (which can reach 40ft/12m) are best trained against a fence or pergola, allowing developing fruits to hang freely. Once secured, little intervention is needed. Green, star-like flowers emerge in summer, followed by fruits with a dimpled base. Sliced and with seeds removed, they stir-fry and sauté beautifully.

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Make sure developing chayote fruits hang freely

Next week: Focus on melons, prune summer raspberries, save herb seeds, harvest early apples, try vine leaves.

Sow the best spring cabbages!

WHILE you can start off sweetheart cabbages and ‘spring greens’ in early February for late May and June harvests, true spring cabbages are sown now.

They’ll quietly bulk up while many other crops are on the wane, ready to fill the hungry gap in April and early May. If you’re impatient, there’s no reason why you can’t harvest earlier!

For pointed firm hearts, look for ‘Advantage’; for ball-headed cabbages, try ‘Spring Hero’; for loose-leaf greens, grow ‘Winter Jewel’ (most varieties these days are vigorous F1 hybrids). Sow directly into a seedbed in the soil for transplanting out later, or start off in modules (place in

Lucy’s top tips

a semi-shaded spot to stop them drying out on hot days). Plant out at 12in/30cm spacings in late September. Protect the crop with butterfly/pigeon-proof netting and lay down cabbage root fly squares.

Alternatively, insect-proof mesh tents protect against all three pests.

“They will bulk up as other crops are on the wane”

Plant out in late September

How to lift and dry shallots

Why not try..?

These pungent powerhouses store for longer than their larger onion relatives if treated correctly. Here’s how to harvest and preserve bulbs:

Rather than grow singly as onions and garlic do, shallots grow in clumps. Foliage may have died down – especially with early plantings – but if not, gently slide your fork prongs under each clump to prise them out of the earth.

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Cabbage ‘Spring Hero’ is an excellent ball-headed option

The clumps need to be broken into single bulbs. Take care here as this is where damage can cause rots. Gently separate the bulbs – they will be connected at the base.

If they don’t part easily, allow clumps to dry for a few more days.

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Lay the separated bulbs on a slatted tray (discard or use damaged ones) and position this in a sunny, dry spot. After a few weeks the outermost papery layers can be carefully rubbed off to reveal shiny bulbs; trim off roots and stalks, too.

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Chinese yam plant is a hardy climber and (inset) its tubers are edible

Chinese yam

WE dutifully work animal manure into our spring cultivations, or sprinkle fertiliser granules around our crops, then reach for the liquid feed as summer progresses.

All this nutrition helps bulk up plants and gives better yields, but how long should we do it for? In our temperate climate, the major time to apply feeds is in spring and early summer, when plants are revving up.

The general rule is to apply nitrogenbased nutrition like well-rotted manure, chicken pellets or sulphate of ammonia in spring to encourage leaf growth. This can continue for foliage veg via a liquid feed into July. However, you should avoid high-nitrogen feeds from now on for overwintering crops, as the lushness it encourages will compromise winter

Keep feeding potted fruits trees with a high-potash liquid fertiliser for now

hardiness. Fruiting edibles enjoy high potash feeds, and these can be applied until late August/early September, after which point cool temperatures slow down growth and receptiveness to feeding.

Both Alamy

The right time to stop feeding

IF you’re not an impatient gardener and you want to try growing a tuber that’s a staple crop in China, why not give this hardy climber a try?

Taking three or so years to bulk up sufficiently for a harvest of the fleshy roots, Dioscorea batatas is highly ornamental as well as edible, so the wait will hardly be a painful one. Plus, the vine produces little aerial tubers in the meantime, which are also edible, to keep you going.

Preferring a free-draining yet moisture-retentive soil, the key is to add ample organic matter on planting. Full sun is preferred, but some shade is tolerated. Let it twine up a frame or obliging nearby tree.

The starchy tubers are best harvested in late autumn and they make very good eating – treat them like a potato.

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Perfume a patio with

Night-scented flowers As evening falls, add another dimension to a seating area courtesy of moth-pleasing flowers that fragrance the air. Graham Rice selects the balmiest of bedtime blooms

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HERE’S nothing better on a warm summer evening than relaxing outdoors with a glass of something cold. Actually, though, there is. A rather special group of plants can make this simple pleasure even more delightful as they have flowers that release their scent when the sun dips and the light fades, perfuming your garden – and your evening – with their intoxicating fragrances.

Night-scented flowers wake up as other garden favourites are clocking off for the day. The reason? It’s all about pollinators. As dusk falls, bees head home to their hives and nests, leaving other insects to take over and attend to the important business of pollinating.

Moths are especially important; 40 different species have been noted as pollinators for our flowers, in particular hawkmoths and the silver Y. However, there are also night-flying beetles.

The perfect spot Positioning, meanwhile, is easy. The ideal spot to plant these treasures is anywhere you pass by or sit near in the evenings. Set plants – especially frost tender kinds – in patio containers that 24 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

Flowers like honeysuckle pack a perfume punch that attracts night-flying pollinators, including the elephant hawkmoth

can be sited exactly where colour and evening scent is needed, moved if necessary as the weeks pass, and taken into shelter for the winter. Plant them, too, in patio borders, by gates, and over archways along paths, where you’ll walk when you come home from an evening out. If you like to leave your bedroom window open at night, a little fragrance wafting in from just outside is lovely.

All photography Alamy

Glow in the dark Certain flowers are adapted to be pollinated by nature’s night shift. Many of them have pale-coloured blooms that show up much more than darker hues when the light fades – they literally seem to glow in the dark. And as they open, they release their alluring scents just when those night-flying insects start to become active.

Adding some evening and nightscented flowers to your plot should be a given, but when it comes to choosing which to plant, the nose rather than the eyes will have it. More than daytime scents, these fragrances seem to be a matter of personal taste: some are heavy and sweet, some are more musky; some are citric, others are flowery; while some are rather spicy and clove-like.

Sniffing out your favourites before you buy is tricky, so the only option is to take a chance and give them a whirl. If you find that a fragrance is not to your liking, simply dig up the plant and give it to someone who appreciates it.

Phlox paniculata’s flowers glow in low light, their scent intensifying after dark

But perhaps the most important advice is not to overdo it. When too many different flowers with different scents are planted together, their fragrances mingle and it can all be rather overwhelming. We get desensitised, and it becomes impossible to distinguish one fragrance from another. Still, as long as you choose and plant thoughtfully, you really cannot go wrong.

5 options for evening scent

Nicotiana sylvestris AGM Held on tall stems, the long, elegant, white trumpet flowers pump out a wonderful evening scent and look fabulous in summer borders. Sow seed under cover in mid-spring, planting out in bold drifts near the patio in May. Needs moist soil in sun or part shade. Half-hardy annual. H: 4ft (1.2m).

Gardenia jasminoides ‘Kleim’s Hardy’ We usually need to grow gardenias in the house or in the conservatory but, as its name implies, ‘Kleim’s Hardy’ is an (almost) hardy evergreen shrub that will take mild winters outside. Best grown in a container of lime-free compost, positioned in partial shade. H: 21⁄2ft (75cm).

Matthiola longipetala subsp. bicornis ‘Starlight Scentsation’ You could easily walk straight past this night-scented stock during the day, when its petals are closed. But at twilight, the pastel pink and lavender flowers open, the fruity almond scent hits you, and you wonder why you never grew it before. Hardy annual; sow direct in spring. H: 1ft (30cm).

Phlox paniculata ‘Mount Fuji’ The flowers of this hardy perennial are open all day. However, their fragrance intensifies in the evening. Many phlox are purple or pink, but this white variety will glow in borders in the evening and attract night pollinators. Plant in fertile soil that doesn’t dry out. Deadhead to prolong displays. H: 3ft (90cm).

4 ways to get a scent boost

Brugmansia x candida ‘Grand Marnier’ AGM Sweetly scented, wavy bells up to 1ft (30cm) long hang from spreading branches. Ideal for patio tubs or sunny, sheltered borders. Also available with blooms in reds, oranges, pinks, yellows, cream and white – some double, some variegated.

Tender; move to a conservatory for winter. H: 10ft (3m).

Ensure your seating area is more or less west-facing – this is the aspect that gets the last of the sun in the evening.

The more sheltered it is, and the more stone and brick surfaces there are, the more the area will retain its warmth as the air cools.

Grow scented climbers against Keep those fragrant a sunny wall that will retain flowers coming with regular warmth in the evening deadheading and watering.

Grow climbers up trellis as well as in pots – that way, you can maximise the number of surfaces and the space devoted to night-scented plants.

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3 night-scented climbers Jasminum officinale The exotic scent of this much-loved, whiteflowered climber will transport you back to holidays abroad. Frost tender; mulch roots with compost or well-rotted manure, and protect young plants with a layer of garden fleece in winter. Spreads fast, so in small gardens plant in a pot and train up a trellis. H: 20ft (6m).

Clematis rehderiana AGM A hardy, vigorous climber for an archway, sunny wall or fence.

During late summer and autumn, nodding virgin’s bower features upright clusters of pale yellow cowslip-scented bells, set against prettily divided foliage. Each spring, cut back hard to a pair of healthy buds above soil level to keep it to size. H: 61⁄2ft (2m).

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Lonicera periclymenum ‘Graham Thomas’ AGM Yellow flowers emerge from white buds – both show up well in low light. Prolific and powerfully scented, with a very long flowering period, this honeysuckle will twine around its supports.

Grow on a sunny or partially shaded wall, or train into a large shrub; prune after flowering to restrict size. Hardy. H: 10ft (3m).

Go wild after dark BIENNIALS look lovely in large drifts and are best sown in wilder areas where they have a bit of space to spread as they self-sow. Try this night-scented pair:

Oenothera biennis Evening primrose is nothing much during the day – its large yellow flowers remain closed unless conditions are very overcast. But after dusk they unfurl and release their scent.

The blooms darken as they mature, and the pollinating moths get busy. Hardy; happy in sun or partial shade. Remove any unwanted seedlings. Flowers: Jun-Sept. H: 4ft (1.2m).

Why not try?

IT’S a bit of a mouthful but zaluzianskya, a half-hardy annual from South Africa, is worth growing for its deliciously scented, starry white blooms that only open in the evening. Lovely alongside succulents and aeoniums. Z. ovata is a compact variety at H&S: 6in (15cm); Z. capensis (HxS: 1¹/2x1ft/45x30cm) is taller.

Sow seed in March and plant out in June.

Zaluzianskya ovata’s scented blooms open as the day fades

Hesperis matronalis One of the easiest and loveliest options for evening scent, sweet rocket has upright spikes of four-petalled flowers that open for many weeks (especially when deadheaded). Opt for white cultivar ‘Album’ to guarantee blooms that gleam at dusk.

Flowers best in moist, well-drained soil, but scent is strongest in drier conditions – try to strike a balance. Hardy. 21⁄2ft (75cm).

Where to buy* Chiltern Seeds chilternseeds.co.uk 01491 824675 Jungle Seeds jungleseeds.co.uk 01491 614765 Taylors Clematis taylorsclematis.co.uk 01302 700716 Thompson & Morgan thompson-morgan.com 0333 400 0033 *Many nurseries are currently unable to send out plants – or despatch may be delayed.

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If you want sultry reds, plums and purples to take you from late summer into autumn there’s no shortage of options.

In borders, perennials such as Dahlia ‘Fascination’, Lobelia tupa and American pokeweed deliver ruby and amethyst hues

Reignite late-summer borders with

Smouldering colours Choose trans-seasonal flowers and foliage in berry and jewel tones, and they won’t lose their sparkle as the season morphs into autumn, as Louise Curley explains

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ITH the midsummer peak now passed, light levels are changing and there’s the sense that autumn is approaching. But that doesn’t mean the gardening year is over and that borders

should drift into decline; far from it, as there are plenty of plants that are just getting into their stride. Many of them come in rich, jewel-like and berry colours: ruby reds, amethyst, tones of bruised plum, inky purples and clarets.

Clothe walls and fences in rich purple Ipomoea ‘Star of Yelta’ 28 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

These sultry hues fit perfectly with the languid feel of late summer; many also come courtesy of good value plants that will set the garden up for its transition into autumn. And as the shorter days and cooler temperatures deepen, the softer light and morning dew make both flowers and foliage in these colours really sparkle.

Pick a perennial Tender perennials such as salvias, penstemons and dahlias really come into their own at this time of year – the fewer daylight hours but still-warm temperatures replicating the climate of their native habitats, in places like Mexico. And thanks to the diversity of these plant groups, there are plenty of varieties in bold and brilliant colours.

Annuals such as sweet peas, opium poppies and nasturtiums are also available in these shades – ideal for

All photography Alamy

6 dusky reds

Clematis ‘Royal Velours’ This deciduous climber produces a profusion of dramatic, claret-coloured flowers from July to September. Covers walls or fences beautifully. Alternatively, allow it to scramble through a tall shrub or tree. HxS: 10x5ft (3x1½m).

Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’ A shade-tolerant perennial with attractive dark green leaves and long, slender spikes of tiny, crimson-red flowers that open from dark red buds between July and October. Given moist soil and room to spread, it will thrive. H&S: 4ft (1.2m).

Cosmos atrosanguineus Chocolate cosmos, so-called because its flowers have a chocolate aroma, has small, bowl-shaped blooms in a velvety maroon. A tuberous, tender perennial – treat it like a dahlia and protect from frost over winter. HxS: 2ftx20in (60x50cm).

Sanguisorba ‘Tanna’ AGM Burgundy red bobbles are held on branched stems, creating a wafty haze of colour. A neat, mound-forming plant – excellent for small gardens – ‘Tanna’ also has attractive grey-green, crinkled foliage. HxS: 20x16in (50x40cm).

Dahlia ‘Chat Noir’ AGM Garnet-coloured flowers with almost black centres add a sumptuous feel, while long stems and good vase life make this cactus dahlia a great cut flower. Lift tubers after the first frost, or mulch with chipped bark. HxS: 39inx2ft (1mx60cm).

Pelargonium ‘Lord Bute’ AGM A regal type pelargonium with mid-green leaves and blackish-red petals, each finely edged with bright pink. Compact and bushy – ideal for container growing – it needs overwintering somewhere frost-free. H&S: 20in (50cm).

filling gaps in a border. Meanwhile, climbers including clematis and Ipomoea ‘Star of Yelta’ can be grown to cover bare boundaries and plant supports, and shrub Hydrangea ‘Wim’s Red’ has flowers that change from creamy-white to deep burgundy as summer turns to autumn. Incorporate dark foliage like that of Japanese acers

to provide the perfect backdrop to bruised tones of red and plum.

oranges, a flash of sky blue, or pockets of punchy magenta. Fancy something more subtle? Pastel tones of pink, lavender blue, cream and ivory will also work to lift the darker colours.

Set aside time this week to refresh a border with these striking colours, or try them in a large container for a vibrant display. You’ll be so glad you did.

Mix and match A border planted solely with these smouldering colours can look a bit muted, so add a few pops of brighter colours here and there to lighten the mood – for instance, zingy vermillion

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3 smoky purples

Salvia ‘Amistad’ AGM Matches dark green, aromatic foliage with almost black stems and sepals, and deep purple, tubular flowers. Blooms from June until the autumn frosts. Overwinter somewhere frost-free, or take cuttings in late summer. HxS: 5ftx20in (1½mx50cm).

Clematis ‘Polish Spirit’ AGM This late-flowering clematis has stunning deep purple blooms that festoon the twining stems from midsummer. It prefers cool, moist soil around the roots, and some shade during the hottest part of the day. HxS: 13x61⁄2ft (4x2m).

4 moody foliage plants

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Actaea ‘Queen of Sheba’ Features attractive foliage and tall, slender stems in deep purple, covered in tiny, pinkwhite flowers, creating a bottlebrush-like effect. The blooms have a lovely fragrance.

Herbaceous perennial; plant in part shade, in moist soil. HxS: 4x2ft (1.2mx60cm).

Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’ AGM A real show-stopper, this multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub (or small tree) has magnificent heartshaped leaves in a rich crimson. They ‘glow’ when backlit by the sun and take on orange and yellow tones in autumn.

H&S: 13-26ft (4-8m).

Physocarpus ‘Diabolo’ AGM The deep purple, almost black foliage of this deciduous shrub provides a fabulous backdrop to jewel tones. In early summer there are clusters of pretty, pink-flushed white blooms. Plant in sun or part shade, in moist, well-drained soil.

HxS: 61⁄2x8ft (2x2½m).

Sambucus nigra ‘Eva’ AGM The dark plum-coloured leaves of this ornamental elder are finely cut, giving them a delicate, lacy appearance. In June there are umbels of tiny pale pink flowers that are followed by blackred berries. Plant in full sun for the strongest foliage colour. HxS: 10x21⁄2ft (3x2m).

Penstemon ‘Raven’ AGM Spectacular trumpet-like flowers in plum-coloured tones. A particularly longflowering perennial, blooming from early summer right through to the first frosts.

Leave top growth in place over winter to protect from cold. HxS: 32x16in (80x40cm).

What to plant with...

Fritillaria persica

Add smoulder to spring/summer IF sultry shades appeal, why not ensure they feature in your plot at other times of the year, with flowers in smouldering reds and purples that bloom in spring and early summer.

Spring: Choose from a host of hellebores and tulips, as well as Fritillaria persica, Erysimum ‘Blood Red’, Euphorbia dulcis ‘Chameleon’, Aquilegia ‘Ruby Port’ and Dicentra formosa ‘Bacchanal’.

Early summer: Try Dianthus barbatus ‘Sooty’, Antirrhinum ‘Liberty Classic Crimson’, ‘Thundercloud’ lupins or sweet Scabious ‘Ace of Spades’.

Dahlia ‘David Howard’

Smoky purples Aster ‘Monch’ AGM: Use the lilac-blue daisies to lighten up dark foliage.

Dahlia ‘David Howard’ AGM: Deep orange blooms will bring a fiery glow.

Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ AGM: These golden daisy flowers are perfect for adding a lustrous sheen to a smouldering backdrop.

Anemanthele lessoniana

Plums and reds Anemanthele lessoniana AGM: A compact grass with autumnal tones of rusty orange and wine red.

Verbena bonariensis AGM: Clusters of neon pink radiate among darker tones.

Salvia ‘Love and Wishes’: Add eyepopping hits of colour, courtesy of tubular flowers in bright magenta.

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Compact enough for any garden, PeeGees feature coneshaped flowerheads made up of a mass of florets, often starting out white before maturing to pink or red

Lacy and lovely

PeeGee hydrangeas For fabulous flowers without the faff, these paniculatas are ideal. Ideal for any size of garden, it's little wonder they are more popular than ever, says Graham Rice

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N recent years, many flowers that were previously deemed oldfashioned have enjoyed a revival – and right now, it’s the turn of hydrangeas. However, their return to favour is not being spearheaded by the traditional, floppy old mophead types; those are now being passed over in favour of varieties with double flowers, bi-coloured flowers, and completely new hybrids. And, increasingly, it’s the PeeGee hydrangeas, the summer- and autumn-flowering varieties with their tapering lacecap flowerheads, that are grabbing our attention.

It’s not hard to see why. They’re easy to fit into small gardens – some are even neat enough for containers; they flower for months, and they’re very good dried; they’re never damaged by frost, and they are happy in just about any soil that’s not waterlogged. PeeGees also take more drought than other hydrangeas, and will perform well in a little shade (although 32 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

they prefer sunshine). And did I mention that they are very easy to prune…?

Initial attraction But why are they called ‘PeeGee’ hydrangeas? What on earth does it mean? The first hydrangea of this type, introduced from Japan in the 1860s, was H. paniculata ‘Grandiflora’. Its ability to take far lower winter temperatures than other hydrangeas made it a big hit in North America, where – always looking for a marketable name – nurseries used the initial letters to create something catchy. The name PeeGee is now used for any varieties of this type.

Like the familiar lacecap hydrangeas, PeeGee flowerheads are made up of a mass of small fertile florets as well as much larger sterile florets. But these are cone-shaped – sometimes slender and reminiscent of a buddleia; sometimes short and fat. Generally, the flowers open creamy white and develop pink

tinges as they mature. However, some mature to red, and some of the prettiest are greenish white. Eventually, they turn a handsome autumnal brown.

Cutting candidates All make impressive cut flowers, fresh or dried, and are becoming especially popular for summer and autumn weddings. A few are even scented!

PeeGees are perfectly happy in chilly parts of the country, where the flower buds of regular mophead hydrangeas can be damaged by frost. Colourwise, they are more predictable – acid soil or limey, the flowers are always the same. Pruning could hardly be simpler (see page 34) and you can even use pruning to control flowering time and the size of the heads.

Me? I don’t grow those old mophead hydrangeas at all, but I’ve just planted another PeeGee. I would definitely recommend giving them a go.

‘Grandiflora’ The one that started it all. With dense, and tapered flowerheads that open white and mature to pink. Simply deadhead to promote more (but smaller) heads that won't collect rain and flop. Flowers: Aug-Sept.

HxS: 10x6½ft (3x2m).

‘Kyushu’ Especially attractive to pollinators, the elegant, open heads stay white for longer than those of other varieties before fading. One of the best PeeGee varieties for containers; prune hard for the best blooms. Flowers: Jul-Sept.

HxS: 61⁄2x4ft (2x1.2m).

‘Limelight’ AGM Rich lime green flowerheads mature though white to pink, and are set off by unusually glossy foliage. Medium pruning works best for this cultivar as hard pruning creates flowerheads that are too heavy for the stems.

Flowers: Jul-Oct. H&S: 61⁄2ft (2m).

Pink Diamond (‘Interhydia’) AGM The best late-season variety.

Featuring white flowerheads that mature to the most wonderful rich pink, darkening to red on the backs of the petals, it makes a very impressive autumn spectacle. Flowers: Jul-Oct. H&S: 61⁄2ft (2m).

‘Phantom’ AGM Yellow-tipped flowerheads mature through white to pink. Rather like the better known ‘Grandiflora’, only here the heads are more dense and rounded, and are supported effectively (even in bad weather) by unusually strong stems.

Flowers: Jul-Sept. HxS: 4x61⁄2ft (1.2x2m).

Pinky-Winky (‘Dvppinky’) AGM Stout and upright in growth, the dark red stems carry dense, conical, scented flowerheads that open limey white and quickly mature to deep pink, so that plants feature both white and pink blooms at the same time. Flowers: Aug-Oct. HxS: 4x61⁄2ft (1.2x2m).

New varieties

‘Silver Dollar’ AGM Dense heads are made up almost entirely of the large sterile florets, which start off green, fade to white, then flush in pale pink. The stems are stout enough to support even the generous heads that result from a hard pruning. Flowers: Jul-Sept. H&S: 4ft (1.2m).

‘Wim’s Red’ One of the most compact PeeGees.

Red stems carry slightly red-tinted foliage and rather open flowerheads that begin white, then mature through pink shades to a deep burgundy; they are unusually well-scented, too. Also sold as ‘Fire and Ice’. Flowers: Jul-Oct. H&S: 4ft (1.2m).

PLANT breeders are still developing new varieties of H. paniculata, and recent introductions include the Graffiti’s blooms turn compact Graffiti from green to pink (‘Rou201406’), with short, fat flowerheads turning from green to pink on strong stems.

‘Mojito’ – lime green right through the season, until a few pink tints arrive – is another newcomer, as is Pastelgreen (‘Renxolor’), which brings us green, white and pink flowers, all at the same time.

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Plantipp.eu

All photography Alamy, unless otherwise credited

8 perfect PeeGees

PeeGee planting partners

Asters Medium height perennial asters in pink or purple make ideal companions for these more compact hydrangeas. The yelloweyed purple daisies of ‘Mönch’ open for weeks, while ‘Marie Ballard’ (above) is a double blue. Plant them on the sunny side.

Clematis Once established, PeeGee hydrangeas make fine hosts for lateflowering clematis. It’s a great pairing for pruning purposes, as both can be cut back hard in the same way, at the same time.

Look for ‘Betty Corning’ and Blue Angel (‘Blekitny Aniol’; above).

Crocus PeeGees provide no colour in late winter and early spring, so it’s a good idea to plant a carpet of bulbs that will naturalise beneath them. Crocus tommasinianus (above) is prolific and increases well; ‘Atkinsii’ snowdrops are another good choice.

Roses Low and spreading, ground cover roses will add colour just where you need it – below the flowerheads of the hydrangeas. Kent (‘Poulcov’) is a double white, and Surrey (‘Korlanum’; above) is two-tone pink; both are excellent.

Planting and pruning

Where to buy*

Q Plant in spring like any other shrub; prepare the ground well as growth can be vigorous.

Q Prune in March, before the growing season kicks off.

Q For the largest late-season flowers on the smallest plants, hard prune back to two buds.

Q Alternatively, medium prune to four buds to get more, smaller and earlier flowerheads on larger plants. This is generally the best approach as the large heads that follow hard pruning can be For small, early blooms, too heavy and tend to flop in rain. stick to removing Q For the smallest, earliest flowers on the largest bushes, flowerheadsdon’t only don’t prune; instead, stick to removing faded flowerheads.

Crocus crocus.co.uk 01344 578000

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Gardens4You gardens4you.co.uk 0808 2347 223 Signature Hydrangeas signaturehydrangeas.co.uk 01622 833218 *Some nurseries are currently unable to send out plants – or despatch may be delayed.

With tapering heads featuring owers in pink and white, border beauty Pinky-Winky looks particularly eyecatching as summer fades into autumn

Ask John Negus

John has been answering reader queries for 50 years

Glory or flame lilies are frost tender

A glorious find Garden birds will return to our gardens in autumn and appreciate fresh food and water when they do

Why can I no longer watch the birdies?

Can you tell me where all my little birds have gone from my garden? My pleasure was to watch the sparrows bathing and feeding, and the tits eating from coconuts hanging in my shrubs. They have now gone – but where?

Rita Jarman, Wednesbury, West Midlands

Q

You are not alone in missing the daily gathering of tits, finches, sparrows and other birds that, a few weeks ago, were regular visitors to the bird table.

The reason for their having ‘vanished’ is that many are moulting now and are vulnerable to predators, so they retreat into woodlands and hedges where they feel safe.

Another reason for our seeing fewer birds is that many have flown into nearby fields where cereals are being harvested and there is a good supply of grain.

A

Supporting a tree

As for blackbirds and thrushes, many are seizing the opportunity of stealing raspberries, currants and gooseberries, and it won’t be long before apples are on the menu, too. Happily, the birds we’ve enjoyed watching will return to our gardens when there is less food in the countryside and the weather gets colder.

Those that have remained ‘loyal’ to your garden will still need care, so keep providing them with fresh food and water, washing their feeding station and birdbath regularly to prevent the transmission of diseases.

Use an adjustable tie to keep your tree secure

When planting a fruit tree, what is the best way to insert a stake without damaging the roots?

James Couling, Portsmouth, Hampshire

Q

The only way to support a containerised fruit tree with a large rootball, without damaging roots, is to insert a stake at a 45° angle to the trunk. Make sure that its top faces into the prevailing wind.

Alternatively, make a ‘football goal’ support by driving in two upright poles and securing them with a crossbar at the top. Whichever method you prefer, you should then use an adjustable tie to secure tree to its support, leaving a

All photographs Future

Q

The interloper in question is the glory lily (Gloriosa superba). A frosttender scrambler from Africa and India, it grows to around 6ft (1.8m) high and is best displayed in a greenhouse or conservatory.

When mature, it develops sausage-like tubers that should be kept dry in winter in a temperature of 46-500F (8-100C). In spring, set tubers into pots of loam-based John Innes potting compost No2 and train stems over trellis or netting. When new shoots appear, feed fortnightly with a balanced house plant fertiliser, such as Baby Bio.

A

Dividing dilemma This plant obviously wants to survive, so how do I divide and repot it?

Mimma Copeman, via email

Q A

A

36 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

Please can you tell me what this plant is?

Rod Evans, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

bit of ‘give’ so the tie and support don’t chafe the bark.

The only time you can insert a vertical post close to the trunk is when you are planting a bare-root tree and the support cane be safely inserted between the roots.

Now that

your bromeliad has flowered and the bloom Bromeliads like coarse, gritty ericaceous compost has died, resulting in a proliferation of small shoots, you can either leave plantlets to mature and fill the pot, or detach them carefully, with roots, and set each in a 4in (10cm) pot filled with the following mixture made up of three parts, by volume, of ericaceous compost mixed with one part coarse grit.

Cover the pot’s drainage hole with crocks to ensure that surplus moisture freely seeps away.

Contact John Negus by email address below Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

Help! My tomato is an absolute monster!

I have always grown ‘Garden Pearl’ in my hanging baskets for their reliable compact growth. This year I fed my plant with comfrey feed – a powerful brew – but I don’t think it could have caused this monster (pictured)! Also, the ‘Minibel’ plants in my window box should have been 1ft (30cm) tall, but have reached 3ft (90cm) – not a good look outside my lounge window!

Jacquie Parker, Bicester, Oxon

Q

I suspect that the ‘problems’ are due to a series of coincidences rather than a problem that all growers are experiencing.

Just occasionally, even the most reputable seed company has a problem with a batch of seeds, particularly if a third party supplies them.

It may simply be that the variety you have grown is not the one that was supposed to be in the packet.

I would contact the seed company as, if this is the case, they are probably aware of it by now and will compensate you.

Then there is the issue of the weather.

I have found that the chilly winds and cold nights in June really affected the growth of some plants, and that although conditions have improved, it has almost been too late for some things.

You are right that comfrey is a powerful fertiliser, and while it shouldn’t make plants grow beyond their genetic capabilities, it is designed to encourage vigorous growth and might explain the

What is this plant, please?

Terry England, West Kirby, Merseyside

Q

A

This is Leycesteria formosa (pheasant berry, or Himalayan honeysuckle), a hardy, vigorous, fast-growing non-evergreen shrub that is easy to grow. It is at its best in partial shade.

It produces berries in autumn that are loved by birds. Your plant is likely to have grown from a seed dropped by a bird.

A

It is worth contacting the seed suppliers if you grow a ‘rogue’ plant

broad spread of the normally-compact ‘Garden Pearl’.

I had a quick look on the internet and found references to ‘Minibel’ at 18in (45cm) and 2ft (60cm), so although it is a compact variety and usually restricted to 1ft (30cm), it obviously can grow taller in extremely lush conditions.

I would be inclined to contact the seed supplier for their thoughts on these particular varieties. It might also be worth joining an internet forum so that you can gauge other people’s experiences; the responses are often not very scientific but they are from real people who are discussing their experiences of growing things!

Can you name my mystery bargain?

I bought this plant in a sale for £1.99 & thought it looked interesting. As it hadn’t got a label, I wonder if you could identify it for me and tell me how to care for it?

Pauline Burgess, Manchester

Q

The plant is question is plume poppy (Macleaya cordata). A native of mountain woodlands in eastern China and Japan, it grows to about 8ft (2.4m).

Ideal for the back of a border where its handsome leaves and unusual flowers command attention, it spreads slowly to become a splendid focal point.

Another, similar, species, M. microcarpa, has produced two delectable varieties: ‘Kelway’s Coral Plume’, renowned for its pink-flushed foliage and deep pink flowers, and rubyred-flowered ‘Spetchley Ruby’.

Quick questions & answers

What is this plant and how do I prune it?

Kieran Jones, via email

Q

This is Potentilla fruticosa, a shrubby species famed for its ability to colour most of summer. Your plant is almost certainly ‘Primrose Beauty’.

Prune it in spring by shortening the previous year’s shoots in April to within 8in (20cm) of the base.

Follow pruning by feeding with a granular rose fertiliser or Vitax Q4.

A

Can I cut my flowered lupins right down to the ground?

Simon Thomas, Ely, Cambs

Q

A

If lupins are cut back to near ground level after flowering, it weakens growth and the plant’s vitality is reduced.

Only spent flowering spikes should be removed, leaving the lower part of the stem intact.

A

Plume poppies are found in the mountains of China and Japan

Best grown in organically rich soil in full sun, it is propagated by dividing the rootstock in October or November.

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

37

Ask John Negus

John has been answering reader queries for 50 years

Pelargoniums are easy to propagate via cuttings

Sweetcorn need a high-potash feed to make kernels

Should I bin my plants or take cuttings?

No sweetcorn cobs

I have five compact pelargoniums that I have managed to keep for the past six years. I have had trouble trying to take cuttings as the stems are quite short. Are they worth keeping?

Carol Smallwood, via email

Our sweetcorn is over 10ft (3m) high and only two of the plants have tassels, with no sign of any cobs growing. What is going wrong?

Lily James, via email

Q

Propagation is your best bet and this is the ideal time of year to do it.

Use non-flowering stems that are only just beginning to go woody at their base.

If there aren’t any non-flowering stems available, remove the flowers before inserting the cuttings.

At the top of the cutting you need to leave the bud or newly unfurling leaf and

A

one full leaf below that. You can remove all other leaves.

Insert cuttings into individual pots of cuttings compost. Rooting hormone is not necessary with pelargoniums.

Make sure the compost is moist, and place the cuttings somewhere warm and bright but not in full sun. Rooting should take place within a couple of weeks.

If the cuttings are in individual pots, leave them for a few more weeks and then pot them into larger pots of peatbased or peat-free compost to keep them over the winter. If you have several cuttings in one pot , when roots start to show through the bottom gently knock them out and pot them on individually.

What is this self-seeded stranger?

What is this strange plant that’s started growing in my garden?

We didn’t plant it.

Chrissie Howes, via email

Q

This appears to be downy thorn apple (Datura innoxia). A native of South America, it is grown for its sculptural leaves and flowers.

It’s rampant and can appear in the wild in Britain. A bird may have deposited a seed in your garden.

These invasive plants often appear after a long hot summer has triggered germination and the flowers are followed by conker-sized prickly fruits.

It’s a very poisonous plant containing tropane alkaloids which, if ingested, can trigger irregular heartbeat, delirium, convulsions and sometimes death.

Indeed, in 38BC, a band of Roman soldiers were poisoned by it when they ate its fruits. In 1676, in Jamestown, USA,

A

38 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

Datura is an attractive plant but extremely toxic

soldiers who innocently consumed the fruits became severely ill. A mass outbreak of poisoning occurred in North Africa in 1943.

I urge you, therefore, to observe it with caution. Then, ideally, remove it and bin it for your council to collect.

Q

The fact that only two plants have formed cobs indicates that the soil is nitrogen rich and is stimulating vegetative rather than ‘fruiting’ growth.

If you are not doing so already, feed twice weekly with a high-potash tomato fertiliser such as Tomorite or Big Tom. There is still time for your crop to produce female flowers and the fertiliser will speed up their development.

A

Seeds of hope Could you please diagnose why these have come through dried up?

They grew beautifully in my last garden.

Honey garlic seed heads Louise Wilson, via email

Q

The plant is honey garlic (Nectaroscordum siculum) that is developing seed heads. Its creamy green and deep-red bell-shaped flowers that formed earlier, and are relatively short lived, appear as umbrella clusters and can be missed.

All is not lost. If you leave its seed vessels to mature, they will please you with their handsome, sculptural form.

A

Contact John Negus by email address below Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

Root cuttings in multi-purpose compost

Dry soils and humid air are perfect for powdery mildew

Cuttings compost My rosemary cuttings have rooted well, but I can’t find any John Innes No1. What other compost can I use for potting on?

Judy Case, via email

Q How can plants evade powdery mildew?

What is the most effective way of dealing with powdery mildew? My plants are badly affected this year.

Stacey Cahill, via email

Q

The fungi that cause powdery mildew are encouraged by dry soils and by humid or damp air.

The first preventative technique, therefore, is not to let plants dry out at the roots. Once symptoms are seen, it is unlikely that you would be able to apply enough water to solve the problem, but mulching in late winter will help to keep the soil moist for longer.

Second, grow plants in such a way that there is plenty of air movement between them, and through them.

Third, try to avoid water sitting on

A

the leaves for too long, ad fungal spores need a damp surface to germinate. Air movement through and around foliage helps to evaporate moisture, and if you do water, direct it to the soil.

If symptoms are spotted early, the first affected leaves can be removed to take away a source of infection. It helps to clear away all fallen leaves in the autumn and, in the meantime, clean the plant with an anti-fungal spray made of 40% milk and 60% water.

It might be worth applying a combination of fungicides as well.

Too late to save my orchid?

Q A

Is my orchid past the point of no return?

Monica Dyer, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

Your orchid can be saved if you act fast. The problem is a severe lack of water, which can happen very easily with plants grown on bark like yours are.

In their natural conditions the atmosphere would be very humid, with water constantly dripping onto the foliage and aerial roots (both are capable of absorbing moisture) and very little water evaporating from the surface.

Although they don’t need as much moisture as terrestrial plants, they suffer just as much in its absence.

The important thing is to improve humidity levels around the foliage and roots. Aerial roots work slightly differently from terrestrial roots, but the

simplest thing to Orchids need high do is to humidity levels to survive plunge the whole arrangement into water, leave it for a couple of hours and then let it drain.

Do this at least once a week, possibly twice, for the remainder of the growing season (another couple of months).

In between times, mist the leaves and roots at least every day, giving them a good covering of moisture.

If the orchid is growing in a warm room it will be beneficial to do this more than once a day while temperatures are as high as they are.

I would opt for multi-purpose compost augmented with fish, blood and bone meal. Add a 3in (8cm) potful of this fertiliser to a bucket of potting compost and mix it in.

For the moment, your cuttings should be happy outdoors. Then, when temperatures plummet in October or November, consign them to a greenhouse, cold frame or cloche, sealed at both ends. Plant out your charges where they will grow, next spring.

A

Mystery tree Please could you identify this tree for me?

Jean Hewitt, Southend-on-Sea, Essex

Q

The handsome tree in question is Clerodendrum trichotomum.

A native of China and Japan, its white flowers are followed by dramatic deep-blue berries each of which is cupped in a scarlet calyx.

A variety of it, C. trichotomum var. fargesii, has bronze-hued young leaves and flowers with green sepals.

It appears to be happy in most free-draining and sunny or lightly shaded situations, and normally it grows to about 5-6m Clerodendrums like a (15-20ft) high sunny situation and across.

A

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

39

Alamy

Anne Swithinbank’s masterclass on: underperforming oleander Step by step

Caring for potted oleander

Once they have budded up and nights are warm, both strelitzia (bird of paradise) and oleander enjoy a sheltered patio in the summer months

Botanyplants.co.uk

Oleander ‘Hardy Pink’ can tolerate temperatures as low as 14ºF (-10ºC)

To kid oleanders like ‘Agnes Campbell’ that they are further south, keep them in pots and bring under cover for winter

Feed oleanders monthly with a well-balanced fertiliser, from when they start into growth to the point when nights grow cooler.

1

What ails my oleander?

Q A couple of years ago, I bought an oleander described as a hardy shrub.

My garden is not particularly cold and I planted it in a sheltered spot, but it has not grown much. Although buds have formed, they struggle to open. What went wrong, and can I improve things?

Jennifer Kirkpatrick, Salisbury, Wilts.

Enjoying a touch of the Med is a lovely idea and oleander is a firm favourite. Widely planted around the roadsides and hotels of warmer countries, the profuse white, pink or red flowers and evergreen foliage are a familiar and easily recognisable sight. Basking in hot weather and sunshine, plants can make large shrubs 20ft (6m) tall, capable of flowering all year round. Just take care when planting and handling oleanders, as all parts of the plant are poisonous.

Most oleander cultivars are only just frost-hardy. A few (such as ‘Little Red’, ‘Hardy Red’ and ‘Hardy Pink’) are said to tolerate temperatures as low as 14ºF (-10ºC), though surviving these lows will

Scrape any weeds from the compost surface of pot-grown oleanders and top-dress now with fresh compost.

2

Bring plants under cover for winter in all but the mildest areas, and drape with fleece when temperatures dip below freezing.

Outdoors, insulate pot sides using bubble plastic or Hessian.

3

More exotic beauties to try ADVENTUROUS gardeners can push the hardiness boundaries with a wide range of exotic plants requiring similar treatment to oleander. Originally from Brazil, bougainvilleas make showy bracts. To keep these and blue-flowered Cape leadwort (Plumbago auriculata) compact, trim after flowering or in late winter/spring.

Chinese crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) is deciduous with showy white or pink flower panicles.

40 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

Plan to pot congested plants into slightly larger containers next spring or early summer. Make sure the compost is moist first and tease out any congested roots.

4

Keep Plumbago auriculata compact by trimming after flowering

Alamy

All photography John Swithinbank / Future, unless otherwise credited

A

depend on being sited in a sheltered position and well-drained soil.

As with many marginally hardy plants, there is a big difference between the minimum temperature at which they can survive and a slightly higher one that enables them to thrive and do well.

Oleanders fare best in milder regions and sunny positions, but prolonged cold spells often send them into a deep slumber.

Dormant oleanders are slow to wake in spring and can sit for weeks with tight, stubbornly furled flower buds. Sometimes they are only just waking up when cooler nights send them back to sleep. A warm spring and summer make all the difference.

Following hot May temperatures, perhaps your oleander is blooming now.

One way to fool oleanders into thinking they are growing further south is to keep them in pots and bring them under cover for winter. In an unheated greenhouse or insulated shed, they are protected from cold winds and warmed by solar heat, and will wake up and get going earlier to start flowering in June.

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All our esyesterdays

from the AG archiv

MODE ROSERN HISTO RY P ART 3

Large-flowered roses Arthur Hellyer, MBE, VMH, describes his choice of the finest large-flowered (hybrid tea) varieties available

T

All photographs Alamy

HE large-flowered roses are those which, for the most part, are also called hybrid teas. They have medium to large flowers, usually full double and always shapely, produced singly or in small open clusters, with quite long stalks to each individual bloom. Because of this habit they are easily disbudded to produce even larger flowers. They are excellent roses for cutting and for exhibition, and the best make a fine show in the garden, though not as a rule such a solid or continuous display of colour as the cluster-flowered roses.

All large-flowered roses are recurrent flowering, producing their flowers in successive flushes in summer and early autumn. There are hundreds of varieties, but the following are high in the popularity polls.

Note: The rose varieties listed in this article are the ones still available today.

42 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

‘Alec’s Red’ Raised by J. Cocker & Son from a cross between ‘Fragrant Cloud’ and ‘Dame de Coeur’, this is a fine cherry-red rose with green foliage. It is a big, full rose, bright

in colour, with vigorous in growth, about 3ft (91cm) high, and it has proved healthy and satisfactory in gardens. This must be one of the best light-red roses.

‘Blessings’ This lovely soft coral-pink rose with wide, fullpetalled flowers borne in clusters was introduced in 1967 as a floribunda, and later classified as a hybrid tea.

Whichever one it is called, this is an attractive garden rose. Height around 3ft (91cm).

‘Duke of Windsor’ This is a vividly coloured orangevermillion rose, produced by crossing ‘Prima Ballerina’ with an unnamed seedling.

The dark-green foliage sets off the colour of the flowers well. Habit is bushy and height is around 2½ft (76cm).

‘Chicago Peace’ This variety arose as a bud sport from ‘Peace’, which it resembles in every way except colour.

The yellow of ‘Chicago Peace’ is diffused with bronzy-orange and pink. The foliage is green and healthy, and the growth vigorous. Height about 4ft (1.2m).

‘Blue Moon’ This is probably the best ‘blue’ large-flowered rose yet introduced.

Officially described as ‘silvery lilac’, the flowers are large, full and sweetly scented. The foliage is green, growth vigorous and reasonably healthy, with a height of 3ft (91cm).

This is the third of a 10-part series on roses written by AG’s former Editor Arthur Hellyer, MBE, VMH, originally published in Amateur Gardening in 1973. This part, and part 4 next week, looks at large-flowered roses. The following articles in the series will focus on cluster-flowered roses, climbing roses and shrub roses.

‘Ernest H. Morse’ The colour of this rose is outstanding, being a brilliant red that can be seen from afar. It has size, form and perfume, and is a vigorous, healthy rose that will easily reach 3ft (91cm). The foliage is green and healthy, and the growth vigorous.

‘Grandpa Dickson’ A dual-purpose rose that is excellent for cut flowers and on the show bench. The colour of the large shapely flowers is light yellow, well displayed by healthy dark-green foliage. Raised by A. Dickson & Sons, it grows to around 3ft (91cm).

‘Elizabeth Harkness’ It would be difficult to guess from the peaches and cream shades of this rose that it was raised from ‘Red Dandy’ crossed with ‘Piccadilly’. The slightly scented flowers are of good shape, while the foliage is green, and the growth vigorous and healthy. Height about 2½ft (76cm).

‘Ena Harkness’ This crimson rose is a top favourite and is difficult to fault except for a weak flower stem and thin habit. The fragrant flowers are full and well formed, but colour varies, being a lighter crimson in early summer than in autumn. Foliage is green, and height 2½ft (76cm).

‘Fragrant Cloud’ This is one of the great roses of the century, unusual in colour, rich in perfume and healthy. The colour is a slightly smoky red. Since the foliage is deep green, the overall effect can be a little sombre, but as a cut flower ‘Fragrant Cloud’ is superb.

Height is 3ft (91cm).

‘Grandmère Jenny’ This rose clearly resembles ‘Peace’, one of its parents, but it is not so vigorous, only about 3ft (91cm) high and it has a deeper pink flush on the primrose base colour. ‘Grandmère Jenny’ is really a better proposition than ‘Peace’ for small and mediumsized gardens.

Where to buy* David Austin Roses davidaustinroses.co.uk 0800 111 4699 Jacksons Nurseries jacksonsnurseries.co.uk 01782 502 741

Parkside Nursery parksidenursery.co.uk 07754 210385 Perryhill Nurseries perryhillnurseries.co.uk 01892 770377

Peter Beales Roses classicroses.co.uk 01953 454707 *Many nurseries are currently unable to send out plants – or despatch may be delayed.

The views, information and opinions expressed during this series of extracts from past issues of AG are solely those of the individuals involved, at the time they were written, and are not necessarily relevant or even legal today. Please treat these pages as a look back at how things were done in the past and not necessarily how they are done today. AG accepts no responsibility if readers follow advice given in these articles from past issues.

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke

Peppers and chillies You can grow your own peppers – hot or not!

Chilli peppers grow well in pots

Sweet or bell?

How did it start?

WE call them sweet peppers, while in the US they are more widely known as bell peppers. They’re big and sweet, and are perfect to stuff, with minced beef, chicken or turkey, Sweet pepper stuffed or Italian herbs and cheeses. But with couscous these fruits add flavour to any dish in which they are used: cut strips to scoop up a favourite dip, or roast or sauté them. Mini sweet peppers look and taste similar but are smaller, have fewer seeds to dig out and are often slightly sweeter.

Growing peppers at home will help keep elephants away!

In India, peppers are smeared on fences, while plantations are often sprayed with a capsicum-based liquid, to repel elephants. As soon as they get a distant whiff of the aroma, the elephants turn in the opposite direction.

CAPSICUM annuum is native to Central America and northern South America. Seeds came to Europe – actually Spain – in 1493, when Christopher Columbus Capsicum annuum returned from his discovery of the being farmed in New World. He gave them the name Ecuador pepper because black pepper (peppercorns) from India, although from an unrelated plant (Piper nigrum), was an incredibly important spice, and it was felt that the newly arrived fruiting peppers had the same kind of ‘heat’. In fact, in Europe at the time, the name pepper was applied to all known spices with a hot and pungent taste.

The ‘chilli’ name comes from the Nahuatl Aztec language, used for all peppers – but these days chilli refers just to the hotter types.

5

differently coloured sweet peppers

Red: Capsicum annuum var. annuum (Grossum Group) ‘Redskin’ AGM

Yellow: Capsicum annuum var. annuum (Grossum Group) ‘Midas’

Seaspringseeds.co.uk

THE most common pepper colours are green, yellow, orange and red. More rarely, brown, white, lavender and dark purple peppers can be seen, depending on the variety. Unripe fruits are green, mainly, or sometimes pale yellow or pale purple. All red, yellow and orange peppers are simply ripened green ones. The commercial Purple and brown sweet peppers variety ‘Permagreen’ (a supermarket pepper) is still green when ripe and will never turn red.

Sweet peppers are a good source of vitamin A, but red ones have more than twice the amount of vitamin C – and almost 11 times the amount of betacarotene, therefore improving our immune systems, and general health!

Nickys-nursery.co.uk

The colour...

All photography Alamy, unless otherwise credited

February and April, they will produce their fruits throughout summer – particularly if they are well fed with tomato fertiliser. Let’s look at some of their stories.

Sweet peppers and chillies are both derived from the same plant, Capsicum annuum. The name comes from the Latin capsa, meaning ‘box’, in reference to the squarish shape of the fruits.

DT Brown

MORE peppers and chillies are being grown now than ever before, both in worldwide commercial production and by amateur gardeners at home. These are ideal crops for growing bags and pots, and you can grow them just like tomatoes – either in a greenhouse or conservatory, or outdoors on a warm sheltered patio during the summer.

From seed sown in heat between

Orange: Capsicum annuum var. annuum (Grossum Group) ‘Gourmet’ AGM

Chocolate brown: Capsicum annuum var. annuum ‘Chocolate’

DT Brown

This week it’s:

Orange/brown: Capsicum annuum var. annuum ‘King of the North’ 8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

45

Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke

Prize draw

Miracle-Gro is giving two AG readers the chance to perfect their roses with the Miracle-Gro Rose & Shrub range worth £29.96!

Each winner will receive two bottles of 1-litre MiracleGro Rose & Shrub Concentrated Liquid Plant Food (RRP £4.99) to provide visibly healthier plants in just seven days! Miracle-Gro Rose & Shrub Concentrated Liquid Plant Food now has a new formulation containing Humifirst that stimulates growth and yield as well as root formation.

For long-lasting results, each winner will receive 1kg of Miracle-Gro Rose & Shrub Continuous Release Plant Food (RRP £6.99). Miracle-Gro Rose & Shrub Continuous Release Plant Food contains a temperature-controlled coating that regulates the release of nutrients when conditions are right for feeding.

Finally, each winner will receive 1kg Miracle-Gro Rose & Shrub Fast Acting Granules Plant Food (RRP £12.99) for an abundance of flowers.

How to enter Send your name and address on the back of a postcard to Miracle-Gro Rose & Shrub Draw (8 August), Amateur Gardening, Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7BF. Or you can email your details to ag_giveaway@futurenet.com, heading the email Miracle-Gro Rose & Shrub Draw (8 August). The closing date is 14 August 2020.

Note: prizes will not be sent out until the Covid-19 crisis is over and people are back at work.

WIN £30

‘TRINIDAD Capsicum annuum Perfume’ is a ‘Trinidad Perfume’ yellow-fruiting chilli variety available from several seed firms. What sets it apart from others is that it has the intense flavour of a habanero pepper, but doesn’t have the searing heat.

In taste trials of more than 100 chillies ‘Trinidad Perfume’ came top, by a long way. It is particularly useful in cooking as it can be used with hot habanero chillies: it allows you to control the heat of the dish without compromising on pungency and depth of flavour.

Historical gardening event of the week: 4 August 1937

Word search

This word search comprises words associated with peppers and chillies. They are listed below, while in the grid they may be read across, backwards, up, down or diagonally. Letters may be shared between words.

Erroneous or duplicate words may appear in the grid, but there is only one correct solution. After the listed words are found there are six letters remaining; arrange these to make this week’s KEYWORD.

P M U C I S P A C E

E T A E H Y W H S N

P E R O C O A U J S

P E T I L B O A D C

E W P L A H L O E H

R S E N N A R A F I

No: 530

S Y E E P A N B F L

G R E E N I E P U L

O R N G H L I E T I

G O E C L D I P S S

PEPPERS HOW TO ENTER: Enter this week’s keyword on the entry form, CHILLIS and send it to AG Word Search No 530, Amateur Gardening, BELL Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 CAPSICUM 7BF, to arrive by Wednesday 19 August 2020. The first correct CHINA entry chosen at random will win our £30 cash prize.

DIPS GREEN This week’s keyword is ..........................................................................................

GREENHOUSE Name ........................................................................................................................

HABANERO Address ....................................................................................................................

HEAT HOT ...................................................................................................................................

JALAPENO Postcode ..................................................................................................................

ORANGE SPICY Email .........................................................................................................................

STUFFED Tel no ........................................................................................................................

SWEET Future plc, publisher of Amateur Gardening, will collect your personal information solely to process your competition entry.

YELLOW 46 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

THE actress Dame Barbara Windsor was born on this day, in Shoreditch, London.

She was born Barbara Deeks and, following the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, took the Windsor stage name.

She is best known for her ‘dizzy blonde’ characters in 10 Carry On films, and as landlady Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders for 20 years.

‘Babs’ has always been keen on her garden – yet not always good at it! In 1993 she lived with her then husband, restaurateur Stephen, in a small townhouse with a courtyard garden, in London’s West End. She said at the time: “He tried to improve it by building a few raised beds, but because he put them against an outside wall, they encouraged damp.

We’re not exactly green-fingered!”

She was, however, a better flower arranger: they also owned a restaurant in Buckinghamshire and, whenever she could, she arranged the flowers for it.

Barbara was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2014, and has withdrawn from the public eye.

Barbara’s ancestry has been traced back to a small village in Suffolk. I traced mine back to the same village, and discovered that my ancestors lived next door to hers!

Suttons

Flavour but no heat!

Crossword

...just for fun!

(

)

*

+

,

.

Removing the seeds and white ‘veins’ will reduce a chilli’s heat

/

It’s all about the heat () (*

(+

(,

ACROSS 1 Directly below, as if siting

DOWN 1 Remove the bottle top, of

a small plant _____ (that is, in front of) a bigger one (5) 3 Divine messenger, as in the hyacinth variety ‘Pink _____’ and the hosta variety ‘Blue _____’ (5) 7 Vine can kill a leading US fashion brand! (6,5) (anag) 8 ________ ____ chillies are the subjects of this week’s Miscellany! (7,3) 9 The property of being fit to eat! (10) 13 A dessert Malus domestica! (6,5) 14 Within Primula denticulata, there is a heavily loaded fruit tree, it is said! (5) 15 An AGM, in plants, refers to an Award of Garden _____ (5)

a weedkiller or fertiliser perhaps! (5) 2 “It’s an ideal tip, Dad” I said, about his garden shed in a state of disrepair!

(11) (anag) 4 An unripened fruit of this week’s Miscellany! (5,6) 5 Pulmonaria is the ____ wort (4) 6 A knot in wood (4) 10 Cut-up wood is a hard slog! (4) (anag) 11 These peppers are this in the UK…. (5) 12 …but they’re this in the US! (4)

ANSWERS TO ABOVE CROSSWORD

Peppers that have ripened on the plant will also be sweeter than those that were picked and allowed to ripen afterwards. If you grow your own, then you can ensure they are as sweet as possible by leaving them to ripen on the plant.

In 2018, the amount of peppers produced worldwide stood at 752K tonnes, an increase of more than 5% on the previous year. The largest national producer is China.

You would think that the country consuming the most peppers would also be a big nation, such as China, India or the US, but in fact it is… Vietnam!

((

ACROSS 1 Under 3 Angel 7 Calvin Klein 8 Peppers and 9 Edibleness 13 Eating apple 14 Laden 15 Merit

Let your peppers ripen on the plant

('

DOWN 1 Uncap 2 Dilapidated 4 Green pepper 5 Lung 6 Gnar 10 Logs

Wow! I didn’t know that...

0

11 Sweet 12 Bell

THE ‘heat’ of peppers and chillies comes from capsaicin, found in the Capsicum annuum plant. This is measured using Scoville heat units (SHU), which goes from 0 (with a sweet pepper) to the ‘Carolina Reaper’ – the world’s hottest chilli as confirmed by Guinness World Records – which clocks in at over 2,200,000 SHU. Yogurt, milk, ice cream or peanut butter will cool you off, because a protein in them (casein) breaks the bond between your pain receptors and the capsaicin. Drinking water will do no good because capsaicin is not soluble in water – it would be like trying to wash away grease with water! If you want to take the heat level down a notch, remove and discard the seed and whitish ribs before eating or cooking the chilli.

Heat can still vary from pepper to pepper so, for example, one jalapeño could taste milder or hotter when compared to another, even from the same plant.

KEYWORD TO WORD SEARCH 525 (4 July): WASHINGTONIA AND THE WINNER IS: JANICE PHILLIPS, HERSHAM, SURREY

Tried & tested

by Tim Rumball Tim tests six products this week to determine the best for you

Wasp traps and deterrents Tim Rumball tries six devices designed to destroy or deter wasps from your crops

W

ASPS do a lot of good in our gardens, feeding on a range of insect pests through spring and early summer. But as fruit ripens on trees and bushes in mid to late summer, the diet of common wasps changes and they seek sugary treats. If you’re sitting outside with a slice of cake, wasps will soon find you and the threat of a sting is very real.

Several of the wasp traps I looked at are variations on the theme of a jam-jar half-full of sweet liquid. Site them away from your seating area to attract wasps to another part of the garden where they crawl in and drown. However the Waspinator, the Wasp Shield and the Honeycomb Stickers are different – they are deterrents, so site them close to your seating area. The Waspinator is

designed to look like another wasp colony’s nest, while the Honeycomb Stickers represent the inside of a wasp nest, and the wasps in your garden are supposed to keep away to avoid a territory war.

I could find no independent scientific studies to suggest that either fake nests like the Waspinator, or honeycomb patterns actually work to deter wasps.

Nippon Wasp Control System £6.95

Kingfisher Wasp Trap £3.36

Wasp Shield Repellent £13

from In-Excess garden centres

from B&Q (delivery £5 online)

(plus £4.99 delivery)

01530 510060 vitax.co.uk

0333 014 3098 diy.com

amazon.co.uk +49 7253 9887800

Score

13 /15

Score

12

Score

10 /15

/15

Features

Features

Features

Disposable wasp trap comprising tough plastic bag with twist-up ‘entry chamber’ cap and separate liquid attractant. To use, twist up the cap, squirt attractant into the bag, top up with water and hang in a suitable location.

Reusable clear-plastic wasp trap with colourful yellow screw-on lid. Two small side-entry ports, hanging string and tips on how to use. Attractant not provided, but instructions suggest you fill by a third with sugary water.

Wasp deterrent made in Germany, using natural oils. To use, just open the tin – the smell is claimed to keep wasps away.

Lasts for up to a year. Claimed to be tested and recommended by a leading insect scientist.

Performance

Performance

Performance

Slightly awkward to fill with attractant and water. Easy to hang with soft-wire tie provided, but it looks ugly. The attractant drew in a wide range of flies including mosquitoes and fruit flies – more than any of the other traps.

No spillage problem as everything is contained in the bag, which is chucked away when full.

Better looking than the Nippon plastic bag. Easy to fill (I used three teaspoons of sugar and a tablespoon of jam in half a mug of water). Threading the hanging string through the lid was a little tricky, but easy to tie in a tree. No spillage problems even in windy weather. Not many takers for my sugar and jam home-made attractant.

Getting the screw-top lid off was a struggle. The pad inside was impregnated with a lemon-scented product smelling similar to citronella.

Placed on the garden table it was not unpleasant to sit close to, and no wasps came near me while it was in use. It’s small enough to slip in a handbag or the pocket of your gardening jacket.

Value

Value

Value

Obviously an effective attractant and at a reasonable price. Shame it’s not a betterlooking product to hang in the garden, and that it’s not reusable.

Cheap, and great that it’s reusable. My home-made attractant didn’t work as well as the commercial ones provided with other traps.

Quite expensive. Good that it’s personal and portable, and uses natural products, but it’s impossible for me to verify if it is effective.

48 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

BEST BUY...

The Buzz Honeypot Wasp Trap £8.79 (free delivery from Blue Lagoon Products Ltd)

0151 6012249 ebaystores.co.uk

0333 103 0901 ryman.co.uk

Score

9

PS AND DETE

EN

SP WA

(plus delivery £3.50)

TR A

14/15

TS

Amateur

Honeycomb Deterrent Waspinator Stickers £6.99 £3 free delivery from Upperbound

ST BU E B

Y

Wasps do a lot of good in our gardens, but in summer they hunt down sugary treats

0151 6012249 ebaystores.co.uk

RR

Score

12 /15

/15

Features

Features Durable, plasticised-fabric bag with a grey camouflage design, shaped like a duffle bag with hanging loop and drawstring. Designed to look like a wasps’ nest, it is said to frighten away wasps within a 6m (20ft) radius.

The Waspinator has to be stuffed with old plastic carrier bags, or inflate a balloon inside to fill it out (I used old bubblewrap).

It’s easy to fill and pull the drawstring closed. It’s easy to hang, light and weatherproof. No wasps were seen on my patio while the Waspinator was there.

Colourful and fun looking. Easy to fill. Just unscrew the base, mix a sachet of attractant with water, pour it in and replace the base.

Then hang trap in a tree.

The wasp entry hole is in the base and attractant spills out easily, so care is needed. The supplied attractant drew in a range of different flies, but not as many as the Nippon.

Value

Value

These deterrents have been around for years. They’re cheap and harmless to wasps, and there’s anecdotal evidence that they work. However, I cannot verify that the absence of wasps around my patio was due to the Waspinator.

Practical and good looking, the Buzz and its attractant are clearly effective at drawing in and killing flying insects. It is refillable and so reusable and reasonably priced.

Performance Performance Easy to apply to garden surfaces such as fence posts and tables, and don’t appear to wash off in the rain.

Wasps are said to be highly territorial so won’t come into the area near the stickers. I saw no wasps around my garden seating area where the stickers were applied.

Value Nice that they’re environmentally friendly. It’s possible the stickers have an effect on wasp behaviour, but I couldn’t tell if they kept wasps away.

Performance

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

All prices correct at time of going to press and may vary at garden centres

Features Strip of 50 peel-off sticky labels printed with a black-on-white honeycomb design. Stuck to surfaces around areas you want to keep clear, they are claimed to deter wasps, bees and hornets by simulating the inside of a competitor’s nest.

Large beehive-shaped bright orange or blue plastic bottle with hanging loop. Removable, indented base with hole to allow wasps in. Special attractant (one sachet) included. Attractant refill three-pack £4.95

49

50 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

51

Write to us: Letters, Amateur Gardening magazine, Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough Business Park, Farnborough, Hants GU14 7BF (please include your address). Email us: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

A helping hand

Star letter

Lou’s garden is packed with plants

Obsessive plant buyer!

I

WANTED to show you my garden and what I have created in five years. I’m a little obsessive about buying plants, and love my garden.

There’s always something to do, or something new to admire.

Also, in a small garden I have so much wildlife. I gain a lot of pride and enjoyment when I’m feeding the

hedgehogs that come in every night.

I just had to share it with you before it all changes again!

I love my weekly AG mag.

Lou Cave, via email Wendy says: Thanks Lou, I love your choice of interesting foliage plants – I might have to go and buy a new plant!

Re-use and recycle!

The old bath has been converted into a feature

Before: an old galvanised hopper

… is turned into a pond

SINCE I salvaged an old bath, I have been experimenting with aquatic plants to attract wildlife and bring life to a boring corner of the garden.

Jag Tamber, Kings Heath, Birmingham

I LOVE recycling in the garden.

Here are my before and after photos of my new pond, made from an old feed hopper.

Debbie Coe, York

NOW that my Mother’s Day plants have finished, I planted some beautiful sedums into the planters.

Pam Handley, Stamford, Lincs These succulents are stylish new additions to Pam’s gift planters

HOW interesting and inspiring to read about Graham Brown (AG, 11 July). I have been interested in gardening for many years and now at 85 I am struggling due to ill health. That article certainly inspired me: it would be interesting to have more articles like this, and items about equipment that would make gardening easier for us.

Pat Pugh, Barton on Sea, Dorset

Wendy says: Hi Pat, you will find lots of practical advice to make gardening easier on this website run by Thrive.

Please visit carryongardening.org.uk.

Back-up baskets DUE to us being on the critical register and with Covid19 arriving so quickly, we were unable to get to the garden “I am so pleased with centre for my hanging baskets” bedding plants.

I am so pleased with my hanging baskets filled with free seeds from Amateur Gardening and last year’s survivals. Thank you so much.

Janey Levy, via email

In search of a special photo Peter Seabrook is seeking your help: “On the 16 March 1993, I opened a new post office in Southend-on-Sea with the popular Desert Orchid racehorse, Desert Orchid. There was a special issue of orchid stamps. Is there a chance an AG reader was there and took a photo?” If you can help, email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com.

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

53

SHARE YOUR STORIES TIPS AND PHOTOS and you will receive a fantastic pair of Town & Country’s Master Gardener gloves — the UK’s best-selling gardening glove and a perfect companion to help you in the garden. State small, medium or large with your letter.

Future PLC Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7BF

Editorial: Editor: Garry Coward-Williams Email: garry.coward-williams@futurenet.com 07814 905439

Gardening Editor: Ruth Hayes Assistant Editor: Janey Goulding Art Editor: Al Rigger Picture Editor and Letters: Wendy Humphries Features: Kathryn Wilson, Lesley Upton Email: amateurgardening@futurnet.com

Clematis: our queen of climbers I THOUGHT you might like to see photos of my clematis collection. ‘Niobe’ was the first one that I bought, the double flowered one was from the bargain end- of-season counter, and the white one with a lovely green stripe (one of my favourites) was a Lidl bargain!

Ann McDermott, via email

I REALLY enjoyed the articles on clematis, as I’m a huge clematis fan.

You say there are clematis that will flower every month of the year. It would be great if you could provide a calendar list of varieties.

Christine Wheeler, via email Wendy says: Great question, Christine.

Photo of the week

Of course, here’s the list.

Jan/Feb: C. cirrhosa var. purpurascens ‘Freckles’ and C.c. ‘Wisley Cream’ March: C. armandii ‘Apple Blossom’ April: C. alpina and C. macropetala May: Early large-flowered hybrids, C. macropetala and C. montana varieties June: C. montana, large-flowered types July: C. orientalis ‘Bill MacKenzie’, C. uncinata and C. viticella, late largeflowered group, such as ‘Prince Charles’ August: C. orientalis (tangutica), C. rehderiana, C. texensis hybrids; C. x triternata ‘Rubromarginata’, C. viticella Sept/Oct: C. orientalis (tangutica), C. rehderiana and C. texensis November: C. orientalis seedheads December: C. cirrhosa var. balearica.

Top of the class clematis

Clematis ‘Crystal Fountain’

Wendy says: We’d love to hear how you’ve been spending time in your gardens. Please email us at amateurgardening@futurenet.com.

54 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

I HAVE just read with interest Graham Clarke’s excellent article (AG, 20 June) about clematis.

I have a few nice types in my garden; two that stand out are an early summer-flowering specimen called ‘Teshio’, and one of Raymond Evison’s gems called ‘Crystal Fountain’ (shown) – both stunners!

Dave Richards, Swansea

For know-how, advice and tips, visit amateurgardening.com. For growing help visit Ruth’s Gardening Blog, amateurgardening.com/blog.

Photography All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected Advertising Media packs are available on request Ad Manager: Laurence Pierce 07971 605143 International Amateur Gardening is available for licensing.

Contact the Licensing team to discuss partnership opportunities.

Head of Print Licensing: Rachel Shaw licensing@futurenet.com Subscriptions Email enquiries: amateurgardeningsubs.co.uk/subsave UK orderline & enquiries: 0888 888 8888 Overseas order line and enquiries: +44 (0)8888 888888 Online orders & enquiries: myfavouritemagazines.co.uk CRM Director: Louise Dudfield Circulation Head of Newstrade: Tim Mathers Production Head of Production: Mark Constance Production Project Manager: Clare Scott Advertising Production Manager: Joanne Crosby Digital Editions Controller: Jason Hudson Management: Chief Content Officer: Aaron Asadi Commercial Finance Director: Dan Jotcham Managing Director: Kirsty Setchell Group Managing Director: Adrian Hughes Printed by The Wyndeham Group Distributed by Marketforce (UK), 5 Churchill Place, marketforce.co.uk Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU. 0203 787 9001.

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All contents © 2020 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales.

Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.

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Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions.

Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR) www.futureplc.com

Chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne Non-executive chairman Richard Huntingford !ǝǣƺǔ ȇƏȇƬǣƏǼ Ȓǔ Ƭƺ Rachel Addison Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244

We’re working to create a future where brain tumours are curable.

We urgently need your help to accelerate research. c ÝÌ % cČ ĂŚĂ‹ Ă‹Ă„ ĂŚ Ę‹Č Ă—Â˝ Ăž Š ½× ĂŞĂž ĂŚĂ‹ ÄˆĂ„ ĂŞĂš

thebraintumourcharity.org

Š The Brain Tumour Charity 2020. Registered Charity in England and Wales (1150054) and Scotland (SC045081)

56 AMATEUR GARDENING 8 AUGUST 2020

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

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c ÝÌ % cČ ĂŚĂ‹ Ă‹Ă„ ĂŚ Ę‹Č Ă—Â˝ Ăž Š ½× ĂŞĂž ĂŚĂ‹ ÄˆĂ„ ĂŞĂš

thebraintumourcharity.org Ęľ cŠ Ăš ÂŹĂ„ cĂŞĂƒĂ‹ĂŞĂš Š ڏÌß ǞǟǞǟ Y ¤ÞÌ Ăš Š ڏÌß ÂŹĂ„ Ĥ½ Ă„ Ă„ s ½ Ăž ÉšÇ˝Ç˝Č ÇźÇźČ Č€É› Ă„ ] Ë̽ Ă„ Éš] ÇźČ€Č ÇźČ„Ç˝É›

Toby Buckland The luminescent voodoo candyfloss of blanket weeds turning the pond from gorgeous to grim

Toby’s top tips

Inset: Future

Dwarf white water lilies (Nymphaea candida) help provide shade that keeps blanket weed at bay

Blanket weed (Spirogyra) absorbs oxygen but also gives off large amounts of carbon dioxide, turning pond water into a mild carbonic acid (you can see bubbles in this image of a water boatman resting on a pond’s surface above the weed).

1

Care is needed with fish such as koi carp, as blanket weed can choke the life out of the water

Pond pondering Something green and ghastly has taken hold of a friend’s pond – and Toby has been called in to help grapple with it

“Crystal-clear water turned into a witch’s brew”

life out of the water, plummeting the pH to levels that can kill fish.

Getting rid of what causes the weed takes time (see the panel below), but as a temporary fix I’ve been helping Gary pull the silky slime from the water by hand. In a small pond, a spring-tine rake used like a spaghetti fork is all you need, but for a lake this big it’s a two-man job.

Gary, stripped down to his shorts, worked through the water while I diligently kept watch from the bank (you know, in case of runaway pedalos).

Once on the bank, blanket weed changes its character completely. It dries faster than a microfibre towel in the Sahara, transforming from candyfloss

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shaped clouds into flat sheets of fabric, redolent of something Lady Gaga would wear if she ran out of bacon. Re-wetted, they morph back into swirls of slime in seconds, only to dry to algal felt once out of the drink again.

Gary was exhausted when he got out of the water, and thankful that we were leaving the piles on the side for any life trapped inside to find its way back to the water. He can put it on the compost tomorrow!

Protection for ponds SHADE prevents blanket weed, stopping water temperatures rising. Marginals at the water’s edge mop up nitrogen, while floating water-hawthorn/ lilies that act like parasols shade the water below.

Wildlife-safe pond dyes made from dark food colourings fit in modern water features, hiding plumbing and creating a mirror-like surface that reflects the sun. Gary and I have gone for barley Barley straw produces a straw placed in the water. As it rots, it produces a natural algicide as it rots natural algicide. One for the future is a set of submersible ultrasonic speakers that we can’t hear but which shatter algal cells. Currently used on lakes, they could soon be coming to a pond near you!

Future

All photography Alamy, unless otherwise credited

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’VE got a mate called Gary whose pond is so big, Dame Ellen MacArthur could use it for practice and there would still be room for a pedalo!

It’s just a shame about the green algae that’s currently doing a good impression of a mini Sargasso Sea. The ‘green gunk’ was expected after the giant pond liner was replaced as, with the flowering marginals thinned and the shade of water lilies reduced, conditions were perfect for blanket weed to burgeon. Overnight, the double trouble of excess nitrogen and rising water temperature cast its spell, turning the once crystal-clear lagoon into a green witch’s brew.

The organism responsible for this voodoo is an alga that links in ever lengthening strings of cells into gooey wool. Left to its own devices, it forms a green nebula akin to computergenerated images of the universe after the big bang, but as they coalesce they physically and chemically choke the

The chlorine content of tap water is believed to encourage blanket weed, so be sure to top up with rainwater. If this isn’t possible, put only a small amount in at a time.

8 AUGUST 2020 AMATEUR GARDENING

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