Garden News August 22

SEEDS FRrtEh E £ !

August 22 2015

Wo

B rit a in'sed st m o st t ru in vo ice g a rd e n in g

5

Fiery crocosmia to set your borders alight

1.99

Carol Klein

“Try my recipes for knock-out late summer containers!”

S D E E S E FRE 1.99!

Worth

£

FUCHSIA FEVER! The brightest triphyllas for unusual pots

PLUS 4 simple steps to make more plants RELISH EVERY

RASPBERRY

Use your crop to make muffins, smoothies & more!

PLANT POTATOES

Get a crop for Christmas!

Golden rules for show perfect

DAHLIAS

Have a beautiful

garden a ll- y e a r- ro u n d!

Fail-safe bedding & perennials Easy swaps for tricky plants Problem-free shrubs & hedges

Create a bright

WHITE BORDER!

Classic plants to use & how to put them together

AboutNOW

New park will have drifts of colourful planting and mature trees

Battersea get major new park A

new 2.4ha (6 acre) public park is to be created as part of the £8 billion pound redevelopment of Battersea Power Station. The major new green space, the size of three and a half football pitches, will feature large event lawns, terraced river gardens and a river-front promenade.

Features in the space, such as seating, will reference the Grade II listed industrial structure, along with reclaimed heritage items from the power station.

Planting will be composed of strong drifts of herbaceous perennials, ornamental grasses and spring bulbs, with ‘big, powerful’ trees. Distinctive

species being used include paper bark maple, Acer griseum, honey locust (gleditsia) and Dutch elm disease-resistant ulmus ‘New Horizon’. Seedheads from herbaceous plants will provide winter interest.

Completion is expected in 2025, with public access to the power station projected for 2019.

Dyffryn is tops D

Maybe dinoaurs ate daisies for dessert?

Daisies linked to dinosaurs

D

6 Garden News / August 22 2015

important implications for our understanding of pollinators, with the daisy family regarded as one of the most influential in the diversification and evolution of bees, hummingbirds and wasps,” said Luis Palazzesi, of Kew Gardens, who made the discovery with colleagues in Argentina and New Zealand.

The daisy family is the single most diverse family of flowering plants, with about 23,000 species including sunflowers, chrysanthemums, dahlias through to lettuce and artichokes.

yffryn Gardens, in Glamorgan, has scooped the accolade of being Wales’ top special place. More than 4,000 people voted for the iconic Welsh landmark, over a third of the final Sian Lloyd (centre) votes cast. The celebrates with venue had the Dyffryn team previously been crowned winner of the Parks and Gardens category in July (see GN Aug 1).

Taken on by the National Trust (NT) in 2013, recent renovations have seen the grounds and its range of 1920s-era garden rooms fully refurbished. The 22ha (55 acre) grounds also boast a significant cactus collection, noted arboretum and rose garden.

The gardens were designed by landscape architect Thomas Mawson in 1906.

Weather girl and NT Special Places ambassador Sian Lloyd recently presented gardens staff with their award. Said Sian: “The team at Dyffryn have put so much work into bringing the famous gardens to life over the last few years.”

Picture Credit

Shu erstock

Above: An ancient pollen grain found by scientists

inosaurs may have gambolled among ancestors of the daisy, scientists have discovered.

Pollen grains of plants in the Asteraceae (daisy family) have been found in 65 million-year-old deposits in Antarctica, placing the start of their evolution 20 million years earlier than first thought in the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs still existed.

No plants in the daisy family currently exist in Antarctica, and this find by scientists is the oldest. “This has

Images: Artwork BPSDC Ltd

Thames side venue to open in stages from 2017

Roof gardens will feature in the park complex

Artist’s impression of the Ba ersea development when finished

Three new books that will help you get to grips with small spaces, so you can tap into the grow-your-own movement wherever you live

National Trust

My Tiny Veg Plot Lia Leendertz

Small-Space Vegetable Gardens Andrea Bellamy An exuberant guide to growing vegetables in tiny plots, with help with planning and an A-Z veg growing guide. Covers the basics without being preachy.

Best line: “The edibles you love may not love you back, and when you work within a small space, every plant must earn its place.”

Timber Press, £14.99

Inspirational places showing that the lack of a conventional garden is irrelevant. Included is a hydroponic greenhouse in a shipping container, a shed roof allotment, garden barges, and a 1m x 3m rooftop plot. Features lots of practical project to try.

Best line: “Most would have deemed these spaces too tiny to bother with, but they come with a set of determined and often ingenious gardeners that have transformed them into something special.”

Pavilion, £14.99

One-pot Gourmet Gardener Cinead McTernan Twenty-five one-pot recipes to grow yourself a gourmet dish from container-grown produce.

Attractive photos make each pot easy to follow plus there’s a detailed container care section.

Best line: “Even if you have room for only one pot, you can still enjoy the experience of growing a crop, caring for it and then harvesting it.”

Frances Lincoln, £16.99

Subscribe now for £1 an issue! Go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn

RHS Grow Your Own Veg Carol Klein

Words: Helen Billiald

Bed s i d e Bo o k s

What is it? A clear, dependable guide to growing your own vegetables.

Why is it a classic? It provides such a solid introduction to growing your own crops that it earns the description ‘veg bible’. It’s written by RHS experts with colourful entries

by Carol. If you were new to veg growing you’d feel capable of tackling a bushel of crops with this tucked under your arm.

What’s it like? As you’d expect it covers plot preparation, planning and planting, but there are extras too, such as a small space growing guide detailing a trial at RHS Harlow Carr to see what could be grown in a 3m x 3m plot.

Includes detailed guides to growing 40 different crops. A pleasure to read.

Mitchell Beazley, £17.99

August 22 2015 / Garden News 7

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WHAT TO DO Meet the tea m

Clare Foggett Horticulturist Clare’s 50m (165ft) garden is home to fruit and cut flowers.

THIS WEEK

Ian Hodgson

Karen Murphy

Melissa Mabbit

A Kew-trained horticulturist, Ian is also a garden designer.

Keen fruit, veg and container gardener, Karen also loves wildlife.

Having previously worked at the National Trust’s Bodnant Garden, Melissa has RHS qualifications.

If y o u d o ju st o n e jo b...

Prolong your bedding displays Act now to keep plants going, says Clare

T

planted in fertile soil.

Check for pests and problems, so nothing can compromise your late-summer displays. As bedding grows and bushy leaves hide the tops of their pots, it’s harder to spot snails or slugs that have snuck in, and they can make short work of your petunias or tobacco plants.

Keep deadheading – as always – to stop faded flowers detracting from beautiful new ones, and so dead plant tissue isn’t left on the plants to attract mould and rot – and pull away any yellowing, dying leaves. If anything is fading and letting the side down, whip the culprit out and replace it with something that’s full of flower and deserves its place.

Finally, sweep around pots on the patio so the whole display looks as good as can be.

Plucking away faded flower stalks and deadheading will brighten your pots Photos: Neil Hepworth

his summer’s recent chilly spell has kept many bedding plants at a standstill. This temporary lull in their display hopefully means they’ll go on for longer at the end of summer, so now’s the time to ensure that this will happen.

If you planted your containers at the end of May to coincide with the end of the frost, the compost inside is now several weeks old. If you used multipurpose, its nutrients will have run out. Give your plants’ roots a much-needed top up with a dose of fertiliser now, mixed into your watering can. Something like Phostrogen or Richard Jackson’s Flower Power will work a treat and ensure your plants keep producing flowers. Bedding growing in the ground can extend its roots for nutrients, if

Three jobs to extend your bedding plants’ performance

1

Deadhead religiously.

Pull away the faded blooms of flowering plants such as nicotiana or petunias that don’t tend to fall off naturally.

Gently snap off dead pelargonium flowerheads by hand so they break away neatly right at the base, rather than cutting them off and leaving a snag of stalk that could then rot back.

2

Remove any leaves at the bottom of the plants that are starting to turn yellow and die.

If left, they could develop botrytis (grey mould), which could spread to flowers and curtail your colour.

Gather fallen leaves and other debris from the surface of the compost too.

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3

Water a soluble fertiliser into your containers, windowboxes and baskets now. One that’s high in potash will help boost flowering displays. If you don’t have a bottle of fertiliser for ornamental plants, simply use tomato food instead.

August 15 2015 / Garden News 27