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“How I make sure my bulb investments grow!”
“We make "Christmas happen!” Meet the growers of our favourite festive plants
CHRISTMAS
tips & ideiuams!
Create a terrar s display with houseplant Sort out your seed stash Pot up strawberries for an extra early crop
Christmas
magıc! KLE Best white stems for winter SPAR the cold Plants that CH ANGE COLOUR in
50
FRESH NEW
FLOWERS to grow next year!
Inspiration
The gardeners who make
Christmas happen! The festive season wouldn’t be the same without these UK growers WINTER CAN BE a quiet time for some who make their living in the world of horticulture, but for others Christmas is peak season. We meet some of the key people who make Christmas happen – it wouldn’t be the same without them!
“One of my Christmas trees is outside 10 Downing Street!” Colin Griffith Dinmore Hill Christmas Trees
4 Garden News / December 20 2014
Dinmore Hilll
“We grow 40,000 trees at our Herefordshire nursery. We are a ‘choose and cut’ site, so you can bring your own hand tools and select your own. We sell thousands each Christmas and they grow on good Herefordshire clay. Some are growing on a south-facing bank and some on a north-facing one, but they all seem to grow well. But you have to have patience in this game! Each year, the British Christmas Tree Growers’ Association hold a ‘Champion Tree’ competition and the winner gets to present one to the prime minister to stand outside 10 Downing Street. I won the competition this year. About 150 trees are entered and around 200 Christmas tree growers all vote for their favourite fir, pine and spruce. Then the three trees with the most votes are all voted for
again. We won with a Norway spruce, but we selected a Nordmann fir, around 17 years old, to go outside number 10. The tree was delivered on December 7 but because this is our busiest weekend of the year, I wasn’t able to take it down myself. But I went the next day to see it and David Cameron was very happy with it! We prune the trees in January and February, reducing the height of the leading shoots so that the tree is in proportion all the way down. The last thing a householder wants is a gappy one. We then shear off the end of all the shoots at the end of June. They then have time to grow a li le bit more so you can’t see the cuts. With the Nordmann firs, we have to keep cu ing back the leading shoots or they grow too tall. All the trees are fed with a
Colin Griffith won the opportuni supply the Prime Minister’s Christmasty to tree
balanced fertiliser in spring and autumn to encourage plenty of growth buds. Customers are definitely moving away from the Norway spruce in favour of the Nordmann fir. I think it is because they are softer, and good-looking. Seventy per cent of the ones we sell are Nordmann firs and we are planting far more. Another good one is the Fraser fir, which grows into a very nice tree that doesn’t get very tall. They’re popular and have a pleasant scent, which the Nordmanns don’t have.“ ● Dinmore Hill Christmas Trees, Tel: 01568 797486; www.dinmore -christmas-trees.co.uk
Inspiration GAP Photos
A frosted Abies concolor ‘Wintergold’
Conifers have a reputation for being boring, but some varieties change colour dramatically with the seasons. Some even look better in winter than at any other time of the year, when cold temperatures make their needles flush with more intense hues. Abies concolor ‘Wintergold’ is known as the white fir, but its needles are green in summer, turning golden-yellow in winter. It’s slow growing, reaching only 1m (3ft 4in) in 10 years. Abies nordmanniana ‘Golden Spreader’, a cousin of the Christmas trees many of us will be decorating this week, has golden-yellow needles that are especially bright in the
winter. It has a low-growing, spreading habit, reaching 1m (3ft 4in) tall. Among thuja, try Thuja occidentalis ‘Europe Gold’, a pyramid-shaped 3-3.6m (10-12ft) tall conifer with chartreuse foliage that turns to bronze-gold in winter. Thuja occidentalis ‘Danica’ makes neat globes that are green in summer and bronze in winter and reach just 1.2m (4ft) – a great alternative to box balls – and T. occidentalis ‘Rheingold’ forms a mustard yellow 2m (6ft 8in) cone in winter that’s bright yellow in summer. In winter, the foliage of Cryptomeria japonica Elegans Group turns purple-bronze. It will eventually make a tall tree, so look for ‘Elegans Compacta’ which is slower and more bushy. Chamaecyparis thyoides ‘Rubicon’ is another slow grower that forms
a pyramid of mauve-purple colour in winter at 90cm (3ft) tall. Podocarpus are unusual conifers that hail from tropical parts of the world such as Australia and New Zealand, with foliage that looks a little like yew. ‘County Park Fire’ has salmon-
“Prune in July or August to get colourful new growth” Podocarpus ‘County Park Fire’
Photos: Caerhays
Conifers that change colour in the cold
GAP Photos
Conifers provide height and structure around frosted perennials
‘Blue Gem’ has the perfect habit for ground cover
Garden World Images
Michael Levitt Assistant Head Gardener in charge of the National Collection of podocarpus at Caerhays Castle
Cryptomeria japonica ‘Elegans Group’
Abies nordmanniana ‘Golden Spreader’
18 Garden News / December 20 2014
pink new growth in spring and then those needles turn reddish orange after a frost. It forms a low, spreading mound around 50cm (20in) tall. ‘Chocolate Box’ is another smashing manageably-sized variety to try, with foliage that turns a chocolate-red in winter on plants 1m (3ft 4in) tall. Podocarpus will grow in any soil and are hardy. You’ll get the best colour from them, and all the conifers mentioned here, if they’re grown in full sun.
Podocarpus are best grown in full sun. They'll tolerate partial shade but their colours may not be at their best. Pruning is seldom necessary, but plants can be sheared at any time to encourage compact growth. Pruning in September or
October is best to bring out the spring colour, but fruiting may be reduced. If you prune in July or August, colourful new growth may be produced in autumn and winter. For tubs, try ‘County Park Fire’ and for ground cover, go for ‘Blue Gem’. ● Caerhays’ gardens, at Gorran, St Austell, Cornwall PL26 6LY, reopen on February 16 2015. Visit: www.caerhays.co.uk
Weekly reminders and advice from the GN team 5 quick jobs to do right now
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Deadhead pansies Help winter pansies and violas keep up their cheerful, colourful display by regularly deadheading. They soon set seed and their flower power becomes diminished if you leave the old heads on, so go over your plants, nipping dead stems off with finger and thumb, scissors or flower snips. They’ll look better for it too.
3
Check stored apples
1 Last chance to prune birch Think of Christmas as your deadline to do any pruning on birch trees. If you leave it until the new year, their sap will be rising and you’ll find the pruning cuts will bleed, which can weaken the tree in some cases. If you need to control the size of yours, have spotted dead branches that need taking out or the tree has developed crossed and rubbing or misplaced branches, take the pruning saw to them now.
one As the saying goes, the s oil sp bad apple se eye barrel, so keep a clo ll got sti e on any fruit you’v y an ot sp u yo If in store. ning, fte so or rot of ns sig g whisk the offendin m fro ay aw s ple ap the others to ensure the problem doesn’t spread.
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Sow date stones! If you have a pack of dates this Christmas, try sowing the stones. The results aren’t likely to ever grow into full-size, cropping date palms in this country, but they make an unusual houseplant! Put the stone in a plastic bag of moistened compost then put it in a warm place. When you see roots and a shoot emerge, pot them up individually.
Clean your propagators 5
Clare Foggett
Greg Loades
Ian Hodgson
Horticulturist Clare’s 50m (165ft) garden is home to fruit, cut flowers and ornamental borders.
Rose specialist and horticulturist with a large allotment that includes lots of roses as well as fruit and veg.
Kew-trained horticulturist and garden designer, who previously worked for the RHS.
Escape Christmas chaos by heading to the shed to ensure all the kit you need for spring is in good order. Propagators are vital for seed sowing so make sure any integral trays are clean. Give them a thorough clean and disinfect them to make sure there are no traces of seedling diseases such as damping off. Wash plastic lids too, so they’re ready to let in maximum light.
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December 20 2014 / Garden News 21