20 QUICK FIXES that make a big difference! EVERY WEEK £1.99
August 23, 2014
BA N K HOLIDAY BU M P E R I S SU E !
2 FREE x
SEEDS worth
3.28!
£
1AG9ES HOLIDAY P VICE OF ADip t & s
SPECIAL!
Secrets of success with
ginger lilies
9
How to dry and store
HERBS FOR WINTER
TOUGH CLEMATIS
Devon-bred varieties ideal for UK gardens
Plant some
colour this weekend! Copy Carol's late summer border now Choose unusual plants for flowers Create a vibrant patio pot
Inspiration BANK HOLIDAY
Specia l
Plant some
colour
this weekend!
Don’t just go for the usual suspects – ring the changes with some of these beautiful late flowerers! nobody wants the colour in their garden to fizzle out in late summer, especially when there’s a Bank Clare Holiday weekend Foggett ahead that you’ll want your garden EDITOR to look good for! The problem is that this time of year can be tricky in terms of keeping the flowers coming.
Late-flowering agapanthus ‘Loch Hope’
6 Garden News / August 23 2014
If, like me, your garden has lots of earlier flowering things such as hardy geraniums, aquilegias, catmint or roses, you may look around now and see a sea of green stretching out before you – I know I am! It’s a particular problem this year beause everything seems to have gone over much more quickly than normal. The other thing that makes late summer colour difficult is that many of the plants you see recommended for flowers now – for example ‘prairie’ daisies such as helenium, echinacea and rudbeckia – aren’t the daintiest plants in the world so need a big garden, especially as they look their best in big groups. So what’s to be done if you want to pack your garden with colour but haven’t got acres of space and don’t want to go down the ‘prairie’ route? My friend Phil Clayton
Ornamental pomegranate, Punica granatum nana Garden World Images
also has a small garden but no shortage of bright, vibrant colour. When I visited it at the weekend – it looked a treat! He works for the Royal Horticultural Society and knows his plants inside out so while I was there I picked his brains for the best plants and unusual choices for colour now.
Most important is a backdrop of flowering shrubs – a group of plants that tends to get overlooked as everyone races about filling their gardens with swathes of prairie perennials. Turn to page 10 for nine of the best, all in flower right now in Phil’s garden. Then look to perennials for
GAP Photo
“Don’t be afraid of yellow if you want late summer colour!” Tina Primmer
Tina Primmer from Poppy Cottage, Cornwall
My favourite plant of all time for late flowers is Allium pulchellum. It’s the ugly duckling of the plant world for much of the year but it is about to flower right now. Its flowers are like an explosion of sparkling fireworks and we use them to edge the path in front of the cool border. The borders in the sunken garden are 76m long and 3.5m wide (250x12ft) and they are separated into garden ‘rooms’
with different colour themes. The first is full of white, cool colours and the second (left) is ‘in your face’ colour. Garden visitors come to us and say their gardens are finishing by the end of July. I think one of the reasons is that a lot of people say they don’t like yellow flowers. But if you don’t have any you miss out on heleniums, rudbeckias, dahlias and ginger lilies, which flower now. And you can have cooler, pastel colours at this time of year too. Phlox and lobelias are in flower now and we’ve weaved purple thalictrum ‘Hewitt’s Double’ through one bed. I’m a great believer in Chelsea
chopping plants to get later flowers. In fact the rabbits do it for a lot of the plants here! Only chop half of a plant so that you get two different flowering seasons from the same plant. I grow lilies in pots so they can be sunk into gaps where early summer plants such as Oriental poppies have been cut back. They grow better in pots because the bulbs aren’t as prone to slug and snail damage as they are if left in the ground over winter. • Poppy Cottage Garden, Ruan High Lanes, Truro, Cornwall, TR2 5JR is open Sunday-Tuesday 2-5.30pm until October 10 2014, www.poppycottagegarden.co.uk
Darkly dramatic salvia ‘Amistad’
Shutterstock Garden World Images
Rudbeckia fulgida deamii
The best choice for tonnes of cheerful yellow flowers in a small space, reaching just 60cm (24in) tall.
Kniphofia rooperi will continue into autumn
really vibrant shots of intense colour, but look a little harder for varieties that are a bit different. Going out of your way to seek out the latest-flowering variety of something, or the most brilliantly colourful can make the world of difference. Take red hot pokers for example. Many have already
finished, but Kniphofia rooperi is only just starting and will flower into late autumn on impressive 1.2m (4ft) plants. Lots of agapanthus have long gone over, but choose late flowering ‘Loch Hope’ or ‘Windsor Grey’ and you’re laughing. And if I’d chosen geranium ‘Rozanne’ instead of the varieties I am growing that finished ages ago, I’d still be enjoying flowers! It seems to flower for ever and in fact, seems to get better as summer goes on. Erodium are also good for colour now and are closely related to geraniums. Phil recommends Erodium manescavii which is one
Subscribe now! Go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn
Red hot pokers
Choose the deciduous varieties that flower in late summer and autumn and are hardier than the evergreen kinds.
Salvia leucantha
This bushy sub-shrub has downy stems and leaves and fuzzy purple and white flowers held in arching sprays.
Erodium manescavii has bright, magenta flowers of the bigger ones at 45cm (18in) tall. It has magenta-purple flowers. Salvias are super for late summer interest. Among the perennial kinds, salvia ‘Amistad’ is a newlyintroduced variety that’s taking gardens by storm. Velvety purple
flowers emerge from black calyces on equally dark stems. It’s around 1m (3ft 3in) tall and has proved hardy over the last two winters in Phil’s Cambridgeshire garden.
Continu es ove r the pag e August 23 2014 / Garden News 7
BANK HOLIDAY
20
BANK HOLIDAY IDEAS
Specia l
quick fixes for the weekend!
There are lots of small things you can do to make a big difference this Bank Holiday. Get stuck in for a garden to be proud of !
Make your patio perfect!
1
Reposition your pots
Move your pots around to make sure your biggest and best containers are in the most prominent place. Think of it the same way as moving furniture to freshen up the living room! You could also discover new eyecatching colour combinations. Colours opposite on the colour wheel will provide bold clashes. Try pairing blue flowers with gold and yellow. Or if you want to have complementary coloured flowers, place pots of blue and mauve plants together. Also, placing containers in front of large
26 Garden News / August 23 2014
evergreens will create a solid backdrop that makes the flowers stand out. Place scented plants close to seating areas so you make the most of the fragrance and use small containers as makeshift table centrepieces to enhance a bit of al fresco dining! Don’t forget the value of evergreens for making a patio look lush and inviting and for giving pots an instant spruce up. Trailing ivies are always cheap and available and make great emergency gap fillers in pots, providing a final flourish of colour for summer and looking good in autumn and winter too.
2 Give pots a pick-me-up
Check containers for signs of trouble. Hoik out any weeds or tree seedlings that were hiding among containers grouped together. Use a sharp knife to sever tree seedlings that have developed strong stems. Remove dead heads, plus yellowing and diseased leaves from pelargoniums, roses, and bedding plants to stop fungal disease spreading. Clear the base of each plant of fallen leaves too. Lift up each pot and if it feels light, the plant needs watering. Add a liquid general fertiliser to your watering can when you water to give the plants a boost, or use a tomato fertiliser for summer-flowering plants.
Tidy lawns and borders
3 Get your cushions out!
This is a bit of a ‘girlie’ job, but if you’ve got your patio looking great with neatly-swept slabs and colourful pots, you may as well go the whole hog and dress your furniture so it looks the part! Cushions and throws, umbrellas in case it’s sunny, tablecloths and table decorations such as vases of cut flowers straight from the garden and candles or lanterns for the evening – all help conjure up that ‘al fresco’, Mediterranean dining feeling, as if we British do it all the time! Get your cushions out of the cupboard and decorate your ‘outdoor room’ for a barbecue this weekend that your guests will remember.
your lawn an 4 Give instant boost
Add fertiliser to your grass after mowing to green it up quickly. Apply a granular fertiliser such as Aftercut to the lawn to give a quick burst of readily-available nutrients. Then keep mowing your lawn on a high setting little and often and it should stay green for the rest of summer.
your 5Reshape border edges
Make a crisp edge along the perimeter of your lawn and it will give the garden an instant pick-me-up. If perennial plants are flopping over the edges, cut them back to inside the lawn or reshape the lawn to make the border bigger. It will save on mowing time. Lay a hosepipe along the edge of your lawn, then cut along it to create a curvy shape. Flick soil away from the edge of the lawn towards your beds to create a strongly defined edge.
Subscribe now! Go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn
6 Snip flowerheads off weeds
Stop perennial weeds from seeding in your borders by cutting off the flowerheads before they get a chance to set seed. Tall perennials can remain hidden in a well-planted border, but they make themselves more obvious as they start to flower. If you can’t get to the weeds without forking them up, just cut the flowerheads off as far down the plant as you can to stop them spreading and help them blend into the border without being noticed by nosy neighbours!
Continu es ove r the pag e
£1
Subscribe to Garden News for just
AN issue
Choose from these 3 options Magazine only
iPad only
Magazine + iPad
Just £1 an issue
Just £1 an issue
Best deal
Get 52 issues for £52 When you pay by direct debit
Get 52 issues for £52 When you pay by direct debit
Get 52 issues for £62 When you pay by direct debit
The only gardening magazine you need! Packed with practical advice and inspirational ideas Delivered straight to your door or digital device
Don’t miss out on this fantastic offer, subscribe today! 01858 438884 or www.greatmagazines.co.uk/gn ORDER YOUR SUBSCRIPTION Magazine only
nnual direct debit £52.00 A Quarterly direct debit £19.00 Annual cheque, debit or credit card £82.00 Overseas £80.00
iPad only nnual direct debit £52.00 A Quarterly direct debit £19.00 Annual cheque, debit or credit card £82.00
Magazine + iPad nnual direct debit £62.00 A Quarterly direct debit £29.00 Annual cheque, debit or credit card £92.00 Overseas £90.00 Terms & Conditions: Subscriptions will start with the next available issue. The minimum term is 52 issues. This offer closes on September 2nd, 2014. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer. Cost from landlines for 01 numbers per minute are (approx. ) 2p to 10p. Cost from mobiles per minute (approx.) 10p to 40p. Costs vary depending on the geographical location in the UK. You may get free calls to some numbers as part of your call package – please check with your phone provider. Order lines open 8am-9.30pm (Mon-Fri), 8am-4pm (Sat). UK orders only. Overseas? Phone +44 1858 438828. Calls may be monitored or recorded for training purposes.
Quote reference when ordering HAAA Open to both new and renewing subscribers
SEND TO: Please include completed coupon and cheque (if appropriate) with the magazine name on the back
Magazine subscriptions, FREE POST, EDO3995, Leicester, LE16 9BR
YES, I would like to subscribe to Garden News YES, please extend my subscription
YOUR DETAILS
YOUR DETAILS Title YOUR DETAILS Initial
Address Title Title Address Address
Initial Initial
Surname Surname Surname
Postcode Email* Postcode Telephone Mobile* Postcode Email* Email* Telephone Mobile* *Please enter this information so that Bauer Media Group (publishers of this magazine) can keep you Telephone up-to-date by email and free mobile messaging withMobile* fantastic offers and promotions. We promise
*Please this information so that Group (publishers ofand this you’ll magazine) canmessages keep you that youenter can unsubscribe at any timeBauer if you Media don’t find them interesting only get up-to-date bywe’ve email and free mobile messaging fantastic Wekeep promise about chosen especially for youMedia from with ourselves and offers our network of great partners whose *Pleasethings enter this information so that Bauer Group (publishers ofand thispromotions. magazine) can you that you can at any timeenjoy. if you don’t with find them interesting and promotions. you’ll only get messages products and services we free think you’ll up-to-date byunsubscribe email and mobile messaging fantastic offers and We promise about things chosenatespecially youdon’t from ourselves our network of great whose that you can we’ve unsubscribe any time for if you find them and interesting and you’ll onlypartners get messages products and services we think you’ll enjoy. about things we’ve chosen especially for you from ourselves and our network of great partners whose products and services we think you’ll enjoy.
Originator’s Identification Number
7 2 4 0 9 6 Originator’s Identification Number 7 2 4 0 9 6 7 2 4 0 9 6 Account Name Originator’s Identification Number
Address Title Title Address Address
Email Telephone Email Email Telephone Telephone
Initial Initial
Surname Surname
Postcode Postcode Postcode
to the safeguards of the Direct Debit Guarantee).
Account Name Account Number Account Name Account Number Sort Code Account Number Sort Code Sort NameCode and Address of Bank Name and Address of Bank Name and Address of Bank
DELIVERY DETAILS (if different, i.e. purchased as a gift). DELIVERY DETAILS (if different, i.e. purchased as a gift). Title Initial(if different, i.e. Surname DELIVERY DETAILS purchased as a gift).
Please pay Bauer Consumer Media Direct Debits from the account detailed in the instructions (subject Please pay Bauer Consumer Media Debits to the safeguards of the Direct DebitDirect Guarantee). from the account in the instructions (subject Please pay Bauer detailed Consumer Media Direct Debits to the safeguards of the Direct Debit Guarantee). from the account detailed in the instructions (subject
Signature Signature Signature
SEN cou SEN wit cou SEN wit cou wit
Postcode Postcode Postcode
Date Date Date
Direct Debit Guarantee. • This Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that accept instructions to pay Direct Debits. • If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit, Bauer Consumer Media Ltd will notify you 10 Debit working days in advance your account beingby debited or as otherwise you accept requestinstructions Bauer Consumer Direct Guarantee. • This of Guarantee is offered all banks and building agreed. societiesIfthat to pay Media Direct Ltd to collect a payment, confirmation ofamount, the amount date will be to youDebit, at the Bauer time ofConsumer the request. • If an is Debits. • If there are any changes to the dateand or frequency ofgiven your Direct Media Ltderror will notify Direct Guarantee. • This Guarantee offered by all banks and building societies accept instructions pay Media Direct made the payment ofadvance your Direct Debit, byisBauer Consumer Media Ltd or your bank or building society, you aretoentitled to you 10inDebit working days in of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. Ifthat you request Bauer Consumer Debits. • Ifimmediate there are any changes to the date or frequency ofgiven yoursociety. Direct Bauer Media Ltd will notify a fulltoand refund of the amount paid from your bank or building •atIfthe you receive a refund you not entitled Ltd collect a payment, confirmation ofamount, the amount and date will be to youDebit, time ofConsumer the request. • Ifare an error is you 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If you request Bauer Consumer Media to, you must pay it back when Bauer Consumer Media Ltd asks you to. • You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by Bauer Consumer Media Ltd or your bank or building society, you are entitled to Ltd to collect a payment, confirmation of the amount and date will be given to you at the time of the request. • If an error is contacting your bankrefund or building confirmation be required. Please alsoreceive notify us. a full and immediate of thesociety. amountWritten paid from your bankmay or building society. • If you a refund you are not entitled made the payment of your by Bauer Consumer Ltd• or or a building society, to to, youinmust pay it back whenDirect BauerDebit, Consumer Media Ltd asksMedia you to. Youyour canbank cancel Direct Debit at you any are timeentitled by simply a full and immediate of thesociety. amountWritten paid from your bankmay or building society. • If you a refund you are not entitled contacting your bankrefund or building confirmation be required. Please alsoreceive notify us. to, you must pay it back when Bauer Consumer Media Ltd asks you to. • You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply
M M FR M FR Le FR Le Le We
we We from we wou We from for p we wou from for Forp wou www for p For con www Rad For con www Rad con