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May 30, 2015
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Dramatic bearded iris that took Chelsea by storm!
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✔ Bring your bedding out for summer ✔ Plant out tender dahlias & cannas ✔ Move tomatoes into growbags & pots
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CLEMATIS FOR CUTTING
A new way to use your favourite climber
EDIBLE FLOWERS
Get creative & make meals bloom!
Hardy orchids
that are happy outside
The best modern
roses
with old-fashioned scent
C A RO L KLE I N
"My stars of Chelsea!" Chelsea! Exclusive!
PLUS stunning gardens, all-new planting schemes and prize-winning fowers
BULBS FOR
SUMMER ! R U O L O C rders! What to grow for fower-packed bo
AboutNOW
Lost gardens causes crisis Paving over frontages harms the environment, says charity Words Ian Hodgson
Ma hew Roberts
M
ounting losses of front gardens to car parking is helping degrade the environment and cause pollution and health risks, says the RHS. New evidence from the charity indicates that more than three million front gardens have been paved over since 2005, creating an extra 3,885 sq ha (15 sq m) of ‘grey’ surface. More than five million front gardens have no plants, an increase of 15 per cent. Worst offender is London, with half of front gardens paved over. Impervious paving triggers flash flooding from storm water, loss of wildlife habitat, and increased temperatures during heat waves, say RHS scientists. To help highlight the issue the charity has launched the ‘Greening Grey Britain’ initiative. The front garden designed by Sean Murray, winner of the Great Chelsea Garden Challenge, spearheaded the campaign at the show (inset left). For more information, visit www.rhs. org.uk/ggb
RHS
Sean Murray champions greener front gardens with his winning design
Tips to improve front gardens
Paving the way for a greyer Britain Alamy
● Plant climbers and shrubs on walls ● Fill unused corners with plants ● Plant hedges not walls or fences ● Use slender trees to create shade ● If no soil use containers
Landscape wins big
Laurent-Perrier
A
4 Garden News / May 30 2015
fter an 11-year hiatus since his last appearance, designer Dan Pearson (inset left) bagged gold and Best Show Garden at this year’s Chelsea show. The garden of astonishing craftsmanship evoked part of the less-trodden landscape of Chatsworth in Derbyshire, complete with Dan brings trout stream and a rockery by Chatsworth Chatsworth’s iconic gardener to Chelsea Sir Joseph Paxton. Acid-loving
woodland shrubs such as azalea and enkianthus, laburnums and huge pollarded willows gave structure to the challenging triangular site, while an expanse of wildflower turf provided a unifying carpet. “I’m delighted at the outcome,” said Dan. “I just wanted to make a garden we are happy with.” The garden, in association with Laurent-Perrier, will be recreated in the grounds of the Grade-I listed venue.
Claire Austin wins a gold for her irises
Plant
OF THE WEEK
W
in Matthew Wilson’s Royal Bank of Canada garden and, in the Great Pavilion, GN writer Claire Austin scooped a gold for the bearded iris in her first show exhibit for four years. So did Sarah Cook, with a display of
Keep them happy
her National Collection of the artist Cedric Morris’s irises. Irises epitomise summer gardens and have long been admired by artists and gardeners alike for their fascinating flowers and huge range of colours. True
Plant irises in free-draining soil in the sunniest spot you have. Weed well before planting, because it’s almost impossible to remove weeds once the irises are established. Iris rhizomes need to be baked in the summer sun to produce their best show of flowers. Plant them on top of a shallow ridge, with the roots buried in soil either side. This makes sure they’re exposed to the sun, while the roots are anchored in the soil.
‘Susan Bliss’
‘Jane Phillips’
Introduced in 1922 by Arthur Bliss and still worth growing for beautiful two-tone lilac and lavender-pink fowers.
Another old favourite for sweetly-scented blue fowers that appear in succession and are remarkably long-lasting.
‘Beverley Sills’
‘Hollywood Nights’
With fowers like a tafeta ball gown in pale coral pink, ‘Beverley Sills’ was named for the American soprano singer.
Deep purple irises are always seductive. ‘Dusky Challenger’ is a similar shade, and both are worth a place in the garden.
Fascinating irises in a huge range of colours lift any summer border – and were everywhere at Chelsea! e’ve never seen so many bearded irises than at Chelsea this year! They were the stars in the gardens – cobalt blue and frilly in Chris Beardshaw’s gold medalwinning garden, velvety purple
Ma hew Roberts
Bearded irises
reds are hard to find, but they come in almost every other shade, from rusty mahogany to pale blue, dark indigo verging on black, plus whites and pastels. Each stem produces a succession of flowers. The furry beard on the petals, often surrounded by intricate markings, gives bearded irises their name. The top petals are known as standards, the lower ones are called falls. Bi-colour irises have two different colours, top and bottom.
5 of the best varieties to try
Photos: Kelways Plants
‘Kent Pride’ A combination of mahogany and chestnut brown. Team it with airy bronze carex or grasses to accentuate the colour. ● All these bearded iris are available from Chelsea gold medallists Kelways Plants, tel: 01458 250521; www.kelways.co.uk
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May 30 2015 / Garden News 5
AboutNOW Plant of the
Other new launches
2nd
1st
YEAR Claire Austin
Dibleys Nurseries
Streptocarpus ‘Polka Dot Purple’
Iris ‘Barbara May’ A 0.9m (3ft) tall bearded variety. Price £9 bare root. Tel: 01686 670342; www.claireaustin-hardyplants
Salvia ‘Love and Wishes’
Know
YOUR Enemy
‘Polka-Dot Purple’, a visually eye-catching variety that had breeder Dibley’s Nurseries declaring it ‘the best new variety to date’ (tel: 01978 790677; www.dibleys.com). Third place went to Australian-bred salvia ‘Love and Wishes’. Shown by Dyson Nurseries, Kent, the tender variety produces flowers through summer on a 0.9m (3ft) bush. Sales support charity Make-A-Wish Australia, which helps children with threatening medical conditions. Available mail order from J Parkers, price £9.99/5 plugs (tel: 0161 848 1100; www. jparkers.co.uk).
Agapanthus ‘black stemmed’ An as yet un-named agapanthus shown by Hoyland Plants, Yorkshire. Launching in the coming months.
Ma hew Roberts
eating 20 other contenders, a new upright form of Viburnum plicatum has clinched the Chelsea Plant of the Year. Growing to 2.5m (8ft) by 1.5m (5ft) deciduous ‘Kilimanjaro Sunrise’ is useful for narrow spaces and small borders. From spring, tiered branches of white flowers become tinged pink. After clusters of red berries in summer there is a second light flowering, before orange autumnal tints. It’s available exclusively in autumn from Burncoose nurseries, Cornwall (tel: 01209 860316; www.burncoose.co.uk). Second was houseplant streptocarpus
Ma hew Roberts
Compact shrub is Chelsea darling B
Plants Management Australia
Ma hew Roberts
3rd
Echinopsis ‘Razzle Dazzle’ New range of compact cacti. Price: £5.50 each/£24 for 5. Tel: 01778 570168; www.cactusland.co.uk
#4 Snails
6 Garden News / May 30 2015
Words : Gareth Richards, Photo: Shu erstock
Hiding in cracks in walls and sheltered damp corners, snails are slugs’ sidekicks in the world of plant munching. Generally thought to be less damaging than slugs, they can still cause problems, especially for young seedlings. They climb surprisingly well, so can damage leaves and flowers higher up than you might imagine. Responsible for Self defence: Use organically-approved Munched leaves, fruits slug pellets containing ferric phosphate, and petals, slimy trails wrap copper tape around the legs of your around the garden. greenhouse staging and the rims of pots, Afects Almost everything (apart from trap them using beer traps. Be aware that conifers and heathers) biological controls (nematodes) for slugs don’t work as well on snails.
What to do this week
IN YOUR FLOWER GARDEN Get set to plant colourful dahlias and cannas out in your garden borders
St e p by st e p
Plant out dahlias and cannas! For summer colour they take some beating, says Clare
N
32 Garden News / May 30 2015
the end of May or early June, they can go out into the garden to grow on. Before planting out they should be hardened off for a week or two. Place them in a cold frame or sheltered part of the garden to acclimatise to cooler conditions, protecting them with fleece if frost is forecast. Dahlias come in all shapes and sizes and their flowers range from small pompom blooms up to the large, showy cacti flowers that can grow to be 30cm (1ft) in diameter. In between there is a range of flower shapes and forms, some double and others with delicate single flowers. When it comes to flower colour, the sky’s the limit, with a palette
to suit every situation – from pale, pastel shades to hot, vibrant colours. And, of course, many dahlias also have attractive coloured foliage in shades of bronze and deep red that contrast well with the flowers. Cannas are grown for their attractive, large paddle-shaped leaves that come in a range of colours, such as deep green, brightly variegated or deep purple. In good growing conditions the plants can reach 1.2-1.5m (4-6ft) tall and make a really good show, especially when they start to flower. The flower spikes grow from the centre of the plant and they produce brightly coloured flowers of red, orange or yellow.
2
Knock the plant out of its pot and position so that the tuber or rhizome is a few inches below ground level, then back fill with soil.
3
Firm the soil around the roots to hold the plant steady in the ground, and give the roots a good soaking with water.
Photos: Neil Hepworth unless otherwise stated
ow the risk of frost has passed, it’s the ideal time to plant out dahlias and cannas. When set out in groups in the garden, they make a stunning display right the way through to early autumn. Both dahlias and cannas are half hardy and need protection from frost, especially in late spring. Dormant tubers and rhizomes can be planted directly into the soil in mid spring, but a better way to grow them is to start them off earlier in pots in a frost-free greenhouse. Dahlia tubers and canna rhizomes that were potted up in March or early April will be ready to plant out now. They will have made lots of new growth and by
Photos: Neil Hepworth, unless stated
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Both cannas and dahlias have vigorous roots, so dig out and prepare a large planting hole to accommodate them.