Garden News October 10

FRthE£E SEEDS

October 10, 2015

Wor

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

5

autumn colchicums for delicate flowers now

1.99!

"Overwinter dahlias the easy way!" says Chris Beardshaw

S D E E S E E FR 1.99!

Worth

£

WIN THE WEED WAR

Do it now and enjoy a weed-free winter!

FILL YOUR PLOT WITH FRUIT! Your easy guide to taking cutings

Carol Klein “Extend the season with an exotic, or two!”

Plant some

magic!

The flowers that change colour before your eyes!

7 weird !

S E IX F K IC U Q & wonderful roses to grow

● Hide an eyesore ● Soundproof your garden ● Out-plant pests

AboutNOW

Tom Stuart-Smith’s modern, romantic garden reflects the industrial landscape

Cleve West’s curved landscape contains threads of colourful planting Peter Wirtz places the gallery in lush surroundings

Christopher and Brita’s garden is based on Medieval principles

oted garden designers in the UK and Europe are fighting for the opportunity to have their design built at a top northern art gallery. The Hepworth Wakefield in West Yorkshire has launched plans for a 6,000m2 (64,583ft2) public garden as part of its fifth-anniversary celebrations, and has shortlisted Tom Stuart-Smith, Cleve West, Christopher Bradley-Hole and Brita von Schoenaich and Peter Wirtz to present schemes for The

Hepworth Riverside Garden. The first three are all gold-medal winners at Chelsea, and Peter Wirtz, with his father Jacques, has designed important gardens in Europe and the UK, including the world-famous garden at Alnwick.

The various schemes are being displayed outdoors at the gallery, each on its own garden shed. The public is being invited to visit the gallery and pass comments on the schemes, which will also feed into the

The Hepworth Gallery

Designers appeal to public N

judging process. The winner will be announced in early 2016 to coincide with Visit EnglandÕs ÔYear of the English GardenÕ, when a fundraising campaign will be announced. ÒGarden and the Yorkshire landscape were a huge part of (sculptor) Barbara HepworthÕs creative life. ItÕs fitting we create a natural environment that would have inspired her,Ó said The Hepworth director Simon Wallis. ● Visit www.hepworthwakefield.org

Know

YOUR Honey fungus Enemy

6 Garden News / October 10 2015

sweet smell. But before you get out the chainsaw make sure you have correctly identified your culprit!

Self defence Infected, trees and shrubs have to be felled and roots removed from the soil. Don’t replant trees and shrubs near the area or use resistant species, such as Juglans nigra (black Responsible for walnut), Acer Early leaf yellowing, wilting negundo (box elder), and/or dieback followed by bamboos, garrya, death of the plant. ginkgo and Quercus Affects ilex (holm oak). Sort Almost every garden species out poor drainage of tree and shrub around trees.

Shu erstock

The fungus that’s a moneyspinner for axe-happy tree surgeons, but a deadly enemy for gardeners. Rather pretty golden mushrooms emerging at the base of mature woody plants can be the death knell for your beloved trees – nothing can stop this dreaded creeping mycelium. It spreads through the roots and underneath the bark, killing as it goes – scrape back the surface and you will see sheets of fans of white fungal strings, sometimes black ‘bootlaces’ too, and a strong

MY “I was a horror to LIFE In Plants plants – a typical boy!”

Bodnant Garden NT

The first plant I ever grew I remember being a horror to plants, a typical boy I guess you could say! Kicking the heads off daffodils, pulling fuchsias apart and making itching powder from rose hips. Looking back, this ‘interest‘ in plants was the start of a life-long fascination into the beauty and intricacy of nature.

Troy Scott Smith Head gardener at Sissinghurst Castle Garden Lives: Kent Gardening type: Attention to detail

The plant that shaped who I am today Growing up in the Yorkshire Dales, I remember so vividly seeing for the first time the community of lowland meadow plants in Swaledale – that image remains with me and making something as beautiful is my driving force, constant ambition and the thing I work hundreds of hours each month trying to do at Sissinghurst.

My favourite plant in the world The hawthorn, the more wild and gnarled the better.

The plant I miss most while travelling Not a plant as such, but I miss having fresh flowers from the cutting garden on my kitchen table and talking about them with my two young children over breakfast.

The plant I am in human form Any plant that grows in a garden that is gardened with love, attention and critical

Hampshire garden is tops

Troy, when he started at Bodnant Garden in Wales as a student

observation would be good. Or, if I was a plant in the wild, I’d be a hawthorn on some Snowdonia hillside, or perhaps a sea thrift on the west coast of Scotland.

Troy Sco Smith

The plant that’s made me work hardest All plants are demanding: the late great Christopher Lloyd once said, ‘low maintenance, low braintenance’. I love the fact that gardening, unlike a painting on a wall, is never finished and our day to day interaction with each and every plant and the garden becomes part of that picture.

The plant I’d love to grow more of Without a doubt it would be the old roses. Over the last couple of years we’ve been trying to source and plant all of the roses that Vita Sackville-West grew at Sissinghurst.

We have nearly 300 varieties.

Bold plantings create interest through the year

H

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

The centenary borders are pierced by intersecting pathways

Photos: Hillier Garden and Arboretum

ampshire’s Sir Harold Hillier Gardens has scooped the prestigious Heritage Park – Garden of the Year Award by South & South East in Bloom. This comes on the back of recent news that Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is to become the new president of the gardens. The venue recently scooped top awards from two local shows.

The 72.8ha (180 acre) garden is home to 42,000 plants, including 14 Plant Heritage National Plant Collections, one of which includes 350 different types of oak. The double mixed borders are considered to be the longest in the country. “This accolade showcases the passion and love that goes into every single plant,” said Roy Perry, leader of Hampshire County Council, sole trustees of the garden. ● Tel: 01794 368787; www.hilliergardens.org.uk

October 10 2015 / Garden News 7

What to do this week

IN YOUR FLOWER GARDEN

Kill off weeds Now’s the time to do battle with persistent, deep rooted weeds, says Melissa

A

them, making the process more effective. This means you need use less weedkiller to get the job done, which is more sustainable and better for the environment.

Systemic weedkillers are particularly useful when you want to zap a weed that has its roots entwined where you can’t dig – under a boundary or among other established plants.

Because the herbicide can’t ‘jump’ from one plant’s roots to another’s, the weedkiller will be contained in the weed where you want it. Make sure you isolate the weed when you spray though, as a drift of chemicals in the air can affect surrounding ornamental plants.

Put a wide piece of cardboard behind the weed as you spray to protect the plants behind it.

For really persistent weeds that you’ve been struggling to eradicate all year, use a super-strength weedkiller

Photos: Neil Hepworth, unless stated

lthough you can apply systemic weedkillers at any time while a weed’s in active growth, autumn is arguably when they can be at their most effective.

Glyphosate-based products, such as Roundup, work by entering the weed through its leaves then travelling through its circulatory system – plants do have one! – right down to the roots. That way the herbicide will kill every part of the weed. However, if the weed killer is not potent enough to reach the entire root system, some root can remain and the weed can return.

By applying a herbicide in autumn you make it much more likely to penetrate the whole root. This is because at this time of year the plants are moving nutrients from the leaves to their roots for winter storage.

As they do this, they take the weedkilling chemicals with

designed to kill deep-rooted plants – those that advertise themselves as being effective on bindweed, ground elder and Japanese knotweed. Don’t go to town with these weedkillers, as getting them on your ornamental plants could be a

disaster. Spray just enough that the weed leaves are wetted but not absolutely dripping. Always spray on a still day to avoid wind drift and avoid wet weather, as this will simply wash off the weedkiller before it has had a chance to act.

Garden News RECOMMENDS Persistent weeds to spray this week

Shutterstock

Shutterstock

Shutterstock

Ground elder

Bindweed

Thistle

Digging to remove this weed often leaves tiny parts of the brittle root behind, so a weedkiller is a better option.

To spray bindweed without spraying the plants it grows on, let it grow up a cane or other structure first, or use a gel treatment.

Deep rooted and spiky, it’s often hell to dig out thistles, so try weedkiller instead.

Deadhead flowers to avoid self-seeding.

30 Garden News / October 10 2015

Overwinter fuchsias While you can leave your hardy fuchsias in the garden all year round, it’s best to put those tender varieties into the relative warmth of a sheltered, frost-free place before bringing them out next spring.

Always plant them in pots or baskets to start with, as they’re easier to transport around the place. Remove the rest of the falling leaves from them, so no disease can be spread. Then simply bring them in to a spot where they can stay at around 3–4C (37–39F). This will keep them going in a dormant state. Make sure the soil doesn’t dry out completely, but be sure not to overwater them.

Tidy up and trim rose bushes A ny rose bushes Any b hes that have become a little straggly ly and tall can be trimmed back ck now. This will ill keep them stable table as the elements get to o them in the months to come ome – shorter, neater ater bushes will be less likely to fare badly in strong winds. nds. Using long handled loppers if you long-handled can’t easily reach them, or secateurs if you can, and cut back stems by half, just above a leaf. Any healthy, pencil-thick stems can be propagated as hardwood cuttings into new plants, using the same method as for your fruit bushes on p.39.

Sow your free poppy ‘Angel Choir’ seeds Just imagine a summer border – POPPY £ .99 perhaps among your wildflower 1 area – with lots of lovely poppies blowing in the breeze… heaven!

‘Angel Choir’ is an interesting variety, bred to have silky, papery double blooms in a super-stylish range of pinks, mauves, whites and oranges. Sow your poppy seed now where you’d like it to appear next summer, raking the soil to a tilth and then scattering it finely.

Keep a little seed back, so that in spring you can sow some more for a later showing of these lovely blooms.

WORTH

‘Angel Choir’

Exquisite ruffled

Sprinkle the fine seed carefully in situ

blooms

UK digital readers tel: 01733 395076 or email gn.le ers@bauermedia.co.uk to claim your free seeds

Clear summer bedding plants When summer bedding plants, such as petunias, pelargoniums and nicotiana, have given their all, it’s time to clear them away. They shouldn’t be suffering any awful, contagious diseases, so can be safely chopped up and put on your compost heap, or dispose of them in your green waste bin.

You can also add them to the bottom of a sweet pea or runner bean trench, if you have one underway, where they’ll rot down slowly to supply your plants with lots of organic nutrients.

When the plants have been cleared from your pots, troughs and baskets, you can also reuse the compost they’ve been growing in. There won’t be much in the way of nutrients left, but it can still be used as a soil conditioner, added to veg beds or scattered on the surface of soil in borders.

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

As you tip it out, watch out for vine weevil grubs (small, cream and C-shaped with an orange head). If you see any, try to pick them out and put them on your bird table, or just let birds find them. It’ll be worth treating other containers with permanent plants in them with insecticide, such as Vine Weevil Killer, just in case they’ve spread. Brush the last remnants of compost from the pots and store safely in a sheltered spot. Make sure they can’t gather water inside, which will split pots if it freezes.

October 10 2015 / Garden News 31