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How to avoid colour gap 5 Keep plants healthy & productive 9 Take tender perennial cuttings 10 Think about autumn bulbs 12 This week’s free seeds: Stock ‘Brompton Mixed’

Great garden ideas 24 Get the colour in: the best plants to add hot colour to your garden 28 Perfect potentillas: these tough shrubs are great for a small garden 32 How to grow buddleja: all you need to know about this butterfly favourite

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“Try these plants to add late summer heat to borders and containers,” says Camilla

Gardening wisdom 14 16 19 37 42 45 50 52 55 58

Bob Flowerdew Val Bourne Wildlife Lucy Chamberlain’s Fruit and Veg Ask John Negus AG’s Words of Wisdom A Gardener’s Miscellany Advanced Gardening: air layering Anne Swithinbank’s Masterclass Letters to Wendy: from AG readers Toby Buckland

Garden news 7

Calls for less pesticide use

Reader offers 22 See our latest special deals

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“Smart planning and planting will help keep the colour coming,” says Ruth

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“Learn about the less invasive buddleja,” says Graham

“Despite the success of several AG readers and our own Ruth Hayes in using polenta to combat black spot on their roses, this has not stopped the spread of this annoying fungus on mine. I had high hopes for the treatment and loved that it wasn’t chemically based, but my very susceptible ‘Pilgrim’ is just as yellow and spotty as last year. Oh well, everything’s worth a try and it’s still flowering prolifcally and has a divine fragrance. I’ll just have to keep getting rid of affected leaves, but it’s a constant and tiresome job. I do not use any chemicals, organic or otherwise, so I’ve decided to let nature take it course.

Unless any reader knows of any other remedies?”

Alamy unless credited

Garry Coward-Williams, Editor

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“Long-flowering potentillas are great for a small garden,” says Graham

Contact us: Subscriptions: 0330 333 1113 Editorial: 0330 3903732 Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com Advertising: 0330 3906566

Cover (pic: Alamy): Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida) 23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Your

GARDENING WEEK with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes

For late colour Four easy-going plants for autumn

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Knapweed growing back after a trim

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I’m helping the garden to stay colourful by adding plants grown from seeds and cuttings

Asters, commonly known as Michaelmas daisy, will flower well into autumn if you deadhead them regularly. Grow in moistureretentive soil in partial shade and cut to the ground in autumn.

How to avoid the colour gap Care and planting helps keep colour coming, says Ruth

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Alamy

They can be invasive, but Japanese anemones bring tall colour to late summer and autumn.

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Sedum, or stonecrop, has fleshy leaves and broad flowerheads, usually in shades of pink. Interesting to look at and easy to grow, they will attract late-season pollinators and their dead seedheads look pretty on frosty winter days.

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UR garden is currently selection of tender cuttings taken last looking wonderful, the early autumn that are now ready to plant out. summer foxgloves, alliums and This week I have been planting the delphiniums having given way Ageratum ‘Blue Mink’ and Aster ‘Milady to later-flowering hollyhocks, salvias, Mixed’ that came free with AG and were sea hollies, globe thistles, bedding and sowed in spring. I am combining them self-seeded larkspurs. with some mature cuttings of But like all gardeners, I am after pelargonium, fuchsias and penstemon more than just a bright summer that have started to flower and splurge and want to create a will hopefully continue well palette of colours that lasts into the autumn. right through into the stillI’ll also scatter some warm days of autumn. late flowering California We’ve got the poppy seeds and quickframework in place for growing annual seeds, autumn – a striking which will hopefully purple-leaved Berberis produce some late colour Dahlias are a latethunbergii, a spindle tree or, at least, be ready to flowering delight that produces sweet pink flower next year when spring berries and a dense hedge that is turns to summer. jewelled with scarlet hips and berries as Some of the maintenance work done the seasons turn. in late spring is also about to pay I need some long lasting, late colour dividends. I cut back and fed several lower down, to fill the gaps in the border knapweed plants after they flowered that will gradually and naturally appear because their stems had flopped out as the summer wears on. and they looked unattractive and were One option is to go to the garden sprawling over several other plants centre and buy more plants to fill gaps coming into growth. and flower for months, but like everyone They have now produced new else, our household is feeling the pinch rosettes of leaves and flower buds so and I’d rather try and maximise what hopefully they will have a second we’ve already got here. flourish of blooms – just like the Part of the answer to my dilemma lies delphiniums that I also cut back and fed with this year’s free seeds and a after their first flowering.

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Elegant hesperantha can flower from late summer until the New Year. It likes a sheltered, sunny spot and does best in milder areas of the UK.

Midsummer action: In next week’s AG I look at the top 10 jobs you should be thinking about doing at this time of year

Hoverfly larvae prey on aphids

Deal with pests before a small colony becomes an infestation

Pest patrol I’m deadheading our climbing rose and checking it for disease

Feeding a rose to encourage more flowers

Keep plants healthy and productive Basic but essential care will encourage later flowering

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HE most sensible option is to plan your garden as a whole rather than area-by-area so you get a seamless run of colour and interest through all four seasons.

Focus on the gaps and their position in the borders, see what is growing around them and plan your plants according to their flowering period and height (shortest at the front, tallest at the back/centre).

Think about when plants should be planted or sown each year (annuals in spring, spring bulbs in autumn, perennials planted in spring and autumn when the soil is warm and damp etc) so that you can start creating your seamless palette straight away.

However, this isn’t much use halfway through summer when it is too hot and dry to add new plants to the garden

without an intensive watering regime.

The task now is to keep whatever colour you have going until the next lot of flowers are ready to take over.

Keep plants flowering strongly for as long as possible by feeding, watering, deadheading and staying on top of pests and disease. Control weeds every few days by digging out perennial varieties and running a hoe over weed seedlings.

At this time of year you can still just about get away with the Chelsea chop – removing a third of stems on certain perennials including catmint, sedum, helenium and echinacea to encourage a second flowering.

Also don’t be afraid to move things around. If you have a handsome specimen plant in a pot, move it to a flower-free spot in a border to brighten things up until the buds start to bloom.

What to be watchful for now Aphids are a common problem, and greenhouse plants can fall foul of whitefly and glasshouse red spider mites.

I use biological controls under glass – the tiny parasitic wasp Encarsia formosa and a parasitic mite, both available from nematodesdirect.co.uk.

Dampening the greenhouse floor every morning raises humidity and helps keep spider mites at bay too.

Outside, vine weevil grubs can devastate potted plants so deal with them using chemical or nematode drench, while scarlet lily beetles can be kept off your treasured lilies with Grazers 4 deterrent spray.

If you don’t want to use chemicals, there are many organic options available, and you should try encouraging nature’s predators such as beetles, birds and hedgehogs.

The larvae of hoverflies, lacewings and ladybirds will also help keep aphid numbers down.

Planting asters grown from AG free seeds

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After watering the plants, gently slip them from their pots and carefully tease out their roots.

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Plant at the same depth Water generously, and Protect from slugs. I like as they were growing don’t let them dry out or to use barrier pellets before, giving plenty of room get swamped by weeds while made from wool, which also for growth. they get established. help keep the soil moist.

23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Your

GARDENING WEEK with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes

Expert calls for greener practices

What’s On

TV gardener Terry Walton asks us to reduce chemical use to help preserve our waterways

garden centres, supermarkets and even online, without understanding the true extent of the impact they could have on the environment.

“When applied incorrectly in our gardens, they have the potential to enter watercourses and harm people, water and wildlife.

“The reality is that there are many equally as effective approaches to tackling weeds and other pests naturally.

For more information about PestSmart, go to PestSmart.wales

They harm people, water and wildlife Terry has shared his approach to organic gardening on the PestSmart website, which Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water launched as a go-to hub of information and resources for the safe use, storage and disposal of pesticides.

A regular on BBC Radio 2 and ITV’s This Morning, Terry said: “As consumers, we have such easy access to pesticides and herbicides with chemical ingredients which can be bought from

Peter recognised the plant’s potential He would grow the plants in the family garden, then cut and sell the blooms to the local florist.

Peter Seabrook spotted this new sweet pea at the Sow Successful trial ground in 2021 and recognised its potential, so when he died in January

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Peter’s sweet pea is a show winner A NEW sweet pea variety named after long-time AG columnist and horticultural legend Peter Seabrook won the Best New Plant 2022 award at BBC Gardeners’ World Live.

Mauve-flowered ‘Peter Seabrook’ won the accolade for its many attributes, which include high disease resistance, early and long flowering, a good scent, long stems so it’s perfect for cutting and problem-free, vigorous growth.

Sweet peas were the first seeds that Peter Seabrook bought with his pocket money when he was just six years old.

Agapanthus show in Beaulieu this weekend

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Companion planting protects cultivation from pests

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ONE of TV’s most popular gardening experts, Terry Walton, is encouraging AG readers to reduce their reliance on weedkillers and other pesticides to protect the environment.

The renowned horticulturist has teamed up with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s PestSmart project to call on fellow gardeners to introduce simple changes to their gardening habits to reduce pesticide run-off into waterways.

Natural approaches to pest control include companion planting, where specific plants are grown to deter pests and attract predators, creating wild corners of the garden to encourage natural predators and using homemade vinegar sprays which dry out weeds.

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TV’s Terry aims to reduce chemical run-off into rivers

The ‘Peter Seabrook’ sweet pea was named as a tribute to AG’s contributor

2022, the naming of the new variety was the perfect tribute. HM The Queen was presented with a posy of the new Sweet Peas at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

Sweet pea ‘Peter Seabrook’ seeds will be available in early autumn 2022 for September and October planting and £1 from every packet sold will be donated to the Floral Fantasia garden at RHS Hyde Hall, created and maintained

by Peter Seabrook.

23-24 July: Agapanthus Open Day & Plant Sale, Fairweathers Nursery, Beaulieu, Hampshire, SO42 7YR. 23-24 July: Macmillan Coastal Garden Trail, 17 gardens open across Brighton and Seaford, to raise funds for the cancer charity. 11am-5pm both days, visit macmillangardentrail. co.uk or call Geoff Stonebanks on 01323 899296 for details.

23 July: Banstead Horticultural Society Summer Show, Community Hall, Park Road, Banstead, Surrey, SM7 3AJ. 2pm-5pm.

23-24 July: Hardy & Tender Fern & Carnivorous Plant Society Show, RHS Garden Wisley, Woking, Surrey, GU23 6QB. 10am-4pm.

23-24 July: Orchid Weekend, RHS Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG3 1QB. 23-24 July: 42 Astle Garden Opening & Plant Sale, 42 Astle, Dornoch, Sutherland, Scotland, IV25 3NH. 11am-4pm.

24 July: Pilgrims Garden Festival, Mount Ephraim Gardens, Staplestreet Rd, Hernhill, Faversham, Kent, ME13 9TX. 11am-4pm.

24 July: Houseplant Sale, Broomfield Conservatory, Broomfield Park, Palmers Green, Enfield, London, N13 4PZ. 2.30pm-4pm.

24 July: Rare Plant Fair, Highnam Court, Highnam, Gloucester GL2 8DP. 11am-4pm.

28: Successful Container Growing, RHS Rosemoor, Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH. 31 July: Plant Hunters’ Fair, 1620’s House and Garden, Donington Le Heath, Coalville, Leics LE67 2FW. 10am-4pm.

Q Please email details of your events, with photos if possible, to ruth.hayes@futurenet.com Q Details of events correct at time of going to press.

23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Your

GARDENING WEEK with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes

Use healthy, nonflowering growth

Keeping new cuttings hydrated in a damp plastic bag

How to keep cuttings healthy

Take cuttings of tender perennials in summer so they have time to root before winter

Tender perennial cuttings It’s time to do some simple propagation, says Ruth

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T is around this time of year that I get a bit twitchy and start to examine some of our plants for their cuttings potential.

Last year I took so many pelargonium cuttings that this year I have no room for them all so they are languishing on the side until I can find space.

Tender summer plants such as penstemons, pelargoniums and fuchsias are at their peak right now, but come the autumn we will have to either mulch over their root areas or pot them up and overwinter them somewhere frost-free.

Even then there is no guarantee they will survive the cold, so in midsummer I

Step by step

All Future

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like to take a few cuttings of each as a form of insurance policy for future years.

Softwood cuttings are taken from this season’s growth and should root quickly.

Keep them in the greenhouse or a cool, well-lit room and they will be ready to move outdoors next year after they have been hardened of and the frosts have finished.

If they grow well enough, you may even need to pot them into larger containers in the meantime.

Next summer you can use them to plug gaps in borders and replace older plants that have become straggly and woody over time.

GROWING successfully from cuttings starts the moment you snip the shoot from the parent plant.

Dehydration can damage the cuttings’ ability to grow well, so when you take them, pop them in a dampened plastic bag to keep them cool and hydrated before you pot them up.

Once they are potted up, keep their compost damp but not sodden and maintain a humid atmosphere around them using a plastic bag.

The exception is pelargonium cuttings that should be kept open, so their fleshy leaves are less likely to contract rots and moulds in a damp, enclosed space.

Keep your cuttings in a light place but out of direct sunlight so they don’t scorch. New growth means they will have rooted successfully.

Keep them growing for a few weeks then carefully remove from the pot, separate them and pot them up individually into multipurpose compost with added grit or perlite.

How to take penstemon cuttings

Using clean scissors, secateurs or a sharp, clean knife, remove 5in (12cm) of healthy, nonflowering shoot.

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Strip away the lower Insert the cuttings into Seal the pot in a clear leaves, pinch out the a pot of damp compost bag, keeping the plastic fleshy tip and dip the cut end mixed with grit or perlite, off the plants with sticks. Set of the shoot into hormone spacing them out. Gently firm in a light, cool spot, keeping rooting powder or gel. the compost around them. their compost damp.

23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Your

GARDENING WEEK with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes

Nerines for autumn colour

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Dig your planting hole and add lots of well-rotted organic matter for drainage and to enrich the soil.

Nerines are one of the easiest autumn-flowering plants to grow and they improve with every year

Think about autumn bulbs Fill your garden with long-lasting late colour, says Ruth

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My favourite autumn flowering bulb is HERE are bulbs for every the elegant Gladiolus murielae, which situation and soil and now, has white flowers with blotched as summer reaches its peak, blackcurrant centres. It grows well in it’s time to turn our thoughts pots as well as borders, though towards autumn. the corms do best if lifted after Borders can easily be flowering and stored brightened by brilliant somewhere frost-free and dahlias, tall nerines with dry through winter. their clusters of trumpetBulbs do best in freeshapes blooms in shades draining soil, so if you of pink, bright yellow garden on clay dig in sternbergia and hardy plenty of well rotted Cyclamen coum that manure or compost to flower into the New Year.

Gladiolus murielae or increase drainage, lightness Many of these are Abyssinian gladiolus and nutrients. available ready-to-plant, already If you want to plant your bulbs in in leaf, but you may still be lucky containers and expect them to be there enough to find some bulbs. If you do, for a year or more, use loam-based John plant them now and if they don’t flower Innes No 3 and be prepared to lift and this year they will have time to mature divide the bulbs after a few years. and put on a good show next autumn.

Future unless credited

Care of early summer bulbs

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Once summer bulb flowers have faded, remove the stems but leave the foliage to die back naturally.

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Feed the bulbs with liquid plant food to help it bulk up and produce even better flowers next year.

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These nerines are planted 4in (10cm) apart, but smaller bulbs can be placed closer together.

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Infill with soil and compost. Most bulbs are covered, but nerines have their tops just peeping out.

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Firm the soil and water well.

Keep it dampened but not waterlogged.

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Finally, mark the spot. There’s a lot of garden action going on at the moment and you don’t want to accidentally disturb them.

Your

GARDENING WEEK with AG’s gardening expert Ruth Hayes

Both Press Restricted

The robust, flower-heavy stems of Brompton Stocks bring colour and scent to the spring garden

Free seeds roundup Aster “Milady Mixed’ ready to go out

Self-seeded Nigella brightening up a border

Take stock – and get sowing!

Expect colour and perfume next spring, says Ruth

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HIS week’s free seeds are for another favourite plant of mine, Brompton stocks.

Hardy biennials, they are sown now so that next spring they will fill your garden with the sweetest of scents and the most beautiful pastel colours.

Cottage garden stalwarts, they are happy in sun and light shade and grow well in containers as well as in the ground. Their long-lasting flowers make them a favourite with flower arrangers.

You have two options for sowing – either straight into the soil or in trays

Step by step

undercover. I am doing the latter as the garden is so full that new seedlings will be swamped by other plants.

I will pot up the seedlings when they are large enough to handle. Once they have grown into decent-sized plants I’ll plant some out in the autumn, keeping the rest undercover through winter as spares in case the others fail.

Gardeners in northern and exposed areas may prefer to keep all the plants undercover through winter, hardening them off and planting them out when temperatures rise next spring.

Sowing stocks undercover

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Put the seeds in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame. When they germinate, remove the lid.

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Flatten a tray of fresh seed compost Scatter the seeds thinly on the to make a firm seedbed then compost. Seedlings emerging dampen with fresh tap water. close together can be thinned out later.

Cover the seeds with a light layer of compost or vermiculite and add a label to the tray.

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WE are roughly halfway through this year’s free seeds, which seems a good time to take stock and see how the sowing is going.

As with all things in gardening, I have had some successes and some major failures – not least when a tray of Lobelia ‘Cascade Mixed’ seeds was catapulted off the windowsill and onto the dining room floor when I closed the curtains.

I also lost several Salvia ‘Blaze of Fire’ and Zinnia ‘Jazz’ to slugs in the greenhouse, though I have managed to salvage most of them and plant them out.

On the plus side, the ‘Gardener’s delight’ tomatoes and ‘St Valery’ carrots are doing well, and the rockets I sowed a couple of weeks ago are sprinting away.

In the flower garden, the Verbena bonariensis are now dotted around the beds to bring late summer height and colour this year and hopefully for several more to come.

The Antirrhinum ‘Snappy Tongue’, ‘Velvet Queen’ sunflowers and Cosmos ‘Polidor’ have also filled the borders, as did the ‘Rustic Dwarf’ Rudbeckias, planted en masse in a sunny corner.

One of the greatest successes have been last year’s biennials, hardy annuals and wildlife seed mixes that self-seeded and are back bigger and better this year.

The beds are dotted with aquilegia of all hues, scarlet poppies, pink corn cockles, larkspurs and Nigella and with any luck these too will self seed, bringing endless colour back to the garden next year.

Your

GARDENING WEEK with Bob Flowerdew, AG’s organic gardening expert Bob’s top tips for the week TI Archive

Maincrops like ‘Desiree’ with tough skins will store well if you can keep them in the ground as long as possible before lifting

Cease watering potatoes a fortnight before lifting, as spuds bloated with late watering don’t keep well

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‘Blue Danube’, ‘Desiree’ and ‘Pink Fir Apple’ potatoes drying in the sun after being lifted on a sunny day

It’s best not pick and tidy up windfall fruits, but slice them open and leave them to fob off the wasps and birds.

Best spuds for storing To get the most out of spuds for storage, take steps before, during and after lifting to get the best, says Bob

All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited

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EW potatoes are easy! You threatens, or slugs become too plant sets of early (fast-to-crop) voracious, it may be better to lift the crop varieties and then, two to sooner rather than later and risk losing three months later, you dig up more than you might gain for extra time. new potatoes and eat them. Simple.

Of course, a crop of perfect potatoes However, if you want potatoes stores better than damaged ones, throughout the rest of the year, but what also matters is their it’s worth taking care to moisture content and how harvest them in their best tough their skins are. condition for storage.

Spuds bloated with heavy Now you could store rain or late watering earlies – it’s just that never keep as well as these have been bred for those light crops grown rapid (albeit smaller) in dry conditions. Indeed, harvests. Second-earlies cease watering a fortnight Store spuds in sacks left produce more crops, taking or more before lifting; you open to breathe in a a little longer; most keep quite can even protect them against cool, dark place well and are best dug as their showers with plastic sheets. leaves die down.

Then lift your crop on a dry day that’s Maincrop varieties are bred for sunny and breezy. Do not pack them storage and the highest yields, but must away, but leave them lying in the sun be kept growing well into September on a dry patch of earth or a path for a to achieve that. However, if blight couple of hours. This firms up their skins and dries off residual moisture.

Now choose only the best to store – ideally, in thick paper or hessian sacks stood in a cool, dark place and left open to breathe for a fortnight-plus to dry some more. Meanwhile, all the rest (those small, odd and damaged spuds) are better used soonest – just don’t eat green ones, which are inedible.

“Cease watering a fortnight before lifting”

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If water butts are empty, clean them by putting that lovely black ooze on your compost, and do your gutters as well.

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Heavy plum crops swell fast, so ruthlessly thin out crops and prop up the trees now before they break their branches.

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When you’re sure all fledglings have gone, clean bird boxes and compost old material (carefully) to destroy fleas and other parasites.

Your

GARDENING WEEK

RSPB

with Val Bourne, AG’s organic wildlife expert

‘nest in houses and churches, squeezing through tiny gaps to nest inside roofs.

However, as more old buildings are renovated and gaps in soffits are closed up, swift nest sites are fast disappearing’.

When I lived in the centre of Hook Norton in the 1990s, swifts nested in the old Baptist Manse, until new tenants Church belfries are ideal nesting sites blocked the hole up! I really missed them for swifts in my old garden.

There are thought to be roughly 60,000 breeding pairs in the UK, but they are in such critical decline that they were added to the UK Birds of Conservation Concern Red List of 2021.

There are fewer nesting sites in houses and other buildings, and a diminished supply of insects partly caused by intensive farming. Greenfinch, house martin, ptarmigan, purple sandpiper, In one year, a swift can fly Montagu’s harrier, Bewick’s swan, more than 7,000 miles goldeneye, smew and dunlin also joined Swifts feed and drink the 2021 list. Swift populations have on the wing fallen by 58% since 1995.

On summer evenings I try to walk around the village and one stroll was If you want to help swifts during their summer stop-over, enlivened by ten swifts flying over a field of sheep with their lambs. It doesn’t have put up nest boxes and leave the insects alone, says Val to be the countryside, though. You get OFTEN use the word dynamic mature trees and established gardens. more swifts in towns and cities than in when I’m writing about wildlife.

The allotments are next to the church, villages because there are more nesting However, it doesn’t mean goand there are always swifts there in early sites. The Best Beloved heard them in getting or over-achieving. The summer. They may be nesting in the Gloucester just recently, for instance. other, lesser-used definition of dynamic church belfry. We often hear them before Our swifts aren’t here for long and means ‘a process or system we see them on the allotments, because they’ve normally left by the first or characterised by constant change, they make a high-pitched chirp as they second week of June, following threeactivity or progress’. This describes how wheel overhead. They have long scythe- four weeks of egg incubation and things change from year to year, and it’s like wings and a short forked tail. another three to raise the fledglings. a bit like climate and weather. The These acrobatic flyers travel from They need our insect life, so no bug weather is what’s happening on the day, Africa, a distance of more than 3,500 guns, please! but climate describes the general miles each way. In one year, they will weather patterns. cover 7,000 miles, stopping off in For example, this year our swallows Portugal and France to refuel. I’m not and house martins are in short supply, sure ‘stopping off’ is the correct term for but we don’t know what will happen these sooty-brown high flyers, because next year or the year after that. We will they drink, feed, sleep and often mate only be able to draw conclusions after on the wing. Some individuals can go a length of time has elapsed. ten months without landing, apparently, In summer, my gardening day is and no other bird spends as much of its An adult swift emerging divided into working in the garden and life in flight. from a swift brick nest then the allotment, with writing as the Swifts feed on flying insects and day job. I’m teetotal, but we are at the airborne spiders, according to the RSPB, You can install swift nest pub end of our village, geographically and the use of pesticides has reduced boxes under your house speaking. However, wildlife is better at the number of insects in the air. Swifts eaves and you can fit swift bricks. the church end where there are lots of cover quite a distance once they’ve The RSPB has been working with arrived in the UK, travelling up to ten Barratt Developments Plc on the miles in search of food. When migrating, design. There’s also a website called it’s estimated they can cover 497 miles Action for Swifts ( actionforswifts. in one day. blogspot.com) with a section on Swifts come to the UK to breed and a making nesting boxes. pair of swifts mate for life, returning to the same site. The RSPB tells us that they

Help our high flyers

All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited

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TIP

“Swifts are in critical decline”

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Your

GARDENING WEEK

with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert Pinkcurrant ‘Gloire de Sablons’ yields plenty of pretty fragrant fruits

Blackcurrant ‘Titania’ is an excellent mid-season variety that is resistant to mildew and does well on light soils

‘Rovada’ is a compact redcurrant that is immune to mildew and leaf spot

Focus on... on... Currant care Juicy reds, pastel pinks, tangy whites or traditional black – whatever kind of currant you’re looking to grow, Lucy shows you how you can get the best from your crops

All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited

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T’S the ultimate no-brainer: pay £3 per punnet for currants, or buy a bush for less than a tenner to give you 20 punnets per year for 15 years? Let’s think about that for a millisecond...

Why anyone buys currants by the punnet is beyond me. Established bushes yield roughly 4kg (9lb) of fruit per year, plus the plants are self-fertile, easy to maintain and trouble-free. Modern breeding gives us big bud mite resistance in blackcurrants such as

“Growing them is the ultimate no-brainer”

‘Foxendown’, extra-long strigs in redcurrants like ‘Redpoll’, and many attributes in between – mildew resistance and frost-resistant flowers being two more to look for. Also, let’s not forget that you can buy white ‘White Versailles’ is a vigorous currant that produces lots of sweet, creamy white fruit

currants and pink currants, too; Ribes is a diverse genus!

Cultivation methods Growing methods for each do have similarities (see my pointers on page 20).

White and pink currants are a sport of redcurrant (R. rubrum) so can be treated the same, whereas blackcurrant is another species (R. nigrum) so has differences linked to cropping, pruning and consequent nutrition. Reds and relatives crop on older wood so can be trained into cordons, fans and even espaliers with lots of fruit buds.

Consequently, the most important nutrient to supply them with is potash.

Blackcurrants fruit predominantly on one-year-old stems so are pruned heavily each year to encourage lots more young wood, which requires ample nitrogen.

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Your

GARDENING WEEK Lucy’s corner

Avoid frost pockets due to their early flowering tendency.

■ Prune any established plants every winter to ensure a succession of vigorous growth. Summer-prune restricted types.

■ Watering regularly from May until September boosts shoot growth and berry size, plus flower initiation for next year’s crop.

■ Net bushes against birds as soon as fruits begin colouring up. Harvest whole strigs to avoid squashing ripe berries.

Try these easy currant-growing tips ■ Buy certified virus-free blackcurrants if you can – these are assessed healthy (redcurrants frequently aren’t certified).

■ Currants like an organic-rich site, so add well-rotted compost or manure to the planting hole, and mulch annually.

■ Position your bushes in a sheltered spot (although some sun is beneficial).

Three of the best currants to try

RVroger.co.uk

Pomona Fruits

Lucy’s picks

Sheltered spots are great for black currants like ‘Ben Connan’

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with Lucy Chamberlain, AG’s fruit and veg expert

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‘White Grape’: This whitecurrant was given its AGM in 1993. It yields mid-season, and plants can grow to over 6½ft (2m) in height. A novelty worth growing – imagine owning a jar of whitecurrant jelly.

s b o j k 5 quic 1

If you’ve applied nematodes to your soil recently to control slugs, vine weevil or other soil pests, keep your soil moist to ensure they’re effective.

Plants (especially in the squash family) showing stunted growth, yellow veins and distorted leaves may be carrying mosaic virus. With no cure, plants must be disposed of.

Watch for vigorous new shoots appearing at the base of fruit trees.

These are suckers – not the named variety of your tree – so cut them off.

Early spring harvesting of rhubarb can exhaust plants, so regularly apply water and a balanced liquid feed to boost them up.

Propagate hybrid berries by tiplayering them. Simply bury the tip of a young, new shoot in the soil. By late autumn it will have rooted, so dig it up in spring and replant elsewhere.

Top tip

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Strip and irrigate beans to rejuvenate and promote new crops

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‘Jonkheer van Tets’: I have grown this redcurrant for many years due to its cropping power and decent-sized strigs (whole clusters). An AGM winner in 1993 and of Dutch origin, it’s also one of the earliest to ripen.

I HAD a friend at college who called me ‘old bean’. I think it was a term of endearment – though looking at my runner beans this week, it’s anything but! My runner bean plants have been battered by the heat and the crops are meagre – especially because I let a few pods become old. If you’re in the same boat with your French or runner beans, take comfort because a decent crop is still salvageable.

Both crops have the ability to yield in flushes right through until the first frosts, so don’t consign your plants to the compost heap just yet.

Instead, rejuvenate them by stripping them of all their pods (old and new), then feed them regularly with a foliar feed; I use seaweed fertiliser.

Combined with regular irrigation, you should be picking again daily in no time.

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‘Big Ben’: A recent introduction of the Ben Series, awarded an RHS AGM in 2012. Fruit size is around twice as large as standard blackcurrants and sugar levels are good, so eating fresh is pleasant. Plants grow 5ft (1½m) tall.

Next week: Focus on allotments, harvesting perfect peaches, keeping courgettes coming, strawberry care post-cropping and growing pomegranates.

Be sure to sow beetroot now

Know when to pick figs

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These delectable fruits are brimming with sugar and flavour, and to enjoy them at their peak, it pays to pick them when perfectly ripe:

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Step by step

roots all summer long, but what about during the winter?

Well, this is just to give you the headsup that if you desire decent-sized roots for those cooler months, now is the time to sow – beetroot takes a good eight weeks to bulk up well. Choose a sunny spot (work in a quick-release general fertiliser like Growmore if this area has just been cropped) and sow as much as you think you need for winter. Sowing slightly deep and keeping drills well watered will ensure good emergence in this potentially hot, dry month. With a warm, moist soil, you should expect

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The first thing a fig will do as it ripens is to switch from an upright position on the tree’s stem to a pendulous one.

This initial sign is caused by the stalk at the top of the fruit softening and consequently giving in to gravity.

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As the moisture and sugar levels in each individual fruit rises, the water pressure builds up.

Subsequently, a small drop of clear, sugary sap frequently appears at the base of the fruit around the small circular scar known as the eye.

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Finally, with tissues softening and moisture levels rising, many figs ultimately split their skins in the final throes of ripening. This is your sign to cup each one in your hand, check that the skin and flesh is soft, then pick, eat and enjoy!

Re-evaluating the role of wasps I’D LIKE to think that my job to convince you that wasps can actually be beneficial isn’t too hard these days. We are becoming much more open to the fact that all insects have a role to play in the garden, so let’s take a deep breath and apply this thinking to wasps.

Yes, I know their sting is painful, so try not to antagonise them. Instead, understand their life cycle in the name of acceptance. Wasp larvae need to eat protein, and this can be found in the form of caterpillars, grubs and other soft-bodied insects. So, in early and midsummer adult wasps will actually hunt large numbers of these down to

feed to their young. That’s fewer cabbage white caterpillars for me to deal with. It’s only as the young grubs emerge as adult wasps, and these wasps feed on fermenting fruit (fallen apples) in late summer, that they become grumpy and aggressive, so at this stage try to remember their earlier Common wasp good points if eating aphids you can, too.

Sow the likes of ‘Boldor’, ‘Marina di Chioggia’ and ‘Pablo’ (inset) now

Future

HAVE you been merrily sowing beetroot on the plot, eagerly enjoying the results of your labours in the kitchen? I have: I adore this stalwart root crop, and have been busy sowing my favourite purples (presently ‘Pablo’ and ‘Wodan’, both F1 hybrids), yellow (‘F1 hybrid ‘Boldor’) and the fantastically pink-and-white-striped ‘Marina di Chioggia’. I sow one 3ft (1m) row of each, every six-eight weeks, outdoors in a sunny spot from May onwards. I also sow into modules under cover in mid February for an early transplanted crop that is harvested during May/June. This gives me fresh

emergence within a week (especially with F1 hybrids). Roots can then be lifted in October and stored in boxes of sand, in a shed or garage, until required.

Why not try..?

Japanese bitter orange (Poncirus trifoliata)

Japanese bitter orange HAVING just bought this plant from a gardening show, I’m keen to let you know about my purchase. If you’ve ever had difficulty growing citrus plants (and they can be quite fickle) then why not follow my lead and buy a Japanese bitter orange (known botanically as Poncirus trifoliata)?

They are a fully hardy member of the citrus family – what a bonus!

No wrapping with fleece, or moving under cover for winter, or leaf drop at the slightest whiff of a growth check.

I should quickly add that I am fully expecting complete leaf drop come autumn, as this particular species is deciduous rather than the standard evergreen that most citrus conform to. But I can expect fragrant creamy-white flowers in spring, then spherical acidic fruit come autumn, so Poncirus does exhibit many other citrusy characteristics.

A well-drained soil and dappled shade is the order of the day, so excuse me while I find my fork…

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Fiery reds and brilliant yellow flowers vie for attention in borders in high summer, adding excitement to a scheme and a visual focus

Get the

colour in!

Experiment with colour and texture in your borders and containers by adding some late-summer heat in the form of warm summer colours, says Camilla Phelps

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S we hit those long hot days at the peak of summer, now is the perfect opportunity to generate some heat in the flower garden and feed our senses with a rich palette of warm colours.

Nature knows what it’s doing with its seasonal tones – the intensity of the hottest of summer flower colours is perfect for soaking up bright sunshine and illuminating our borders and pots as they absorb all the available light.

There’s a richness to summer yellows that makes them seem opulent and golden, compared to the first gentle yellows of spring. Meanwhile, warmer reds and oranges are seeping into garden colour schemes and many of the taller, prairie-style perennials are aiming for the sun and fighting for pole position to attract the myriad pollinators.

Colours of the moment It’s a great time to experiment with colour and texture in borders and containers. Cut back flowers that have gone over and freshen them up with some colours of the moment.

The hottest colours of high summer 24 AMATEUR GARDENING 23 JULY 2022

range from citrus-yellow through fiery oranges, pinks and reds. Some summer flowers even offer graded sunset colours on a single bloom, like the Helenium autumnale series and Kniphofia uvaria.

You can choose to plant in large swathes of a single shade if you have room, or repeat colours in blocks through borders

Prairie-style perennials and grasses provide movement and drifts of colour

to create a strong visual rhythm. Use single plants as bright colour accents – squeeze in annual calendulas or nasturtiums to fill gaps; or let hot colours be the perfect foil to the cool purple and blue tones of agapanthus, scabious, nigellas and salvias.

Seasonal edit Textural contrasts are important, too, as this will make the colours sing even louder. Choose companion grasses for a light and feathery backdrop, or bold foliage plants for a more exotic style.

Summer is a good time to give your borders and pots a seasonal edit. It’s also worth looking out for inspiration and some bargains at the garden centre – pots that have been discounted. Look for plants in bloom now that can be divided after flowering so you can increase your stock for next year.

Where to buy Clare Austin claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk Middleton Nurseries middletonnurseries.co.uk

Crocus Hayloft

crocus.co.uk hayloft.co.uk

Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ AGM With brilliant-red, semi-double flowers and dark foliage, this is a fantastic dahlia for containers and borders that will flower right through the summer and it doesn’t require fussy staking.

HxS: 36x18in (90x45cm).

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ AGM This common monbretia cultivar features brilliant fire-engine-red flowers in August and September and the bold strappy leaves make the perfect contrast. Plant in mixed borders with space and plenty of direct sunlight. HxS: 48x24in (120x60cm).

Canna ‘President’ With bold dark foliage, which is a feature in its own right, the brilliant-red flowers of this variety will really light up your summer borders. These are tender plants, and in cooler gardens grow them in large containers to plunge them into summer borders and overwinter indoors.

HxS:4-6x1½ft (120-180x46cm).

Achillea millefolium ‘Red Velvet’ AGM The flowerheads of this yarrow are a deep ruby-red and keep their colour as the flowers mature. A great plant for pollinators, it looks good towards the front of a mixed border, in full sun, alongside grasses such as Stipa tenuissima for a meadowy style.

HxS: 24x18in (60x45cm).

Alstroemeria ‘Spitfire’ AGM This Peruvian lily has distinctive red petals with yellow and brown markings.

With variegated foliage as well, it offers lots of colour interest. Alstroemerias are good for adding colour to summer borders or growing in pots, and they make wonderful cut flowers. HxS: 20x24in (50x60cm).

Kniphofia ‘Bees’ Lemon’ This yellow red-hot poker is zingy in colour and with its upright, rocket-like flower form, it makes a great contrast with the daisy flowers of the season.

Buds start out lime-green, opening out to brilliant-yellow flowers. Make sure it’s planted in well-drained soil.

HxS: 40x24in (100x60cm).

Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii AGM Flowering from August to October, this black-eyed Susan is good for spicing up borders late season.

Producing lots of blooms, it should be planted in a large swathe for full impact.

Great for prairie-style planting and loved by bees and butterflies. HxS: 36x24in (90x60cm).

Hemerocallis ‘Stafford’ AGM This daylily brings a dark-red tone to borders, lightened with a splash of yellow at the centre of the flowers. They work best planted in drifts, combining well with cannas and crocosmias. Deadhead when flowers fade. HxS: 28x24in (70x60cm).

Crocus.co.uk

All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited

Six fiery reds

3 brilliant yellows

Helenium ‘Wesergold’ AGM With a very long flowering season, this sneezeweed will bring you shimmering golden daisy blooms right through to the end of summer. The brown centres mellow as they mature. Works well as a medium-height plant in borders or larger containers and good for pollinators, too.

HxS: 30x24in(80x60cm).

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3 zingy oranges Helenium ‘Waltraut’ AGM The rusty, orange-toned blooms are perfect for adding an end-of-summer glow. Best planted in groups of threes or more, to create a bold drift of colour in large sunny borders. A haven for pollinators, deadhead for more flowers and cut back to the ground in late winter. HxS: 48x24in (120x60cm).

Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora ‘Emily McKenzie’ The flowers of this monbretia are open and star like, in a brilliant warm orange with darker, red markings and they will keep flowering from August to October. Grow in well-drained fertile soil and divide in spring every few years to increase your stock. HxS: 24x30in (60x80cm).

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Kniphofia Poco Orange The Poco Series is bred for a more compact habit, so this red-hot poker works well in containers and smaller planting areas. With a typically long flowering season, the warmorange colouring of the upright, vertical blooms are really attention grabbing. HxS: 20x16in (50x40cm).

Hayloft.co.uk

4 hot pinks Cosmos bipinnatus Sonata Carmine This is perfect for containers adding colour to latesummer and early autumn displays.

It’s too late to sow from seed for this year, so it’s worth looking out for ready-grown pots of cosmos in garden centres.

H&S:20in (50cm).

Lychnis coronaria AGM The cheery deeppink blooms of rose campion are great value, being easy to grow and generous with their self-seeding talents. The simple single flowers repeat through the summer into August.

HxS: 36x18in (90x45cm).

Salvia ‘Pink Amistad’ This was awarded third place at the RHS Chelsea Flower show 2022.

It offers the longflowering capacity of ‘Amistad’ in a bright-pink shade.

Great for pots and borders, it’s also more compact than the purple variety and reportedly more hardy.

HxS: 40x24in (100x60cm).

Dahlia ‘Ambition’ A cactus dahlia that produces huge deepmagenta flowers right up until the first frosts. Blooms can be up to 6in (15cm) in diameter, so it needs to be well supported. It’s great for cutting, but needs weekly feeding to keep up its flowering momentum.

HxS: 40x24in (100x60cm).

Frequently asked questions How do I keep plants flowering through the summer?

THE secret to flowering success week for feeding and use a diluted liquid through the summer is watering, fertiliser – I’d recommend seaweedfeeding and deadheading! Unless you based options. Deadheading spent have specifically chosen droughtflowers will stop plants from putting their tolerant plants, regular watering, energy into producing seeds. If you want particularly in dry periods is vital. Water to save seed, or to keep the seedheads sensibly, at night time or in the for winter silhouettes, wait until the end morning, directly to the roots of plants. of the season, and leave alternate After watering, choose one day a flowering stems to mature.

Can I plant out in midsummer?

IT’S accepted wisdom that most plants will benefit from planting in autumn or spring, when it’s cooler and wetter, allowing the roots to settle in to ensure strong growth. But you can plant in midsummer, and if you buy new plants at the garden centre you’re going to want to get them into your borders and pots straight away.

There are two options. One is to plant as usual, digging a generous

hole, adding plenty of organic matter with a sprinkling of mycorrhizal fungi to encourage good root growth and keep well watered. Alternatively, you could leave the plant in its pot – particularly if it’s borderline tender like a canna or a dahlia – and plunge the pot into your border. Feed and water as usual, but you have the option of either getting it in the ground in the autumn or bringing it into a frost-free sheltered spot for winter.

Direct water to the roots where it’s needed

Plunge plants that are borderline tender into borders while still in their pots

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Indispensable for binding a border together, try the small group of herbaceous potentillas for their dazzling flowers, including ‘Gibson’s Scarlet’

Perfect

potentillas

Also known as shrubby cinquefoil, potentillas are undemanding and long-flowering plants that can bring much to a small garden, says Graham Rice

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OTENTILLAS are a very mixed bunch, and there are hundreds of them, but many are excellent garden plants. What they have in common is a five-petal flower structure, a little like the flowers of single roses but smaller, about 1in-3in (2.5cm-7.5cm) across. Beyond that, they can be split into three main groups.

The most widely grown are the shrubby types, varieties of Potentilla fruticosa. These make very cold-hardy, twiggy deciduous shrubs, usually of small to medium height, that carry a succession of flowers from late spring to late autumn, depending on the variety.

Yellow is the most common colour for the flowers, but orange, red, pink and white flowers are also available.

Five fingers The foliage is split into five fingers, giving rise to the common name of cinquefoil, and varies from dark green to a pretty silver. The many potentilla varieties differ mainly in their flower colour, the size and shape of the mature plant, and the 28 AMATEUR GARDENING 23 JULY 2022

flowering season. Although found in the wild in both damp and dry places, in the garden they seem to prefer well-drained soil in sun.

The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs

Shrubby potentillas flower until autumn, ‘Abbotswood’ makes a spreading dome

states: ‘The shrubby potentillas are rich in good qualities; they are very hardy, dwarf-medium sized shrubs, thriving in any soil, in sun or partial shade. Their flowers, like small single roses, are displayed over a long season…’

The two remaining groups There is also a smaller group of hardy perennial potentillas, most of which make a tight crown from which strawberry-like leaves emerge together with clusters of summer flowers in yellow, pink or red. They are closely related to strawberries.

Finally, there are low-growing alpine or rock garden types that insist on full sun and gravelly soil, and tend to spread out far wider than their height and carry spring flowers in a variety of shades.

Where to buy Ashwood Nurseries ashwoodnurseries.com Kevock Garden kevockgarden.co.uk

Crocus crocus.co.uk Pottertons pottertons.co.uk

All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited

9 potentilla varieties

P. fruticosa ‘Abbotswood’ AGM Slightly spreading shrubs carry an impressive show of single, white flowers through a long season from late spring to autumn, nicely set off by dark-green foliage.Good for small gardens, the front of sunny borders, rock-garden specimens and containers. H: 3ft (90cm).

P.f. ‘Hopleys Orange’ AGM This relatively dwarf spreading shrub variety has bright green foliage, with unusually narrow leaflets and brightorange flowers that fade a little as they mature and are often narrowly edged in yellow. Good for small gardens, the front of sunny borders and low hedges.

H: 18in (45cm).

P.f. ‘Limelight’ AGM Its exceptional fresh-green foliage makes a fine background for the flowers that are yellow in the centre and almost white at the edge. Blooms over an unusually long period from mid spring to mid-autumn.

Good for small gardens, the front of sunny borders, rock-garden specimens and containers. H: 3ft (90cm).

P.f. Marian Red Robin (‘Marrob’) AGM Bright-red summer flowers of this shrub cover low, spreading plants.

Slightly deeper in colour than the old red favourite ‘Red Ace’, but tends to fade towards orange in full sun. Best for formal gardens, the front of sunny borders and a rock-garden specimen.

H: 3ft (90cm).

P.f. ‘Medicine Wheel Mountain’ AGM Uniquely low and spreading in growth, the very large yellow summer flowers face upwards from a pretty mat of slightly bluish foliage. Discovered growing wild in Utah, USA. Useful for small gardens, the front of sunny borders, ground cover and spreading over low walls. H: 12in (30cm).

P.f. ‘Pink Beauty’ AGM Another compact, long-flowering variety with silvery-pink single and semi-double flowers set against bright-green foliage, the flowers tend to be paler in the centre and silvery-white on their back. Best in small gardens, the front of sunny borders, a low hedge and a rock-garden specimen. H: 3ft (90cm).

P.f. Princess (‘Blink’) Pretty, blushed-white, cup-shaped flowers are rosier as they open then fade as they mature, sometimes flowers have extra petals. Makes a spreading plant with rich-green foliage. Best for small gardens, the front of sunny borders and a rock-garden specimen. H: 24in (60cm).

P.f. ‘Primrose Beauty’ AGM Pretty, two-tone yellow flowers in a genuine primrose yellow, shading darker in the centre, smothering low spreading plants with arching growth and slightly greyish leaves.Good for small gardens, the front of sunny borders and a rockgarden specimen. H: 4ft (1.2m).

P.f. ‘Red Ace’ Famous as the first red-flowered shrubby potentilla, but the flowers are more orange-red in colour and brightened by golden eyes and creamy backs to the petals. Good for small gardens, the front of sunny borders, gravel gardens and low hedges. H: 3ft (90cm).

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3 alpine potentillas

Potentilla neumanniana ‘Nana’ This low, creeping, exceptionally winter-hardy plant has neatly lobed, dark-green foliage that stays low and spreads widely. Its yellow, buttercup-like flowers with a deep-golden mark at the base of each petal open in spring and summer. Good for gravel gardens, raised beds, cracks in paving and ground cover. H: 3in (7.5cm).

3 hardy perennial varieties to try

P. ‘Gibson’s Scarlet’ AGM Intense scarlet, single or sometimes semi-double, bowl-shaped flowers are darker towards the centre and beautifully set off by rich-green, lobed foliage that develops into tight clumps. Good for the front of a perennial or mixed border.

H: 18in (45cm).

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P. ‘Monsieur Rouillard’ Semi-double flowers in mahogany-red, fired over in orange and with irregular golden flashes, open in clusters through the summer and all set against attractive neatly toothed foliage. Good for the front of a perennial or mixed border.

H: 18in (45cm).

P. ‘William Rollisson’ AGM Leaves like strawberries make an attractive background for the semidouble, orange flowers unpredictably twisted and sparked in yellow and with yellow backs to the flowers. Best for the front of a perennial or mixed border.

H: 18in (45cm).

Potentilla nitida Makes tight mats of low, creeping silvery green foliage and, in spring, the five petalled flowers open, each is pink shading through rosy tones to cerise in the centre. Best for raised beds, troughs, gravel gardens and trailing over low walls. H: 2in (5cm).

Potentilla x tonguei AGM This valuable, clump-forming plant develops low spreading stems from its tight crown, each carrying bowl-shaped apricot-yellow flowers with dark red eyes all through the summer. Evergreen in mild areas. Best in the front of a sunny border and for ground cover. H: 6in (15cm).

Frequently asked questions Is there a potentilla variety that will grow in the shade?

THERE are no potentillas that prefer from the side for part of the day by a growing in the shade, but shrubby fence or wall or a taller evergreen. potentilla varieties with red, orange Potentilla varieties whose colour or pink flowers retain the richness of can be preserved by protection from their flower colour better when not the sun include: ‘Gibson’s Scarlet’, subject to a long day of direct sun.

‘Hopleys Orange’ (pictured), Marian In practice, this means siting them Red Robin (‘Marrob’), Princess (‘Blink’) where they are protected from the sun and ‘Red Ace’.

Have shrubby potentillas changed their name?

YES, you are correct – shrubby potentillas are not classed as potentillas any more.

The botanists have been reassessing potentillas and have decided that the shrubby potentillas, Potentilla fruticosa, that we all know and love, should now be treated separately and called Dasiphora fruticosa. They have also recommended a number of other changes, but it will take some time Shrubby potentillas are now called for nurseries and publications to Dasiphora fruticosa catch up with this.

Richly coloured potentillas benefit from some shade to preserve their colour

Is there an evergreen potentilla?

ALL the shrubby potentillas (Potentilla fruticosa) are deciduous, and while some may retain their foliage until early winter, in all potentilla varieties the leaves eventually drop leaving a twiggy bush to see the plant through the winter. Perennial and alpine potentillas die back completely for the winter, although a few including Potentilla x tonguei may remain green in mild areas.

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How to

GROW WITH GRAHAM RICE

This week...

Buddleja

The intense colour of ‘Royal Red’ adds drama to late-summer borders – to get the best of out any buddleja, prune in spring when green shoots appear

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UDDLEJA, commonly known in some parts as the butterfly bush, is a strong-growing, deciduous, flowering shrub producing large colourful cones of flowers in summer and autumn. Each flowerhead is made up of a number of tiny individual flowers that produce large quantities of nectar and so are popular with butterflies and other insects.

Buddlejas are tolerant shrubs, easy to grow and easy to prune. And while old

varieties can produce a heavy crop of seeds that help the plants become invasive in mild areas, in recent years safe-to-plant modern varieties have been developed that produce no seeds at all.

Perfect low-maintenance plant Experts at Wayside Gardens in the USA point out: “Butterfly bushes are a great addition to almost any garden, attracting butterflies and other beneficial pollinators in droves. Also known as buddlejas, these are large, dense bushes featuring big, majestic flower spikes that bloom in intense hues of pink, orange, red and purple throughout the summer. Several cultivars have great drought tolerance, making them the perfect lowmaintenance plant for the back of a mixed-border planting.”

How to choose a butterfly bush FIRST, decide if you need a modern noninvasive type in your garden.

Then consider the final Lo & Behold ‘Blue size. The Lo Chip’ is suitable & Behold series for containers is ideal for patio containers, while plants in the Miss Series are taller and more suitable for mixed borders, shrub borders and as specimens.

Provenwinners.com

All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited

The butterfly bush is a summer-flowering shrub that’s popular with pollinators

Provenwinners.com

Where to buy There’s a good range of modern buddleja varieties to choose from, including the Miss Series

Crocus crocus.co.uk 01344 578 000 The Lavender Garden thelavenderg.co.uk 01453 860 356 Thompson & Morgan thompson-morgan.com 0333 400 0033 23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Two kinds of butterfly bush THERE are two kinds of buddleja and it’s important to know the difference.

Modern buddlejas MODERN varieties of buddleja have mostly been developed in North America with the aim of producing neater, more compact growth that is suitable for smaller gardens. It is especially important that many modern varieties produce no seed and are not invasive.

Modern, non-invasive varieties of buddleja include the dwarf Lo & Behold Series and the taller Miss Series, both in four different colours, and the Flutterby Series (pictured) of seven varieties in a range of heights and colours.

Buddleja ‘Flutterby Pink’

Old-fashioned buddlejas THE old-fashioned varieties of buddleja tend to be the tallest and the most vigorous. They are often prolific in flower and produce a great deal of nectar to feed pollinating insects.

Old-fashioned buddleja varieties can also produce a huge number of seeds and may become invasive.

Many were developed here in England where, until recently, invasiveness was not a problem, but they may be listed as invasive in some parts of the US. Varieties in this group include the English Butterfly Series and the shorter Buzz Series, both in a wide range of colours, as well as individual varieties including ‘Black Knight’ and ‘Royal Red’.

Planting advice BUDDLEJA need at least six hours of sun each day, with all-day sun being preferable, and they will grow thin and spindly and flower very poorly under trees. Any reasonable well-drained soil suits them, but they appreciate thorough preparation before planting, so improve the soil with garden compost or bagged multipurpose.

Plant in spring or early to mid-summer, soaking the 34 AMATEUR GARDENING 23 JULY 2022

rootball in a bucket of water while you prepare the site.

After planting, mulch with 2-3in (5-7.5cm) of bark chips or other weed-free material to conserve soil moisture and prevent weed growth.

In containers, choose a well-drained planting mix and stand the container on pot feet to lift the pot just off the ground and allow surplus moisture to drain away quickly, otherwise the roots will rot.

When growing in containers, allow excess water to drain by adding pot feet

TI Archive

Buddleja Buzz Series ‘Velvet’

How to

GROW WITH GRAHAM RICE

Top care tips

Future

Conservative spring pruning to 2-3ft (60-90cm) encourages bushy growth

How to prune

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Buddleja produces its summer flower spikes on growth that develops earlier the same season. So, to encourage the most growth and the most flowers, pruning is done in spring, just as the buds on the old branches are starting into growth.

Some gardeners prune very hard, cutting off all growth to about 6-12in (15-30cm) above the base. The result is relatively few, very vigorous, fast-growing shoots carrying long fat spikes of flowers.

Pruning less severely, to about 2-3ft (60-90cm) will encourage far more shoots to develop, creating a bushier look, with many smaller flower spikes.

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Future

THE most important care that a butterfly bush needs is deadheading. As soon as the flowers have turned brown, snip them off.

Immediately behind the dead flowerhead you will usually find a short shoot with a cluster of flower buds at the tip. Cut just above that shoot to spur it into opening its flowers.

Deadheading is important because it dramatically improves the look of the plant. The display from white-flowered varieties, in particular, is often ruined by the presence of the brown seedheads from the earlier flowers. Deadheading also prevents the plant wasting energy in producing seeds when it is the flowers that are important.

Deadhead as the flowers begin to turn brown

Future

Cuttings root quickly – when large enough, transplant into individual pots

Water during dry spells to avoid problems

Choose a modern variety bred to be compact, such as Flutterby ‘Petite Blue Heaven’

How do I grow buddleja in pots?

Q Butterfly bushes do well in containers, but it is important to choose the right variety and look after it correctly.

Q Choose only modern varieties that remain small and will not drop seeds that will sprout between the cracks in your paving. Varieties in the Lo & Behold Series are ideal.

Q Choose a large container, 18-24in (4560cm) across, and place it in a sunny position on three pot feet to ensure good drainage. Part fill with fresh, damp,

TI Archive

How do I propagate buddleja?

BUDDLEJA can be grown from seeds, but the results are very rarely a match for named varieties bought as plants.

Once you have a named variety in your garden, you can make more by taking cuttings in spring or summer.

Make cuttings by snipping off the tips of the growing shoots to give you a cutting about 4-6in (10-15cm) long.

Recut just below the lowest leaf joint, snip off the leaves on the lowest half of the cutting and insert into pots of fresh, moist potting soil so that the lowest leaves are just above the soil.

Cover with a clear plastic bag and keep in a light, but not sunny place.

Move the cuttings into individual pots when the roots start to emerge from the drainage holes.

Plantipp.eu

Frequently asked questions

potting soil and set the plant in place so that its compost is about 1in (2.5cm) below the rim of the container.

Q Add more potting soil and firm well around the roots leaving a level finish.

Mulch with gravel or bark chips and then water in well with a liquid feed.

Q Keep moist all summer, deadhead regularly, then, in colder areas, move the pot to a sheltered pace for the winter. Prune in spring, then move back to a sunny site.

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Merendera montana is a native of the Central Pyrenees

Wikimedia

Unknown beauty Fuchsia gall mites cause plant distortion and are spreading from the south

How do I deal with fuchsia gall mite?

Q

In my mum’s garden she has a large number of fuchsias. They are beautiful when in flower but seem to have all got this gall mite. Is there any way of saving them, maybe by cutting out the infection? Some are 20 years old.

Sue Read, Brighton

A

The fuchsia gall mite is a serious pest of fuchsias. It is rare, but has become more widespread since they first arrived in 2007, particularly in the south of the UK. The mites are microscopic and suck the sap at the fuchsia’s shoot tip, secreting chemicals that cause the plant material it to become distorted. The greater the infestation, the greater the distortion, until the plant is incapable of producing normal-looking leaves.

Unfortunately there are no chemical treatments that work on the gall mites they are immune to all known products.

All you can do is cut off and dispose of the infested shoot tips – never add them to the compost. Predatory mites can be bought as a biological control, but suppliers say you need to reduce the affected shoots to 4in (10cm) below affected growth before introducing the predator.

This biological control can be bought online from nematodesdirect.co.uk, 0808 901 2055.

Some fuchsia cultivars are said to be more resistant to the mites, including ‘Baby Chang’, ‘Cinnabarina’, ‘Miniature Jewels’ and ‘Space Shuttle’.

The interloper appears to be Merendera montana, a native of the Central Pyrenees and Iberian Peninsular. Relatively hardy in sheltered gardens, its ribbon-petalled flowers have great appeal. Indeed, it makes a fetching contender for a sunny rock garden. It normally flowers in autumn, but prolonged spells of hot weather will trigger an earlier blooming.

It develops from a corm which, if nourished monthly with fish, blood and bone meal, will probably multiply to give you more flowers next year.

Blossom end rot is caused by irregular watering

What is the name of this cheerful yellow plant?

Tomato disaster

Q

Q

Please can you identify this plant? Is it some sort of goldenrod?

Suzanne Shaw (via email)

A

Alamy unless credited

Q A

Can you name this plant for us?

Gill Smithers (via email)

The plant in question is hardy yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris). Splendid for cheering summer, but it can be invasive.

Another, equally appealing form called L. congestiflora ‘Outback Sunset’, is a splendid summer-bedding contender, magnificent when cascading from a hanging basket.

Yellow loosestrife brings a

It must be blaze of yellow to the overwintered summer garden in a warm greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill.

If you wish to propagate L. vulgaris, divide the clump in autumn and replant chunky well-rooted divisions.

Dead-head regularly to encourage more blooms.

Can you please advise me as to what is wrong with my ‘Money Maker’ tomato plants?.

Lynda Grace (via email)

A

Your tomato fruits have succumbed to a disorder called blossom-end rot, triggered by an erratic uptake of water. If you water regularly to keep the compost or soil nicely damp, further fruits will develop normally.

Additionally, feed twice-weekly with a high-potash liquid feed, but never liquidfertilise dry soil.

23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Quick questions & answers

Fairy ring fungi can be tricky to remove

Q A Future

It is commonly known as Angel’s Fishing Rod (Dierama pulcherrima).

This is a member of the iris family, native to South Africa but quite at home in Britain.

It is easy to grow in any ordinary garden soil, ideally in sun but it will tolerate partial shade.

I’m not at all enchanted by these fairies!

Q

I have a brown semi-circle on my lawn which has some fungi in it and there is also a patch of fungi in the border. Do you have any idea what it is or how I can get rid of it?

Agnes Nash (via email)

A

These half circles of toadstools are known as fairy rings or pixie rings, caused by a fungus which feeds on the roots of grass causing browning.

There may be lush green growth adjacent to the brown arcs or circles.

The fungi is hidden below ground for most of the year, with the fungi appearing in late summer/autumn.

Unfortunately it is very difficult to eradicate fairy rings and there are no chemical methods available. A permanent solution involves removing infected soil and replacing it with new topsoil and then reseeding or returfing, but this has no guarantee of eradication.

However, there are some things that you can do to reduce the impact of the fairy rings. Firstly, remove toadstools as soon as they appear to reduce the spread of spores. Secondly, reduce the amount of organic matter available to the fungus by always collecting up the grass mowings and by raking or scarifying in early September.

Thirdly, spiking helps to break through the water repellent fungal mycelium in the soil, which helps to prevent the grass from drying out. Finally, keep lawns watered in dry weather and well fed to even out the colour of the grass. Rake out dead areas, spike and reseed.

Q

What is this plant?

Margaret Balfour (via email)

A

The shrub is Deutzia scabra ‘Candidissima’, a double white form of the parent, D. scabra. Prune after flowering and feed monthly, April to September, with a general fertiliser and with bone meal in October.

How do I care for indoor cyclamen?

A

Thank you for the attached image of your lovely cyclamen. We are delighted that you rescued it and it is now fully recovered and about to flower.

Encourage it to excel by liquidfeeding it twice weekly with a highpotash tomato feed.

Hopefully, it will continue blooming throughout winter and into next spring.

When blooms fade, gently twist flowered stems from the tuber.

Ideally, in late May when frosts finish, move it outdoors to a lightly shaded spot 38 AMATEUR GARDENING 23 JULY 2022

and continue watering Indoor cyclamen and feeding naturally die back it until its after flowering leaves shrivel and die and can be removed.

Then do nothing until little pink buds, the leaf initials, appear on the tuber.

That’s your cue to re-pot it in a slightly larger container using ericaceous compost. Bring it indoors in late August.

Q Future

Q

I managed to salvage my cyclamen that had dried out in the conservatory. How do I care for it now?

Barbara Trevitt, Newcastle upon Tyne

What is this plant?

Helen Field (via email)

I have little white flies on the plants in my hanging baskets.

What should I do?

Jan Schut (via email)

A

The white creatures are sapfeeding whiteflies.

I suggest that you spray your plants with Bug Clear Ultra, a systemic preparation that protects plants from attack for around three weeks.

Contact John Negus by email address below Email: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

Tradescantia fluminensis likes a warm, well-lit room

Wandering joy Black spot on many plants can be tackled with good husbandry and carefully administered fungicide spray

Can rose black spot affect other plants?

Q

Please could you identify this pretty climbing plant that I got a cutting of when on holidays in Salou?

Pauline Gaffney (via email)

A

The cascading/climbing plant is wandering Jew (Tradescantia I’ve always had to spray an old rose carefully for black spot. I’ve noticed that a fluminensis). A native of Brazil and nearby honeysuckle and also a hydrangea are affected. Is this the same variety Argentina, it sports small white flowers in of black spot? leaf axils.

Alison Ireland, Kirn, Argyll Ideal for growing in a well-lit, warm room where it has space to cascade and I am sorry that your roses have Additionally, feed your bushes with 1oz please you with its foliage, it needs very succumbed to black spot disease.

(28g) per sq m of sulphate of potash. little attention, apart from regular The best way to control it is to spray with Sprinkle it over the root area, monthly, watering and occasional liquid feeding.

RoseClear Ultra Gun, which also very from April to September, and water it in.

It is easy to propagate from cuttings effectively tackles powdery mildew, rust Your hydrangea and honeysuckle are rooted in water or gritty soil. and aphids, or FungusClear Ultra Gun affected by another fungus, not black that protects plants for over four months. spot which is specific to roses.

Alternatively, use Bayer Garden Treat plants with FungusClear Ultra Fungus Fighter Plus that guards roses Gun and feed them with sulphate of This has popped up in my garden. from attack for up to three weeks. potash, which will strengthen them.

What is it?

Mayo Marriott (via email)

Q

A

Mystery appearance

Q

What do I do about ground elder?

Q

Please can you tell me if this is ground elder.? I have it all over my garden and nothing gets rid of it. The more I dig all my beds over, the more it pops up!

Mrs M Hawker (via email)

A

Regrettably, the invader in question is indeed ground elder.

Best tackled by painting or very carefully spraying its leaves with a glyphosate-based weedkiller, it will eventually die.

Ground elder is Weedkiller treatment is better than hoeing it a common menace out, which breaks roots which then regrow.

Another option, if the situation is appropriate, is to cover the interloper with weed-proof membrane: no light means no growth.

Camouflage the membrane by sprinkling it with proprietary composted manure or similar crumbly organic material.

A

It is a plume poppy (Macleaya cordata also called Bocconia cordata). A native of mountain woodland in eastern China Plume poppies are a tall and beautiful addition and Japan, its impressive heads of feathery, creamy-white blooms are best in June and July.

Normally growing from 5-8ft (1.52.4m), it thrives in most enriched soils. It enjoys full sun and is easily propagated from rooted suckers.

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Will I be able to save my hydrangea?

Q

I have a hydrangea in a tall pot wide at top and narrow at the bottom, but it looks as if it is dying off. I have re-potted it in new soil, will it come back again?

Irene Collins (via email)

Feed and water gerberas to keep them flowering

A

I am sorry that your hydrangea is wilting. Are you watering regularly?

This shrub is a moisture lover and it’s vital to keep the compost damp.

If you are watering frequently and the plant is still flagging, then something could be damaging the roots and preventing them from absorbing water.

It’s probable that vine weevil grubs – tiny dirty white curved creatures – are feeding on the roots, which I urge you to examine. If it’s a large pot, it may be a two-person exercise removing the root ball carefully, trying not to damage it.

If you spot grubs, replace the root ball and water it with Bug Clear Ultra Vine Weevil Killer, which destroys grubs and protects plants from further attacks for two months.

If no grubs are found, then your pot

My ailing gerberas Hydrangeas thrive in pots unless they are too dry or attacked by pests

soil could be too dry and your hydrangea is short of water. It should respond quickly if you water it well.

Alternatively, the compost may be too wet and air is being driven out, which would cause the plant to suffer.

Ideally, if you are not already doing so, sit the pot on ‘feet’ so that surplus moisture freely drains away.

Q

I planted three hardy gerberas in April. All started to wilt, then two came back well but the third remains very sad. What can I do?

Lesley Gibbard (via email)

A

At this time of year, gerberas should be flourishing and flowering profusely. I suggest that you encourage them to perform better and grow well by liquid-feeding them weekly with a highpotash tomato fertiliser.

Water the soil copiously before feeding. Then, in late autumn, mulch them thickly with composted manure to insulate roots from frost.

Prickly lettuce is an uncommon wild flower

Clematis viticella ‘Alba Luxurians’ can flower in different colours

Is my Clematis viticella an anomaly?

Q

I bought a clematis viticella ‘Alba Luxurians’ from an RHS garden and it’s been wonderful – white flowers tipped with green. I ordered another one from a nursery and the flowers came up light mauve one year and white the next. Is this normal or is mine behaving strangely?

Joan Barton (via email)

A

Clematis viticella ‘Alba Luxurians’ is not a stable variety and blooms which are normally white with green 40 AMATEUR GARDENING 23 JULY 2022

tips and flecks can occasionally be tinged with mauve or violet.

If it’s cold when flowers are opening, they tend to be more green than white.

The fact that in its first year blooms were pale mauve, then, in its second season were white, indicates that it is not your soil that triggered a change of colour but the plant’s unstable and variable genetic constitution.

I have this variety cascading from a wall and illuminating wonderfully a gloomy part of the garden.

A wild discovery

Q

Could you tell me please what this plant is called?

Helen Symonds, Little Melton, Norwich.

A

It is prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola). A tall and statuesque annual British wild flower, it blooms from July to September and often appears in large groups – ‘reaching for the sky’.

I haven’t seen it for some years. If it’s in your garden, I urge you to gather ripe seeds and sow them in a sunny spot where plants can naturalise and attract a wide range of insects. Without doubt, it has character.

WORDS OF WISDOM From Amateur Gardening’s historic 138-year-old archive

In this extract from AG 25 July 1970, Christopher Lloyd, of Great Dixter fame, looks at plants that keep flowering

Never without a flower Christopher Lloyd looks at plants with a long flowering season

All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited

Perpetual cherries None of the cherries is truly perpetual, but two of them have made a brave enough stab at it to have earned the title.

Prunus serrulata ‘Fudanzakura’ (the last word means continuous cherry) has also been known as Prunus serrulata f. semperflorens. In Japan it probably deserves its reputation; in the UK it can, in a mild winter and if the birds, who adore its buds, leave it alone, flower from November to April, much like the far better known P. x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’. And in the same way its buds open from pale pink to white. It is useful for cutting to bring on indoors.

Of greater value as a garden plant is P. cerasus ‘Semperflorens’, a variety of the sour morello cherry. It makes a very pretty small round-topped tree and flowers from April to September. Flowers and ripe fruits may be seen together.

Viburnum tomentosum [V. plicatum f. tomentosum] has given rise to the finest snowball bushes, and also to varieties like ‘Lanarth’ that are nearer to the wild plant, with fertile and sterile florets in the style of a lacecap hydrangea. I met another of this ilk for the first time last summer, but a smaller growing plant more suitable where space was restricted and flowering quite out of season, it seemed to me, 42 AMATEUR GARDENING 23 JULY 2022

The shrimp plant, Beloperone guttata, has colourful bracts

Christopher Lloyd at his Great Dixter garden

Viola odorata is a scented violet that is seldom found without a flower

The showy white flowers of the Japanese snowball Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum ‘Lanarth’

intense carmine colouring by February and is then, weather permitting, at its most remarkable.

Of the humbler hardy plants, there is Exceptionally persistent A number of the hebes are Prunus serrulata never a month when I cannot find exceptionally persistent.

‘Fudanzakura’ can flower a wild primrose in flower in from November to April the surrounding woods, ‘Autumn Glory’, for particularly where the instance, gets going weeds have recently in early July, with a been coppiced. However, terrific burst of purple I come from East Sussex blossoms opening from and it is a fact that there silvery buds, and you are a great many strains can nearly always find of primroses with different something to pick from it flowering habits in different thereafter in every month localities. Those from the north up to and including the will seldom venture into bloom, following April. ‘Midsummer however you treat them, until April or Beauty’, with long lavender spikes that even May. Wild scented violets also have are sweetly scented, is much the same, while ‘Cranleighensis’, which is pale pink a pretty well non-stop season. Even in August, when your mind is furthest from in summer and autumn, develops an

until I learned that its name was V. tomentosum semperflorens.

TI Archive

S

OMETIMES we think how gratifying it would be if our plants would just keep on flowering.

Some plants do, in fact, bloom continuously; they mostly come from the tropics and need a heated greenhouse. Others that are hardy flower for sufficient months on end to earn the Latin epithet semperflorens, which means always in flower.

When continuous-flowering roses were first introduced from China in the late 18th century, it was not surprising that one of them should have been named Rosa chinensis ‘Semperflorens’.

This was Slater’s crimson China, a monthly rose with a truly year-round season if given high enough temperatures to keep it flowering. It was an important parent of Noisette and Bourbon roses and from them came our modern roses, including those grown under glass for year-round flowers.

In this extract from AG 4 July 1970, we look at one of the greatest gardeners of all time

Gardeners with a story We look at the life of Joseph Paxton (1803-1865), who started his horticultural career at Chatsworth House

Kohleria hirsuta has rich-scarlet tubular flowers

this flower, you may, if you happen to think of looking, find a few blooms hiding among its luxuriant foliage.

There is a great range of longflowering tender plants, of which Begonia Semperflorens is the most obvious. Chiefly used for summer bedding, it is also a good greenhouse pot plant. The shrimp plant, Beloperone guttata, whose colourful bracts are its main attraction, can flower non-stop, but it easily becomes a straggler if not cut back in spring and given a rest.

Delicious honey scent The biennial Exacum affine, with mauve flowers and a delicious honey scent, will, from a spring sowing, start flowering in late summer and carry on to the following spring. Its one drawback is that the dead flowers hang on in an unsightly manner and need constant picking off.

The shrubby tender perennial Dimorphotheca ecklonis (Osteospermum ecklonis) can be bedded out in summer, but should be lifted and repotted in autumn to flower throughout the winter in a cool greenhouse. Its blue-centred white daisies shut up in adverse weather and at night in summer, but remain open the whole time in winter for some unexplained reason.

A particular favourite with me among ever-flowering tender perennials is Isoloma erianthum [Kohleria hirsuta].

A gesneriad with rich-scarlet tubular flowers in loose racemes, it has the most fascinating rhizomes, like fat scaly red centipedes, that crawl around the inner surface of its pot. I am always turning it out to have a look at them.

ARCHITECT, landscape gardener, was smooth and leaf-free by morning. town planner, writer, editor and one of Years later when Queen Victoria the founders of the Daily News and of again visited Chatsworth Paxton once several gardening magazines, more excelled himself. The Duke of organiser of a civilian construction Wellington was one of the party and, corps in the Crimean War, fascinated by a stupendous forester, land agent and firework display, arose early steward, designer of giant to find out how the glasshouses and entertainment had been waterworks, railway organised. But the promoter and director, grounds kept their secret Member of Parliament – it – all was in apple-pie makes one breathless to order and nothing bore recount the diverse witness to the activity of activities of Joseph Paxton, the previous night.

Joseph Paxton one-time gardener’s boy.

‘I would have liked that man in 1851 At the age of 20 Paxton of yours for one of my generals,’ secured employment in the Royal remarked one duke to the other.

Horticultural Society’s garden at At Chatsworth, Paxton built giant Chiswick in London. The landlord was glasshouses, one 300ft long and 60ft the Duke of Devonshire, who had a high (91x18m), constructed great private door connecting his own roadworks, lakes and the highest adjoining garden – and thus did found in the world at 267ft (81m). young Paxton come to the Duke’s Chatsworth became a famous notice. In 1826 he became head showplace visited by 60,000 people gardener at Chatsworth in Derbyshire. in a year and that was before motor cars, before local railway even.

Remarkable talent His greatest horticultural success Typical was Paxton’s first morning. He was the first flowering in England of arrived at 4.30am, climbed a gate and Victoria amazonica, the giant tropical explored the neglected pleasure waterlily, one floating leaf of which grounds. Then he scaled the wall of was so strong that it could support his the kitchen garden and inspected seven-year-old daughter. that. When the under-gardeners His best-known public arrived at 6am, he set them to work achievement, for which he was and had a water-work display turned knighted, was the Crystal Palace that on. At 9am he called on Mrs Gregory, housed the Great Exhibition of 1851. the housekeeper, for breakfast, met her niece Sarah, fell in love and married her the next year.

Combined with energy was a remarkable talent for organising the work of others. When the future Queen of England visited Chatsworth in October 1832, Paxton had a squad The lily pads of Victoria amazonica of 100 men working through each can grow up to 8ft (2.4m) across night to ensure that every gravel path

The views, information and opinions expressed during this series of extracts from past issues of AG are solely those of the individuals involved, at the time they were written, and are not necessarily relevant or even legal today. Please treat these pages as a look back at how things were done in the past and not necessarily how they are done today. AG accepts no responsibility if readers follow advice given in these articles from past issues.

23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

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A gardener’s

MISCELLANY

Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke

Love Parks Week!

Get out and about by visiting a park this week

WE love our parks. They’re spaces for people to meet up and relax, take a stroll, sunbathe, exercise, play sports or have a picnic. They’re also great spaces for events. And some of the best parks (for me) also have stunning gardens. If you’re not lucky enough to have your own garden or bit of outdoor space, a park is a great way to embrace nature

and improve mental wellbeing.

Love Parks Week takes place every year, around now – different local authorities choose slightly different dates. The aim of Love Parks Week is to encourage everyone to get out to a park.

Sadly, it’s a fact also that if a park is not used, there is a good chance that it will be considered suitable for development.

National Parks

Kinder Scout in the Peak District National Park

There are 15 National Parks across Britain: Cairngorms, and Loch Lomond & The Trossachs (Scotland); Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire Coast and Brecon Beacons (Wales); and Northumberland, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, the North York Moors, the Peak District, the Norfolk Broads, Exmoor, Dartmoor, the New Forest and the South Downs (England).

Yellowstone National Park, mostly in Wyoming, USA, was the first area anywhere in the world to be designated a National Park. It was given its status in 1872 by US president Ulysses S. Grant, and covers 3,470 sq miles.

The Northeast Greenland National Park is the largest in the world. Much of its 375,000 sq miles is covered by ice, but it’s still home to protected flora and fauna (including polar bears).

5

The world’s smallest park!

OFFICIALLY, the world’s smallest park is Mill Ends Park in Portland, Oregon, USA. It is just 2ft (61cm) across! In 1948, Dick Fagan, a writer for the Oregon Journal, looked out of his office window and saw workmen doing Mill Ends Park some groundwork for a new street light on a traffic island. But the light never arrived! The island became unkempt, so Dick weeded it and planted flowers, just to make it look nice.

He wrote about it in his newspaper. When he died in 1969, others took over the maintenance.

Applications were made to the state legislature and, on St Patrick’s Day in 1976, the ‘park’ was formally recognised.

Four years ago, an official Portland Parks and Recreation sign was put up at its entrance!

Royal Parks of London

The Regent’s Park

Richmond Park

Graham Clarke

Graham Clarke

ON 22 July 2019, London became the world’s first ‘National Park City’. The idea is to make cities London National greener and Park City map healthier, and to improve urban relationships with nature.

Despite London being home to some nine million people, there are almost as many trees in it. And it’s estimated that London’s varied habitats host around 15,000 species of animals and plants, including eight species of bat. Among the goals of the National Park Cities charter is to support improvements in people’s health and wellbeing through the restoration of wildlife habitats and vegetation within the cities, and to provide more outdoor areas for walking, cycling and eating locally grown food.

Greenwich Park

Graham Clarke

All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited

London’s ‘world first’

Glen Einich and Loch Einich, Cairngorms National Park

Graham Clarke

This week it’s:

Bushy Park

Green Park 23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

45

A gardener’s

MISCELLANY Olympic Park

AG’s Garden Wall Postman’s

Chile llama

Artichoke

ELEPHANT

Mint

Chelsea

Ricottas

MEANIES

Ahoy

Fern

The Quarry

LIME

It’s time for our just-for-fun puzzle – AG’s Garden Wall. This wall comprises 12 bricks in three courses. Each brick has a different word, or phrase on it. The first brick in each course, with BLOCK capitals, is cemented in place and cannot be moved. Just rearrange all the other bricks, so that the four words in each course of bricks are linked. There are three different

connections to look for, one for each course.

You may find that some words have more than one connection to other courses, but there is just one correct answer. You’ll either find this puzzle fiendishly difficult, or incredibly easy! Answers below.

Hint: In one of the courses, the bricks are all the (unlikely) names of parks.

LIME ELEPHANT MEANIES Answers: LIME = Artichoke, Mint, Fern (all official shades of the colour green); ELEPHANT Park (Elephant & Castle, London) = Postman’s Park (London EC1), Chelsea Park (Sheffield), The Quarry Park (Shrewsbury) (all names of parks); MEANIES (nemesia) = Chile llama (alchemilla), Ricottas (arctotis), Ahoy (hoya) (all anagrams of plant genera).

WIN £30

Word search

No: 630

This word search comprises C L O V E X A L E R words associated with parks.

I R P A R K S C E Y They are listed below; in the grid they may be read across, P A I W E E K L T T backwards, up, down or diagonally. Letters may be M E G C D E I I R S shared between words.

Y N A I H Z C E T C Erroneous or duplicate words may appear in the grid, but L I R Y A M E R O I there is only one correct solution. After the listed words O L D B N S O P T L are found there are seven N E E U Q P E N A B letters remaining; arrange these to make this week’s R T N A S N L N D U KEYWORD. H E S I C R E X E P LOVE PARKS HOW TO ENTER: Enter this week’s keyword on the entry form, and WEEK send it to AG Word Search No 630, Amateur Gardening, Future QUEEN Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road, ELIZABETH Winnersh, RG41 5TP, to arrive by Wednesday 3 August, 2022. The OLYMPIC first correct entry chosen at random will win our £30 cash prize.

CITY This week’s keyword is ..........................................................................................

EXERCISE GARDENS Name ........................................................................................................................

HYDE LANE Address ....................................................................................................................

LINEAR ...................................................................................................................................

OPEN PUBLIC Postcode ..................................................................................................................

RELAX RICHMOND Email .........................................................................................................................

RIDES Tel no ........................................................................................................................

SPORTS Future plc, publisher of Amateur Gardening, will collect your personal information solely to process your competition entry.

TREES 46 AMATEUR GARDENING 23 JULY 2022

No: 072

JUST FOR FUN

IF you live outside London, you may wonder what happened to the park and village that hosted the London 2012 Olympic and The ArcelorMittal Paralympic Games.

Orbit Situated in Stratford, east London and now known as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, it remains a sporting complex, but is also a public park. The main stadium, now called the London Stadium, is home to West Ham United FC. The Park also contains the ArcelorMittal Orbit, an observation tower and Britain’s largest piece of public art.

With wildlife in mind, the Park contains 525 bird boxes, 150 bat boxes, plus a number of artificial otter holts.

Historical gardening event of the week: 20 July 1982 A TRAGIC day for the nation, for the military, for families and for parks.

Hyde Park, London: At 10:43am a nail bomb exploded in the boot of a car left in the park. It went off as soldiers of the Household Cavalry, the Queen’s official bodyguard regiment, were passing by, during the Changing of the Guard procession.

Three soldiers of the Blues and Royals died immediately, The Regent’s Park bandstand followed by another, three days later. Others were badly injured, as well as several civilians.

Seven of the regiment’s horses died.

The Regent’s Park, London: The house where I spent the first seven years of my life, in the middle of this park, was just 200 yards from a bandstand. Most Sundays, and on selected other days through the year, military bands would play there, for park visitors. At 12.55pm, two hours and 12 minutes after the Hyde Park bomb, and during a performance of music to a crowd of 120 people, the bandstand exploded. A bomb had been placed under it. Six of the 30 bandsmen of the Royal Green Jackets were killed. All the rest, plus several park visitors, were injured.

The IRA claimed responsibility for both bombs.

Crossword ...just for fun!

High Line, New York City

Linear parks

1 Graham Clarke

EVER heard of a linear park? It’s a park that is much longer than it is wide. A typical example would be the High Line in New York City, USA, a 1½-mile (2.3km)-long walkway along what was a spur of the city’s Central Railroad. With careful planting (in this instance by Dutch designer and plant guru Piet Oudolf), it is a space of serenity in a madly hectic city. Parks are often created out of oddly shaped tracts of land.

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ACROSS 1 Centifolias, moss and China – are these! (5) 3 Green and black – are these! (5) 7 The flowering quince genus (11) 8 A plant (or a human, for that matter) originating from one of the thousand or so islands in the central and southern Pacific, is said to be this! (10) 9 Genus of temperate and sub-tropical ferns, known as the chain ferns (10) 13 A plant that is easy to grow, with little in the way of requirements, is said to be this (11) 14 See 6 down 15 Alloy of iron and carbon, as in Hydrangea macrophylla Black _____ Series (5) DOWN 1 Put the top back on a bottle of fertiliser, for example (5)

2 Roll elms? Had better ask the person operating a little farm! (11) (anag) 4 Sauce consisting of melted butter, egg yolks and vinegar, served especially with fish – as in Anthemis tinctoria ‘_________ Sauce’ (11) 5 In botany, the flat receptacle of composite flowers, such as the daisy; also, the middle part of the lip of an orchid (4) 6 and 14 across ____ _____ Week is the subject of this week’s Miscellany! (4,5) 10 Flowering plant (Isatis tinctoria) of the cabbage family, and the blue dye produced from its leaves (4) 11 Divine messenger, as in the hyacinth variety ‘Pink _____’ and the hosta variety ‘Blue _____’ (5) 12 Similar to a lump or a hump, this may be found in the lawn and can be rectified! (4)

ANSWERS TO ABOVE CROSSWORD

There are estimated to be more than 27,000 parks and green spaces across the UK. Work on constructing Central Park in New York City started in 1856. It is said that five million trees were planted prior to the official opening.

In Suwon, South Korea, there is a theme park dedicated to the toilet. The Restroom Cultural Park surrounds a toilet-shaped building.

Schiphol’s Airport Park in the Netherlands is the world’s largest (and currently only) park within an airport. It measures 2,000 sq metres, and has a rescued 130-yearold tree at its centre. The park contains mixed-reality technology, featuring the sounds of bicycle bells and children playing, as well as projected butterflies.

The world’s largest car park is at West Edmonton Mall, in Canada. It can hold 20,000 vehicles, and there is even an overflow facility for another 10,000!

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ACROSS 1 Roses 3 Aphid 7 Chaenomeles 8 Polynesian 9 Woodwardia 13 Undemanding 14 Parks 15 Steel

Wow! I didn’t know that...

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DOWN 1 Recap 2 Smallholder 4 Hollandaise 5 Disc 6 Love 10 Woad 11 Angel 12 Bump

An exhibit at the theme park dedicated to the toilet in South Korea

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10 parks in 10 titles…

■ Books (and later films): Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (1814) Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith (1981) Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (1990) ■ Films: Barefoot in the Park (1967) Gosford Park (2001) MacArthur Park in Los ■ Songs: Angeles, USA Itchycoo Park (The Small Faces, 1967) MacArthur Park (Richard Harris, 1968) Saturday in the Park (Chicago, 1972) Another Park, Another Sunday (The Doobie Brothers, 1974) Parklife (Blur, 1994)

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KEYWORD TO WORD SEARCH 625 (18 June): MYRRH AND THE WINNER IS: ROBERT HOGGINS, MILFORD HAVEN, WALES

23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Steve & Val’s

Camellia japonica ‘Contessa Lavinia Maggi’

Acer japonicum

Rhododendron yakushimanum

Magnolia stellata ‘Waterlily’

Alamy

Alamy

ADVANCED SKILLS

Propagation by air layering Steve and Val Bradley explain a technique for difficult-to-propagate plants

All photographs by Chris Bradley, copyright Future PLC, unless otherwise credited

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HERE are some plants that are really difficult to grow from seeds or cuttings. These tend to be the most expensive ones you see at shows, in catalogues or in garden centres. Professional growers and very keen gardeners can overcome some of the difficulties using specialised techniques and equipment, such as grafting and mist propagation, or hightech methods like micro-propagation under sterile laboratory conditions.

Ancient Chinese technique Most gardeners do not have access to these facilities, or the training and skills involved, but this does not mean you have to give up propagating those plants. Instead, it is worth looking back in time to a technique that has been practised for over 4,000 years. Records show that air layering has been used as a propagation method for many years in China and it is often referred to in old gardening books as ‘Chinese layering’.

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Careful timing and patience Air layering is a technique that is most often associated with the houseplant Ficus elastica (the rubber plant), which is propagated by air layering when the plant becomes too tall. The top section is propagated and, when the process is complete, the lower section can be either discarded or reduced and allowed to regrow. It is a means of propagation that requires timing and a fair degree of patience, as it can take up to 18 months for some plants to produce roots.

Hardy plants Difficult-to-root hardy plants, like citrus, camellia, hamamelis, Japanese maples, magnolia, rhododendron and syringa (lilac) can be air layered (see photos above). It is the method to use when there are no shoots close enough to the ground to bend down and layer in the soil using simple layering, or the shoots are not flexible enough to be bent and twisted for other forms of layering.

Identical progeny Like other forms of layering, air layering has the great advantage that the new plant will be identical to the parent. You can also have several attempts using the same shoot and the same technique, because you only separate the new plant from its parent after roots have formed and the technique is successful.

The main disadvantage is one of time, as it can often take quite a long time for a shoot to form roots.

Selecting the stem The best stems to use are from the current season’s growth, about 10-12in (25-30cm) long and of pencil thickness if possible (this will depend on the plant you are working with). If the stem is much longer, it is better to shorten it back from the tip rather than try to work with very soft young tissue. Make a slanting cut in the stem about 4in (10cm) up from the base, angled so you cut no more than halfway through the stem. The idea of

You can listen to Steve on alternate Sundays 10am-2pm on BBC Radio Kent’s Sunday Gardening (BBC Local)

Steve Bradley MA MHort (RHS) has written (or co-written) over 40 gardening books, including Propagation Basics, The Pruner’s Bible, The Ground Force Workbook and What’s Wrong With My Plant? He is resident expert on BBC Radio Kent, Sussex and Surrey, and he has built medalwinning gardens at both Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace.

Step-by-step: how to propagate by air layering

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Cut into the stem, slicing upwards at an angle, about 1-2in (3-5cm).

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Insert rooting powder or gel into the cut.

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Wedge the wound open to prevent it healing.

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Pack damp moss around the wounded area.

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Cover the moss with polythene and seal the base.

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Pack the moss firmly and seal the top of the polythene cover.

this is to expose a large surface area of tissue to encourage the formation of callus and root initiation.

Packing the wounded area This can be encouraged by inserting rooting powder or gel into the wound.

The cut needs to be wedged open with something, such as a twist of moss or matchstick to prevent it from just closing

and healing, rather than producing roots.

The wounded area needs to be packed with damp sphagnum moss and the whole area covered with a polythene wrap to keep the packing moist and in place. Use black or milky polythene in a sheet long enough to cover the area and wrap around the stem and packing (about 3-4in/7-10cm wide by 4-6in/1015cm long). You can use a plastic bag by

cutting the base open and drawing it over the shoot. Wrap the polythene around the base of the shoot and secure it with sticky tape, then pack the moss around the stem. Gather the top and secure that with tape to leave the wounded area completely covered. Now you wait. Check the area now and again to see whether roots are showing in the moss, but rooting may take months.

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Ask

ANNE SWITHINBANK

Masterclass on: helping out struggling alstroemerias Step by step

Our ‘Inticancha Sunset’ was planted out while dormant in spring, but new growth never appeared. It was mid-June before I carefully forked the plant from the ground, and this is what I found

Alamy

Deep rosy-cerise ‘Tessa’ is one of several taller-stemmed varieties that works well as a cut flower

Alamy

Shorter-growing ‘Mauve Majesty’ is ideal for borders and container gardening, and flowers from summer to autumn

Rescuing alstroemeria

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Fleshy roots have stayed alive despite no top growth at all.

Stems that had tried to grow from the crown had been rasped away by slugs and snails as soon as they broke through the soil.

Improving your alstroemerias Inspired by alstroemeria flowers in florists, I have tried planting them the garden. Some arrived as tubers and others as plants, both small and large, in pots. However, they stop flowering and fail to return the next year. Why is this?

Ella Durban, Cambridge

All photographs John Swithinbank/Future unless otherwise credited

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There are many long-stemmed cultivars of alstroemeria grown under glass as cut flowers. Known as Peruvian lilies, their exotic-looking blooms are often bicoloured, decorated by contrasting spots and stripes, and have a long vase life. Sturdier, shortergrowing varieties have been bred for planting in borders, where they usually delight their owners by flowering for long periods from summer into autumn.

The wild species originate from South American mountain scree and grasslands, and this is reflected in their love of well-draining soil. With their fleshy roots, they are built to survive drought, but for maximum flower power a moist, fertile soil will deliver the goods.

When I started gardening, the only alstroemerias we came across were

basic Chilean A. aurea. This had no trouble colonising our stony north Kent soil, where it spread like a weed and returned to make masses of redstreaked golden flowers every summer.

Then the Ligtu hybrids were all the rage, but I found these difficult and would struggle to describe any of the hybrids as easy. In my experience, they are not the sort of perennials you can plant and then just forget about.

My short-growing ‘Inticancha Sunset’ (with flowers like confections of cream, pink and yellow) is tough, but first refused to grow in rather poor, dry soil and after being moved to a more welcoming site, it was ravaged by slugs and snails. Just as for dahlias and delphiniums, slug barriers and controls need to be in place from February.

Once you have an alstroemeria growing, apply water during droughts and treat it to either a controlled-release fertiliser for flowering plants or regular high-potash liquid feeds in order to guarantee a summer full of blooms.

I suspect your plants failed due to winter wet, poor dry soil or slugs and snails.

Alstroemerias to try THERE are some gorgeous alstroemeria around.

‘Majestic Maze’ bears green-tipped white flowers with chocolate markings at 28in (70cm). For dark foliage, ‘Indian Summer’ is deservedly popular for cherry-orange and yellow flowers against dark bronze foliage at 3ft (1m) tall. For fiery-red flowers on a short plant, choose ‘Inca Bandit’ at 10in (25cm).

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I divided the crown into two. The potted one was placed out of reach of slugs and snails, the one in the ground surrounded with sheep’s wool pellet barrier or slug pubs.

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Pot up using a good-sized pot to accommodate the roots (prune the bottom sections rather than fold them in) and a loam compost. The plant can have a better-looking container next time.

Alamy

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Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’

Water in well so that all the roots receive moisture. Wait until the surface begins to dry out before watering again.

Your

LETTERS TO WENDY A boost for fundraising

Star letter

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IKE many gardeners I have “collected” the free seeds I receive with the magazine, not always having space to grow them. This year I grew many of the packets and sold the plants at a sale on my drive. I made £200 which I divided between the Alzheimer’s Society and the Frailty and Dementia Ward at our local hospital. Thank you for helping really deserving causes.

Steph Hall TI Archive

A Day In My Garden Steph grew plants from packets of free seeds and raised £200

Winning compost is too pricey

TI Archive

PHEW, gardening will be getting more expensive if we have to follow the rules. Dobbies new Peat-free John Innes 1, 2 and 3 won the inaugural

“Compost will be getting more expensive if we follow the rules”

prize for the sustainability product at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Good news and bad news. The good news, some people reckon it’s the bees’ knees. The bad news, it costs a whopping £3.99 for 10 litres and £5.99 for 25 litres.

What proper gardener buys 25 litre bags for their plots. Am I right or am I wrong? Check it out.

Tony Hoare, Bootle, Merseyside Editor Garry replies I am afraid you are spot-on Tony. Conventional peatbased compost has already risen by at least 20% and the better peat-free options are around £9 for a 30 litre bag. The days of special deals of three 70 litre bags of good compost for £15 are long gone.

Reader Material unless credited

Pick a posy of potato flowers!

HAVING taken heed of Bob Flowedew’s advice given in a recent column to remove the flowers from my potatoes it seemed a shame to just compost them, so I popped them into a small vase.

I didn’t realise they were so pretty and they have lasted several days.

Chris Jones (Mrs) Wendy says Good idea, Chris, and why not? After all, we admire the flowers of the scrambling climber Solanum crispum, which is in the same family as the potato, and the flowers are similar.

WIN £20

Removing potato flowers as they form is believed to boost yield

The world around me is at war!

I sit and stare into the sky, Concentrating, questioning why, That kite, I now wonder what it saw?

Waves of colour sway, Bees buzzing around, Crickets make that methodical sound, All going about their busy day. .

Wendy says Well done Steph for growing on your spare packets.

Please continue to send us your themed poems.

This week, Mrs Stevens shares her thoughts on the daily struggle and quest for survival amongst the visitors to her garden.

Mr Squirrel is visiting the table, Robins, duty soldiers, wait and sit, Magpies, jays, blackbirds and tits, Wait, anticipate, eat when they are able.

Dusk brings night like a shroud.

Air is cooler, eery and damp.

Pools of yellow light from the solar lamp.

And then it comes, dancing all around.

Moths flutter, dive and hum.

Silent wings dart by, The bat flying in the night sky.

Creatures silently come!

The day is over and done.

Creatures repeat the day tomorrow.

I will sit full of wonder and sorrow, The WAR around me who has won?

Mrs D Stevens 23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

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Please note, prize monies will be sent approx 10 weeks after publication

Write to us: Letters, Amateur Gardening magazine, Future Publishing Limited, Unit 415, Winnersh Triangle, Eskdale Road, Winnersh, RG41 5TP (please include your address). Email us: amateurgardening@futurenet.com

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Photo of the week

Hanging garden of hostas I THOUGHT your readers might be interested in my hosta tree, created using old hanging baskets. And the best bit is the slugs haven’t found them!

Sue Beale, Maidenhead, Berkshire

Slug free – these baskets of hostas make a lovely feature

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Why do hedgehogs ignore slugs?

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TI Archive

I HAVE been putting out food for hedgehogs for several years. Lately though I have found that cucumbers, courgettes and sweet peppers have been devoured by slugs as soon as they are planted, when I had hoped that by encouraging hedgehogs, they would to some extent curb the slug menace.

Could it be that our resident hedgehog has filled his/ her tummy and has left without hunting for the slugs?

Jacob Dales, Frome, Somerset

UK orderline & enquiries: 0330 333 1113 Overseas order line & enquiries: +44 (0)330 333 1113

Jacob encourages hedgehogs but the slugs remain a problem

Wendy says Hedgehogs do eat slugs, they like the small ones that usually cause the most damage, however, they much prefer to eat beetles and other invertebrates. Slugs and snails are sometimes hosts to a parasitic worm, and if eaten, hedgehogs can get infected with lungworm. Gardenwildlifehealth.org

Slugs are no friend of mine

Future

THE article by Val Bourne about slugs (AG, 14 May) said that Dr Andrew Salisbury [principle entomologist at the RHS] asks us to think kindly on them.

Well, Mr Salisbury, so far, without the benefit of slug pellets, the slugs in my garden have eaten nearly all the marigolds that I grew from seed, pricked out, potted on and planted. Once they got through those they started on the zinnias. Every single one of the Lupin ‘Pixie Delight’ have been eaten, they pick out the rudbeckias even if I disguise them between other plants. They have crawled up the stalks of the sunflowers and chewed through them half way up, they are now eating the bottom leaves of the runner beans.

We mulch with Strulch, put out beer every night “Gardeners need to (costs a fortune, I wish the pub would let us have slops) re-think how they view and do night-time patrols. The only things they seem slugs, snails and greenfly,” not to eat are roses and bedding geraniums. says Dr Salisbury Marion Moverley, Easingwold, North Yorks

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Wendy says How frustrating for you, Marion. I would suggest growing on annuals in pots and planting out once grown on a little, they will be more resilient this way. The RHS expert says cover with cloches while small. In winter, rake over soil and remove fallen leaves to reveal slugs eggs for birds to eat.

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TOBY BUCKLAND Plantsman and BBC gardening presenter

Unlike regular lawn clippings, long grass is full of wildflower seed so you must take care getting rid of hay

If you need help disposing of hay (cut long grass), perhaps your furry friends can help?

Toby’s trivia

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Cut meadows when the seeds of any wildflowers that you want to keep have fallen.

TI Archive

Luckily, Bunson and Hedges are stepping up to the plate and are willing to help nibble the clippings

Hay today, gone tomorrow Toby’s rabbits can sometimes be a handful, but they come in handy when it comes to disposing of long grass

All photographs Alamy unless otherwise credited

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NEVER thought the day would come, but after four years of shelling out for bunny food and vet’s bills, my daughter’s pet rabbits are finally pulling their weight.

I say ‘my daughter’s…’ but almost the minute Bunson and Hedges arrived through the front gate, the cleaning-out, feeding and cotton-tail entertainment has fallen to me and Lisa, while No1 Daughter’s interests hopped off to pastures new.

To be fair, the rabbits have tried to be helpful, providing dung for the roses and giving me many hours of free personal fitness training when they tunnel from their run and need catching. But it would be a brass-necked bunny that claimed they earned their keep. Until now…

Like many gardeners, my plans for an uncut lawn in no-mow May grew, quite literally, into a unmown meadow through June and July. And now that seeds from the various grasses and

“The rabbits are finally pulling their weight”

flowers are ready to fall, I’m scything it back to its ankles a section at a time (think Poldark, but fatter).

But there’s a problem: disposing of the hay – as that’s what it is – is tricky.

Unlike regular lawn clippings, long grass is full of wildflower seeds that an ordinary compost heap won’t destroy. And if the composted long grass is used as a mulch, precious meadow wildflowers will be a rash of weeds in the borders.

Some gardeners deal with unwanted hay by burning, creating choking and antisocial plumes of smoke in the process. Others build a separate compost heap where the stray matter can sit out of sight and mind for decades,

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Once cut in late summer, keep grass trimmed in autumn so brambles and nettles don’t take hold and grass is smart in winter.

or be buried deeply in bean trenches where its weed seeds won’t sprout.

But I’d rather use the space for something else, so this is where the conies come in. And according to our daughter, good-quality hay should make up most of a bunny’s diet. Green grass and (unbelievably) carrots should be given sparingly. What Bugs Bunny would say about that, we’ll never know.

Still, I’m grateful, because by cutting, drying and keeping the long grass for the bunsters, not only are the stray seeds dealt with but I’m also saving cash at the pet shop.

Add yellow rattle to your plot YELLOW rattle makes a great addition to any meadow, as its parasitic roots rob nutrients from the grass, curbing the luxuriant green growth and making space for more wildflowers. Buy seed that’s been freshly collected – local wildlife trusts are a good source – and scatter onto the grass immediately after cutting and raking up the hay. Traditionally, livestock were used to trample the seeds in, so there’s no need to stop using the lawn.

In fact, the more you walk on it and scuff up the surface, Yellow rattle (Rhinanthus the better the chance of the rattle taking hold. minor) in bloom 23 JULY 2022 AMATEUR GARDENING

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