NOVEMBER FLOWERS FOR THE HOME AND GARDEN

NOVEMBER FLOWERS FOR THE HOME AND GARDEN

The summer is but a distant memory and we watch weather forecasts for the first signs of snow, but wander around the garden on a sunny November day and just marvel at how so many plants just want to keep flowering. As gardeners, we have to work with the seasons so next springs bedding plants and bulbs needed planting, but the summer bedding plants they were replacing were very reluctant to die down. Tuberous begonias were dug out while still full of flowers and geraniums may not be at their best, but they are still full of colour. Even African marigolds still think it is summer so I have left some in the bed with wallflower plants now crowding them out.

Both climbing roses and bush roses still have many buds in full flower and as long as the frost stays away they should continue to bloom.

Fuchsia Mrs Popple has no idea that winter will soon be here. She still thinks it is summer and continues to flower her wee heart out. Cosmos was quite late to flower this year but is now making up for lost time. Climate change seems to throw many plants into a state of confusion. Mahonia Charity normally flowers in February, but it is in full flower now, and my Chaenomeles (Cydonia) has started to flower. It is very welcome, but this is not his time.

Snowdrops are pushing up into the light, but hopefully they will hang on a wee bit longer before flowering. They started to flower in January early on this year.

Back into the home, the late season house plants have all come into life. There is always a great selection available to brighten up the winter months. House plants have evolved over time.

My first memory of a plant being brought into the house was way back in the 1950s when my mother was gifted an Aspidistra. It got pride of place in the hall at the top of a dark stairway. It added to the gloom. It was ugly and no matter how much ill treatment we gave it, it thrived till years later as fashions changed it got replaced with a rubber tree plant but placed in a brighter room.

Then along came the Cheese Plant, Spider Plant, Begonia Rex and a whole range of foliage plants. For flowers in the home we had pot mums and cyclamen, and for Christmas the Poinsettia was, (and still is) compulsory. They really are show stoppers. However the Christmas cactus is also a favourite during the festive season, and if you get lucky with the growing techniques it will flower twice or even three times about a couple of months apart. Immediately after flowering dry them off but keep them in a warm sunny room. If another set of flower buds start to form recommence with the watering. This will bring on another flush of flowers, then repeat the process but only if more flower buds form, otherwise do not water unless they start to shrivel.

Other favourite pot plants which I grow on are the Impatiens (Busy Lizzie) and my geraniums. These are started from cuttings taken from garden plants in early autumn then potted up in November where they will flower for several weeks. Geraniums on a sunny windowsill can be in flower continuously all winter. Japanese dwarf azaleas are also quite popular at this time of year, but to keep them flowering and healthy do not let them dry out and place them in a cool room on a window sill that does not get much sun.

We have a dwarf Orange Tree that produces scented flowers in summer followed by small oranges in autumn and winter. It is very easy to grow but watch out for scale insects which are attracted to the lush green leaves.

Painting of the month

 

Dalwhinnie Distillery is an oil painting on canvas. The festive season is a great time to show winter landscape paintings, as if this winter proves to be like the last very mild winter, it may be the only place to find some snow. This and other snow scenes are currently on display at the West End Gallery on the Perth Road in Dundee.

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REVIEW OF SCOTTISH EXOTICS

REVIEW OF SCOTTISH EXOTICS

Creating an attractive garden with flowers all year round and almost self sufficient in fruit and vegetables is expected when you have had intensive horticultural training and gardening has been in your blood since childhood. I have always experimented with new plants, so when the prospect of climate change promised to give Scotland a wee bit of global warming, you have to try out something new and maybe a wee bit exotic.

Saskatoon fruit growing may not be very exotic, and they had been growing at the James Hutton Institute for over forty years, but no-one had taken them to the next level. They needed promoting to let folk know they are edible, delicious, easy to grow, suitable for UK conditions and hopefully before long our garden centres will be stocking them.

Chokeberries are also a novelty fruit needing a wee push as tasty health product. Although they may be just a wee bit astringent for eating fresh from the punnet, they make brilliant jam, compote, summer puddings and one of our favourite wines, now considered a health beverage.

We may not need a warmer climate for those, but as my garden is on a southern slope with some south facing walls it is perfect for trying out other Scottish exotics.

Peaches, figs, cherries, goji and outdoor grapes have all been planted and assessed to date.

Fig Brown Turkey is this year’s success story. I took a chance by leaving all last year’s unripe fruitlets on the bush, against normal good practise, as these will take up the plants energy, only to fall off in a cold winter. However we never got a cold winter and my figs survived and gave me a bumper crop of nearly eighty ripe fresh figs. They cropped over many weeks so most were consumed fresh, though some were lightly stewed to concentrate sweetness for a dessert.

Goji, however, was this year’s failure. I had waited about five years for the bush to flower. It had grown ten foot tall and I had to be pruned before it took over the garden. It never ever looked like it wanted to flower or fruit, then in spring it died, most likely from phytophthora root rot which my allotment now seems to be suffering from.

Outdoor peach Peregrine and cherry Cherokee both put on plenty of good growth and were covered in flowers, but there were very few pollinating bees around in spring so the flowers never got fertilised and just fell off. I got one peach and about ten cherries. Not a great success.

Outdoor grapes

My outdoor grape trial continues to battle with problems. I have tried eight varieties all planted against south walls and fences, but lost one (Siegerrebe) to a red spider infestation from which it never recovered. Then Rondo which produced its first well ripened bunch last year died in spring. Regent grew for two years, produced several bunches this year, then died before these could ripen up. I think the phytophthora root rot may be the type that can infect a whole range of woody plants. I can see no other explanation for gradual deaths of so many plants. Muscat Bleu and Polo Muscat are both growing just fine, but have not yet flowered. Solaris is now about four years old and still to produce its first bunch. However, Phoenix, in its second year has produced masses of growth and three bunches which ripened up, though they were small and seedy. The Muscat flavour was terrific.

My ornamental grape Brant growing on a south facing wall gave me forty pounds of ripe sweet black grapes now fermenting peacefully in several demijohns, but scheduled for the first tasting at Christmas 2015. Its success gives you faith that we can grow grapes outdoors in Scotland, but they  need a warm sheltered spot with deep well drained soil, and the pruning has to be precise and constant to curtail excessive growth to allow sun onto the bunches, while retaining enough leaves to feed the swelling bunches. Although 2014 got a decent summer from spring till the end of July, the wet and cool August did the grapes no favours at all at a critical time.

Chris Trotter’s vineyard on the south slopes of Upper Largo in Fife had a similar result with Solaris not having its best year, though Rondo produced enough grapes for a small trial run. Chris feels 2015 will be the year for his first decent grape harvest from his 400 vines, though he has had to learn to adjust pruning to cope with Scottish conditions.

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NOW FOR SOMETHING BLUE

NOW FOR SOMETHING BLUE

Gardeners throughout history have always had a fascination for blue flowers. It is both the beauty of a pure blue flower as well as the emotive response we share with the colour. The climate in UK is quite variable and in Scotland we get our fair share of cloudy skies, so we get that feel good factor every time the sun shines giving us that bright blue sky and we can feel the warmth.

My garden is not large, and being a very keen gardener I grow a wide range of plants. When checking out all my blue flowered plants it struck me that the majority flowered in spring and early summer. This suggests that these blue flowers remind us that winter is past and sunny summer days are just ahead.

When planning new landscapes, or bedding schemes we go for bright red and yellows flowers to create drama and impact , but nothing beats blue to relax and calm us down.

As winter gives way to early spring and the first flowers appear the dominant colours are white with the snowdrops, then yellow with the aconites. Chionodoxa, the Glory of the Snows, and Anemone blanda lead the blue flowers out of winter, and then the Pulmonaria, a low growing herbaceous plant comes into flower. I always try to grow plants in association groups so a range of different plants can add their own bit to enhance the group. My Pulmonaria is planted amongst a drift of aconites alongside some early flowering yellow Doronicum. That way I am sure to have the blue pulmonaria flowering next to some yellow flowers, but depending on the season.

Once spring takes over and warmer days become normal, blue flowers get stronger in intensity. Tubs and hanging baskets will always have some deep blue Pansy Ullswater, and to show off dwarf red, pink and yellow tulips in flower beds, it is hard to beat Myosotis the Forget me nots, or the blue Polyanthus.

Tubs growing near doorways will have some deep blue scented hyacinths underplanted amongst the spring bedding plants.

This is also the time for my drift of bluebells growing under the apple trees to but on their display, but I always remove seed heads after flowering as they can take over the garden given half a chance.

Summer sees another range of blue flowers from the delphiniums, meconopsis and iris in the herbaceous border to the gentianas in the rock garden. Large outdoor tubs can be planted with the not so hardy agapanthus, and smaller tubs and baskets always have some blue scented petunias.

Annual borders can find spots for some drifts of cornflowers and Nigella, the Love in a Mist.

Plant breeders have always risen to the challenge of trying to create a blue flower from some plant that is not naturally blue. Roses and tulips have tested the breeders for years, but if the gene for blue colour does not exist in the species or genus they will have an uphill battle without resorting to genetic modification. Last year saw the first blue flowered phalaenopsis orchid appear in the garden centres, but then it emerged that the plant had been treated to some blue dye that would only last the one flowering season.

Another favourite plant prone to modification is the hydrangea being very sensitive to soil acidity.

The flowers will only remain blue with the right variety on an acid soil enhanced with some aluminium sulphate.

Plant of the week

Pernettya mucronata is a low growing evergreen shrub which produces an abundance of pink, white, red or mauve berries. These can last all winter as birds leave them alone till near the end of winter when lack of other berries and food drives them in desperation to eat a few Pernettya berries. The plants which are female benefit from a male to assist in pollination to produce berries. This shrub grows on most soils as long as it remains moist and is happy in the shade.

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ONE SEASON ENDS AND ANOTHER BEGINS

ONE SEASON ENDS AND ANOTHER BEGINS

Snow has arrived in Scotland, frost threatens so we assume the summer flowers will be finished. However on looking around my outdoor fuchsia Mrs Popple is still in full flower, the cosmos is at it’s best, the roses and geraniums are far from over and I am still picking plenty of chrysanthemums for the house.

Going into the greenhouse the Alicante tomatoes are still growing and fruiting. My plans to plant up winter salad leaves in the greenhouse once the tomatoes are finished and pulled out will have to be put on hold. Back amongst the fruit crops all the apples are harvested and now in store but I am still getting some nice Autumn Bliss raspberries to add to my muesli in the morning.

Over on the allotment the winter vegetables are having a field day. The last courgette has been picked and is heading into the kitchen for the next vegetable bake.

I await a few frosty nights to help to sweeten up my parsnips, swedes, brussels sprouts, leeks and winter cabbage. In the meantime the mild autumn has allowed plenty growth on my late summer lettuce and salad leaves as well as my new trial of mooli radish. The latter have been very successful in producing large pure white carrot sized roots. However in the kitchen the mooli are giving off an extremely strong turnip smell which is a major downside.

Our thoughts now turn to 2015 and the spring flowers. This is the time to be planting our wallflower, polyanthus, tulips, crocus, daffodils, and hyacinths, but before that the summer flowers must be cleared out of the flower beds, tubs, and hanging baskets. This is the last chance to take geranium and bizzie lizzie cuttings to provide stock for next summer. I usually take geranium cuttings 3 – 4 inches long and place them around the perimeter of a shallow flower pot, in well drained compost. These are placed on a windowsill of a warm room, but not in full sun. The bizzie lizzies are placed in a narrow glass jar filled up to the top with water with about four cuttings in each jar. These will root after about two months and can then be potted up into compost.

Back in the garden, now is the time to lift the gladioli that finished flowering several weeks ago. Cut back the old stems 3 inches above ground level, lift them up, shake off the soil and store in a cool frost-free shed or greenhouse until they dry off. Once they dry off, they can be cleaned up and stored in boxes. Remove all the small bulbils but retain the biggest of these as these can be grown on to produce a flowering plant in a couple of years.

Once all the early flowering chrysanthemums have finished, they can also be carefully lifted, labelled, and boxed up in good soil, and kept in a cold greenhouse over winter.

Tuberous begonias put on a fantastic show this year but have now come to the end of their season. These can be lifted up and placed in trays in a frost-free airy greenhouse, shed, or garage to dry out. Once they are completely dry, they can be boxed up for over wintering in frost-free conditions. Autumn which is now upon us is a great time to take shrub cuttings for those special plants that you wish to propagate such as Cotinus, Cistus, Cornus from hardwood cuttings. The best time for successful rooting is usually between two weeks before and two weeks after leaf fall.

Back in the garden the autumn gales have arrived, and the leaves are coming down from the trees rapidly. These need sweeping up and are very useful taken to the compost heap.

Plant of the week

Coleus blumei used to be a very popular house plant 30 years ago but had been replaced by more fashionable house plants. However they’re having a resurgence of popularity. They are available in a large number of very brightly coloured leaves. They are very easy to grow, requiring moderate feeding but are not frost-hardy so are only suitable for indoor decoration. The plant grows fast, but if it gets too big it is simply a matter of taking some more cuttings to start new plants. They root very easily from softwood cuttings.

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