Quantcast
Channel: A Year At Great Dixter
Viewing all 65 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Nursery duties and rain guage

March 31, 2013, 1:55 pm
$
0
0
16th & 17th March - Weekend nursery duty
Weather 5 - 6°C going down to 1°C at night. Windy & rainy, the type of weather that can really wear down your reserves.

A Tropaeolum in flower - one of the highlights in the greenhouses at the moment. 

It was my first time on my own doing nursery duty. One customer came on Saturday and bought a couple of Clematis, phloxes and Ammi majus seeds. Part of nursery duty is to feed Titch the cat, open and close the greenhouses, watering and any odd bits & pieces of potting up. It was a quiet and cold one, so I kept the wood burner stoked for most of the time.

We measure the precipitation of the rain and contribute the information to the local weather station. Our rain guage consists of a special copper container that is set into the ground and has a funnel above the surface capturing the water to a plastic bottle inside. When it comes to measuring the amount of rain that has fallen, I pour what is inside the plastic bottle into a glass test tube with measurements set nearby. Then I record what it reads.


Rain precipitation read on Sunday came to 2.7mm. 
↧
Search

Pruning the Hedera of 'Gloire de Marengo'

April 1, 2013, 12:32 pm
$
0
0
Tues 19th March
Weather: The winds had finally abated today which made 6 or 7°C not so cold.


Last Friday I had begun pruning the dome of Hedera algeriensis 'Gloire de Marengo' - a handsome variegated ivy. It is at these moment that you feel that part of being a gardener is giving haircuts on a bigger scale. I was told by one of the other gardeners that this was one of the harder levels of pruning. The aim of it was to diminish the size substantially and to cut out any overtly long pieces or leaves that had reverted to its species form.

Haircut 2


Thurs 21st & Mon 25th Mar
I thought I had finished pruning but Fergus wanted it even shorter and for more 'holes' to be made into it. The reasoning was, he explained to me, was so that more light can reach the middle of the bush, and for growth to happen more from the inside. This would help keep the shape better for longer and retain it for 15 years instead of 5. Any long lanky green stems would just go woody by the next year, so it was good to cut a stem back to just before it started to go brown, but not too far back to cause it to revert. He said that this may mean that it might look like 'what on earth have you done to the plant', but it was more beneficial for it.
↧
↧

Cutting and splitting

April 1, 2013, 1:32 pm
$
0
0
Weds 20th March
Weather: A bit warmer but still with a slight nip in the air. The sun broke out from time to time and it was around 7°C.


We have been bringing some dahlias on early for a trial at Wisley by potting them up and placing them on the heat bench in the hot house. Their leaves are growing slightly curled and Fergus is worried that they might have a virus. So just on the side of caution he has asked for me to make cuttings of them because there is a chance they will grow out of it too. These dahlias have been set aside in a cold frame and a new batch has been put on the heat bench along with the new cuttings. The cultivars are the giant 'Emory Paul' and 'Witterman Superba'. The cutting medium we used was biochar.


Then I helped weeding under the hedges, and neaten up the last sections of the Long Border. I dug up a Miscanthus sinensis 'Cosmopolitan', split it in half and replanted just half of it back into the ground. This is to help control the size of the grass so that it doesn't overtake too much.

21st Thurs Mar
Weather: 5 - 6°C. Cloudy most of the day with the odd outbreak of sun.
I splitted up a half of Miscanthus sinensis 'Cosmopolitan' that I had dug up yesterday, into further smaller pieces with 2 or 3 growing points and potted them up into 4" to 3½" pots, in a number 2 soil mix.
↧

Frank's place

April 2, 2013, 2:13 pm
$
0
0
22nd Fri Mar
Weather: We were at Seaford, it started at 2-3°C going up to 7°C. It was windy and quite heavy rain in between.

We have a volunteer called Frank who comes to Dixter most Thursdays, who almost always brings us treats and often help make our mess room a much nicer place. He lives in Seaford and has a garden on chalk. As the soil at Dixter is clay, Fergus thought it might be a good idea that we gardened on something different. So a team of us went there and it was like Ground Force - the garden makeover show. The interesting additional challenges were that it is also near the sea, quite exposed and on a slope. Frank generously let us upheave his garden, rearrange it and make new plantings.

One of my favourite bed composition at Franks was one at the right of this statue that had a Wollemia nobilis - one of the oldest known tree species in the world that looks wonderfully prehistoric, with wallflowers underneath and some hot pink anemones. 

Yannick and James set about working on Frank's front garden, expanding an existent bed and adding more plants to it. Lewis set about making a structure out of bamboo cane for Frank's broad beans. There was a bed with a Eucalpytus tree that was not doing too well, so we removed this and replaced it with a Malus hupehensis.


Me and Rachael decided to work on the bed in front of his summer house. As we were weeding it out, we noticed that a few of the shrubs were not doing too well - an Escallonia, Cistus and a rosemary. Frank was quite happy for us to take them out, and this helped open out the view from the summer house more. We re-positioned plants and pruned the Aucuba japonica at the back which was following a good shape but needed a little trim. There are already plants like Helianthus, Hemerocallis and there is already a warm yellowy orange theme going on there. We decided to enhance this by planting in some heleniums, and have asked Frank to scatter Calendula 'Indian Prince' and Eschscholzia californica seeds amongst the perennials. There was also a deep dark purple Centaurea, and some giant poppies and roses in the bed. We also convinced him to keep his Vinca in there for now so that their blue flowers would hopefully punctuate the sea of orangey yellows. We also replanted some self-sown parsley and some Dianthus alongside the steps. Can't wait to see the outcome of it later on this year.





↧

The days before opening

April 3, 2013, 11:45 am
$
0
0
Tues 26th Mar
Weather: Cold. A bit of sun in the afternoon.



The garden is due to be open so we are giving the Exotic Garden a good tidy up. For each bed we weeded, took out the debris and cut back or trimmed things where necessary - e.g. Verbena bonariensis, Eupatorium capillifolium and an Eucalyptus gunnii. Then we systematically dug over empty patches or ruffled the soil with a tickle stick around areas that had plants in. There have been a few experiments of plants being left in the ground to see if they will survive the winter - this includes Cyperus papyrus and a Colocasia esculenta (some aided by a covering of straw). After that we spread a thin layer of mushroom compost over the bed and forked it in gently. The roses in this section of the garden have were pruned over a month ago.

As winter still has its clutches over spring, it's easy to forget how lush, vibrant and colourful the garden can be. Here is a teaser photo of the Exotic Garden of nearly the same view as above, barely recognisable:


Weds 27th Mar
Weather: 3 - 4°C. Cold, but it felt a bit warmer than it has for while when the sun came out, which did so occasionally.

When we came across any Mysotis in the Exotic Garden beds that was awkwardly in the middle of an area that could be dug over easily without them, then we would take them out. We had stored them up so I spent today replanting them around.

Thurs 28th Mar
Weather: Cold 3 - 4°C. Strange weather today, because different pressures keep colliding it keeps wanting to snow but not quite. It is what's been responsible for the constant cloudiness too. The sun won the wrestle though and it broke into beautiful sunshine.

Deputy Head Gardener Siew Lee Vorley hard at work. 


It was the day before the first opening of the garden for the year, so it was a hustle and bustle of activities all around. Paths were thoroughly swept, I helped to spruce up the borders in the Walled Garden and around the Blue Garden to the Circular steps, and spot watered plants in our cold frames.
↧
↧

Behind the scenes of the nursery

April 17, 2013, 2:45 pm
$
0
0
I have been working in the nursery for the past two weeks, getting a closer encounter to the plants we use and grow. The nursery grows 90% of the plants that they sell and buy in the other 10% from a variety of sources, including niche other nurserymen and women.

Tues 2nd April
Weather: The nicest day that it has been for awhile, very sunny but strong winds.


I potted up some Eragrotis spectibilis grass from 4" to 1.5 litre pots, and some Gladiolus ssp. byzantinus from small blacks to 4" pots.

Weds 3rd April
Weather: It was alright to begin with but then the wind picked up quite gustily.

Repotted some Echinacea purpurea 'Rubenstein' (which has an orangey cone), Anemone hupehensis var. japonica. 

 We use soil mix no. 2 to repot our plants. No. 1 is for seed sowing, no. 3 is for trees and shrubs and then there's old soil mix and cutting compost too.

Ingredients put together to be mixed, it includes grit, osmocote and bark. 

Shape of the spade from intensive mixing use. 

Thurs 4th April
Weather: 2 - 4°C. Cold, windy. Flurries of light snow at intervals, not enough to settle though.

Pricked out some Cynoglossum (Borage family) and put into small pots which we call small blacks. Also repotted some Dicentra spectabilis, Dryopteris cristata, and Polystichum setiferum 'Herrenhausen'.

For the plants that we do buy in, we noticed just how much peat is still used. We remove as much of this as we can, to sit them in our own soil mix. Which is a mix composed to help the plant root more easily when it is transplanted into the ground/ garden. If the plant is bigger we gently jiggle out the roots a bit to help invigorate the plant to root more easily in the new soil.

Fri 5th April
Weather: Cold.


We worked on pricking out a lot of our own cuttings today, which included Nandina domestica (picture above), Buddleia davidii 'Dartmoor', Deutzia carminea 'Rosea', Parahebe 'Snow Clouds' and Azara serrata. Gardener James pointed out that it is interesting how young cuttings seem take on the same vigour as their parent plants even at such an early stage. All newly repotted plants are put under the shelter of a cold frame and they are most priority of needing to be shaded when the sun comes out.
↧

Cleaning, organising and propagating

April 21, 2013, 10:29 am
$
0
0
Mon 8th April
Weather: Finally warmer again today. Sunshine.

Roots like the juicy white one at the bottom is ideal. 


Repotted some Phlox 'Admiral white', as these are stock that has not been sold yet since last year, some of them are burgeoning the pots and ideal for splitting and making into new plants. I also took root cuttings of these, I take the thickest & whitest (most vigourous) ones and place them flat on a bed of cutting compost in a box. Then I gently cover them with grit. Phloxes propagate easily from soft cuttings, but the trouble with phloxes are that they are very prone to eel worm, but eel worms don't attack the plant basally, so it's safer for them to be reproduced this way. Also this allows me to do them en masse. It will take about two years for me to get a decent flowering plant.

Phlox root cuttings

There is always a balance between planting firmly and not compacting the soil as much as possible, especially for things that are sitting around a bit longer, so it allows for good drainage. Below is a good example of a worm hole filled uncompacted soil.


I had to discard a whole load of Carex testacea & Cyperus vegetus that didn't survive the winter. Carex are usually hardy but we were trialling these and will investigate more into it. The Cyperus if in the ground would have survived, but in pots the cold was able to get to their root balls too easily.

Tues 9th
Weather: Going up to 7°C. Rainy and cloudy for most of the day.

Pricked out some Carthamus nemo seedlings. I had some Phlox 'Duchess of York' which I did the same for as above.

Weds 10th
Weather: Around 9°C.

Organised frame spaces, cleared and regritted areas, cleaned up some Verbascum olympicum, repotted and split some Geranium sylvaticum 'Mayflower'.

Thurs 11th
Weather: Around 11°C. Changeable.
Separated out a mass of Acaenanovae-zelandiae that had grown into in each other and then made new plants out of stems that had rooted. Cleaned up pots of Helianthemum 'White Bride', weeding and giving pots a fresh dressing of soil if necessary.

Fri 12th
Weather: Still quite sporadic, windy, bits of rain, sun.

I shown how to print out labels, so I labelled and did more reorganising of plants, handling Ceanothus 'Puget's Blue', Achillea 'Lucky Break', Aconitum orendsii, Thalictrum Elin and Ballot pseudodictamnus. 


↧

Plant ident 27/02/2013 - Woodland & woody plants.

April 21, 2013, 11:09 am
$
0
0
1. Eucalyptus gunnii (Myrtaceae family, endemic to Tasmania). It's not so clear in this photo, but it is interesting how the leaves when they are young start off round and then become these long slender shapes. It is exceptionally cold tolerant and can put up with temperatures of -14°C. It doesn't like chalky/ sandy or overly wet soil. It produces a sap that has been compared something akin to maple syrup which apparently when it ferments is like apple cider (mmm). This featured in my a sumptuous feast of plants post this year.



2. Ceanothus 'Puget's Blue' (Rhamnaceae family), many of them originate from places like California, their hardiness is borderline and a hard winter can knock them out. This cultivar has an AGM award.

3. Prunus persica 'Periana' (Rosaceae family) aka Peach.

7. Prunus spinosa aka Blackthorn, the great hedgerow plant that gives us sloes.

8. Cotoneaster franchetii (Rosaceae), this is a bigger broader leafed one native to southwestern China, northern Myanmar and northern Thailand.

9. Itea ilicifolia (Iteaceae) always elicits admiration. They have holly like leaves and chandeliers of fragrant greenish white flowers.

9.

10. Cistus corbariensis aka Rock Rose (Cistaceae family). Has shiny green leaves and white flowers.

11. Euonymous europaeus - common spindle tree (Celastraceae family)

12. Lonicera nitida 'Baggenses Gold'

13. Olearia solandrii aka Coastal Daisy Bushy (Asteraceae family) has appeared in the evergreens ident. It is as its common name suggests is great for maritime conditions and is a good wind breaker.

14. Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolares is a climber. The ideal situation for them is degrees of sun and shade throughout the day, but they are great for shady walls.
↧
Search

Plant ident 08/03/2013 - The first flowers of spring

April 21, 2013, 2:05 pm
$
0
0
Many of this plant ident felt very fragile, precious and hopeful, as the first 'spring' growth valiantly started to appear even though we were still in the throes of winter.

1. Helleborus 'Anna's Red' (Ranunculaceae family). It has these amazing tight almost unreal red satin buds that bursts into a floriferous display, that lasts for a long time. It's April and still going! Their flowers heads don't turn downwards like they commonly do. It is said that the breeders took 10 years to achieve this cultivar. Hellebores being one of the most promiscuous plants are hard to keep the same once you have grown one that you like. They take years to realise too. There are some very dedicated and enthusiastic hellebore plant breeders out there.

2. My second plant was Libertia peregrinus, which looks like a grass that the crocuses are pushing out through. It is in fact a type of iris from the Iridaceae family. Originally from New Zealand, it has saucer like white flowers.

3. Erythronium dens-canis (Liliaceae family). This very exciting dog tooth violet is named so because its root are hooked like a canine tooth.

4. Cyclamen coum (Primulaceae family). These are the spring flowering types of cyclamens, C. Hederifolium being the common autumn one. Lewis the gardener had the idea of sowing these in the cracks of the upper moat wall, and we hope that it will opportunistically self-sow itself there.

5. Narcissus 'Tazetta' (Amaryllidaceae family) are the also the daffodils known as paper white (maybe because they dry out like paper). They have the most fragrant and one can often catch the smell of them in the breeze as you walk past them.

6. Narcissus pseudonarcissus, one of the only native wild daffodils. Smaller in nature to many of the cultivated variety.

7. Cardamine quinquefolia (part of the Brassicaceae family)

8. Narcissus'Tête-à-tête' above a beautiful purple anemone.
↧
↧

In search of wild flowers

April 21, 2013, 2:31 pm
$
0
0
It has always given me great pleasure to stumble upon interesting wild flowers in the countryside whilst on walks. But recently I have been purposely going on expeditions to seek out specific wild flowers, which can prove elusive. Narcissus pseudonarcissus -  the wild one possibly native to us, is rare now to sight because of intensive agriculture. In a nearby woodland I managed to successfully seek what I wanted to find.


Like jewels they peeked through the carpets of white wood anemones and dried fallen leaves. They were spread out in this way that is so hard to mimic in the garden. In marvelled silence I sat and admired them.


↧

A surge of colour

April 30, 2013, 7:37 pm
$
0
0
I am delayed as usual with my post updates, and I will be away in Turkey for a week now, botanising and searching for wildflowers in the mountains. The garden is transforming literally by the minute and I can barely keep up. It's really starting to fill out and sections of it is already a riot of colours. It is like it is an orchestra, plants and colours switch on and off in turn as if it is part of a symphony. Here are a couple sneaky pictures before I get round to catching up:

The classic Dixter combination - Mysotis 'Royal Blue' & a trial of a new tulip called 'Everlasting Love' (indeed!)

A section of the new Long Border from behind

The same section of the Long Border from the front - check out that Spiraea 'Japonica Goldflame'

One starts to understand the complex tapestry that C. Lloyd and Fergus aims to create with plants. 
↧

Weeding, planting and taking out of storage

May 15, 2013, 3:00 pm
$
0
0
Tues 16th April
Weather: Up to 9°C, cloudy for most of the day and windy.



Thurs 19th April 
Weather: 9 - 11°C. Sunny but really strong winds.

I'm back in the garden now. I worked in the High Garden topping up the main stock bed with more Ammi majus. I also did weeding and gently 'tickled' the soil over. This may mean we lose some of our seedlings, but it's so that we don't have to touch this bed for a couple more weeks and it helps keep the plants in check. I had to more purposefully thin out self-sown seedlings like honesty (Lunaria annua) and alliums though (probably 'Purple Sensation'), in block planted areas of things like Helenium and Anaphalis margaritacea var.yedoensis.

Weds 17th April
Weather: It didn't feel like it but apparently the temperature went up to 15 - 16°C. It started off cloudy & windy, and then rainy. The sun did fully come out though after noon.


I worked with James to plant up an area in the Orchard Garden nicknamed Vietnam. This is an area where we're trying to create more impact and do planting that will catch the eye of people and entice them to walk around it more instead of past it. We did a combination of Rumex olympicus & some variegated Iris taken from a big clump already in the middle.

Mon 22nd April
Weather: It went up to 12°C. Cloudy to begin with but sun broke through in the afternoon, then the wind picked up and it became more chilly.


Dahlias and cannas are coming out again and are being taken out of the cellar to be split if necessary and started to be grown on. A fresh more bark based old soil mix is used. We try to keep them fitting exactly in a pot as much as possible and not in more soil than it needs - otherwise there's a chance they would shrivel/ rot away.

I also went on Fergus's Succession Planting day. I am starting to truly understand that succession is not just about having plant interest all time of the year, but that one bed can change from light and airy, to fiery warm colours and have an enhanced transformation of height & space in one season by carefully chosen companions. It is probably one of Fergus's most inspiring talks and what Dixter particularly excels at.
↧

Upheaval of the greenhouses

May 15, 2013, 3:00 pm
$
0
0
Tues 23rd April
Weather: Hot! Started at 11°C and went up to 14°C, some said even to 20°C. Definitely a sunscreen and t'shirts day.

Inside the coldhouse - we will be keeping the bubble wrap up as we will be moving more tender plants in, now
that the weather is warmer. 

There's a big upheaval in the greenhouses, as we are moving things on and out. From taking cannas & dahlias out of the cellar and making a record of them, we check to see what we have a shortage of. Dahlia 'Witteman's Superba' for example is an important one for us, so I do more cuttings and split bulbs of these where I can. Then I positioned them all together on the heat bench to move them on faster. I also found some beneath the hot house benches.

I cleared the cold house, discarding any dead plants/ non-survivors. Geranium maderense were taken out - they are ready for outdoor pots now, and I reorganised the space as some of the hothouse plants will be brought in here.

I also pricked out some rooted Salvia confertiflora cuttings and split some Salvia leucantha, potting them all up.

Weds 24th April
Weather: Overcast, it was suppose to go to 12°C but felt cooler again.

Coroten came back to visit for a week and I had his very helpful assistance for the day. 

Now that it is warmer we took out plants from the hothouse to put into the cold house - some of our Salvia confertiflora stock (about 10), some Impatiens bicaudata, Lobelia, Begonia luxurians, Impatiens sodenii, Senecio petasites, Tagetes 'Martin's Mutant', especially plants that needed more height. They were all repotted. We are now giving them more room so that they can grow properly instead of just being stored. We keep a safety supply of some of the more tender ones in the hothouse.

I did some cuttings of Impatiens sodenii that I trimmed and started tidying the hothouse too.

Thurs 25th April
Weather: Hot, a bit misty to start with, but before long it started to feel like a proper summer's day. The garden is now moving on fast, it might have moved two weeks forward again, as it was delayed by about a month from our prolonged winter. Up to 18°C today!

We split precious stock of Seteria palmifolia (we have a very good form of it). Split & repotted Cyperus papyrus and a lemon grass (Cymbopogon) by accident! And placed them on the heat bench.

We moved out succulents & cactii from the coldhouse to put under a sheltered spot nearby, a fleece was later placed there on standby in case of sudden frost still. Benches & areas emptied were quickly refilled with repotted and cleaned up begonias, Senecio petasites& christiana, also more tagetes, restios, Tibouchina urvilleana and Amicia zygomeris.

We repotted some Emory Paul dahlias for a Wisley trial. A couple of pots of Eupatorium capillifolium pricked out. Then both the cold and hot houses were watered thoroughly and tidied up more.

I had the amazing efficient help of veteran volunteers Cornelia & Frank - who definitely kept me on my toes and helped get the job done.

Tibouchina in flower in the greenhouse. 

Fri 26th April
Weather: Cold and overcast again - about 11°C.

Now that there was more space in the hothouse I reorganised the stock of Begonia luxurians  - including repotting and gave them more space to grow, putting a small underlayer of plants beneath them like ferns & impatiens, that wouldn't get in the way and would approve of a little shade. Work has been started on the space underneath the benches now, things that have been lying in partial darkness are being brought out into the light. All the Colocasia& Arisaema were removed from underneath and given a good change of soil.

Mon 29th April
Weather: Went up to 12°C. Sunny but cold winds and dark skies at intervals.

I finished clearing and organising underneath the benches of the hothouse - throwing anything out that was dead and repotted more Arisaema and did more cuttings of Dahlia 'Witteman's Superba' & 'Hillcrest Royal'.

Helped weed the Peacock Garden.

A tale of two halves in the Peacock Garden - light & airy with white purpley Tulipa 'Shirley' on one side and sizzling lime green Smyrnium and hot pink tulips on another. 

Tues 30th April
Weather: Up to 11-12 °C again. A cold wind pervails, but there is sun and it is a bit warmer in it. But later the wind picks up even more and the temperature drops down to 5 - 6°C at night.

Continued in the Peacock Garden weeding & doing some planting, boosting the numbers of Perovskia atriplicifolia & Rudbeckia already in there. I also started making a cage out of pea sticks to support the alstroemerias - I will expand on this process in a later post.
↧
↧

Highlights of Turkey

May 15, 2013, 3:05 pm
$
0
0
I have just returned from an interesting trip in Turkey and it has been a real privilege to be able to get a taste of such a rich country, in people, history and of course flora. Our adventures took us from Istanbul, to Yalova (by boat) and from there by car around the mountain ranges of Uludağ and through varied landscapes, and from rural peasant villages to the cities of İnegöl & Bursa. In Uludağ itself there are thirty endemic species of which three are globally threatened. It also includes the highest peak in the country. Here are photos of some of the highlights:

High in the mountains of Uludağ there was plenty of Crocus biflorus ssp. pulchricolor,
there were also abundances of Scilla bythinica, Viola suavis, Muscari and Rumex olympicus
(Pboto courtesy of Graeme Walker)

Rachael one of my fellow gardener/ botanists amongst low lying shrubs of Juniper communis which harboured a multitude of plants underneath. The woods were comprised of trees like Pinus nigra& Fagus orientalis. Unfortunately this diversely rich & unique site is encroached upon & threatened by the ski resort close by,
which brings with it a sluice of rubbish & badly built buildings. 

This impressive ladybird spider (Eresus sp) came out on defense as we came close by. Some
of the other insects we saw was a beautiful yellow & black swallowtail butterfly and a
scarab beetle (Scarabaeus sacer) actually rolling a ball of dung. 
Some of our best sightings were on the roadside.

Wild Centaurea montana near grazed land. 

Some areas were like readymade gardens, we saw sites with perfect clumps of white & purple Cistus, Lavandula stoechas, amazing array of grasses like Briza maxima and Oryzopsis. This slope was mainly made up of poppies and Chrysanthemum segetum.


One of the biggest type of plants that we saw were different kinds of Lathryrus and similar plants in the Fabaceae family, some inconspicuous & some incredibly showy. We even saw
a two tone one that was like Lathryrus odoratus but without a scent. 

We found an amazing amount of individual specimens:

An Iris that we think might be Iris danfordiae native to Turkey. 

We found different kinds of wild orchids all along the way, this one was even just outside a WC of a roadside cafe that was in a beautiful dip of a mountain. (Photo courtesy of Graeme Walker)

One of my favourite random roadside stops was one the one that was the most diverse (it was also one of the rockiest and of thin soil), filled with tall self sowing bright magenta Antirrhinum, Campanula, Salvia clarea, Scabious and many plants that we couldn't name but documented and admired, and the one that got us all excited and determined us to stop in the first place - the wonderfully tall, silvery and extra fluffy Verbascum bombyciferum, one part of the Dixter perennial cultivar - Christo's Yellow Lightning, just starting to flower.

Yannick & Graeme next to Verbascum bombyciferum
↧

Pots displays & pea sticks

May 28, 2013, 1:23 pm
$
0
0
Weds 8th May
Weather - Rain in the morning. Petered out by the afternoon, sunshine, wind picked up.

I repotted rooted cuttings of different salvias, which included S. microphylla 'Cerro potosi', S. darcyi, S. Leucantha.

Thurs 9th May
Weather: Up to 12 - 13°C but windy though and very changeable weather, spots of rain at one point.

Pots display at the front of the house

I refreshed the pot displays, took out dead ones & deadheaded some of them. Then I rearranged them and added new plants. It only seemed like yesterday that I was sorting out the bulbs and we were putting them in pots, waiting for them to grow. Now they are passing over already. Tips that I learnt is to place the pots in order of height gradually, any sudden contrasts of this made the display look quite odd, and that it's good to have a lot of smaller ones skirting the foot of it.

Pots display in the walled garden, earlier this spring, they really enhanced the tulips 'Yellow Purissima' next in the bed next to it, like an extension of the bed.   

Fri 10th May
Weather: Sunny but windy.

Pea stick cages around Geranium 'Roxanne'

We made structures out of peasticks to help support and control the growth of Geranium 'Roxanne', some Alstromerias in the Walled Garden, then a Clematis recta 'Purpurea' in the High Garden. Peasticks are thin wiry branches that we cut from our woods, which is mainly hazel & alder. They can probably be a by product of coppicing also. Goods ones are ones with lots of lateral branches. The sides of the structure is the most important and that it is where it will support the plant the best. For things like geraniums if they are close to the path, we lattice that side more heavily with peasticks, as they have a very vigourous spreading habit. The plants will eventually grow through the structure and you won't be able to see, though it will still be doing its job.

Pea stick cage around the clematis.

Mon 13th May
Weather: Windy, cold (around 11 - 12°C). The sun came out at intervals though and that helped keep us a bit warmer.


I potted up some Dahlia 'Witteman's Superba' from the hot house & placed them in Mike's cooler greenhouse (from 13°C to 8°C. Then I did some planting in the Orchard Garden - we dug up & swapped Phlox 'Blue Paradise' with 'Uspekh' and topped up a special Dixter strain of campanulas originally discovered in the Orchard Garden. Then we lined out and planted a row of Aster latiflorus var. horizontalis in the vegetable garden.

↧
Search

Plant ident 24/04/2013 - Bedding plants used at Dixter

May 29, 2013, 1:55 pm
$
0
0
There are good and reliable plants that we have tried and tested at Dixter and constantly new ones that we try out every year. It is good for me to get familiar with what we have in stock, as spring bedding changes over it is an advantage for me to know what we have to play with. Like the nursery, we buy in plants but propagate many of them ourselves too.


(Left - right, starting from the top)

1. Leaves thin & hairy - Catananche caeruleum (Asteraceae family). Flowers are like purple daisies

2. Echium vulgare 'Blue Bedder' - classic borage like leaves, especially the raspy sound when rubbing it.

3. Lathryrus latiflorus 'Albus' - the everlasting sweet pea.

4. Salvia turkestanica (Lamiaceae family)


Slightly blurred because in a rush (from top left - clockwise)


5. Glaucium flavum (Papaveraceae) aka Yellow Horned Poppy. It's a summer flowering papaver that is yellow and has a talon like seed cap.  These are to be seen flowering wild in Dungeness nearby.

6. Erigeron annus our popular tall fleabane daisy that we thread through the garden often.

7. Lychnis deltoides is the florister's carnation and produces bright pink flowers which is a great contrast to the darker leaves. It is part of the Carophyllaceae family and characteristic of this family is that it has swollen nodes.

8. Grindelia robusta (Asteraceae family) aka Great Valley Gum will have yellow flowers. A plant that has many interesting medicinal uses from a sedative to treating people who have been affected by poison ivy. Dyes has also been obtained from its flowers and seeds.

9. Ammi majus - another tall umbellifer that appears regularly in the Dixter palette. It has light dome-like flowers.

10. And last but not least Lagurus ovatus - the bunny tail grass, a great shot of green when it is still very cold in early spring.

↧

Beech Court Gardens

May 29, 2013, 1:59 pm
$
0
0
Tues 14th May 
Weather: 12, grey & cloudy, a shy sun. Very heavy rain towards the end of the day.



One of our gardeners Rachael also manages her own garden in Challock, Kent. She has been employed there primarily to help brighten up the borders. It is a lot bigger than Dixter and as she is the sole skilled gardener there, and has not been there for long with a lot to do, a few of us gardeners went to help her out. Also it is good for us to experience working in different gardens. 

We helped her clear one of the bed near a pond so that she can properly plant it up to increase interest. We took out spent Narcissus& Tulipa bulbs & a type of Geranium that has spread itself around extensively. The task was not so straightforward as every inch was riddled with ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria), bindweed (Convolvulus) and Enchanter's nightshade (Circaea lutetiana). The soil was also very compacted clay with large flint stones in. 

There are impressive specimen trees including big trailing rhododendrons like this one. They also have a large collection of hydrangeas which I came to help prune some of earlier in the year. 


Viburnum walk:


The garden curiously has many big holes, maybe it was once a quarry.



↧
↧

Epic pea sticking

June 4, 2013, 2:21 pm
$
0
0
Weds 15th May
Weather: Windy & rainy. Overcast but then late afternoon was beautiful


In the Solar Garden we have done a planting of Tulipa 'Daydream' and Antirrhinum 'Bella Red' to come later. The tulips looked supreme whilst they lasted but were blown away by the very strong winds we have had lately. We don't seem to be having much luck with tulips in this bed, as last year many of the bulbs got eaten by mice. Usually we stake all the antirrhinums of which there are hundreds, but this year we decided to experiment with pea sticks instead. We cut many short pieces with as lateral branches as we could find, then the idea was to surround individually or a small clump of antirrhinums with them.

Thurs 16th May
Weather: One of the sunniest and most stable days we had for a while.
Pea sticking continued. We made three Alstromeria cages too and used an extra big pea stick to train a clematis to clamber over some Cotoneaster horizontalis.

Getting pea stick material from the branches. I worked with Leo who is a hard landscaper & teacher from Berlin and has come to volunteer here for 11 weeks. 

Fri 17th May
Weather: Colder, windier and moments of shower.
Finished peasticks extravaganza.
↧

Plant ident 10/05/2013 - An epoch of tulips

June 11, 2013, 3:23 pm
$
0
0
This tulip epic does not represent all the tulips that are used at Dixter (especially the pots), but it starts with the last tulip that's flowering in the garden at the moment. Just when the majority are passing over, Tulipa spengeri springs up as an surprise to carry the delight of these flowers well into June.

Tulip spengeri with Meconopsis cambrica, underneath a peony. These
species tulips has much poise & elegance and are have almost bi-colour petals on the outside. They are extinct in the wild and have the ability to self-sow but it takes them four years to develop into a flowering bulb.  

Tulip plant ident:


(Left to right)

1. Tulipa 'Ballerina'
A stunning tulip that lasts for ages. This was a planting that I did last year in the walled garden - to see how it was before click here.


2. 'Spring green' - these were planted in the walled garden - the purple & white versions of these are an accident from the suppliers, they sent out the wrong bulb but labelled the same.


3. The yellow version is simply called 'Yellow Spring Green'

4. Tulipa 'Bleeding Heart', I think this is possibly one of my personal favourite found in the High Garden (a Dicentra spectabilis aka bleeding heart is also planted in the same bed - possibly done so tongue in cheek).



5. The purple & white is also one that I like very much called 'Rem's Favourite'

6. 'Bleu aimable' - purple but as if trying to be blue. One that lasts for ages too.


Tulipa 'Bleu Aimable' in the border in the Barn Garden. 

Inside the depths of 'Bleu Aimable'


7. The first one in the jar is 'Gavota'. There is also 'Abu Hassan' that is not too dissimilar:


The latter three:

8. 'Hermitage'

9. 'Princess Irene'

10. 'Orange Prince'

are known as 'triumph tulips' - meaning that they are the result of single early tulips being crossed with later flowering varieties (i.e. extended flowering time). They are usually bred to have sturdy stems.

Other tulips in the garden:

Unfortunately with the high winds these tall tulips 'Daydream' blew away too soon. They started off quite yellow then deepened into this warm apricoty, orangey pink colour. We seem to be having bad luck with tulips in the Solar Garden border, last year many bulbs were pinched by mice.


Tulipa 'Westpoint' with Erysium cheiri 'Fire King' are effective just so, when they are sparsely planted against such a contrasting colour:


These substantial ones outside our mess room hovel are called Tulipa 'Menton'

These are species Tulipa linifolia (Batalinii group) Bright Gem, that I planted with Kate last year. We were worried that the mice might have gotten to these too, but looks like there were still plenty left for display.


These were from my plant prejudice of Polyanthus and Fergus got me to plant them with Tulipa 'Couleur Cardinal'



Species Tulipa turkestanica 

Species Tulipa bakeri 'Lilac Wonder'

Interesting succession with big species yellow Tulipa sylvestris. 
Papaver dubium subsp. lecoquii 'Albiflorum' which we just simply call 'Beth's Poppy' as we got seeds from Beth Chatto, give just that extra height to these layers of flowers. The Barn Garden is probably the fastest changing area, Aquilegia chrysantha 'Yellow Queen' with a particularly pronounced tail has now followed in their footsteps. 

These multi-headed lovelies are 'Red Georgette'.

These twisty ones called 'Red Shine' are also another stunner.


'China Pink' in the Long Border

'National Velvet' in the Long Border

'Perestroyka' another big flouncy one that didn't last the high winds so well.
↧

Planting up the circular steps & tricky pests

June 26, 2013, 3:59 pm
$
0
0


Tues 28th May
Weather: 10 - 11 °C. Rainy
We had the exciting job of planting up the circular step beds with succulents. The spring bedding was of forget-me-nots (Mysotis 'Royal Blue') and Tulipa Cairo. This hadn't worked so satisfyingly because it has been incredibly windy these days so the tulips had been blown to shot not long after flowering. Maybe shorter ones for next year will be better.



We tried to work with Fergus creatively in how we laid out the succulents. Before doing that we really worked the beds into a fine tilth, as these plants need as much drainage aid in this country as possible. We then laid the plants out when we were happy with their positioning, and tried to plant them in as delicately as possible to not compact the soil. This was no mean feat when the soil although heavily gritted is clay and it being very wet.





Weds 29th May
Weather: 11 - 12°C, possibly peaking to 14°C, a bit better.
I had to deal with a series of pests today. First spider mites in the hothouse, these come about when it is hot & dry, so I damped everything down to try and increase the humidity, including the leaves to help create an unfavourable enviroment for them. They are mainly attacking the dahlias. Siew Lee the deputy head gardener has put some biological control in there already, and I tried to wash off the worse of the mites. Hopefully a bit of both will help get rid of them.



A type of Lupin aphid has also been attacking the lupins, these are much bigger than the average aphid and are white/grey or green when filled with plant sap. We tried to culturally control these by squishing them, but there are actually a lot of them so they may have to be sprayed.

Then I potted up some Lychnis 'Vesuvius' - with a name like this it does make you curious what the plant would look like. Some swallows kept me company as I did this in the soil shed - it would seem that they come to nest here annually and dart like a bullet in and out of the door, but quite happy to share the space.
↧
Viewing all 65 articles
Browse latest View live
Search