Closing Down for Winter

We already had a few frosty nights which prompted me to tidy up the last of the shabby perennials and bulbs. The crocosmias have become particularly slimy. (Not sure what variety they are since I inherited them with the garden but they spread like wildfire, it looks like I will have to split them again next year).

All leaves from the trees are now gone, so it was also time to remove the leaves from the path. I don't bother with leaf mould, I spread the leaves among the plants in the borders and let the weather do the rest. A pile of leaves makes a particularly good blanket for a sleeping Daliah. They will be gone by next summer (the leaves not the Dahlias ..ha ha).

Last leaves (The name of the particular Acer escapes me at the moment)

I reported on my Tulip purchases in an earlier post in September unfortunatley not all Tulips were available but those that arrived (Tulipa 'Cyntia' and Tulipa Tarda) were planted in the ground.

I planted the rest of the tulips I bought mainly dark reds purples and whites in pots topped with Muscari armeniacum in the top layer.

Some polystyrene at the bottom

The bulbs go in

With all the tasks completed and our holiday getting closer and closer, this is probably the last post for this year. Next year's task is a map of the garden, so I can report on development in the different areas, and my very own domain, hopefully follwed by proper website....

Hope 2008 will be a great gardening year

Autumn Color - Part II

We had our first serious frost, most trees lost their leaves and the dahlias are black. In the next week I will prepare the garden for winter, cutting everything back, clearing the leaves off the paths and covering up any tender plants, before all work is suspended until February.

But, memory of autum is still fresh and here are some more pictures of glorious autumn color.

View of back garden

Acer Palmatum 'Shaina' maintains it's red color all season but becomes much more intense in autumn

Acer Palmatum 'Kamagata'

Autum Colour - Part I

We had a warm autum this year and as a result fantastic autumn colour. A few of the acers shrivelled before we had a chance to enjoy them, but most provided a beautiful display, as did other decidious shrubs. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. All pictures are from our front garden, back garden will follow....

Front garden as seen from our bedroom window

And some detail ...

An eye level view of the front garden as can be seen from the living room window.

Acers

Acer Palmatum 'Dissectum Atropurpureum '

Japanese maples are my favourite tree (Acer palmatum). They provide interesting new growth, handsome summer sillouhete, brilliant autumn color (for which they are best known) and if pruned correctly good winter structure. Some also have colourful bark which provides additional winter interest.

Acers have a bit of a reputation of being difficult. That they require acid soil and should be kept out of the sun. As a proud owner of around 20 different veriaties I can definetley say the reputation is unfounded.

I grow acers in a number of settings, in pots (the speciment above spent it first 3 years in a plastic pot, almost forgotten in the front garden), in large raised boxes as well as in the ground. All have been successful so far. My garden soil is neutral clay, and I have had no problem with the trees growing in the ground. Some of them are planted in shade, some in semi shade and some in full sun and this doesn't seem to affect them. (we installed an automatic drip watering system, and this helps when it's really hot, I also mulch around the trees, so water is not lost).

It seems that the only thing affecting acers is strong wind. It will usually causes the edges of the leaves to brown and shrivel. Keeping them moist helps reduce the problem which is mainly caused by water evaporating quickly from the leaves.
But, even when affected, they are quick to recover, and new growth is unaffected.

The only thing to watch out for is over wintering Acers in pots. Because of their fine root system, Acers growing in pots (in particular younger trees in smaller pots) can rot, so the best solution is to wrap the top of the pot in a couple of layers of fleece to reduce moisture and provide some frost protection (in general Acers are very hardy but roots may be affected if growing in a smaller pot). This way they can be left where they are ... less work all-round.

Hope you will try one ...

Few Words on Dahlias

Dahlias seem to be very popular at the moment, and the debate is ongoing whether to leave them in the ground over winter or lift them and store them.

Unfortunatley keeping the tubers over winter is not as simple as it seems. They will either rot or dry out.

Of course the prospect of lifting each and every one of them every year is not appealing either. You could give them up all together but that would be a shame since Dahlias are at their best at the moment, and make a great display combined with autumn colors.

As with most tender plants the problem with Dahlias is not so much the cold but a combination of cold and wet weather which could cause tubers to rot.

To overcome the problem I plant all tubers in large pots of multi-purpose compost before planting them in the ground. This gives them a good layer of drained soil underneath. After the first frost I cut them down and cover each plant with a layer of fleece with bark piled on top. This creates a layer of insulation, and also reduces the amount of rain reaching the tuber (that's my theory anyway).
I have about 10 diffrent varieties planted out in the garden, they have all come back successfuly for the second year now.

The only thing that would prevent them coming back again next year will be the slugs. Slugs love young Dahlia shoots and the only way around them has been to use pellets, unfortunatly becaus of the amount of rain we had they were not as effective as in previous years, so the plans reached mature size much later then usual and only started flowering towards the end of August. (Not having much sun might also had something to do with it).

This doesn't stop them from providing a beautiful display!

The images in this post are of Dahlia Semi-Cactus ' 'Color Spectacle' (large orange flowers with white tips, reaches 1.2m) and Dahlia 'Shandy' (peach flowers reaches 75cm)

Dahlia 'Sunshine'

Bulb Season

Autumn brings with it a selection of catalogues through the post an some preasure (if you are like me, watching gardening programs) to put in the orders for spring bulbs.
Though spring bulbs are not part of a traditional Japanese garden (with the exception of Irises), this will not stop me from planting bulbs would it?
A couple of years ago I have ordered a large batch of tulips, which I spent a whole miserable November day planting (I do have clay soil, so I had to enlist the help of my other half digging the holes).
The first year's display was spectacular, but this year I had a miserable display, with only few bulbs cuming up. Digging up 100 tulips is not my idea of time well spent, so I have opted this year for two batches:

• Species Tulips - which are supposed to naturalise (we will see about that ...).


• Some more conventional varieties which I will be planting in pots, taking them out at the end of the season and storing for the following winter.

The species I will be trying out are:

1. Tulipa clusiana 'Cynthia' AGM - Slender, creamy-yellow flowers, with red marks on the outside, appear in mid-spring, 30cm tall.


2. Tulip 'Lady Jane' - White flowers, striped rosy-red on the outer sepals – peer inside and spot the yellow centre. Grows to 30cm.


3. Tulipa tarda - Flowering in early and mid-spring, the white, star-shaped flowers, often tinged green, are usually yellow on the lower half, grows to 15cm.

I will be reporting on their preformence in due course. I will be writing a nother post on the hybrid tulips I will be trying out.

P.S - AGM - Award of Garden Merit awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society to well performing plants.