Acer Corner

Winter Flowering Clematis

2012-01-27T21:13:00.000Z

I love winter flowering plants, they make much more of an impact as an individual plant on a background of bare stems.
I planted Clematis cirrhosa 'Freckles' about 4 years ago, on the fence surrounding the front garden, facing the driveway, so we can see the flowers as we go in and out of the house. Then came three hard winters and each winter there were one or two miserable flowers on the plant.
I started doubting the wisdom of planting it at all.

But this year, with the mild weather came a pleasant surprise.

The plant is covered in large beautiful flowers. I guess the weather does matter.

Flowering in the New Year

2012-01-02T12:17:00.005Z

It's been a while since I wrote anything, as sometimes happens, life as well as an extended, and long awaited trip to Japan got in the way. I still didn't sort out the thousands of images I brought back, I hope to do so soon, so I can write about the amazing gardens I saw.

Meanwhile in the garden there is much more greenery then usual at this time of year. The weather has been mild in the autumn and well into winter with only a few days of frost. The roses have kept their leaves, and some have buds and a few flowers.

Walking around the garden the plant that caught my eye is Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price'.

It provides good structure during the rest of the year despite occasional attacks of Viburnum beetle. But, it is in winter when it is most valuable. I don't remember when it flowered during the snowy winters we had in the last 3 years, but I seem to remember it was much later.

Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price'

Hydrangeas

2011-09-11T21:36:00.005+01:00

It was quite difficult to choose the plant for this post. Eventually I decided to settle on Hydrangeas which are at their best at the moment.
A favourite is Hydrangea paniculata, which flowers on current season's wood. This means it can be easily pruned without sacrificing any flowers.

Hydrangea paniculata (unknown cultivar)

More on Roses

2011-08-31T22:57:00.005+01:00

I mentioned Rosa 'Windrush' in my previous post and managed to take some nice pictures to illustrate the point. (The backdrop is Cornus controversa 'Variegata')

And some detail ....

Roses - Round II

2011-08-25T20:35:00.005+01:00

This is the time of year when we get a good second flush of our many roses.
While some roses like Rosa 'Graham Thomas' and Rosa 'Emma Hamilton' go on producing flowers throughout the summer and autumn, some flower in flushes.

A notable cultivar is Rosa 'Windrush'
It has beautiful almost single white flowers, which are quite large, and are produced in flushes over a month or so. The first round this year was at the beginning of June. The second one is just starting. A hard prune after the first flush of flowers results in a second one that's almost as good.

One of my favorites, is a new rose I planted last year - A fairly new David Austin introduction, Rosa 'Lady of Shalott'. It has been slow to get going, probably because it's planted close to a mature Wisteria, but the flowers are lovely, specially when back lit by the evening sun.

White Lavender

2011-08-14T22:18:00.008+01:00

One of our cats, Trixy, had a car accident and it was not clear if she would survive, so updating the blog was the least of my worries. She is now out of danger and I can resume following the garden more closely.

Trixy enjoying the garden

The plant that stood out most in the last week is the white lavender. I grow a few blue lavenders, mostly inherited with the garden, and they all finished flowering a few weeks ago.
I was not really aware of white lavenders until I saw them at Hampton Court Flower Show last year. I promptly bought a few from one of the show gardens selling them off.

I found it is not as tolerant of dry soil as the blue ones (I have to admit I have no idea which cultivar it is, though I suspect it is Lavandula angustifolia 'Alba'), but it remains in flower for much longer, the flowers opening slowly along the short spire

Unlike the blue lavenders where all the flowers open at once, more impressive perhaps, not so sure.

Clematis tangutica

2011-07-26T23:29:00.006+01:00

This week's plant was not an easy choice, quite a few plants are showing off this week.
In the end I chose the nodding yellow flowers of Clematis tangutica, that will go on flowering well into autumn.

It's easily grown from seed, it's free of desease and it will cover an modest size arch in a season.
The arch I grow this over has a Laburnum vossii on one side and a Rosa 'Maigold' on the other. It is the rose, which is early flowering, and doesn't repeat, that shares the space with the clematis.

As the rose is winding down the clematis, which was pruned in February to about 30cm from the ground, is starting to take over. When the laburnum is starting to get tatty, which happens quite early, the clematis reaches the top of the arch and hides it in a mass of flowers.

As a bonus, the fluffy seed heads last to the end of winter, even in cold snowy ones like we had lately.

Lilies

2011-07-19T19:45:00.005+01:00

It wasn't easy choosing this week's plant, quite a few plants were candidates, but in the end I chose two lilies.
My first attempts at growing lilies were not successful. I tried growing them in the ground, they would come up, and at around 20 cm high would be completely consumed. After a few years of trying I switched to pots, and this was great success. Most lilies have been living in their pots for a few years happily. The lily beatle is still a problem but picking them up regularly keeps them happy.

Most lilies finished flowering at the beginning of June but two are still holding on.
The first it Lily 'Avocado', an oriental trumpet hybrid, around 1m tall. It only just started opening.

Lily 'Avocado'

Another lily, which has been in flower for a few weeks is Lily 'Red County'. It has great colour, shades of red and orange. It grows it in full sun, it would be darker in colour if grown in semi-shade.

Lily 'Red County'

I put the pot among the wiry stems of Persicaria 'Red Dragon'. They make great companions.
Insects seem to like it too...

Returning

2011-07-12T21:23:00.005+01:00

It's been a while since I wrote, life has taken over and got in the way somewhat.
We had a warm spring and the garden has been on steroids. It is not often that you find yourself deadheading roses in the middle of May. Nor did I ever see the Laburnum and Wisteria flowering at the same time.

While most roses have finished their first flush of flowers long before their expected time, one has been an exception. It is a standard rose I bought from a French man at Hampton Court flower show about 5 years ago, I lost the label and I don't know its name. It never failed to flower, always at the same time, whatever the weather.
This year as always, it is covered in flowers

This gave me an idea, writing every week, about the plant that is at it's best that week.
This unknown rose will be the first.

Spring is here to stay

2011-04-07T20:50:00.008+01:00

Spring is definitely here, in fact last days were more like summer, and I had to remove the insulation from the greenhouse few weeks earlier then usual.
I have now taken full stock of winter casualties, and they have been much worse then previous years.
I lost most of my Euphorbias and the remaining ones are looking pretty sad and will have to be replaced. I also lost two large Phormiums growing in large pots that managed to survive two harsh winters, but are now only fit for the tip.
I was also surprised to lose one of my favorite Erysimums (Bowles Mauve). I was growing two on both sides of a path, one survived and one did not. Some cuttings I've been growing on the allotment survived as well so can't really explain this.

On the positive side here are a few of this spring's highlights:

Magnolia stellata

I planted this Camellia two years ago close to the deck behind the house. This is the first time it flowered and the display was excellent.

Camellia 'Jury's Yellow'

And finally one of my favorites the unfurling leaves of Larix kaempferi 'Diana'

Cleraing up

2011-01-12T10:27:00.004Z

This weekend was the first since early November which had all the conditions of a good gardening day. The sun was shining, the temperatures were reasonable (9C measured in the garden at lunch time) and there was no wind.
Since there were no excuses I finally embarked of the traditional autumn clear up with some delay.

The nice thing about winter gardening is that you notice things that you wouldn't in spring and ssummer, when there is so much going on. The first thing I noticed is that some of the early Hellebore's are unfurling their flowers already.

But there is something completely different, and surprising I noticed. The intensity in the colour of one of my acers. This is a new acer, only planted last summer, when a large tub became available (after it's previous occupant was killed by the weather, cant' remember now what it was). It is called Acer palmatum 'Winter Flame', and it lives up to it's name. It is a dwarf form of well known Acer palmatum 'Sangukaku', which in my oppinion is not the best both in terms of form and bark colour.

Not sure why I was surprised, maybe becasue so often, the promise of a name is not fulfiled. It certainly is in this case. It also has bright green leaves in summer and a good form which I can still improve on by some light pruning next summer.

Winter Frost

2011-01-02T21:49:00.004Z

This year winter caught me by surprise. Usually during November I would give the roses their first cut, but this year it was so cold I was not tempted to do it.

Coming home one day I was rewarded by this beautiful frosted rose (Rosa 'Compasion').

Happy New Year

Remains of Autumn

2010-11-28T22:44:00.003Z

Autumn has come and gone really quickly this year. We had only one good week at the beginning of November before cold set in and leaves started dropping off. Leaves are no all gone, and mostly collected.
However,, surprisingly is it a bonsai that insists on holding on to it's leaves despite the cold.
I created this bonsai from quite a large shrub, and it is still work in progress. It is extremely tough, and lives outside all winter, unlike my other bonsai, which come into the greenhouse as soon as winter sets in. I think it is quite a cheerful site, in what is a fairly miserable time of year.

I started this bonsai at a workshop at Kew, and have no idea what cultivar it is. The only information I can provide is that it is covered in dark pink flowers in May. (Could not find a picture in flower, time I had one)

Return to the Garden

2010-11-14T22:03:00.005Z

I've absented myself from this blog and to a large extent form the garden this summer. For a change we concentrated on the house and let the garden take care of itself, which it has done very well.

While we had an excellent show of roses in June, the dry start of the summer meant that we did not get much repeat flowering until September.
Autumn colour was also strange this year, it started late and lasted only for a few weeks at the end of October before the leaves dropped off.

Now begins the slow job of clearing the leaves from the paths and gravel areas, before it all disintegrates into a mush.

The Advantage of Good Training

2010-06-09T21:45:00.006+01:00

Not unexpectedly, most of our spring flowering shrubs and trees were about 3 weeks late flowering. The wisteria was no exception, and to my annoyance I found the first open flower on the evening of the 23rd after the last of our visitors left.
Despite a few hot days, it is still in flower.

Wisteria sinensis 'Alba'

This is just a sideline, not at all what I was going to write about. While many plants were late, the roses seem to have caught up and flower at the expected time. The rose I was going to write about is climbing up a post supporting the pergola over the kitchen door. I planted it 2 and a half years ago as a small bare root plant. It's rambler, so quite fast growing, and I trained it carefully around the post despite the temptation to let it grow up and cover the pergola. This year my patience was rewarded; It is covered in flower from the ground to the top of the post.

Rosa 'Malvern Hills'

Open Garden

2010-05-31T22:13:00.007+01:00

On May 23rd we open the garden for Iain Rennie. Two other gardens in Wendover were also open. There were no clouds in the sky, an unusual event in these parts.

We had 192 visitors and raised £590.

The garden looked great. The flowering cherry was still in full bloom despite the heat.

Prunus 'Shirofugen'

In the back garden the tree peony was the star of the show. It was never before in flower on an open day and it attracted well deserved attention. Unfortunately I lost the label and don't remember the name of the cultivar. A quick search on the Kelways website, where I bought it didn't reveal any similar pictures, so it will remain un-named.

Tulip Follow Up

2010-05-03T21:45:00.004+01:00

In late autumn 2008 we planted a new tulip display which I wrote about in 2009 (you can find the original post here).

The tulips were planted much deeper then previously, using a useful tool called an auger, that can be mounted in a drill. This makes digging the holes in our heavy clay soil a much more pleasant chore. I filled each hole with grit before planting the bulb and hoped for the best.

After the freezing winter we had I didn't raise my hopes too much, but I am happy to say we have a fantastic display. About 95% of the tulips came back, and they look just as good as in the first year.

There is hope for the non-diggers among us after all.

Easter Report

2010-04-19T23:03:00.004+01:00

Easter has come and gone, and it looks like spring is finally here to stay. While the weather during Easter was not at its best, we had enough dry weather to finally build a gate for the back garden.

We built this from scratch using treated timber from our local yard, and a roll of willow from our local garden centre. I think it turned out really well.

A funny phenomenon I observed in the garden in the last week is that I have daffodils and tulips in flower at the same time, which never happened before. It looks like the daffodils were late, and the tulips are not just on time, but some of them are actually slightly early.

I look forward to another week of beautiful weather.

Spring

2010-03-01T20:24:00.008Z

Today was the first day of spring in the garden (happily coenciding with the official date). It's the first day this year when I could leave the greenhouse open for the afternoon without the thermostat starting the heating and work outside without a coat.

The snowdrops have been showing their heads for a while, but as soon as the weather turned milder they have been flowering their socks off.

Galanthus nivalis

When we moved to the house there were a few large clumps of snowdrops in the garden. Over the years I split them and moved them around the garden, and I now have quite a few sizable clumps. There is nothing like a good cover of snowdrops on the first day of spring.

Most of the Hellebores are also starting to raise their heads, and today I cut off the foilage so the flowers can be admired (most leaves become quite tatty over winter and are best removed to leave room for fresh foilage). In milder years they flowered much earlier.

Despite the cold weather, a few growing in a sheltered spot by the patio are already full bloom.

Helleborus ‘Silver Moon’

Wisley Light Magic

2010-01-29T13:16:00.006Z

Not much has been happening in the garden in the last month. While our snow covering only lasted for a couple of weeks, it's been too cold to attempt any jobs other then the most basic tidy up of slimy frosted perennials.

The Ligularia was particularly badly affected by the snow. In a mild winter it will hold on to some of it's leaves until spring, but after the first snow they were flopping on the ground in a slimy mess, so they had to go, cold and all.

In the quiet period after new year we visited the RHS garden at Wisley. The garden was open until 6:00pm, featuring some great light installations illustrating this post.

Some interesting ideas for the garden perhaps .....

Meanwhile hoping for a milder February.

Snow in the garden

2009-12-22T17:58:00.006Z

Now winter is here and all memories of autumn colour are long fogotten.

This morning we woke up again to a blanket of snow, the snow came down vertically so my bamboos (Phyllostachys nigra) in the front garden where almost horizontal from the weight of the snow. In addition to clearing the driveway I also had to rescue the bamboos.
Later on the sun came out so I couldn't resist this picture of snowy Rosa 'Malvern Hills' against the blue sky.

Happy New Year

Autumn

2009-10-29T15:04:00.009Z

Autumn has come suddenly this year, about two weeks ago.

We had a warm and dry autumn followed by a short cold spell, which makes for particularly good autumn colour.

This morning looking out from our dining romm window, the whole garden had a golden hue about it. I hope I managed to capture it.

It's interesting to see that not all trees turn colours at the same time. While the Liquidambar started showing signs of autumn right after the cold spell.

Some of the acers for example Acer Palmatum 'Seiryu' only just started showing their autumn colour. Perhaps because it is growing near the north wall of the house.

And then, there are those just at their peak.

Acer palmatum 'Sunset'

I suspect the leaves will mostly be gone with the next windy day we have, so I try to enjoy them while they last.

Glorious September

2009-09-12T21:31:00.005+01:00

August was a fairly dull month, the roses were between flushes and the dahlias were eaten by slugs so many times, that there were hardly any flowers on them.

But, with the warm September came a new flush of flowers, most roses are again in full bloom and looking great.

Rosa 'Raphsody in Blue'

I guess cutting the roses back quite hard when dead-heading them keeps the shrubs neat and tidy, just the way I like them, but delays somewhat the next flush of flowers.

Unknown white rose saved from the original garden

Unusually the spring flowering viburnum also flowered, though it's already showing the beginning of autumn colour.

Viburnum 'Watanabe'

Global Warming?

2009-09-01T21:21:00.004+01:00

This year was not particularly warm, with the exception of one hot week temperatures have been pleasant or below.

True, we had no spring frosts this year but could this explain the phenomenon?

Clematis Armandii

Clematis Armandii, which normaly flowers in March, in flower at the end of August. It is growing on a warm garage wall, but then it's been there for 5 years and it never flowered in August before.

First Signs of Autumn

2009-08-25T19:06:00.012+01:00

It's August and the weather has been great in the last few weeks, but the first signs of Autumn can be seen in the garden already.

The Katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) is showing it's first colours.

While in the wild, in it's native Japan, this tree can reach 45m, keeping it in a pot reduced it's size considerably. It's been living in this pot for 3 years and looks happy. I will be cutting back the roots next spring and repotting it with new compost.

Out of Date Green Shoots

2009-07-27T21:02:00.006+01:00

It's been a while since last post, but life got in the way.

I had a post all ready in my mind as soon as the first Dahlia shoots appeared in May, green shoots being such a popular phrase ....

My very first post almost two year ago was about Dahlias. I reported then that I do not dig them up in autumn. With the borders bursting with plants it would be quite difficult. After the freezing winter we had this year, I had my doubts, but, I am happy to report there were no casualties in the garden. While I missed the green shoots, some of the Dahlias are now in full bloom.

Dahlia 'White Perfection'

This year is the first we opened for the NGS, and we had excellent response. We had a total of 330 vistors, some coming from far away such as Devon and ... Sweden. The weather was good on both weekends and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I look forward to next year's opening.

Dahlia 'Penelope'

Best in April

2009-05-17T18:40:00.010+01:00

One of the highlights of the garden during the last month has been our flowering cherry (Prunus 'Shirofugen'). I always wanted a flowering cherry in the front garden, where the Japanese theme is stronger*, but was always unsure which one to chose.

Two years ago while in Malvern for the spring flower show we visited a tree nursery in the area. (Ornamental Tree Nursery in Herefordshire, they also have a good collection of Acer palmatum).

After a long drive we arrived to what seemed a fairly modest establishmnet, only to be surprised by the size of the place, and the huge selection of trees. We spent the afternoon walking between the rows, as we came upon the perfect flowering cherry, in full flower.
In the following years the display was not nearly as spectacular. Probably because of the late frosts.

This year was different, April was mild, and it hardly rained. The tree was full of flowers for almost a month, starting white, then turning pink before blowing away in the wind.

While the flowers are the main feature, this tree also has redish new growth, good autumn colour and an elegant form in winter.

* The Japanese tradition of 'Hanami' or Flower viewing is centruries old, and almost always means viewing of cherry blossom or 'sakura'.

Spring is Here to Stay

2009-04-29T21:21:00.008+01:00

It looks like after a proper winter comes a proper spring. It came gently this year, in March, and unlike previous couple of years it did not go away again.
This means that we managed to complete Vi's garden at a leisurely pace, in preparation for our open garden in June.

The deck is comlete and the area between the deck and the border is covered in gravel over a layer of sand covered with weed suppressing fabric.
Most of the planting is also complete. The only major job left is completing the pergola over the deck.

Spring was generally warm and not too rainy so compared to previous years plants have put on good growth. The tips of the hostas are already showing and there are already buds on some of the roses. All acers are covered in beatiful spring leaves.
But the highlight in the garden in the last couple of weeks have been the tulips:

A mixture of orange (Tulipa 'Ballerina'), dark orange (Tulipa 'Abu Hasan'), white (Tulipa 'Spring Green' and lilac (can't remember the name ...).
The tulips were planted quite late last year (early December), and because of the mild spring they started flowering earlier then previous year, and lasted longer.
I don't intend to dig up the tulips after flowering. They are planted quite deep and if we have a relativley dry summer I am hopefull they will come back next year.

Is it spring yet….

2009-03-27T20:28:00.004Z

Not much has happened in the garden during February. It snowed a few times and the garden was covered in snow for most of the month.

It was also colder then usual, and I feared some casualties. But there was surprisingly little damage to deal with. The greenhouse came out of the cold unscathed (which is probably reflected in our electricity bill). And in the garden the only casualties were a couple of Hebe. While most are hardy, it seems there are a few varieties which are not, which is not always clear from their labels.

As soon as the snow subsided we resumed work on Vi’s garden, starting by digging the electricity trenches. So we have proper sockets in the greenhouse and by the new deck.

A New Year

2009-01-24T19:14:00.012Z

I did not write a post since October, because winter came quite suddenly and early this year, and not much happened in the garden in the last months. We had our first snow when the leaves were still on the trees

as well as spectacular autumn colours, probably as a result of the frosty nights.

December was very cold, dipping down to -6C on some nights, and staying bellow freezing during the day as well on some days. Not really gardening weather. The frequent frost did lend itself to some beautiful photographs.

I can count on one hand the number of days when we could actually work outside, and we used those to setup the frame for the new deck in Vi's garden. I will post some images on our progress in my next post. Meanwhile I wish you all a happy new year, cross your fingers for a real summer in 2009.

A New Greenhouse is Born

2008-10-15T09:54:00.005+01:00

The new greenhouse is now up, though the mess around it is unfortunatley still there.

The greenhouse was a breeze to put up. It only took 2 hours to put up the frame which comes in only 6 pieces. Sliding in the glass took a bit longer, but everything was up in two days. We were lucky with the weather as some wind would have cause some dificulty with the roof panes which are quite large.

To avoid the weeds we had in the old greenhouse , we built a raised bed, which will be used for tomatoes. and paved the rest. We used recycled slabs from an old patio near the house and, to avoid cutting the slabs, gravel at the edges.

The old green house is relocated to the allotment, but this is another story ....

New Greenhouse Almost There

2008-10-06T11:19:00.010+01:00

The new greenhouse arrives this weekend, and we managed to beat the wather this weekend and clear the area, looks rather empty know.

The old greenouse moved to the allotment, but the base is still there and needs to go by Wednesday when the building of the new base starts (no we will not do it ourselves, I am still a bit scared of concrete ..., so a local contractor will do the job).

As you may have noticed the shed is missing from it's usual place by the fence. We managed to move it to it's permanent place on the new patio.

We managed this by sliding the shed on deck planks using furniture wheels, we happened to have in the garage, and which we never used before.
It's hard work to get all four corners on the wheels, but once they were on it's almost plain sailing.

Vi's Garden - Progress

2008-09-17T11:10:00.004+01:00

The first stage building this part of the garden is complete. We have a new patio area to house the shed, the BBQ, compost bin and the rest of the mess, which should be hidden from view by the shed. The shed will stand on the left side of the pation and hide the corner from view.

The entrance to the shed will be camouflaged by a strategically placed acer.
The next step will be moving the shed and preparing the space for the new greenhouse.
Watch this space ...

Levens Hall - Cumbria

2008-09-04T11:39:00.011+01:00

While we are very fond of exotic places where good wheather is virtually guaranteed, this year we desided to spend our vacation closer to home - a week in the Lake District and a week in Cornwall.

In the Lake District, the weathther was mostly miserrable so instead of hiking in the fels we used the bad wather as an opportunity to visit some gardens.

Levens hall is by far the best of them (there is some family debate about this, with Sizergh castle coming close second - but it is my blog after all).

Levens hall garden dates from 1694, and some of the larger topiary structure are over 300 years old, mostly yew. (a few of them sport round benches underneath, and are very effective when it rains).

The structure of the garden remains unchanged through the seasons, the enclosed areas between the structures are planted with anuals, providing seasonal interest.
There are other interesting areas in the garden including a perennial border, a kitchen garden and orchard all enclosed by hedges, and featuring topiary and formal elements, but it's the topiary garden which is the most impresive. A true inspiration.

Vi's Garden - The Master Plan

2008-09-03T14:45:00.008+01:00

Finaly we managed to agree on the layout for this part of the garden, after some serious shuffling of features i.e. movin the shed into at least 3 different positions (metaphorically speaking), before the final layout took shape.

So here is the plan:

The tiled patio is the first step, after which we will dissmantle the old greenhouse and and move the shed to it's new position.
The new greenhouse will arrive at the begining of October just in time for my birthday, putting it together should keep us busy for a few weekends.

The tree in the corner is already in place, it's an Acer platanoides 'Crimson King' (Norway maple). It's a lovley beetroot color, and should be fast growing, so should shade the storage area prety quickly. What the autum colour will be like remains to be seen. (picture to follow)

The Last Project - Vi's Garden

2008-07-30T13:39:00.007+01:00

A couple of years ago we purchased the end of our neighbour Vi's garden, which makes our garden L-shaped. While we were working on other parts of the garden, we turned this part into a dumping ground for soil dug up elsewhere, prunings and other bits and pieces for which we couldn't find immediate use.
We still call it Vi's garden.

Now that the rest of the garden is more or less complete, it's time to tackle this part. So I will report on how the work is progressing.

This part of the garden is trapeze shaped:

And here's a picture illustrating the mess (the pile of soil mentioned is hiding behind the BBQ):

The first task will be to level the soil so we can start moving stuff around. The shed will be moving to the far right side corner to hide behind it a mess area. We also bought a new greenhouse which will replace the shed.
On the new design next time .....

P.S We have been accepted to the National Garden Scheme and will open the garden regularly from 2009; dates to be confirmed.

A Very Interesting Rose

2008-07-12T21:37:00.006+01:00

I have many roses in the garden, and now they are at their best.
Most are fragrant English roses, but the one that stands out is a modest Floribunda - Rosa 'Irish Eyes'. I bought it at Hampton Court flower show because of the orange colour (all roses in this part of the garden, which I didn't map yet ... are orange, apricot or white), but it turned out much more interesting.
It starts a beautiful orange ....

Turns into a deep orange red ....

And then turns pale yellow before it needs to be dead-headed ....

And the best part is it flowers continuously between July and the first frost. Any downsides you ask, well there is always one, it has no scent. But the wonderful flowers certainly make up for it.

Back Patio Plan

2008-06-23T19:09:00.004+01:00

Finally I managed to map another part of the garden - the back patio immediately adjacent to the house. This is the part of the garden where I kept many of the mature shrubs, so I am unable to precisely identify them.
This part of the garden is visible from the kitchen as well as the dining room.
The entrance to the garden is on the left side marked with an arrow. There is a redwood deck just outside the house. We built a stone patio in the center of the area where we keep our table and chairs in summer, the patio is surrounded by gravel.

I have been unable to post a larger image, so if you are interested in the planting details please e-mail me at jo@acercorner.com for a more legible version.

(Not) Resting on the Laurels

2008-06-11T14:56:00.016+01:00

Since I mentioned laurels in my last post, I already implemented some changes.
You can see in the pictures below there are 3 large ferns in the front garden which have overgrown their space, and hide everything behind them (all 3 have been split from a fern which I found in the garden when we moved in, and I believed for a long time to be dead).

All 3 now moved to new homes. 2 of them in the back garden and the right hand one in the right hand picture further back to the edge of the box.

I filled the other spaces with a selection of smaller ferns and grasses, and realised I now have space for a new acer!

The acer I am after is Acer Palmatum 'Little Princess', which is a small tree with red edged green leaves. I have seen it at garden shows (as large specimen), but so far I was not able to hunt one down. Hopefully my coming visit at Hampton Court flower show, will help.

And, there is another, less planned changed. As you can see in the top picture, there is a wooden seat between the boxes, which provides a good view of the garden (not that I used it that much). Unfortunately the seat was rather uncomfortable.
Last week I finally found the time to visit our local architectural salvage cum antique shop (which is just opposite the garden centre, so really I sould have visited before), and spotted a bench which fits in the small space. Hopeful, I sat on it and it turned out to be comfortable, so now it graces the front garden and gone are the excuses not to sit there ...
(It does need a lick of paint, and we do need to hide the water pipe behind it, but that's no excuse ... )

Open Garden

2008-06-03T09:13:00.003+01:00

We had an open garden day on the bank holiday weekend in aid of Iain Rennie. The weather was not too promissing and indeed the day started with pouring rain.

But, while I was showing a lady around wearing my waterproofs (which only come out about once a year) the rain suddenly stopped and it stayed dry until 5PM when we closed.
Since I don't have a close relationship with any powers, I will have to assume this was pure luck. We had very good comments so if you thought we are resting on our laurels, think again, while I was showing visitors around, I identified quite a few changes....

Here are some figures from Acer Corner's resident statistician:

We had 154 counted visitors, there probably were a few more we are not aware of, since we had a bit of an influx after lunch.
We took in £235.5 of which £145.5 (~62%) was for refreshments (most bought their tickets in other gardens), but we think most came to see our garden.

Bedfordshire 4
Berkshire 2
Buckinghamshire 116
Hertfordshire 28
Middlesex 1
Oxfordshire 2
West Sussex 1 (wander how they got here)

Meanwhile you can enjoy a sunny view of the garden (I am trying to establisha camomile lawn around the apple tree)

More gardens will be open for Ian Rennie in the Chiltern area during June and July, you can check them out here

New Decks

2008-05-06T12:19:00.005+01:00

We had a very fine bank holiday weekend, just the way Easter should have been.

The great weather has provided the opportunity to finally finish the planned decks. We opted for wide un-grooved redwood we bought from the timber decking company.

This bit of deck which will house our deckchairs is located behind the garage. A deciduous honeysuckle is already climbing on the garage wall. On the other side a climbing rose will climb around the front pole and onto the pergola.

We may not notice from the pictures but the top of the deck is devoid of any screw, thanks to a nice little device called a deck board tie.

The deck at the back of the house is covered by a pergola which in turn be covered in acrilyc as soon as we can spare the time for a trip to B&Q.
Nothing like sitting outside in the rain reading a book....

Tulip Follow Up

2008-04-11T16:35:00.012+01:00

After being away for 10 days on vacation I promissed myself (again...) not to go on holiday in April. I came back to some flowering tulips so I can follwo up on my previous post on the subject

While the species tulips I planted in the ground show no signs of flowering yet, which is quite dissapointing at they are suppose to be early.The ones planted in pots last November have come out niceley. Tulipa 'Fly Away' is already in flower and looks quite spectacular.

In another pot I planted a mix of tulips and Muscari armeniacum, which I thought will flower in succession, but the muscari are still there and the tulips already started flowering. It might be related to the fact that the pot is standing near a sheltered east facing wall? Will have to move the pot around next year to establish this ....

This pot contains in addition to Muscari armeniacum, Tulipa 'Cool Crystal' which didn't flower just yet and Tulipa 'Flaming Spring Green' which just started flowering.

And finally, some tulips I planted three years ago, which I considered lost flowered again! While the first year was great the second was very dissapointing with very sporadic flowers on short stems. Naturally after all the rain we had in the last year, I wasn't expecting any at all, and yet they flowered again.... though not at their very best.

Tulipa 'Abu Hassan'

Perhaps I should resign myself to planting tulips every year ...

Front Garden

2008-03-16T18:08:00.007Z

Today is a big day, since I managed to partially reach an important target I set myself - mapping out the garden.
While there are some gaps of unidentified plans which I hope to identify in the future the information is fairly complete.

The map below is of the front garden. This part of the front garden is surrounded by a willow fence and can be viewed from the living room window which is the at the bottom of the image, just above the seat.
The entrance to the garden is on the right side marked with an arrow. The center area is covered in gravel as can be seen in previous posts.

I have been unable to post a larger image, so if you are interested in the planting details please e-mail me at jo@acercorner.com for a more legible version.

Common Gardening Wizdom

2008-02-14T08:30:00.005Z

Still not much happening in the garden, but the house is starting to fill with seadlings. Unfortunatly, my attempt at establishing seadlings for my new Camomile lawn under the apple tree have failed misserably, I think sawing in January must have caused the problem - not enough light.

But this is not at all what I wanted to talk about, its the all too common phrase you find on most plant lables and in books and magazines 'requires fertile well drained soil'.
Since I am gardening on heavy clay actually worrying about this would have left me with a rose garden bare of all other plants.

But, I don't worry about it too much and guess what, plants are far more resiliant then given credit for. Ok, they grow somewhat slower then they would otherwise, but since I pack them in quite close, I think that's an advantage rather then a problem.
So the conclution is that you need to experiment, if there's a plant you like, buy a small one and try it out, in most cases it will succeeed rather well. Yes, even the notorious Japanese Maple does very well in clay soil.

Below is an image of one of my favourites - Acer Palmatum 'Kamagata' growing in, yes, heavy clay soil, in it's third year.

Thoughts on Far-away Places

2008-01-16T12:43:00.000Z

We are finally back to normal after our holiday, and time to think about the coming gardening season. Unfortunately it has been raining since we came back and today was the first opportunity to go out, have a look around the garden, decide where to put my new acquired lanterns and consider the empty spaces where more plants can be squeezed in (quite a few of those still ...)

Garden lanterns bring me nicely to the gardens of Bali, where we spent our long Christmas holiday. Bali being a tropical island is full of amazing lush gardens which are full of interest year around.

Hotels, temples and private living compounds are all surrounded by plants. For example this temple garden on the left featuring day lilies or on the right a water garden in the Botanical Garden of Bali.
Typical planting would include Bougainvillea, bananas, fragrant jasmines, Pulmeria (Frangipani red and white)and other plants which would often be sold here as house plants, but reach huge proportions in Balinese gardens, such as crotons.

In addition to the planting the typical Balinese garden is full of stone and wood decorations - lanterns, mythical creatures, large pots etc. For example the stone lantern below, I photographed in our hotel garden.
Of course with the variety available, it would be very tempting to fill the garden with a selection of decoration but alas, shipping charges of small items make this option far too expensive, and a whole container seemed to be rather excessive.
A stone lantern of this size could have caused us problems with the airline, so the only option was to bring home two typical wooden lanterns, which were packed in a cardboard box and were light enough to handle.

The lamps are typical in shape, though the most common designs feature a grass roof. However it does not cope so well with the weather so we opted for this version instead.
Now I only have to decide where to put them, I am already regreting not bringing a couple more ....

Happy New Year !

Closing Down for Winter

2007-11-27T20:24:00.000Z

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

2007-11-16T19:47:00.000Z

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

2007-11-06T13:58:00.000Z

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

2007-10-16T12:41:00.001+01:00

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

2007-10-05T11:40:00.001+01:00

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

2007-09-25T15:58:00.000+01:00

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:

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

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

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.