Posts Tagged ‘clematis’ < back
Gareth’s Plants for March
18th Feb:
It’s not all hard-work and grim weather! Look out for the following plants, which we offer at very competitive prices, and can source any variety or number.
Viburnum – this is their time. Gorgeous, opulent flowers – both bare-stemmed and on evergreens. V.tinus is the good old favourite – for good reason. But look out for V. bodnatense and V. opulum, as well as many other species. Most are shade tolerant, unfussy about soil conditions, and are forgiving about neglect – just leave them alone, and enjoy. When they get too big, prune them back hard, and they will come back stronger and more glorious than before! A must-have!
Helleborus – sheer beauty and elegance during these dull and dire months. It cheers the heart to see these wondrous plants put on such a show at this time of year. Again, they are tolerant of shade – they like it in fact, and will tolerate all soils, although they do prefer rich soils. Many types to choose from, but the more spectacular hybrids are worth going for, although they cost slightly more as they are all carefully hand-pollinated to ensure they come ‘true’. If you want to save money though, or buy a generous amount while saving the pennies, go for H. niger or H. foetidus – absolute stunners!
Daphne – a scent to rival Gardenias, Jasmine, and all the other ‘greats’. Such a smell at such a time of year is precious, and should be indulged and cherished. These plants are shade tolerant, but they need rich soil – a great choice to have in pots. Put them outside your front door at this time of year to greet you with their heavenly scent each time you pass them. When their flowers are over, move the pots to a quiet corner of the garden, and pull them back out next year.
Jasmine – not just for Summer! Winter-flowering Jasmine is one of the great joys at this time of year a bold display of cheery yellow blooms, festooned all over. These plants are tough, and will grow in any soil, though they do prefer a sunny site. They flower on one-year-old wood, so prune early in the year, after flowering, to encourage the maximum display the following year. A wonderful plant that will spread and grow endlessly, if allowed. But, at the same time, easy to maintain and contain.
Clematis – every month you will find Clematis in flower! C. cirrhosa is a true marvel. Evergreen, tough, strong, fast growing and heavy-flowering. Only comes in white, cream or freckled-flowers, with nodding bells that last for months. A wonderful species of Clematis, this plant will take care of itself, and cover a large area within a few years if desired. It needs something to grab hold of, such as trellis or wire, but is self-clinging – so no need to tie in! It prefers a sunny site, and good soil. In Summer it gets tired, so it is great when combined with Summer-flowering climbers that it can grow alongside with, such as Roses, or Summer-flowering Clematis.
Gareth’s tips for March
14th Feb:
Jobs for the month of March
1. Prune! Prune, prune, prune… Roses, Wisteria, fruit trees, climbers, all deciduous shrubs. Nice and hard – the secret is to ‘treat them mean, keep them keen.’ Do not be hesitant or nervous, just give them a hard cutting back. If in doubt – then please get in touch with us, and we can carry out such work, or offer a professional consultancy and advice service, for pruning, and all horticultural matters. Leave the evergreens alone, unless necessary – definitely avoid Box at all costs; blight is rife when cut at this time of year.
2. Lawns – get those forks in! Spike where growth is poor, and drainage is an issue. Fill in holes with lawn sand. Also get your mower serviced now ready for the spring, and check any other tools that might need sharpening or mending.
3. Think about mulching – March is the optimal time. Applying a generous layer of organic mulch onto the soil in March, will benefit your garden for the entire year.
4. Now is the time to give your garden a good spring clean. Get everything cleared up now – all leaves and debris etc…
5. Plant any summer flowering bulbs before it is too late. March is really the last opportunity to get them in the ground.
6. Start protecting any new spring shoots from slugs by putting down any slug pellets etc now.
7. If you are thinking of transplanting any trees or shrubs do it now while they are still dormant and therefore less likely to go into shock.
8. Fertilise and trees and shrubs preferably with a slow release fertiliser.
9. Weeding your garden well now will save a lot of time later on in the year.
10. Fix any fencing or other structures before they become covered in plants again as it will make your life a lot easier and the job quicker.
Winter Gardening Tips
11th Jan:
Firstly, on behalf of the Harrington Porter team, let me wish you all a happy new year! I hope that 2010 is a flourishing year for your garden!
Although it is the middle of Winter, now is still a good time for maintenance, especially if your garden didn’t get a thorough Autumn tidy up last year. Now is the ideal time, before Spring, for pruning and training, especially Wisteria, Roses, Clematis and fruit trees. Also, if your garden is looking quite bare and dull at this time of year – it doesn’t need to and we can change that for you! Although certainly less abundant than Spring and Summer, there are a huge range of plants that provide Winter interest throughout the season, and not just in the form of flowers; there are ornamental stems, such as the striking red, orange or yellow stems of the ornamental Dogwoods (Cornus ssp.), or the haunting white stems of Rubus. Colour doesn’t have to be the main feature of ornamental and eye-catching stems as it does, take Corylus avenella ‘Contorta’ – the Corkscrew hazel – has a mass of twisting, gnarled stems that loop and bend in all directions, in fact this plant is at its most striking in Winter, when it has no leaves so the stems can be appreciated much more, plus it is adorned with bright yellow catkins towards the end of Winter. This is just one plant of many that really come into their own at this time of year. Contact us and we can advise on a huge range of plants to provide interest for this season, or any other, and even source the plants for you from reputable and professional suppliers to ensure the best quality.
Hopefully this recent bout of snow hasn’t been too damaging for your garden. As beautiful as snow is, it can be very destructive to tender plants, so I hope you got yours all wrapped up or sheltered before the onslaught. But, it’s not too late to protect tender plants – as long as they are still alive and not wiped out by the recent frosts, then get busy with the fleece, or drag them into a sheltered position. Not only is it the damage from frost that you should watch out for in your garden with this recent snow, but also the actual weight of the snow itself on branches and hedges can be a problem if it is left sitting there for too long. Some plants are fully hardy and will not be bothered at all by this; other plants however are hardy but they will still suffer frost-burn if left with snow on their leaves or crowns for too long. E.g. Cordylines are a good example of this, a hardly plant, but one that is quite susceptible to damage when its crown is wet and then we get regular hard frosts. When in doubt, please contact us and we can advise on particular plants and their susceptibility to frosts as well as suitable ways to protect them.
Although there’s nothing quite as fun as building a big snowman on the lawn with the children, do beware of walking on the lawn when there is snow on it, or indeed when there has been a frost and the ground is frozen. This can be very damaging to the grass which easily snaps and is damaged when frozen and then stepped on – that ‘crunchy’ sound that everyone likes to hear so much when walking on frozen lawns is actually hundreds of blades of grass snapping and breaking internally with each step. There, now, if that hasn’t guilt-tripped you into avoiding the mass slaughter of hapless grass strands then nothing will!
If you have any Winter bedding plants – i.e. in your window boxes or pots, then remember to ‘dead head’! Often people forget and this will quickly result in a plant ceasing to flower. Cyclamen, pansies, violas, primroses, all need to be dead headed before going to seed, this can keep them flowering for months as opposed to a few weeks. And, if you don’t have beautiful Winter or Spring bedding plants in your window boxes or pots – then come on and visit us! We can take care of that for you, and we pride ourselves on really eye-catching and tasteful planting schemes for such situations.
