A Splash of Autumn Colour

With most flowering plants now done and dusted for the year (or on their last legs) this plant is a must for late season colour. Helianthus "Lemon Queen" is a real beast and needs to go at the back of a border, reaching up to 2m in height .It does need full (ish) sun but does not seem to mind soil type, I have them growing in two different planting designs, one in clay soil the other in a dry, poor soil and they are both doing as well as each other.

 Being a late flowering plant consider planting Helianthus "Lemon Queen" with  tall Miscanthus which is also flowering at the moment. I took this picture  at the weekend so you can see it's at its best at the moment and also providing much needed nectar to bees late in the year. 

Helianthus "Lemon Queen" is available from Crocus 

Winter colour - think Hellebore plants

Hellebores,  evergreen herbaceous plants are invaluable in winter, with varieties flowering from early December right through to spring they really do add a much needed splash of colour to your borders until the spring bulbs emerge. 

Hellebores are shade loving plants and only plant in a semi - full shade area in your garden, they will even thrive under trees. With a range of colours from whites to deep purple there's always a spot in anyones garden to enjoy these fantastic winter flowering plants. 

You plant it - we'll come

Within 4 weeks of planting a group of 12" high Monardas they are now 3 feet high and full of bursting scarlet red flowers. You can see why this plant is also known as 'bee balm'. 

This is an excellent plant for attracting bees and butterfly's, quickly establishes itself and is a rapid grower, perfect for filling in spaces in your border and can be left over winter with beautiful seed heads. 

  

Kirengeshoma Palmata

I have just come across this plant at one of the nurseries I visit when buying plants for a client and promptly purchased a few for shady borders I am planting.

I am blogging about this as it's a great plant for a shady border. It will flower late Summer - early Autumn, with funnel shaped butter coloured flowers on purplish stems and maple like foliage. Height and spread is 90 x 60cm. 

 

Lavandula angustifolia "Hidcote" (aka English lavender)

Looking fantastic and in flower already (July is normally flowering time). This, in my opinion is one of the finest lavenders, I really dislike the French lavenders, all lavenders get leggy after a few years but the French type look especially messy earlier.  

Don't get attached to your lavenders, treat them as a 4-5 year plant, as soon as they look messy replace with fresh new ones. Also, never plant in shade, these are sun loving, drought tolerant plants and prefer it that way. 

 

Hedges

If your planning on planting a hedge next year then now is the time you need to be organising it. The cheapest way of buying hedging is from now until March. This is because it is the only time of year you can buy 'bare root' plants, simply they are just pulled from open ground in the nursery, bundled together and sent by courier to you. This can only be done until March as the plants are 'dormant' however the roots will need to be kept moist so as soon as you receive them you will need to 'heel' them in if not quite ready to plant.

You can buy hedging plants up to around 7 ft high so if there's a boundary fence that needs replacing why not think about a hedge instead. I know what I would rather look at! It acts as a perfect foil for your plants, is an excellent home for insects and nesting birds and doesn't even need painting every year.

If you would like further help on selecting and sourcing  the right hedge for your garden and  would like to contract our services to plant your new hedge then please get in touch.

Garden gifts at Christmas

All serious gardeners need and want are a decent hand fork, hand trowel, border fork, fork, border spade, spade, good loppers and last but the most important secateurs. Forget all that nonsense that the magazines are trying to say is the next best thing, I can't even remember the name of that hand gadget that proposed to revolutionise  gardening, the hand spork or something, the thing with the spokes poking out of it, all you had to do was turn it and it pulled out weeds and everything. If something like that was available and worked don't you think all us gardeners would of invented it a long time ago, believe me, we get alot of time to think of tools that might make our life easier.

If you want to buy a present for a gardener and it's in the budget then i suggest Felco secateurs, they are about £35 and are the professionals choice, I've had mine for about 5 years now, not like that cheap rubbish from DIY stores and every good garden center carries spares for them, new blades, new springs etc. They come in about 7 models I think, large handed, small handed, left handed and there is also a model that's particularly good for arthritis sufferers. I will not post a link to anyone specific for these just google Felco secateurs and find the supplier that suits you but I promise give these to a gardener and they will be ecstatic.

Vegetables to sow this month (March)

Below is some of the vegetable seed you will want to be starting off this month. Always check with your seed supplier the sowing conditions favoured for each variety.

• Beets
• Broad beans
• Brussels
• Chillies
• Leeks
• Onions
• Parsnips
• Peas
• Rocket
• Salads
• Tomatoes (cherry varietys)
• Turip

Looking good in January

	Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire' It doesn't have to be all doom in gloom in January. There are a lots of great plants to take us into Spring.
	Hellebores Flowering from mid-winter to early spring Hellebores are great at injecting some much needed colour. They are evergreen, benefit from shady conditions, can be planted under trees and are pretty much pest and disease resitant. A great plant!