Innholdsfortegnelse for 17-Sep-2022 i Amateur Gardening

DAVID Hedges-Gower, founder of the Lawn Association, suggested that gardeners may have to be less fussy about lawns and learn to love their brown grass! He said: “Lawns will recover, but some old grass plants will die. Rain will show the UK to be a green country again, just like it did in 2018 and 1977. “Our obsession comes with colour during summer. Accepting the possibility of having a brown lawn for 12 weeks a year isn’t a bad thing.” David blames poorly constructed lawns and ‘cheap grass species being used’ for the rise in people ripping out real lawns and replacing them with artificial turf. He said: “With lawns, we have a plant species that doesn’t require watering due to its ability to shut down during heat. If only…

THE hearty colour pink is welcoming, feminine and reassuring. In a global colour survey, people named pink as the sexiest colour and pastel pink as one of the most relaxing shades. Also, research has shown that when prisoners were moved to cells painted soft pink, they became less aggressive. So, it stands to reason that pink plants added to the garden can create a comforting, calm mood. There is a huge range of pink shades to choose from, and now is the ideal time to get your pink perennials in the ground. The ‘right’ shade of pink In spring, vivid-magenta elephant’s ears bloom beside rich-pink bleeding hearts, while wands of Byzantine gladioli blaze hot-raspberry in the sun. Then, in summer, there are many wonderful forms of lychnis, salvia, achillea, dianthus,…

Steve Bradley MA MHort (RHS) has written (or co-written) over 40 gardening books, including Propagation Basics, The Pruner’s Bible, The Ground Force Workbook and What’s Wrong With My Plant? He is resident expert on BBC Radio Kent, Sussex and Surrey, and he has built medal-winning gardens at both Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace. You can listen to Steve on alternate Sundays 10am-2pm on BBC Radio Kent’s Sunday Gardening (BBC Local) HANKS to the wonders of micropropagation, there are many species and varieties of orchids available to grow at home. One of the best, in terms of tolerance and the fact that the flowers are often fragrant, is Oncidium. Unlike moth orchids, with their big, showy flowers and wide, almost succulent leaves, the Oncidium tends to have narrow, grass-like foliage and…

GRASS seed expert Guy Jenkins of Johnsons Lawn Seed revealed that researchers may have struck gold after discovering drought-busting standard perennial grasses that root as deep as three metres. Deep-rooting grasses are more likely to survive drought by tapping into deep underground moisture reserves in the same way that mature trees withstand scorching summers, due to their extensive root systems. Med gardens may hold the secret “Research is already bearing fruit,” said Guy. “In the past the eye of the breeder has focused on what’s on top, but as 80% of a grass plant is root, breeders are now working on what goes on beneath soil level.” He said that lawns will survive, despite climate change, which will be a huge relief to many gardeners whose green sward holds pride…

WE’RE all familiar with the summer strawberry, which gives rise to punnets of deliciously red fruits in June and July, but are you aware of their relatives? If I said that they’d help you extend that mouth-watering fresh berry harvest into August, September and beyond, surely you’d want to know more? Well, here’s that crucial info! Welcome to the world of perpetual strawberries. Also known as everbearers, perpetual strawberries are a godsend. While conventional summer-fruiting varieties are genetically geared up to flower and fruit in late spring, perpetual types are triggered (via changes in day length) to produce their main crop in autumn. So, by planting summer and everbearing varieties together, you’ll gain fresh fruits from June right through until October. “You can have fresh fruits until October” Perpetual strawberries…

ORNAMENTAL onions (alliums) get the summer show off to a bold start when their flower globes open in May. Like giant lollipops, the spherical structure of these bulbous perennials adds solidity and drama to borders during what is often a flowering lull between spring and summer. Drought-tolerant and full of nectar for wildlife, they are also perfect plants for the modern garden. “Alliums are incredible perennials and flower for ages,” says bulb supplier Sarah Raven. “I love them for adding late spring and early summer pizzazz, as well as bringing strong colour and shape to the border. Plus, they are excellent for cutting as both flowers and seedheads, and brilliant for the bees.” Classic border alliums The classic border alliums (such as ‘Ambassador’, ‘Gladiator’ and ’White Giant’) form balls of…

This extract from AG 18 October 1975 looks at planting bulbs in rough turf, fine grass and under trees ONE of the most delightful forms of semi-wild garden is where you naturalise your plants. You start them off where they can be left to get on with it and they do so (you hope) either by self-sowing or by building into clumps through division. I do most of my naturalising in rough grass, which is appropriate to the countryside in which I live, but if yours is an urban or suburban setting you can still work this scheme by underplanting trees or interplanting shrubs. You can even underplant your rose beds with early flowering crocuses and chionodoxas. They seed freely and you soon have a carpet of bulbs that die…

How to care for air plants Q My air plants looked so good when I bought them a year ago, so why have they withered, despite watering? Samantha Grundall, Wem, Shropshire A Mysterious and ethereal, air plants might look as though they could literally thrive on air but, as indoor plants, they need regular watering and careful siting to get the best light. These plants belong to the genus Tillandsia, in the plant family Bromeliaceae, which they share with pineapples and urn plants. They are epiphytic and live perched up in tree branches or dangling from telegraph wires in Central and South America, Mexico and south-east USA. The only way air plants can take in water is through the modified scales or hairs called trichomes that cover their leaves. Those…

LUSH lawns form the heart of the nation’s gardens, but will parched swards recover from this summer’s drought and record-breaking heat? Experts are divided. “It is unlikely that all lawns will survive, given the length of the drought and high temperatures,” said Richard Salmon, of ProLawnCareUK, who believes that ‘almost every lawn will have been damaged by the drought’. “We saw this in 2018, where lawns with a high percentage of fescue grasses did not recover due to the thatch they produced, which acts like a thatched roof, preventing rain reaching their roots. Some lawns recover and others don’t.” Many lawns will recover when it rains James Bourne, the head of lawns at RHS Garden Wisley, was more upbeat: “Despite lawns looking yellow they will recover once rain has fallen,”…

LAST week, I recommended sowing bare soil with ‘easily cleared’ ground-covering green manures Limnanthes douglasii, miner’s lettuce (claytonia) and lamb’s lettuce (valerianella). Though you may hear green manures being recommended elsewhere, you won’t come across my advice of choosing ‘easily cleared’ ones. This is because most of those suggested are not ‘easily cleared’. We commonly sow green manures in vacated ground to grow through the winter. They protect soil from harsh weather while taking up water, nutrients and sunlight to make loads of material, which you then pull and compost or dig under to break down in situ. In fertility and fibre, this can be nearly as valuable as most other composts or manures. “Choose ‘easily cleared’ green manures” The problem is that most of those recommended come from agriculture…

We've hand-picked a selection of our favourite perennials that are perfect for any garden. These stunners establish and grow quickly and are magnets for pollunators. Dierama 'Blackberry Bells' 3 x 7cm Pots. ITEM CODE: 560298 £12.97 SAVE £17.00 Geranium himalayense 'Plenum' 3 x 9cm Pots. ITEM CODE: 560454 £14.97 HALF PRICE! SAVE £15.00 Thalictrum 'Meadow Rue' 3 x 9cm Pots. ITEM CODE: 560256 £14.97 HALF PRICE! SAVE £15.00 Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam' 3 x 9cm Pots. ITEM CODE: 560891 £14.97 SAVE £15.00 Delphinium Collection 3 x 9cm Pots. ITEMCODE: 560252 £14.97 HALF PRICE! SAVE £15.00 Salvia 'Lips' Collection 3 x 9cm Pots. ITEMCODE: 560668 £14.97 SAVE £3.00 DISCOVER MORE STUNNING PERENNIALS AT YOUGARDEN.COM…

ACROSS 1 Genus of spiky, evergreen plants, with common names including Spanish dagger and needle palm (5) 3 Genus of the arbor-vitae conifer (5) 7 Arguably the first (Biblical) gardener! (4) 8 Hang a codling moth one in a fruit tree, and set a humane or cheesy one near stored veg and bulbs! (4) 9 Portion of a sweetcorn plant around which the kernels grow (3) 11 One of the genus subjects of this week’s Miscellany! (9) 14 Cultivated tuber of the edible South American wood sorrel (3) 16 Agapanthus is the African! (4) 17 Collection of small, hard materials, such as ground rock and/or coarse dirt (4) 18 Popular leafy perennial with the common name of plantain 16 across! (5) 19 Prunus persica and its many furry cultivars! (5) DOWN…

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