Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2023 i Garden Answers

Meet the Contributors “This month in the garden I’ll be...” “Taking cuttings of shrubby salvias along with tender and borderline plants.” Find out Sue Fisher’s must-have salvias, p28 “I’m taking cuttings of tender perennials to safeguard against winter losses.” Geoff Hodge, buyers’ guide, p94 “Endlessly dead-heading roses and shortening overly long stems.” Greg Loades’ lowdown on container gardening, p22 “Mowing (with shears) my new mini-meadow for the first time.” Adrian Thomas on ways to engage kids with nature, p44 “Tackling the summer pruning of our boisterous wisteria!” Helen Billiald shows you how to create a sparkling border, p40 “Looking after my allotment and setting up a little pond near the wildflower patch.” Gill Lockhart designs the magazine The buzz word in gardening right now is ‘rewilding’. We saw at this…

NEW SMALL GARDEN SERIES Having a small space with no soil to plant into is a challenge but it’s no barrier to having a beautiful garden. It’s a scenario that I’ve had on two occasions, one on a balcony looking down on the runway to London City airport, the other in a tiny Yorkshire terrace where apart from a narrow raised bed, all that I had for plants was a thin strip of concrete, in shade for most of the day. Initially I felt deflated, the excitement of moving to a new place slightly dulled by the prospect of limited growing space but the reality was that they both had a lot to offer. The chance to make a container garden was actually a great opportunity. Every space has the…

Q How can we make the most of the space in our new mature garden? WORDS, DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION: SARA EDWARDS This month’s reader faces a common problem. Their garden is mature, but new to them as they’ve just moved into the house. It’s an east-facing garden and they’ve added two terraces, one by the house and one at the bottom of the garden, which catch the morning and evening sun. However, they’re struggling with what to do with the rest of the space and whether to keep the assortment of flowerbeds impeding on the lawn. They’d like it to be quite informal and well filled through the year with plants that are more unusual, and less expected in an average garden. They plan to keep the Acer pseudoplatanus ‘Brilliantissimum’…

Fascinating find I noticed this buzzy creature taking a rest on my Koelreuteria paniculata ‘Coral Sun’ tree. An online search revealed it to be Bombylius major – aparasitic bee mimic fly. Isn’t it fascinating the creatures we discover in our gardens! Josie Cass, by email WIN SECATEURS WORTH £61.99!  Send us a high-res photo of your favourite plants or wildlife with a short description and you could win this pair of Felco No 6 secateurs, which are a compact model, perfect for gardeners with small or medium-sized hands. ● Forged aluminium alloy handles and high-quality steel blades. ● Offset cutting head; ideal for efficient pruning. ● Shock absorbers to alleviate stress when carrying out a lot of pruning in one go.…

Shrubby salvias provide the perfect pick-me-up for summer gardens, flowering exuberantly and keeping the show going for months to come. These easy-to-grow shrubs bear a profusion of lipped flowers that smother the compact, twiggy bushes from early summer, right through into winter if weather permits. They’re wonderful in borders, raised beds, pots, and even as low hedges, and they’re great for wildlife too with nectar-rich blooms. The genus of Salvia is huge and immensely varied, totalling more than 900 species worldwide, and includes shrubs such as rosemary, as well as annuals that are often grown as bedding plants. The salvias described will add countless flowers to the garden. They may not survive hard or wet winters in the UK but will have the best chance if grown in free-draining soil.…

Now’s the time to add some late-flowering plants and fabulous foliage to keep your borders looking vibrant well into autumn. Late-flowering perennials have become increasingly popular in recent years, thanks in part to Dutch designer and plantsman Piet Oudolf’s naturalistic planting schemes filled with bold drifts of grasses and prairie plants. These plants can be incorporated into island beds, borders or even large containers. Perennials aren’t the only option; shrubs with leaves that change colour as the days shorten, such as cotinus, enkianthus and Viburnum opulus, not only add colour but also height and great structure to your planting schemes. Autumn-flowering bulbs offer additional colour Sept-Oct. Choose from slender nerines, topped with exotic pink or white blooms; striking blue-flowered Chinese gentians; and autumn crocuses (Crocus speciosus). Hesperantha offers a succession…

Garden TOUR WORDS: SIMON CANEY. IN THE GARDEN WITH… Adrian and Ita Cooke AT 88 Brook Street, Wymeswold, Leicestershire SIZE: Almost half an acre SOIL: Heavy clay FEATURES: Cottage style garden, a series of water features, small orchard and wildflower meadow OPEN: Through NGS, for more details visit www.ngs.org.uk. There is a spirit of fun and enjoyment about the garden at 88 Brook Street. It is a garden of quirky sculptures, creative seating areas, vibrant containers and plentiful foliage. A garden to immerse yourself in in summer and make the most of every moment. “For us the garden is more than just the plants,” says Adrian. “We’re not what you’d call ‘gardener gardeners’, but we wanted to create an area that people could enjoy.” To maximise the enjoyment, there are…

CLUES ACROSS 1 Aromatic, early summer perennial of the monarda genus (8) 6 - - - - europaea, evergreen generally known as the common olive (4) 7 Liatris spicata – the fluffy-flowered gayfeather or blazing - - - - (4) 8 Annual culinary herb, Anethum graveolens, often accompanying fish (4) 9 Spectacularly colourful genus of which rediviva is called bitterroot (7) 12 Genus of herbaceous perennials also known as the marsh mallow (7) 15 Nutrient-poor chimney grime used occasionally to darken soil (4) 17 Climbing stem that, for example, produces grapes as its fruit (4) 18 Hybrid tea rose named after French fashion designer Christian - - - (4) 19 Cormous S. African plants with sweetly-scented trumpet blooms (8) CLUES DOWN 1 Annual herb of the mint family, Ocimum basilicum…

Rewilding has become a hot topic in recent years. Put simply, it’s the large-scale restoration of landscapes for the benefit of wildlife. Influential voices from the conservation world have called on us to offer up our own gardens for rewilding too, turning our manicured lawns into mini meadows, and adopting an organic, chemical-free approach. They argue that, taken together, our gardens represent almost 30% of the UK’s total landmass (521,872 hectares/1.2m football pitches), and at community level, our re-wilded gardens could create important wildlife corridors – a lifeline between fragmented woodlands, meadows and other wild habitat. There have been hard-hitting headlines about biodiversity loss, too. British insect populations are down 64% since 2004 and last summer’s record-breaking drought was devastating to caterpillars, including the small tortoiseshell, peacock and brimstone. January’s…

Garden TOUR “There is a feeling of freedom and abundance WORDS: MARINA JORDAN-RUGG. IN THE GARDEN WITH… Vanessa and Carl Brown AT Abbots Barn, Southorpe, Stamford, Lincolnshire. SIZE: 2 acres SOIL TYPE: Dry, stony SPECIAL FEATURES: Mediterranean garden, allotment-style veg patch, beach garden, cutting patch. VISIT Opening for the NGS in 2024. CONTACT van_brown@hotmail.com The romance and charm of the varied growing and entertaining spaces at Abbots Barn contain all the hallmarks of a classic English garden. A charming succession of billowing herbaceous borders around the sweeping lawns, resplendent with a rich variety of colourful summer flowers, often repeated in blocks. Planted in informal swathes, swirls of salvias, penstemons, geraniums, poppies and delphiniums sprinkled with acid-green euphorbias and alchemilla parade around key structural elements, including clipped topiary cubes and balls,…

TREES & SHRUBS Spotted stems Q What are yellowish spots on Judas tree that attract ants? DIANE VICKERY, BY EMAIL A Scaleinsects are common on trees that are struggling, either because of lack of water or nutrients. If your potted Judas tree is in multipurpose compost, a sunny, hot spot and/or not watered or fed enough, scale insects will colonise it. The ants are visiting the scale insects to collect sugary honeydew. You can pick off the scales if the plant is small or spray it with an insecticide to control the pest. Repot into John Innes compost, water and feed more or plant it in the garden. Q Should I cut out dead stems on green-leaved acer? CHRISTINE BEATTY, SOUTHPORT, LANCASHIRE A It is possible that the hot, dry…

Four kettles I was so taken with the hanging teapots featured in the 30-minute makes (May, p15) that I decided to do my own version and purchased four kettles! Here they are planted and hung up. Diane Simpson, Willenhall Step to it Two years ago my husband created some wooden steps to display my pots. I hand painted the pots and the plants seem happy. Gillian Allan, by email These upcycled wooden steps display my plants wonderfully and also shade my cat house. Susan Walker, by email Bold, blue and beautiful I repotted my agapanthus two years ago and this year there are more than 30 blooms making a magnificent display. Margaret Allison, Polgooth, Cornwall DES RES FOR SOLITARY BEES Star letter I enjoyed reading the article about bee hotels…

Buy 2x6L Pots for £60 and get free CITRUS FEED! SAVE £16.97 Yes, you can grow fresh oranges and lemons in the UK with these commercial-grade citrus trees! Grow them outside once the risk of frost is definitely gone and bring indoors in autumn to protect from cold weather. Beautiful, fragrant blossom appears in spring and fruits follow ripening over a whole year or so. Supplied as 90cm-1.2m tall, fully mature trees (plants may not be the same height). ● You can buy the collection of 2 x 6-litre potted orange and lemon trees for just £60* and you’ll also receive a free 150g tub of soluble citrus feed worth £7.99; with item code 680021. *Plus £8.99 postage.…