Pottering About!

What a great week I chose to take off work - nothing new there. Ever since my son was born 24 years ago, the first week in June has become a regular week off from work. Weather is generally great and this year was no exception. Temperatures were regularly high teens or early twenties - sweltering even, for Scotland, that is!

I had been trying to think of a word or phrase that could best describe how I spent my long sunny days when the phone rang - it was mum to tell me she was on her way and did I need anything brought in. After a quick discussion around what we were to have for dinner etc - she asked me.....

"What have you been doing today? - Are you still pottering about in the garden?"

That was it......Pottering About! For the first time in as many months - my garden had reached the stage that all I had to do (for now) was to Potter About!

Those two words 'Pottering About' describe my week to a T! Sitting down, reading a newspaper or book, listening to the radio or just relaxing on a chair with my eyes closed - listening to the birds chirupping around me, the distant sounds of lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, municipal vehicles coming and going and the occassional dog walkers making their way along the pathway to the local park and river walk. Mental notes for autumn planting were taken. Plant wish lists were added to.

The odd half hour, here and there, was spent dead heading. Secatuers snipped away at a few over hanging stems or branches. Lawns were edged at a more leisurely pace. A few badly placed plants were moved or removed. Climbers were tied in before they reached a tangled and unmanageable state. A bit of random weeding. The only 'major' job doing the whole week - not that you could consider it 'major' - but it did take me more than a mere 30 minutes, self seeded Snowberry (Symphoricarpos) was beginning to take hold, growing amongst my back hedge.  I spent a whole afternoon ripping and tearing it out - they tend to pull out easily provided they have not been able to take hold!  Since clearing it out - my hedge has been loosing it's leaves at an alarming rate - I don't know what has happened but it  now needs further investigation.  I can't see any obvious infestation or damage but it is concerning me.         

I've been Pottering about today too, taking some shots of what's blooming in the garden for GBBD this June. Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is a meme very kindly hosted by Carol over at May Dream Gardens. Pop over to see what's happening in gardens around the world.

Please join me for a stroll around my little plot

Weigela Kosteriana variegata 

Polemonium caeruleum

Let's start in the front garden.  I should add at this point, my front garden will feature very little in my blogs.  I have yet to be inspired on what I'd like to do with this area.  I tend to heal in plants that have no permanent home or aren't doing too well else where.  A variegated Weigela and the Jacob's ladder is now large enough to be divided into quite a few plants this might make a rather nice 'drift' elsewhere in the garden.




Magnolia stellate mid June 2013

Through the side gate - The Rhododendrons are almost over.  Amazingly the Magnolia stellata is still producing buds - I declared in an earlier post back in May that it was only ever going to produce one flower - it has been producing a single flower every week since!!  Don't you just love getting proved wrong! Pinks and whites are the predominant summer colours in this border at the moment - the towering steely blues of the Aconitums will join in soon enough. 

left to right: Dicentra spectabalis, Dicentra eximia King of Hearts, Meconopsis betonicifolia Alba, Primula japonica Apple Blossom, Cortusa mattholli Alba and Geranium Sylvaticum Album

  





Pond Border mid June 2013

Still on the shadier side, in the back garden proper, is the area I call - the Pond Border.  In terms of ponds - it is probably best described as a 'puddle'. I did read somewhere once that even the smallest of ponds can have a beneficial effect on the garden, then again, I also read that whatever size pond you choose, go the next size up as they always look much bigger than they actually are.  How I wish I hadn't ignored that bit!!  I really would like a larger pond.
Let's take closer look at what's flowering this June - the Astrantia and Tellima have taken on huge proportions this year and are currently out doing the slow growing shrubs planted to their rear.  One day those fences will green up!

Tellima grandiflora, Heuchera, Astrantia, Polemonium, Polygonatum, Ajuga and Hardy Geraniums flowering in the border
In containers: Chiastophyllum oppossitifolium, Saxifraga cunefolia Variegata and Picea glauca J W Daisy's White 

Rhododendron Goldflimmer - not as floriforous as previous years is the last of the Rhododendrons to flower
     

Rhododendron Goldflimmer

  
Up onto the deck - a dwarf Azalea I've had for well over 15 years and long since lost it's label.  Clematis Nelly Moser usually compliments it but is very slow this year.

It's at this point in my blog I should have had pictures of some Oriental Poppies to show you - the wind today was making it impossible to get a decent shot.

A full 180 degree turn onto the sunnier side of the garden - my mid/late summer border is still very green

Summer border mid June 2013

    
Like the Astrantia on the shadier side - the Aconitums and Cardoon (top right of picture) are massive!  No need to guess which plants really benefitted from last year's rain.  Incidentally, most of us associate Aconitums with being shade lovers, if you have reasonably moist soil (not waterlogged) they will be just as happy in full sun as they are in shade.  

Clematis 'The Vagabond' has just started to add impact in the border, it will flower for most of the summer - Clematis 'Peppermint' will appear later in the year.  A disappointing Allium display - around 20 bulbs were rescued from flooding last year but only 2 survived and produced blooms.  A pretty little dwarf Geum 'Dingle Apricot' will be moved in autumn over to the pond.  I've tried some over there and it copes with a wee bit shade.  This will look nice planted beneath the Cotinus, I think.  Again, hardy geraniums on the sunny side are just starting to flower too, more on them in a later blog I suspect.

Flowering at the top end of the garden (where it flooded last year) a few plants that can and did cope with the weeks of excess water - the first of those flowering are some Trollius - these were planted new in the garden spring 2012 and the first time they have flowered.  Astilbes and Persicaria will follow later.

Trollius acaulis

This pretty little dwarf Trollius is native of China, despite being very small its sunny yellow flowers are very welcome. It's also popular with the pollinators.    




Trollius x cultorum Cheddar

Trollius Cheddar is a very soft creamy yellow and extremely difficult to capture a shot of, no matter what time of day!!  I'm hoping that one day this will make a lovely sized clump.  It's one of those plants that I was never quite so sure off but now I've seen it flower, I rather like it.  It's scented too an added bonus!

My new Primula bed is beginning to come to life - alongside a couple of slow growing Acers I've planted numerous Primula that will flower at varying times of the year.  I'm really pleased with this - considering I only finished planting it up a few weeks ago.



Primula beesiana, P. japonica Millers Crimson and P. bulleesiana

  
Also planted in this border is Geranium endressii Wargrave Pink it is a perfect little companion for purple leaved Heucheras - seen here with Heuchera Obsidian

That's it for a stroll around my garden and I'd like to end with a caption competition.  Please meet Titch - the smallest of my 3 cats, introducing himself to a new Nepeta (Blue Danube)  I've planted in the gravel bed.  I've no prize to offer but it will be fun to read his mind!




Guess what I'm thinking!

   

I should add that no cat was harmed during this shot - only his pride because he couldn't get at it!

Thank you for visiting - I'm off now to see what's been blooming in your garden!   
   
    

Heuchera......It's a love hate thing!

The 1st Heuchera bought
for this garden in 2010.

I'm sure I'm not alone in having a love-hate relationship with a specific genre of plants.  It's an on-going itch that just never stops!!

My specific itch or should that be itches are Heuchera - sitting in their droves in the GCs - their impressive, perfect, multi-coloured foliage rarely fails to turn heads.  Whether they are bought to do a specific job or just another impulse buy, I will always be a sucker for them!  They will brighten up a dull corner, provide lush colourful foliage, contrast beautifully with their neighbours, their height a spread make them an ideal front of border choice or just fill a gap when nothing else seems to fit - I can always find another space to plant one!  

So you see that sales pitch technique works every time!  Obviously, I'm a victim of the marketing ploy! I'm visually drawn in every time!!...need I say more!

Where does the 'hate' come into it? - I hear you ask!

My opinion is that these plants always look like they are giving 100% or they are a total disappointment and looking like they've seen better days, there is NEVER a happy medium, it seems, in my garden.  Between you and I, I've actually lost count of just how many have bitten the dust or gone to that great big compost bin in the sky.

Until recently, when not looking their best, I just dug them out, without giving very much consideration to what the actual problem was.  Yes, the phrase 'More Money than Sense' has been said to me on many an occasion.

A specific pest for these plants are Vine Weevil Beetles (VWB) and their larvae are one of the most common problems for these plants, so when ever one turned up it's toes or like tumble weed, took off across the garden at first breeze - they were 'out of here' tout suite!!

VWB!

Since taking to the world wide web to search for solutions, it seems that apart from the dreaded beetle there are more common problems than I originally thought.....  

• Planting to deep - causes crown rot
• Planting to shallow - causes the plant to heave (particularly in winter when freezing occurs)
• Mulch to thickly - a winter tip to help protect against heaving - causes crown rot
• Caterpillars - I have found  that caterpillars hide on the underside and munch the foliage
• Slugs - although not generally said to be a pest - those tiny little beige coloured slugs get right down inside the crown and devour the newest and softest of foliage
• Vine Weevil Beetle/Larvae - the adult eats the leaves and the female lays her eggs where the larvae mature by munching on the roots below
• Poorly drained/waterlogged soil - after far too much rain 2012 - I found  that those where the soil remained wet for weeks on end - began suffering
• Rabbits/Mice - will nibble on stems and leaves

Strangely enough, I have found in the past the the zingy lime green heuchera DO NOT like my garden, 3 or so attempts have been utter failure - they were gone within weeks, if not days of planting!  The jury is out as to why - but it was definately not the dreaded VWB - the plant roots were given a through post mortem and for plants to disappear so quickly there surely would have been sign of grubs but none were found.  Mice/Rabbits are the primary suspect in so far as I'm concerned!
Some plants just go! - it's as simple as that - 2 specimens planted adjacent to each other - 1 has thrived and 1 just gave up the ghost!  Investigation again, showed no sign of the VWB!
Even growing them in containers, with strict chemical control aimed at the larvae of the VWB - brought no success with one or two. Again, I ruled out VWB!

There are possibly numerous other reasons - I have yet to discover - but the ones above are I'm convinced are the top causes in my garden.  Advice I would give would be ensure you plant at the correct level when taking out of the pot, be vigilant for caterpillars, slugs and VWB, first signs will be apparent on the leaves and ensure adequate drainage.  If you are going to mulch - make sure the crown is not covered.

Heuchera Marmalade Summer 2012

If you discover one of your prized plants isn't doing quite as it should, all is not lost!  These are very forgiving plants and as I've discovered can easily be rescued.  How?  It's simple - remove the plant from the ground (or container) remove as much of the soil or compost around the roots as is possible.  Checking for grubs as you go.  If in doubt do not reuse spent compost (if container grown) unless you can be 100% sure there are no grubs. If growing in the ground root around in the soil for grubs or signs of grubs.
Under a running tap - wash off all remaining soil/compost.  It's at this stage you will see how the plant can be divided - divide sections with as much root as possible and double check each section for grubs.  They can get right inside the stalky part of the plant.  I would recommend the same practice even if your plant has suffered any of the other problems I mention above.  Better to be safe than sorry.  Once you have your divisions ready for planting - I use a mix of Multi-purpose compost/JI (what ever I have to hand) and some grit for drainage.  Pot them up into individual pots or 3 or 4 into a larger container ensuring an even spacing to allow for growth.  Water in and place in a sheltered position, your plant will soon begin to recover.  Other advice I have read or been given is to use peat free compost - tried this and to be honest I can't say I noticed the difference, plants in both mediums recovered - so the jury is out on that one!  Mulching with grit or gravel is said to make it more difficult for adult VWB to lay her eggs - this I haven't tried, therefore can't comment as to whether is works or not.

Not all is doom and gloom in the Heuchera department - please feel free to check out my pictures from 2012 and just how good these plants look when they are happy

Of course, if you know of other problems please do share it with us - the more the merrier!

Do you have a love-hate relationship with any of your plants?  Have you tried and failed miserably to grow a specific plant in your garden?  Had an obsession! - how did you beat it?