The land on which we live and garden used to be a farm until our estate was built on it some 45 years ago. At least in part the layout seems to have been informed by the field boundaries and our garden is bounded on two sides by what is left of the Cornish hedge…
Plant profile
Begonias in the garden – 4/10/2020
Around this time last year I did a post on Begonias. It was getting to the end of a growing season during which I'd been experimenting further with planting out some supposedly hardy begonias as well as some that I knew would need lifting again before the winter. I have repeated and extended my experimentation…
Dahlias
I grow a dozen or so named Dahlia varieties in the garden and three or four up the allotment. For the last few years I have collected seed from some of them and sowed them in March of the following year. I grow them on and plant them out on my allotment around May. They…
Eight Hydrangeas, plus one.
I have eight hydrangeas in the garden, a modest enough number but given their relatively large size in my small garden, enough. I rate them highly as ornamental plants, producing a fine display of bloom for a couple of months in June and July. Not one is a typical mop headed Hydrangea macrophylla, not because…
Begonias
There are lots of groups of plants that divide opinion, genera containing a wide diversity of plants are almost bound to. Even genera with a narrow range can get caught up in disputes, take Cyclamen, among the straight species it is almost inconceivable you could love one but loathe another; but bring in the all…
Impatiens omeiana
I have three very distinct forms of the Mt Omei balsam in my garden, two planted out and one still in a pot. The one that I have had the longest is the form most often encountered here and came to the UK from America, having been introduced to cultivation by Don Jacobs of Eco Gardens…
Hakonechloa
If ever there were a plant that gives of its best when it's needed the most, it's Hakonechloa. I took the picture above under heavily overcast skies and with a hint of drizzle in the air. I have done nothing to enhance the colour of the Hakonechloa as it assumes its autumn raiment. The foliage…
Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’
Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer' was discovered as a seedling growing in the Sahin trial grounds in Zeeland, Holland. It was selected in 1996 for its long flowering season. For me it starts flowering around mid July and has a main flowering period of four to six weeks, then produces a trickle of blooms into the…
Hydrangeas
Hydrangeas are to an extent the victims of their own success. There are very few plants to rival the mophead macrophylla hydrangeas for providing the maximum flower display for the minimum of effort. As a result they are absolutely everywhere and familiarity rapidly breeds contempt. The good news is that they are also a rare…
Plant Profile: Camellia ‘Night Rider’
Camellia 'Night Rider' possesses the sort of qualities that would lead one to expect it to be massively popular, yet it is but rarely seen. Raised in New Zealand by Os Blumhardt, its parents are C.'Ruby Bells' x C.'Kuro-tsubaki'. It first flowered in 1980. The flowers are dark red and the petals waxy textured.…
