Ahh at last a little bit of sun and as we expected it went from being cold, damp and wet to being subtropical in a few days, temperatures hitting a high of 29c. This warm weather is certainly making the plants and the grass grow like anything. Indeed one lawn, well the only lawn I now mow, has gone straight from not needing to be cut, to a weekly cut now. At least in this sun and heat, the hoe can come out and any small weeds coming up can be easily removed. Anyway on to the six on Saturday, which once more come from the delights of my own garden
The new fronds of the ferns are now slowly emerging and there can be none more attractive than the Japanese painted fern, Athyrium niponicum ‘Red Beauty’ who said foliage is dull and boring, certainly no one who has seen this plant!
Yes you have been warned, there’s a few tulips in my six this week, this is another beauty called Infinity, I love the combination of ivory white and pink, funny enough it becomes more pink as the flower ages.
Had to add the dark new foliage of Geranium espresso as it appears from the ground, just how dark and beautiful is this colour! You can see where the name came from can’t you.
Another cracker that has only been around for 10yrs or so, a tulip called Green Star and what a cracker! I love the way the green shoots up in lines into the whiteness. Another form I shall be getting again next year!
This specie tulip has to be one of the most slender and pointed out of all the tulips, this form is called clusiana ‘Shelia’ hoping this will come again regularly for me in the pots.
Lastly we have the most cute little primula you will ever see, again a new addition to the garden from my order from Barnhaven primroses, primula farinosa or the birds eye primula. it is an Alpine and will be going into a new alpine tub I am hoping to be building soon!
Well that’s my six done from my garden this week, so many plants now are starting to wake up and start delighting us with their beauty. I hope you have a great weekend and check out the other six on Saturday over at the hosts site https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com
Until next week, have fun in the garden or indeed just admiring plants
Some plants just walk into Plant of the week without any need of explaining why! With Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Etienne Soulange-Bodin it is certainly indeed one of those plants. Where ever you drive at the moment, town, city or countryside, you will see one of these stunning magnolias, flowering away to the hearts content. If there is a tree in the uk that shouts here’s spring more than Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Etienne Soulange-Bodin I would love to know it
One of the things that makes Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Etienne Soulange-Bodin such a good tree for peoples gardens is the fact it is slow growing, height after 20 years can be up to 3-4m high and wide and its takes up to 50yrs to reach its full 6m height and width. The leaves open just after the plant has finished flowering and are a oval shaped, mid green in colour around 20cm long, they do go a yellow colour in the autumn but it isn’t one of the best for autumn colour. It is the big open white flowers, flushed with purple at the base, this plant is mainly grown for. These flowers can be tolerant of a certain amount of frost.
Finding a good peat free seed compost is hard enough but to find one for growing acid loving plants is even harder! I was lucky enough to be given a bag of this to try and it has been waiting until the spring for me to start my little trial. Like the seed compost, this will be tried over the next year or so, not just in one plant but over a range of different plants and growing habits.
So what is Dalefoot compost and what makes it so special? Well it’s a compost based on an old Victorian recipe that incorporates well rotten bracken and sheeps wool from Herdwick sheep. This produces a compost that holds water well but is also free draining. The compost is also contains potash and slow release nitrogen, as well as trace levels of iron and magnesium. The bracken is harvested in rotation from the Lake District while the wool is from the sheep that live on the hillside. The bracken used for the Ericaceous is taken from the acidic areas in the fells.
Like the seed compost, it was soft to the feel and nice and springy. I tried squeezing it and it formed a nice sausage that broke down finely once touched.
If you have drainage ditches or pipes, check them to make sure they are running effectively. Best weather ironically to check it when it’s pouring down with rain!
At this time of year, there’s lots happening in the plant world and it’s so difficult to choose one plant of the week, then one plant just jumps out at you and screams add me add me so you do! Stachyurus praecox is indeed one of those plants. The shear beauty of the flowers will take your breathe away and rightly so!
Stachyurus praecox is indeed a native of Japan and into the Himalayas and was discovered in Japan by the great German explorer and physician Philippine Von Siebold. He discovered and introduced many of our Japanese plants that we grow in our gardens. Stachyurus praecox in its native Japan, can be found growing around the forest edges in the warmer temperate areas of Japan and is indeed know as a pioneer shrub, meaning it is one of the first plants to grow in a newly cleared areas.
The name comes from Greek words Stachys meaning an ear of corn and oura meaning a tail, praecox means early for the early flowering. And it does flower early, in a normal year, it flowers from February to April, but this year it has only just started flowering in the past few weeks. The tiny flowers are borne on large racemes measuring up to 5″ long on some plants and in Japan, they are pollinated by bees. The shrub itself can grow up to 3m in height over 5 years or so. The mid green coloured leaves, turn in the autumn to a blaze of oranges and yellows and it is well worth growing for the autumn colour as well.
Stachyurus praecox makes a great garden plant. It prefers a semi shaded or sunny spot in the garden with the soil being on the neutral to acidic side. Stachyurus praecox prefers a well drained soil but will be happy in a sandy loam and again despite what the books and internet says, it will grow away quite happy in a clay soil. As it comes from the warmer areas of Japan, it will tolerate temperatures as low as -15c but ideally to do its best for you, it does need a sheltered spot in the garden or indeed makes an unusual wall shrub.
