Parthenocissus, Zauscheneria and the Orchard

Parthenocissus henryana has done particularly well this year. The vivid scarlet leaves were on this year's growth as it was cut down to the base. Perhaps that is why it has retained its leaves for longer. The plant is on an east-facing wall, which is sheltered from the prevailing winds.

Another plant with flowers of a similar hue is Zauschneria, which has been in bloom for months but now is almost over. I was told it was tender when I was given a cutting many years ago. But in a low brick wall facing the creeper it has travelled the whole length and now looks like a scarlet hedge. Easily rooted by cuttings it should be in everyone's garden. I believe there are at least two varieties. I think mine, with its dark green leaves, is likely to be Zauschneria californica 'Glasnevin', which can also be found in the Botanical Gardens in Dublin.

At the moment the orchard badly needs attention. I lost an old Victorian plum tree in one of the gales – the roots were completely rotten and the trunk hollow. How it produced delicious plums for the last few years I don’t know.

I tried a few cuttings because the tree was at least 70 years old so I don’t think it would have been a grafted plant. Unfortunately I put them into a large bucket of sandy soil outside the greenhouse. I found to my disgust the rabbits had clipped them off. One is showing some growth at ground level but I am not very optimistic.

I also had a large old apple tree, which I always thought was the variety 'Morgan Sweet'. It was a good crisp eater – bright green fruit which eventually took on a pale yellow tinge when cooked. It snapped off about four feet up the trunk to it would be a major operation to dig out the roots. It has now begun to grow a few green shoots so I will leave well alone and see what happens.

Early Days at Wheatfield

There has been a house at Wheatfield since the 17th century. Pictured is a drawing of the house before the Second World War by John Moody.

I came to Wheatfield on the death of my mother-in-law over 40 years ago, but I didn’t start to garden seriously until the mid 1970s. The two and a half acre garden, although it may look old, has only been in its current form for 35 years.

The house, farm buildings and garden cover four acres, which when I arrived was mainly under grass. It consisted of a plantation of trees with daffodils, crocuses and snowdrops, which had naturalised beneath them. I understand these were planted by my husband's grandmother.

On the substantial lawn facing the house was a large birch tree, behind which was a bed of mixed rhododendrons, a couple of copper Prunus triloba, a large horse chestnut tree, a number of mixed conifers, plus a windswept ornamental crab apple tree. A laurel hedge divided the lawn from the field.

To the east side of the house were two beds divided by a path with three rose arches – one bed contained roses, the other herbaceous plants. A small rock garden was backed by a well kept Lonicera hedge.

To the left was, and still is, a cold greenhouse with a large vegetable garden behind it with soft fruit bushes. Nearby were a couple of white lilac trees and a large specimen of Crinodendron lanceolata. The orchard contained plum and apple trees, including 'Laxton Superb', 'Newtown Pippin', 'Morgan Sweet', a russet and one unidentified variety.

Pictured below is a view from the house today.

October Tips

Don’t be in too much of a hurry to tidy up for the winter as there are still some autumn flowering plants to be enjoyed, such as gentians, Kaffir lilies, nerines, white and double pink Japanese anemones.

Try planting a row of broad beans, the variety 'Aquadulce', in a sheltered part of the vegetable garden. If the winter is not too severe you should be picking beans at the end of next May. If you have saved your own seed it will cost you nothing but your own efforts.

I am sowing sweet peas in deep pots – large yoghurt cartons or litre fruit juice cartons with holes made in the bottom are ideal. Keep in a cold greenhouse or garage until they germinate. You can also place them in the shelter of an evergreen shrub and cover with a piece of glass or thick plastic in case a mouse is ready for a meal. A slug pellet is also a good precaution. Again, the weather plays its part but these plants if they survive will give you flowers in May.

Nerine bulbs from the southern hemisphere will give you long-lasting clumps of shell pink flowers with strong stems. Don’t plant too deep as this appears to inhibit their flowering. A sunny spot in rich, well-drained soil is all they need. They can be grown in containers with success but be careful they don’t get waterlogged, and keep in a warm sheltered spot in the winter.

Bulbs planted in the ground will benefit from a mulch as the shallow planting can leave them vulnerable to frost.There are a number of varieties. Bowdenii is the most popular as some of the others are too tender.

Colchicums

These plants, sometimes known as autumn crocus, are an exotic looking flower. Although fragile they have stood up to the stormy weather this year.

I planted most of them around fruit trees in the orchard. At first I think I didn’t plant them deep enough as they tended to fall over.

The variety Colchicum speciosum alba increases a lot with me – I think there is a double variety but I haven’t been able to locate it yet.

The lavender coloured double variety ‘Waterlily’ is very attractive but hasn’t increased like speciosum.

There is a drawback with these plants. The leaves, which appear in spring, are large and floppy. I have read they should be cut back but I think mine have increased so well because I have allowed them to die naturally.

Passion Flower - Passiflora caerulea

I have a sunny corner near the greenhouse, which is sheltered by a south-facing wall. At the base of the wall sit half a dozen old troughs, containing a few alpines, some bulbs and dwarf conifers, including the ‘Noah’s Ark’ juniper.

In this favoured position I tried Plumbago capensis, which lasted several years and would probably still be alive if I had given it winter protection. I next tried a passion flower, grown from a cutting given to me by a friend. It bloomed for years, trained along the wall – but several years ago I neglected it during a dry spell in early spring and lost it through drought. Oddly I had never watered it, as rain dripping from the guttering above had obviously been enough to keep it going.

To continue the saga my grandson decided to replace it as a Christmas gift. He ordered two different varieties, one for himself and one for me. When they arrived, one looked healthy, the other on its last legs – the latter was given to me with very little hope.

After trimming off the obviously dead stalks, one shoot piece remained. I put the pot on a window sill which had sunshine until after lunchtime and there it remained until early spring, when to my surprise and delight, a small green shoot appeared at the base.

When this reached a foot high and still very fragile, I thought I would pinch it out to allow side shoots perhaps to form. As it was so delicate I took at sharp pair of scissors and cut it down to about six inches. The top piece was quite turgid, so using a skewer I made a hole in the compost, trickled in some water and inserted the cutting, putting in a pinch of sterile sand. In a very short time it rooted. Since then I have rooted two more cuttings of the same variety Passiflora caerulea and it is now growing healthily at the base of the wall.

Ground Cover

Ground cover can often lend a new dimension to the garden, giving patches of colour when shrubs have ceased to flower – they are usually low growing plants which help to smother annual weeds.

I use some of the dwarf periwinkles (Vinca), some with white flowers, some with blue. There are quite a number of varieties, both single and double, with a wide spectrum of colour, from white to purple.

I have also two varieties, one with silver variegation and one with gold. They all have shiny evergreen leaves which enhance the foliage of shrubs.

Another useful plant is Pachysandra terminalis. It has white flowers which are insignificant but the small, evergreen leaves are of an attractive shape and a good weed suppressant.

The Erigerons, with daisy-like flowers in pink and mauve, bloom all summer if deadheaded now and again. The variety given to me as Erigeron ‘Four Winds’ but I believe it to be Erigeron speciosis (pictured above right).

I also use another of the species Erigeron mucronatus ‘Profusion’ (pictured left) with smaller daisy-like flowers in multicolours. This will also bloom until the first frost.

These plants cover large areas quite quickly but can easily be contained if they grow over their allotted space.

Seeds, Rabbits and Orange Peel

Walking around the garden, I have noticed quite a few seed pods, namely Agapanthus orientalis, a very free flowering variety with pale blue flowers.

Also some Agapanthus ‘Headbourne hybrids’, which have flowers in varying shades of blue, including a very dark blue, and also white. These only grow to 12-15 inches high so are suitable for the smaller garden.

Galtonia candicans has set a lot of seed. If you are prepared to wait a couple of years, sow it now as I did. I prefer a large pot rather than a seed tray. Hardy perennials and bulbs set in a shady place will need very little watering and if you use sterile sandy soil for the top two inches, anything that germinates isn’t smothered with weeds.

I am hoping that the seed from Cobaea scandens (pictured left) is viable. Most seeds I prefer to sow when fresh but as they are tender I will sow these in early spring.

I have had great trouble with rabbits this year, decimating many of my plants (my friend Anthony has decimated some of the rabbits with his shotgun). With a large garden, it is not possible to protect everything. I have just recently heard that if orange peel is placed near a plant the rabbits will avoid it. Hopefully this will be effective.

Autumn tip - this is a good time to be thinking about making alterations to the garden and changing plants that have been disappointing because of size, colour or performance. Take out or reduce the size of shrubs that are smothering nearby plants.

Cobaea Scandens

I have found most gardeners are willing to share their experiences and seeds and cuttings with like-minded people.


This year, I was given two small seedlings in May of a plant I had never grown before, namely Cobaea scandens. One was labelled pink the other blue.


As this plant comes from Mexico (it is a tender perennial climber), it will probably not survive the winter without protection.


They are only now showing some flowers. One has pale green foliage and is growing through a large silver box Buxus argentea. The flower which is like a cup and saucer (cobea is also called the cup-and-saucer plant), is beautiful - translucent cream and green. The other plant is planted at the base of a wall covered with the golden ivy 'Buttercup' and has dark purple foliage. It is only in bud but I imagine the flower will be purple. The white one Cobaea scandens alba is quite rare so I am hoping to get some viable seed.


They are probably blooming so late because of a lack of sunlight and were sown too late. They are well worth growing.

Sowing and Growing Cyclamen

Although it is September and many flowers are past there are still some treasures in store such as cyclamen I started growing six years ago.

I purchased two corms - one Cyclamen hederifolium, the other Cylcamen neapolitan. As they were dormant in a plastic bag, I didn't know what colour they were but later found out one was white, one pink. They were planted at the base of a windswept crab apple tree. The ground was full of roots so I covered them with a bucket of home-made compost.

The following spring the foliage began to appear, beautifully marked silver speckled leaves. As the year progressed a few flowers arrived. At the end of August these were followed by seed pods on stems like coiled springs. Apparently in nature when the seeds are ripe the 'spring' uncoils and scatters seed, but I gathered it before this happened and placed the capsules on the sunny kitchen window. Within a few days they were ripe and to my surprise there was quite a lot of seed inside. I decided to sow the seed straight away so sprinkled it on the surface of a large pot, covering it with some sterile sand.

I left the pot in the shade of a laurel bush at the kitchen window and to my amazement a month later small round green leaves appeared. The leaves disappeared and I thought this was the end of the seedlings but on tipping out the pot I found lots of small corms about the size of a small pea. These I planted singly into small pots and left in the shade that year. It was rather interesting to see the difference in the variation in the size of the plants as they all had the same treatment. Further sowings since have shown similar differences!

To accommodate the large number of plants I killed off the grass around the base of the trees in the plantation and planted them there. Each year they are growing larger and make a great feature now they have dozens of flowers, many with slightly different habits and colourings.

I have since read cyclamen prefer dry, shady places but mine seem to grow and thrive nearly everywhere.

I was also given some seed distributed by the Alpine Society - they were of different species, mainly Cyclamen coum varieties. Very few germinated and the ones that did took almost two years, so if possible sow when fresh.

Doreen Moody

Tomatoes

I have always enjoyed growing vegetables. Nothing pleases me more than gathering the harvest of tomatoes, courgettes, beans and the like.

This year I was given some heritage seed to try by a friend who is a member of the Organic Gardeners’ Society, a tomato called 'Purple Calabash' (Lycoperiscon esculentum), and a few beans, which I think were called 'Lazy Housewife'.

Unfortunately the latter were ravaged by the rabbits, which have done so much damage this year – the four beans were about two feet high when the rabbit cut them down to about six inches. I kept them in and eventually they re-sprouted from the base and are now coming into flower. With the protection of fine plastic mesh I hope to be able to sample them and perhaps save some seed.

I kept one 'Purple Calabash' tomato plant which produced odd-looking fruit, like small flattened pumpkins. When cut they were full of juice and lots of very fine pips – not very attractive to eat raw. but with their strong tomato smell suitable for chutney. I am not tempted to try them again.

I much prefer my own variety grown from seed I had saved. I think it is a natural cross between 'Gardener’s Delight' and 'Sungold'. The tomatoes have good flavour, crop heavily and keep for months. My friends will testify that I still have had edible tomatoes in February!

This year I have also been growing Pic-a-tom in large pots. I picked the first ones on the 12th of July and they have continued producing ever since and now have a fresh flush of flowers – they have a sweet flavour but are rather soft in texture. They do quite well in a sheltered sunny spot outdoors, as my grand-daughter proved last year.

My Pic-a-toms are growing in the cold greenhouse with the door ajar most of the time. As they are growing in pots they are fed every few days with home-made fertiliser – liquid run-off from a compost bin and nettles. This mixture is kept in a bin outside so it frequently is diluted

with rain water.

Doreen Moody

Primroses

Few gardeners can resist the charm of our native primrose Primula vulgaris which used to grow in large numbers but now seems to be decreasing. It was during the reign of the Tudors that primroses first came to be widely grown for the interest and beauty of their flowers, for even then many variations in the wild had become known. A double yellow variety was written about as early as 1500.

They were often used in the quaint knot gardens of that time probably because they came into bloom at the beginning of March in the more favoured areas. They continued in flower for two to three months. Now the more modern hybrids are used for colourful bedding displays for the same reason.

There are numerous named varieties of primroses but for me the double varieties have the most appeal. I had quite a number of different ones some years ago but lost the lot one dry summer. There are some modem double hybrids such as 'Corporal Baxtei', a large double dark red, 'Captain Blood', a shade or two paler and not quite fully double, but if one is lucky you may find some of the varieties that Granny used to grow such as 'Cloth of Gold', a double yellow, 'Quaker's Bonnet Lavender', 'Gerard's White', 'Chevithorne Pink', 'Our Pat' purple etc.

I have started a fresh collection and hope to learn by my mistakes, by sticking to a few simple rules:

1. Move to summer quarters in dappled shade as soon as they have finished flowering.
2. Do not divide in the first season unless growing strongly.
3. Plant in humus rich soil containing some coarse grit to ensure good drainage.
4. Never allow them to dry out.
5. If the plant looks sickly lift and cheek for root damage from the vine weevil grubs (white with orange heads) if you find them wash the roots in a mild disinfectant and move to a new planting area.

Sounds like a lot of work but you will be well rewarded as these plants are comparatively rare therefore expensive.

Doreen Moody

September Photos

Cobaea scandens var. alba? A woman who I looked after as a little girl came to visit the garden and gave me this plant, which I think is a vigorous climber from Mexico. Also known as the cup-and-saucer plant. Strictly a perennial, but I intend to grow it as a half-hardy annual.




Phlox maculata 'White Admiral'. I have increased this by stem cuttings, round about the same time as the Chelsea Flower Show, therefore known as the 'Chelsea chop'. Reduce some of the sideshoots in May when the plant is about 12 inches high. 6 inch pieces root very easily.

Bulbs of Colchicum speciosum. Flowers from September onwards. Also known as 'naked lady'. I read that the flower contains a poison similar to arsenic.




Foliage of the native Euonymus or Spindle tree beginning to turn red. So called because its hard, yellowish wood 'serveth
very well to the making both of Prickes and Spindelles'.

Cylcamen as big as a dinner plate by stump of horse chestnut, grown from my own seed.









(c) David Lewis 2008

Autumn Colour

While still waiting for summer, autumn has arrived. Although we have had such dismal weather the garden has never bloomed so well.

The circular bed I can see from the kitchen window is full of colour, which will remain for some time yet. With deadheading, dahlias will bloom until the first frosts.

The large clumps of Agapanthus occidentalis still have a number of china blue flowers but are beginning to set seed so will soon be over, but the large white Phlox maculata 'White Admiral' (pictured left) is looking at its best, with the added bonus of fragrance.

Further touches of white are added by Lychnis coronaria alba which when constantly beheaded lasts for weeks, and a few pots of white margariles, which I have set on the border where earlier flowers such as the Fair Maids of France and white Aquilegias have died down.

A medium-sized cactus Dahlia 'Pink Princess' blooms profusely as does the white 'sport' which I managed to grow from it last year. The pink tone deepens to red with the longlasting Sedum 'Autumn Joy' (pictured below). Along the edge of the circle the dwarf pink Astilbe chinensis is beginning to flower and several plants of a single pink chrysanthemum have survived the winters without having to lift the 'stool'.

Large patches of the pom-pom dahlia 'Amber Glow' brings it all together. Seedlings of the annual Atriplex hortensis var rubra (Purple Orache, pictured above), which pop up every year add a bit of height with their purpley-puce foliage. If they get a bit out of hand they can easily be pruned to more flowering sideshoots. I believe this plant is edible but I need to find out more about it.

It is a good time for me to see what other people have in bloom in these shades, as I would like to change the chrysanthemums.

Autumn tip - Look out for seed which could be ripening, not only on flower seeds such as sweet peas, both everlasting and annual, but also vegetables such as broad beans, overripe runner beans and, perhaps, some shot beetroot which is flowering.

Doreen Moody

August Photos

Dahlias still in bloom

Eucryphia

nymansensis

Hydrangea and Galtonia candicans (summer hyacinth) by a stone wall

Japanese anemone in front of the old outdoor toilet

Jar of wasps on the stump of the plum tree

Copyright (c) David Lewis 2008.

Lazy Beds

It is difficult to imagine but when I was married 50 years ago there were very few vegetables to choose from – potatoes, carrots, turnips, kale and cabbage – so when I went to live in a house with a large neglected garden I couldn’t wait to experiment with vegetable growing.

The best presents I received were the ABC of Vegetable Gardening by WE Sherwell-Cooper and the ABC of Flower Gardening.

Living in the country the days were long, with one small daughter to look after and my husband all day in business in Derry. It was a gigantic task but a challenge I was determined to face.

My first try was the potato. I read in my ABC that one could grow potatoes in 'lazy beds', which was also a good way to clean the ground.

My husband scythed off the top of weeds, coarse grass, brambles and tree seedlings. We then marked out a small plot with pegs and string.

Sods of about 18 inches square were lifted off and placed grass side down either side of a shallow trench – the potatoes were placed in this trench about a foot apart and covered with a sprinkling of soil. I remember the thrill when the first green shoots appeared. The sods were roughly chopped in situ and used to earth up the shoots in very rough drills.

While the potatoes were growing we took on another strip of land to grow broad beans. By this time my husband had managed to get a load of manure from a local farmer.

A deep trench was dug, the soil well broken up and in the bottom of it we put the chopped up turf then a heavy dose of manure, the soil placed on top then lightly tramped down. The beans were planted six inches apart then covered with two inches of soil.

With reference to my ABC of Vegetable Gardening I decided to try a ‘hot bed’ to grow lettuce. My husband knocked out the bottom of an apple box to give a small frame. A deep hole two spades deep was dug slightly smaller than the frame – this was filled with alternate layers of manure and grass cuttings – well tramped down. The frame was put on top and filled with the soil which had been put through a coarse riddle.

Small rows of lettuce, radishes and beetroot were sown and a piece of window glass placed on top. It was surprising how soon the seeds germinated as the manure and grass cuttings heated the soil. I made the mistake most new gardeners make by sowing the seeds too thickly and then not thinning them out sufficiently.

By this time there was lush growth on the potatoes which my husband had ‘earthed up’ two or three times. When they had flowered and the flowers had died we took a spade to try them. What a disappointment! Loads of small potatoes, delicious to eat, but no weight of crop. Obviously a lack of humus as the sods were still dry and the potatoes hadn’t had the advantage of the manure.

Don’t worry if things go wrong. All gardeners make mistakes. It’s the best way to learn. And although the potatoes were small, cooked with butter and mint, they were still a treat!

Doreen Moody

Growing Vegetables

Growing vegetables is so rewarding. Vegetables fresh from the garden taste quite different and if grown without chemcial fertiliser or pesticides you know they are truly organic.

If you have only a small space you are limited as to what you can grow, so grow the plants which will give you the most return for your labour. Here are a few plants, I wouldn’t be without.

Everyone should have a few plants of everlasting onions, also known as scallions. They are so easy to grow and if you just use the green tops leaving the bulb in the ground, they will go on and on and on. My original everlasting onions were given to me almost 50 years ago!

Used in salads, stir-fries or champ they are very tasty, much more flavoursome than chives which tend to get tough and dry, or the white Lisbon seedling onions which are usually sold as spring onions. They can be planted as the edge to a border or even a clump in a large pot.

Most varieties of lettuce mature at the same time so try varieties such as 'Salad Bowl', which give you a continuous picking over several months. The curling leaves are also quite attractive.
Given rich moisture retaining soil a few plants of asparagus grown at the back of a flowerbed will give you a treat for a few weeks in April/May.

Runner or climbing French beans can be grown up a fence or a wigwam of canes – given a mulch and plenty of water – and picked frequently will give you beans for at least three months.

Spinach can be picked continuously but I prefer a few plants of Swiss Chard which give you a crisp green vegetables for about nine months of the year. You not only can eat the green part of the leaves, in salads or cooked like spinach, but also the thick white centres, cooked like asparagus). There are coloured varieties that can be interplanted in flower borders as can beetroot. Seedlings can be grown on early in small pots to give you earlier crops.

A few herbs such as parsley, Jerusalem sage, mint etc do very well in pots. The black plastic pots which are used for cut flowers, I find can be recycled by making a few holes in the bottom. Because of their size they don’t usually require watering unless the weather is particularly dry and given a weak liquid fertiliser will surprise you with the results.

I grow tomato plants from my own seed, which is an obvious hybrid between 'Gardener's Delight' and 'Sungold'. I grow these in the greenhouse but in recent years have tried growing them outside.

Don’t be discouraged by failure. If seedlings get eaten by rabbits (as has happened to me recently) or shredded by caterpillars, there is usually some other vegetable you can grow as a catch crop, such as Chinese cabbage. Useful for salads, stir-fry etc. No need to cut the whole cabbage, just take off the outside leaves. Of course this can be done with ordinary cabbages – they go on growing just the same. Nutritionists say there are more vitamins in the outside leaves. Whether, this is because they have been growing longer and absorbed more vitamins, I don’t know.

These are some of the vegetables I wouldn’t be without. But every year I like to try something different. Last year it was chicory, black salsify and Florence fennel. Who knows what it will be this year!

Doreen Moody