Are you Feeling Blue?

It will come as no surprise to my nearest and dearest that I've been 'feeling blue' this past week. With all of the rain constantly falling, I'd grown increasingly frustrated watching my garden out of the window and not able to get out in it.

The view from my window, I realised, is also 'blue'!

Unintentionally, I seem to have chosen plants that all open with beautiful shades of blues, mauve's and purples at this time of year.

At the top of the garden is my Ceanothus 'Blue Mound' that has matured over the past three years and is looking great now, totally full of blooms. In front of that, I have the vivid blue of the Centaurea montana 'Grandiflora' (cornflower) with its bright purple stamens. The bees are loving them! The plant itself has become a bit unruly due to all the pounding it's received from the rain lately and so I will have to tie it up soon to stop it from overcrowding everything in near proximity. I am usually quite strict with the Centaurea, cutting it hard back several times in a season. Once the first main flush of flowers have gone over, I cut it back to almost ground level. It soon grows back and gives me even more blooms.

I repeat this process with quite a few of the perennials in my garden as I do hate straggly plants. It was a technique that was popularised during the Chelsea Flower Show a few years ago and was fondly named 'The Chelsea Chop'. Not all perennials respond well to this method of maintenance so check first before you merrily 'chop' the heads of all your plants!

In front of the Centaurea, I've got Lithospernum 'Heavenly Blue' (Heavenly Stars) growing in the gravel path. This low growing alpine can get quite woody and I admit to being harsher with the pruning of it than I probably should be. Plants get two chances in my garden - survive or die! I haven't lost too many yet so the plants must talk to each other and warn newcomers what I'm like as an owner. Or maybe, I'm just lucky! The Lithospernum always gives me a wonderful display of sky blue star shaped flowers and they go on and on all throughout summer.

Last year I underplanted some wooden steps and again opted for blue flowers! They're just going over now but for the past three months I have had an amazing show of tiny blue flowers on my Brunnera macrophylla which has managed to establish itself despite the difficult growing conditions of dry soil in total shade. As it's done so well, I recently bought it a friend and neighbour - another Brunnera (Brunnera macrophylla 'Mr Morse') but this one is white so hopefully next spring they'll merge together and give an attractive display again.

All around the garden I have the invasive Campanula which although very pretty does have a tendency to swamp everything else and I do have to tear a lot of it out before it gets the chance to flower. It's just beginning to break into colour now and in a few more weeks the garden will be full of the starry blue flowers up to about three feet high. My favourite part if the garden in June is the top corner where my peach coloured Rose begins to flower amongst the backdrop of the Campanula. It makes for a stunning combination and not one that I planned. If I had my way, I wouldn't have any Campanula in the garden but nature seems to disagree with me so I'm embracing it on my terms only. Once it's finished flowering, I will - once again- rip it all out to allow other plants to have a chance to grow. I can rest assured though, that no matter how hard I massacre the plant, it'll soon be back again.

From Cider to Water

In my opinion, all good gardeners have a duty to encourage wildlife into their urban jungles (a.k.a - their gardens). With the destructive manner that councils are merrily stripping away hedges, trees and scrub-land under the pretence that it inflicts with health and safety regulations, our wild animals are fast running out of places to live, eat and generally survive.

Now, I'm not saying you should put up a sign offering rent to the local foxes and badgers; (unless you want to of course, but they can be quite noisy when you're trying to sleep) but by adding simple features to your garden you can attract birds, bees, butterflies, frogs, and just about anything you want to actually!

A well as choosing a variety of plants that attract such flying insects as listed above - yes, I know frogs can't fly! - I have had in my garden for the past three years an old cider barrel. But no; I'm not trying to turn my garden into the local drinking establishment for all things 'wild'. The idea was that by filling the barrel with water and adding some aquatic plants I can enjoy the benefits of having tranquil water in the garden without having to dig up a huge amount of ground to make a pond. And quite frankly, I haven't the space for anything larger than the three-foot diameter barrel anyway.

So, having positioned my barrel and filled it with plants, I then did what everyone else does...I left it to stagnate! After the second year, the Zantedeschia I'd planted to the side had grown so huge that it was a struggle to even see the barrel. The plants in the barrel - a Cyperus, a Butomus, and some Iris - failed to grow at all due to receiving absolutely no light.

It did have the desired effect of introducing wildlife. Last summer, when pruning the Hedera on the wall next to the barrel, I was startled by a little frog that was hiding in the Ivy. It hopped back to the safety of the barrel and I never saw it again. I also have a regular Starling that comes to bathe in the barrel. He's quite tame now and splashes around merrily even if I'm sat in the garden.

With all this going on, I felt it was a shame that I couldn't see the water feature and that there were no plants growing in it (kind of an important factor when you consider that I'm a gardener!).

Last week I decided to move it out from the corner and found a more suitable place where hopefully it won't get overgrown again. Pulling out the pots that once had thriving plants in them I was pleased to discover that there are tiny signs of life in them so my next project is to try to save them. The water was disgusting, full of leaf mould, chickweed, and VERY stagnant. Scooping out with a jam jar, I poured the water over other parts of the garden to prevent a flood and rolled the barrel off its broken patio slabs that I'd used as a foundation.

Once, that difficult bit had been done, it was simply a matter of making the barrel sit level in its new position and then re-filling it. Job Done!

Now, I have a water feature that not only can I see but it also has clean, non-smelling water in it. This time, I intend on maintaining the water and changing it regularly to keep it clean. I've got no electric outside and so I can't add a pump to circulate the water which would be the ideal however, I'm going to keep an eye out for a solar power fountain and see if that helps.

In the meantime, I now need to get some new plants for it. I like the idea of a water lily although they can grow quite large. Smaller varieties are available and Nymphaea 'Aurora' would make a perfect choice for my little barrel. Its flowers are red/orange which will complement the orange Campsis growing on the fence behind it and continue the tropical theme for the lower part of my garden. It only spreads 1.5 - 2 ft and has speckled leaves that will add interest whilst it isn't flowering.

Mmm? Think I may have to take a trip to my local water garden centre now!

Bleeding Hearts in the Shade

One of my favourite plants at this time of year is Dicentra Spectablis. A perennial plant that thrives in the shadier corners of my garden.

It grows to about 2-3ft and has deeply divided, fern-like leaves with rows of tiny pink pendulous heart-shaped flowers (hence its common name of bleeding heart) hanging down during April and May.

I have mine planted next to a Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Irene Patterson' and the dark maroon flowers with variegated foliage compliment the delicate blooms of the Dicentra wonderfully. It prefers a well-drained soil in partial shade but actually copes quite well in my less than adequate clay soil in pretty much full shade.

You will need to plant it near other plants that will grow up and 'swamp' it during the summer months as the leaves of the Dicentra will turn yellow and look unsightly once it has finished flowering. In the past I haven't addressed this problem myself but this year I'm trying to be clever and sort two problems with one solution - sounds too good to be true! I've also got growing in my garden an Asparagus that in its present position goes crazy every year, reaching heights of 7-8ft in a single season with its feathery, aniseed-scented fronds. The trouble is it totally dominates everything else near it. So, being the smart thinking individual that I like to think I am, I've moved it next to the Dicentra with the hope that it'll do its thing with its new neighbour. I'm not convinced it will as the shady conditions won't really suit it (it prefers a far sunnier spot to do well really) but you never know.... nature has a funny way of defying the rules. I'll keep you posted.

Who'd go to a Garden Centre on a Bank Holiday Weekend?

So. It's that time again. The sun WILL be shining (fingers crossed) and people are suddenly blessed with a whole three days to spend together with no idea what to do.

The wonder of the May Day Bank Holiday means that regular folk who would normally spend their usual two-day weekend washing the car or taking the dogs for an extra long walk suddenly feel compelled to do something productive - just because of that extra day. WHY?

Well, it probably has something to do with the power of media. Television advertisements offering you discounts on wallpaper, paints, plants, furniture - in fact, anything they can think of that will entice you to get off the sofa and hot-foot it down to your nearest B&Q, Homebase or Garden Centre.

And you'll try to resist it. Heck, you'll even manage for the first day - maybe even for the second too - feeling really smug that you've rebelled by staying home and playing with the kids in the garden or cleaning that garage and shed out finally. But by the time the momentous third day arrives, you'll most probably be sick of the family's company and be itching to get out. So; Where do you go? Yep...your local garden centre; that's where. You and everyone else!

If you're lucky enough to find a parking space; you'll then have the pleasure of squeezing your way around the packed aisles between displays of fertilisers, propagators and this months hottest plants. Before you know it, you'll have a trolley full of a wonderful array of bedding plants, flower seeds, weedkillers and that new bucket that you're bound to need eventually.

Feeling pleased with yourself for coping so marvellously with the crowds and long queues, you'll get home only to realise that the weekend's over and that you haven't got time to plant all of your new purchases.

I guess that's the following weekend taken care of then!