Sunflower Head

I have also grown a lovely multi-headed variety with red/brown flower heads. In fact in my potato plot I have found that some of these red coloured sunflowers from last year had self seeded itself all over the area. So I have had to dig carefully around the sunflowers in order to harvest my potatoes.

Since some of my sunflowers are dotted along the garden path, I have been able to enjoy watching the insects that gorge themselves on the nectar as I go past. If like me you feel that flowers are a very important part of the ecosystem you can participate in a survey related bees and get involved in the great sunflower project.

A wide range of wild garden birds eat ripe sunflower seeds such as Gold finches and I am looking forward to watching them in the months to come.

Paul is a keen dahlia grower who has spent years perfecting the art of growing dahlias for competition purposes and I have taken the opportunity to ask him a few questions.

Trelyn Kiwi dahlia

So what is your favourite dahlia?
“Of the 102 dahlias that I grow my main dahlia has to be Trelyn Kiwi, which is a small cactus which you can see in the picture below. This dahlia is a multi winner up and down the country, even to the other ends of the world such as New Zealand.

Its form is immaculate if not the easiest to grow. I usually grow 24 plants but this year I am growing 32 plants of it!

Do you have some advice on how to achieve the best results with your dahlias?
I follow these steps in order to be ready for the annual dahlia show which takes place in Truro next weekend on 16th August:

Marston Velvet dahlia

- Planting: I usually plant my dahlias during the last week of May, watering in with Maxicrop Seaweed based growth stimulant and Epsom Salts. Other fertilizers are also available but these are my preferred choice.
- Stopping: in order to grow perfect show dahlia flowers, in particular for my Trelyn Kiwi variety, I like to pinch out the central leading bud in June. When that leading bud is removed the lower buds grow on producing the resultant stems which should be ready for the show in August.
- Debranching: secure 7 stems and the resultant blooms will reach 6.25 to 6.50 inches across.
- Disbudding: I remove all other bud growth down to ground level
- Cutting for the show: I cut the flower 24 hours before the show, or 36 hours placing blooms in a dark shed; Trelyn can have ‘green centres’ so a day before cutting add a high nitrogen feed such as Chempak No.2 to each plant. This should help to close centres along with the ‘dark shed’ treatment.

How do you deal with the dreaded earwigs?

Don Hill Dahlia

You need to maintain clean plots and surrounding areas so that earwigs have less places to hide and breed. Otherwise, twice a year mix a 10 times stronger dose than recommended of an insecticide such as Bug Clear by Scotts for example, mix in a jug, pour into a washing up liquid container and pour this down each cane as they can hide there. Also I spray dahlias every week with insecticide (Roseclear is my choice as combines insecticide and fungicide).”

If you want to see some of the most beautiful dahlias in the country including Paul’s, then a visit to the West Cornwall Dahlia Annual show is a must:
The West Cornwall Dahlia Club, the Main Show is on Sunday 16th August at Chacewater Garden Centre, Chacewater, Truro, Cornwall. Alternatively you can check out Paul’s website which is dedicated to dahlias.

Clarkia in flower border

Gallardia and Rudbekia

Some of my ideas have worked out, so for example as you can see the Clarkias provided some interesting lush colour in the flower border.
But unfortunately some of the seeds did not germinate so I did not manage to get the homogenous effect which I was looking for. The Clarkias were interspersed with some Sisyrinchiums (Stiatum) which are perennial plants that produce elegant spikes of creamy yellow flowers. Since these flowers tend to self seed freely I ended up with too many of them in the border but it was nonetheless looking good in June.

Then later in the month there were a few unexpected blue cornflowers in the wrong places but they filled in some gaps nicely. I am also rather disappointed with the lawn Chamomile and the Erigerons which do not seem to have grown well as you can hardly see them in the border.

Mixed flower border

So my flower border is not really what I was expecting in terms of general effect but it does look good and colorful, and that’s what matters after all.

Garden Dahlia

In my experience it is important to feed dahlias regularly in order to get a nice succession of blooms. Experts sometimes differ on what type of fertilizers they use to grow their prize-winning blooms (prize winning tips often remain secret!). I find that you can either use a general complete flower fertilizer that you can find in any garden center or better still, I like to use sulphate of potash which is basically the liquid that I use to feed my tomato plants.

I prefer to use liquid fertilizers since they are easier to dilute according to the manufacturers instructions. I also like to make sure that during periods of draught my dahlias are watered regularly and I obviously feed the base of the plant in the ground.

Right now I have dahlias grown in pots, and also some plants over-wintered as they were planted directly in the ground last year.

This year a couple of my plants didn’t make it through the exceptionally cold winter so it’s best not to leave them outside if you don’t want to take any risk.

Varied Border

The specimens that were planted directly in the ground and survived winter are only just starting to produce buds but I know that they will be just as beautiful as the forced one.

Another tip for growing dahlias is that it is best to dead head the faded flowers regularly. This encourages new growth and it also makes the plant look tidier.

Whilst I deadhead I also take the opportunity to check for earwigs since they lurk in the flower petals and can do quite a lot of damage to your plant. I don’t use any pesticides on my plants and prefer to trap the earwigs in upturned clay pots as I explained on my previous article about growing dahlias.

If you have found that a particular type of dahlia is graceful to you, then you will be able to propagate the plant at a later stage.

So it’s worth keeping a note of which plant is of interest to you right now so that you may be able to grow some more for free for years to come.

Cordyline Blossom

This year we had a new unexpected blossom from a Cordyline plant which as you can see below attracts all the bees and looks like a spray of small flowers. Cordylines give an exotic look to the border since they look similar to palm trees with the advantage of being relatively hardy in the UK.

The fragrance of the Cordyline blossom reminds me of a really gooey sweet nectar similar to Honeysuckle in my opinion.

Lilac

I have also recently enjoyed the late blossom of sweet peas which did not do so well for me this year probably because May was a really dry month. I shall remember to take more care of my sweet peas next year.

Blair No 2 Rose

Finally, if you are looking for a fragrant climbing rose I recommend the following: climbing rose Blair no. 2, as seen on this picture taken this morning , with its delightful dual shade of pink blossoms and exceptionally strong English rose fragrance.

On this sunny day and with so many fragrances drifting in the garden all I want to do is go back for a little wander which is what I will do now.

Nasturtiums: are so easy to sow directly in the ground, and do best in poor soil.
The flowers and leaves are edible in salad but since they have quite a peppery taste I think it’s best to mix them with other types of lettuces if you want to jazz up your salad.

This week I also want to have a go at taking cuttings from the geraniums which I sowed earlier in the year. I’ve never done geranium cuttings before but it would be useful to make a few additional plants to use in my patio pots or flower border. I did however make some delphinium cuttings last month and they seem to have grown roots nicely.

Carrots (Amsterdam 2 Sweetheart variety): there is still time to sow some carrots. I prefer to grow them in my raised bed since it allows me to fill the bed with a lighter soil structure made of sand, compost and more refined soil.

Snap peas: home-grown peas are so delicious that I even eat them raw! (likewise this year I have tried eating garden-grown Fresh asparagus and it tasted great).

More basil: the slugs had the better of my last sowing of basil. Sowing basil now means that it should be still be ready in good time for my first crop of home-grown tomatoes which it accompanies nicely in salads.

Busy potting, planting and feeding plants, I shall make the most of the longest days of the year before we leap into summer.

The culprit in question is called the Lily Beetle. Only this morning I spotted a couple of lily beetles simply basking in the sun on the top leaves of my Stargazer pink lilies.

Lily Beetle

Don’t be seduced by its good looks: this is a real pest as it can devour everything on your beautiful lilies. I prefer to deal with them the organic way so I have only found two options so far.

The friendly way: I collect the beetles and release them in the green bin just before collection – good luck lily beetle!

The drastic way: I simply squash them between my fingers (tinged orange!) or on the garden path.

Beware of the lily beetle, this clever insect likes to hide away or drop on the floor and play dead as soon as it notices danger. You may also notice that they make a squeeky little noise when they feel danger.

You will also have to remove any slime covered brown little grubs which hang off the leaves as these are young lily beetles.

My flower borders have benefited from the the recent rain and sun which we have had and hopefully I should see my lilies in blossom soon.

My Flower Border

Obviously you don’t have to plan the border in exact details but you may find that it pays to do so in the long run and it’s also quite interesting and fun. You will find below my personal gardening tips on how to achieve this.

Right now my flower border is adorning a few tulips which will soon fade away (as you can see in the picture) so I need to fill the empty spaces with some more beautiful flowers and plants.

I first had a look at my border area earlier in the year and did a lot of sowings of flowers which are currently growing patiently in the greenhouse. And now I am just considering which plants will be grown in the border and as part of my simplified version of garden design.

Usually I try to plan most of my borders according to two basic principles: creativity and practicality. I don’t necessarily draw out what the border should look like but it can help to sketch it out too.

1. Be creative with your gardening

From the point of view of creativity I am looking for a theme which could be a colour or style. For example I have a blue border (with mainly blue flowers) as well as an exotic border. This usually means that I have to work out what type of colour scheme or effect I am trying to achieve. And this is the fun bit.

2. Consider practical gardening options

From the practical point of view, I need to take into account the size of the flowers which I will plant in my garden as well as the flowering season and the suitability to the area (does a particular plant need to grow in a sunny spot for example?).

So I find that in my border I have permanent flowers (perennials & bulbs) which will blossom in the future and must be taken into account. This year I have a few clumps of light pink sedums which are scattered in the border, as well as some hellebores which blossomed in winter and will constitute a green shape in my border.

The back of the border is constituted of dahlias of vivid colours (white, yellow, red) as well as apricot-coloured rose bushes of medium size which will blossom throughout summer. I also have a few left-over pink sweet williams here and there but there is still space to fill in around the plants.

So this is my plan for this year:

At the front of the border I will plant some of the lawn chamomile plants which I have sown in the greenhouse back in January. Now I have never grown these plants before but I guess that they will provide a green sheen to the front of the border and be suitably fragrant as I walk past the border. I will probably intersperse the camomile with some other flowering plants which I have not decided upon yet (yellow marigold or erigerons?)

Behind the chamomile I have already started to sow some clarkias which come in a wide range of vivid hues of pink and should be about 18 inches tall. And I shall also plant a few of the gaillardias, chrysanthemums (tricolor mixed) and rudbeckias (hues of yellow and brown) which I have in my greenhouse and were sown back in small pots back in February.

I have also bought 2 light pink crinums which I will place in the middle of the border between the hellebores and they should flower later in the year.

Now I admit that I always tend to cram too many plants in my border but the advantage of this is that it means less weeding for me since the weeds don’t have enough light to come through. Alternatively I could mulch around the plants but I like to create a patchwork effect of colours in my flower borders.

Now remember I am just not an expert garden designer but overall I think that it should be quite a colourful warm border mixed with annuals, perennials, bulbs and sizes of all sorts.

I really enjoy experimenting with colours and shapes in the garden and I believe that anyone can have a go too. And with gardening there’s always the chance for some unplanned effect or lucky growth which I welcome every year.

So now that you have read my plan do check out this diary soon to find out what my 2009 flower border eventually looks like! And as usual I welcome your comments.

Below is a list of plants which are easy-to-grow and I shall start sowing most of them outdoors in May if the weather allows it.

Sunflower

Sowing flowers:

- Outdoor sunflowers: bring a bit of sunshine in your garden with tall sunflowers. May is a better month to grow them outdoors. I did sow some sunflowers seeds in my greenhouse in April but they did not germinate and it looks like a slug ate the tender shoots.
- Love-in-a-mist: easy to grow annuals usually available in shades of blue and pink.
- Sweet peas can be planted outside and trained to climb on a bamboo wigwam for example. Mine are already out.

Sowing vegetables:

– Sweet corn: easy to grow in modules and very tasty. Personally I tend to use them in a area where a visual screen is useful or alternatively to provide shade to other plants nearby.
- Squash and pumpkins: if you only have space for one of them, I recommend growing squash (butternut varieties are my favourite ones). Squash and pumpkins need a fair bit of space to grow and as well as feeding, which is why they are often grown on rotten compost heaps.
- Green beans – particularly dwarf green beans which are one of my favourite vegetables and are so expensive to buy from supermarkets that it’s really worth a try. I shall leave my green bean modules in the greenhouse until they are ready to be planted out.

Sowing herbs:

Many herbs such as basil and coriander need more warmth and sun to thrive and now is a good time to sow them.

This year I have decided that it is too late for me to grow any cauliflower in the garden since I fear that they will be affected by the white cabbage fly like last year.

I did sow some winter cabbage which is doing fine at present since the butterflies are only just starting to come out. And so we have had our first cabbage this week for the first of many crops to come.

Finally you can also continue to sow most of the seeds which I mentioned in my last article on what to sow in April.

Tulips

My tulips are all out including the bulbs which I planted back in autumn in containers along with pansies grown from seeds. In turn, I have also spotted a few butterflies including the lovely red peacock butterfly.

The rose bushes are growing new leaves following the spring pruning which I carried out earlier in the year (I must remember to give them a good feed!).

Moving on to the vegetables, the broad beans are growing slowly and have a few flowers but I wonder if it is too early? The salads in the cold frame have grown well and overcrowded the area which definitely needs thinning (as you can see on the picture below)!

Overcrowded Cold Frame

The cherry tree is in full bloom as seen on the header of this website and the apple tree is just about to blossom. And while I am looking at the fruit trees, I notice that the redcurrant and black currant bushes are currently adorning many clusters of flowers. Like last year, I will have to compete with the birds to get a handful of fruits!

The lawn is looking good as I gave it a bit of a cut and lawn care over the week end.

Finally, the weeds have taken over the flower borders, so there is a lot of weeding to be done. Any volunteers out there?