Prehistoric Plants

by gardenspast123, posted in Horticulture, Shrubs, Trees

A plants survival will often depend on its ability to adapt as evolution changes the conditions it grows in, the climate it is exposed to. The flowering varieties we take for granted today are probably the most recent to evolve and largely pre dominate our landscapes. Shrubs/trees like Magnolia (m. x soulangeana) are older than we think. The species and non flowering vegetation that bear leaves, needles and cones – these evergreens can produce attractive colour interest, often blue. (Firs) Abies koreana, abies pinsapo ‘Glauca’, (conifers) Cupressus, Chamaeyparis, Cedrus (cupressus leylandii, chamaeyparis lawsonia, cedrus deodora), Pinus sylvestris (scots pine) all have a tenuous link to prehistoric times and are still here.  Lichens, Mosses and Algae seem to point to where it all began as you would expect with our transition from water to land.

Ferns – Dicksonia anartica – the tree fern can reach up to 6 m in the right conditions. Other smaller varieties include deer fern, Blechuum spicant an attractive variety that good for shade in enriched soil.  Polypody vulgare –  common polypody is another that is suited to shade. It is tolerant of dry, gritty areas which make it ideal for cracks in walls.

A plant which is more of a nuisance than anything else but pre dates us is Horsetail.  (Equisetum) It can reproduce itself by a fraction of its growth. Each segment is in effect a new plant. It is highly invasive, roots deeply and spreads quickly. It makes it difficult to treat since the waxy exterior is non – penetrable and needs to be cracked for anything to be absorbed.

Palms too are known to have evolved early. Chamaerops humilis – the mediterranean palm offers dwarf varieties and larger specimens. A hardy specimen that will love full sun where soil is free draining. Although discovered a lot later in the 19th century,  Tracycarpus fortunei will have distant roots to the earliest of palms. A hardy variety but to shelter from winds and particularly colder climes. The reason perhaps some plants survived mass extinctions was the protection and efforts to keep them in cultivation. Gingko’s or Maidenhair tree exist still – you have the Chinese monks to thank for that.

Special Features

by gardenspast123, posted in Flowers, Hedges, Horticulture, Shrubs

Plants can possess a number of traits that makes them popular and widely incorporated in planting. Below are a selection that used often for a particular asset.

Flowers

Kalmia augustiflora – It bears summer flowers in full sun. An acid loving evergreen. It does prefer some moisture so will not tolerate drought conditions. It can get leggy, similar to Rhododendrons and seems to develop in this way. Cutting it back harshly will regenerate its vigour.
Azaleas too can grow beautifully in acidic soil and do prefer a partial shade since they can get burnt. It is important to trim back to existing buds when spent or before the end of July/August, this will create other buds. Azaleas are related to Rhododendrons so they too have a tendency to get leggy from inside. Camellia’s survive in this environment and are appreciated for their double and single blooms. They can be species offering flowers at spring and autumn. The main needs would be space, no competition for moisture and nutrients. Camellia’s like some shelter but also a degree of sun, sometimes can sit in over watered areas if need be. I think once in situ and established though do not tolerate being moved. Some Virburnum will display a yield of berries in autumn. While,  v. japonica will give you the summer white flowers, the deciduous varieiy will give a show autumn to spring like ‘bodnantense’ dawn later on.

Scented

Philadelphus (Mock Orange) has citrus scented white flowers. A spring to summer flowering shrub.  It is versatile and adapts to all aspects, soils, and ph levels but cannot abide sitting in waterlogged soil. Prune after flowering quite low to a bulging bud and it will regenerate twice fold. Daphne odora ‘aurea-marginata’ – a fragrant evergreen producing attractive leaves and pink flowers. It has a compact habit and keeps itself relatively neat with only removal of unwanted growth.  Prune after flowering taking crossing branches providing space for new shoots. Any damaged or diseased too. This cultivar is hardier than some specimens. Syringa (Lilac) – a highly scented shrub/tree. Lilacs like full sun but not all the time. A little shade is welcome and in well drained soil. Choosing the dwarf variety guarantees you get a shrub and a neat, compact habit.  Syringa pubescens ‘Miss Kim’ pale pink to white will give you a compact shrub as will another smaller variety, syringa meyeri ‘palibin’ suited to containers, patios, terraces or borders. These are dwarf but they will thicken out and are chosen for their neat habit.

Foliage

Elaegnus pungens or ebbingei ‘Limelight’ a brightly variegated shrub, it has a non-variegated counterpart. Good in all aspects like full sun, partial, soil type and moisture tolerant. Gives white scented flowers in autumn. Hosts an interesting opaque leaf variegated or green. Euonymous fortuneii is a really versatile border shrub that can sit on its own or in a plant combination. Euonymous has striking variegated specimens – ‘Emerald n Gold, ‘Emerald Gaiety’, ‘Dan’s Delight’ are all cultivars with added interest. A trim to maintain a bushy habit is the only maintenance necessary or if the plant is reverting to its original form and you wish to keep the variegation. Laurus nobilis ‘bay’ – attractive highly aromatic leaves. Often misunderstood as a large shrub, is infact a tree and has the potential to grow to 12m (40ft) if given the chance. It prefers to be in the sun in well drained soil. It is semi hardy but in colder climes good to provide additional shelter from the wind and frost. Photinia x fraseri ‘Red robin’ a free standing shrub or unconventional hedge, pruning will make it more dense. Pieris ‘forest flame’ bell shaped flowers in spring. An evergreen. The colour of the leaves will change from red and mature to green. No pruning necessary – just cut out straggly bits. Prunus lusitanica – Portuguese laurel has attractive foliage in the autumn but bears flowers in spring.

Habitat/Beneficial birds/Insects

Empetrum nigrum (Crowberry) An effective ground cover. They are for human consumption but not generally known as an edible berry. Good in shaded spots and with other acid loving plants. A hardy evergreen providing berries. Pyracantha has a show of white flowers in summer and usually successful in well drained soil free standing, against a wall or trellis. It is great for bees in the summer and birds/wildlife in the winter. It needs little maintenance but for its thorns, when it does it can be a pain. Prunus spinosa (Blackthorn) is a winter hedging plant but provides us with white flowers in spring, foliage as a food source for butterflies and moths, berries for hibernating mammals and birds. Crataegus (Hawthorn) offers food and shelter for birds and wildlife, insects are drawn in the flowering period mid spring. Unfortunately hawthorn is widely used as a hedge and often clipped before the heavily scented flowers bloom to their maximum.

Ground Cover For Cracks

by gardenspast123, posted in Flowers, Horticulture, Services, Shrubs

Instead of pointing the cracks of a path or wall, extraordinary results can be achieved by filling the void with flowering ground cover plants. A carpet of colour can substitute the most boring of bricks or paving.

In one pot sits a number of plants, only a small amount of piece of fiborous root is needed to be tucked under the surface. Under the right conditions it will root itself and the rest is done. A small amount of soil is needed perhaps within the cracks but only as a root zone. Some species may even be able to cope with a gritty composite of almost no humus rich matter. It will live off the minerals of rocks nearby.

White flowers include – Thymus serpyllum ‘Snowdrift’ – a creeping thyme. Iberis sempervirens – good as foliage and flowers in spring and summer. Cerastium tomentosum – fantastic grey foliage and white flowers – a spreading habit throughout spring into summer. Saxifraga sancta – a true alpine that draws its goodness from the stones around it. Erigeron karvinskianus – providing pink and white ground cover for months.

Pink flowers – Chamomile ‘Treneague’ – effective in sun and shade, gives off an aroma when bruised. Dianthus deltoides ‘maiden pink’ – highly scented, late spring to summer of white, red or pink. Thymus praecox ‘Coccineus’ – pink to red flowers, mat forming and highly scented.

Red flowers – Dianthus deltoids ‘Flashing lights’ providing a striking show from late summer to autumn. Portulaca (moss rose) too provides an assortment of colours including red, orange, white although can be a bit particular about their environment. Must be in full sun and in sandy, free draining soil but at the same time cannot withstand really dry periods, because of their size and habit care must be taken when watering as the flowers can easily be damaged.

Blue Flowers – Aubretia – ‘Blue carpet’ – from spring to summer provides a carpet of blue to violet flowers, deadhead to thicken growth. Cornflower ‘Trailing Blue Carpet’- to prepare for following year indoors or sow in spring outside, mat forming and trailing annual. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ – repeats of blooms throughout summer, but may need a substantial root zone in humus rich soil. It has a relative ‘Johnson’s blue’ but the blooms are not as striking and its habit needs more attention to control. Veronica x ‘Blue reflection’ – a spring flowering ground cover plant crossed with parenting plants for it’s resilience and flowering habit.

Purple flower – Vinca minor – a carpet forming late summer to autumn flower. Vinca major, a relative has the same showy flower but larger and more invasive. Good for shaded neglected spots. Verbena Tapien ‘Purple Passion’ and ‘Blue Violet’ provide flowers throughout spring and summer forming a dense cover to any bare spot. The hybrid ‘blue violet’ requires no deadheading and is extremely low maintenance. Primula tyrolensis – a dwarf flowering primrose. This flowers through winter and often in poor soil but doesn’t like being wet and prefers some shelter in well drained soil. Campanula poscharskyana ‘Blue Waterfall’ flowers from late spring to summer proving to be popular with beneficial insects and requires no maintenance.

Multiply By Division

by gardenspast123, posted in Flowers, Horticulture, Propagation

In the colder months there may look like there is no activity at ground level or if you have recently inherited a garden it might not be apparent what is under foot. We can overlook the tired bed at the bottom of the garden and forget it hosts bulbs that haven’t seen the light of day or a clump forming perennial that has outgrown its original home.

It can be a good exercise to sometimes see what the garden already has and to give an exhausted specimen a new lease of life.  Plants benefit from being reduced in size, it can improve their vigour and flowering ability. There are so many methods of this from cuttings, hard and soft to leaf, and seed but one of the most straightforward and most rewarding is division.

In the main division is an option when the plant lives off a storage organ, but you can divide some shrubs from the root ball as long as there are fiborous growth. A storage organ is a Bulb, Corm, Rhizomes or Tuber similar looking to a onion, piece of ginger or potato. The important factor in dividing is not the category since they follow the same principle.  it is to identify where you separate.

Bulbs are the most common. Usually only large specimens can be spliced or those that have two sprouts of growth. Snowdrops, Crocuses, Daffodills Narcissi and Grape Hyacinths are the typical choices but Hermerocallis (Day Lillies) and Convillaria (Lilly of the valley) are more unusual. The best of this is you can control where the flowering period will be, have varying cycles thereby ensuring colour all year round. They are as you usually expect under the ground, how deep will depend on what they are.

Corms that are very similar in appearance to bulbs and are usually found in clusters. They do require regular divisions since they procreate themselves and the cluster will grow if left undisturbed. Often they are at the surface just protruding from the ground. Crocosmia and Mobretia, Irises, although  Rhizomes have a similar growth habit. The Allium family generally are suitable for this method of propagation ornamental and culinary. Agapanthus will also benefit from division.

Rhizomes are likely to be a long fleshy organ protruding on the surface. There will be small little off shoots along it. These are capable of becoming separate plants. Bergenia (Elephants Ears) or Irises possess these characteristics. Canna Lillies, Humulus (Hops), Zigiber officianale (Ginger).

Kniphofia (Red hot pokers) are tubers often after flowering can look tired. It is worth removing the dead leaves from around the crown. The tuber can be divided quite severely and will come back in numbers. The flowering improved. After flowering all these organs  sit dormant with the dead growth coveting the surface. Time needs to be given for the goodness to return to the storage organ which is why the debris needs to be left on the plant. If the bulbs are naturalised in the grass for instance Daffodils/Narcissi, the leaves need to tied back rather than cut off.

Unwanted Growth

by gardenspast123, posted in Horticulture

The saying “weeds are just plants in the wrong place” is broad in its definition. There are plants that self seed but do have a purpose although they interfere with the health of their neighbours. (Bamboo) Phyllostachys the tall to the very small Pleioblastus can often get out of hand. Crocosmia can equally be a pain.

Some growth, however, has no place in our open spaces. They usually have persistent tap roots, show invasive growth and generally have few true qualities.  Stellaraia media (Chickweed) seems to self seed from nowhere and others accept Aquelegia that appears without warning. Often the Trèfle (Clover) and Taraxacum (Dandelions) in lawns is left as a means to make it more durable and hide a multitude of sins.

At times these invaders can be dug out. They can be prevented from spreading any further by dividing and reducing the growth habit. Other plants possess prehistoric qualities that aid them in surviving their elimination. Equisetum (Horsetail a good example), by its makeup/DNA. The plants hosts a waxy membrane that is non-penetrable. If you’re spraying the plant it must be bruised or cracked. Even doing this is not full proof. Its structure is made up of angled segments each detachable which often means that only a fragment is needed to stay in situ and the plant will recover.

Glyphosate had always been regarded as quite an “ethical” weed killer. Each year chemicals with harmful components were taken off the shelves, discontinued or banned. (Paraquat a pesticide and Diquat a herbicide, despite having a crushing effect on production in certain industries) These were two prominent chemicals criticised at the turn of our environmental awareness. Diquat will be withdrawn for growers May 2019. The final date for diquat usage will be February 2020. Other combinations like Roundup, Path Clear became a bone of contention because of the composites they included. On its own, Glyphosate is said to be safe or at least for the present moment. However, trace elements of unpopular chemicals are still found in pre-manufactured treatments. Gases like methyl bromide an odourless gas used in the cultivation of crops is still permittable despite being under scrutiny. It is arguable how the Diquat ban will be enforced.

For Glyphosate, the purpose? A contact weed killer absorbed by the leaves.  This method used remotely or via an applicator either hand held or on a larger scale. Glyphosate seemed a perfect solution to be used by local authorities and contractors to keep weeds in abeyance on pathways and paving in urban areas. It was said to become harmless when dry and effective even after rainfall as long as it had been applied an hour earlier.  As it was deemed a lesser of two evils it has been used widely in the control of weeds throughout the EU maybe requiring more than one application per year due to its strength? It is highly toxic though. The period of time it is active and what it kills determines how often it needs to be applied. Weeds can become more resilient to the chemical and develop an immunity, because it is a contact weed killer it does exactly that. It doesn’t differentiate plants like a selective would.

Despite this, closer examination has uncovered it is extremely harmful and speculation of it being banned very likely. It is said to have  “carcinogenic” qualities and has proven to be actually quite damaging not only with us but to beneficial insects and the very biodiversity of flora that we are so desperately trying to protect. It has also been criticised for polluting waterways and damaging aquatic life. In tests it has been traced in samples of urine which indicates it remains active after ingestion. As a worry, in windy conditions and incorrectly use it is potentially air bourne.

It is not so problematic when it is used on gravel or self contained areas. It becomes a risk when used for agricultural purposes, it can affect the crop growing environment and pollute harvested produce which we eat. This can occur by mistake and be a result of soil run off or unsuitable spraying conditions. In perfect conditions your spraying drift using a calibrated hand-held sprayer is a metre so magnify this is a buggy with a larger nozzle applying the chemical or a plane.

The European Commission has massively reduced the licence while studies are being undertaken but clearly producers are trying to overturn this and re-instate the full term of 15 years. It has at this time a licence until 2022. Can enough proceedings and reports linked Glyphosate bring its wide usage into disrepute? What are the alternatives other than a fork?   Well, on a smaller scale this is feasible although more labour intensive. Crop rotation or regular rotavating. Another option might be to experiment with more organic solutions that repel invasive insects/pests although this requires research time and cost. Something that would dehydrate the weeds and weaken them, or to incorporate more ground cover plants like Vinca major and minor/Pachysandra or Cotoneaster. A more biodiverse, natural, less uniformed approach to Horticulture seems the “lesser of two evils” opposed to corrupt produce, burnt grass, afflicted insects/animals and polluted waterways.