Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i Garden Answers

There is something wonderful about visiting other gardens, whether they’re part of the National Garden Scheme or at grand stately homes – or even friends and neighbours. We know it’s something that GA readers love to do and our Gardens To Visit feature (page 62 in this issue) is always very popular. We can draw so much inspiration from them in many different ways, but some people naturally find it difficult to equate what they see in a well-established, large garden with what they have to work with at home. But fear not – GA is here to help! In this issue (see page 22), Naomi Slade explains how to create a grand effect in your garden no matter how big it is. There are smart planting and decorative ideas…

The clocks are changing and the days are getting shorter and colder but that doesn’t mean your garden should be lacking in colour or interest. A whole host of small trees and large shrubs really come into their own at this time of year as their leaves change colour. Take inspiration from smaller specimen trees at the collections at Westonbirt and Batsford arboreta in Gloucestershire, and the Sir Harold Hiller Arboretum and Gardens in Hampshire. Now is a great time to plant large shrubs and small trees. The weather may be getting colder, but the soil holds on to summer warmth for longer than the air, so if you plant now and mulch around your new additions with a generous layer of well-rotted organic matter, the roots will have plenty…

Around every corner at Westonbirt, The National Arboretum in Gloucestershire, a kaleidoscope of colour will catch your eyes. Created some 200 years ago by Robert Holford — who arranged the planting for ornamental appeal rather than scientific study — the arboretum has 17 miles of hard and grassy paths weaving through its 600 acres. This makes it easy to appreciate the magnificent collection of 15,000 trees from around the world. Westonbirt’s ‘picturesque’ planting with species carefully grouped according to their size, shape and seasonal colour, results in great perspectives and views. November is a wonderful month for tree-lovers and all gardeners who appreciate foliage, from the brightest yellows through to deep reds. Colour is plentiful at Westonbirt and is enhanced by the intermingling green hues from the bold evergreens scattered…

Choose industrial materials For garden industrial chic, consider using metals that are either powder coated black or allowed to rust like Corten. Weld mesh comes in sheets or rolls with various size square holes; it makes fantastic trellis on walls or screens to divide spaces and is also used for gabion baskets. Other materials to consider are corrugated iron, concrete, exposed brick and repurposed timber like scaffolding planks or pallets. Build a corrugated iron planter Decide on the diameter and height of the planter, then cut sheets of corrugated iron into lengths using a metal nibbler drill attachment and making sure the corrugations run top to bottom. Join the sheets using a simple hand pop rivet gun until you have the required circumference in length. Use greenhouse glass rubber gasket…

Not all plants can be divided, but taking root cuttings is a simple technique that can be used to increase stock of a range of herbaceous perennials such as oriental poppies, acanthus, phlox, Japanese anemones, verbascum and echinops. You can also propagate shrubs such as lilac and chaenomeles, and climbers such as passionflowers in this way. This technique won’t work on variegated plants because new growth will be all green. How to do it 1 Lift the plant Carefully remove the plant from the soil and wash away soil around its roots. Cut off up to one third of the root section with secateurs, choosing young, vigorous, pencil-thick roots close to the crown. Replant the parent plant right away. For woody plants that can’t be easily lifted, such as lilac,…

IN THE GARDEN WITH… Kathy and Simon Brown AT The Manor House, Stevington, Bedfordshire SIZE Four and a half acres SOIL Heavy clay FEATURES Wildflower meadow, succulent and exotic garden, terraced garden, orchard, topiary, Mondrian wall OPEN February 11, 2024, through the NGS. See ngs.org.uk for details. Kathy and Simon Brown aren’t averse to borrowing things to enhance the magnificent gardens encircling their stone farmhouse. Their acquisitions range from pastoral scene views of cattle grazing in the surrounding Great Ouse water meadows, to a series of wisteria and laburnum clothed arches as seen in Parc Floral Gardens in Apremont, France. Statement silver birches accompany red-stemmed cornus and carpets of spring bulbs in their winter garden, “unashamedly based on the one at Anglesey Abbey,” says Kathy. “We happily embrace new gardening…

● The 2,500 different species at Westonbirt include 100 classed as endangered, such as the five-finger maple (Acer pentaphyllum) and, closer to home, the Bristol whitebeam (Sorbus bristoliensis). ● Keep an eye out for trees with blue labels. These are Westonbirt’s Champion Trees, classed as either the tallest or with the widest girth of their types in Britain and Ireland. ● Not all conifers are evergreen, and in late autumn the breathtaking deciduous umber dawn redwoods and bright yellow larches are displaying their last leafy show of the year. ● Described by some as the finest of all the rowans, Sargent’s rowan (Sorbus sargentiana) is an autumn showstopper. A native of western Sichuan, China, the tree close to the junction of Green Lane and Willesley Drive in Silk Wood provides…

SUNFLOWERS Solution of the month QCould this ‘Teddy Bear’ sunflower on a tall stem be a crossbreed? EMELIA SPARGO, CORNWALL AIf the plant was grown from a seed that you sowed this spring, I’m afraid that you have not created a crossbreed. Crossbreeds are created as a result of pollen exchange between two types of plant and won’t appear until the seed of that plant has been harvested and sown and it has flowered the following year. However, it does seem that your plants were not very well ‘rogued’ or sorted before collecting by the seed company. Sunflowers with ‘fluffy’ heads like ‘Teddy Bear’ are available in both dwarf and tall kinds and you can buy ‘Double Sun’ and ‘Goldy Double’, which are similar to your plant. If you collect…

We’re all quite rightly being encouraged to “go green” or “go greener”, reducing our household inputs and waste, using green power sources, installing heat pumps and solar panels and the like. But we should also consider and rethink our inputs into our gardens – and more than reducing or eliminating pesticides, going peat free, not using petrol-powered machinery and concentrating on drought-resistant plants to reduce how much water we liberally splash around the garden. One area that we should be considering is our choice of hard landscaping materials and their impact on the environment, and in particular our paving choices for paths, patios and hard standing areas. Probably the worst offenders are concrete-based paving products. Most concrete paving, also sold as reconstituted stone, uses cement to bind the aggregates and…

Evergreens are unsung heroes that tirelessly perform 24/7 as the skeleton of almost every garden: largely unnoticed, but utterly essential. Now, as deciduous plants shed their final leaves and we get ready to face the bleak midwinter, comes their chance to shine. Low winter light picks out lustrous leaves of many shapes and textures, in a multitude of greens plus a wonderfully diverse range of colours. Vibrant golds and yellow variegations bring sunshine to the gloomiest winter days; step up the tempo with warm reds and rusty oranges, go dark and sultry with purples and maroon or weave in softer threads of gleaming silver and subtle grey. You can bump up the ornamental value even further and pick out those evergreens that have the bonus of flowers, giving a double…

IN THE GARDEN WITH… Imogen Sawyer AT Lane End Cottage Gardens, Cheshire SIZE One acre SOIL TYPE Loam with limestone chippings FEATURES A series of garden rooms including a pond, walled orchard and large greenhouse. OPEN For the National Garden Scheme in 2024. See ngs.org.uk. The garden at Lane End Cottage is made up of a series of interconnecting rooms, each with a different feel, linked by pergolas, a large beech hedge-edged circular lawn and a bamboo tunnel. As the garden was created by a former nursery owner, you will encounter many choice and unusual plants, all artfully placed, leaving you in no doubt that here is a garden owner that really knows the intricacies of their plants. The garden in autumn is full of spectacular leaf colour from acers,…

TREES & SHRUBS Autumn came early Q Is my forsythia dying? PO LING KWOK, BY EMAIL A This premature discolouration of the foliage could be a sign that there is a problem with the roots – either drought, which is quite common, or waterlogging. If the soil is too wet, it suffocates the roots and they can’t take up water so the foliage wilts and discolours. Honey fungus is a possibility as forsythia is prone to this disease. If you see honey-coloured toadstools growing at the base in autumn, it is the likely cause and the shrub will eventually die. But in this odd season, some shrubs adopted autumn colour early. Give it a general fertiliser like chicken pellets in spring to boost growth. Q Should I prune out dead…

Sumptuous sunflowers My large bed of multi-headed sunflowers grown with blue geraniums is a busy bees’ ‘restaurant’ and their soft humming sound is music to my ears! Mave Turner, by email A bee visiting one of our many lovely sunflowers sown from free GA seeds. Margaret Humphrey, by email My sunflowers are always full of insects, but they seem to be camera shy. Just this one bee was happy for me to take his picture. June Deaton, Moulton This sunflower self-seeded in the greenhouse and I guided it outside when it got to the roof. It’s still growing; I wonder how much bigger it will get! Chris Tait, Fareham Colourful delight I love the combination of this dark purple heuchera ‘Wildberry’ and the jade green pot. An underplanting of narcissus…