When early spring displays fade they are rather speedily replaced by the burgeoning growth of herbaceous perennials, flowering shrubs and fresh new foliage, but as the garden starts to settle into summer we notice gaps where early displays have finished and occasionally where plants have failed to reappear after winter.
I am pleased to say that the mild winter has meant that there are very few losses this year, on the down side weeds and pests have survived too and begin their onslaught chewing, chomping and choking our favourite plants. I try to keep on top of weeds pulling them out by hand before they flower or develop seed. I have a bucket discretely hidden beside my hedge, when I set out from home I make a point of leaving five minutes early, so every time I go to the car and glance across the garden to admire the developing display, I pull out a handful of weeds and drop them in the bucket. Over a week this can amount to quite a pile, the bucket is then emptied on the compost heap and returned to its position. Imagine if everyone in the family did the same, the garden would be almost ‘weed’ free.
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Back to fading displays, I visit many gardens throughout the UK, mainly because I love gardening and gardens, it’s amazing how many ideas you can pick up and one I have adopted since my early years as a gardener is how some of the larger gardens cope with maintaining a continuous display. At Great Dixter they grow plants in pots throughout the year choosing groups such as Dahlias, Asters, Penstemon and Phlox. As the season progresses they are carefully squeezed into spaces in the border thereby extending the display. You can practice with hardy annuals sowing in pots at three weekly intervals from March until the end of June; they will provide a cheap and reliable display until they are cut down by frosts in October.
Finally a note about summer pruning, as flowers fade it is good practice to remove spent blooms as this encourages more to form, a liquid feed fortnightly will also help improve performance.
I am often asked about Wisteria and how to summer prune, those that have one will know that by mid-July there a lot of long twisty growths and to improve flowering next year these should be pruned back to five buds from where this season’s growth started. If it is a young plant you may wish to train some long shoots along wires or trellis, it is good practice to trim the tip to encourage the stem to thicken. The shoots you prune back to five buds in summer are then cut back to two buds in February the following year, this type of pruning will encourage better flowering and keep the plant under control.
York Gate Garden is owned and maintained by the charity Perennial (Gardeners Royal Benevolent Society) which provides advice help and support in times of need or difficulty for people who are working in, or have retired from any of the gardening trades. (Registered Charity no. 1155156).
Opening times and further details can be found on our website at www.perennial .org.uk
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