perennials Archives - Chris's Weblog

Mirabilis Jalapa – Four o clocks

Chris April 30, 2024 Garden bare root, flowers, perennials

I grew these plants from seed way back in 2017 and again in 2018. I got two large plants the first year and three the second year but I didn’t over winter them properly and so lost them all. This year I have a head start as I have received five roots from Farmer Gracy. I have soaked them and they are now ready to put into the garden. Four of them have tiny new buds showing. I have two previous lengthy posts on my blog so I won’t write too much about them here.

I have found a really big pot that used to contain lilies and i have put all five roots in there. These plants are perennial and should come back year after year. How I managed to lose mine I just don’t know. They flower prolifically all summer and into Autumn. The flowers open at four o clock and stay open all night filling the garden with their scent. The insects love them and so did I. I’m looking forward to having then again in the garden. I remember the seeds too. Amazing black shiny seeds that you can collect and grow more plants.

Mirabilis forms an over wintering tuber which gets bigger each year and can be resurrected in spring for an earlier and much longer season of bloom. Maybe that’s what I did wrong. Perhaps they should be overwintered inside. An attractive plant with dark green leaves reminiscent of busy lizzies. Blooms are red, yellow and orange and sometimes a combination of all on one flower. An unusual plant and a welcome sight in the garden.

Tellima Grandiflora – fringe cups

Chris April 30, 2024 Garden flowers, perennials

Tellima grandiflora is a compact perennial forming a tidy clump of bluntly lobed, rounded leaves, with erect racemes to 75cm tall of small, cream, sometimes fragrant flowers in late spring and early summer; flowers often fade to light red. This plant is used for ground cover and is a hardy perennial.

I bought this plant last year from Asda and potted it up to grow on. However, I never saw any evidence of a flower and thought they were gone. As often happens with gardening I was walking to the compost bin and looking down saw this beautiful flower rising up surrounded by forget me nots. I now have a good sturdy root of this lovely plant and know that it will multiply and join the London Pride at the edges of the pond. Perfect!

Alchemilla Mollis – Irish Silk – Lady’s Mantle

Chris March 28, 2022 Garden Alchemills, flowers, ground cover, perennials, perrenial, propagation, Tips

I bought seeds of this Alchemilla Mollis, commonly known as Lady’s Mantle and today, 25th March, I have scattered them around my very established Erysimum Bowles Mauve. The perennial wallflower had gone quite woody but the head of it is covered in purple flowers for most of the season. I thought that this plant might be a good companion and form a clump around the base. We shall see. That’s the excitement of gardening. You never know what might work.

The variety is Irish Silk but the plant is originally a native of southern Europe. Its chartreuse yellow flowers grow above a mound of large leaved fresh green foliage. This deciduous perennial has gained the RHS award of garden merit. Apparently these plants are said to become invasive as they self seed. They will be challenged in my garden as no matter how much i care for it it often kills off my favourite plants. They propagate by forming large rhizomes so they sound as though once established they should survive. However, I have only sown seeds and seed to rhizome will take a year or two I bet.

Alchemilla – perennial ground cover plant.

Changes In The Garden

Chris April 24, 2020 Chickens, Family, Garden, Pets, Photos by Glenn and Laura, Pond, Spring, Wildlife Araucana, birds, chickens, frog, Pekins, perennials, pond, silkies, Welbar, Wybar

Our modest garden is split into three sections. The woodland garden. A strip along the side of the house which is shady and is planted up with trees, climbers and woodland plants. The garden at the back of the house and the chicken area.

Shady Garden

The Back Garden

The main back garden, and the area that I can see from the big window in my office, is the main area where the growing goes on and has been reinvented many times over the forty-eight years that my family has lived here. At the back of this garden, there is a shed that, up until today, housed the chickens that I bought last Spring as day olds, but as from today they have been moved to the chicken area. We now have seventeen chickens. seven Silkies; three Pekins; two Araucanas; three Welbars; and two Wybars.

Chickens

The next big project for us will be to renovate the shed. Clean out all the bedding, varnish inside and weatherproof the outside. Sean fixed the roof last year for me so that should last a while. Laura’s plastic greenhouse is adjacent to the shed and in front of the greenhouse is the area where the pond is.

The Pond

The pond has really come into its own now and is teeming with life. I lost quite a few of the plants that I had planted around the pond last year so we need to do a bit of planning and improve the planting.

Spring Bulbs In Pots

At present many of our plants are in pots and containers and I would like to increase the depth of the borders and get some of the plants into the ground instead. I have enjoyed the spring bulbs in pots so I shall do that again next year as they are easy to place around when they are at their best then move away when they go over.

Perrenials

This year I have bought in some perennials and we have grown some from seed too so I am hoping to stock up the borders with them and cut down on maintenance.

Wild Bird Visitors

We have quite a few wild birds visiting the garden. There are a pair of Blue Tits nesting in Laura’s nest box again this year and as its right outside my window, I have a good view of the coming and going.

Sowing Saved Bell Pepper Seeds – Capsicum

Chris February 16, 2018 Cooking, Vegetables health, Peppers, perennials, seeds, Tips

Bell Peppers from saved supermarket seeds:

I hate to be negative but last year I raised loads of pepper plants but didn’t harvest any edible fruits. I saved lots of seeds from bought peppers over the year and having had successful germination with saved seeds before I am once again sowing seeds of green, yellow and red bell peppers. I have obviously been doing something wrong when it comes to producing edible peppers so its back to researching the internet for growing tips for me. I have had good germination, potted on some good strong plants but sadly rarely got to eat the fruits of my labour. Below is a list of points that I gathered from my research.

Update on 17th February – One 7″ pot of moist compost sown with about 30 seeds of red, yellow and green peppers wrapped in a plastic food bag and put on the computer box for a little bottom heat. Fingers crossed.

Update Easter Sunday 1st April 2018 – The germination was amazing and today I am potting on the best twelve of the Bell Peppers grown from saved seed.

New sowing of bought seeds 1st April – I bought new seeds of a yellow, sweet long chilli pepper. The variety is Sweet Banana from Seekay. I have sown four seeds today along with another pot of four saved seeds of a long red chilli pepper that I bought from Lidl. They were packed with seeds so I couldn’t resist saving them.

Important points to remember when growing peppers.

Pepper plants are slow growing and need plenty of time to produce fruit before frost.
They are an ideal plant for container growing.
They need rich well draining soil with added calcium and regular watering.

Facts

Germination is 10 to 15 days
Harvest should be 65 to 100 days
Require full sun.
Regular and frequent watering.
Rich soil with added calcium.
Ideal for containers.

Tips

To promote growth place a mat of tinfoil around the base of the plants to help the plant benefit from direct and reflective heat and light.
Sweet bell peppers are known for their high vitamin C, A and B6 content.
Plants should not be outside until the soil is warm, so start your seeds indoors in order to get a harvest before winter.
Find your expected last frost date and sow pepper seeds eight weeks before.

Bell peppers are some of the most versatile vegetables in the kitchen. They can be sautéed with onions, sliced or diced in salads, soups, and casseroles. They can be stuffed, grilled, used on sandwiches, or simply sliced for a fresh, flavorful, and crunchy snack. These colourful vegetables have a high vitamin and mineral content. Regular consumption of green peppers, which contain more than twice the vitamin C of an orange, helps protect against disease, boosts the immune system, lowers inflammation in the arteries that can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and cholesterol build up. Other nutritional benefits of bell peppers include thiamin, niacin, folate, magnesium and copper.

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Eryngium Planum Blue Hobbit – Sea Holly

Chris February 1, 2017 Garden Eryngium, flowers, perennials, Tips

Eryngium Blue Hobbit is a dwarf Eryngium, which can be grown in a patio pot. The 12″ plants become top-heavy in midsummer, with sprays of nearly 100 inky-blue flowers. Blue Hobbit is a herbaceous perennial with spiny edged leaves and spiky, cone-like, bright blue flowers on strong stems throughout summer and autumn.

Four of the six seedlings survived and are now potted on into five inch modules. I hope that they make it through to May for planting out in the garden.

Geum Mrs Bradshaw

Chris February 1, 2017 Garden flowers, Geum, perennials, propagation, T&M

Geum Mrs J. Bradshaw is a clump forming herbaceous perennial with fuzzy, dark green pinnate leaves and erect purple stems supporting double flowers. The rich scarlet blooms set against emerald green foliage are a bonus in the border. These hardy perennial plants will flower all summer from June right through to September. An excellent Geum variety awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit for its reliable performance, stability of colour and form and good resistance to pests and diseases. Cut back the foliage after flowering to encourage new growth. Update – Only two of the seedlings made it through the Winter and they have been potted on again into five inch modules.

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Rudbeckia Orange Fudge – Brown Eyed Susan

Chris January 30, 2017 Garden flowers, germination, history, perennials, propagation, Rudbeckia, seeds

Today, 30th January, I was presented with a packet of Rudbeckia Rustic Dwarf seeds with a last sowing date of this year. I have sprinkled the whole packet onto a tray of moist compost and put it into a polythene bag and look forward to seeing some seed leaves pushing through in a couple of weeks. This vibrant coloured flower is also called Cone Flower, and I had some of those in the perennial seedlings that I bought from T&M. Unfortunately they didn’t survive the Winter.

History : Rudbeckias are members of the daisy family and were named by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus to honour two eighteenth century botany professors, Olof Rudbeck the Elder and Olof Rudbeck the Younger. Linnaeus is reported to have told his teacher , Rudbeck the Younger, “so long as the earth shall survive, and each spring shall see it covered with flowers, the rudbeckia will preserve your glorious name”.

Germination update – 5th February and lots of green seedlings pushing through after only one week. Very good for seeds dated 2005.

Echinacea Primadonna Rose – Cone Flower

Chris November 6, 2016 Garden Echinacea, flowers, perennials, seedlings

These plants came as part of the collection of perennials I bought from Thompson-Morgan and are now overwintering on the window ledge following first stage potting on. The instructions were to pot on immediately and keep frost free until Spring. They are a tall hardy perennial and will thrive in a sunny or semi shaded position on moist, well drained soil. Coneflowers prefer a deep, fertile soil and will benefit from the addition of some well rotted manure or garden compost to soil, prior to planting.

Perennials – Thompson & Morgan Bargain 2016

Chris October 13, 2016 Garden, Pond flowers, perennials, seedlings, T&M

I had just about decided to stop gardening today and have a rest when the postman delivered 72 tiny perennial plants I had ordered from T&M. On opening them I could see that they were good healthy seedlings and well worth the £2.99 that I had paid for them. They were, however, in need of potting on. They are now all in new pots. The plants were sold as “lucky dip” so discovering what was in there was exciting. There were six each of Cone Flower, Sea Holly, Dianthus, Thrift, Geum, Foxglove, Aquilegia, Delphinium, and more.

Update on Saturday 22nd October. I have lost one of these seedlings and feel quite concerned about getting them through the winter safely. I wondered whether to plant a few out but on doing a search online I think I will keep them protected until the spring. I don’t have a greenhouse or a cold frame so they will have to live on the window ledge until then.

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My diary from 2004

Tag Archive: perennials