A beautiful sunny morning greeted members on their walkabout to the award winning gardens from the CHS 2015 Summer Garden Awards in Northwood.
Trees and shrubs were a foil for the flowers. Dominant in the borders was tuberous and fibrous begonias, several of the newer varieties of petunias plus marigolds and salvia to name a few. The single fuchsia was often seen dripping over the top of the lower growing flowers. The pendulous Amaranthus was popular with members and is easy to grow from seed. The colour schemes were vibrant.
OWNERS TIPS
- To protect the blooms water at the base of plants (not overhead watering).
- Tuberous begonias – when the season is finished, lift the tubers, label the colour, dry and then store in a black rubbish bag in the garage over winter. In September bring them into the light and pot up ready for the new season.
- Pipe cleaners make a cheap twistie tie on annuals.
- To deter cats from digging in your garden a gadget called Cat Stop is available, this runs by battery, when a cat approaches a high pitch sound scares the cat away. This was seen in several gardens.
- Think Spring now and plan your planting. Also a good idea note any plants you wish to move in the Winter and mark according.
- When dead-heading flowers. Don’t just pull the spent petals etc, snip off the stalk back to the stem of the plant. Otherwise the plant will put its energy into producing seed pods instead of producing more flowers.
- Thinning out crossing branches in trees and shrubs will reduce the size, and also keeps in scale with the space.
Freda Hunter