Images of the Different Dahlia Varieties If you are interested in growing dahlias, for your garden or for cut flowers, it is not always easy to understand all the different dahlia varieties that are available. This is not surprising since there are about 30 dahlias species and 20,000 different dahlia cultivars. This amount of variety …
Dahlia pinnata plant notes Family Dahlia pinnata is in the Asteraceae (or Daisy) family. Plant Type Tuberous, herbaceous perennial, with pinnate leaves, striking flowers. Soil Type Prefers moist but well drained soil. read more on soil type here → Aspect Plant in full sun. Eventual Size Varies according to cultivar. Typically between 70 to 120 …
At the beginning of this spring (2020), I was lucky enough to acquire a new greenhouse for my new garden. Of course, I have used it to grow all the usual things – tomatoes, herbs, vegetable seedlings and annuals for the garden beds – but I have also used it for a longer term aim, …
In Scotland, where I am, Spring is hinting at its presence with lighter mornings, daffodils in flower and tulip buds swelling on rising stems. But weather wise, winter’s grip is still quite strong – with snow storms the week just passed and continuing strong winds. Nevertheless, the lure of the garden, is proving irresistible. I’ve …
Organic weed removal principles As we’ve covered in the other parts of this series, weeds are super-plants that have found ways to dominate their environment and continue their presence in it over time. Thus, weeds develop roots systems that are hard to eradicate and from which new plants can spring up, they grow and set …
There are many species of bamboo plants and many, many cultivars. Often the rarer species can be expensive and quite hard to find. In this post I’ve featured my own personal favourites, all of which are bamboo plants I have used in gardens over the years. So I can vouch for their garden-worthiness. However, it …
After over 10 years living in Australia, we came back to live in the UK in 2018. I never really got to grips with gardening in Australia. I tried – I worked quite hard on a couple of gardens we had – but somehow it never felt like gardening as I knew it. When we …
What is a dahlia tuber? Let’s start by clarifying the slightly misleading headline to this post and, in the process, clear up some important questions about dahlia tubers and bulbs. First, there is no difference between what people commonly call dahlia tubers and dahlia bulbs. The important point here is that the weird potato-like structures …
Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum Last year I moved back to the UK after spending over ten years in Australia, in the sub-tropical climate of Sydney. So, I’m currently enjoying my first Northern Hemisphere spring in all that time and my first spring ever living in Scotland. I’ve been delighting in the wonderful the variety of …
Aucuba japonica ‘Crotonifolia’Common name : Spotted LaurelFamily : Garryaceae (formerly Cornaceae) Aucuba japonica ‘Crotonifolia’ is a rounded evergreen shrub to 3m x 3m. ‘Crotonifolia’ is a female cultivar. Its leaves are ovate, glossy and variegated, up to 20cm long. It is unusual in that the variegation takes the forms of yellow splashes and speckles, almost …
Hedera helix Common name : English Ivy Family : Aralicaeae Hedera helix is a vigorous self clinging climber or ground cover with 3-5 lobed triangular, glossy leaves 4-6cm long. There a hundreds of cultivars, with almost infinite variations in leaf colour and shape but most with some form of variegation. H. helix may be contrasted …
The productive garden I’ve featured the development of the fruit and vegetable garden separately, as the images seem to work better that way. But this part of the garden was developed at the same time as the rest of the garden. I was luckily enough to be able to include a Gabriel Ash greenhouse and …
The mature garden – after only one year On this page you’ll see the garden at its zenith in its first year and then a few more pictures from the following year. As I look back on it now, there are of course lots of things I’d have done differently. But that is the essence …
The pictures on this page show the garden in its first spring and early summer. One thing to note is that I planted this garden up very fully. Normally, there are recommended spacings for plants which allow them room to grow to their mature size. I deliberately did not follow these recommendations with the perennials …
In progress: the garden design and its execution There were several design ideas at work when I was planning this garden layout: I decided to break the main part of the garden up into two circular spaces of lawn, bordered by deep garden beds. The space nearest the house would be the ‘exotic garden’, this …
Narcissus spp. Common name : Daffodil Family : Amaryllidaceae A bulbous soft wooded perennial with around 50 species and countless cultivars, the Narcissus, like the tulip, is the archetypal spring flower in cool climate gardens. With a sheath of mid-green strap shaped or cylindrical leaves, these plants are most notable for their distinctive flowers. These …
Before we think about how to grow dahlias, we might ask ourselves why should we grow dahlias?’ In other words, do dahlias repay the attention that we are required to give to them? According to the late Christopher Lloyd, whose Great Dixter garden featured multiple dahlia cultivars, dahlias are best in in late summer, when …
In this post in this series on weed control, I cover not just how weeds grow, but how they survive and thrive in the battleground of our gardens. Ultimately, I’ll look in detail at some of the ways we can prevent weeds from causing us problems and at how we can deal with problem weeds …
So, why should weeds be removed from our gardens? In the other posts in this weed control series, I’ve written about what weeds are and made the point that, fundamentally, weeds are like any other plant in the garden. So, if that is the case, why do we need to get rid of weeds? If …
What are weeds and why should gardeners care about them? It is said that gardening is all about the gardener’s efforts to control nature and controlling weeds must be one of the hardest tasks that the gardener has to do. Weeding and weeds can especially be a challenge when you are new to gardening because …