This blog is changing its name. The present name may continue to be accessible for a while, but the new name is simply Gorsemoor.uk
It’s the first time I have come across a domain name with just .uk on the end. I don’t think its in widespread use yet.
This is not quite all of the plants made ready for moving from Norfolk down to Gorsemoor. The box filled with compost contains about 50 Colchicum autumnale. The clump they were taken from was badly in need of division and the remaining ones have been replanted in two clumps. The remaining boxes consist of a box of three strawberry varieties and their runners, whilst the rest are a range of herbaceous plants, all dug up and split, with the foliage cut to within two fingers of soil level and the roots within four fingers of soil level, in 1 ltr pots. There’s also Hosta siebaldiana in a bag, together with some bags of minor bulbs, my Acer conspicuum ‘Red Flamingo’ (which despite having been put in a pot with ericaceus compost has done absolutely nothing at all – we shall see if planting it in genuine acid soil on Dartmoor will move it at all). The iron pot contains Agapanthus which were divisions taken this spring, which flowered but not much as yet. The main remaining plant to take is Aster x frikartii Mönch, (the best of all Michaelmas Daisies in my opinion, and one of the few that is allowed to continue to be called Aster!) It is in full fig right now although having been battered by a rainstorm overnight, in its second year of life, and I am loath to dig it up until the last moment. All in all, there is no noticeable effect on the garden, which is as it should be.
The boxes were discarded by the Scottish Crop Research Institute some years ago, and provide a most convenient way of moving plants of this size or smaller, good from a removalist’s point of view because they can be stacked without damage to the plants.
Aster x frikartii Mönch
Very many of the notifications I’ve received in the past year about this blog are from bits of non-human software telling me how to increase traffic to it. Since it is over a year since the blog was abandoned, they have been wasting their time, which had they been human, they would have realised.
However, the blog is going to be revived, under this new name of Gorsemoor Garden. It will be a joint effort, of Elizabeth Lawrence and Edward Verner (who are brother and sister, and live at Gorsemoor).
The garden is fairly big, and has been too much for one person for some years. we hope that in joining forces, we may be able to do what the garden really needs, and perhaps more. We have known the garden for sixty years, and much has come and gone during that time.
We are both active members of a Facebook Group called The Gardeners’ Garden UK, which was started in July 2016 and now has over 1,400 members. It is a closed group, but anyone can ask to join, if they are interested in proper gardening. There will be no link between this blog and the Facebook group page, but the blog may very well refer to the Facebook group from time to time and perhaps expand on some of the issues and ideas raised there. The group has its own website, http://thegardenersgarden.com, which includes a seed exchange for the benefit of group members, and attempts to archive the various contributions which would otherwise be lost down the group’s timeline.
Changing the name of the site takes a little while, and the bog will not actually become active apart from this announcement until about mid-October.
Rosmarinus and Chamaecyparis hedge at Norfolk Lavender
L.a. ‘Twickel Purple’
Visited Norfolk Lavender yesterday which was interesting mainly because being able to look at practically every variety of lavender close by one another made it easy to decide which are the best ones to go for. Hitherto, I had tended to have L. angustifolia ‘Hidcote’ and, for a smaller size one, L. a. ‘Munstead’. I was told several years ago that I could do better than L.a. ‘Hidcote’, but I had forgotten with which.
L.a. ‘Melissa Lilac’
Anyway, I could well see why Hidcote has been superseded. I think L.a. ‘Twickel Purple’ quite a long way superior, (flowering a little earlier), whilst ‘Melissa Lilac’ outperforms ‘Munstead’ convincingly.. Others that I rated were ‘Royal Purple’, ‘Essence Purple’ and, for a greyer leafed one, L. x claytoriae ‘Sawyers’.
L.a. ‘Royal Purple’
L.a. ‘Essence Purple’
L. X claytoriae ‘Sawyers’
With hollyhocks, every year seems to be different. I have several, dotted about the garden, none of them put there by me, some of them behaving as perennials and apparently none of them much affected by rust.
i have edited them somewhat, so that they now tend to be in groups rather than sacattered as individuals. As a result (I think as a result), the colours are more consistent and less random.
i have basically five colours: light mauve, red, cream, purple/black and pink. I have a few that I’ve grown from collected seed, but they won’t flower until next year, so I don’t know how they will turn out, in terms of colour.
The most dramatic, the purple/black flowered ones, have not fared so well this year unfortunately, but there are a couple from which I will collect seed.
I shall be collecting seed from all these; I am fairly sure they will come true. There is one from which I have seed, with a pronounced branching habit, and it will use interesting to see if the branching habit is replicated too.
I like to try and find out about a favorite plant’s background, but I’ve drawn a blank with this rose. I read that the name refers to a German lady, but in that case the Fru would have been Frau (and in fact Frau Dagmar Hartopp is a German version of the name; Fru is Danish). Anyway, R. ‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’ is about the most compact of the rugosa roses, which was given a special place in my garden in Scotland, and happened to be growing here in Norfolk when I moved here. I think of it as being very ladylike and rather demure.
It has single flowers, starting rather late and flowering for ages, the delicate light pink silky single flowers replaced by colourful hips in the autumn. It seems to me very accommodating as to soils and conditions, although it is susceptible to all the rose pests and diseases going, and sadly, enjoyed by rabbits and deer, despite being quite prickly. Apart from those drawbacks, it is so nice to have a shrub rose that looks healthy all the time.
It’s exciting that i’ve been promised an Iris ‘Langport Wren’ by a friend who gardens in Somerset (so I am sure that the original plant will have come from Kelways, who bred the variety in the first place and are unsurpassed for irises and paeonies).
Iris ‘Langport Wren and Astelia ‘Silver Spear’
I. ‘Langport Wren’ is described by the RHS as brown, but to me it is a gorgeous rich purple, and one of the most successful of Kelways’ breeding, flowering longer than most. It’s been around since the 1970s, introduced by Kelways as one of a new strain of bearded irises between the then existing tall bearded and dwarf irises.
By coincidence, I. ‘Langport Wren’ is mentioned in The Times today, in an article about silver-leafed plants, suggested as a fine companion for Astelia ‘Silver Spear’. I think that’s right, and would like to get A. ‘Silver Spear’. I am a little cautious though because I grew Astelia in Scotland, and it wasn’t a huge success – it survived the winters, but they knocked it back and it was never as resplendent as it was hoped to be. And I suppose a silver-leafed variety would be rather less hardy if anything.
The combination is too good not to have a try though, even if I get two and put one in a pot, place that in the border in the spring, and move it to shelter for the autumn. Meanwhile I should be able to get an idea whether the other Astelia can make it in the open ground.
I am a bit ambivalent about roses; I tend to think that in general I don’t care for them much, but then I remind myself of ones that have been favourites over the years, and there turns out to be quite a large number of them.
I can rule out hybrid teas, because I have never had a garden formal enough to accommodate them comfortably, and there are very few miniature or patio roses that I enjoy. So the roses I like are almost all either climbers or shrubs.
R. sherardii
i like wild roses. I miss R. sherardii, which grows very tidily in hedgerows in Scotland, but the seeds that I collected failed to germinate. Perhaps it’s better staying where it belongs though. Down here in Norfolk, the more scrambling R. canina dog rose is very welcome.
Rosa mundi or R. gallica ‘Versicolor’
R. mundi (one of the oldest roses with a remarkable history which deserves a post all to itself really) is a Gallica shrub rose which is best as a hedge I think, and then unsurpassed. I want to plant a row of them under the west wall of the house, which is a soft red brick.
R. ‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’
I can’t have R. ‘Roseraie de l’Hay’ with its overpowering scent – it’s too big for my new garden. I did love R. ‘Fru Dagmaf Hastrup’ in Scotland, and was delighted to find it here when I arrived, its soft pink flowers exactly matched by geraniums around it. A rose I do miss and would like to find room for here, is R. ‘Rhapsody in Blue’, which isn’t blue at all of course, but trying to be bluey mauve.
R. ‘Rhapsody in Blue’
There’s a climber called R. ‘Morning Jewel’ which is descended from ‘New Dawn’ which we had in Scotland, and it is a superb pure strong pink. I will have one here, but I shall have to wait for it. I asked Peter Beales about it; they don’t have it yet, but they are budding some this year, as another of their customers has asked for it. Meanwhile, I shall plant R. ‘Blairi No 2’ as a climber on my fence. It sounds rather modern but was introduced in 1845, and has a really strong scent.
R. ‘Morning Jewel’
Because my garden is small, the space available for growing roses in is pretty limited, and in a couple of instances, I need to decide whether to plant roses in pots or to manage without. Not all roses are suitable
R. ‘Blairi No. 2
for growing in a pot, and obviously the most vigorous would resent being confined. Some roses can manage though, and I turn to Peter Beales Roses (who are virtually on my doorstep) for sensible advice. what they say on their website:
Planting roses in pots
As a rough guide, for smaller shrubs which grow up to 3ft, use pots with a 14 – 16 inch diameter. For larger ramblers and scramblers use pots with a depth of up to 20 – 22 inches.
As with planting roses into the ground the base of the stems should be just below the surface of the soil. If using a ready-made compost it would be wise to choose one that is soil based. Always add drainage to the bottom of the pot, shingle is fine, roses hate to have their feet in water. Leave enough distance from the edge of the pot to the compost to allow for watering without compost spillage, a couple of inches is advisable.
Every year when the rose is dormant, compost should be scraped away to a depth of a few inches and replaced. Then, after approximately three years the dormant rose should be removed and all the compost replaced.
Even so, I think for a rose the bigger the pot the better. My biggest plain earthenware pots are 14″ diameter, and about the same in depth, so big enough for the smallest of shrub roses, but nothing like adequate for larger ramblers and scramblers.
I have two roses in pots already, R. ‘Francis Dubreuil’ and R. ‘Félicité Perpétue’ They are coping alright so far, and both are coming into flower for their second time this year. The dark crimson R. ‘Francis Dubreuil’ is a bit disappointing actually, the flowers tending to droop and take on a rather wind-blasted appearance after only a few days.
A pot that is more than 20″ deep is a very big pot indeed in a small garden. The business of scraping away compost and replacing it each year, and then repotting the whole thing every three years is a big drawback, as is the ongoing need to keep the plant watered.
The RHS advice is slightly different: Only a few roses are tolerant of being grown in containers, as roses generally have long shallow roots for anchoring the plant and searching out moisture and nutrients. As long as deep containers are chosen, a good show of blooms should be achieved.
The best roses for growing in containers are the patio and miniature types, which can be grown in fairly small but deep pots 23-35cm (9-14in) deep. You could also try growing less vigorous, more compact ground cover and climbing roses, but use larger containers with a minimum depth of 30-45cm (12-18in).
That makes sense to me, but I am not a small rose enthusiast. This is the only miniature or patio rose I have (I think miniature and patio are interchangeable), and I have no clue as to which it is. I wouldn’t have planted it myself, but it is there, and is quite sweet, so I look after it anyway.
What most of my roses have in common is that they are more or less single, or open enough for the bees to get at them.
I’ve four more roses to plant this year, to cover arches, which are ‘Goldfinch’ with ‘Veilchenblau’ and ‘Albertine’ with ‘Guinee’. One way and another, that’s a fair few roses for a smallish garden, so I really should avoid growing any in pots and have them in the ground or nowhere.
Brunnera macrophylla
I know Brunnera macrophylla very well indeed, having constantly had to curb its thuggery in my last garden. It’s sometimes referred to as perennial forget-me-not, (but it is not Myosotis, just in the same family).
Brunnera macrophylla ‘Dawson’s White’
There are three varieties that seem worth considering, ‘Langtrees’, ‘Dawson’s White’ and ‘Jack Frost’. I won’t grow ‘Langtrees’ any more because I found it reverted too quickly to the species; ‘Dawson’s White can also deteriorate over time, but while it lasts it combines well with some hostas, providing similar green and white colouring but preceding them in the spring, and with a different texture.
Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ with Heuchera
B.m. ‘Jack Frost’ is different altogether, and is a favourite plant. I don’t think it goes well with Hosta ‘Fire and Ice’ as suggested in today’s Times, but I do like it alongside purple leaved plants. In my last garden I planted it with Ajuga reptans ‘Atropurpurea’ (I was using the Ajuga as a market for Colchicum autumnale), and as shown here, with one of the purple Heucheras, so it strikes me that B.m. ‘Jack Frost’ is just what I need to go next door to the dark purple group described in my previous post about Aster laterifolius ‘Lady in Black’. What is more, the blue colour in ‘Jack Frost’s leaves will be happily echoed by the Campanula growing up through the Aster.
These two species could hardly be more different from one another, apart from sharing their yellow flower colour. Both grow widely round here, and both have made their home in my border without me having been involved (I did bring in a plant of L.m. ‘Aurea’ with me from Scotland by mistake, as well).
Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’
L.m. ‘Aurea’ is of course Creeping Jenny, not to everyone’s taste particularly because it can become invasive, but an effective ground cover, in deep shade as well as sun I’ve found. I like to use it as a marker for plants that aren’t up when it is around.
Lysimachia punctata
Lysimachia punctata is Garden Loostrife, which I don’t know well and haven’t grown before, but it seems to tick a lot of boxes. I’ve found a website, www.perennials.com, which seems very comprehensive and helpful (albeit American; it needs a UK equivalent). It seems to tolerate any soil, any degree of shade or lack of it, wet or dry, acid or alkaline, not liked by rabbits allegedly, easy to grow, and long flowering. So far it doesn’t need staking either.
I don’t particularly like where it has put itself, next to Lychnis coronaria ‘Alba’, but at least it should be easy to move. I am warned about avoiding the waterside plant Purple Loosetrife which is Lythrum, not actually related, and I know can be invasive.
Gorsemoor Garden 