Houdini Plants

So there you are, pottering about in your garden on one of your regular rounds of inspection. A plant stops you dead in your tracks and you think to yourself 'Hmm, that's not doing very well, it'll have to go'. Back at the house, you take out your To Do list and add Take out X on there, but the list is sooooo long, the task gets left on there for quite a spell. A few months later, on another tour of inspection, the same plant has transformed itself. It's all perked up, its leaves are glowing with health, new growth is bursting out all over and it's flowering its socks off. So you smile, pat it fondly and go back to your list to cross out Take out X as a job well done.

What miracle specimen is it? That's right - you've found a Houdini Plant.

This year I've not only found Houdini Plants in my garden, it's spread to my allotment too. I've had no gooseberries for the past 2 years, only sharp scratches and prickles as I squeeze past them to pick my Autumn Bliss raspberries. So in January I thought to myself, 'Spiteful, unproductive plants. No pruning, manure and mulching for them this year. I'll take them out when the weather gets better'. But I then got caught up with all the spring planting and getting my plot up to scratch instead. So what happens? They've produced a bumper crop, that's what.

What Houdini Plants have you found in your garden or plot?

Choir Update: Our final broadcast before next Tuesday's concert was this morning. If you'd like to hear us, it's a bit more straightforward this time, as we're just half an hour into the show. The link below should work from this afternoon UK time until next Friday. Today's song selection is Plovi Barko (Croatia - hi Viooltje!), Lugar Comum (Brazil) and E Marabini (South Africa).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/noscript.shtml?/radio/aod/wiltshire_aod.shtml?wiltshire/ollydearden_wilt_fri

To listen you will need to have a programme called RealPlayer installed on your computer. Download it for FREE from the BBC's audio help page if you need to - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/help/install/

Wish us luck for Tuesday - we had a bad rehearsal as there were so many new things to learn at the last minute including stage directions. The whole concert may also be recorded for broadcast later - I'll keep you posted.

Comments

  1. Zoë4 July 2008 at 08:30

    I have 3 Falstaff roses climbing up a large Ogee frame. I know roses can take a while to establish and romp, but these I had 4 years, and last year they looked sickly (blackspot), leggy and just didn't flower much. So I told them they had one last chance. This year (I think because its been drier so far) the leaves look ok, and they have flowered their socks off. William Morris has gone bezerk too; a nice 4 foot mould last year, it's now putting out 8 foot shoots, and I think there have been in excess of a 1000 flowers! Why? like you I didn't mulch last autumn, and I wonder if they felt threatened?

    It is bizarre anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Helen/patientgardener4 July 2008 at 12:33

    I wont rush to dig up my gooseberry then - no berries this year and only two last year.

    PS - have done a post on uses of soot for you

    ReplyDelete
  3. Suburbia4 July 2008 at 13:38

    Good luck!

    Our gooseberries have been fantastic this year, they're quite a treat because of the short season anren't they?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen4 July 2008 at 19:18

    I had a bumper crop of gooseberries too. At least I did before I went on holiday because when I returned I found that the birds had eaten them all. And my white currants too. And the strawberries. Boohoohoo and snif!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Viooltje4 July 2008 at 20:49

    First of all, Happy Paws wishes to thank you for all the good thoughts, he's doing a lot better and is almost back to his usual cheeky self. And then of course let us all wish you a great time and a splendid performance for Tuesday. I'm going to mess with the radio thingy now as I'm dying to hear how good it must sound.

    Best of luck,

    Violet

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5 July 2008 at 11:35

    I think the plant hears a gardener uttering grave threats of death and destruction - gives itself a shake and starts looking all chipper.
    Once forgotten about said plant often reverts back to being a lazy slob!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mr. McGregor's Daughter5 July 2008 at 21:26

    Haven't you heard the saying "Bad rehersal, good performance"? I'm sure you will all remember the mistakes & avoid them when the time comes.
    I was ready to give up on my Trillium grandiflorum when they both bloomed this year. Last year 1 Actae simplex finally bloomed (out of 5). I would expect better this year, but the plant that bloomed is in trouble. The Lycoris squamergera, though, is in danger of getting yanked unless it does something this summer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mr. McGregor's Daughter5 July 2008 at 21:36

    I just listened to the radio clip & had to tell you that I LOVE the African piece. It's wonderful. I wish I could attend the concert.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Rose6 July 2008 at 04:37

    I feel better knowing I'm not the only one who never crosses everything off her to-do list. I'll have to think about the Houdini plants--I do have some lilies that Husband mowed down last year that have come back.

    I'm curious about all the comments about gooseberries. My mother used to make gooseberry pie occasionally, but is there another way to use them?

    ReplyDelete
  10. VP6 July 2008 at 21:33

    Zoe - it's been a fantastic year for roses hasn't it?

    PG - no don't. And many thanks for all the soot info :)

    Suburbia - they're yummy!

    Yolanda - we always get our holiday timing wrong too. Hope you had a good one

    Viooltje - I'm so pleased to hear that. And I hope we didn't mess up one of your country's lovely songs!

    EG - I'll bear that in mind!

    MMD - Glad you liked it! I bet they pull their socks up now and start performing ;)

    Rose - yep, my To Do list is ever expanding. As for other recipes - gooseberry crumble, gooseberry fool, gooseberry jam... Ooh I feel really hungry now!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Matron7 July 2008 at 09:20

    I've been waiting a couple of years for my gooseberry 'Invicta' to produce a decent crop. Last week we ate our first 4 berries which were beautifully sweet. I think there are only about 6 more and I must be quick and pick them before my niece visits next weekend - she will have them otherwise!

    ReplyDelete
  12. VP8 July 2008 at 08:15

    And before the birds cotton on too eh Matron?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more