Veg Plotting

I'm loving the sweet peas I've started picking this week. They're such an easy and bountiful plant to grow, though it nearly didn't happen for me this year, as lingering long Covid meant I got terribly behind with all things garden. Luckily there were trays of seedlings on offer a couple of months ago when I went shopping at Lidl which was an opportunity too good to miss. I just about had enough energy to improvise a couple of supporting tripods from bamboo and plonk them in a couple of my grow pots going free. These are usually part of my patio allotment, so it was great to find an alternative use for them. And here they are, the flowers now gracing the vase my aunty Lily gave me decades ago. I had no idea on the colours or scent on offer and I'm pleased to find plenty of the darker shades and scent I love in this selection. It's been mentally uplifting to have such a positive result from a much darker time earlier this year. I've wanted to grow flowers for...

This time last year I was mourning the loss of the huge box ball by our front door due to box moth ripping through the whole of Chippenham. Much to my surprise I found the pictured cyclamen , still green and alive despite 15+ years of being completely covered by the box. A silver lining to my problem! Earlier this year I created a small bed surrounding the box's stump and planted some grasses and a couple of ferns, both tough as old boots: they need to be as the ground was hard and unyielding. I've also added a couple of hellebore seedlings I found self-seeded in the gravel path in the back garden* and added a thick layer of mulch a) to keep the lawn weeds at bay, b) to lock in some moisture in this extremely dry patch, and c) to kick start soil formation. The cyclamen has found a new lease of life, pretty much doubling in size in terms of its ground cover over the summer and now it's rewarding me with its pretty white flowers which help to brighten up this north facing pat...

One of the highlights of the recent Garden Press Event was the Guernsey Clematis stand where they showcased their two clematis due for launch* at this year's Chelsea Flower Show. If you're unfamiliar with the company name, then I'm sure you know of the lovely Raymond Evison , who is the breeder behind these two new plants. * = if they're launching them at Chelsea, then it looks like I've let the cat out of the bag 😉 On the left of the photo we have 'Lindsay' with 'Guernsey Flute' on the right. Both have been selected for their plentiful blooms across the entire length of their stems, flowering from May through July with a second flush in September. They grow to around 6 feet in height (90-120cm in metric) and are good candidates for a large pot as well as the more usual site in the garden. 'Lindsay' is the one for sunshine and 'Guernsey Flute' for the shadier side of things - as is the case with most white clematis. Unlike its forebe...

Like many gardeners I've been evaluating the plant casualties in my garden resulting from last year's drought/cold winter/this year's record rain spring. Mine include some winter flowering clematis, dahlias, and some - but not all - of the Mexican fleabane. I also thought the hardy fuchsias in the front garden had gone, unlike their cousins in the back. I naturally assumed this was down to the front garden facing north not quite giving them the conditions they need to thrive. I even bought a replacement ' Hawkshead ' at Malvern show recently as I'm particularly fond of its more delicate, pure white blooms. And then, I saw last week the stems I'd cut down to the ground in the spring have sprouted lots of lush, new growth as shown in the top photo, so my latest 'Hawkshead' has a new spot in the back garden instead. I shall bear in mind the top tip I was given in Malvern and give all my fuchsias a thick layer of mulch in late autumn to help them through...

My wild and woolly front lawn has just got a little woollier with the surprise addition of the above beauty. I spotted a strange looking spike emerging a couple of weeks ago and hoped it was what it's turned out to be: a lovely, lovely orchid. This one's a pyramidal orchid ( Anacamptis pyrimidalis ), which according to the link likes a milder climate and chalk or limestone grasslands. It also goes on to say that it's developed a liking for the more artificial kind of environment - such as beside roads and canals - so perhaps a front lawn on a limey clay soil is just the kind of place it likes to be nowadays. I'm delighted it's chosen my front garden! I've asked NAH to refrain from mowing the lawn for a while to enable it to set seed, though he's keen to mow the 'meadow' now No Mow May has finished. Perhaps we now have the perfect compromise, leave the front lawn so there's taller herbiage there with a lower back lawn to offer the shorter grass ...

Last year the crocuses I'd planted in the patio planter in direct view from the kitchen disappeared and I missed them. It's always good to have a cheerful sight at this time of the year as I always find February hard to deal with. This year, the mystery of where they've gone is solved. I spotted a patch of purple winking at me from our bedroom window recently and sure enough, a closer inspection showed we now have crocuses in our lawn. It's not just the patch in the photo, there's the odd one or two scattered in at least four locations close by. I detect the hand - paw really - of the local squirrel population, who've been cheekily active all round VP Gardens . Special snowdrops are missing from their pots this year. I wonder where they'll pop up next? I think I'll leave the crocus where they are as they're in the shadiest part of the lawn which struggles to look good at the best of times. I think I can persuade NAH not to mow until the corms are wel...

... Epimedium aka barrenwort, bishop's hat or fairy wings. Here's another example of Sleep Creep Leap .  I planted my Epimediums two years ago and this is their first flowering. It was worth the wait. Whilst the blooms are tiny, they're plentiful and add grace to my revamped border at the bottom of the garden, where they thrive in the partial shade there. I really should have got down on my tummy for a better photo, thank goodness they also look pretty from above! The one pictured is 'Amber Queen'. I bought a bargain collection of 9 plants with three examples of each cultivar in the pack. 'Pink Elf' is just coming into bloom and therefore it's not quite ready to take a bow on Blooms Day.   Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum' has yet to make its flowering debut; its name tells of yellow blooms to come. The heart shaped leaves turn bronze with age and thus makes this a year-round plant of interest. They're plentiful too, so I don't need ...

I've seen quite a lot of online chat about this striking plant lately. Firstly asking for an ID - it's Arum italicum subsp. italicum 'Marmoratum' by the way - quite a mouthful, eh? With the ID duly confirmed, the conversation then turns to its renowned thugish qualities, with many a resolution made for it to never darken the commenter's garden ever again. I can offer an alternative viewpoint. It's never been a problem here at VP Gardens . Its marbled foliage brightens many a winter's walk here and then it quietly starts to fade away into summer oblivion around about now.  I reckon the key to my success and higher regard is I've planted it in the wrong place. The commenters' dire warnings centre around the plant's spathe replete with tempting red berries poised ready for the birds to eat and distribute its seeds elsewhere. Mine has never done that and a quick check of the plant's requirements shows its preference for sand or loam soils. Mi...

  Since 2012 the BSBI (the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland) has conducted its New Year Plant Hunt . Wildflower lovers from all over the UK walk round their local patch over the first few days for a few hours at the start of January and record what they see fully in bloom. Overall (and surprisingly), over 500-600 different species may be found depending on the survey year, with around 40 not uncommon on an individual walk. The top 5 finds last year were the dandelion and daisy, plus groundsel, annual meadow-grass, and common chickweed. The counts each year may vary, but the collection of survey information over a number of years helps identify any trends. The project aims to find out how our wildflowers are responding to changes in autumn and winter weather patterns, and over the few years it's been going, changes have been seen already.The use of volunteers as 'citizen scientists', means a much wider area can be covered and in greater numbers than our scientists...

I'm delighted one of my latest plant purchases has managed to flower in time for this month's Blooms Day . May I introduce you to Anemone 'Frilly Knickers' ? She may be looking a bit ruffled around the edges, but she's not bad for a small plant bought in September at Malvern's Plant and Garden Fair and planted into her new home last month ready for next year. This is a completely new, award winning introduction for 2020 and one of the plants on my shopping list when I saw Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants were exhibiting at the Fair. This is a mutation of Anemone 'Dreaming Swan' , spotted on the nursery as a potential good 'un and named by Rosy Hardy herself. I had a lot of fun tweeting to Rob Hardy prior to the show, to tell him I was looking forward to seeing his 'Frilly Knickers'. It was a good way of introducing myself on the day and we had a long, good humoured chat, especially when we found we had Marylyn Abbott of West Green House ...

Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' is a late summer stalwart on my patio. I have a longish narrow bed in the corner, dominated by a fig tree and with a couple of winter flowering clematis growing up our neighbour's garage wall. This is a perennial sunflower, which grows to 5 or 6 feet tall, with lighter yellow flowers than most of its perennial and annual cousins. Personally, I think the lighter lemon suits the softer rays of autumn's sunshine. This area doesn't have a decent depth of soil, which is fine for the fig, but at the height of summer my sunflowers suffer a little. As a consequence this is the only garden bed which gets an additional watering, usually the waste water from our kitchen. I now have a couple of options to consider: either to build up the soil depth with a thick mulch so my sunflowers fare better, or to replace them with something else. Earlier in the year I was all for replacing them with raspberries as part of my Allotment at Home endeavours as th...

It's taken me a long time to appreciate pelargoniums. I have a childhood memory of them overwintering in a corridor at my primary school and hating the overpowering smell of their brown, shrivelled stems in that narrow space. Those were zonal pelargoniums, and since then I've slowly started to appreciate the scented leaf varieties. You can read more about the different types here . Georgie included a lovely lemony scented variety in my final Flowers for Mum last year and I took a few cuttings so I could grow something new in her memory. They looked so weak and feeble over winter I almost gave up and consigned them to the compost heap, but as you can see one survived and it's filled out its given pot admirably over the summer. Now I knew from my schooldays I was going to have to give my plant some drastic treatment soon, and I'm glad I saw a tweet from Fibrex Nurseries a couple of days ago to remind everyone it's time to bring their plants in as the weather has coo...

"It's National Bulb Planting Week," announced cheerful BBC weather forecaster Sarah Lucas at Wisley this morning. I haven't managed to find out more about it since I came online, but I'm glad to add my own contribution today courtesy of Taylors bulbs and the HTA 's #MillionPlantingMoments campaign. Here I am this morning deciding where to plant my allium bulbs. This variety and colour's new to me and I hope it'll do as well for me as its purple cousins have served so reliably - you may remember I showed you my terrace bed stuffed with spring blooms in last month's Blooms Day . I've cleared out most of the bottom border and I'm slowly replanting this area as and when final bramble culling allows (it's proving to be persistent). I've decided to plant my bulbs amongst the pictured clump of Persicaria to provide some spring interest to this area. The other alliums have taught me they need to be placed amongst robust and/or later emer...

  I confess it's third time lucky for my Salvia 'Royal Bumble' here at VP Gardens . Its predecessors have not survived the winter in two previous years and I thought this one had gone the same way. I was delighted to see some tiny signs of new growth when I cut it back in May and now it's beginning to take possession of its allotted spot. I'd be lying if I said its combination with its cotoneaster neighbour was by design, but now you come to mention it, I do like how the flowers of one and the berries of the other echo each other. As you can see, the flowers are similar to those of Salvia 'Hot Lips'  which I have in the terrace bed on the other side of the central steps. Unlike its cousin, the rich red flowers of 'Royal Bumble' stay a constant colour, and both are loved by bees (sadly not hummingbirds, we need to go across the pond for that). Both are listed as being semi hardy here in the UK and I'm pondering why 'Hot Lips' has surviv...

I thoroughly broke my plant buying duck at the weekend with a trip to the public plant sale at West Kington Nurseries . This usually happens in late April and early September, but this year's events meant both were combined into one sale spread over the longer Bank Holiday weekend instead. Like so many places these days there was lots of hand gel in evidence and sprays available to ensure safe wheelbarrow handling before I headed off to view the goodies on offer. Facemasks were the order of the day in the glasshouses and polytunnels, but thankfully not for coffee and cake time whilst I sorted out my plan of attack for the day. I was pretty good and stuck mainly to my list, though a rather nice Eupatorium* 'Chocolate' also leapt into my barrow, as well as a Hydrangea paniculata 'Diamant Rouge' and Actaea 'Hillside Black Beauty'.  I was pleased to find the foxglove 'Glory of Roundway' and aster 'Little Carlow' as both originate from nearby D...

I must admit I've not been that brilliant in the past at filling the gap that always appears in the top terrace bed mid summer. The alliums like it here so much the initial couple of packs I planted have grown into 150+ blooms this spring. Down on the lower terrace bed asters and anemone 'White Swan' manage to fill in admirably, but I've yet to get it right at the top. My attempts so far struggled to grow past the dense leaf cover the alliums throw out at the start of the year. Fast forward a few weeks and I was pondering a couple of gaps and thought some dahlias would fit in just right . I scoured the local nurseries and garden centres, but either their offerings had been snapped up, or the problems we've heard suppliers had during coronavirus meant they never actually appeared. Fast forward another couple of weeks and I never expected the perfect solution to leap out at me as soon as I entered the supermarket to do our weekly shop. It was the pictured dahlia, so w...

I should have been at Press Day at Chelsea Flower Show today, but instead I'm thinking about it from the comfort of my own home. It's rather nice that a little bit of Chelsea has come to me instead, in the form of the pictured clematis, 'Olympia', which was due to be launched at the show today. I'd planned to reveal it in its full glory, but instead I've had a little insight into the kind of angst the growers and garden designers go through in their preparations. It arrived a couple of weeks ago from 'the Lovely Mr Evison' (as I call him), packed with love and full of health, vigour and bud. And it's remained that way ever since, despite my finding it a special pot on the patio. I think last week's cooler weather held it in check, and - like many of the exhibitors this has happened to - I expect it to finally reveal its blooms during Chelsea week after the judges have passed on by. I'll post an update when it does, in the meantime...

I first came across this plant a few years ago at West Green House (pictured), where it provided useful winter colour and scent in a shady part of the garden. I decided there and then it was just what was needed to provide some winter interest for our views from the kitchen. I finally achieved that intent last year when I bought three of these plants, which go by the catchy title (not) of Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Citrina' aka Scorpion vetch or Bastard senna. My research showed it likes sunny, walled areas as well as the shade I'd seen it in, which is just as well as that's exactly the spot I had for it. However, all is not well in my garden so far. I needed two plants, one for the top terrace bed and one for a pot next to the kitchen door, but I found it was cheaper to buy three. However my Coronilla curled up its toes at my chosen spots, and prefered my careless 'bunging' of the spare plant into another patio pot, one which can't be s...

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 ...