Continuing our occasional look at the plants most widely available in the new RHS Plant finder…. Fiery colours used to be ignored or even despised in favour of soft pastel shades, but not any more. And one of the most widely grown new plants in this years RHS Plantfinder is a very sparky looking perennial, Geum ‘Fire Storm’.

Like the old favourites ‘Mrs J. Bradshaw’ and ‘Lady Stratheden’, this is a tough and easy-to-grow plant which, while preferring a rich soil that never becomes too dry, should also do well in drier, less fertile conditions – as long as it has plenty of sun.

You could say that ‘Fire Storm’ is in between those old timers in terms of colour. The flowers are semi-double, opening a rich fiery orange with scarlet overtones then maturing to a brighter, slightly yellower orange shade. And they open over many months. With dark foliage – purple-leaved berberis behind, perhaps, and dark-leaved heucheras in front – the display will be dramatic.

Also, this is a much neater, more self-supporting plant reaching about 20in/50cm in full flower with the foliage making a fresh looking mound about 12-14in/30-35cm high. So it’s also 10in/35cm less tall and so less floppy than ‘Fireball’. And the flowers even last well in water.

Geum ‘Fire Storm’ is available from these RHS Plantfinder nurseries.

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Wildlife is good and necessary for a healthy ecosystem, we know that, but there are some species that are less welcome than others. Top of my list of Unwelcome Visitors this week is the horsefly (Haematopota pluvialis, which means ‘blood-drinker of the rains’), also known as the cleg or clegg fly.

Picture from Wikimedia Commons
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Start of week three and we are finally coming at of the ground here at Ness Botanic Gardens.  Due to the design being based on spirals and every line a curve, it has taken us a while get everything set out, post lined up and levels set.  Today the deck has started to take shape and the soil levels have been raised ready for the planting to start.  It’s all very exciting, and the curvaceous nature of the design sparking off lots of interest with the visitors.

Things will change quickly this week, and I am hoping to start the planting very soon.  Also our turf features are slowly emerging from the ground, with the internal supports going in today. Read More...

Geraniums, or pelargoniums as we should call them, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Creating varieties that are more bushy and more prolific, or which trail more effectively, and in new colours and colour combinations, seems to have been a high priority in recent years. But this variety climbs.

Well, ‘Skyscraper’ (left, click to enlarge) doesn’t climb like a clematis or a honeysuckle; it needs tying in. But it’s vigorous and determined to grow upright. The soft foliage with its rounded lobes has a faint dark zone, and the clusters of salmon orange flowers keep coming over a very long season.

Liz Sims of Vernon Geranium Nursery told me more about it: “The plant will require tying in to a support… preferably a support all around the outside of the pot or a triangle of stakes up the centre. Increased pinching will result in more laterals and a greater number of flowers but it will take longer to achieve a 6ft/2m plant if the tip is pinched out.

“I've noticed it has extra long flower stems - hence it's great height! - and have also noticed it flowers a great deal better than other climbing geraniums. The picture (click to enlarge) shows it at the end of one season’s growth.
 
“It remains extremely vigorous in temperatures above 53F/12C. Without the top growing tips being removed it will continue to grow and spread. However, trimming to keep to a neater shape will reduce the height if the top tips are removed.”

‘Skyscraper’ was discovered by Ellene and Derek Simmonds from Lincolnshire. It was a chance seedling which survived the first winter in their garden as a very small plant under a canopy of other geraniums. It’s thought to have blood of both zonal pelargonium and the ivy-leaved geranium .

Pelargonium ‘Skyscraper’ is available from Vernon Geranium Nursery.

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Between showers, the weeds have been having a wail of a time. With our attention distracted by wildflower sowing and tours in recent weeks, the time had come to declare war on our weedy plots. This meant bringing in the reserves..

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We are four days into the build at Ness Gardens, and things are going very well. Last Sunday I looked out the window and thought that the rain would never stop. Monday morning proved difficult with our plot being submerged in water. Even the ducks had settled in the puddles formed by the tracks of our digger! After sorting our levels and marking out the design we were ready to get working. The digger dug out the pond and started to form the pathways, along with lots of earth movement which is typical of the early stages of a build. Today, our pond is really taking shape as the block work goes up, and the unusual shape is starting to cause a stir with the visitors. Our deck has been marked out, and the posts set. Although it is still early days, it looks quite different to the grassed area that we found on Monday morning! We are hoping that tomorrow will bring more shape , as we finish our deck posts and start the path edging. You can visit Ness and see our progress, and if you go on Bank Holiday Monday there will be a plant sale for the people who can't resist a plant bargain!

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Needing no introduction, Professor David Bellamy was given the honour of opening Wisley's brand new Field Research Facility yesterday. Seen here with Dr Roger Williams, Head of Science, David was the perfect person to highlight the role of natural history in research

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Last July a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) started visiting the garden and we watched as it ate peanuts from the hanging feeder and clambered about the Magnolia tree. The tree is only a few paces from the kitchen window, so we had a good opportunity to get a close look at this fine bird. As its adult plumage came in we saw that it was a female, the back of the head being black rather than with the red markings of the male Great Spotted Woodpecker.

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New variegated daphnes have been appearing regularly over the last few years. Two years ago we had Daphne odora Rebecca (‘Hewreb’) and now another is one of the new plants most widely listed by nurseries in the 2012-2013 RHS Plantfinder.

Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’ has been the standard for many decades but Robin White, the authority on daphnes says in his book “the narrow band of variegation is not significant in the garden.” It’s more creamy than yellow and really very narrow.

New this year is Daphne odora Marianni ('Rogbret') which features a broader band of colour around the edge of each leaf and in a more vivid yellow shade. It also features clusters of highly scented flowers in February and March, each flower reddish purple on the outside and pale pink within.

Marianni, like Rebecca, is much more colourful in its variegation than ‘Aureomarginata’. But unlike both ‘Aureomarginata’ and Rebecca, Marianni keeps most of its foliage right through the winter while the other two can look rather sparse in the colder months. Marianni is also more spreading in growth than Rebecca and its flowers are a slightly redder shade.

Found as a sport on a plant of ‘Aureomarginata’ in France in 2004, this looks to be an exceptional garden shrub, its bright variegated foliage providing colour all the year and its colourful early flowers bringing a powerful fragrance.

Daphne odora Marianni ('Rogbret') is available from these RHS Plantfinder nurseries.

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Our garden is continually evolving. There is always something new to look forward to, whether it is a brand new planting, exciting redevelopment, or simply the way the plants change with the seasons.

On Thursday 3 May 2012 we will be officially opening our latest addition.  May we present the Herons Bonsai Walk. 

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