My Garden

Miscanthus sinensis ‘Yakushima Dwarf' is, as you will have guessed, a dwarf form of this invaluable ornamental grass.

The problem is that because it's been raised from seed there are quite a few different dwarf forms all available under that one name - and some are far better than others. But you're never quite sure what you're going to get: the good, the bad or the ugly.

Neil Lucas at Knoll Gardens has solved the problem by selectinging an especially good seedling, naming it, and then propagating it by division so that all the plants are the exactly the same and you can always depend on getting an excellent plant. Miscanthus sinensis ‘Abundance' takes its first bow at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

"This is the new name for our best form of ‘Yakushima Dwarf' which is actually a mix of seedlings and not a clonal cultivar," Neil told me in the run up to the Show. "So, with encouragement from Rick Darke, we've taken the step of naming this particularly good form to avoid continued confusion.

"It's not always in flower by Hampton though it's looking hopeful, and we will certainly have plants for sale," he said. The heat wave has made it difficult for everyone.

‘Abundance' forms wonderful mounds of attractive narrow leaves covered in masses of delicate buff white flowers. The plumes glint in the sunshine. Neil says "it's one of the very best Miscanthus for general garden use" - though it's his baby so he's bound to be proud!

It's deciduous with the leaves turning an attractive tawny shade as they age, it reaches about 1-4-1.7m/4.5-4.8ft in height, and it thrives in sun or light shade. Ideal as a specimen in a border in a small garden, some gardeners grow these dwarf miscanthus in large tubs - where they look amazing.

You can buy Miscanthus sinensis ‘Abundance' at the Show, or order Miscanthus sinensis ‘Abundance' online at Knoll Gardens.

 
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One of the great things about visiting any big flower show - and the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is the biggest of them all - is that you get the chance to talk to the breeders of some wonderful new varieties.

Richard Fulcher, who runs Pine Cottage Plants in Devon, is a holder of a National Collections of Agapanthus and is expecting to be showing perhaps three new varieties he's raised himself.

Getting the timing for the Show right is always tricky, and with the recent scorching weather his timing may be thrown out at the last minute. But one fine new variety he's confident of being able to unveil is ‘Northern Star'. "The plants are looking to be on target," he told me - although that was before the heat wave.

‘Northern Star' is one of the hardier, deciduous, types with unusually large rounded heads packed with flowers. Each individual flower opens from an inky purple bud to a blue flower with a darker blue stripe along the centre of each petal. Then the petals continue to roll back as the flowers mature until each is like an exploding star creating a lively sense of movement. The foliage is interesting too, the base of each leaf is stained violet-blue, almost black.

Richard himself calls ‘Northern Star' "spectacular" and "one of the finest hardy Agapanthus in cultivation" and even for allowing for a little parental pride it must be good!

You can buy Agapanthus ‘Northern Star' at the show or order it online. I'll be reporting on ***'s other newcomers which made it to the show later in the week.

Another holder of a National Collection of Agapanthus who can also be seen at the Show is the Hoyland Plant Centre, exhibiting in the Plant Heritage Marquee.

 

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Exciting News . . .   At the Garden Retail Awards for the best people in the industry, our Wildlife Team have captured the Greatest Wild Bird Care & Wildlife Team Award for 2009.  Here they are at the Awards Ceremony and showing off their truly well deserved plaque and certificate.  Well done everyone.  Next time you’re visiting Wisley Plant Centre in, come and look at our trophy. 

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The last two and a half weeks at Hampton Court have been spent erecting green oak structures and planting thousands of oak seedlings, as well as over a thousand purple heather plants. All of this and more in order to create the second Quilted Velvet garden of the summer. This garden is much easier to put together than our Chelsea design, but it’s still hard work, seven days a week starting at 7am and finishing at nine in the evening. The extreme heat has affected both us and the plants, with the danger of grass turning brown and oaks shrivelling in the scorching sun. We have had to devote a lot of time to watering, and this has slowed the rate of progress.

We are, however, nearly there with just the final tweaks to attend to, as well as the watering of course. Having the garden all but finished should allow for a certain amount of relaxation, but this is not how it works out. I am finding smaller and smaller imperfections to correct and also worrying as to whether the heather will be in full enough flower for the opening of the show. The heather, a variety called Pink Star usually flowers around mid-summer and is slowly but surely turning a lovely Quilted Velvet shade of purple so should be just about perfect. Fingers and everything else crossed!

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There's always a great sense of anticipation in the lead up to the RHS Flower Shows and Hampton Court is no exception. I know that you shouldn't have favourites, but if I really had to choose which one show to visit each year Hampton Court Palace Flower Show would win everytime. It's a horticultural extravaganza of everything that is wonderful, vibrant and ground breaking in gardening. It doesn't have quite the same prestigious feel as Chelsea, but I like that. I love the fact that you can wander around the show at ease and have space and time to observe everything you want to see (well if you're not working there).

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Sandy soils in the south-east are very hot and dry now with plants potentially under great stress.  To avoid this watering is being done on a ten day cycle giving a good drenching to really saturate the top 25cm.  Thirsty celery, celeriac and runner beans are done on a five day cycle.  There is no need to water more often, although misguided plot holders water more frequently, their efforts are often in vain or worse due to lack of deep soaking or excessive wetting.

Without sprinklers the easiest way to water is to grow summer crops in shallow trenches and fill these with water.  This gets water to where it is needed, and nowhere else, quickly

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As the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show - the largest flower show in the world - approaches I'm beginning my series of posts about the new plants introduced at the Show. I'll be posting here every day until Sunday 12 July, when the show closes, bringing you news and pictures of all the new plants on display.

One of the highlights of the Show is the Tudor Rose Festival and, along with the announcement of the Rose of the Year for 2010, quite a range of new varieties will be launched. So to start us off, here's a taste.

The rich red ‘Josephine', new from C & K Jones, looks gorgeous. It's neat in habit, growing just 90cm-1.2m/30-36in tall and no more than 60cm/24in wide, so is ideal in small garden or even a container.

But it's the flowers which make this rose special. Unusually large in size, and almost blood red in colour, set against the bright green foliage they look especially striking. But it's not just their colour which is appealing. From the opening of the first blooms in June. ‘Josephine' will continue to bloom through the summer and into the autumn until November, unless halted by the first hard frost of the winter. Dead heading significantly enhances the display.

The rose is named for the bestselling author Josephine Cox, whose latest of thirty six novels, Born Bad, was published in February. A donation from the sale of each rose will be made to Barnardo's, the long established charity which works to support vulnerable children.

You can buy plants of ‘Josephine' at the show or order it from C & K Jones after the show.

* And by the way.... C & K Jones have a great domain name for their website. It's obvious really, but still excellent: jonestherose.co.uk

 
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We grow a number of sweet and acid cherries at Rosemoor.  Every year we have a fantastic show of blossom on the sweet cherry ‘Sunburst’, which is a fan trained tree on the wall in the veg garden, but every year just as the young cherries are forming they all fall off – very frustrating.

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Plenty of shrubs and climbers have been at their peak recently including wisterias, honeysuckles, lilacs, Berberis, as well as the less well known Indigofera, Desmodium and Lespedeza, and the panel that assesses these plants have been busy.

The wisterias were assessed at two sites near Wisley, Witch Hazel Nursery which houses one of the two National Collections, and the garden at Pyrford Court which is not open to the public. The plants have been growing for six or seven years now, this is the second year of assessment and some plants are emerging as likely AGM candidates.

One interesting observation, which will help all of us identify mystery plants in our own gardens, was that W. sinensis, W. brachybotrys and the majority of American varieties twine in an anti-clockwise direction whilst W. floribunda and its hybrids twine clockwise.

Amongst those rated most highly by the assessors was W. sinensis ‘Amethyst, which had developed relatively little leaf at flowering time and so showed its flowers more effectively than many. Its scent was also stronger than others and it was also noted that unpruned shoots flowered later than pruned shoots to extend the flowering season.

W. sinensis ‘Prolific', noted as one of the most reliable, while W. brachybotrys was praised as the longest flowering of all and featured coppery young foliage.

The pink flowered W. floribunda ‘Hon-beni' seemed on course to retain the AGM it received in 1993 although the best pink for colour was considered to be W. brachybotrys 'Showa-beni' but this had not flowered well last year so, at present, is not considered to be of AGM standard.

Wisteria x formosa, a cross between W. floribunda ‘Alba' and W. sinensis raised in America more than a hundred years ago, was especially prolific

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