1. As I wound up my professional gardening for the year this week, to perfect crisp, cold, dry weather, I was put in the Christmas spirit by the sight of this beauty. It had been a rather sprawling, badly pruned holly until I gave it a hard chop earlier this year. Now, the berries sing out and the leaves are lovely and glossy. The holly wears the crown, eh?

2. It was my first time growing Nicotiana mutabilis from seed this year. I had high hopes for them. Perhaps they are a little slow to get going, but my word, when they do, the flower power is extraordinary. They are still flowering mindlessly away in my front garden to the extent that I am now thoroughly bored by them and will whip them out next week. Probably six months of blooms  from them though.

3. Miscanthus (unknown cultivar, as I dug them up from somewhere). I really like them at this time of year for their wind and light catching properties. There is no light to catch today, but they are impressively tall and elegant plants for a sunny spot. Easy to split and divide in Spring, which is exactly what I will do with these.

 

4. I am pretty poor at looking after my tools. I will admit it. However, I gave this old fork a clean last week and was reminded how much I love it and enjoy using it. From the worm eaten handle to the sharpness of the tines and the lightness of its balance, it is a joy to use. New forks are often made from heavy steel and are really clunky. This is light and strong and great for digging out roots or turning compost. It may not be long for this world as cracks are starting to appear, so I will miss it when it’s gone. What tool would you grieve for, if it went?

5. Euphorbia characias. Touched with morning frost, which only accentuates its grace. You may have heard me extol the virtues of this plant before. I love it. It just does not have a bad day.

 

 

6. Winter projects. I have come by a motley collection of containers which look weird and shabby right now. I have a vision though. I want to make a linked series of ponds, pools and bog containers so I can grow plants which thrive in those conditions. I have very little experience of these conditions, so am eager to experiment. I am also trying to create a situation whereby frogs and toads can access the lowest and shallowest container (by half burying it), hop into the next one and so on until they reach the deeper ones (and get back again!). I patched up the old water tank with floor tile, but have to see whether it holds water. That will be the sixth container. Anyone got recommendations for must have water and bog plants?

I am also gathering together all the broken gravestones and slabs which clutter a 900 year old site in order to make a new path to the compost heaps. It’s going to be a busy Winter.

Yo, ho, ho! Let the festivities begin, with a dank, wet December Saturday. Today’s post has a business like feel to it, largely because it is that time of year when practical jobs and projects replace the joy of plants.

1. Compost. Tepid compost. Inspired by our glorious leader’s hot composting post a week or two back (https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/19/diary-of-a-failed-hot-heap/), I tried my own bay. Never short of compostables, I felt I had a good chance to get the temperatures up into the 40s and 50s needed for fast and then weed seed free compost. It is labour intensive (four turns of the heap so far) and requires regular monitoring, but I am moderately determined to give it a good go. After a fast start and three days the temperature peaked at 35 degrees, then declined to 30 or below. I am a bit miffed really as it has had ten days and plenty of the right stuff in the right ratio, with turning and water and covering. I will give it the same treatment for a week, but if there is no change, I might have to subside into cold composting and spend my turning time on weeding.

2. Leaves. A client has a big, healthy Ash tree which overlooks his garden from a neighbour. There are always lots of leaves to collect up in Autumn. He doesn’t want to compost or make leaf mould (weirdo, right?), so I came up with the solution of spreading a thick leafy mulch under his well established hedge. There are only so many leaves you can effectively do this with: Ash, Lime, Chestnut would be my favourites. They break down quickly. Better than letting the council have them.

3. Bird box. I had a spare couple of hours yesterday, so I went raiding one of the many loft conversion skips of Walthamstow and came up with some floorboards. This is my Mark 1 bird box, with three more in the pipeline. I have ordered those metal entrance cover things to stop Woodpeckers and Magpies raiding. They will be adorning some of the trees in the churchyard soon. Emma was delighted to see old floorboards and tools all over the recently cleared decking.

4. Just when I thought it was safe to put away the bulb planter, Helen Lerner offered me a job lot of free bulbs from the London Parks and Garden’s Trust (250 of them!). Never one to look a free bulb in the mouth, I gladly accepted. Three types of Tulip, two of Hyacinth, Allium Graceful Beauty, Camassia Leichtini (white), Ipheion Alberto Castillo, Triteleia Aquarius. So now the fun of finding little spots for them. Not today, it’s too wet.

5. Oh, ok then, a few plants, then. I quite like this little Winter combination of Cornus Midwinter Fire, Ophiopogon Nigrescens and Rubus Cockburnianus (my favourite plant name ever). This is a rubbish photo, but the combination works well over Winter in a slightly shady spot, even surrounded by big shrubs. Snowdrops come through it in early Spring. In Summer you have to prune out straggly Rubus stems.

6. Have I told you about Cypress spurge, Bonaparte’s Crown, Graveyard Moss, Kiss me Dick, Love in a Huddle, Welcome to our House or Euphorbia cyaparissias before? Well any plant with that many common names is going to be a prolific spreader. On poor dry soil, it will tick over, but in a lush bed it can be rampant. I keep this one tame in a pot by the front door where it gets no attention, no new compost, very little water and does really well. The Spring display is nice, like you would expect from a Euphorbia, but the Autumn colour is the best thing about it. Like little firework rockets going up. Recommended (in a pot).

 

1. Cotinus Grace. Just shining out in my shrubby corner. I love the way that there are pinks and oranges and reds in its beautifully veined leaves as the chlorophyll breaks down. This will be over in a week or so, but I have absolutely loved every minute of its display this year.

2. Beautiful zig-zagging berries on this Cotoneaster. It sits in a dark recess barely earning its keep for most of the year, if I am honest, but now it looks absolutely fabulous.

3. This is the newly made architectural wonder that is The Drawing Shed, Attlee Terrace, E17, a community garden and space for arts projects on the estate. I was invited to the opening and look forward to working with them on garden workshops for the community in the next year. Nice lights.

 

4. Free plants one. Bamboo. Phyllostachys Aurea. The well behaved one. It is good time of year to crown lift, thin and divide these. I spent a merry couple of hours doing just that to this clump, harvesting about forty stout canes and lots of compostable material. I also dug around each clump and ended up with five nice culms which I have potted up for the next client who wants some bamboo. These go for £50 each in my nursery, so that was worth doing!

 

 

5. Free plants 2. Eriobotria japonica (thanks, Jim for the ident.) You may remember this relatively new garden from the Summer and the fine tree which I couldn’t identify. I only go once a month at the moment, but I found a lovely seedling of it which I was allowed to take. Need to find a good home for that to now.

6. Seeking a bit of natural inspiration earlier this week, I had a short walk in Epping Forest. This Birch clump just sang out to me with its lovely golden leaf and bracken underplanting. Beautiful.

After weeks of blogging inactivity, due to helping my sister in law, Laura Marshall become Enduroman 35 (check out her simply awe-inspiring achievement here: http://www.enduroman.com/solos/4594382533 ) and sowing a meadow in the churchyard, I return to the task refreshed. There is still plenty going on, thanks to a warm and long Autumn. There will be a bountiful harvest of other world wide blogs at the head honcho’s site: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/03/six-on-saturday-03-11-2018/

1. Tis the season of the Chrysanthemum. I was lucky to be given three varieties from the Essex HPS to grow in the churchyard (unknown variety, Picasso and Albert’s Yellow). I have no experience of growing them. They tend to sit around a long time doing not a lot (that’s a lifestyle I aspire to!). Then, this. I like it a lot. However, I think for next year, I will dig them up, place them elsewhere to grow, pinch them out much harder and transplant them in July  ready for showtime.

2. Silphium mohrii. An impulse buy from Beth Chatto which I didn’t expect much from this year.Like a small sunflower, but perennial, with attractive hairy leaves. I reckoned I had a sheltered, sunny, free draining spot for it, but was really pleased to have this late show. It is a rare plant from the southern states of the U.S of A.

3. Rosa moyseii hip. Makes you wanna spend the afternoon cooking up a rose syrup, doesn’t it? Or maybe you just haven’t got time. Still, these hips are a bit special and I am pleased I moved the plant from my garden where it was becoming too big for its space into the St Mary’s bed where it can go as nuts as it wants to. I believe it wants to, and will next year.

4. Anyone remember that little roadside verge that we sowed with annual meadow seed in April? Did rubbish because it was too hot and dry? Well here it is in all its (knap)weedy glory. Seeds just know.

5. So, the tsunami of Autumn leaves hasn’t really started yet and this is the haul so far. This is one of three compost sites in St Mary’s that we are making. The Community Payback team have been great in clearing and gathering debris, now we need to get busy one-time making proper bays. Gratifyingly, some of last year’s compost haul will be going to new planters that some local residents who featured on the Chelsea Fringe walk are constructing near by. This is very much part of my vision for the churchyard: that is become a community resource rather than a “maintenance problem”.

6. Leaf. One of my big beds at home is going to undergo a transformation over the next year. Inspired by my visit to Dan, The Frustrated Gardener, over the Summer, I am going to make it a tropical border. The Melianthus major, first photo, is a lovely plant which loves the cooler moister weather of Autumn (sulking rather in Summer). Beneath is a newly acquired Tetrapanax papyrifer, whose foliage is rather glorious. That’s a start, but more to come.

1. A time for Asters to take centre stage. This is Little Carlow, planted in a client’s garden in March. It has done really well and is looking stunning right now. Farncombe Lilac (I passed through Farncombe in Sussex last weekend and went, “Oh, where the Aster comes from”) in the churchyard has succumbed to mildew and another unnamed variety I got from a friend is yet to bloom. I really like them, but am thinking of splitting and dividing them over winter to colonise wilder ground in the churchyard.

2. Cyclamen hederifolium. Just such a lovely thing, especially in this garden where there are self sown dozens established. I cut down the Leucanthemum stems to let them peep out, but should have done so more thoroughly. Mental note to self: cut stems to the ground, ya eedjut.

3. When holly trunks embrace. This rather ancient holly has a characterful trunk reminiscent of elephant legs or a giant’s knuckles. The two trunks have fused in the middle in a rather appealing way.

4. I love both these plants: Euphorbia characias and Stipa arundinacea. They go well together, especially now in Autumn when the grass tints attractively. I reckon they need around about the same annual attention too: ten to fifteen minutes. Easy.

5. Pots. Spring and Autumn are the best time for pots, I think. Not so much watering to do. Not that these, in my protected front porch, need much anyway. They are mostly succulent cuttings taken from mother plants or holiday destinations. However, the cooler, slightly moister air over the last few weeks has brought about a noticeable change in their foliage: brighter and more lustrous.

6. The Blueberry in a big pot on my front path is always the first thing to change leaf colour. I love grabbing a handful on my way in and out of the house, but the foliage colouration is an added bonus. Bud break isn’t a bad thing to watch either. What else do you want from a plant?

 

 

 

1. Tulbaghia violacia Silver Lace. Just sits around most of the year with attractively fine variegated leaf. Then from August onwards gives a nice show of clear purple flowers. I have kept her in an unheated greenhouse over winter, bone dry. Think it is time to split and put some in a sunny, dry sheltered spot.

 

2. Helianthus Lemon Queen. Some people get sniffy about yellow and Helianthus in general. There is a school of thought that thinks if it is vigorous and bright it is inferior to slow growing and pale. A bit snobby. Being a snob, I tried Lemon Queen next to her more vigorous neighbour, the common perennial Helianthus. I have gotta say, I am underwhelmed. Yes, attractive pale flowers. But floppy, low and not really as good as her cousin. I will give her another go next year when the conditions might be better, but if the same thing occurs then she is out.

3. This roadside verge was cleared and seeded with a low-growing annual mix in April. For most of the long hot Summer I considered it a failure. I gave up on it. The weeds moved back in. However, now, with two decent showers, there is a show of reasonable proportions. Seeds and plants just know, don’t they?

4. That St Mary’s bed again. I just don’t get bored of it. It was kind of planned, but I am still pleasantly surprised by the combination of Miscanthus Morning Light, Salvia Armistad, Symphyotrichum novo-belgii Farncombe Lilac (isn’t that a mouthful?). Early Autumn seems to be the best season yet for this patch: low light, bit of mist, relaxed fullness. Lovely. I am still going to tear it up and rearrange it better soon though.

5. My dog inspecting the first leaf mound of the season and knowing what is to come. And what is to come is lots of leaf mould making opportunity. Last year’s lot, kept in scruffy plastic bags is maturing nicely and will go on the beds in a thick mulch in late Autumn.

6. What do you see? I see victory. Or at least a big step in the right direction. This churchyard was a dense bramble, ivy and sapling patch two weeks ago. The Waltham Forest Community Payback team have worked really hard to clear it. The mound of meadow grass now has a massive additional layer on top and there is plenty of additional wood to season. Great wildlife habitat to make up for the great wildlife habitat that was cleared. I try to manage the site in a wildlife friendly way, balancing that with the needs of visiting relatives, the homeless and mentally ill*. I have planned a species enrichment plot, container pond, meadows and alpine trough next, but we will see how we go with all of those. This site also used to be home for up to 25 rough sleepers over the Summer. This morning, we were down to two and a dog. I do not count that as part of the victory. They are just down the road. However, the bottles, cans and needles are gone. At the very least, it is a more pleasant space for people to rest in peace.

*Great job application this week: “I am a former criminal drug addict with mental health problems, on medication. I can’t do much. I just want a bit of voluntary work. You’ll have to show me what to do.” You’re hired!

After a head frying bit of overstimulation at The Beth Chatto Symposium last week, I am back to normal this week. It was a fantastic event with top speakers, designers and plantsmen and women in attendance. Needless to say, it features here.

1. The Beth Chatto Symposium. What a gathering! Two days of lectures, talks and panels from some of the best on the planet. Highlights for me: the Scandinavian alpine sand gardening of Peter Korn, the Mediterranean planting of Olivier Filippi, Dan Pearson and Midori Shintani and the hilarious James Hitchmough. Stimulating.

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2. Plants were purchased at the nursery. Here are Inula magnifica in rough grass at St Mary’s. I got three. They get up to 2m and should be tough enough to fight off the grass next May. Also, Pennisitum Black Beauty, a metre high grass which loves sun, good drainage and shelter, all of which I can give her.

3. There is a purple thing going on in this corner, Aster (as I still stubbornly insist on calling it) “Farncombe Lilac” has just joined in. Not really lilac, but quite pleasing. It does take up a lot of room, so some will have to find a new home next year. Got a smidgeon of mildew too, but nothing to worry about too much.

4. Seed stolen from various places this Summer is in and germinating. Always nice to have pots and trays on the go. I was annoyed to find that some Lychnis coronary Alba I ordered for clients last year came out as the screaming pink type. So I tracked some down in someone else’s garden and am trying again.

5. Useful little job at this time of year is to prune off the Summer growth of berrying shrubs. It allows the berries to shine out and probably lets Blackbirds have better access to a snack over Autumn and Winter.

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6. I have been feeling a bit seedy recently so I collected a load together to send off to The Hardy Plant Society. Here is Dianthus carthusianorum looking like an explosion in a  charcoal factory, with eight other packets ready to be sent off. I was so delighted to get my seed last year that it only seems right to contribute this year. Already sweaty palmed with anticipation of the new seed list!