I feel a bit guilty, I really talked the snow up in my last blog saying I was fed up with my winter flowering Viburnums still having foliage. The frosts has nicely denuded them but of course the frost has burnt the flowers as well.

Work at the nursery is slowing down as we approach the midwinter low. Most plants hate being tampered with at this time of year. However there are exceptions. We grow a lot of Hemerocallis and Iris sibirica in pots and they can be divided and repotted even in the dark days of December and January.

So turn on the heater in the potting shed and get cracking. Divide with a long bladed sharp knife into big chunks and repot. Remember if you are mean and divide into small chunks flowering may be delayed till 2012. And do remember to include some slow release fertiliser in your compost, it is so much easier than faffing about with liquid feeds.

Winter Flowering Viburnums

Am I the only disgruntled gardener this autumn. Yes we have had wonderful autumn colour but my winter flowering Viburnums just refuse to lose their leaves. They are covered in flower and leaves at the same time - quite quite wrong. The joy of winter flowering Viburnums is the delicate flowers being displayed against auster bare twigs.

Of all the forms of Helleborus orientalis (syn H x hybridus) the white form is my favorite. Unlike the squat Christmas Rose - Helleborus niger - it bears its flowers aloft on tall elegant stems safely out of reach of the soil which is so often splashed by rain onto the flowers of H niger. The pure white flowers of H orientalis are beautifully cup shaped - the flowers of H niger are rather flat.
H orientalis is dead easy to grow and will thrive in the poorest driest soil. H niger is much more fussy and will only succeed in a good loam or clay based soil.

Evergreens in tubs can look so so boring. How many times have you shuddered seeing tubs of dusty garish phormiums or the ever so plastic looking Eleaeagnus pungens Maculata on either side of a friend's front door.


I am often asked for shrubs to grow in pots for winter interest. My answer is nearly always Sarcococca. This delightful evergreen winter flowering shrub (sometimes called "The Winter Flowering Box") covers itself in small, highly scented, white flowers from December to March.
Sarcococca likes full shade and is happy growing in any not too dry soil. Slow growing it is well suited to pot culture. Perfect in a couple of pots on either side of a North door where the delicious scent of the flowers will greet you in all your entries and exits.


Sarcoccoca foliage is also a great delight. The foliage is elegant - not too broad and pointed. The leaves of many winter evergreens are just too big and clumsy to look good in containers.


But never ty to grow Sarcococca in sun - in summer the leaves will become pallid and fall off - not a pretty sight!

Heucherella Sweet Tea

Over the last few years there has been a mudslide of new Heucheras virtually all with garish foliage - only fit for muncipal bedding. Heucherellas (Heuchera x Tiarella) normally manage a lot more elegance - all inherited from the Tiarella side of the family. Heucherella Sweet Tea is a must for the autmn garden. Looks wonderful with spindleberries!

Euonymus alatus.

Chuck out theose Suburban Japanese Maples and plant a grove of Spindleberries!

Chosing Pelargoniums


There is a a Pelargonium for every situation.

Did you know P australe and P tomentosum will grow in deep shade? P tomentosum has huge glabrose silver leaves and smells strongly of peppermint. It bears large sprays of small pink veined white flowers in the late Spring. The foliage of P australe is deep bronze and eau de clogne scented - it bears clouds of white flowers throughout the summer. Both these species Pelargoniums are strong growers and look wonderful in large lead or zinc planters.


P. tomentosum


For window boxes rather than the inevitable ivy leaf Pelargoniums why not try P. sidoides. This forms handsome cushions of gun metal foliage which will hang down over the side of the box. It bears its magnificent intense deep burgundy flowers all through the summer and autumn.



P. sidoides


For large tubs try growing P Lara Rajah - a wonderful shrubby Hartshook Unique which will cover itself throughout the summer with an endless succession of it rich deep red flowers.


P. Lara Rajah


If you want a small tender tree try growing P papilonaceum - it has huge lemon deep green leaves and makes a small bushy tree with a stout trunk to 150cm tall.


P. papilonaceum


And did you know that Pelargoniums Claret Rock Unique and Purple Unique are first rate climbers - they will both ascend to well over 3 metres.


P. Purple Unique


Or maybe you just want an elegant plant for a windowsill. There is none more beautiful than the lemon scented Lara Starshine with its silver grey filiogree foliage and endless succession of warm pink flowers.



P. Lara Starshine


Do phone me if you want more advice on Pelargoniums. Tel: 01502 478258.

Kind regards

Michael Loftus













If you want

All About Auriculas



Our Auriculas are at last budding up. Normally I reckon the last week of April to be be the peak week for Auricula flowering. This year it looks like being the second week of May.
Do feed your auriculas in the build up to flowering. Use tomato fertiliser at half recommended strength every two weeks - we give them their first dose at the end of February.
With the weather getting warmer we have just ordered our first batch of Phytoseiulus persimilis, a beneveolent mite which controls red spider mite - in a hot dry summer red spider mite can ravage the foliage of auriculas under glass.
The photo above is of one of my very favourite auriculas Auricula Dale's Red - a super velvety red, border auricula; this is a tough easy plant which should be in every garden - looks wonderful with Pulmonaria Blue Ensign - our plant of the week.

Click here to see our plant of the week Pulmonaria Blue Ensign.
Click here to view our Auriculas

Regards

Michael Loftus

Black as Lace




Anthriscus sylvestris "Raven's Wing".

This is a super cow parsley deviant with the blackest of black lacy foliage. If you are mad about Actaea Brunette this is a must for you. This Anthriscus is very early into growth in the Spring and looks wonderful with orange tulips such as Abbu Hassan.
Also looks good with the deep crimson flowers of Cirsium rivulare Atropurpureum
Anthriscus s. "Raven's Wing" is dead easy to grow and thrives in any soil except bog. It is a biennial and self seeds 70% true. When the seedlings come up in the autumn it is easy to distinguish and rogue out any unwanted green leafed forms
We have super 2 litre pots available. Click here to see more details on our website.

A couple of weeks ago I was writing about the wonderful yellowy green Hacquettia. I cannot get enough of this colour in the garden. At the moment Euphorbia myrsinites is in full flower, cascading over the edges of our raised beds - the coils of blue foliage perfectly set off by the Derbyshire sandstone.

Euphorbia myrsinites
This plant will grow in any well drained soil and is very long lived. Looks wonderful with the dwarf tulip Persian Jewel. Click here to see more details on our website.

Regards
Michael Loftus

Hungry For Fragrance...

This winter because of the unrelenting cold has been a poor winter for fragrance. The iris unguicularis have flowered meagrely. The winter flowering Viburnums got completely burnt off...

For the last couple of weeks I have been comforting myself with Clematis armandii which we have growing in tunnels. Its large spidery white blossoms are a perfect Easter blossom. Both so fresh looking and fresh smelling with its delicious lemon scented flowers. Click here to view further details on our website.

Of course you can grow Clematis armandii outside on a warm wall where it will flower somewhat later. It is a wonderful climber for a London house A vigorous plant with elegant deep green oval evergreen foliage it will soon cover large expanses of ugly brickwork.

My house is full of bunches of Narcissi. Every year we grow many new varieties but for me Narcissus Jenny still reigns supreme

This photo shows flowers which have been open for a couple of days. When the flowers first open the coronas are lemon yellow. Its great beauty lies in its winsome swept back petals. Narcissus Jenny grows only15cm tall and is a wonderful coloniser. We have it planted ut in our beds of Iris sibirica to give early interest.

All the best

Michael Loftus

"Mad about Hacquettias...."


Hacquettia epipactis

This is my current crush. A delightful greeny yellowy green woodlander from the Carpathian Mountains. An unlikely member of the umbellifera family it looks wonderful in early spring with the deep blue Pulmonaria , P Blue Ensign. Easy to grow it thrives in almost any soil except dry sandin a shady position. Click here to view further details on our website.

Twenty years ago when I started the nursery for lack of space I had to sacrifice my vegetable garden. This year I am giving myself a present of a new one. Sharon Allen our new vegetable gardener will be joining me on this blog to share her huge vegetable and fruit expertise with Woottens customers.

Our tomatoes are going to be housed in an 18 square metre Geodesic dome. These are really super structures - see http://www.geo-dome.co.uk/
and we have splashed out on a really good sturdy steel framed fruit cage from http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/pages/home/default.asp


Our plants are at last waking up and we have given them their first dose of Wormcast Compost Tea . This is a super organic tonic which improves plant health and makes plants use any available nutrients more effectiveley. This is product at the moment is only available in trade quantities but I guess some bright spark will soon start marketing it as a retail product.


Easter looks like being its usual cold and miserable self but we have still got lots of work to do in the potting shed. All the best Michael Loftus.