Weeding the Web

A stunning plant to see at Wisley this December 2014

Sometimes it's easier to visit a garden in winter, don't you think?  The points of interest tend to be fewer, so it's easier to concentrate, and the set pieces stand out against the barer beds and dormant plants.

Last week, on a glorious sunny morning, we popped into RHS Wisley. Here's what we found:

The bedding scheme above is looking a bit patchy at the moment, but the idea is to create an impression of a landscape seen from above. Blocks of plants like Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety", Primula 'Alaska Limelight' and Erica x darleyensis 'White Spring Surprise' will knit together into a patchwork. At the moment the silver birch stakes are saving it from too much prostratation.

  In the veg garden, Brussels sprouts glistened in the sun:

A display of pumpkins and squashes filled the floor of a small greenhouse:

In the walled garden at the far end of the formal pond, we were surprised by this parterre.  If I had a country house estate, I'd love to include something like this. It aims to inspire gardeners to go for majestic results on a small scale. It's the first time I've seen anything like this at Wisley and it's been designed by garden staff member Enrico Mailii. It had real presence and felt like a serene oasis, but  I fear all those Polar White chippings (supplied by Stone Warehouse) are going to really annoy the person who has to prepare the garden for its next incarnation.

You can't visit Wisley in winter without treating yourself to a blast of heat in the glasshouses. There's a bit of a theme going on. Under this pyramid of poinsettia is the entrance to Mr Tumnus' home, the faun in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  You can just see the warrant for his arrest pinned to the door.

And further round is the White Witch's throne.

Far more impressive than any of this, though, was Ravenala Madagascariensis. Related to the Bird of Paradise plant, you can see its flowers are similar (if a trifle bigger). Raised from seed at Wisley, it's already been moved from the edge of the tropical area as its head hit the glass, so I wonder if they'll manage to keep it.

Water runs down the leaves and collects in the base - hence its common name, the Traveller's tree. The leaves angle themselves to make best use of sunlight.

You can't really get more awe-inspiring than Nature, can you?

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: a love-hate relationship

There's virtually nothing out in the garden, apart from the Camellia sasanqua I featured last month and the lonicera fragrantissima that I wrote about in January (it's a bit earlier this year). The climbing rose has popped out a few unseasonal blooms (rather like VP's unexpected honeysuckle), but I think it's a bit embarrassed by its impulsiveness.

We're not completely without colour, though, because in the corner, flashing orange, is Iris foetidissima - Stinking Iris or, more kindly, Beefsteak Iris (crush the leaves and they smell like beef crisps).

I have a love-hate relationship with this plant. The flowers are a sort of dirty mauve and virtually invisible in summer, but its dramatic leaves provide great contrast in the bed. But individual leaves turn ragged and brown, so except at in spring the plant looks pretty messy.

They have a reputation for thriving in dry shade (though, next door's leylandii proved more than a match when I tried that) and in more favourable circumstances it spreads. And spreads.

The berries spill over the ground and seems to seed like weeds, so I've got small iris springing up around the garden where, unnoticed, they take a firm grip of the soil and are difficult to extract. But having seen a blackbird jump to grab a berry from a cluster, I can see they have their uses.

You can tell how common it is by the number of names for it: Blue seggin,Gladden, Gladwyn, Roast beef plant, Scarlet-seeded iris, Stinking gladwin. On balance, I keep them because, as regular visitors will know, if it's low maintenance, it's pretty welcome. And, seemingly bomb-proof, this iris is very low maintenance.

And that flash of orange on a grim grey day like today is really rather cheery.

See what else is colouring gardens around the world at May Dreams Gardens, host of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Get your garden pond ready for winter

Icy Pond in Struie Wood by Sylvia Duckworth. Creative Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Icy_pond_in_Struie_Wood_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1055578.jpg

Earlier this year I pondered adding a pond to the garden. As the temperature finally falls to winter levels, I'm wondering how much work I might be letting myself in for if I go ahead. Success with Your Garden Pond, a book published in 1994, would have me baling out water, catching fish, dredging sludge, refilling and covering with plastic for the winter months.

It all sounds rather exhausting.

Winter care for garden ponds with fish

But of course, it really depends on what you have in your pond. If you have fish, then you'll probably need to do more, use more equipment, and juggle decisions. Pumps, heaters and filters to keep water circulating and remove toxins are recommended, but a filter definitely should be removed before it freezes and a pump might have to be too.

You'll also have to keep an eye on the temperature and either feed fish a special wheatgerm diet (to aid digestion and reduce ammonia production) or stop feeding them completely. And, given that fish in ponds provide an easy target for predators, you might want to get a heron scarer.

Hmm. Not sure I'm ready for fish.

Winter care for garden ponds without fish

However, just because a pond doesn't contain fish, it doesn't mean you can ignore it till Spring. The important thing is to keep the water oxygenated. Oxygen diffuses into the pond from the air, but you should also grow oxygenating plants in the water. Foliage overshadowing the water needs to be trimmed back, so more light can enter and those underwater plants can breathe.

Cutting back foliage also reduces the amount of vegetation entering the water, where it would rot and release toxins. In fact, a pond net might be an idea to stop debris falling in, though I think I'd want to leave part of the water open so that wildlife could take a drink. You still need to inspect the net regularly to ensure that it's not completely covered (so blocking out light) or, without a net, inspect the water and remove floating leaves.

Frozen Ornamental Pond by James Allen. Creative Commons licence. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Icy_pond_in_Struie_Wood_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1055578.jpg

According to national charity Freshwater Habitats Trust, (formerly Pond Conservation), frogs often hibernate at the bottom of ponds. They tolerate low oxygen levels, but will die after a few days if the water is totally de-oxygenated. So, if snow falls on a frozen pond, it should be cleared from the surface; it blocks out all light beneath, preventing plants from doing their job.

Froggy hibernation also raises concerns about ponds freezing solid, as the amphibians certainly wouldn't survive.

The Trust launched its Big Pond Thaw Survey after the winter of 2009/10 caused ponds to freeze over and brought in numerous reports of dead fish and amphibians.

Much is usually made of having a pond deep enough not to freeze completely. However, the Trust reported:

"We know that most ponds didn't have more than a few centimetres of ice, even during the very coldest days of the 2009-10 winter - so freezing solid isn't the problem."

Results were not conclusive but indicated that, as fewer amphibians were found dead where a pump was running or plants were present, deaths might have resulted from reduced oxygen levels in the water. They add that a build-up of toxic gases might also be implicated.

Surprisingly, they add:

"We don't think that making a hole in the ice will affect the amount of oxygen diffusing into the water, since this is a naturally slow process."

It seems accepted that you shouldn't bang on ice to break it up, as this could have unwanted percussive effects on wildlife beneath. However, keeping an area of water open seems a good precaution. The research didn't gather evidence on the presence of toxic gasses (which need to escape), and it seems kinder to keep drinking water available for larger animals and birds. The Trust also adds:

"It may still be worth making a hole in the ice to allow more active animals like fish or newts to move to the surface to breathe air."

One solution is to float a ball on the surface, though in very cold weather this probably wouldn't stop ice forming. If you want to be absolutely sure your water doesn't freeze over completely, you need a pond heater. It doesn't have to be very powerful. Only if you've got a heavily stocked Koi pond do you need an 'in pond' heater. For my future pond, I can see that a surface heater would be enough to keep a small area of water open.

As the Freshwater Habitats Trust itself says:

"There's no harm in playing safe."

In association with Swell UK.

 

 

 

 

 

Turn your garden into a winter wonderland

Do you dress your garden for Christmas?  Now that we're well into December, lighting-up time round here is a positive colour-fest of twinkles.

Tacky? Well, sometimes. but the child in me loves it (don't you?) and, after prowling round after dark last year for ways to dress your garden for Christmas, I've had great fun in the last week checking them over again and seeing what's been added.

Designs are getting brighter year on year because people just can't resist adding to the strings they've already got. So, not just over the windows, but along the waney lap or continental panel fence (when those are scalloped at the top the lights look particularly good), twinkling up a trellis, hanging in trees and wound into shrubs. The fun is spotting what new additions have been made and I'm hoping that someone soon will lay out a landing strip across their lawn for reindeer and sleigh to accompany the "Santa Stop Here" sign. (Go on, please. If you do, send us a piccie.)

A cosy grotto

Of course, a winter wonderland doesn't have to be in the front garden (though it's nice to share). If you've a full house for the holidays, with a gaggle of teenagers perhaps, creating a cosy Christmas grotto might just lure them out for some fresh air and alleviate the crush indoors.

I'm tempted by the thought of transforming the garden office into a festive hidey-hole. You could use a summer house instead, or a larger shed could be partitioned to hide the tools and create a space for furry throws, fairy lights, holly and ivy decorations from the garden. You could add some solar lights outside for a twilight display.

Children would enjoy being allowed full rein (I remember my parents did their best to put me off paper chains in the sitting-room when I was a kid). 

And to give it the Disney touch, if you haven't set out any bird-feeders yet, now's the time to tempt robins to come in and complete the festive picture.

It might be white

I'm a sucker for snow, though I now add the qualification (age and experience, sigh!) of, "So long as it doesn't hang around". It is the perfect finishing touch, though, and will work off some juvenile energy. Gather a few accessories for the kids to use if the white stuff arrives - a small snow shovel will get them thinking, and a box of old gloves, hats and scarves will be handy to decorate old Frosty.

Ideas on Pinterest

I've neglected Pinterest lately, because once I'm on, I know I'm on for far too long, but I couldn't resist having a look for more inspiration. Christmas Garden Inspiration is one of the boards I share with others and I've found some lovely ideas for garden decoration on boards from Luci Cross and Earthworm Technologies. And just for a blast of festive snow fest, Sandra Strand gives you all you want.

What do you do in the garden at Christmas?

In association with Cocklestorm, fencing and garden timber supplier.

World Soil Day - soils in danger. Are you composting enough?

Infographic courtesy of Global Soil Partnership

 

Special offer on greetings cards for gardeners from Square Snaps

Cards for gardeners, Christmas or otherwise, aren't that easy to find, as I've said before, but I'm really getting into this idea of using your own pictures.  So, when Dani Nash of Square Snaps got in contact, I "snapped" up (sorry) her offer to give them a go. 

Interestingly, Dani trained as a garden designer and so loves the idea of gardeners featuring their photos. Her baby, as she calls it, was Pollinate, a garden design company, but a real, live breathing version came along and she's had to hang up her boots and pencils for the time being, while getting involved with Square Snaps, which her brother set up a year ago.

Dani said:

We take great pride in the simplicity of our website and the quality of our products. The Square Snaps greeting cards are different to other personalised cards because we use gorgeous thick quality card and luscious envelopes and the printers that process your photos are enormous great big super dooper precision monsters…   So that card of a sparkling frosty garden will really stand out amongst all the snowy robins, Santa faces and

So how did I get on?

Well, first I realised that my stock of wintry gardening pictures is little short of non-existent, which is why you'll notice a range of anything but in the photos I chose.This is a situation that I'll try to remedy this winter (fingers crossed for frost and snow).

No worries, though, as I had several non-gardening pictures I wanted to try out. I also searched for suitable Creative Commons pictures and fell in love with the snowy scene of Embrach, Switzerland, by Juan Rublano.

The Square Snaps pages are very simple. I could possibly have done with a touch more information as, next time, I'll know that I didn't have to upload ten pictures (some of which I duplicated) to fulfil the minimum order of ten, as the next page allows you to choose how many of each picture you want printed. 

Altogether, it went very smoothly. The cards are square and, as most photos are oblong, the Square Snaps programme automatically chooses a portion of the picture to put on the card, but it's easy to edit this if you wish (though it was  bang on for most pictures).

All I had left to do was wait for delivery, which came in a rather stunning silver padded envelope within the following five days (I was away, so can't tell you exactly how long they took).

From my examples, I can say that I should have taken a closer look at my picture of the Christmas tree in the hall at Castle Howard. It looked sharp on screen, but I should have enlarged it to check as it's a tiny bit blurry. I think that some users might prefer to choose from landscape-orientated photos as the margins turned out even on all four sides, rather than wider at the sides for portrait-orientated photos.

For myself, though, I'm extremely pleased with them. They cost £9.90 for ten cards, the card used is, as Dani says, good quality thickness, the photos are glossy and sharp (photographer permitting), the ordering process was simple, and there's definitely something rather thrilling about seeing your photos professionally turned out and winging their way in the mail, after you've added a discreet note on the back, ensuring people know that it's your picture.

Ninety-nine pence is an absolute bargain for a birthday card, too, so I'll be doing some forward-thinking this year and choosing a variety of scenes for friends' birthdays. Ooh, I'm going to be so organised!

Special Offer

Last orders from Square Snaps for Christmas should be given by 18th December. Let Dani know you saw them here by entering the code G10 at the checkout and you'll get 10% off!