When I say cast in iron, I should perhaps emphasize that I am thinking of plants that resist drought. This in turn needs to be qualified with the warning that no plant is cast in iron since it is probably true that anything recently planted will be in need of tender loving care, but especially water, for the first year or two. And then one final codicil that some plants that resist drought are not so good at resisting cold and wet; so it is extremely complicated. That said in April 2012 I bought from Mme Spahl's nursery near Jegun three acers - A.discolor, A.Pacific Sunset and A.truncatum - and I have to say that they have done remarkably well with the minimum of attention. This has surprised me for two reasons. One they were rather larger than the trees I normally buy - about 1.5 meters - and usually large means more water in the years after planting. The second is that they are acers, and I have always thought that Acers in Gascony are difficult: too much sun and not enough acid soil. Clearly I am wrong, but I do not think that one can put all of them in the cast iron category. For instance the japanese acers - A. palmatum - a huge and I have to say very attractive group probably do not do since they do require more shade and more acidic soil than most of us can provide, though of course if you are prepared to water often they can always be put in pots. That still leaves a very huge choice, so huge that my only advice is to consult the books and catalogues, the Adeline catalogue and the 'Arbres et Arbustes' of Les Pepinières Botanique de La Preille being particularly useful. Apart from the ones I have already mentioned I can personally vouch for A. Oliverianum, not I see mentioned by La Preille which is surprising. It is a most attractive small tree, resembling in many ways a Japanese acer and with the same attractive autumn colouring, though that is a feature of almost all acers. Mine flourishes, despite an attack by deer, in an especially dry spot, though under an oak canopy, so there is some shade.
As for oaks they are at least in the Gers our most common tree and the choice is immense, so difficult to do justice to them here. But we are talking cast iron, and not all of them come into that category. For instance one that is commonly sold in Gascony, Quercus palustris, or chene des marais, requires, as its common name suggests, a good deal of water to do well. In fact it comes from America as a lot of the highly autumnal coloured oaks do, and quite a lot of these prefer a fairly humid, and in some case soil on the acid side, for instance one that is quite readily available, Q.velutina.. On the other hand nothing ventured nothing gained. One that has always grown well for me is Q.schumardii, and while La Preille suggest that it is happy in dry they also suggest that it prefers a slightly acid soil which is not the case in our garden.
So far only two families of trees, and not so many that our cast iron, so I need to push on a bit faster. Trees that I have often praised in these blogs are Pistacia chinensis and Pyrus calleryana Chanticleer and Red Spire, so all that I will say here is that they virtually cast iron. A tree that I do not think that I have mentioned is Melia azedarach. This is a most attractive small tree with almost fernlike foliage, small panicles of lilac flowers which are sweetly scented followed by berries. What is curious about it is that it looks as if it might require a lot of water but since like the lagerstroemia it hails from China and India the sunnier it is the more it flourishes.
Finally since it is not all that well-known, and is perhaps more of shrub, though a large one, rather than a tree, I will mention Xanthoceras sorbifolium. This has attractive sorbus like leaves which colour quite well in autumn, and flowers early in the year which resemble slightly smaller horse chestnut candelabra.
In a future blog I will try and tackle cast iron shrubs, but before closing this I would like strongly to recommend that you visit Les Jardins de Coursiana, very close to Le Romieu which in turn is to be found roughly speaking between Condom and Lectoure. To my shame I never got to it last year, but following two recent visits I can only say that it is looking a million dollars. How Mme Delannoy does it I do not know as apparently she only employs one gardener though there is a husband and various children lurking. What has particularly struck me is her use of colour using a very large palette of annuals or semi-tender plants, especially dahlias in great profusion, but also impatiens, tithonias, verbenas and much else besides.Also featured is a plant that in Gascony I guess can be called a hardy perennial, for it has certainly survived very happily in this garden for two or three years. She calls hers Ruellia Rio Grande - incidentally there are plants available for sale - but the more important thing in my view is to make sure that you have a tall variety of around a meter in height with normally dark blue flowers, which I think is R.brittonia rather than the smaller variety with pale blue flowers which I think is R.humilis. I have both, but for impact it is the former that wins, just as for impact Les Jardins de Coursiana are an absolute winner. Moreover you will find there all the trees mentioned in this blog, and many hundreds more, since not only are there gardens but also an arboretum of some importance.
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Silly Seasons
'Silly Season' is how I believe journalists refer to the month of August: since nothing much happens you can write about anything, even if it is silly. Well our 'Silly event' this year was the arrival of Tuppence, a black kitten, so perhaps even an illegal immigrant, who stowed away in our car on a trip to Blagnac airport to collect amongst others, Penny, a one year old grand-daughter, which is the explanation for the name Tuppence. He turns out to be a bit of a star, very good with Penny, easily accpted by the two dogs, less so by the resident cats, Fred and Sylvie, and generally extremely friendly. He does not as yet have much to do with gardening. But his arrival has resulted in a major gardening decision, since with the increase in feline numbers I have decided to risk the removal of much of the chickenwire used as a frontline of defence against the invading and invasive rabbits. In our seven years here the local hunt has managed to kill one rabbit, the various dogs about half a dozen, but the cats' tally would be well into double figures, though consisting of only baby rabbits. This still leaves us with about three hundred, but I am hoping that the mere presence of the cats may at least keep the rabbits away from the flowerbeds that surround the house. As for deer about which I commented in my last blog that I thought that they were on the increase, or at least more active, so far the japanese clochettes provided by Bernard Lacrouts appear to be doing a good job. On verra.
But this blog is actually entitled 'Silly Seasons', which is a reference to the curious weather that we have experienced this year. The first six months were exceptionally wet, the last two have not been exceptionally dry, though with below average amounts of rain, but they have been very hot with the temperatures hovering around 30.c. during the day, and around 20.c. at night. Predictably one had begun to complain about the earlier rain, despite my vow never to do so, since I spend most of time moaning about drought, but too much wet can be a killer. Most of my life I have been a lazy planter of trees, never spending enough time creating a large hole or bothering to fill that hole with lovingly prepared soil. But my laziness has in some ways paid off. These well-prepared holes become in very wet weather small swimming pools in our clay soil and newly planted trees can literally drown in them. My advice therefore is to not spoil the trees with large holes and over rich food, but to concentrate your efforts in breaking up the bottom of the hole in an effort to create better drainage, since as most of the readers of this will know drainage is the key to better gardening.
Still on the whole our earlier rain was good news. Newly planted trees that had shown very little inclination to put on significant growth suddenly decided to make a move, and very welcome this has been. But the last two months have seen a return to drought conditions, or rather very dry conditions since I suspect that anything well established will still be finding water.This has prompted me to think seriously about what plants will thrive in temperatures around 30.c. There are of course books written on the subject. Beth Chatto's 'Dry Garden' come to mind, and it is time that I had another look at it. Less well-known, but for me rather more useful is Jane Taylor's 'The Milder Garden'. As the name suggests, it is not just about drought resistance, though it does have a chapter entitled 'Hot and Dry' but it does provide one with an exciting list of plants, many of which would flourish in Gascony, though I guess that the nearer you are to the Atlantic, and its winter mildness the more useful it becomes. Anyway I am tempted in my next blog to draw up a list of sure-fire plants for a Gascon summer, but for a taster I will just mention Maclura pomifera. People I know well were given one; it has flourished exceedingly, but it is now one of the most hated plants in their garden, which suggests that there are disadavantages to it. One is certainly its very aggressive thorns. Another is the fact that it produces suckers. Its fruits, which resemble a particulerly crinkled grapefruit are also a mixed blessing: attractive in a curious sort of way, but on a mature tree there are far too many of them. But the hotter and drier it becomes the shinier become its leaves, so that while all around them are looking stressed it is the picture of health, and for this reason it is a Gascon 'must', plus the fact that its leaves go a lovely yellow in Autumn.
Meanwhile my impression is that the Lagerstroemias have never flowered so profusely, perhaps the result of our Silly Seasons. Our earlier abundant rains may have reminded them of the monsoons, and now the heatwave. What more could an Indian Lilac ask for?
But this blog is actually entitled 'Silly Seasons', which is a reference to the curious weather that we have experienced this year. The first six months were exceptionally wet, the last two have not been exceptionally dry, though with below average amounts of rain, but they have been very hot with the temperatures hovering around 30.c. during the day, and around 20.c. at night. Predictably one had begun to complain about the earlier rain, despite my vow never to do so, since I spend most of time moaning about drought, but too much wet can be a killer. Most of my life I have been a lazy planter of trees, never spending enough time creating a large hole or bothering to fill that hole with lovingly prepared soil. But my laziness has in some ways paid off. These well-prepared holes become in very wet weather small swimming pools in our clay soil and newly planted trees can literally drown in them. My advice therefore is to not spoil the trees with large holes and over rich food, but to concentrate your efforts in breaking up the bottom of the hole in an effort to create better drainage, since as most of the readers of this will know drainage is the key to better gardening.
Still on the whole our earlier rain was good news. Newly planted trees that had shown very little inclination to put on significant growth suddenly decided to make a move, and very welcome this has been. But the last two months have seen a return to drought conditions, or rather very dry conditions since I suspect that anything well established will still be finding water.This has prompted me to think seriously about what plants will thrive in temperatures around 30.c. There are of course books written on the subject. Beth Chatto's 'Dry Garden' come to mind, and it is time that I had another look at it. Less well-known, but for me rather more useful is Jane Taylor's 'The Milder Garden'. As the name suggests, it is not just about drought resistance, though it does have a chapter entitled 'Hot and Dry' but it does provide one with an exciting list of plants, many of which would flourish in Gascony, though I guess that the nearer you are to the Atlantic, and its winter mildness the more useful it becomes. Anyway I am tempted in my next blog to draw up a list of sure-fire plants for a Gascon summer, but for a taster I will just mention Maclura pomifera. People I know well were given one; it has flourished exceedingly, but it is now one of the most hated plants in their garden, which suggests that there are disadavantages to it. One is certainly its very aggressive thorns. Another is the fact that it produces suckers. Its fruits, which resemble a particulerly crinkled grapefruit are also a mixed blessing: attractive in a curious sort of way, but on a mature tree there are far too many of them. But the hotter and drier it becomes the shinier become its leaves, so that while all around them are looking stressed it is the picture of health, and for this reason it is a Gascon 'must', plus the fact that its leaves go a lovely yellow in Autumn.
Meanwhile my impression is that the Lagerstroemias have never flowered so profusely, perhaps the result of our Silly Seasons. Our earlier abundant rains may have reminded them of the monsoons, and now the heatwave. What more could an Indian Lilac ask for?
Friday, 21 June 2013
Vingt Glorieuse
Nothing to do with our garden - we have only got to seven and I am not sure that glorious would be the right adjective - but everything to do with Bernard Lacrouts' garden nursery which this year is celebrating its twenty years of existence. I have written about it before, and no doubt will again since it just happens to be the best nursery for herbaceous plants that I know of in these parts, though if you live in the Ariege I suspect that Le Jardin de Taurignan is of a similar high quality. I could not go to the Anniversary Open Day, but have paid a recent visit and was kindly given a memento of the event in the form of a Japanese clochette, which I am hoping might help deter the deer which here seem to be on the increase and are rivalling rabbits as our number one enemy.
As I have also written before one of the pleasures of visiting the nursery, which is close to Vic en Bigorre just of the Pau road at Sanous, is that Bernard Lacrouts is extremely pleasant as well as being helpful; ditto his colleague 'Ann' - I have put her name in inverted commas since I am not sure that I have got it right - who as well as helping in the nursery is a champion snowboarder and Archer. Another pleasure is that it always looks well looked after and for most of the year is very colourful. And then there is the very wide choice. Just looking through the catalogue, which can be consulted on line - www.unjardinvivaces.fr - one will find at least 15 different sorts of achilleas, including one of my favourite plants, Achillea Moonshine, ten agastache, which sadly do not seem to like me - not enough drainage? - 30 asters, 50 hardy geraniums, and God knows how many different sorts of day lilies and salvias. Moreover, in amongst what I would call bog standard plants which are nevertheless necessary to provide the backbone to a garden, one will find plenty of new, at least to me, and exciting plants. Last year I came across Patrinia scabiosifolia, which I still have not acquired since having put them aside on my recent visit to buy, I promptly went off without them. It is difficult to describe but a bit like the wild valerian, but instead of being on the pink side of white the flowers are yellow. This may not sound very exciting but for me it stands out in a crowd, as even more so does the plant that caught my eye on this visit Mathiasella bupleuroides Green Dream. This you will not find in many catalogues but can be found like everything else on the net, where on one site it is called the" 'must have' plant of Chelsea" but only of 2007. So six years to get to Gascony but it is has been worth the wait!
My worry about both these plants is that I am not sure how easily they will adapt to our garden since cool shade which I suspect they might prefer is almost totally absent. So for the moment Green Dream will remain in a pot. A plant that would certainly do and one that was recommended by Bernard Lacrouts was Geranium Dreamlands. This was another plant that in my excitement with other choices I failed to buy. It is apparently a pinkish version of the star rated Geranium Rozanne, which amongst other things means that it has a very long flowering period, and I will certainly be buying it in the autumn. What I did buy, and this a plant that would adorn any garden is Nepeta yunnanensis Blue Dragon. I suppose that it is about 40 cms high, it stands up very straight so does not need staking, and has the look more of penstemon than a nepeta, in that the actual flower is quite large, the colour being a good deep, perhaps slightly purplish blue.
Finally, I just want to mention again a plant that is at the moment one of the most attractive plants in our garden. Its common name is Ribbed Melilot, or more scientifically Mililotus officinalis. It varies in height but can probably get to a meter, pale yellow but stands out from a far. You will not find it in many catalogues, though it does get into my 2003-2004 RHS Plant Finder, since it is more normally considered a weed. This I think is a great mistake, and perhaps I will be able to persuade Bernard that this is the case. If I can't tant pis, but a visit to his nursery will remain one of my greatest gardening pleasures.
As I have also written before one of the pleasures of visiting the nursery, which is close to Vic en Bigorre just of the Pau road at Sanous, is that Bernard Lacrouts is extremely pleasant as well as being helpful; ditto his colleague 'Ann' - I have put her name in inverted commas since I am not sure that I have got it right - who as well as helping in the nursery is a champion snowboarder and Archer. Another pleasure is that it always looks well looked after and for most of the year is very colourful. And then there is the very wide choice. Just looking through the catalogue, which can be consulted on line - www.unjardinvivaces.fr - one will find at least 15 different sorts of achilleas, including one of my favourite plants, Achillea Moonshine, ten agastache, which sadly do not seem to like me - not enough drainage? - 30 asters, 50 hardy geraniums, and God knows how many different sorts of day lilies and salvias. Moreover, in amongst what I would call bog standard plants which are nevertheless necessary to provide the backbone to a garden, one will find plenty of new, at least to me, and exciting plants. Last year I came across Patrinia scabiosifolia, which I still have not acquired since having put them aside on my recent visit to buy, I promptly went off without them. It is difficult to describe but a bit like the wild valerian, but instead of being on the pink side of white the flowers are yellow. This may not sound very exciting but for me it stands out in a crowd, as even more so does the plant that caught my eye on this visit Mathiasella bupleuroides Green Dream. This you will not find in many catalogues but can be found like everything else on the net, where on one site it is called the" 'must have' plant of Chelsea" but only of 2007. So six years to get to Gascony but it is has been worth the wait!
My worry about both these plants is that I am not sure how easily they will adapt to our garden since cool shade which I suspect they might prefer is almost totally absent. So for the moment Green Dream will remain in a pot. A plant that would certainly do and one that was recommended by Bernard Lacrouts was Geranium Dreamlands. This was another plant that in my excitement with other choices I failed to buy. It is apparently a pinkish version of the star rated Geranium Rozanne, which amongst other things means that it has a very long flowering period, and I will certainly be buying it in the autumn. What I did buy, and this a plant that would adorn any garden is Nepeta yunnanensis Blue Dragon. I suppose that it is about 40 cms high, it stands up very straight so does not need staking, and has the look more of penstemon than a nepeta, in that the actual flower is quite large, the colour being a good deep, perhaps slightly purplish blue.
Finally, I just want to mention again a plant that is at the moment one of the most attractive plants in our garden. Its common name is Ribbed Melilot, or more scientifically Mililotus officinalis. It varies in height but can probably get to a meter, pale yellow but stands out from a far. You will not find it in many catalogues, though it does get into my 2003-2004 RHS Plant Finder, since it is more normally considered a weed. This I think is a great mistake, and perhaps I will be able to persuade Bernard that this is the case. If I can't tant pis, but a visit to his nursery will remain one of my greatest gardening pleasures.
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
This, That, and the Other
Recently two plants have caught the eye in our garden, - Ceanothus Puget Blue and Malus Prairifire. I assume that ceanothus are much bought in our area, and certainly you can find a very wide selection of them for sale at for instance le jardin d'emballage at Mirande. But with the exception of the ubiquitous C. repens you do not actually see very many, or is it just that one does not get to see many gardens ? Be that as it may, the 'Californian lilacs' that I have grown do seem to flourish, enjoying not surprisingly our dry, hot summers, and rather more surprisingly putting up with our winter wet. In a cold winter they can be damaged, but here at any rate in the bad winter of 2011-12 all mine recovered despite having looked rather dead for quite a long time. Along with C.repens we growC.Concha, C.Dark Star, C x delileanus Comtesse de Paris, C.Joyce Coulter, and C.Skylark. C.repens is not to be despised despite the fact that it is so common - a good deep blue and the fact that it provides an attractive evergreen wide spreading bush excellent for covering a dry bank makes it very acceptable. Also wide spreading is C.Jane Coulter, again a good blue, but with rather less regular form. Not so long ago C.Concha was what I have called in previous blogs a 'celebrity', or 'must have' plant to be found at every plant fair in some quantity. I am not quite sure why this was the case: a slightly darker blue than some, but otherwise not all that different, but nothing wrong with it. C x delileanus Comtesse de Paris is summer flowering and not evergreen. I prefer it to the more common C x delileanus Gloire de Versailles because I prefer darker blue, and I actually dislike the for me dirty pinks of the summer flowering C. x pallidus with names like Marie Simon and Perle Rose. Still by and large all ceanothus are good news for us Gascon gardeners, but for me the queen of them all is theaforesaid C.Puget Blue. It has the most intense blue of them all with even a touch of purple, and as one catalogue I consulted remarks it is in flower a long time.
As for the genus Malus, which of course includes the edible apples, M.domestica, we have planted M.coronaria Charlottae, M.coccinella, M.Nicoline, and M.Pairifire. 'Charlottae' was perhas the most important choice of tree that we have made, since four of them screen the facade of the house, and as I look out of the window at them, at this moment in full flower, I would say that we did not do too badly. The colour is what I call a Quince pink, better perhaps called blush pink. The flowers are supposed to smell of violets but even in sunshine it is faint, and with our current overcast weather non-existent. Like all malus it bears fruit, in this case bright green and about the size of a golf ball. In a not too dry summer they would be very attractive, but in a dry one they drop all too soon. But the leaves are attractive at all stages including autumn colouring. So a very good tree, though not all that easy to find. A Gersois nurseryman I consulted recommended M.Red Sentiinel and M.Evereste, the latter seemingly the most commonly available malus, with the result that being a self-confessed plant snob I have foolishly avoided it - but lots of white flowers and bright orange 'apples'. Meanwhile I seem to have not very deliberately favoured , with the exception of 'Charlotte', those with deep red flowers and reddish leaves. None of them is more than two meters high so it is early days, but this spring at least it was as mentioned above M.Prairifire that caught the eye most.
I have actually grown one or two malus from seed including M.toringo subsp.sargentii which gets a very good write up from Hillier, and indeed from Adeline but they really are too small to make any judgement about them, but as with the ceanothus they all seem to be good news for our gardens. In my last blog I commented that flowering cherries were difficult to find down here, perhaps because they do not like our dry summers. But given the very wide choice of flowering 'apples' we cannot complain too much.
Meanwhile as a postscript I must just mention Rosa morlettii, looking marvellous at this moment. I now have a group of five - they are very easy to make cuttings from but you can buy them at Yan Surguet's Les roses anciennes de Talos - incidentally a very good website. Some people are sniffy about the flowers - Quest Ritson states that they are "seldom attractively shaped and are almost sentless" - but what is outstanding is the combination of the strong purply pink of the flower with the dark purple tinged foliage. Moreover although it is only once flowering, though this over a long period, it has wonderful autumn colour as well as berries. In other words it is a shrub for all seasons, since even its stems in winter are quite attractive.
As for the genus Malus, which of course includes the edible apples, M.domestica, we have planted M.coronaria Charlottae, M.coccinella, M.Nicoline, and M.Pairifire. 'Charlottae' was perhas the most important choice of tree that we have made, since four of them screen the facade of the house, and as I look out of the window at them, at this moment in full flower, I would say that we did not do too badly. The colour is what I call a Quince pink, better perhaps called blush pink. The flowers are supposed to smell of violets but even in sunshine it is faint, and with our current overcast weather non-existent. Like all malus it bears fruit, in this case bright green and about the size of a golf ball. In a not too dry summer they would be very attractive, but in a dry one they drop all too soon. But the leaves are attractive at all stages including autumn colouring. So a very good tree, though not all that easy to find. A Gersois nurseryman I consulted recommended M.Red Sentiinel and M.Evereste, the latter seemingly the most commonly available malus, with the result that being a self-confessed plant snob I have foolishly avoided it - but lots of white flowers and bright orange 'apples'. Meanwhile I seem to have not very deliberately favoured , with the exception of 'Charlotte', those with deep red flowers and reddish leaves. None of them is more than two meters high so it is early days, but this spring at least it was as mentioned above M.Prairifire that caught the eye most.
I have actually grown one or two malus from seed including M.toringo subsp.sargentii which gets a very good write up from Hillier, and indeed from Adeline but they really are too small to make any judgement about them, but as with the ceanothus they all seem to be good news for our gardens. In my last blog I commented that flowering cherries were difficult to find down here, perhaps because they do not like our dry summers. But given the very wide choice of flowering 'apples' we cannot complain too much.
Meanwhile as a postscript I must just mention Rosa morlettii, looking marvellous at this moment. I now have a group of five - they are very easy to make cuttings from but you can buy them at Yan Surguet's Les roses anciennes de Talos - incidentally a very good website. Some people are sniffy about the flowers - Quest Ritson states that they are "seldom attractively shaped and are almost sentless" - but what is outstanding is the combination of the strong purply pink of the flower with the dark purple tinged foliage. Moreover although it is only once flowering, though this over a long period, it has wonderful autumn colour as well as berries. In other words it is a shrub for all seasons, since even its stems in winter are quite attractive.
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
When it is Spring again . . .
Well I suppose that it is here again, and certainly lots of things are out, and the temperatures have been high, but what is certainly here again is the rain. As I have often mentioned, I am greatly in favour of the stuff, as months go by when we do not have enough of it but as of now I wish it would stop, since it is making any sort of gardening virtually impossible. Moreover winter wet can be just as much a killer as winter cold, and though I have not noticed any major disasters as yet, there is still plenty of time for them to emerge. What have emerged are spring bulbs, though they are not in my experience nearly so successful here as they are in England. Having some time ago planted hundreds of snowdrops I now seem to have about twenty, not a good return for my efforts, though perhaps they have enjoyed all this wet, and thus will do a little better next year. As for daffodils, my experience is that though they do not decrease in numbers there is very little increase. I have gone for Narcissus February Gold, a slightly more sophisticated version of the 'wild daffodil', small like the wild, but with rather elegant petals and a brighter yellow. As the name suggests they arrive early, and this is important. For me the whole point of the daffodil is that they appear when nothing much else is happening in the garden. In what I would call a slow English spring April remains pretty spring like, here in a fast spring by April we are into roses already, and perhaps more to the point dandelions which can very easily out-yellow the daffodils.. This competition from 'wild flowers' is I think a serious problem. The other day I was looking at one of our banks, where daffodils are planted, but what caught the eye was the blue of the speedwell, and the yellow of the celandines, so much so that I wondered why I had bothered with the daffodils. Admittedly amongst the 'wild' were cyclamen coums, these along with their late summer cousins, the cyclamen hederifolium being for me essential Gascon 'bulbs'. They appear to cope well with both our dry and wet conditions and are not the favourite food of any of our numerous fauna. They are quite expensive, but are a good investment, since they do multiply, probably a better one than either autumn or Spring crocus, since these do seem to be eaten and need ideal weather conditions to look at their best, by which I mean sunshine. And while on the subject of expense I should perhaps mention Peter Nyssen Ltd as a good supplier of bulbs. I have a slight question mark about them since I am not sure that the quality of their bulbs is always of the best, but as regards 'qualité/prix' I have not found any better.
Bought from them this winter was Ipheion Jessie, a new ipheion for me with the advantage of being a much brighter blue than the more common I. uniflorum. In fact it is almost as blue as I. Rolf Fiedler, which I adore, the flowers being jewel like in their brilliance, but my suspicion is that Jessie will in the end produce more flower power, rather in the way that the white I. Alberto Castillo does, this another 'must' for me. The point about the Ipheions is that rather like the cyclamen they seem to cope with our conditions very well, not being afraid of drought, so if you have not come across them, do please give them a go. Meanwhile I never thought that I would hanker after the Grape Hyacinth (muscari armeniacum), which in England I used to consider rather too common and a bit of nuisance since it can multiply at a rather alarming rate. But I see in the Nyssen catalogue you can now find it in all sorts of shades of blue with such upmarket names as M.Valerie Finnis, and here where we have lots of space things that multiply are very welcome. Also often a nuisance in England is the bluebell, but a bluebell wood is a marvellous sight which one rarely sees in our neck of the woods. The purists are rather sniffy about the Spanish bluebell - Scilla campanulata as distinct from S.nutans, the English bluebell - and it is a coarser product. But what I am after is the blue carpet look and I suspect that to achieve that out here something Spanish is more likely to succeed.
One of the spring effects that I miss out here is that provided by the cherry blossom, and while of course there is the blossom of the edible cherry to be found, what is missing is the huge range of decorative cherries, with perhaps the exception of P.cerasifera Pissardi, with the rather depressing dark red leaves, though the pink flowers are a delight.. Even what is probably the best French tree catalogue, that of Adeline's, can hardly muster 50 while in the English Plant Finder one finds over 200. I have never worked out what the reason for this is. Perhaps because in the south of France they would not like the summer heat? I have had some success with P.Shirofugen, perhaps of all the decorative cherries my favourite, also P.Shirotae, otherwise Mount Fuji, but I feel that over the years I ought to have tried harder. Of course I have constantly praised the so-called Autumn flowering P. x subhirtella Autumnalis Rosea - mine is at this moment yet again in full flower having already flowered its heart out in early February, and what is more it does not appear to have any problems with our summers. In the last few weeks I have been introduced to another Gersois pepinière, P. Le Hour, near to Eauze. They specialize in trees; not a huge choice, though they will search for trees for you with suppliers both in Holland and Italy, but of good quality at very reasonable prices. Amongst the trees they do have is P. avium 'Pena', the double flowered version of the wild cherry. In full fig it is a marvellous sight and well worth having a go with.
Bought from them this winter was Ipheion Jessie, a new ipheion for me with the advantage of being a much brighter blue than the more common I. uniflorum. In fact it is almost as blue as I. Rolf Fiedler, which I adore, the flowers being jewel like in their brilliance, but my suspicion is that Jessie will in the end produce more flower power, rather in the way that the white I. Alberto Castillo does, this another 'must' for me. The point about the Ipheions is that rather like the cyclamen they seem to cope with our conditions very well, not being afraid of drought, so if you have not come across them, do please give them a go. Meanwhile I never thought that I would hanker after the Grape Hyacinth (muscari armeniacum), which in England I used to consider rather too common and a bit of nuisance since it can multiply at a rather alarming rate. But I see in the Nyssen catalogue you can now find it in all sorts of shades of blue with such upmarket names as M.Valerie Finnis, and here where we have lots of space things that multiply are very welcome. Also often a nuisance in England is the bluebell, but a bluebell wood is a marvellous sight which one rarely sees in our neck of the woods. The purists are rather sniffy about the Spanish bluebell - Scilla campanulata as distinct from S.nutans, the English bluebell - and it is a coarser product. But what I am after is the blue carpet look and I suspect that to achieve that out here something Spanish is more likely to succeed.
One of the spring effects that I miss out here is that provided by the cherry blossom, and while of course there is the blossom of the edible cherry to be found, what is missing is the huge range of decorative cherries, with perhaps the exception of P.cerasifera Pissardi, with the rather depressing dark red leaves, though the pink flowers are a delight.. Even what is probably the best French tree catalogue, that of Adeline's, can hardly muster 50 while in the English Plant Finder one finds over 200. I have never worked out what the reason for this is. Perhaps because in the south of France they would not like the summer heat? I have had some success with P.Shirofugen, perhaps of all the decorative cherries my favourite, also P.Shirotae, otherwise Mount Fuji, but I feel that over the years I ought to have tried harder. Of course I have constantly praised the so-called Autumn flowering P. x subhirtella Autumnalis Rosea - mine is at this moment yet again in full flower having already flowered its heart out in early February, and what is more it does not appear to have any problems with our summers. In the last few weeks I have been introduced to another Gersois pepinière, P. Le Hour, near to Eauze. They specialize in trees; not a huge choice, though they will search for trees for you with suppliers both in Holland and Italy, but of good quality at very reasonable prices. Amongst the trees they do have is P. avium 'Pena', the double flowered version of the wild cherry. In full fig it is a marvellous sight and well worth having a go with.
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Winter Ruminations
Winter for obvious reasons is the traditional time for such an activity, in an ideal world sitting in front of an open fire, with some thing liquid to hand, and surrounded by various plant and seed catalogues with which to plan next years offensive. Here I have been doing rather more of this than usual, since though not a cold winter, it has been a very rainy one - last year was the driest one we have experienced, but during the month of January we had practically 200mm of rain, when the average for January is around 60mm. Some people may take this exceptional rainfall as yet further evidence of 'global warming', since for them any slightly exceptional weather, whether 'hot' or 'cold' supports their case. For me it is merely evidence that as always the weather is unpredictable. But since living in South West France I have vowed never to complain about too much rain, since normally it is its lack that is the worry, so my only comment on the high rainfall will be that it has given one even more time for reflection than usual.
All in all, despite the dryness, 2012 was a good gardening year for us. Trees planted some five years ago when rather small are at last beginning to be noticed. The south facing bank below the house has been more or less cleared of unwanted scrub, though not as yet, of all unwanted weeds, and is beginning to look at least meant. Our biggest change was the result of the removal of an electric poteau, this at the end of our chief vista. Getting rid of it required enormous patience, and a good deal of money, but in the end has been worth it, especially as it involved making significant paths through our small wood resulting in a glimpse though to the end of our property with the result that the garden seems to have lengthened considerably. But the chief reason for removing the poteau was that, being extremely close to, it distracted the eye from what is perhaps the chief feature of this garden, a very fine oak about 400 meters away, and more or less directly in front of our front door.
I have mentioned before that I consider myself a rather inadequate garden designer, being amongst other things too distracted and excited by individual plants to worry too much about how to put them together. But I guess that over the years one learns a little, and I suppose that my one advice to a beginner would be to try and concentrate on one or two simple decisions, and the simple decision here was to concentrate on the aforesaid oak. This in turn decided the shape that the garden has taken: house, gravel garden, lawn - better called grass - pool, prairie garden, orchard, oak. Of course for this to work one needs to have the oak in the first place, another way of saying that it is the situation, with as sub clauses weather, and soil, that is all important. Do you have a view? Are you very dry? Do you have a river? Are you on solid clay, etc, etc.? All these things are obvious, but in front of the winter fire is perhaps a good moment to ask whether amongst all the choices available one has got ones priorities right.
The conflict is often between what one likes and what is practical. I was brought up with what one might call English woodland gardens - snowdrops, bluebells, azaleas and rhododendrons - and such a garden still remains for me a kind of ideal . Here we have plenty of woodland, but when I contemplate my few remaining snowdrops,I realise that such a garden is not going to work out here. I love an herbaceous/mixed border but are they happy here. Fortunately I do like roses, but if you don't you are in trouble, since in my experience it is the plant best suited to our conditions. What we do well out here is views, especially of the Pyrenees, but my one refection about this, and I fear not very original at that, is views tend to be more exciting, if focused and directed, or to put it another way, not too obvious. So I am a great believer in vantage points and surprises, easier said than done, since blocking off a wide view requires time and money, something that the 18th century aristocrat possessed but perhaps most of us do not.
Meanwhile the daffodils are up, though not as yet in flower here,while the little Iris reticulatas are. The weeds are beginning to grow, as indeed the grass. The time for reflection will soon be over, and only too soon the battle will recommence.
All in all, despite the dryness, 2012 was a good gardening year for us. Trees planted some five years ago when rather small are at last beginning to be noticed. The south facing bank below the house has been more or less cleared of unwanted scrub, though not as yet, of all unwanted weeds, and is beginning to look at least meant. Our biggest change was the result of the removal of an electric poteau, this at the end of our chief vista. Getting rid of it required enormous patience, and a good deal of money, but in the end has been worth it, especially as it involved making significant paths through our small wood resulting in a glimpse though to the end of our property with the result that the garden seems to have lengthened considerably. But the chief reason for removing the poteau was that, being extremely close to, it distracted the eye from what is perhaps the chief feature of this garden, a very fine oak about 400 meters away, and more or less directly in front of our front door.
I have mentioned before that I consider myself a rather inadequate garden designer, being amongst other things too distracted and excited by individual plants to worry too much about how to put them together. But I guess that over the years one learns a little, and I suppose that my one advice to a beginner would be to try and concentrate on one or two simple decisions, and the simple decision here was to concentrate on the aforesaid oak. This in turn decided the shape that the garden has taken: house, gravel garden, lawn - better called grass - pool, prairie garden, orchard, oak. Of course for this to work one needs to have the oak in the first place, another way of saying that it is the situation, with as sub clauses weather, and soil, that is all important. Do you have a view? Are you very dry? Do you have a river? Are you on solid clay, etc, etc.? All these things are obvious, but in front of the winter fire is perhaps a good moment to ask whether amongst all the choices available one has got ones priorities right.
The conflict is often between what one likes and what is practical. I was brought up with what one might call English woodland gardens - snowdrops, bluebells, azaleas and rhododendrons - and such a garden still remains for me a kind of ideal . Here we have plenty of woodland, but when I contemplate my few remaining snowdrops,I realise that such a garden is not going to work out here. I love an herbaceous/mixed border but are they happy here. Fortunately I do like roses, but if you don't you are in trouble, since in my experience it is the plant best suited to our conditions. What we do well out here is views, especially of the Pyrenees, but my one refection about this, and I fear not very original at that, is views tend to be more exciting, if focused and directed, or to put it another way, not too obvious. So I am a great believer in vantage points and surprises, easier said than done, since blocking off a wide view requires time and money, something that the 18th century aristocrat possessed but perhaps most of us do not.
Meanwhile the daffodils are up, though not as yet in flower here,while the little Iris reticulatas are. The weeds are beginning to grow, as indeed the grass. The time for reflection will soon be over, and only too soon the battle will recommence.
Tuesday, 25 December 2012
Sorbus torminalis
Yet again a blog with one plant as its title, and in this case not even the excuse that it has not appeared before. My reason for doing so is that each autumn I fall in love with it again and vow to plant more of them which is as good an excuse as any, but moreover I have the impression that people do not really know about it perhaps because being common to most Gersois woods it is not considered sufficiently smart.. This year I have gone out into the woods and acquired a goodly number. This is not an altogether easy exercise. First of all one needs to identify it, the problem being that it is easily confused with the Field Maple, Acer campestre, in itself a very beautiful tree especially in autumn when the leaves turn a very intense yellow. It is too complicated for me here to explain the differences but the most obvious is that the acer's leaves are more deeply lobed. Having found the right plant the next problem is that the roots are often layered but very sparsely rooted. The result is that you often end up with a lot of stem and very few roots. I have nevertheless planted these up, and only the Spring will tell whether they have rooted or not. Perhaps you are better off buying them at a nursery - look out for Alisier - where at this time of year you will find them bare-rooted at a very reasonable price, for instance at Mirande's Jardinerie d'Embaloge.
But why bother? First of all it has the features common to the family Sorbus, attractive leaves, bunches of white flowers followed by berries and good autumn colour. In fact neither the flowers - a rather dingy white, nor the berries, more brown than red - is its best feature, but rather the autumn colour, though even this is not as spectacular as some, that is to say it is neither bright red nor bright yellow. Probably it is old age but I increasingly like the more subtle colouration which often takes place over a period of time with on the same tree leaves of a different colour. The Parrotia is one of the best in this respect, but alas I do not seem to be able to grow it well; mine shows little sign of growing and this year hardly bothered to change colour, I assume because it did not like our dry, hot summer. It is also a bit exposed to wind; one of the best examples that I can remember was tucked away in the cottage garden at Sissinghurst. Another tree that comes into this category and which I cannot grow for lack of enough water is the Cercidiphyllum, though I know of a marvellous specimen of C.japonicum Pendulum, but this growing much closer in to the Pyrenees with just that more amount of rain.
Of course we can do autumn colour here. I have mentioned the various red oaks before, my favourite being Quercus schumardii as also Pistacia sinensis. Liquidambers do reasonably well and for a very fine collection pay a visit to my 'favourite' garden, La Cousiana at Le Romieu. I have only got two: L. straciflua Worplesdon, this partly because I used to visit a lovely garden at Worplesdon, and L.formosana. The latter I am rather keen on without quite knowing why, though perhaps because its autumn colouration is not quite in your face as some - but I have just noticed that it may not be quite so frost resistant, coming from southern China, as the North American varieties.
Still, alas, autumn is over, though there are still leaves on our oak trees. The winter flowering cherry with its rather contradictory Latin name of Prunus subhirtella autumnalis - in fact it can start quite early in the winter, which I suppose one might consider to be almost autumn - is just coming into bloom. It will now flower intermittently through the winter in any mild spell, which is one of its charms: one thinks that you have had the flowers, and then up they pop again, almost stronger than ever. Also out are one or two mahaonias, and viburnum bodnantense. As yet no cyclamen coum in flower, but if this mild spell continues it will not be long before they appear. On the other hand the Iris unguicularis - why didn't we stick to the much more pronounceable I.stylosa! - are in full bloom and what a joy they are. So with plenty to look out for in the garden all that remains is to wish anyone who reads this a Very Happy Christmas and lots of good gardening in 2013
But why bother? First of all it has the features common to the family Sorbus, attractive leaves, bunches of white flowers followed by berries and good autumn colour. In fact neither the flowers - a rather dingy white, nor the berries, more brown than red - is its best feature, but rather the autumn colour, though even this is not as spectacular as some, that is to say it is neither bright red nor bright yellow. Probably it is old age but I increasingly like the more subtle colouration which often takes place over a period of time with on the same tree leaves of a different colour. The Parrotia is one of the best in this respect, but alas I do not seem to be able to grow it well; mine shows little sign of growing and this year hardly bothered to change colour, I assume because it did not like our dry, hot summer. It is also a bit exposed to wind; one of the best examples that I can remember was tucked away in the cottage garden at Sissinghurst. Another tree that comes into this category and which I cannot grow for lack of enough water is the Cercidiphyllum, though I know of a marvellous specimen of C.japonicum Pendulum, but this growing much closer in to the Pyrenees with just that more amount of rain.
Of course we can do autumn colour here. I have mentioned the various red oaks before, my favourite being Quercus schumardii as also Pistacia sinensis. Liquidambers do reasonably well and for a very fine collection pay a visit to my 'favourite' garden, La Cousiana at Le Romieu. I have only got two: L. straciflua Worplesdon, this partly because I used to visit a lovely garden at Worplesdon, and L.formosana. The latter I am rather keen on without quite knowing why, though perhaps because its autumn colouration is not quite in your face as some - but I have just noticed that it may not be quite so frost resistant, coming from southern China, as the North American varieties.
Still, alas, autumn is over, though there are still leaves on our oak trees. The winter flowering cherry with its rather contradictory Latin name of Prunus subhirtella autumnalis - in fact it can start quite early in the winter, which I suppose one might consider to be almost autumn - is just coming into bloom. It will now flower intermittently through the winter in any mild spell, which is one of its charms: one thinks that you have had the flowers, and then up they pop again, almost stronger than ever. Also out are one or two mahaonias, and viburnum bodnantense. As yet no cyclamen coum in flower, but if this mild spell continues it will not be long before they appear. On the other hand the Iris unguicularis - why didn't we stick to the much more pronounceable I.stylosa! - are in full bloom and what a joy they are. So with plenty to look out for in the garden all that remains is to wish anyone who reads this a Very Happy Christmas and lots of good gardening in 2013
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