Here is a link to some Lilium that I recently purchased from H.W.Hyde.
This one is called ‘Kushi Maya’ and I am so looking forward to seeing it flower. Follow my link for downloadable images.
Regards, TLG
Recent Comments
Top Posts & Pages
Category Archives: mypad
Lilium Spectacular
Diary Update (11th-25th March 2013)
So here we are approaching spring and I would like to update the previous blog in order for you to see how the areas I altered recently (See Diary Update 15th-29th Oct 2012) have changed.
Over the last 5 months I have taken significant advantage of the poly-tunnel (and glass house) having the extra space undercover to order in plants as small modules from a trade supplier called Barrett’s Bridge Nursery in Cambridgeshire. It is possible to pick up all manner of perennials as plug plants however I focused on gathering for specific areas in the garden that need improvement long term such as the waterfall, the cut flower garden and other various borders which require plants ‘en masse’.
Plants I have grown on from plugs for the cut flower garden include Monarda didyma, Anchusa azuruea, Verbena bonariensis, Delphinium (3 varieties), Digitalis and Helenium (2 varieties). Plants for the waterfall include more low growing plant cover such as Phlox, Dianthus, Delosperma (2 varieties), Wahlenberia albomarginata and Iberis sempervirens ‘Snowflake’. I have also grown Primula polyantha ‘Victoriana Gold Lace’ to add colour in early spring to the pillar garden and I am also growing an abundance of climbing plants such as Lathyrus latifolium (3 varieties) and Passiflora (3 varieties), to benefit areas where trellis needs covering throughout.
As a self-employed gardener it is important for me to be able to create a visual experience to my client in order to receive extra funds to be able to purchase plants and a great way to do this is by using a social media site called Pinterest. When you become a member (free) you can ‘pin’ any online picture to your own picture boards and then share the link with your client. Here is a link to my Pinterest page which my client has access to at any time allowing him the opportunity to see what the future holds for his garden. (TheLoneGardener)
During March to September the poly-tunnel will be transformed again to house tomatoes, cucumbers, salad leaves, lettuces and peppers and for the long term we have under cover strawberries, peaches and nectarines. I am also growing carnations permanently in here so as to extend the cut flower season in order to supply cut flowers to the house and it also offers me more space to store tender plants that would normally be in the garden in the growing season.
Wall Garden
Most recently we have continued to aerate the soil adding more organic matter to the border where necessary and have now covered the entire area with a bark mulch in order to suppress weeds and also retain moisture to prevent the soil from drying out.
The Heuchera have been a great investment offering an abundance of colour throughout the winter when other plants have been cut back. I have also reluctantly included two 2m tall Salix babylonica to close a space between the conifers which as it was a request from my client I felt obliged to carry out although I advised that these trees require a lot of water and with the conifers in such close proximity might struggle to perform to their best. We have also had recent issues with willow anthracnose which affects the look of the tree’s leaves however sometimes we have to accept a client’s wishes irrespective of advising against it.
Heather Hill
From the pictures we can see what this area looked like prior to October 2012 and determine that the slope is too high to begin with, so I had to reduce the height by 50% then build up a wall of slate around the base to add structure and eventually planted the area with Erica darlyensis.It is important to use alkaline friendly heathers like Erica darlyensis rather than Erica carnea which are acid loving plants.
Heather Hill has now become one of the more successful areas of the garden this year after much trauma in trying to plant appropriately to cope with the severe climatic conditions we endure due to being on high ground. Finding the solution to this problem involved much research as highlighted by my previous blog including soil analysis and liaison with the plant supplier (Kingfisher Nursery – trade only) before purchasing. Now as the months have progressed so has the colour of these wonderful plants which have now been flowering for well over 7 weeks already and for those that were wondering it took 600 plants in total, I under-estimated by 300 plants.
For those working out the cost without labour, materials and plants came to approximately £1700 covering just less than 30 square metres! On the opposite side to the heathers I have planted 2500 Russian snowdrops, Puschkinia scilloides and intend to sow poppy seed in a few weeks’ time.
Walking past this area offers me a feeling of satisfaction especially when just a few days ago I could hear it humming and on closer analysis observed somewhere in the region of 100 bees all collecting pollen from the flowers. To see nature working after human manipulation in my eyes is the true picture of success and given that this area had caused so many complications in the last 2 years I am glad to finally move on.
So with any luck the weather will start to improve and I can start planting out the 1200 plants I have nurtured over the winter months hopefully living up to the expectations of my client since his viewing of my pin-board at ‘PInterest’. Another interesting development is that my client is now in a position to hold events at his garden without embarrassment should he wish to do so and we are hoping to engage with a local events organisation in regards to holding future wedding receptions so as my client can reclaim some sort of income in order to carry on employing a gardener throughout his retirement.
If you are in the Hertfordshire area and feel that The Lone Gardener could be of benefit to your garden please do not hesitate to contact me directly via thelonegardener@hotmail.com
Many thanks for your time, Paul, AKA The Lone Gardener
Tagged cut, flower, flowers, Foundation, garden, gardener, gardening, heathers, plants, poly-tunnel
Diary Update (15th-29th October)
15th Oct – 29th Oct
What have I been up to these last few weeks you may well ask ? He told us he would be updating us every week in his last post, I hear you say! Well, I’m sorry but with Winter fast approaching I have been so busy in the garden, 4 seperate projects all need completing post-haste, not to mention having to cut all the Hedera helix (English Ivy) that covers the entire house. Here is a few clues as to the tasks in hand…
For sometime now I have been struggling to find a solution to cover a mound of soil that is heavy clay and quite open. It sits behind a wild-flower garden and originally I tried planting a hedge out of Elaeagnus ebbingei but the winds were too severe for it to cope so eventually replanted elsewhere. Since then I have tried planting and covering however any media left on the surface of the weed membrane slowly slides down over time.
So now we try another alternative yet the task is never made easy.
Solution – To build a picture in your mind the soil is heavy clay although I have added sand and organic matter (OM) to help improve structure over time, we are several feet above sea level, we get extreme cross winds and there is little or no protection for this area. So the sensible option would be to find a plant fitting to these constraints, moorland like plants e.g. Heathers.
Whilst visiting a friend in Stamford, Lincolnshire recently I took the opportunity to visit a nursery not far from there that specialised in Heathers. I was met with a warm welcome and was amazed at how well organised the whole nursery was. The sea of plants out beyond the streams of polytunnels offered a tapestry of colour with all manner of flowering heathers. On discussion with Mandy the nursery owner I decided that heathers were the way forward and after carrying out a soil pH test determined the best heathers to choose with the assistance of Kingfisher Nursery.
I have decided to cover the entire area (Approx 30 sq m) and have acquired 300 plants, 3 different varieties, George Rendall, White Perfection and Mary Helen, (Kingfisher Nursery) yet with reflection although they are not all planted yet it looks like another 300 may be nearer to what i need. I was hoping to cover the area with a weed membrane like before however with 500+ holes in it to put the plants in, how effective will it really be.
I will update with some pictures as soon as it is finished.
So the wall garden needed some additional attention. Previously in February this year I had bulked up the back of the border by adding 25 Prunus laurocerasus and several other evergreen bushes. I have also added more Geraniums, Hellebores, Wallflowers, Aruncus and Astilbes this year and have now decided to include Heucheras into the spread.
These I also purchased from Kingfisher Heathers, varieties to include Sweet Tea, Amethyst Mist, Silver Scrolls, and Neptune
</a
They are to be planted in here over the next few days so I will add some photos when done.
So one of the other pictures at the beginning looked like I had a mole problem. We have been using an auger to drill holes in there hundreds with a view to planting 2000 tulips and 1000 daffodils along one side of the garden. Yet again we have solid clay soil yet the auger makes life so much easier. We aim to plant 3 bulbs per hole so with 5000 bulbs to plant in total i guess we need about 1700 holes !! The tulip I am using is Carnival de Rio 
We have had an area in our gardening which has been primarily used for burning rubbish. The area is about a 10 metre square and as it hides nicely behind our miniature vinery sometimes gets neglected. With a garden this size there is always a lack of growing space for plants however we have now turned this area into a growing space by constructing a polytunnel. 
The polytunnel is 16ft by 25 ft with an overall height just under 2.4m which allows enough head room to walk through comfortably. The ground beneath is in very poor condition however I intend to keep some of the area as hard standing and another area i have added manure, sand and organic matter dug in to the soil to create an open growing area for herbs, peaches and perennials for the garden.
The inside now looks like this …
I will update pictures of the polytunnel as and when I add plants but I am really excited about having this added protection to grow stock through the Winter months. I am able to run a hose from a free standing tap in the greenhouse to enable watering and if necessary I can also run electric via an extension lead to allow me to set up a halogen light should i need to work when the sun has disappeared.
So as you can see I have been kept busy over the last 2-3 weeks. I even found time to remove all of the plants from the borders of the pergola and position them in other areas and borders to allow turf to be layed, a pergola that is 75m long and 0.6m wide each side.
Before…
After…
This we decided to do for 2 reasons. The pergola takes on average 3 hours a week to keep weeded and tidy so from April to October that is approximately 84 hours labour in 7 months. Calculate at cost compared to having it as turf and strimming once a week ! Realistically it could also be considered a garden design faux-pas having plants either side of a pergola. If we look at the gardens of Greece, Francee and Italy, gardens of grandeur you will struggle to find plants growing around the base of a pergola. The aim of a pergola is to create a framework to be adorned by climbing plants to be appreciated for their scent and foliage. If we are observing the plants at our feet we take away the purpose of the pergola and what it is there to achieve.
The most important plant growing on this pergola for the last ten years is the Laburnum watereri that sadly only flowers for about 6 weeks. It is truly beautiful and entwined with clematis, wisteria and passiflora throughout the rest of the spring, summer months is a spectacle that needs no additional gimmick to appreciate its whole.
So as you can see the weather has not slowed me down just yet but a noticeable drop in the temperature is now here and the frosty ground is just around the corner. Hope you have all done what you can to cover the plants that need added protection through the winter, I have 2 dwarf palms, a tree fern and some Gunnera manicata to take care of but i will have that done by the end of this week.
Hope you have enjoyed the blog. If you do have any questions or comments please do not be afraid of a bit of interaction,
Thanks for your time, happy gardening
ICB
Amberley Garden Services 