Twice this week I have been asked why a plant has not flowered despite receiving apparently good treatment. Most plants use flowers to start the reproduction and pollination cycle but below are some of the main reasons for failure.

Reasons for None Flowering

1. Plants too young and immature, particularly trees and shrubs. Wisteria may take 6-7 years. Biennials grow one year and flower the next.
2. Frost damage to the buds on early fruit like Plums or to early shrubs Hydrangeas, Camellias etc. Bird, aphid or other damage to flowering shoots.
3. Planted too late in the season.
4. Poor cultivar or plant variety with low flowering habit. Some plants are vegetatively reproduced from poor flowering stock.
5. Poor and incorrect pruning that removes bud potential.
6. Sterile clone with no flowering capacity.
7. Plant such as Ferns never flower but reproduce by spores. see photo above.
8. Stress on the plant causing lack of root or stem growth
9. Energy is put into green growth rather than flower production often caused by over feeding nitrogen rich fertilizer.
10. Lack of sun, some plants need a lot of sun to start reproduction.

Being cynical, and having more experience of reason eleven than I care to remember, of course the plant may be dead and dead plants don’t flower.

‘It flowered and you missed it!’

‘It was too small and you couldn’t see it.’

‘It looked funny and you didn’t think it was the flower.’

What are Aphids

• Aphids are sap sucking insects,
• They damage  plants and introduce disease  makinge them enemies of farmers and gardeners alike.
• There are around 4,400 species and that many flies on some of my plants.
• The little black Aphids that trouble Broadbeans or Greenfly on Roses are from the Aphid family.
• Aphids are often specific to one plant species.
• Aphids breed several time in a season if left untreated.
• One female hatched in spring may produce billions of descendants from 40 generations in one year

Read Gardening Products Killing Aphids

Pest control including Aphids

White Lily. A very delicate white with yellow stamen.

One of the favourite coloured flowers in the garden is white. The good news is that there is a huge variety of plants and flowers to choose from. White is admired for its simplicity and purity. White can go anywhere in the garden and will mix with any colour. Even on a dark day, white flowers can brighten up a darks spot of a garden. In addition to white flowers, also consider white / silver leaves and bark. For example, the lovely silver birch tree.

Small Chrysanthemum perennial

Snowdrops. Pure white in the depth of winter

Lupin.

Note this looks even better in early morning / late afternoon when the sun is less strong. Here the white stands out more. In the mid day sun, it can look a bit bleached by intensity of the sun.

Foxgloves. Alba

Geranium with a dash of mauve

White flower

Tulip

Daffodil

Lily white

Osteopernum not really white, but a dash of pink.

Common daises with a touch of blackfly to offset the white.

Related

• Plants for a white garden

The broad bean seeds I planted earlier this year are now well in flower. I forgot to plant any Broad beans in October to overwinter but I am to be rewarded if the volume of flowers is anything to go by. However I missed an early crop.

Action Plan for Broad Beans

• I bought my seed loose by weight and am very happy with the germination.
• The varieties Masterpiece Green Longpod and Broad Bean Aquadulce Claudia were intended for Autumn sowing but I was too late and ended up sowing in February.
• Aquadulce establishes itself very quickly and will produce a very early crop. It is white seeded and the pods are up to  9 inches  long. Height:  36-40 in .
• To avoid feeding the mice I set off the seeds in 3″ pots until they are 2- 3″ high.
• I plant out in double rows 10″ apart and put in 4 corner posts with string to provide some support.
• Luckily I do not suffer from black fly (famous last words). If they were attacked I would pinch out the tips of the growing plants and the pods would not be affected.
• After cropping I compost the top haulms but leave the roots in the soil.

Order your seed varieties now for planting in October from Thompson Morgan

Read more on Young Broad Beans

This selection of perennials are easy to grow and produce summer colours in a range of patriotic blues, reds and whites.

Centaurea shown above has many varieties in different shades and is a good cottage garden plant. It grows2-3 feet tall and needs some support. It’s red colour is much more pink but the blue is strong and long lasting.

Hardy Geraniums are attractive and easy to grow. The colour range includes the purple to blue or pink and Splish-Splash below which is a white with occassional blue patch. My black geranium has very poor flowers and rampant foliage.

Lupins flowering above are another easy perennial. In addition to red, white and blue there are bi-coloured Lupins with a white eye that can be very attractive. This pink looks a bit wishy washy in the photo but in real life it was a stunner.

Oriental Poppies are strongly coloured perennials but I have yet to see a blue one which is not a Meconopsis. There are many other poppy varieties to consider growing

Astrantia are unassuming garden perennials now coming into flower from June .

Tips for Cultivating Astrantia

• Astrantias are superb perennials for the stream edge or a moist border.
• They may tolerate drier soils as long as the plants are mulched
• ‘Claret’ is a beautiful variety with deep red pincushion flowers.
• After flowering, plants can be rejuvenated by cutting them back close to the ground – fresh new foliage and a late crop of flowers start appearing shortly after.
• Plants do not make big clumps or spread but they can be split in early spring.
• Grow from fresh seed or buy as plants. Thompson Morgan

Astrantia Varieties and Features

• Astrantia have star-like flower heads in reds, pinks and pastel shades.
• The variegated form has an AGM Astrantia major ‘Sunningdale Variegated’
• Astrantias make excellent dried flowers – cut the stems before the seed sets and dry in a cool, airy place.
• Try the dark-red forms such as Astrantia major ‘Ruby Wedding’ and Astrantia ‘Hadspen Blood’
• There are half a dozen species with aromatic roots, palmate leaves, and decorative flowers.

June is a spectacular month for flowering hedgerows and particularly the under-storey.

Identifying plants whilst out walking as a child, was my first introduction to the environment and natural gardening. There is still a buzz seeing a plant growing in the wild that some careful gardeners has subsequently developed for the garden or nursery trade.

Why not under-plant your garden hedges with native species of hedgerow flowers. The trick is to leave them undisturbed, unfed and untreated with chemicals. I would bank up the soil to start your hedge’s lower storey.

Hedgerows by County

• I nominate Somerset as my favourite hedgerow county but I would like to know what other UK counties can lay claim to be hedgerow county 2010.
• Cornish hedgerows have a soil banking (so that helps the smaller plants) with a rocky top and shrubs.
• Devon hedges are similar to Cornwall but with turf on and at the top of the banking.
• The Yorkshire Dales tends to have dry stone walls rather than hedges but the understorey plants can still be attractive.
• In Perth, near Blairgowrie, is the tallest and longest hedge on earth. Meikleour Beech Hedge, planted in 1745, is 98 ft in height and nearly half a mile long. (I wouldn’t want to trim it).

‘Hedgerows, moors, meadows and woods – these hold a veritable feast for the forager.’ and all is laid bear in the River Cottage Handbook. Book link

The English Hedgerow Trust provided this apposite quote from Shakespeare.

I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
Quite canopied over with luscious woodbine
With sweet muskroses and with eglantine.

For a bit of fun read Copper Beech Hedges

Home-grown Peas. You really can’t beat them. I love the way the plant itself is so fresh and green. It’s the very epitome of Spring. The leaves are intricate and interesting. And catch the light beautifully.

The flowers are small and pearly white and hide from view like they’re shy of something.

And then one day you notice that there are not one, not two, not even three, four or five pods appearing. They’re everywhere. And the more you look the more you find. They’re all green and they make that squeaky noise when you touch them.

Peas – quite possibly the greatest vegetable of all.

These tips may seem commonsense but they are always worth repeating.

Tips For Good Hanging Baskets.

• Water early in the day ‘and or’ in the evening. Give plants a good drink regularly.
• After 4 weeks in the same compost the nutrients will be reduced and you should add liquid feed. I use half strength fertilizer with every watering.
• Many hanging basket plants will self deadhead but if you have zonal geraniums in the basket they will benefit from nipping the deadheads off.
• Turn the basket round, if one side near a wall for example, is growing less well.
• Look out for aphids on the soft lush growth.
• If you get unexpected gaps in leaf or bloom you can still  put in new plants.

Hanging Basket Holidays

• If you go on holiday you need to think about care of your baskets whilst away, even just for a weekend.
• Irrigation systems are available designed specially for hanging baskets with timed water release but they can be  expensive.  Buy a  Thompson Morgan Irrigation system from  this link.
• If you have a friend or family member coming to water the baskets make their life easy to encourage them to return.
  • Take the baskets down and group them together on a capillary mat if available.
  • Keep them out of the full sun if practical.
  • These actions help conserve water and make life easy for the time scarce watering friend.
• Give them a granular feed before you go away.
• Do not complain when you return or you can loose a good friend. No one looks after your prize possessions as well as you (think you) would.
• Read more on watering

Despite my garden being full to overflowing after the spring rain I have decided to create a new area for a Japanese Garden. This will be a long term project and I won’t rush it as I have on other projects in the past.

Action Plan for my Japanese Garden

• Read up on the various forms and the nature of Japanese gardens.



• Decide which area is going to be sacrificed to provide space for the Japanese garden.
• Draw a rough plan  on a piece of paper and list the features to be incorporated.
• Walk the patch and see if any plants need to be left in situ. I have a couple of Azaleas that I want to keep.
• List the gardening problems I have caused in the past that I hope to avoid on this project.

Past Problems to Avoid

• I generally leave too little space for paths and access.
• Forgetting  to label or record the location of a particular plant  has meant I do not give any individual treatment until it is too late.
• Many Japanese favourites are long lived such as Acer, Wisteria and Peonies so I must leave enough space for them to grow and develop.

Japanese Features

• Moss and greenery – I am collecting mossy rocks and treating others with moss food (old Yohgurt & soil)
• Asymmetrical shapes and layout will be a contrast to the straight lines of my formal borders.
• Preferring plants to structures in this garden I need to change and incorporate some formal structures short of a tea-house. Think about motion, water and space.
• The foreground, middle-ground and background need too be viewed several times from all vantage points before I move on to a detailed drawn plant.

Well it should be back to the Books for a while, a good pastime for Autumn when the workload reduces.

Phase Two Action Plan

• Bring the various plans together in a more detailed manner.
• Test the conditions of the site, ph, rain shadow, shade and nutrient levels.
• Clear the site except for the odd plant that is being saved. Relocate or give away surplus plants.
• Order the key trees and plants or visit specialist nurseries to acquire.
• Install the main structural features and any plants that need to be established before winter.
• Tell the family what I want for Christmas.

View from the other side of the proposed site. Minimum size 15′ by 10′ to be reconsidered.