Potting Plants

Polygala chamaebuxus grandiflora is a low maintenance, hardy, evergreen sub-shrub also known as Creeping Milkwort, Chapparal Pea or Bastard Box. It bears racemes of purple-pink and yellow, pea-like flowers. Flowering is fragrant and profuse in late winter to very early spring, often with further blooms in summer.

Polygala chamaebuxus grandiflora is capable of forming a hump up to ten inches tall, but is generally flat to the ground and only two or three inches tall. Spread is  slow up to 2 feet but not fast enough for serious ground cover. This makes it useful in an Alpine garden setting.

They are underutilized plants for flowering early in the new year. It is worth finding some of these small plants and looking closely at the flowers.

Orchids are the largest known family of plants and it is invidious to select a top ten. Each genus below has several or even thousands of species and numerous hybrids so treat this list as a taster to the world of top Orchids.

1. Phalaenopsis or … Moth Orchids
2. Dendrobium
3. Cymbidium Boat Orchids
4. Cattleya
5. Paphiopedilum – Slipper Orchids
6. Oncidium – Dancing Lady Orchids
7. Ponerorchis hardy orchids
8. Ondontoglossum Tiger Orchid
9. Miltoniopsis
10. Pleiones -  Windowsill Orchid

See also Wild Orchids in Britain

January may be a bit cold to think about water features in your garden. Be ready as soon as the hard frosts are over to redesign your garden with an appropriate fountain or continuous flow of water like the powered globe above. Water features in this context are the prefabricated devices you can buy ready made, ponds streams and your own designs come under DIY
.

Benefits of Water Features

• Water plays with the light and can enhance any visual appearance. Water often reflects the changing colours and light temperature in your garden.
• Running or trickling water can add the dimension of sound to a landscape and as long as it keeps running it wont smell stagnant.
• Landscaping and water features can improve property values make it stand out from the rest.
• Water is restful and a feature can create a place for contemplation or a focal point in the garden.
• Some water features are designed to successfully attract wild life.

Water Features for the garden

Water Features for the Small Garden

Dendrobium is an extremely large and varied genus of Orchids containing both deciduous and evergreen types. They originate from India, China, Malaysia and Australasia with nearly all being epiphytic (growing on trees). They typically develop pseudobulbs, which are small storage bulbs that house the plant’s energy.

How To Care For A Dendrobium Houseplant

• The ideal temperature to keep them is between 75 and 85 °F, as they like it hot but at night the temperature can be between 60 and 65 ° F.
• Dendrobium orchids like morning sunlight but during the bright hot times of day they need to be shaded so their leaves don’t burn.
• Keep dry in winter and water sparingly until the buds are set. Allow the soil to dry out between the watering and then feed. As these types of orchids grow naturally on trees they’re used to becoming dry between rains.
• Repot every couple of years, in spring, after flowering or when a new growth cycle starts. Do not over pot but restrict the growth of roots.
• Weigh down the pot with heavy stones or set it in a container as the rapid growth can make the plant top heavy.
• Dendrobium like all orchids require some care but for true orchid lovers the reward is well worth the effort!

Growing Dendrobium Species

• Dendrobium noblis is one of about 1000 species of Dendrobium that have been hybridised to produce plants with massive quantities of flowers in a wide range of colours. The white with yellow eye is fragrant.
• Dendrobium Cuthbertsonii is a short growing spring flowering plant. The comparatively large flowers tend to pink and red.
• Dendrobium delicatum is highly fragrant with festoons of cream flowers on hard canes. They can develop into great specimen plants.
• Dendrobium Gatton Sunray has corn yellow flowers with a red centre. The plant can grow 4 feet tall
• Dendrobium Infundibulum is a good beginners plant with large, crystal white blooms
• Dendrobium Kingianum is an autumn flowering Australian orchid that will grow in a cool greenhouse during summer.
• Dendrobium Miyakei has mauve, pompom flowers along the length of the cane and likes a hot temperature.
• Dendrobium New Comet Red Queen flowers along the whole length of the cane and is a good hybrid of Dendrobium nobile.
• Dendrobium New Guinea is a clump forming yellow flowered orchid. The flowers can last for two months.
• Dendrobium victoria -regina is a deciduous mauve flowering orchid with the blooms on the end of bare stems.
• Dendrobium aggregatum in a variety of colours.
  ‘The name Dendrobium is Greek and comes from the words “dendron,” meaning tree, and “bios,” life – taken together it means one who lives on trees.’

  

  See also Phalaenopsis Orchids
  

Quite a few people have been asking me about my reference to Percy Thrower, and that fact that I use his book ‘In Your Garden’ as my sowing and planting bible. So I though I would make a post dedicated to Percy. The book is old! It was first printed in 1959 but I think the impression I have was printed in 1960. Nothing like some up-to-date, cutting edge gardening data eh?

The reason I like it so much is that it breaks up the year into months and then into weeks. Most books will tell you what to sow in what month according to where you live. But this one tells you what to plant this week. It’s brilliant! Of course, he is a little part of childhood too, being the Blue Peter gardener on TV in the 80s.

So for example, here’s an extract from January (fourth week).

“As soon as the Brussels Sprouts have been gathered, the stalks should be cleared from the ground unless there is a shortage of Purple Sprouting Broccoli or Kale in which case a few Brussels Sprouts may be left to produce young shoots for gathering later on.

Herbs such as Sage and Thyme can be replanted and large clumps can be pulled apart into small pieces with roots attached. The bushes can be cut down to within 9 inches of the ground and plenty of young shoots will grow up from the base…”

But, being a gardener in the 60s he also recommends spraying your crops with all kinds of nasties, poisoning the mice that eat your Pea seeds and dusting Turnips with DDT to kill flea beetle! Ho-hum you can’t have everything can you?

What I especially like are the black and white photos that have been hand finished in pencil. Why, I’m not quite sure but someone has taken a lot of time making these photos into a kind of eery half reality that I just love.

The sad thing is I think it’s out of print. The only books I can find on Amazon are second hand or from collectors. I’m not sure you can buy it new anymore.

So that’s my gardening bible. I read other books, of course, but I always go back to see what Percy’s up to this week. It’s like an addiction I have.

What’s your gardening bible?

Euphorbia rigida is a choice evergreen Euphorbia with blue/green fleshy leaves arranged in spiralled whorls around the stem. It has a lax habit with several stems up to 2 feet long.
The flower buds are pink opening to an acid yellow in spring or early summer. This specimen was photographed in the new alpine house at the RHS garden Harlow Carr.

Cultivation Tips

Grow in full sun in sharply drained soil. Beth Chatto grows them in her ‘Dry Garden’.
Propagate by stem cuttings but let the cut surface to callous over before planting.
Euphorbia collections can be created to display a wide variety of textures and architectural features.

Read more about top ten Euphorbia

Does your soil sticks to your shoes and garden tools like glue? Is your soil slow to warm up in the spring and hard to manage? If your soil is slow draining, forms big clods, crusts over and cracks in dry weather then you have clay or even heavy clay soil.
Clay soil is made up from very fine particles that make pure clay good for potters but not plant roots. One redeeming feature is that clay soil is generally rich in nutrients.

Improving Clay Soil

• If gritty sandy soil is the opposite of clay soil it follows that mixing the two may get the best of both worlds. Add copious quantities of grit or gritty sand to your clay soil to open it up. Do not use builders sand as it is very alkaline or fine sand that will set like concrete.

• Add even more copious quantities, 6 ” plus, of organic matter such as compost. I have tried wood chippings, spent mushroom compost, old feathers, composted bark and various other items to open up the texture. Dig it well in to the top 10″ as you not only incorporate the organic matter but you add air to the soil and help drainage.

• Mulch with compost as often as possible and let worms drag it down into the soil.

• Earthworms thrive on humus and breed rapidly if the conditions are right. You only need a handful or two to get things going so put a few on the soil when incorporating the compost.

• Improving your clay soil will take time and patience.

Plants for Clay Soil.

• Special seed mixes of wild flowers are available from Amazon

• Roses have strong roots that get through clay soils and thrive on the fertility.

• Phormiums seem to do quite well.

• For shrubs choose from Berberis , Chaenomeles (Ornamental or Japanese quince) Choisya ternata, (Mexican orange blossom) or Dogwoods.

• For root vegetables you could try using a raised bed but green vegetables will be successful as long as they are watered as needed.

• RHS recommends the following trees Abies koreana,  Chamaecyparis lawsoniana, Ginkgo biloba AGM,  Juniperus chinensis, Picea omorika AGM, Picea orientalis AGM

• Herbaceous plants include Hostas, Asters,  Knipholia and Hellebores