May 2000

These are May Photographs

These are May Notes

So we enter my favourite time of the year, and I go from searching for material to fill the pages in January, to "how much  shall I have to leave out, if I am ever to complete this months pages". 

Let's make a start with rhododendrons, always reliable for a good show at this time, unlike some of the earlier types which get caught by frost, all four shown here are late enough to have escaped any damage this year.  All these are fairly dwarf and will tolerate some sunshine providing they are kept moist. The thing they must have, and I am lucky enough to possess, is a neutral to acid soil with no trace of lime. Now for the bad news, I have had all four plants since moving in about twenty years ago, and have long since forgotten the names of all except the red one, that being Elizabeth.

The one below right is a terrible colour to try to place, and better surrounded by green with no other colours to clash, it manages to do that all by itself. I prefer the softer pastel colours of the one above and the one to the left. They all provide welcome solid dark green structure to the winter garden, which is just as well because the flowers although wonderful, last only for a week or so in warm weather. They all seem untroubled by disease or pests and have survived a few dry summers with minimal watering, but all four do get some protection from the sun being close to my North facing rear wall. After twenty years the largest of them is only about three feet (90cm) high by the same wide, so they are very suitable for giving form to a small garden. Now if only I hadn't forgotten the names......

Don't you just love it when something goes according to plan, so little does for me that when it happens I usually have to do a double take, to make sure I'm not seeing things.  I planted the Wisteria sinensis at the same time as the Rhododendrons, about twenty years ago and had to wait eight years for the first flowers to form. After that the numbers increased each year, and this year has been the best so far. Three years ago it occurred to me that all the Laburnums in our neighbourhood were coming into flower at the same time as the Wisteria, so I thought wouldn't it be great to be able to see the blue cascades of wisteria flowers through a curtain of yellow Laburnum's. 

So it was off to the garden centre to purchase a Laburnum x watereri Vossii and after a good deal of searching "that " is what I bought. It took a little while to settle in, making almost no growth and producing not a single flower in it's first year. Last year looked more promising as a number of flower racemes started to form, but then they were aborted before opening, but it did go on to make tremendous growth. This year it finally managed to give the show I had dreamed about, but wait a minute, I paid a lot of money to get the Vossii, with it's 24 inch (60cm) long racemes of flowers. I think I was robbed, none are longer then 12 inches (30cm), so it is probably the much more common Laburnum anagyroides, which I could most likely have had free of charge as a seedling from my next door neighbours. 

I am still quite happy with the combination, the effect being that which I was after, but one of my reasons for wanting Vossii was that the plant is near the pavement and I was concerned about children getting hold of the poisonous seeds, Vossii apparently produces very few if any at all. Now I shall just have to remove all the pods as they start to form, or should I just contact the garden centre who sold it, and ask them to send someone around to do it for me every year, for free?

The Clematis montana to the right may look white flowered, but it is in fact the pale pink Elizabeth (poor photographer). I find that my digital camera tends to lighten all the shots and I re-darken in Paint Shop Pro, but I could not get the pink back into this one. I shall try to do a count in my head to let you know how many different clematis I have in my not very large garden....hmmmm now let me see....about thirty, and more as soon as I find them. They are great, as long as you have a tiny planting space and something for them to grow up/through , and this means more plants in less space, never a bad thing.  Of course when we are talking Montana, we are talking about a lot of something for it to grow up/through, although they can be restricted somewhat with hard pruning.

The little Clematis Pink Flamingo to the left should have formed half of another successful combo. Two years ago I planted a gift plant, Lonicera japonica to grow with the clematis, no planning just somewhere to squeeze it in. Well last year what a combination the flowers of the two of them made, I have never seen anything better,  well certainly not in my garden, the shapes and colours set each other off to perfection,  I thought this year," boy will this look great on my website". So what happens, the honeysuckle starts to flower just as the last clematis flowers are fading, ah well there is always next year. Now you will have to come back to visit me again.....

The large flowered hybrid clematis do not do well in my garden, most succumbing to the dreaded wilt within one year of planting, probably due to my acid soil. I have no problems with the viticellas and the small flowered species. The plant to the right, Guernsey Cream is one of the exceptions, the other being Hagley Hybrid. The blooms on Guernsey Cream are a flower arrangers dream, opening almost green before changing to a very pale cream.

If you saw the Clematis macropetala last month, you may be interested to see it again this month with the seed heads already fully formed to give a display that will last for a few months more. In my past notes I have mentioned growing Clematis from seed, but of course, if you wish to stay true to type, cuttings are a much better alternative. 

For anyone who fancies having a go at growing clematis from cuttings, they are a little different to most plants in that you cut the stem mid way between the leaf nodes, not at the node as with other plants, as the roots form at that point, away from the node. Next month, June, is probably the best time to take them, just as the stems are starting to turn woody. Insert into half sand, half compost, I use John Innes, but peat based with vermiculite instead of sand should be O.K., then cover with a perforated polythene bag, or place in a covered propagator.

They should root in four to six weeks, and you can tell when they have, because new shoots start to grow. I always use hormone rooting powder to speed up the root formation. I find the main problems to be making sure that the cuttings are free from aphids and keeping a look out for any botrytis starting to form. Aphids must be removed if found as should any cuttings showing signs of mould.

You would laugh if you could see my routine whilst doing these pages each month. First I place the photograph, then I rush out into the garden in the hope that the plant still has a label attached, then I scour my gardening books, then I apologise for the memory loss. It is a rose and it does have a name, but I can't find it. It grows into a fairly large spreading shrub and only flowers the once in May/June, the flowers only last a couple of days, but I think it is lovely enough to deserve a place in my garden and on this page. The photograph shows the leaves a little too grey, they are in fact much greener, if you are trying to look it up, and the flowers are about 4 inches (10cm) across when fully open. 

I think I shall finish this page off  by introducing you to our fourth and last cat, brace yourself, then click on Tabitha's name to meet her, but stand well back, she has a mean right hook.

These are May Photographs

These are May Notes