Gardening gifts for Christmas

1. Scented Celebration Rose ‘Warm Wishes’

Scented Celebration Rose 'Warm Wishes' - Christmas Gift

Christmas rose seems to be a very popular choice among our customers; and with good reason. This beautiful rose exudes love and Christmas spirit. Anyone who receives this will I am sure, feel blessed.

 

 

 

2. Rosa Chinensis Gardening Tools – KneelerRosa Chinensis Gardening Tools - Gift

This set can be bought individually, the kneeler is the ideal gift for those that have lots of beds and borders and are always getting dirty knees! This gift will be much appreciated and enjoyed all year round.

 

3. Christmas Cactus

Christmas Cactus

Christmas Cactus are very colourful and reminds me of a Christmas tree with lights blazing. Cactus can last up to 20 years so make sure your recipient is prepared to enjoy this gift for a long period of time!

 

 

4. Gardener’s Gubbins Pot Set Gardener's Gubbins Pot Set

With a name like Gubbins who can resist this attractive Burgon & Ball set? Gardener’s, myself included, seem to aquire lots of bits and pieces, which we like to keep on us when we are in the garden. There is always a label or snips required which are back in the shed!

 

 

5. Cut Flower Seed & Bottle Gift Set

Cut flower seed & bottle gift setThis is a really pretty set for those of us who like to have something to do over the Christmas holidays. Gifts that need a little bit of time and attention are ideal for gardeners, who may be stuck in doors, due to awful weather or family commitments. This gift allows them to sit and be sociable and do a bit of gardening too.

 

 

6. Hyacinth 'Scented Pink Pearl' Hyacinth ‘Scented Pink Pearl’

This is one of the most popular gifts from the Christmas gift range. Smelling wonderful, looking fabulous, I have bought this one for my mother. When hyacinths have finished flowering during the festive period, they can be planted in the garden to flower again during springtime.

 

7. Crockery Teacup & Saucer Bird Feeder

Crockery Teacup & Saucer Bird FeederFor bird and wildlife lovers, this is ideal. Hang it anywhere, from a tree or on the fence, pop some bird seed on it and watch those birds flock in to have a feed. By choosing different bird seed you can attract different birds, so investigate and perhaps invest in the bird seed too.

 

 

 

8. Succulent BasketSucculent Basket

A trendy gift which will be enjoyed by any age. A minature succulent garden in a basket, has become a fashion item! Succulents seem to thrive on neglect so this is the perfect gift for those who are rubbish at watering their plants.

 

9. Seed Starter Kit

Seed Starter Kit

I first got this for myself when I began gardening. It proved to be a worthwhile investment, as I still use the propogator today. Although the  seeds have all been sown and the labels are now on their third year of being used. A seed starter kit can be the reason someone gets into gardening, which can become a lifelong passion.

 

 

10. Ladies Parisienne & Men’s Tweed Garden Gloves

Ladies' Parisienne Garden Gloves & Men's Tweed Garden GlovesLadies' Parisienne Garden Gloves & Men's Tweed Garden GlovesBoth pairs are made by Burgon & Ball, a company known for its high quality. These soft, functional gloves will be a welcome gift for any gardener. Gloves are used all year round, saving hands from thorns and blisters. With the trendy name on the outer cuff,  your gardener will feel very refined!

 

 

One for the animals? Pet Candles

Pet Candles Christmas GiftI don’t expect the dogs and cats of the world will be thrilled with this gift, but the owners will! Neutralising nasty niffs, these candles will make the house smell lovely for Christmas parties and get-togethers.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed these suggestions, but if you have something that you think I should have included let me know on the comments box below. Happy Christmas readers!

How to grow roses from seed?

Growing roses from seeds is not the fastest method for propagating roses but has several advantages. Roses from seeds take a little longer but then you end up developing a new set of varieties. Professional hybridisers select a new line of easy to grow and disease resistant rose to propagate. However, for you, each seedling will be a surprise when they finally bloom. It is like opening your birthday present when you were a kid. You never really knew what to expect! That is the same feeling seeing those little seedlings opens up for the first time.

There are several processes one must follow when growing roses from seeds. For professionals, the process starts in the garden where they monitor the flowering and pollination process as they choose favorite varieties. For our case, we will start with the seed collection process.

Seed collection

The rose hips must be allowed to develop on the plant for at least four months for them to fully ripen. They have to be collected in autumn, cutting them off using the right garden tool. You can use cuticle scissors or tweezers to cut them off before cleaning them.

Rosehips ready for collecting

Rosehips ready for collecting

The ripened rose hip is then placed on a clean cutting board and cut in half to remove the seeds. Place the seeds in a clean container. Add some diluted bleach to kill off any bacteria and fungus spores. You can make the bleach by mixing drinking water with two teaspoons of household bleach. Stir the seeds well before rinsing them and using bottled water to remove all the bleach. To further clean and disinfect the seeds, put them in the container and add some hydrogen peroxide. The seeds can be soaked for up to 24 hours before rinsing them with clean water to clear all the hydrogen peroxide.

Collecting rose seeds

Collecting rose seeds

Soaking the seeds is a crucial step if your seeds will germinate properly and stay clear of any diseases. You MUST not mix the bleach with the hydrogen peroxide as this results in a chemical reaction. 3% peroxide for 24 hours is just fine. This is also a good time to perform the water float test. Remove all seeds that float as they might not be viable.

Starting the rose seeds

Before growing the roses from seed, the seeds have to undergo a period of stratification. This is a cold moist storage that gets the seeds ready for germination.

Cold Treatment

Chilling your seeds in a refrigerator for about six to ten weeks encourages them to germinate faster once planted. However, you must take care to avoid keeping them cold for long as they can germinate while still in the refrigerator. Place your seeds on a paper towel before moistening them. Use half purified water and half peroxide to prevent the growth of mould. You can then place them in a plastic zippered bag, mark the date and variety before placing in a refrigerator set at 1 to 3 degrees C. The paper towel should remain moist for the entire period. You can check occasionally to see if it needs remoistening. Make sure you don’t freeze the towel.

There are other ways to stratify the seeds like planting them in a tray of potting mix and refrigerating the entire tray for weeks. The tray is usually enclosed in a plastic bag to keep it moist.

Planting your seeds

When you think your seeds are ready for planting (6-10 weeks), remove the bag from the refrigerator if that was your stratification method. You will need shallow trays or small pots to plant your seeds. Whatever works between the trays and pots is fine as long they have good drainage. The ideal size of the trays or pots should be 3-4 inches deep.

You can use separate trays when planting seeds from different varieties of rose hips. You must follow your labeling all the way down from harvesting, treatment, and planting. The rose bush name and planting date are some of the details to indicate on your trays or pots.

Next fill your trays or pots with the potting soil. You can opt to use 50% sterile potting soil and 50% vermiculite, or half peat and half perlite. When the potting mix is ready in the trays or pots, this is the time to take off your seeds from the towel. Remember the seeds must not be removed from the plastic bag until they are ready to be planted. You lightly dust them before planting.

Place your seeds about ¼ inch into the soil and dust the surface again to prevent the damp off disease that kills seeds. Water them properly and place them outside in direct sunlight. If there is frost, it is advised you place your seeds under a tree or in a sheltered part of the patio to protect them. There is no need for grow lights.

Keep the soil pots or trays watered but not soggy. Do not let them dry up as this might affect the germination of your seeds.

Watch for germination

After about six weeks, the first two seed leaves will start to emerge before the true leaves can emerge. The seedling must have three to four true leaves before they can be ready for transplanting.

Planting your seedlings

When the seedlings are grown a few inches tall with at least three true leaves, they are ready to be transplanted. You can transplant them into a four-inch pot of your liking. You don’t have to plant all your seedlings but only the healthy ones. You can choose to monitor them on the tray and only transplant them when they have outgrown it.

You must monitor the seedlings as they grow in their new pots for colour, form, bush size, branching, and disease resistance. Roses with weak, unhealthy or unattractive flowers can be discarded. It will take your new seedlings at least three years before they reach maturity and develop into a big bush. However, the first flower can be seen after one or two years.

Rose floribunda 'Blue For You' & Rose 'Easy Elegance - Yellow Brick' Shrub Rose

Rose floribunda ‘Blue For You’ & Rose ‘Easy Elegance – Yellow Brick’ Shrub Rose

Garden tools you will need to grow your rose seeds:

• Cotton buds
• Tweezers and cuticle scissors
• Clear plastic film canisters
Labels for the paper and plastic bag
• Wax pencil or black permanent marker pen

Growing roses from seeds appears a pretty long process but one that is rewarding when you follow all the steps as indicated. If you are a great DIY fan, then this is a nice project for you to enjoy as you brighten your outdoor space with blooming roses.

Dianne Lampe
http://www.igardenplanting.com/

 

To find out how to start your roses from bare root or container grown plants, head to our dedicated rose hub page.

How do bees survive over winter?

Wild Bee numbers have been declining for decades in the UK. This is due to the wild grasslands of this country diminishing by a massive 97%; and the widespread use of agricultural pesticides on farmlands up and down the country. The Government has urged gardeners to do their bit and help with this serious issue. Bee experts have called for a nationwide effort to protect this threatened genus.

Aubretia 'Cascade Purple' & Wildflower 'Honey-bee Flower Mixed'

Aubretia ‘Cascade Purple’ & Wildflower ‘Honey-bee Flower Mixed’

So what can gardeners do to help bees survive – especially during the winter months? Well there is plenty to do to help in small ways.

The first thing to do is leave a small patch of your garden to grow wild, and make sure it will not get disturbed in any way. Make it just as nature intended it, and you can do this by letting grass grow long and allowing wild flowers to bloom. If you have a north facing bank then this is the ideal spot to allow grass to overgrow. Bees like to burrow, especially when they need to hibernate and facing north is the most suitable for their hibernation.

It is also important to grow plants which will provide an essential food source for the bees during the colder months. Such plants as spring flowering plants and winter flowering plants are a good idea. Perhaps an aubrietia or acacia dealbata. Hedera hibernica ivy is also good for wildlife gardens, fast growing it is ideal if you want to get your wildlife garden going quickly.

Echium vulgare 'Blue Bedder' & Wildflower mixed seeds

Echium vulgare ‘Blue Bedder’ & Wildflower mixed seeds

For your wildflower garden you can scatter seeds straight into the ground, with one of our wildflower seed mixes, so there is no need for potting up or pricking out. For early flowering plants crocus bulbs and snowdrops are perfect, they provide early springtime food supplies to sustain the bees until more spring flowers arrive.

Most bees exist in a state of near hibernation during the winter but having food to eat during this time will give them a much better chance of surviving until the next spring. Summertime flowers are frequently seen in the garden; but extending the time there are nectar rich flowers into early spring and late autumn is increasingly important for the bees survival.

Anemone 'Wild Swan' & Acacia dealbata

Anemone ‘Wild Swan’ & Acacia dealbata

Lord Gardener Minister of Rural Affairs and Biosecurity has said that bees are a much loved feature of the English countryside in summertime. He also stated that they are also a crucial part of the biodiversity of this country and an essential part of our economy; and that it is vital not to forget bees during winter time. At Thompson & Morgan we feel that it is extremely important to provide a home and food for these wonderful little creatures that do so much for us.

If you would like to find out more about making your garden a haven for wildlife – the articles below have a vast array of information, knowledge and inspiration. Make your winter garden bee-friendly – head on over to our winter flowers hub for ideas!

Bees & Butterflies Inspiration

Encouraging Wildlife including Bees

Plants for Wildlife

What to do in the Garden to Encourage Wildlife

The dreaded Autumn Colour!

 

At the end of October we took a break from the garden and went to stay with our dear friend Sonja who lives in The National Forest (imagine small thatched ginger bread house in woodland clearing – no – small but perfectly formed terrace in Swadlincote). We left home on the Friday to summer’s last hurrah; two days later we returned to autumnal gloom. Knee deep in leaf litter everywhere; it’s all very well extolling the virtues of Autumn Colour (hushed voices, deep awe), if only it would stay on the trees! Gutters blocked, paths and lawns littered, shrub canopies choked, containers swamped. And then, do you let the leaves rot down to a natural mulch in the borders or do you clear them away so they don’t rot the crowns of your prized perennials? (Neat freak, clear them away, and then add somebody else’s mulch for £4.50 a bag.)

Acers on a spectacular scale - October 2016

Acers on a spectacular scale – October 2016

Anyway, mercifully so far I have been able to sweep this year’s leaf litter up during the current dry spell. Woe betide it should rain, you take your life in your hands every time you step outside your front door! (Talking of Autumn Colour, some of the best I’ve seen has to be on the stretch of M1 motorway between Northampton and Leicester.) Autumn Colour apart, it’s the low light levels at dawn and dusk, casting their luminescent glow over the fiery landscape that gets me every year, just magical.

Coleus 'Campfire' & Hydrangea 'Zorro'

Coleus ‘Campfire’ & Hydrangea ‘Zorro’

In contrast to my androgynous gardening demeanour, Sonja, being a perfumery consultant, is a fragrant jewel! So for the first time in about 30 years I treated my feminine side to some perfume. And the point of the story is this: Wearing said perfume whilst sweeping up the dreaded Autumn Colour (and why not?) just smelled wrong! It masked the scents of the soil and natural fragrance of the flowers that I hadn’t even consciously registered before. How about that!

Now it truly is autumn in the garden

Now it truly is autumn in the garden

……Anyway, back in my gardening world, I was so excited about all the plants I was going to grow in my new propagator that I forgot one fundamental thing – to water them: Guess what, they all died! I am rubbish at cuttings, I really am, having always put it down to lazy horticultural practices. A brief knock to my confidence before taking another lot of cuttings (host plants looking a bit bald thereafter) whilst promising to learn by my mistakes. So we will see. However as insurance I have supplied a duplicate set (what is the collective for cuttings?) of salvia involucrata and confertifolia (sounds like a musical score) to the Chairman (Chair, Chairperson, whatever!) of our local Hort Soc, who is a veritable cuttings magician.
Whilst we are on the subject of my shortcomings, how many times do I have to lose my heucheras to vine weevil before I learn my lesson? Empty pots, add fresh compost, plant heucheras, feel noble. Simple! And why oh why do I put off splitting perennials for five years? A WW1 trenching tool was the only implement hefty enough to shift the clump of white phlox with a root ball the size of a wrecking ball! While we are at it, perhaps it would be a good idea to clean the greenhouse windows before the automatic lights stay on permanently. (The electricity bill has already doubled due to the heated propagators, and David’s paternal concern for the mice.)

flaming central bed & FUCHSIAfuchsiaberry

flaming central bed & FUCHSIAfuchsiaberry

Really though I cannot believe we have reached November already. Whilst David is raring to go with his festive red berry lighting for the front garden, I am so behind with my jobs: so reluctant to lift the cannas, some of which have only just come into flower; have hastily stuffed & wrapped the tree fern (oven ready?) but must must must raise the containers onto pot feet, fleece the eucomis and bring the tender salvias under cover. T & M Crackerjack petunias and new Bidens are still flowering in the hanging baskets, half hardy annuals, tender perennials and my treasured ricinus are still in full swing but surely it’s only a matter of time before they are cut down by frost. I did succumb to tulips in the end, black Paul Scherer and white Triumphator (not sure, threw the packaging away, why do I do that every year?) planted in amongst the grasses out front.

Hanging baskets just keep on going!

Hanging baskets just keep on going!

I am so reluctant to get on with it all, as it will signify the end of this amazing horticultural year for us. But no doubt I will find something to write about in December but until then have a productive autumn and be careful not to slip on those dratted leaves.

Preparing for winter

The changing colour of leaves from the garden

The changing colour of leaves from the garden

Autumn can be the cruellest of seasons, lulling us into thinking it is still summer, with rays of mellow sunshine followed by a blast of the East wind, to remind us that winter is not far away! When the sun is shining it is tempting to leave the garden undisturbed and enjoy every moment, but plans need to be in place for the frosts which will certainly be coming at some point.

Although many plants are still looking remarkably good for the time of year, there are a growing number which have already fallen victim to the dropping temperature and shortening days. The leaves are changing colour on the trees too, and they are beginning to fall, especially if there is any degree of wind.

Preparing for winter, but some of the blooms haven't caught up yet!

Preparing for winter, but some of the blooms haven’t caught up yet!

So, it is best to be prepared for the first frosts, to ensure that you are not taken unaware when it happens. Really precious, tender plants should be in the greenhouse already, although there is no need for additional heat until the night time temperatures fall further.

There is an excellent  RHS app which can be downloaded free onto your phone or tablet, called ‘Grow Your Own’. It has a ‘Frost Alert’ which can be customised to your postcode, and will warn you of an impending frost, giving precious time to take further precautions.

Many garden plants are totally hardy, and can cheerfully cope with any amount of winter weather, whilst borderline hardy plants can be brought into a frost free greenhouse, conservatory or garage to overwinter. Failing that, they can be given a degree of protection outside, using horticultural fleece, or a mulch. Fleece sleeves, which slip over plants, are a quick and easy way to protect vulnerable plants. Fleece allows air to circulate whilst plastic would cause the plant to rot, due to moisture trapped inside. A mulch of compost or straw for example, can be used to protect the roots of frost tender plants.

Beautiful in bloom

Beautiful in bloom

Certain plants, such as tree ferns, have specific requirements and they need to have their crowns protected, by stuffing the base of the fronds with straw. Some succulents, such as certain agaves, can cope with reasonably low temperatures, but need to be kept dry to prevent root rot.

Dahlias and cannas can be left in the ground until the first frost, when their foliage will be blackened. They should then be dug up, and excess soil removed from around the tubers. These can then be stored in a dry frost free place until they can be brought into growth again next spring.

There are inevitably some sacrificial plants, usually annuals, as it is not always practical or possible to ‘save’ everything from the rigours of the winter, and, indeed, there are many plants which are better grown afresh every season.

It is possible to get the majority of tender plants safely through the winter, but this depends on a little planning and preparation.

You can find me at www.hoehoegrow.co.uk

Jane Scorer
Hoe hoe grow

See my biog for more about me!  J.

 

 

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