Monthly Archives: February 2013

I am thinning out beds and these plants are potted and ready to go, collection only, call before you come. Prices are by your kind  donation for the NGS   The “Umbrella Plant, is an absolutely superb specimen that starts off with truly gorgeous sprays of pink flowers on thick stems in earliest spring. It then pushes up umbrella-like leaves, rather like a gunnera but not as large or sprawling. This stunning waterside plant is especially wonderful in the waters edge, or where it can be allowed to grow large, although it does perfectly well in a dry garden!.   Water lily  we think it is Rose Nymphe. Large leaves Vigorous habit white flowers with a hint of pink. Cornus alba sibirica ‘Red Twig’ will grow in any soil, but for best winter stem colour a moist site in full sun is recommended.  Sibirica is a deciduous, upright growing shrub with brilliant smooth, crimson red  stems, dark green leaves, small clusters of white flowers in early summer and small white berries..  This dogwood looks stunning planted in groups, beside water or in a winter border – and works well with orange or yellow –stemmed varieties of other dogwood.  Hard annual pruning produces the best display of colourful winter stems, prune second year within 2 in of the ground on previous years growth.  Tolerates full sun to partial shade. Choisyya Ternata Mexican Orange Blossom. Wonderfully scented, star-shaped, white flowers appear in late spring among glossy, aromatic, dark green leaves. This handsome, compact and easy-to-grow shrub is a valuable garden mainstay for a protected site in sun or part shade, although in shade it may not flower. The glossy, evergreen leaves provide an excellent backdrop for medium-sized perennials and pale-grey or purple foliage plants. Hemerocallis  produce elegant, usually trumpet-like blooms in summer and are easy to grow in many gardens. Each plant produces many flowers, so displays will last for weeks. I am thinning out areas of the garden and I have potted up specimens of these and many others too.

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If you are gardening, you are now dealing with the extreme and more frequent changes in the weather.   This is not a philosophical discussion or something that is happening to other people. Climate change brought about by global warming is altering all the individual elements and life patterns that make up a garden’s environment. Many of the changes around us are invisible and, unless you have gardened for years, the altered patterns are imperceptible. It’s the seasoned gardener who is noticing the fundamental changes garden  rhythms. More and more, gardeners are unable to rely on creating a successful garden by doing things the way they have been done in previous years. The bottom line: It’s all changing due to global warming and climate change. The most effective way of dealing with these changes is to work with nature and to follow nature’s directions for addressing the new variables in balanced ways. However, when working with nature, the greatest element that limits nature’s role and what it can offer is the human mind. We close down nature’s information about necessary change by assuming that the patterns that have been previously set will continue. As gardeners, it is vital that we enter all our planning sessions with nature with a clear mind and that we set all assumptions aside. The only valid assumption we can take with us into the sessions is that things may change. In general, you need to keep a flexible mind and be willing to accept the needed changes  to achieve your garden’s goals in light of the environmental challenges. Different varieties of plants that can better withstand the new weather extremes may need to be planted. The garden’s rows may need to be laid out differently. For example, in areas of extreme drought, rain is retained in soil better when rows are laid out in contour with the land. The planting timing may change. The size of the garden may need to change in order to better meet your goals. In short, everything that goes into planning and working a garden may need to change. Nature is your source when it comes to determining what to do. Or the filter limits you by reducing the chances that you’ll think to ask nature the pertinent questions. So as you move   through these early planning sessions, you’ll need to be mentally relaxed, flexible and assumption-free in order to wrap your head around the needed changes. And because global warming and climate change are going to continue for quite some time thus reducing the chances for yearly patterns to form, you’ll need to approach each year’s garden with a commitment to explore new approaches that better address that year’s environmental changes. I see this as an exciting time to be experiencing a co-creative partnership with nature. It’s one thing to be operating with nature in a relatively stable environment with equally stable variables. Patterns that are established early on in the garden’s life remain throughout the years and we can depend on consistency and the comfort that gives us. But climate change has moved us into a situation that is serious and filled with fast-moving changes. More and more we are going to be forced to look   for answers and help if we are to successfully navigate our way through these years. We need to shift our thinking and trade the comfort of consistency for the excitement and adventure of change.

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