Author: Ned McDowell

 

It is the dead of winter and the great debate of ‘when’ to prune and ‘how hard’ to prune roses arrives. This conundrum always creates robust, controversial and even divided discussions. There are a zillion bits of advice on offer and many gardeners are faced with the confusing and perplexing dilemma of which one to adopt and follow. To the inexperienced it can all be very intimidating.
Every winter I prune a lot of roses. In my own garden I have about 60 roses to prune and in my heyday about another thousand or so every year in other local gardens. So over the decades I have had the happy opportunity to learn and gain valuable experience and experiment with differing techniques and timings of rose pruning.

Now we come to what I call the 11th Commandment of rose pruning. Most rose growers have their own respective opinions/rules coupled with a long set practiced regime and will rarely if ever deviate from them. It is as if these rules have become immortalised, forever etched in stone, sacrosanct, a universal law, never to be broken. The
11th Commandants’ hypothesis all hangs upon the possibility/probability of the late occurrence of harsh severe frosts in early even to late spring which will certainly kill or severely retard new growth and thus the near impossibility to ever recover. Thus it is a true gamble with the unpredictability of mother nature.

For many the date to prune in cold climates is postponed until August, in warmer/hotter climates sometime in July. Somehow this blanket date has been adopted across most districts, regardless of climate, topography and elevation. Roses ae the hardiest of all plants and I know I may well be sticking my head right out, but in all my forty years I have never, fingers crossed, witnessed badly frosted new rose growth which has not then recovered. In addition, if you do delay pruning, you may well not have a spring display of roses until way into late October or November.
For myself, when it is ripe and perfect to winter prune roses? It is the day when you have the time, the winter weather is reasonable, the council green bin is empty, and most importantly you are just totally fed up with a whole lot of rose ugly, with their straggly, wild and whiplashing barbed branches and the impossibility to weed and fertilise around them. Invariably it is in the mid to late July. This early pruning also ensures a great display of roses commencing from early to mid-October regardless of any late visits by Mr. Jack Frost.

There are a few basic reasons for pruning rose bushes: to keep them vigorous, to maintain their shape and to grow more and better flowers. When pruning roses, it is near impossible make any major mistakes. Thankfully they are very forgiving, tough and resilient bushes. The fundamentals of pruning are relatively easy and straight forward. All done in 4 steps.
1. Cut and clean out all the congested inside branches to create an open vase shape, to allow optimum light and air circulation within. This minimises the susceptibility to disease such as black spot and powdery mildew.
2. Prune out all the old, damaged, diseased or dead wood to transfer the rose’s energy to improving the health and growth of fresh new flowering branches.
3. The remaining new growth should be pruned back to an outward eye bud, cutting no more than ½ cm above the growth bud creating an angle so that it slopes slightly back and away from the bud, to allow moisture to drain away.
4. At the end of the day, I revisit each of the roses armed with a generous glass of red as a reward to myself for a job done well, and to also correct any mistakes in pruning. This is especially useful for when you initially begin you are always quite tentative in pruning well. See the tale of the grand lady.
5. When the plant is pruned and bare of foliage, many also spray with lime sulphur to combat black spot and scale. I never do it, largely because I am just downright too lazy. Also, my roses seldom have any diseases because of my repeated, throughout the entire year, the applications of very generous thick carpeting of Seamungus, a pelletised tonic of seaweed and fish, for creating and ensuring optimum plant and soil health. For example, the scourge of scale only invades when a plant is under stress.
In my experience you can never be brave and confident enough when pruning roses. It might seem a whole lot of silly, but it greatly helps if from the outset, for you to determine your own personal relationship with your roses. Yes, they are your partners in your garden design, even friends, but who actually is in control and in charge. Who is the real boss, the true top dog, the master of all, the monarch who reigns supreme? You are and never ever forget it. So, walk up right up to them, with the strength of your best of convictions, armoured with a steely determination, stand astride your rose, as if you truly own it and cut, saw and snip away.

I once worked for a rather grand lady, whom, before beginning her day of rose pruning, would fortify herself with a very generous glass of mulled wine. She also carried deep in her pocket a hip flask, of I can only suppose was more of the same. She explained that in her later years it was an aid to battling the cold and assisted her with the vital energy necessary to commence and endure a long day of labour. Very sadly, she never offered me or shared a single drop. Maybe she considered myself too young or did not want to encourage me to form any future bad habits. In hindsight, really a bit of a useless gesture.
Then arrives the 12th Commandment, ‘thou shalt never prune roses back below or above a certain height?’ This could be either a third, a half, by two thirds or even three quarters. And in my experience, this is where the vast majority of gardener’s completely fail big time. In general folks are dead dumb scared of pruning back hard, only pruning their bushes about 40 to 50% if even that.

I always cut back bush roses by at least three quarters. As the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland screams, ‘off with their heads’. Well, I say off with everything, smack them back mighty hard, right down to your knees. Yes, no rose bush after being pruned should stand no higher than the bottom of your own knees, even lower if possible. This is a prime example of you have got to be cruel to be kind.
You see I don’t want rose bushes resembling lollipops, skyscrapers or a long series of Eiffel Towers. I don’t want to see old and ugly gnarled bare branches bereft of any new growth. What I seek is new healthy branch growth right from the bottom of the shrub, and thus subsequent flowers beginning from way low down on the bush. Remember roses have had most of a year of full growth, taking into account summer pruning and dead heading throughout the season.

Which leads us to the 13th Commandment ‘thou shalt never have a closed mind to new rose pruning methods’. As mentioned at the outset there are countless differing opinions on when to and how to prune roses. There is no one single approach. There is always room to learn more. Always respect other opinions, be open to new ideas, mine is the sum of many. No one is ever completely right and maybe this is what cultivating roses makes it all so much fun. I can only hope this blog will invite others to contribute their own wisdom and experiences with rose pruning.

Happy gardening and have fun,
Regards Ned McDowell.

 

I love and adore pokers and so should every gardener. A poker filled garden is a mighty happy one. Few plants if any, can surpass the superb sculptural sword like foliage and statuesque tall stems of flowers rising a good two metres in height, with their illuminating flower torches of the richest and most vivid of colours. If you seek that sense bit of the real bling of the tropical and exotic, pokers are the ideal candidate.

Regrettably in recent years they have lost their previous widely planted popularity. Many turn their noses up at them, regarding them as a throwback to old time grannie gardens, common, course, too untidy, too brash and gaudy in colour, even downright ugly. Well, they are a whole lot of silly folks, who need to get out more.

I vividly remember in my more youthful years, a rich memory, never forgotten. We travelled slowly by car, along an unsealed long and winding country property road. It was fantastically flanked on both sides with hundreds even thousands of mature pokers ablaze in the brightest, most vivid and electric orange beacons of flowering pokers. The plantings seemed to continue endlessly for many kilometers. I was very glad of our slow pace for I was totally in awe of the massed spectacle and it gave me the invaluable time to fully appreciate it all. When we finally arrived at the country homestead, I was one very happy fellow.

Whoever had the idea to plant such a brave and adventurous long and extended stunning floral spectacle should be very well thanked and congratulated, and indeed their name never forgotten.

History

The genus was named after the German Johann Hieronymus Kniphof a professor of medicine and botany, (1704 – 1765). They originated in warm and tropical areas of Central and Southern Africa, Ethiopia and Madagascar.

The botanical name Knipholia is at first reading practically unpronounceable. People are so uncertain in how to pronounce it, that is most probably why the common name red hot pokers are so universally known by. To correctly pronounce its botanical name, try this; the ‘k’ is silent, the ‘i’ becomes an ‘e’ as in knee, the second ‘I’ also becomes an ‘e’ and then it should be a melodic ‘nee-foe-lee-ah. However, I may well be a little touched for I never seem to remember this correct pronunciation even after 40 years of planting them.

Varieties

Today the majority of pokers grown are modern hybrids sporting a much wider range of colours, from the usual orange and red, to the newer green, lime, yellow and cream flowers. The newer hybrid trends are for more diminutive plants in both foliage and flower stems, but call me a traditionalist, I much prefer the original taller varieties for their greater visual impact. My eternal favourite is ‘Winter Cheer’ which does not ever shut up flowering from winter through to the near middle of spring.

Cultivation

Pokers are essentially warm climate plants and are one of the great survivors. They are impervious to the longest of droughts and the hardest of winter frosts. They will grow in practically any soil, revel in positions that other plants will not, though a reasonably well drained soil is preferred. They adore a position in full sun, the more the better, but with too much shade they are reluctant to flower. Like other drought tolerant plants, they will survive well enough without water, but consistent rain or home watering will increase its proliferation and performance exponentially. If you have the blessing of a wet summer, then their glory will be even more stellar.

A simple hard haircut to a height of 0.5 to 1metre once a year is all it needs. Before the pruning back, add generous layers of Seamungus and Rooster Booster around its base and leaved circumference area, water in well, and then the fallen pruned back leaves will act as mulch for the coming year.

Design

A more modern successful design planting is located at my local university gym. The position of the building is cut deep into a huge hill, creating to the north a large and expansive sharply sloped garden bed, about 10 metres in width and 3 metres in depth. It is populated by only three plants planted en masse, pokers, white agapanthus and the grevillea groundcover Bronze Rambler. In its simplicity and visual beauty it is just stunning.

Propagation

Propagation is most successfully achieved by root division, preferably in spring, either by the young side growths or splitting apart the whole plant. An established mature plant has a massive root system, so good luck with that.

My research suggests pokers can hybridise quite readily. It is quite difficult to recreate new and true plants from the seeds of parent stock.  If sown from seed the plants will flower in the second year. At times they can self-sow, though not often.

Pokers should be a mandatory planting in all gardens. If you possess a small garden and are limited in space, thankfully a single planting of pokers will still bring you and your garden great happiness.

Happy gardening and have fun,

Regards Ned McDowell.

 

Most humbly, I have to give myself and my partner Bop, a great pat on the back for the creation of the sculpted hedge of the grey leaved Santolina at the very front of my garden. For me, it is garden design and art at its best and undoubtedly what I am most proud of. I simply love it, as do many others.
Today it runs a good ten meters in length and a metre and a half in depth and lies adjacent to a busy town 3 lane highway.
The hedge has evolved and changed throughout the years. Slowly it has crept forward towards the road, tripling in its depth. There have been tragic losses due to debilitating long droughts accompanied with severe endless water restrictions and of late major water works excavations by council, which dug mercilessly and ripped out about half of the hedge.
Originally, I decided to create a single line of santolinas and planted 12 tube stock sized santolina specimens, and waited until they matured then clipped them into simple row of twelve successive high rising puffed up loaves of bread. Each year the hedge grew and expanded, and I was very chuffed and proud with it all. It was visually unique with minimum work to maintain.

 

 

Then my partner in life, Bop, a Thai born national, changed all that. One afternoon, long ago, I arrived home after work and my carefully crafted, yet simply shaped santolina hedge of a dozen loaves, had been completely transformed. It had been replaced, within a single day, with a new, stunning grand work of art. After my initial shock I quickly realised what Bop had created. It was his own original, modern interpretation of the delicately carved, centuries old, classic Thai woodwork wall sculptures. Here was art and sculpture at its best.

It was pure magic. Some, the lucky or the gifted, can create such magic, as if it was the everyday. Bop did that. For him it was not hit or miss, or a flight of the imagination, for he knew, from the get go, it was always going to be a fantastic success.
Like all great sculptures, the hedge possessed it all. The refinement of long clean, finely clipped, extended lines, the deep and determined, scissored sharp shapes and the intricately carefully carved, chiseled shallow cuts and curves. It was all there as if the angels had created it. A whole long, seamless sweep of an organic piece of living sculpture.
The success of any great outdoor sculpture is how its lines, shapes and curves, through light and shadows are continuously transformed as the sun moves across the sky each day. It was simply sublime.

 

 

Then the second extraordinary thing happened. This sculpted, tightly clipped hedge became a true tourist attraction. The cars of tourists and locals parked daily, to admire and complement and to take innumerable photos. Even a few declared it was on their to do to list when they annually drove past on their way to further other destinations. locals
The ever frequent question asked by local passerbys and tourists was that since this tightly clipped hedge was so complex, intricate and precise in detail, that there most certainly must be a hidden message or meaning behind it, ‘but what does it all say, what does it all mean?’ In reply I would in true jest, but very convincingly answer, that it was based on an ancient Thai written script that states, ‘true love is a true gift never to be lost’. Most were mighty happy with this. I saw no harm in it, any positive message about life and love is a blessing and should be shared forever far and wide.

Initially while writing this, blog, I could not recall where I got the inspiration for this extended planting design. And then it all came back to me. Many years ago, I remember pruning back old ratty and neglected santolinas in a garden I tended one day a week for a decade or so. At the time, with the lady of the house, being of quite strong religious beliefs, and with a convoy of nuns about to descend upon the house and garden for the weekend, I decided, using a large existing unkept expanse of santolinas, to create for the occasion, a broad sculpture. It was all inspired by the bible story of the loaves and the fishes. When completed I thought it all looked rather super and splendid. Thankfully the owner was especially pleased, and all the nuns thought it was all a bit of great fun. I asked with humble humour if the nuns could bless my little biblical artistic folly. I vividly recall their collective responses of sweet smiles and serene nods. I have no idea if they did or not. But at least these daughters of God appreciated and enjoyed it.

Sadly, Bop my partner of 15 years, passed away in a fatal car accident. He is forever remembered for his gentle and forever happy soul, artistically truly gifted, though his talents and abilities never fully realized. But this sculptured hedge is a memory and testament to his life.  I feel completely privileged and eternally grateful to have the opportunity to have shared my life with him, no matter how brief.

Happy gardening and have fun,

Ned McDowell

The caterpillars of the white butterfly, (moth), are the true scourge of growing all of the brassicas. These include cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli and mustard leaves. You can also include the Asian greens of pak choi, bok choi and wonbok.

The butterflies’ progeny, small luminous green caterpillars, are rapacious eaters, and in a single night, the brassica’s leaves can be shredded, resembling Swiss cheese, bare skeletons, devoured right back to their bare leaf ribs. Their eggs are laid en masse on the leaves, and before you know it, you have an explosion of caterpillars, an invasion of biblical numbers.
The larvae pupate in open-weave cocoons stuck to the leaves, from which the next generation of adult butterflies emerge. The entire life cycle can be completed in as little as three weeks

Interestingly, “the white butterflies have the curious ability to taste the quantity of mustard in a plant, the principle being the stronger the taste, the better host for their eggs. The curiosity factor in this is that the brassica plant developed the mustard taste as a defence against insects. The butterflies in turn take on the same mustard taste in their own tissues, which works effectively against predation by birds.” Monty Don.

Regardless of their damage, I still admire the white butterfly’s acrobatic agility in flight. They are a delight to watch, when they whip, weave and wheel, dip, flit, flip and flutter, a dance like an aerial ballet of extraordinary beauty. I love to watch them for a few minutes each day. But seeing and remembering the evidence of their destruction on my brassicas, my admiration quickly evaporates and my murderous behaviour kicks back in. The survival of the fittest and all that.
In heart of winter the butterfly is not a problem, but its autumn leadup and the following spring and summer are when the butterfly is most prevalent and dangerous.

 

 

So how can we deal with them?

Firstly
• My first choice in their control is to pick them out by hand, however this is not that effective for they are very small and hide in the dense foliage during the day.
• The best overall long term solution is to net the bed with a material with small enough holes to prevent the butterfly reaching the brassicas plants. something like a mosquito net.

Secondly – The Commercially available products
• Dipel a biological spray of Bacillus Thuringiensis var. Kurstaki which only affects caterpillars and so is safe for bees, ladybirds, birds and animals. Repeat weekly.
• Derris Dust made from the roots of the derris plant. Apply at night when the caterpillars are active and wash off in the morning. The dust also kills aphids and slugs so I suppose they may well kill ladybirds etc. There is a one day withholding period where you cannot eat the produce. Repeat weekly.

Thirdly – Companion Planting.
• My research has suggested the plantings of thyme, rosemary, sage, wallflower, wormwood, mint, basil and tomatoes to reduce the proliferation of butterfly. In my own experience none help in the least for I already have all these plants surrounding and interplanted with my brassicas.
• However there are two which work effectively,
• The broccoli is under planted with land cress, itself a great salad leaf to grow. The butterflies believe it is the very best and tastiest of all the brassicas and when then diverted they lay their eggs on them instead. When the caterpillars appear they are concentrated on the land cress stripping it bare first and thus you know there will be an imminent explosion of the butterfly and easier to step up manage the problem.
• Plantings of the herb dill. Brassicas support the floppy stems of dill. The tall fuzzy foliage helps camouflage the brassica leaves, their odorous foliage masks the scent of the brassicas, and the dill flowers attract beneficial predators that attack grubs.

 

Fourthly – Eco-friendly home-made remedies.
Some are highly effective, others only partially. All should be applied early evening and weekly.
• A spray of sour milk on the leaves deters the butterflies.
• A spray of glutinous garlic/soap solution prevent butterflies from laying eggs.
• Gather a few older leaves from your brassicas, add a couple of cups of hot water, blend and strain the mixture and let it cool before spraying on your plants. The butterflies cannot stand the rank smell of rotting leaves and go elsewhere.
• If you have indeed hand-picked the caterpillars then if you have a reasonable quantity, say ten or so, follow the previous recipe and spray. The butterflies again cannot stand the stench of their own dead caterpillars.
• Throw old brassica leaves on the ground and fertilise with Rooster Booster on top and water them. The slowly rotting leaves again deter the caterpillars and will eventually become a nutritious fertilised mulch.
• Other reported spray remedies may be made from the leaves of rhubarb, geranium, potatoes, tomatoes and if you can find a smoker nicotine. Yet not tested
• Sprinkling of wood ashes and salt are said to prevent eggs hatching.
• Good old plain flour, the caterpillars ingest the flour, it swells and sets in their stomach and they die. This is the easiest and most economically efficient method of the lot. But beware the combination of flour and water creates a paste, so a thorough washing off of the flour the next morning is mandatory.
• Pepper on sprinkled on wet brassica leaves deters caterpillars.
• Large eggshells placed around brassicas with the white side up or thread eggshells onto string or fishing line and hang it above your vegies to keep them away. The butterfly believes the white eggshells are other butterflies, and thus will not lay its eggs and will continue flying elsewhere.
• When planting brassicas, mix 1 teaspoon of sulphur in the soil, reducing the mustard taste and the new leaf growth makes it most unattractive to butterflies. The leaves may become slightly yellow but are they are still great quality eating.
• And now for my favourite method. I play a lot of tennis. When outside gardening I always have my racquet on hand. Who needs an advancing tennis ball when I have a target of countless white butterflies to chase. Swinging left and right, high and low, at times quite madly, trying to swat the little buggers with their wild looping and acrobatic flight patterns. It’s great for my tennis game lifts my aerobic activity and drastically reduces the butterflies numbers.
I would truly appreciate any feedback of the effectiveness of these mentioned methods or any other alternate suggestions which you have found successful.

Good luck, have fun and happy planting, but in this case happy killing.

Regards     Ned McDowell

If you want to create a piece of ‘Absolutely Fabulous’, hanging baskets are the one for you. Done successfully, they are a feast for the eyes, a striking sizzling summer statement of real glamour and beauty, imbued with a sense of majesty and even fairytale magic. But most importantly it is all about having a whole lot of fun. The only limits are the degree of your own boundless enthusiasm and imagination.
Maybe there is Christmas coming up, a future wedding or a grand birthday celebration perhaps, or even a competition for the best hanging baskets at the inaugural New England Garden Festival this coming November.
Quite often planted hanging baskets start out all well enough, however if initially poorly prepared with not enough love and attention, they slowly deteriorate in health and at the height of summer, just in time for Christmas, a whole lot of ugly sets in and past great intentions shrivel to a crisp.
To create a surefire perfect pizzaz of a hanging basket all you need is to follow five pieces of advice. This blog may well be a lengthy one for some, however there is a lot of information to be learnt and absorbed, to get it all just right and as perfect as possible. Then just go for it, all plants and hanging baskets a blazing.

1. The Basket
The great issue with hanging baskets is their ability to retain moisture and subsequently their frequency of watering to maintain their health and vitality. You have two alternatives, plastic or cocoa fiber matting in open wire frames.
The advantage of plastic pots is that the material and its accompanying fitted saucer hold their moisture well, thus less watering and easier case of maintenance. Because of this, plastic pots are the only type of hanging pot filled with flowers or any plants available for sale in retail nurseries. The disadvantage is you cannot make holes below the rims circumference to add any further plants and the basket may well still be visible even when the plantings are mature.
Open wire baskets with coconut fiber matting, though so very aesthetically pleasing, just bleed water, and quickly the potting mix and the matting will shrink in upon itself and become hydrophobic and near to useless. The only remedy for this is the addition of an inner lining of plastic, to conserve water and keep the soil moist, much like a plastic basket. Their great advantage is that you can make cuts in the basket’s cocoa material to add further plants and hide the basket surface.
Importantly, the size of basket does count, the bigger the basket the better. A minimum of 45cm in width is perfect. You have a larger soil mass to retain water and the opportunity to grow even more plants to make it all more visually appealing.

2. The Potting Mix
The best quality potting mix is essential. Please don’t be a skint or miser with this. Nothing is as important for ensuring either future grand success or quick dismal failure. Inferior potting mix is simply cheap crap, comprised of nothing but wood, sand and sawdust without a trace of any fertilisers, far more appropriate to desert plantings, and are not worth the plastic they are wrapped and bagged in. A great quality potting mix will contain much better and longer composted materials, enriched with a mix of well-balanced fertilisers, trace elements and wetting agents all guaranteed for a minimum of six months.
I also further improve the quality of the basket’s potting mix by adding a generous couple of handfuls of Seamungus, peat moss and more water crystals. The Seamungus promotes greater root development by at least 50%, greater resistance to stress and disease and the overall health of plant. The peat moss and wetting agents will further contribute and elongate the potting mixes future water retention abilities.

3. The Design
Pick your colour tones, maybe hot, rich and exotic, or soft and subtle pastels. Whatever you choose the inclusion of white is mandatory for two reasons. Firstly, in the evening as the sun falls, when you may be relaxing, even entertaining, white is the only solitary colour which will be visible and thus appreciated. Secondly in our hot summer sun, the colour pigments of pinks, blues and purples are simply washed and bleached away. But with the addition of accompanying white flowers their lost rich pigments are reinstated becoming again crisp and clear in their original colouring, and thus sparkle in their own right. For these very reasons, in garden design it is generally recommended that white flowers should comprise at least 40 to 60% of your choice of flower colours.
In creating decorative baskets foliage contrast is just as vitally important as flowers. It adds another layer and dimension in design and beauty. On their own the contrast of foliage, that is, their size, shape, colour, texture, habit of growth and how they play with accompanying flowers, can elevate the detail and sophistication to a higher level of decoration.
The height of plants in a basket is rarely considered. A great design trick, the plantings should be divided into the proportions of one, two and three. One is the height of plants, two is the plants which will cover the surface of the basket and add volume, and three the plants which will drape and cascade down.
Positioning, the basket should always be hung just below eye level, not looking up at it, as if they were clouds in the sky or fodder for giraffes. If placed too high, you will be missing out on your great decorative successes.

4. Stuffing it
I am an impatient gardener and I endeavor to achieve results as immediate as possible, as in yesterday. Life is too short to wait. Thus, when creating hanging baskets I stuff the basket with plants, stuff it and stuff it more, stuff it to the brim, stuff it until it is overflowing with plants. Remember you do not want to see any of the container’s surface or the soil contained within.
Alas you will have a few nonperformers and the odd casualty, a case of the survival of the fittest. The very successful plants will become the more dominant and more spacious masters, overshadowing, and out muscling the weaker ones. Through this time invaluable lessons will be learnt regarding your original plant selections.

5. Watering
It is no secret that hanging pots need extra water. As mentioned before the quality of the potting mix is so vitally essential to success. As the plants grow and develop, they need ample water for root development, then the summer heat hits hard, they need more and more, rivalling even the gargantuan thirst of a dry land elephant. The only answer is a solid deep drenching every single day. If this is not possible, please give up now, for the only certain outcome will be long days filled with tears and heartache.

Suitable Plants for Hanging Baskets
Now we come to the creative and super fun part, selecting the best suitable plants for hanging baskets. These plant recommendations are for the warmer summer months.
Height.
Lavender, artemisias, wormwood, short stemmed gauras, annuals of cosmos, marigolds, zinnias, helichrysum petiolare, geraniums, grasses such as carex or liriopes, shasta daisies, salvias of all sorts, chrysanthemums, cineraria dusty miller.
Basket Surface
Petunias and their cousins calibrachoas, nasturtiums, alyssum and lobelia, dianthus, seaside daisies, blue fescue grass, asters, African daisies, brachycome, coleus, gypsophila, miniature roses, cat mint, portulaca, livingstone daisies, purple flowering pigface, dwarf dahlias, phlox
Trailing
Ivies, weeds for many, but invaluable for the staggeringly decorative variety of leaf varieties, blue or white flowering groundcover vinca, native myoporums, blue or white ground cover convolvulus, verbenas, silver leaved dichondra, trailing petunias, ivy geraniums, prostrate rosemary.
Once you have garnered your newfound confidence, then you can switch your learned knowledge and experience to creating hanging baskets devoted to other planting combinations. For example, hanging baskets prolifically full and brimming with the edible produce of vegetables and herbs. The baskets could include chillies, tumbling cherry tomatoes, basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, rambling rosemary, the alliums of spring onions and chives. spinach and red chard, strawberries, even beans and peas.
Another basket idea could be devoted to shade-loving plants, adorned with ferns, begonias, fuchsias, impatiens, tradescantias and spider plants. And then there are the cacti and succulents. Well, that is a whole other story.

Happy gardening and remember to have fun. Regards Ned McDowell

It is late summer, early autumn and it is the season for the growing of the genus brassicas, and by far the most popular for home cultivation are the broccoli.
I have never been a great fan of broccoli. Whist I grew up it was long boiled to near death and served with the taste and texture of soggy cardboard. It was one of those greens which sat way on the edge of the plate as a third fiddle to the main meat dish. In more modern times it was then presented so raw and tough it could chip off a tooth or crack a molar.
However, my real appreciation and love affair with broccoli began when I was living in Thailand for many years. Thai cuisine is deeply infused with Chinese influences, where Chinese Broccoli is eaten in many different meals, from soups to noodles and stir fries.

Nutrition
Today broccoli is promoted as a Super food, being rich in minerals, vitamins and antioxidants whilst low in carbohydrates. They are high in beta carotene, selenium, vitamin A, C and K, folic acid and iron with moderate levels of calcium. The combination of beta carotene and vitamin K help to keep vitamin D in balance in the body. It is thought to lower cholesterol when lightly steamed, but very strangely not when raw.
Grown for edible immature flower heads.

History
It is supposed broccoli originated from a wild cabbage plant in the eastern Mediterranean and was widely eaten at the time of the Romans and then over the time, its widespread distribution through Europe and the world. Broccoli is derived from the Latin ‘brachium’ meaning arm or branch, and from the Italian language for the flowering top of a cabbage

Varieties
Readily available in nurseries are the large headed Green Dragon and Magic King. In recent years their popularity has somewhat been supplanted by the smaller headed varieties such a Broccolini, Broccoleti, Bambino and Baby Bunching, all promising smaller florets and greater repeat cropping.
Heirloom varieties available are green headed Waltham and Purple Sprouting.
Chinese broccoli or Kai Laan is different in its growth habits for they do not form a large single head. It has small blue green leaves and small florets on single individual thin stems, thus you can eat the leaves, stems and unopened flower heads in stir fries, noodles and soups. Although a cool season crop it is more heat tolerant and thus can be sown in spring and summer.

Soil preparation
Broccoli likes a soil pH of 6-7.5. It prefers a slightly alkaline soil, so if your soil is little acidic add some lime to sweeten the soil.
Dress the soil with a good quality compost, Seamungus for great root growth and health of the plants, the fertilisers blood and bone and Rooster Booster and a generous layer of sugarcane, to conserve water retention and minimize weed growth.

Cultivation
Nine to twelve plants should be sufficient for the average sized family, with the option of successive plantings every 6 weeks.
Broccoli is generally a cold season vegetable They prefer full winter sun, cold nights and mild day temperatures to form their flowering heads. Although broccoli grows best in areas which have cool winters it is an adaptable plant and can be grown in most climate zones. If begun by seed, it can take three to six months before it is ready for harvest. So here I only provide information when planting seedlings.
The elder seasoned and experienced vegetable growers who visit the nursery maintain the ethos that broccoli should be first planted late summer to early autumn, maturing early enough to begin cropping before the onset of winter and then strong enough to crop through winter.
Broccoli can grow to a height of 1m and 0.5m in width. Thus, they take up a lot of room in the vegetable bed so a great idea is to underplant them with other cold season produce plants such as spinach, rocket and lettuce that do not compete too much for nutrients and appreciate a bit of shade and shelter.
All brassicas are heavy feeders, so regular applications of compost, tonics and manures are highly beneficial to better growth and thus the much-improved bounty of edible produce.

Harvesting
Depending on when planted and the seasons’ climatic conditions, the first harvest should begin in about ten weeks. Once you have harvested the main florets from the centre, the plant breaks out into a constant flow of miniature heads. Hotter and drier conditions cause heads to bolt into yellow flowers faster than you can blink.

Pests
The main enemy of broccoli is the dreaded white butterfly/ moth which can decimate a broccoli plant overnight. To find the best solutions in their eradication please visit my blog on the White butterfly

Companion planting
Plant with rosemary, thyme, sage, onions, garlic, beets and chards. Unsure exactly the reasons why, probably for root health and minimizing pest problems, but I thought I should pass on the available proffered information.

Cooking
To prepare, cut into florets leaving 2-3cm of stem and then cut a little cross in its base, this allows heat to penetrate the stem and to cook it at the same rate as the tops. The side of the stems can be peeled back to make them even more tender.
A great simple recipe is to make a winter pesto replacing basil with broccoli.
In a blender combine two cups of steamed broccoli with garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, salt and lemon juice. Drizzle with olive oil and pulse until smooth. Totally delicious and highly nutritious and simply fantastic with pasta or as a dip. Broccoli is also fantastic grown for micro greens.

Happy gardening and have fun,
Regards Ned McDowell

I write this, for me a very special blog, whilst lounging under the massive canopy of my very own winter flowering Clematis Napaulensis. It now stands a good four metres in both height and width. Remarkedly this climbing winter wonder is my most prized and coveted plant in all my garden, not just for winter, but for the entire gardening year calendar. And that is saying a lot.

The happiness it brings to me is priceless. For the last six weeks it has not shut up flowering, fully clothed, even drenched in a stellar froth of the most endearing and daintiest of pendulous delicate flowers. Its pure magic. It’s a starry, starry, night in the middle of the day. And to continue its beauty, large fluffy seed pods, just as attractive, follow its flowering.
No matter how old you are, the spectacle of its flowers conjures up a sensibility of a world full of wonder, where you can believe in the best of things, a world which fires and inspires the imagination, an enchanted fairytale playground, where pixie princes and fairy princesses reside and inhabit, who fly and flip in full fun and merriment. Yes, a perfect world.

 

 

C. napaulensis turns the seasons on its head. It is deciduous and thus dormant in spring, summer and autumn.
A good ten years ago I planted the clematis at the feet of a maturing deciduous fruiting fig tree. My initial idea was the framework and structure of the fig’s bare winter branches would supply the perfect host for the clematis to climb and spread. When the clematis has finished its glory and becomes itself deciduous, the fig in turn, leaps into life in spring with its great large foliage and the promise of future fruit. And this glorious cycle continues so easily every year.

Quite crazily this climber in my own garden has never been watered, never been fertilised and never been mulched. It seems to thrive on neglect. Our past hot dry summers combined with restrictive water rationing, has had no detrimental effect on the health of the plant. I suppose it is because in summer it’s asleep, the cycle of the falling leaves of both the clematis and fig provide a rich mulch and the thick leaved canopy of the fig ensures the clematis’ roots are forever sheltered and kept cool. In addition, the honey nectar birds smother the vine in winter and the parrots which feast on the fig’s fruit in summer, in turn fertilise the soil with their droppings. On all fronts it is a great big bingo.

I think it would be just as successful when planted with other clematis varieties or up and through deciduous shrubs and trees such as smoke bushes, crab apples or other vines such as wisterias or grapes.

 

Regrettably the C. napaulensis is not readily available at retail nurseries. In early winter I always discover scattered seedlings from the mother plant, but alas, lazily I never get around to digging them up and cultivating them, and then it is all too late, they become deciduous and disappear from view. This season I have promised to myself to making zillions of cuttings to propagate this enchanting climber, and to dig up immediately its self-sown seedlings. So, I am confident I will have more than ample new plants to share with my garden friends and colleagues. Here’s hoping.
Coming soon, further blogs of the Clematis Montana and the total groovy Jackmanii varieties.

Happy gardening and have fun,
Ned McDowell

 

Iberis sempervirens, commonly known as Candytuft, are a true garden jewel in the cold miserable long months of winter. This gem of a plant is the cornerstone of my own winter garden. Sadly, they are not as popular as they 64should be, and every single garden should have them. You can never have enough candytufts.

When everything else in the garden is in a deep sleep, dormant, barren of leaves and flowers and a whole lot of ugly has set in, is when they shine so brightly. Candytuft possesses flowers of the most luminous and magical, the purest, the clearest, the crispest of sparkling snow whites. Their other great attribute are their small rich glossy dark green evergreen leaves. The plant naturally grows into lovely, neat, small rounded shaped evergreen cushions or mounds. Their foliage and shape provide essential evergreen garden structure in winter and indeed right throughout the whole year. Their shape merrily conjures up images of Miss Muffett’s tuffet. Iberis are slightly fragrant, but you would have to get on your hands and knees, or possibly completely horizontal on the ground, to fully appreciate their delicate scent.

History
Iberis include annuals, biennials, hardy perennials, and dwarf evergreen shrubs. They originate from Iberia, the ancient name for Spain, hence its name, and also across the Mediterranean regions and northwards to Central Europe, where they naturally grow wild in abundance. I also have an endearing white flowering biennial, which I adore. However, it is difficult to grow, because it abhors hot summer sun, but very thankfully, it self-seeds prodigiously. There is alsoa very pale purple flowered variety, not very common or popular. For me its colour is a bit murky and confused, not quite this hue, or that hue. In comparison the original white flowering variety easily outshines and eclipses it.

Cultivation
Like all plants a good soil is ideal, but in my experience, they will grow in any soil. Iberis appreciate an annual good light pruning after flowering in late spring and if you are inclined and have the time an occasional trim in summer to keep the mounds tight and tidy. In hot climates they prefer to be shaded from the harsh afternoon summer sun.

Landscaping
In relation to design, with their small rich green foliage and tight shaped growth, they look superb in rhythmic mounds in a single long line. Even better, if you have the space, a mass planting of three or more deep as well in length can create a stunning landscaping design, If not, just a single specimen will still reward you with great pleasure. I have never lost one, touch wood, either to frost, severe heat, drought or lack of care and maintenance. they are the great survivors.

Iberis are available in nurseries all year round. Out of season you can find them in small pots, larger ones when they are triumphantly in winter flower.  So do yourself and your garden a big favour and get one or more as soon as you can. Their rewards are many and one you will never regret it.

Happy gardening and have fun,

Regards Ned McDowell.

Nellie Moser

What does it mean to believe, sometimes against all odds, that the near impossible is possible, not to ever give up, but to try and try again? For me it’s the cultivation of the large flowering Jackmanii clematis.
I am a hopelessly romantic optimist when it comes to these clematis’ varieties. Every spring I am beside myself with the new season’s selection. I shake with excitement and practically weep with happiness. They are irresistible. The breath quickens, the blood rushes, the endorphins spin. A sense of merry madness, even silly insanity grips me. The opportunities for landscaping are endless. The window of their annual availability is brief and finite. So now, today, it’s now or never.
The imagination soars, I just cannot deny myself. Yes, I must have that one, and that one, but what about the others? The choice is tantalisingly overwhelming. Ok, three is enough, but really 5 would be better, maybe even 7. But what about that final other one over there, near the end, the one that screams do not forget me, its label, like all the others, promising so much. I quickly decide that life’s far too short and the season of their availability is so minimal in time, that I dearly deserve every single one of my choices. The nursery trolley quickly fills to overload, its wheels stubbornly stuck stationary with the clematis’ combined weight. I labour to the counter. The wallet opens wide, the cash disappears, and then the card is maxed. And I’m as happy as a pig in mud.

Then reality hits me. In years gone by, my wee humble garden was just one large clematis cemetery. It was littered with their old, faded, slug bitten, battered labels, which acted as tombstones, evidence of past failures and hard forgotten dreams.
But not this time, not this spring, not this year. This time I am not headed for the hell of heartache. I am determined that history will not repeat itself. As Confucius states, “always look backward to gaze into the future.” Valuable lessons have been learnt through hard and harsh experience, and the sorry demise of my many previous clematis plantings just ain’t gonna happen no more. This year instead of a clematis cemetery I am determined to create a clematis Garden of Eden.

Josephine 

Varieties
Whoever said, ‘size doesn’t count’, well, they have never grown the large flowered Jackmanii clematis varieties. It does, big time, the bigger the flower the better. These hybrids possess majestic flowers of sizes between 15cm -20cm. Today there are so many beautiful varieties to choose and salivate over. I highly recommend both the pure white ‘Marie Boisselot’ 15-20cm in flower size and ‘Madame Le Coultre’ 15–20cm, the rich magenta ‘Ernest Markham’ 15-18cm, ‘Candy Stripe’, striped pink with mauve 15-18cm, the rich violet blue of the ‘President’ 15-20cm, creamy green with pink mauve ‘Josephine’ 15cm, the large pale violet blue ‘Crystal Fountains’ 12-15cm, and the pink lilac with carmine stripes Nellie Moser’ 15-20cm. The list is practically infinite. I recommend to readers to do their own research to find and discover the magical world of clematis.

Cultivation
It’s in the clematis’ first year when you must throw endless love and attention at them. Soil preparation is everything. In a large bucket mix together a third of a bag of great quality compost with about 3 generous handfuls of Seamungus, one of Rooster Booster and about six taken from the existing soil you have dug out when creating the planting soil. Plant the clematis and add another couple of handfuls of Seamungus on top, then lastly a layer of sugar cane mulch. Then there is the mantra of never, ever, ever, ever, let the new root ball dry out, especially in the long, hot dog days of summer. You must with great devotion, drench them with very regular, long, deep, and even deeper drinks of water. Mandatory is that rocks and/or mulch are placed at their feet, in order to provide them with a cool root run. I repeat mandatory. And beware and be on high alert, please watch out for the dastardly onslaught of the early spring scourge of slugs and snails, which can devour and destroy a clematis overnight.

The President

Landscaping
Landscaping with clematis can only be matched by the limits of your imagination. So give your clematis the opportunity to let fly and soar. I throw them in at the feet of climbing and long hedges of roses, the red leaved tall trunks of Cordylines, the deciduous shrubs such as Japanese maples, Philadelphus, Deutzia, Kolwitzia and Berberis, and hedges of every kind. Basically it’s any plant which can provide a framework for them to grow up and through.
One trick I have had success with and repeat quite often, is to combine a couple of the large flowered varieties with the smaller flowered Montana clematis, all together in a large common hole. Importantly, the more robust and tougher ‘Montana’ will provide the skeletal support for the larger flowered varieties to snake, twine and twist upwards. In addition the larger flowered varieties will begin to flower in the last weeks of the Montana’s. Thus there is a brief, yet glorious couple of weeks or more when the two combine to flower so fabulously together.
So, I am no longer clothed in a cloak of mourning for all my previous perished and past clematis plants. There will be no more future funerals accompanied by my endless woes and weeping tears. My graveyard of lazy good intentions is over. It does pay to believe and dream big. The impossible is possible.

My next dream to achieve is to have clematis strutting their flowering stuff every calendar month of the year. But that’s for another blog.
The subject of further blogs to come are the
‘Viticella’ clematis,
Winter flowering ‘Nepalensis,’
‘Best way to prune all the different varieties of clematis.’Happy gardening and have fun,
Ned McDowell