Garden Decors

Clethra alnifolia should be more widely grown. It is not fastidious except in the question of soil which must be free of any hint of lime. It associates contentedly with rhododendrons and in September, as the pulse of the garden slows, the cream-white spiked trusses open and fill the air for some distance with a delicate fragrance.

The blue flowers with a warmth which reminds me of Gentiana verna, open in July, while the foliage turns a good deep red in autumn. My bushes are never much more than 3 ft. in height making just the right companion for the glaucous-leaved rue.

Cercis siliquastrum always looks in need of a thorough spring clean to me. Even when the branches are clothed during June in lilac-purple flowers I still take a somewhat jaundiced view of a tree most gardeners revere. The best specimens I have ever seen grew on a lime soil over gravel and were especially attractive, so the proud.

Cuttings of semi-ripened wood taken in July – August root easily in a sand frame. The only pruning I do is to remove damaged shoots.

The rock roses are Mediterranean shrubs which like light, free-draining soil and a warm sunny position. Three varieties of those tried in my garden lived seven years, and cuttings taken from them continue to grace the garden in a sheltered bed by the house.

Cistus x corbariensis, with olive-green leaves and in due season crimson buds which open to pure white flowers, is an aromatic shrub of quality. C. x cyprius is a splendid hybrid, which at 6 ft. is taller by 18 in. than corbariensis with each white petal stained at the base with deep scarlet. I prefer C. laurifolius to all others because it lingers longer in my company. The flowers are creamy white deepening to yellow at the base. Had I a paved terrace with sheltering walls then I would grow hybrids like C. x purpureus with flowers of rosy crimson blotched brown, or better still Silver Pink or even ladaniferus to cheer the July days with Mediterranean flamboyance. Cuttings taken more or less at any time during growing season, or seed, will ensure a creditable increase for effort expended.

There are several varieties for compost growing of currants.

Earliest of Fourlands is included because it is the earliest variety grown. It is a nice upright grower, a regular cropper, bearing long bunches of clear red, good fruit. Season very early.

I had grown redcurrants on the straw mulching system but in private gardens, where straw is not desired, there is no reason at all why the mulching should not be done with sedge peat an inch deep all over the ground. Under either system there would be no need to fork or hoe. There seems no reason why redcurrants should not be grassed down, especially with a very fine-bladed grass like Chewing’s Fescue. This grass could be sown in the spring following planting and once it was established it would be kept mown regularly, the grass clippings being allowed to return to the ground naturally.

In cases where it is seen that the leaves are punctured with numerous holes giving a brown spotted appearance, and where the shoots are also punctured with the growth thus reduced, a Capsid Bug attack may be suspected. In this case, instead of using a tar-oil wash in December for a winter spray, it is better to apply a DNC wash early in February so as to smother the eggs.

The caterpillar of the Currant Clearwing Moth appears in August, as a rule, and burrows into the branches, tunnelling up the centres. Affected branches usually snap off easily, or the top leaves of a branch start to wilt. Cut off an affected branch below the point of tunnelling and burn it so as to kill the caterpillar. To do this, the branch can be cut back inch by inch, if desired, until a healthy part is reached.

White Dutch is a heavy cropper, shortish bunches bearing large, whitish-yellow berries. Bush somewhat spreading. Season late. White Grape is a very similar to White Dutch and appears to be synonymous. White Trasparent is sometimes called White Pearl. A heavy cropper with largish berries. Season mid. White Versailles is a variety bearing long bunches of large sweet berries. The growth is medium, stiff and upright. Quite a heavy cropper. Season early.

Although the temperature outside was several degrees below freezing point on a balcony, basking in the sun, became almost unbearably hot during the day, dropping to below freezing at nights. It had no means of heating, the sun alone in the clear air being sufficient to effect the wide range of temperatures. This is a clear indication of the warmth of the sun, trapped and concentrated in a heavily windowed room.

If this material is kept constantly moist, but not soaking wet, this moisture will be absorbed by the plant pot as it is required. This moist material will also give off a surprising amount of humidity, normally wafting it upwards through the leaves of the plant above.

But there remains the problem of humidity, sometimes difficult to obtain under these circumstances of highly ventilated heat. Obviously personal comfort must come before the special requirements of plants, so we cannot adopt greenhouse practices such as wetting the floors and installing automatic spraying devices that will deposit a fine film of moisture in the air to settle on and permeate the foliage of the plants.

Happily, what is good for them is usually good for the general decor too, for with the greater degree of light available in these situations we also need a greater degree of color, a greater concentration of vivid hues. Just as in the herbaceous border in the garden we do not place our plants singly but in groups, so in the garden room we should concentrate a number of plants together to gain the greatest benefit from their color, shape and form.

This trickle irrigation equipment, in simplified terms, consists of an elevated water container with small bore rubber or plastic tubing coming from its base. This tubing leads down to the plants below. It can be terminated by an adjustable drip nozzle on the gravel layer of the tray mentioned above, or a series of similar nozzles can each be inserted in the soil of each plant pot. In this way there is a constant drip of moisture which will ensure that no plant dries out completely. The adjustable nozzles allow certain plants to receive more or less moisture according to their requirements.

Simultaneously conditions are such that comparatively large plants in comparatively small pots are sure to dry out at the roots, sometimes at alarming speed, so we must make arrangements to see that the soil around the plant roots is kept as cool and as moist as possible.