Page 38 - Phonebox Magazine August 2007

A Month in the Garden
Linette Applegate
The holiday season is here and brings with it time to relax and Insert into a pot of compost making
enjoy the garden. To maintain flowering in herbaceous borders, pots or hanging baskets, remember to regularly deadhead plants and feed to encourage new blooms. While you lazily cast an eye around the garden note any spots that could be improved or filled for next year, it’s much easier to do now than later when plants have died down.
One way of filling those gaps is to take semi-ripe cuttings of shrubs and woody-stemmed climbers. Just select fresh shoots that are firm and woody near the base, but still soft and green near the tip. Carefully remove the lower leaves and trim to about 4-6 inches long.
sure they are not touching each
other, firm the compost around the
bases, water and label them. Keep
watch to make sure they do not dry
out and remove any fallen leaves.
Overwinter cuttings in a cold frame or
greenhouse and transplant to
individual larger pots when they are
growing away. Depending on how well they have grown, plant out in either Spring or Autumn the following year. K
Plant of the Month Cleome hassleriana
This easy to grow half-hardy perennial carries colourful flowers from late June and usually last until the first frosts. The flower-heads open from the bottom upwards, so the display continues as the summer progresses. They possess an exotic look, and have bold, light green foliage.
I grow two colours – the wonderfully bright ‘Violet Queen’ and pure white ‘Helen Campbell’. There are also mixed coloured packets available from seed suppliers. Although these attractive plants are half hardy (meaning they do not tolerate frost) if you leave them to drop their seed after flowering, they reliably germinate the following spring without any attention – just don’t weed them out! They may also be listed as ‘American Spider Flower’ and can reach up to 1.2m in height. Preferring light, free- draining soils but tolerating most others, it does need a sunny position. I have also found it is reliably resistant to deer and rabbit as the stem is covered in tiny spines along its length. K
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38 Phonebox Magazine
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