Daphne bholua Jacqueline Postill evergreen pink flowering fragrant shrub

There are roughly 50-60 different varieties of the Evergreen and deciduous shrub Daphne, all of which belong to the Thymelaeaceae plant family. Daphne's are native across Eurasia and North Africa. They vary in size from small rockery or alpine sized plants to much larger ones suitable for a shrubbery or woodland area. The one pictured in this post is called Daphne bholua Jacqueline Postill. Most Daphne are scented but this particular variety is heavily fragrant.

Flowering in late winter early spring, it is ideally planted near your front door simply because you get bright colourful flowers with an amazing perfume at a time of year when you may not venture to far into the garden.

Planting should be undertaken in Autumn, ideally in a humus rich well drained soil. They prefer a neutral PH value (6.0-7.0) that is, not to acidic or alkaline. Daphne's generally do well in sun or partial shade, but some varieties do better in full shade.  Be sure to choose carefully where to plant your shrub simply because they sometimes do not do well being transplanted, so it's best to get it right first time. When you buy your Daphne be sure to choose a containerised not bare rooted one as they will generally do much better. As with all shrubs soak the root ball in a bucket of water prior to planting. Dig a hole twice the size of the pot or bare root and add in plenty of compost. Scatter a generous handful of fish blood and bone meal to give the plant a good start. In the first year keep the shrub well watered especially during the Summer months.

Most Daphne's are slow growing and pruning should only be required to keep your shrub in shape. Always do this after the plant has finished flowering. Lightly forking in a handful of general purpose fertilizer around the base of your shrub in the spring will help it grow and keep it healthy.  Do add your favourite varieties and the ones you grow in the comments section.

General discussion and your views are welcome please say hello. I regret however because of my busy schedule, I am unable to answer many questions. Sneaky advertising will be deleted sorry. Thanks so much for visiting my blog today.

Pulmonaria (Lungwort) Shady border perennial

Grown in medieval England Pulmonaria or Lungwort as it is commonly called, was used as

a herbal remedy to treat respiratory problems. This is because the white blotches on the plants leaves were thought by the people of the time to resemble the alveolar cavities of the lung. The plant has the Genus name Pulmonaria, which is from the Latin word pulmo meaning lung. There are many cultivars of Pulmonaria, but probably the Officinalis is the one most commonly found and indeed planted by me in my various gardens here in North Hampshire, England.

They grow well in a partially shaded border or indeed full sun and flower from early March through April here. The flowers open pink but soon turn a blue/mauve as they mature. It is a good plant to provide ground cover if required because they spread and clump reasonably quickly.

This herbaceous perennial needs little maintenance except the removal of dead leaves. It can be beneficial to divide larger plants after a few years, best done in the Autumn

General discussion and your views are welcome please say hello. I regret however because of my busy schedule, I am unable to answer many questions. Sneaky advertising will be deleted sorry. Thanks so much for visiting my blog today.

Winter Aconites Yellow Early Spring Flowers

Since the sixteenth century English Gardeners have planted Winter Aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) to bring Spring that little bit closer. Flowering from mid February the little yellow blooms lift the spirit by revealing along with snowdrops that Spring is not to far away.

They belong to the buttercup family Genus and on the many cold days of late winter their blooms will remain tightly shut, unless the temperature reaches around 10c.

Planted under a large deciduous tree they will thrive as they seem to appreciate partial shade. They will also quickly naturalise and spread if left alone, they are not great lovers of being moved but if you must wait until after they have finished flowering. Winter aconites rely on early bees roaming out and about for pollination because they spread by seed.

New tubers (bulbs) purchased from your garden supplier should be planted in reasonably well drained, moist, fertile soil at a depth of around 5cm (2 inches)

They are happiest in more alkaline soils, although they will tolerate more acid conditions but the speed at which they naturalise and spread will be somewhat slower.

General discussion and your views are welcome please say hello. I regret however because of my busy schedule, I am unable to answer many questions. Sneaky advertising will be deleted. Thanks so much for visiting my blog today.

Spring flowering bulbs: Crocus

The early spring flowering crocus is a popular hardy perennial flowering plant which is grown from a bulb (corm). Along with snowdrops they are one of the first flowers of spring They come in a variety of different colours, with about 30 known cultivated species. Botanically they are from the lily family genus

The Crocus can withstand frosts which are still very likely during their flowering period here in North Hampshire. Even if light snow falls as it did this year the Crocus keeps going. There is a special reason for this however, their leaves and flowers are protected by a wax like cuticle.

Planted around the base of an old tree in the same or different colours and among snowdrops as we have at Lord and Lady Newbury's they make an effective show. Planting Crocus as with planting any bulb, depth depends on the size of the bulb you are planting. As a guide use the length of the bulb and plant 3 times deeper than that length and for Crocus approx 2.5cm apart in a random pattern.

General discussion and your views are welcome please say hello. I regret however because of my busy schedule, I am unable to answer many questions. Sneaky advertising will be deleted sorry. Thanks so much for visiting my blog today.

Wildflower meadow: Barn Owl nesting boxes, sites & habitat.

At Mark and Olivia Cooper-Portland's property we have created a wildflower meadow, with a desire to provide a habitat for all manner of wildflowers, animals and birds. Mark is a very keen birdwatcher and one of the species we were very keen to attract was the Barn Owl. So with this in mind we recently purchased a number of Barn Owl boxes which we have recently erected in and around the meadow.

It is important that the boxes are put up in trees  or especially barns and out buildings with a clear line of flight or outlook not  obscured by branches etc. Barn Owls tend to look for holes not boxes so making sure the hole is visible is worth remembering. Our boxes in two different styles look directly out onto the meadow.

The Barn Owls main prey is the field vole and the best habitat for them ( and therefore barn owls) is rough tussocky grass with a deep litter layer.

We have left several strips around the field margins for this purpose and it seems to be working well as we have already seen barn owls hunting these areas

       

The above owl boxes are available from the Amazon links below.

General discussion and your views are welcome please say hello. I regret however because of my busy schedule, I am unable to answer many questions. Sneaky advertising will be deleted sorry. Thanks so much for visiting my blog today