Kate's Cuttings

April is the month our Armandii clematis flowers, and it's a wonderful sight. I'm told it gets its name because it has an almond fragrance, but the smell reminds me more of nutmeg. Whatever, it's a good smell and its pale pink (it also comes in white) flowers cover the plant which reaches almost the top of our house. What is great about this early flowering variety is that if it gets too big, you can cut it back a little or a lot after flowering, but its not necessary otherwise. Many folk worry about pruning clematis, but you can't go far wrong if you cut back the later flowering varieti... Read more…

This is the time of year to roll your sleeves up, put on your boots and old clothes and get out there. A few hours gardening now will save you lots of effort later, and you will get better results. Jobs you can be doing include: Prune and mulch: Buddleias, roses and most clematis to name a few. Prune back to a bud to prevent dieback then give them a good feed and mulch. Coloured stemmed dogwoods can be cut back almost to ground level if you want to encourage the bright stems again for next year. If that seems a bit drastic, cut a third back each year. The RHS website has a good guide o... Read more…

There has been much excitement at the Foale household as we are now proud owners of a Wollemi Pine. Peter bought me a lovely little specimen for Christmas, with bright green fern type leaves larger and flatter than a yew. If you don't know the story of this remarkable tree, it was around up to 200 million years ago and was thought extinct. Then, in 1994, a park ranger called David Noble was exploring the Wollemi National Park in Australia and stumbled across a small grove of them growing in a remote canyon. What struck him particularly was the trees bark, which looks like bubbling chocol... Read more…

Being potty about plants, I always have to have a new gardening project on the go. Strongly influenced by our student son who is home for the summer and passionate about ecology, the latest plan is to turn part of the garden into a little wildflower meadow. A trip to the wildflower farm at Langar (www.naturescape.co.uk tel. 01949 860592) early In July was really inspirational. We followed it up with a fair bit of research and garden visits and Project Meadow is well and truly up and running. The site we have picked is in some light woodland under a group of silver birches. Peter stopped... Read more…

What a summer! We seem to be either frying in the heat or batoning down the hatches for another gale. And I’m really, really sick of watering pots and newly planted plants accompanied with a sense of guilt that I’m using a scarce resource. One thing I have tried to do this year is be a bit more sensible with the number and location of pots. Reading through the magazines and books on the subject, here are a few tips I’ve found work well to keep your pots of plants looking good without too much trouble: Plant up large rather than small pots, and really water them well. A big pot can take ... Read more…