Primula. And other things.

Its Primula time. I like this genus, I like the whole Primulaceae family to be honest. Other members include commonly cultivated plants such as Cyclamen, Dodecatheon, Androsace and Dionysia, although i don't grow them due to lack of space and expertise.

Since December my collection of Primula auricula has gone from zero to about fifteen. This is because I had previously overlooked the species and its hundreds of cultivars, because I never found any colors I liked. Then I found one called 'Blue Chip', a photo of which can be seen on one of my previous posts. This plant previously live in the greenhouse, it got way to hot. They and other plants are now stored in the cool, shaded comfort of a small cold frame/greenhouse I was given for my birthday.

Here are some photos of those that are flowering now.

Primula auricula 'Verdi'

Primula auricula 'Twiggy'

Primula auricula 'Marmion

Primula auricula 'Lord Saye en Sele'

Primula auricula 'Blue Chip'

Primula auricula 'Moon Glow'

Primula auricula 'Button Glow' - Named by me

                                     
Also at this end of the garden, the two yaer old seedling of Primula handeliana subsp. maximowiczii are beginning to flower. They are very nice species that is not one I have grown before. They are too nice to go in the garden. I think they will be better appreciated in terracotta pots.

Two tone Pink - Light Pink

Yellow

Pink

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Other Things happening in the garden.

Some new additions to the ranks include Polemonium yezonense 'Bressingham Blue', this variety is particularly lovely with dark purple/brown leaves and stems and light blue flowers with a white center with the added plus of being a herbaceous perennial. 

Another it Alstromeria x hybrida 'Summer Party' it has a pink outer edges and paint brush stokes of yellow towards the centre of the flower again a perennial.

Phlox subulata 'Candy Stripe' is a creeping mat forming evergreen perennial with white and pink flowers. Good as a filler plant for those awkward, hard to fill spaces in the garden

Other new plants include. Hamerocallis 'Autunm Red', Knautia macedonica, A light pink form of Papaver nudicaule - The Iceland Poppy.

The hanging baskets have also been planted, with the usual Trailing petunias, geraniums and other suitable plants. The large Dahlia tubers that have been protected over winter have also been planted out a couple of weeks ago. I can see no growth above the soil just yet though.

The garden at the proper start of spring - March 2016

For us in Essex, March has been a lovely month with lots of sunny warm days. With this the garden starts to come back to life. The first things to appear are the Crocuses and Daffodils, however they have been flowering since late December in some cases due to the very warm winter we had. Now though the light levels through March and April increase dramatically.
This increase in light tells plants to start growing and they have. Colour and new foliage is starting to appear like the Primula and Saxifraga. The doors and windows for the greenhouse find themselves now open during the day, within, the Dahlia and Canna tubers and rhizomes have been unwrapped and when active buds appear they will be potted up or planted outside. The delightful colored stems of the Dogwoods have usually served their purpose by Late March, so they along with the dead Sedum seed heads have been pruned down.

The SRGC seed from November have started to germinate and the later flowering crocus that was sown last may is also germinating. More surprisingly is the Anemone pavonia seed is sowed is also had germinated in December, having been sown at the opposite end of the year to which it should have been. This gives my theory of  'Spring flowering plants are usually best sown in autumn, regardless of when the seed is set' some more credibility. Which I think is rather odd because you would think the seeds of a plant would germinate when the parent plant is in growth.

The lawn has also been given it's first cut of 2016. The cut height is quite high. The edges have also been given some much needed attention. From Mid November to Late March we leave the lawn alone and don't cut it. This is because it gets very hot especially in the top part of our garden and it gets baked to nearly death in summer and winter and spring to recover a little before summer heat sets in.
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Primulas

In autunm 2015 I bought some Primula auricula hybrids form ebay (I was expecting them to arrived either dead, dry or rotting away. But no they came with green leaves and exellent rootsystems. In total I brought nine and potted them up the next day. 

Fast forward to today (28th March) two are flowering in the greenhouse. 'Blue Chip and 'Lord saye an saye'. 

Primula auricula  'Blue Chip'

Primula auricula 'Lord saye an saye'

Primulas, Polyanthus, denticulatas and oxlips (P. elatior) are also providing a excellent spring time color show.

This garden is located at the front of the house, just beyond the patio. It stays wet here in summer only receiving sunlight early in the morning up to about 10am.
In November we planted spring flowering bulbs here but In winter it may even get too wet here because I planted two types of fritillaria here (meleagris and imperialis. Snakes head and Crown imperial). None of which have come up, apart from just one snakes head.
It can only be assumed that the bulbs rotted away in the waterlogged heavy clay soil over winter.

In the greenhouse the frst of the primulas in pots are making a break throght the surface of stones. Primula sikkimensis and Primula maximowiczii. These are put onto the patio where it is shady later in the year. Where they continue to grow and flower.

Primula sikkimensis

Primula maximowiczii

Upon the benches are more primula I purchased form ebay. Primula alpicola and its two subspecies. I already have Primula alpicola subsp. alba in a pot just like sikkimensis and maximowiczii mentioned above.

I bought 2 of each. So six pots altogether. The two subspecies are Primula alpicola subsp. luna and Primula alpicola subsp. violacae. These plants are destined for the garden in pots because they would rot if planted straight out. Another plus is this species have a nice sweet smell.
Another I purchased was one i have never grown before, Primula munroi subsp yargongensis this is smaller than alpicola but i find it to be more vigorous compared to it. It also is supossed to smell nice too.

P. alpicola subsp violacae breaking the surface

Flower buds of Primula munroi subsp yargongensis 

Also I purchased some curiosities in the shape of five oak-leaf Primula. Not much Info on them other than that they were 'discovered' in 2001.

Unusall little things. These are also destined for the garden when they have nearly filled their pots with roots.

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In the cold frame

Things have gotten of to a surprisingly slow start. Only one pot is flowering and two are in bud. Others are either not growing or growing slowly. The only flowerer is the Fox-Grape Fritillary otherwise known as Fritillaria uva-vulpis. Others that are in bud are Fritillaria meleagris and Tulipa hagerei 'Little Beauty'

Fritillaria uva-vulpis

  

     Tulipa hagerei 'Little Beauty' flower buds

Fritillaria meleagris flower bud

The cold frame is only about half a year old. It was built in August and September last year. It is home to the potted bulbs and anything that requires protection in its first winter outside. The general view of the frame is below with the pots of bulbs on the left and things being protected on the right.

Many of the pots on the right will be moved out to make space for this years seedlings.

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Other thing worth mentioning.

The Dahlia and Canna tubers where potted up today. The larger ones had water misted around the roots to give them a head start.

Bare rooted perennials from J Parkers where potted up a couple of weeks ago. Just started to grow above ground. There are a mix of Geraniums, Astrantias and Echinaceas here.

Overwinter under fleece in the green house the Abutilon megapotanicum has started to grow also has started to flower in the last week. I hope Aphids and Rust keep away this year.

In Febuary I saw seeds of a rare South American bulb called Pamianthe peruviana, They where relitivly cheap for what the where. I expected no germination. But One seed has germinated this week. 

The Plant is a large one it is grown like an Orchid, with very little soil. It has large white secnted flowers with green stripes on them. It will be about 3 to 6 years before this little seedling is mature enough to flower. 

See you this time in April. From here the garden will only pick up in pace.

The spring plants are slowly appearing....

The beginning of February is the start of spring. Even thought this winter has been an extension to autumn because only a couple of days have got really cold. So the spring flowering bulbs are ahead of themselves, usually you would only be able to see small green shoots emerging out of the top of the soil, but this year some are flowering already.

Here are some that are loving the winter heat:

Tulipa hagerei  'Little Beauty' 

Iris recticulata  'Jimmy'

Fritillaria uva-vulpis


Iris recticulata 'Cantab'

Friillaria elwesii

Bottom up Habranthus martinezii, Habranthus tubispanthus and Habranthus gracilifolius 

The Habranthus flower in summer and are evergreen, except H. tubispanthus which you can just see the leaves going yellow on it.

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SRGC Seed Exchange 

For the second year I took part in the SRGC Seed Ex. It was very good. I received most of my first choices apart form two. And most of the second choices apart form five. I am of course overjoyed with what I received. And yes, I did get the Fritillaria and Trillium. Since last time I have done some research into how to grow them. If it is a Mediterranean species you sow it October-December. For the others you sow in August. This is done so the seeds can germinate at the same time as when the rest of the species will flower, that is the theory anyway. I just hope they do grow. I also got Primulas, A Lilly, A Nomocharis and Hippeastrum papilio. The Trilliums have been sown alongside the Primula. The general advice was to sow now to germinate in spring. (I think)

If you ever do a seed exchange, remember to take a note of what you requested and what number it has. The names of species don't come written on them, that was me. You receive them as a packet of seed with it number in the top right.

This is the greenhouse now I have sown the Primula and a couple of others. It is very packed and will be moved under the bench in the shade in summer to make way for some annual summer bedding.

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Things that are flowering now.

Iris recticulata 'Blue Note' 

Iris recticulata 'Eye Catcher'

Only two plants (Above) are work taking pictures of, as the days go by stuff will grow.

Long Time No See....

What sort of gardening blog doesn't have any posts on it since July 2015? A bad one should be the answer. Anyway I'm back now, and in the time I have been gone 6 whole months have now drifted by and it is now December, The backside of 2015 as some would say.

December is supposed to be winter. Last year I can tell you thanks to my weather station on the shed, this time last year we had an average temperature of just 8°C. This year however could not be further from that, from the 1st to the 29th (today) the average temperate is 16°C. As a result of this the garden is now confused, Daffodils and Crocuses are flowering, The dahlia tubers are in the greenhouse but are not covered up, if they where they would rot away. The acers didn't lose their leaves until late November.
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One bulb that should not be flowering now from what I have read on the internet is an unusual Chilean plant called Miersia chilensis, It has tiny flowers, 5 millimeters maximum. I bought it from Kirsten Andersen and Lars Hansen from alpines.dk.

Miersia chilensis

Another plants that have grown alot due to the warm weather.

A pot of 2 Narcissus verieties, Rip Van Winkle and Twinkling Yellow.

Galanthus elwesii


Tulip 'Little Beauty', Crocus tommansianus and Iris recticulata 'Jimmy'

                                               

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Last year was also my first year in participating in the SRGC Seed Exchange. My request was mainly Primula, Androsace and Meconopsis but sadly the latter two did not germinate although I have kept the pots over summer to see if anything happens in spring. I had excellent germination from the Primula, however. 

Those plants are now in the garden waiting to flower this year. A certain Primula capitata flowered the same year, in November well out of season but it is nice to see I must be doing something right.

I not only participated in the Seed Exchange again this year but contributed to it also. This was mostly with cyclamen and primula. As for my request I know think i have really thrown myself in at the deep end with three species of Trillium (Trillium chloropetalum forma. rubra, Trillium grandiflorum and Trillium kurabayashii) Trilliums have always been plants I look for. But never been able to find.
Also requested are four species of Fritillaria (Fritillaria camschatcensis, Fritillaria crassifolia. Fritillaria karenlinii and Fritillaria tubiformis subsp moggridgei) which considering I have only been growing thing for two years, may have been a mistake, and a waste of someones precious seeds.

Anyway that's the end of that. Hopefully 2016 you'll seed more of me and the garden and have a Happy New Year.

The Garden: May 2015: Part I

Intro...

I was hoping to give a month by month tour of my garden from January to December, but I was a very busy bee and didn't have time. Mostly with college work splashes with what will be going into the garden in 2015. Now it looks to have been decided already because I forgot to look at the plans I drew in December '14, and as a result this year will be the same as the last 8 years we lived here: 'Oh, That's nice, I'll buy that, I'm sure there is a space somewhere'. This year I sowed (perhaps too many) annual plant seeds as shown in the photo below.

This is the part of the greenhouse dedicated to annuals. On the
Floor under the bench are the seeds growing from the SRGC
seed exchange (You should join it is Fantastic!).
Photo Taken 5th May '15

Most of those seed have been transplanted now. At the end you can see what the Greenhouse looks like now, and the SRGC Seeds, that have germinated (In Early June). 

The 1st border

This is a border because it backs onto a fence (A bed is open at all sides - Now you know the difference!) The main parts are the Bush Peonie, The variegated Japanese maple, a Aquilegia vulgaris and a Cornus alba. (One of Two) There are mainly perennial plants in here like Stipa gigantea, Geranium himalayenese, Penstemon, Dianthus barbartus, Sedum spectablie, Clemantis, Alchelmilla mollis, Helianthenum 'Beech Park Red' and 'The Bride', Knautia macendonia, Verbena bonariensis. There is also another Cornus this time C. sanguinea. In the months to come, I hope that the Geranium himalayense, will grow and weave in and out of the Cornus. 

The Plant Gallery 

The Peonie Bush

Cornus sanguinea

Silene uniflora 'Druetts Varigated'

Helianthenum 'Beech Park Red'

Geranium himalayenese

Phlox divaricata ssp. laphamii

Mimulus 'Magic Mixed'

   

Clemantis

Erodium x variabile 'Roseum'

Above is just a selection of what is growing in this border, As the season progresses things should start to establish themselves and grow.

The Rosemary Bush

When we moved in, it was already there, but didn't want to take it out because it smelt nice, and it was small, so we left it there. About a year later we planted a Japanese maple near it . We never knew that the rosemary would get so huge. As the years went by the rosemary got bigger and bigger its affect on the Maple next to it became obvious. So in February 2015, when the Maple was dormant, we took a spade to the rosemary bush, the rosemary was dug out to give the Maple space to grow,and more importantly, more water, The effects of the rosemary where even more evident now that it was gone. The tree has short stubby new growth, Beyond 2 years old the growth became stunted, During winter, frost hit this poor tree like a train. Now that the Rosemary has gone we gave the tree a good layer of Mulch to help keep in moisture and help it recover from the numerous tree roots that had to be cut through to get the rosemary out. We plan to plant more drought tolerant plants around its base of the tree. 

Here is the Maple. The location of the rosemary was in
the middle of the triangle formed between the blue
Phlox, the Small Sedum, and the Mint, in the Bottom
left corner

As you can see the tree is not a well rounded medium size tree like it should be. It total height is about 1 meter 10 centimeters. Buy now it should be nearly 2.5 meters tall.

Stick around for Part II.

Just a thought, Yes, you can use my photos, but remember they are not yours, so please ask me first, and acknowledge the author. Thank You.