Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust’s Growing Communities for Health small grants scheme has provided funding to a number of community garden projects. Continue reading Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre community garden
Tag: gardening
Garden plant of the month: Spruce
We have long known the Spruce is the most popular Christmas tree. With its fine, slightly prickly needles it takes pride of place in many a living room. But the Spruce is also a popular evergreen conifer in the garden. Its attractive shape means that the Garden Plant of the Month for December can shape the whole look of the garden combined with other shrubs and conifers.
From big to small!
The Spruce (Picea) is a hardy needle conifer that ranges in size from 50cm up to 50m. For those that produce cones, these will hang at the ends of the branches. This garden plant is often supplied without roots, and therefore needs to be placed on a wooden cross or metal stand. Increasingly we are seeing Christmas trees with rootballs and even miniature Spruces with an attractive conical form – Picea glauca ‘Conica’. The decorative value is determined by the arrangement of the branches bearing the needles (actually the leaves) and the tree’s shape. By placing the spruce in water, you can help prevent needle shed. The Spruce definitely shapes the look of a garden so it’s a good idea to plant a solitary tree which has room to grow.
Caring for the Spruce
Follow a couple of simple tips to keep the Spruce healthy and looking its best. Plant in a damp, moderately nutrient-rich, somewhat acidic soil – the Spruce can tolerate both shade and full sun.
Replanting a Spruce with roots in the garden requires some care. When buying the Spruce, check that there is a sufficiently large rootball at the bottom of the tree, and preferably place the tree on a Christmas tree stand containing water and shrub food. Because the plants have been standing indoors in the warmth for three weeks, the transition outdoors is not always easy. A frost-free period is therefore important in order to allow the plant to root properly in the garden. Caring for miniature Christmas trees in the home is often much easier as long as you water the plant regularly and place it in a light spot. The cooler the spot, the longer the plant will continue to flourish.
Spruce pruning tips
With most Spruces, particularly the dwarf varieties, there’s no need to prune. If a larger Spruce is getting too big or too bare, prune the plant ideally in spring (April, May). Use ordinary hedge clippers for this and snip a few centimetres off the ends of the branches. This will keep the shape nicely symmetrical and bulk out the spindles.
More information about Spruce and other garden plants can be found at Thejoyofplants.co.uk.
Free seeds from Grow Wild Scotland
To celebrate winning a National Lottery Award (Environment Category) Grow Wild are giving away over10,000 FREE Scottish native wild flower seeds to be sown this autumn, click here to register for your FREE seed packet www.growwilduk.com .
Please share this email with your impressive network of community organisations and partners and encourage them to register. This special opportunity ends at midnight onSunday 9th October 2016. If you would like to create a personalised seed packet offer to share among your groups, members, audience, clients or contacts please let me know.
We do also have some seed kits left for autumn sowing should you wish to kick start a transformation project or event. Please get in touch.
Claire Bennett
Grow Wild Scotland Partnership Manager
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0131 554 2561 | 07917 264891
August’s garden plant of the month: Buddleia
There are few plants that attract butterflies like the Butterfly Bush (Buddleia). With its long plumes of flowers in fabulous colours, the Butterfly Bush is a real treasure in the garden. This garden plant also blooms up until early autumn, so keeps the garden looking colourful for longer.
A fantastic display of colour on and around the plant
The Butterfly Bush or Buddleia is an eye-catching deciduous shrub that flowers from July to October. The range of Butterfly Bushes is extensive, with fascinating colours in white, blue, pink or lilac. The size of the flowers range from 10 to 30cm, whilst the height varies from 0.50cm to over 4m! It’s handy to know this before planting in the garden.
One thing that all varieties have in common is that – as the name suggests – they all attract colourful butterflies, which are drawn by the flowers’ honey fragrance. Who doesn’t want butterflies in their garden? It provides the ultimate ‘garden feeling’ for both adults and children. Butterfly Bushes can be planted either in the soil or in pots and containers.
Care
A couple of simple tips will keep the Butterfly Bush healthy and beautiful:
- It’s important that the plant is placed in the sunshine in partial shade – the Butterfly Bush likes the heat.
- Place the plant in well-drained, moist soil and water it regularly.
- Give the plants extra fertiliser in the spring to ensure that they keep flowering profusely for a long time and remain healthy.
- If wilted flowers are removed, new flowers may form after 3-4 weeks, keeping the plant looking elegant for even longer.
- Butterfly Bush is generally very hardy if it’s pruned at the right time. If it’s pruned too early in winter, the branches can freeze.
Pruning tips
- It’s very important to cut back the Butterfly Bush. It helps it to grow well, produce many flowers and remain young and healthy. If the plant cannot be pruned, it can deprive other plants of sunshine. The branches can be quite chunky, so use good pruning shears or a wooden saw.
- The best period for pruning is the end of February or beginning of March. It’s not a good idea to prune earlier than this because the branches can then freeze.
- Tall varieties should be pruned back to knee height. The shorter varieties can be cut back even further. Don’t be afraid to prune Butterfly Bush vigorously; the plant will produce new shoots and will then bloom profusely in the spring and summer.
‘Bringing the area alive’: Newhaven gets gardening
A local Heritage Garden Group enlisted the help of green-fingered volunteers to help green up an area in Newhaven’s Fishmarket Square recently. The project is part of this year’s Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Britain in Bloom, the UK’s largest community gardening campaign. Continue reading ‘Bringing the area alive’: Newhaven gets gardening
Saving Granton Castle’s Walled Garden and other stories
- Council petition!!!, save_granton_castle_walled_garden open to sign by anyone resident in Edinburgh. We need 500 signatures to be heard again at the city chambers, but there is a strict time limit … so please sign and share with those you think may be interested.
June garden plant of the month: Rose
Roses are undoubtedly the Queen of Flowers. With an incredible variety of shapes, colours and scents, garden roses are an essential plant in the garden. Enjoying the setting sun, sultry heat and the fabulous rose display on a lovely summer evening is the ultimate pleasure of roses in the garden! Who wouldn’t want that? The Garden Plant of the Month for June can provide it!
To suit every taste
The range of garden roses is incredibly large and can be different from the roses we know as cut flowers. There are many colours, scents and flower shapes, as well as various styles and growth habits. Bush roses, climbing roses, standard roses, espalier roses and ground-covering roses are common. Every garden rose has its own characteristics and can be used in many places in the garden. In the soil, in containers on the balcony or patio, or against a wall or fence.
Care
A couple of simple tips will keep garden roses healthy and beautiful.
- It’s important that they are placed in full sun with at least 6 hours of sunlight.
- Regularly water the plant when it’s been dry for a while outdoors, particularly if it’s just been planted in the soil or in a pot.
- Give the plants special rose fertiliser in the spring to ensure that they keep flowering profusely for a long time and remain healthy.
- Garden roses are generally very hardy when they are planted in the soil. In pots it’s best to provide winter protection with jute or bubble wrap.
- The best period for pruning is the end of February or beginning of March. It can also be done later, and the roses will then bloom later. It’s not a good idea to prune earlier, because young shoots can then be damaged by night frosts and the plant is more prone to fungal infections such as blackspot and mildew.
- Pruning depends on the type. Bush and standard roses should be cut back to 10 – 15cm above the soil or the trunk. For climbing roses, look particularly at the shape and height that the plant should grow to.
- Don’t be afraid to prune roses vigorously; the plants will produce new shoots and will then flower profusely in the spring and summer.
Pruning tips
Pruning is very important for roses. It helps them to grow well, produce many flowers and remain young and healthy.
More information about roses and other garden plants can be found at Thejoyofplants.co.uk
Pick up thy bed and walk!
Botanics’ Spring Festival is perfect ending to National Gardening Week
It’s all grow at The Botanics this weekend!
To mark 2016’s National Gardening Week, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is hosting a Spring Festival as People’s Postcode Lottery’s national Charity of the Week. Players of People’s Postcode Lottery have awarded an amazing £450,000 to RBGE for 2016, supporting projects at home and abroad. Continue reading Botanics’ Spring Festival is perfect ending to National Gardening Week
April garden plant of the month: Million Bells (Calibrachoa)
For an instant injection of summer
Ideal for hanging baskets, window boxes and pots, and it also does very well in borders amongst other ground covering plants. Wherever you place them, their colourful trumpets perform a summer samba that lasts well into the autumn. Continue reading April garden plant of the month: Million Bells (Calibrachoa)