Snippets: columbines (Filed: 23/06/2001)
Rory Dusoir with practical ideas for summer gardens
Plant: Columbines
These species of aquilegia are great charmers, and the long-spurred types in particular have an airy grace about them. One, A. 'Kansas', is making a great show at Sissinghurst. It predominates in an area of the garden devoted to "hot" colours, and has a flower with plenty of spark about it, being yellow and red.
Johnson's Blue
It would look good rising behind clumps of Geranium 'Johnson's Blue'. This is as close to pure blue as any geranium, and the petals have a silky sheen. Like many other cranesbill geraniums, it can be cut to the ground after flowering and will respond with a fresh lot.
The golden elder (Sambucus racemosa 'Plumosa Aurea') would make an excellent background to this pair. Its leaves are splendidly toothed and retain a rich buttery yellow for a long season. The effect of the foliage will be greatly enhanced if you prune it back hard every winter, leaving no more than one bud of the previous season's growth. This will also stop it from getting too big. All of the above will be happy in part shade, and the elder positively requires it. Otherwise, its leaves will burn.
Ornamental Gourds
These plants, which are lush of growth and enjoy a correspondingly rich diet, can be grown successfully on a compost heap. This will give you a good incentive to keep your compost pile neat, with straight sides and a level surface, which also promotes even decomposition.
The compost should be well rotted before you plant the young gourds; the early stages of decomposition create intense heat that will burn the young roots. Seed sown in mid May under glass should produce plants that are ready to plant out now. Thompson & Morgan sells a good mixed strain called 'Choose Your Weapon'.
Do not plant the young seedlings directly into the compost
- excavate a hole 10in deep and 10in wide for each plant,
fill it with potting soil and plant the seedling into that.
Water well after planting and thereafter on a regular basis
during dry spells. Each gourd has the potential to grow for
yards, but they needn't be planted more than 2ft apart.
They will crop from late summer to autumn, and if you
leave the fruit in a sunny place to dry and harden, they
will outlast the winter as indoor decorations.
-- Anonymous, June 26, 2001