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| Go greener |
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| With a growing number of gardeners eschewing chemicals in favour of natural alternatives, we can suggest some effective products from our organic gardening selection |
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| Relax and refresh |
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| Good food freshly prepared daily, aromatic coffee, chilled wine and a grassy play area for the children. What more could you need? |
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| Food heaven |
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| Our Farm Shop is heaven for food lovers! Delicious handmade food, top quality groceries, fresh fruit and vegetables and stylish cookware and gifts. |
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| The Discovery Walk |
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| As thousands of daffodils herald the spring, stroll or stride around our Walk while the youngsters enjoy the Nature Trail |
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Don’t be a meany – plant a peony!
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| Thursday, 22nd May 2008 |
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IN THE GARDEN WITH PETA MARSHALL
Every day customers come in to the garden centre and ask us to recommend plants for specific situations or with certain attributes.
Something scented maybe? Or perhaps something that is drought-tolerant? Or something that is relatively free of pests and diseases? Or something that is easy to look after? Or something good as a cut flower, for bringing indoors? Or even something that produces large, blousy flowers – like roses for instance – but which doesn’t need pruning, and doesn’t have nasty thorns?
Actually, to satisfy all of the above, you could consider planting a peony. These are immensely rewarding plants for gardeners, giving a profusion of magnificent flowers on thornless stems throughout a long season and requiring very little care.
Many peonies have the additional bonus of being scented, and with more than 4,000 varieties of herbaceous peony available worldwide, there is sure to be a plant to suit the requirements of every gardener.
Furthermore peonies are drought-resistant and largely unaffected by pests and diseases.
If you’ve never grown them before you’ll need to visit the garden centre to see which varieties are available. But once you’ve grown one or two there is a good chance you’ll be hooked.
Many books refer to specific peony varieties by season: for example, ‘Wind Chimes’ may be listed as a ‘very early season’ variety – in fact, that means it probably flowers in April. An ‘early season’ variety will be a May bloomer; a ‘mid-season’ variety will flower in June, and a ‘late season’ variety will look its best in late June and early July.
All of this shows, of course, that with careful choice of varieties, you could have peonies in flower for almost four months of the year.
It is a common misconception that peonies are delicate and difficult to grow. While they are tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions, they will not survive in situations where the soil becomes waterlogged. Another place to avoid is beneath large conifers, as the soil will be far too dry, and insufficient light will reach the plants.
Most species of peony will flower for 2-3 weeks, but this may be shortened if the weather is very hot. Planting peonies in semi-shade can prolong the flowering season.
It has been said in the past that peonies hate being “disturbed”. The inference here is that if you have to dig a plant up to move it to a different part of the garden, or perhaps to divide a large clump into smaller portions, then the plant will resent it.
To a degree I suppose this is true, but then many types of plant resent being disturbed in this way, and peonies are not alone in this. It may take a year or two for the plant to regain its former composure and floriferousness (I love that word!), but once it is established in the soil again, it will be fine.
So, which are some of the better varieties? Well, several large books have been written just on peonies, so it is difficult to choose a handful of good varieties in a single article – but here goes…I’ve selected three from each flowering period to give you that continuity of interest:
Very early: ‘Pink Angel’ (single flowers with broad, slightly fluted blush-pink petals, surrounding a large ball of yellow stamens); ‘Red Charm’ (double flowers with deep red, ruffled petals); and ‘Wind Chimes’ (single flowers with nodding deep lavender petals).
Early: ‘Picotee’ (single flowers, the rounded white petals with a distinctive magenta rim, and sometimes with magenta spotting); ‘Mr Ed’ (very double blooms of rose-pink fading to white, flushed pink); and ‘Whitleyi Major’ (large single flowers that open blush-white but fade to pure white; the stamens are yellow).
Mid-season: ‘Christine Kelway’ (single, nicely rounded blooms with flesh-pink petals that fade to white in bright sunshine; nicely fragrant); ‘Enchantment’ (rose-pink double flowers, beautifully fragrant); and ‘Sea Shell’ (single flowers of warm lilac pink with yellow stamens).
Late season: ‘Bowl of Beauty’ (one of the most popular varieties, with large rose-red petals surrounding a mass of upright, pale creamy to golden yellow stamens); ‘Felix Crousse’ (double, magenta-carmine globe-shaped flowers; sweetly fragrant); and ‘Dolodorell’ (large double flowers of the palest pale pink).
Finally, the one thing I should definitely mention before I leave you this week is the ‘new shoots’ syndrome. Peonies are the type of perennial plant that completely die down in autumn and are totally invisible in winter. There are no little stumps over the winter period to remind you where the plants are. So the tiny greenish, reddish or copperish shoots that break through the soil and start to unfurl around March time are a sure sign that warmer weather is on its way. And for me, this is almost as welcome as the flowers! Happy gardening!
This week in your garden
Check roses for blackspot disease and remove and destroy any affected leaves. Treat with a combined fungicide and insecticide product, such as Scotts Roseclear 3, for all-round protection against blackspot, powdery mildew, rust and aphids.
Whether you’re growing vegetable seedlings in pots, growing bags or the open ground, make sure they don’t dry out – you can lose a whole crop on a hot day if you’re not on the ball!
Watch this week’s TV coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show, to give you ideas and inspiration for your garden.
Peta Marshall is the plant centre manager at Priory Farm in Nutfield. Website: www.prioryfarm.co.uk
NEXT WEEK: Growing border irises
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