“Spring being a hard act to follow, God created June” (Al Bernstein)
May and June – A Passion for Peonies.
May and June are wonderful months in which to experience the first flush of herbaceous planting and no flower symbolises the glories of early summer more than herbaceous and tree peonies.
Both of these genera hit their peak at this time of year, producing wonderful ephemeral blooms and both come in a variety of species and forms.
Most peonies in the garden come in two forms, either herbaceous P. lactiflora or hybrid cultivars, or the woody stemmed tree peonies.
Peonia lactiflora was first introduced into Europe towards the end of the eighteenth century and has given rise to thousands of cultivars. It is one of the easiest and most popular peonies to grow, tolerating a wide range of soil conditions. Peonies grow best in fertile, well drained soil but can be grown in sandy or clay soils with the addition of plenty of well-rotted manure. In fact manure is a must for herbaceous peonies. Applied during the dormant season, it is best to avoid the crowns of the plant to prevent scorching of the developing buds.
Some cultivars such as ‘Festiva Maxima’ were first raised over 150 years ago but are still popular today and many make excellent cut flowers. ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ is one of the best for this purpose and many acres are given over to it in Holland. Often, when the crowns are too old for commercial production, they are divided and sold cheaply for garden use.
Paeonia lactiflora cultivars come in all colours although, because of genetics, there is an absence of a good red, the closest being magenta. On the plus side many are deliciously fragrant; ‘Boule de Neige’, ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ and ‘Gainsborough’ are a few of the most fragrant.
Paeonia lactiflora has given rise to a number of hybrid herbaceous peonies when crossed with other species. These hybrids flower over a long period of time from early spring, when the majority of the species flower, to early summer when the lactifloras are in bloom. Amongst these are also good red forms such as ‘America’ and ‘Scarlet O’Hara’.
By contrast, Chinese Tree Peonies are amongst the oldest cultivated plants in the world and make an indelible impression on anyone who sees them. They often appear delicate because of their exotic flowers and delicate foliage but in fact they can withstand very low temperatures as well as summer drought. However, they are slow growing: a mature specimen may be 3m tall but this could take 50 years or more! Many tree peonies will tolerate some shade as well as full sun.
There are also a number of intersectional or ‘Itoh’ hybrids which are crosses between herbaceous and tree peonies. At first sight they appear to be tree peonies but they are usually herbaceous and die back in the autumn, but they have the advantage of retaining their shape through the year and extra vigour which means they can establish quickly.
Hybrid, lactiflora and tree peonies will prove perfectly hardy in all areas of the U.K. Most plants will establish better if planted in the autumn as dormant crowns, or bare-root plants in the case of tree peonies. However, modern retail horticulture offers plants in flower and as long as the ground is prepared with plenty of soil improver and organic matter, and the plant is watered, they will do well. However it is important to plant the crown no more than 2in below the soil level. If this is done then the peony should settle in, although it may not reach its best for three years. If planted too shallowly the plant may not flower at all, but it is important that it gets a good chilling in winter to initiate flower production.
It is an oft quoted fallacy that peonies cannot be moved, or that if they are they will sulk. Herbaceous and tree peonies can be moved when dormant and herbaceous peonies can be propagated by division. As long as care is taken when replanting they should continue to grow well, although flowering may be affected for one or two seasons.
The main disease that affects both herbaceous and tree peonies is Peony blight which can seriously damage them. Infected tissue turns brown, then black and finally wilts altogether. It is most prevalent in wet springs, so good air circulation is important. It can be controlled by removing and burning infected tissue as soon as it appears. A preventative fungicidal treatment is beneficial.
In the kitchen Garden.
“Time flies like a jet plane, fruit flies like a ripe strawberry!”
May seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye; it’s already June which brings the summer solstice and then we are already into shortening days. There is hopefully still plenty of good weather to come and if you haven’t had chance to get out in to the veg garden yet, it is still not too late to get some produce this summer.
The beginning of May finally brought some desperately needed rain to the garden. Much of the middle of the month returned to dry conditions, accompanied by almost constant wind. This led to a need to irrigate the garden at a time of year when it is not normally required. If your veg is looking a bit stunted, or if it has bolted, then it’s probably down to the dry conditions. There were a few cold nights (but thankfully not too many and not very cold) which meant covering crops like courgettes or early French beans with horticultural fleece.
The bird nesting season is well under way and I have had the pleasure of having the company of Garden Warblers, Bull Finches and a Green woodpecker amongst others, as they energetically go about rearing a brood of chicks. The Cockchafers or May Bugs have been out on the wing also, a nuisance to us gardeners as the grubs eat the roots of our treasured plants, causing the plants (and consequently us) distress.
A certain amount of mystique and romance seems to surround vegetable and fruit growing. In reality it is mostly fairly straight forward (it’s a different thing if you want to grow a 10 metre long carrot, or a 50 kg marrow, but why would you?). Most of the skill comes in managing your growing space in such a way that famine and gluts are avoided. This can be done with successional sowing, i.e. sowing small amounts of a crop at regular intervals throughout the growing season. If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to get on with a second or even a third sowing of things such as radish, carrots, lettuce, baby turnip and peas, if you have the space of course.
I have also been planting brassica transplants this month. When I first came to this garden 12 years ago, a half to two thirds of every brassica crop was lost to root fly. Then I discovered the trick of placing a short piece of rhubarb stalk in the bottom of the planting hole. Most people think I’m away with the fairies when I suggest this as a cure for brassica root fly but it has shown its self to be very effective.
Please note: images have been removed from this pages because some of them may have been used without permission.

April and May in the Garden – No Time to be standing still.
We’ve all had a treat this month haven’t we? The glorious sunshine has been a treat and put me in mind of a few lines of Frost’s which might be relevant to gardeners.
 
“Why make so much of fragmentary blue
In here and there a bird or butterfly,
Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye,
When heaven presents in sheets the solid hue?

Since Earth is earth, perhaps, not heaven (as yet)-
Though some savants make earth include the sky;
And blue so far above us comes so high,
It only gives our wish for blue a whet.”
One of the glories of this time of year is to see early flowers against a clear spring sky, particularly when these flowers are borne at the ends of magnolia branches.
Magnolias are the queens of garden flowers, there is such a variety of form and habit from shrubby types such as M. stellata or its pink form ‘Rosea’ to large trees, amongst the finest of which are the Campbellii species as hybrids such as ‘Darjeeling’ or mollicomata which flowers earlier than most. Typically the magnolias we grow in our gardens are precocious, the flowers appearing before the leaves. However there is a magnolia for almost every season if you have the site, soil and situation. Magnolia grandiflora is an evergreen suitable for growing as a large tree. Football sized fragrant white flowers are a vision in summer. As this magnolia comes from the southern U.S.A it is used to higher average summer temperatures and humidity then we get in the U.K so it is better grown against a warm sunny wall, even in full sun. If you have a north facing wall then a good upright growing variety such as ‘Daybreak’ will prove successful, as the lack of strong sunlight protects the buds from being forced into flower early and thus being damaged by frosts.
For fragrance M. ‘Merrill’ which has white flowers and grows 12 or 15 feet high cannot be beaten whilst M. salicifolia has aniseed scented foliage.
Magnolias come from a wide variety of climates and habitats but those we buy from the nurseries will be grafted onto one rootstock or another to control vigour as well as to induce them to flower earlier. They are very amenable. Most will grow in any reasonable, slightly acidic garden soil but they do demand decent humus and organic content. Most magnolias are forest plants and so enjoy companionship and the shelter from strong winds provided by other trees.
Magnolias have a system of shallow feeding roots which, once planted, resent disturbance. When planting, I don’t even tease roots away from the root-ball as I would do with any other shrub or tree. Thorough ground preparation with plenty of leaf-mould or soil conditioner is essential and it is important to plant the top of the root-ball level with the surrounding soil. I have learned to my cost the fatal effects of planting magnolias too deep despite the well intentioned desire to keep as much moisture as possible around a newly planted specimen.
If Magnolias are the queens of garden flowers then Rhododendrons ( including Azaleas) are the kings. April and May are the best months to go to gardens boasting collections of rhododendrons and admire their many forms and flower colours.
Rhododendrons have suffered a fall in popularity over the last few years. Many people have been of the opinion that this was because they could not be accommodated in smaller gardens, but I rather feel that it was the result of nurseries and garden centres failing to offer a variety of plants. When many people think of rhododendrons, they often think of R. ponticum or its hybrids, which line the drives of many a stately home and, after flowering, form an unattractive green lump. When the gardener is looking for a plant that gives interest over more than one season it is understandable that many begrudge giving space to rhododendrons with their short flowering season. However if we look beyond the common hybrids there is a rhodo out there for everyone. Many of the species and cultivars have attractive foliage with either silver backed leaves or leaves marbled with brown hairy indumentum as well as attractive bark. I would rather look at the foliage of many a rhododendron all year than give house room to a camellia. These shrubs seem to have gained popularity at the rhododendron’s expense but, in my opinion, they make a much less attractive shrub when not in flower.
Azaleas, members of the rhododendron family, make excellent garden plants. Many cultivars are deciduous and have the added bonus of scented flowers and autumn colour. They come in a wide range of colours from the pure white of ‘Persil’ to pinks and the bright yellows of R. luteum.
Of course this is only my opinion and you are free to disregard it but in a family as large as rhododendron there is one out there for every size of garden that can provide the right conditions. Indeed rhodos are very accommodating, needing only moist acidic soil with good humus content and some shade. We all want our plants to perform for as long as possible but if we have an eye for the subtle, and the energy to seek out nurseries and growers growing more specialist plants and be adventurous enough to try them, then we can all enhance our gardens.
We all want our plants to give us value, to perform for as long as possible and with as little demand on our time as possible. There is nothing wrong with this view; my argument is simply a blend of the practical and philosophical. Firstly, not every plan is suitable for every garden or situation within a garden so we should all chose plants suitable for what we have, rather than try too hard to change the soil or situation to our advantage. Secondly, imagine the most beautiful magnolia flower you have ever seen then ask yourself if in fact part of the charm is that very ephemeral nature. Would you be as excited or notice it as much if it flowered non-stop?
You might think that I have lost touch with reality with all this talk of Magnolias and Rhododendrons, that I might be thinking like Gertrude Jekyll when she said that however small your garden “always leave a few acres for trees”! There are more things happening. One of the stars of these months are tulips which impart a touch of elegance to any garden. Euphorbias are coming into their own, displaying acid green or yellow bracts. My own favourite is E. palustris which works well in damp soil and has good autumn colour before it dies back. There is a euphorbia for even more gardens than there are rhododendrons!
Finally, my top tip for this time of year is not to cut the foliage of flowering spring flowering bulbs down until they start to die down on their own. This might not appeal to the tidy minded gardener but these bulbs are entering the most critical stage of their growth when they are making food to support new flowers next spring. Look at your snowdrops. Now they have finished flowering, the leaves have elongated and widened to capture as much light as possible. If you have daffodils planted in grass leave it alone, don’t mow. If you don’t like having long grass then you shouldn’t have put the daffodils there in the first place!
A very brief word from the kitchen garden.
Over the last few days a couple of people have mentioned to me about frosts damaging their newly emerged potato haulms. One way of reducing or eliminating this problem is to spray the foliage with cold tap water using a hosepipe. This needs to be done first thing in the morning after the frost has occurred.
Please note: images have been removed from this pages because some of them may have been used without permission.