November news, more tulips

Young sprouts

 Eira is almost as big as the new plum tree. It's a sucker that has been selected to replace the old plum tree behind it, which has very few branches left. After researching plums that do well in in the west, we decided we couldn't do better than continue with the small dark blue plum with no name that is found in the gardens all around here.

Blush noisette and Perle d'azur adding to the autumn colour

This mild autumn has given us some new colour combinations.

More tulips have been planted: Princess Irene to the left of the steps in the conservatory garden, along with grape hyacinths on both sides of the steps. Thalia and tulip India have been planted by the white lilac. Twenty-five camassias have been put in the "meadow". A few tete-a-tete daffodils are tucked under the turf in the tower garden, experimentally.

Mid November and looking back

It has been unusually mild for the last month and dry-ish due to a blocking high over Scandanavia.  So we have been able to do more outside now and then.  I am still havesting good rasps from the Moy in the tunnel every few days - they are ripening on terminal trusses on new canes.  The rust is abundant but does not seem to reduce yield.  The plant sale at Treborth last month made more than £1k and took a bit of time to grow seedling salads and harvest hobby spuds from Henfaes to sell at £1 or £2 a take-away bag of 1 or 2kg.

The algerian iris has produced many blooms but suffers predation by some voracious critter.  An ancient, neglected susanqua camellia, Narumigata, is starting to bloom, our reward for releasing it from its pot into the garden.  Rh. pachysanthum is flowering again and is extra special now with its silver indumentum now a rich rust brown.

I gave a talk at Rowen Gardening Club on roses and took a bucket of flowers to hand around.  There were various roses that almost never flower at this time including American Pillar and Francois Juranville.  Old faithfuls were Stanwell Perpetual, Blush Noisette, Mutabilis, Windrush, Mme Alfred Carriere and Phyllis Bide.  Large hips of Cupid were nice and I took cutting wood of Brenda Colvin.

We have had good late flushes of Shaggy Parasols and Blewits, some of which have gone in the freezer as duxelles. 

In the potager, the kale from 2010 has persisted and is still producing on 3ft high stems. We have plenty of Swiss Chard and some sorrel.

Corby lifted the dahlia tubers from the shed area and tucked them away safely (I hope) in the garage. Then what might be a glorious display of lily-flowered tulips went in, Ballerina, Moneymaker (bright red, but not as boring as the tomato of the same name), Doll's Minuet, a viridiflora, very tall and late, and. China Pink.  In the front row, a mixture of Greigii and Princess Irene to wake things up in April.(26 April 2012: greigii not that interesting and completely over by the time Princess Irene begins. Can't yet see Doll's Minuet in the row of lily-flowered tulips)

Jan Reus, which is supposed to naturalize well, went in to the conservatory garden in the amelanchier corner, along with another 10 Princess Irene. That leaves India and yet another 10 Princess Irene to plant somewhere else.

Which dahlias for 2012?

We tried a new set of dahlias this year, except White Ballerina, a hold-over that's a star. Even better because it has long stems and is still producing lots of flowers is yellow waterlily Glorie van Heemstede. The pale orange cactus-flowered dahlia has flowers that are gorgeous but a little too big for the strength of the neck. Can't find its name. Chat Noir may be Sarah Raven's favourite, but it seems too uniformly dark and doesn't last well indoors. We should go back to cactus Hillcrest Royal next year. It was good in 2010. The unknown pink/yellow-centred waterlily given by a friend from Treborth is definitely a keeper. We will try to insulate the tubers in the ground over winter. The little dark red pompom Ivanette didn't produce a lot of flowers, but it is good to have a pompom. Might try New Baby orange next year. One of the Karma series, Sangria, a cactus, would be one of the remaining plants. Also rather shy to flower. Karma Corona would be better, if a strong grower. It is a strong orange. The Karma group are bred for a long life as cut flowers.  I seem to remember we liked Taratahi Ruby a lot last year, a very bright red waterlily. Apache is a cactus in the same colour, but we couldn't find it last year. Another cactus dahlia to look for again is City of Rotterdam which did very well in 2009. Another bright orange, which kept going very well. It is said to be 20" high, which would be good.

Robin Lane Fox advises Vitax Q-4 at planting, Miracle-Gro through July, then Tomorite for good buds and flowers. Will we have artificials like that in the new age that's coming? And plenty of water.
These are dahlias mentioned by him: Dawn Sky, shell-pink decorative with long stems. Scaur Swinton, salmon/pink fine performer. Silver-pink waterlily Pearl of Heemstede. Pale cream waterlily Cameo, and waterlily Glorie van Heemstede. These are all a bit tasteful.....
 SR notes: Geerling's Jubilee is a hot strong pink cactus type. Autumn Lustre is a small decorative orange that SR likes a lot for its staying ability. New Baby also recommended by her.