librarian2003 (librarian2003) wrote in weagardening, @ 2012-02-26 13:32:00 |
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Current mood: | cheerful |
Week 4
Another week of mouth-watering plants of the week. Doesn't it make you itch to get out in the garden once more?
On Tuesday, Judy gave us Chionodoxa, and Joan told us about Forsythia. On Friday, Margaret gave us Magnolia stellata and Carole told us about miniature, and other, Narcissi.
Pictures are here, at Photobucket:
Magnolia stellata, miniature Narcissi, Forsythia and Chionodoxa
There is interesting information about some of the Forsythias. We mentioned that the French are breeding some much smaller new varieties which ought to be more suited to modern gardens. Here's how - this information was picked up from a gardening blog, from an entry about Forsythia Gold Tide.
GOLD TIDE is the product of certain experiments in France, in which plants of Forsythia x intermedia ‘Spring Glory’ were irradiated with gamma rays. Seed from subsequent open pollination was collected and planted, and one of the resulting seedlings was named ‘Courtasol’.
Courtasol is the temporary name for Gold Tide, and the other dwarf French varieties have similar registration names - Boucle d'Or is Courtacour and Casque d'Or is Courdijau, for example. So, I imagine these are all seedlings from that experiment. Will the dwarfing last? Will it have other effects? Interesting...
Let me know what you think of such experiments.
Our main topic was about pruning. Sadly, I can't post the handout with the pruning table on it - I can't seem to work out whether tables can be posted to a journal, sorry. So, you'll just have to make do with the hard copy and the pruning links on our Sites of the Week. Here's the handout:
GARDENING FOR PLEASURE
Spring Term 2011/12
Sites of the week : Week 4
1 A garden advice site. There is a comprehensive A-Z section on pruning.
Gardenseeker
http://www.gardenseeker.com/index.h
2 An illustrated article from Virginia Tech on pruning. There is also a link to a pruning calendar.
Virginia Tech on pruning
http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/430/430-459/4
3 Scotland’s equivalent of the NGS
Scotland’s Gardens Scheme
http://www.scotlandsgardens.org/
4 Places to visit.
Historic Houses Association
http://www.hha.org.uk/
5 The website for the magazine, with a lively forum and readers’ blogs.
Grow Your Own
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/
Jo Hanslip
January 2012
Jo