librarian2003 (librarian2003) wrote in weagardening, @ 2010-11-01 23:45:00 |
|
|||
Current mood: | morose |
Week 4
The topics for Week 4 are English roses and Collecting Seed.
Here are the images:
English Roses
And here are the handouts:
GARDENING FOR PLEASURE
Plant of the Week : Roses
English Roses
The English Roses, bred by David Austin of Shropshire, are relatively recent introductions, and are not Old Garden Roses. Rather, they can be thought of as "reproductions after a style". Their heritage includes Noisette, Portland, Damask, Tea, Hybrid Perpetual, Hybrid Tea, and others.
David Austin’s intention in breeding these new roses is to marry the Old Garden Roses with modern shrubs in the hope that they would have the best qualities of both. In many cases (but not all), he has achieved success.
Unlike most of the old roses, English Roses will provide two or three flushes of flowers during the season. Most are exceptionally fragrant. Many are also very big shrubs, so may not be suitable for small urban gardens where space is at a premium.
English Roses are designed to be used in mixed borders, where they add great impact. These bushy plants have a graceful, shapely habit which makes them versatile in the garden, whether used in a traditional rose garden or mingled with herbaceous perennials, where their long flowering season is very useful. Their vigour makes some varieties ideal for training as short climbers or for use as standard roses. They can be pruned hard and grown as medium to large shrub roses. Alternatively they can just be lightly tidied up and tied to some form of support, when they will form wonderful, fragrant short to medium climbers.
For many years, the breeding programme has paid particular attention to health and vigour. As a result, English Roses are generally disease resistant and reliable, although some of them are subject to blackspot. Unlike any other group of roses, the English Roses can be very "climate specific" from variety to variety.
Easy-care varieties include Charlotte, Crocus Rose, Darcey Bussell, Grace, Golden Celebration, Harlow Carr, Jubilee Celebration, Molineux, Queen Of Sweden, Sophy's Rose, St Swithun, The Alnwick Rose, The Generous Gardener, The Mayflower, Wild Edric, Wildeve and William Shakespeare 2000.
There are five categories of English Rose fragrances, although many roses have complex fragrances which combine elements from several fragrance groups. Jude The Obscure and Lady Emma Hamilton have fruity fragrances. Gertrude Jekyll has the quintessential old rose fragrance. Constance Spry has the classic myrrh fragrance. Scepter'd Isle and Strawberry Hill have fine myrrh fragrances. For a strong tea rose fragrance with fruity aspects, try Golden Celebration, while Charles Darwin has a floral tea scent mixed with lemon. The Generous Gardener is a lovely blend of musk, myrrh and old rose.
Roses for outstanding fragrance include:
Abraham Darby: A rich, fruity fragrance with a refreshing sharpness
Brother Cadfael: A rich old Bourbon fragrance, more intense in the heat
Claire Austin: Strong fragrance of myrrh, meadowsweet, heliotrope and vanilla.
Evelyn: Like old rose, but with a fruity note of fresh peaches and apricots
Gertrude Jekyll: A strong and perfectly balanced old rose scent
Golden Celebration: A tea scent
Harlow Carr: A strong, classic old rose fragrance
Jubilee Celebration: A fruity scent: hints of fresh lemon and raspberry
Jude The Obscure: A very strong fragrance: notes of guava, citrus and sweet white wine
Lady Emma Hamilton: A strong, fruity fragrance: hints of pear, grape and citrus
Port Sunlight: A rich tea rose fragrance
Scepter'd Isle: An outstanding example of the English Rose fragrance
Sharifa Asma: A distinctive fragrance with fruity notes: white grapes and mulberry
Spirit of Freedom: A strong, fruity fragrance with aspects of myrrh
Strawberry Hill: A particularly fine myrrh fragrance
Summer Song: A lovely, strong mixed scent with hints of tea and bananas
Tea Clipper: A lovely mix of tea, myrrh and fruit
The Generous Gardener: A delicious mix of old rose, musk and myrrh
Wild Edric: Old rose fragrance with pure clove-scented stamens
Young Lycidas: A strong and delicious scent of tea, old rose and cedar
AGM
These twelve English Roses have all been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Award Of Garden Merit. The award is made by RHS judges after the plants have been trialled under controlled conditions. The award is given to plants the judges believe are of 'outstanding excellence for ordinary garden decoration'.
Charlotte : Soft yellow rosettes with a strong tea rose fragrance. Bushy upright growth. Free-flowering, good repeater, very hardy. 3’ x 2.5’
Constance Spry : Early summer flowering. Giant glowing pink cups. Very fragrant. Lax shrub 7’ x 7’. If allowed to grow as a climber, 15ft or more.
Eglantyne : Pink rosettes with a sweet, delicate old rose fragrance. 3’5’ x 3’. Named for Eglantyne Jebb, founder of ‘Save the Children’.
Evelyn : Loved for its superb, complex fragrance. Not the most vigorous, and needs a little extra care to perform well. Medium shrub or short climber. 3’ x 2.5’. Named for Crabtree and Evelyn, who used it in their range of rose perfumes.
Gertrude Jekyll : The quintessential old rose fragrance. Strong upright growth, very free-flowering and reliable. Medium shrub or short climber. 4.5’ x 3.5’ as a shrub or 8’ as a climber.
Golden Celebration : Golden-yellow deeply cupped blooms, one of the largest flowers of the English roses. Strong tea rose fragrance. Rounded, slightly arching shrub. Medium shrub or short climber. 4’ x 4’.
Graham Thomas : Rich yellow blooms. A fresh tea rose fragrance with hints of violets. Upright, bushy and disease resistant. Medium shrub, short climber. 4’ x 4’. Named for the horticulturist and rosarian, the late Graham Stuart Thomas.
L D Braithwaite : Very free-flowering, producing wide open, lightly fragrant bright crimson blooms. Scent increases as the flower ages. A relation of Mary Rose, sharing many of the qualities. A medium sized, bushy shrub, good for the mixed border. 3.5’ x 3.5’
Mary Rose : Freely produces soft pink rosettes, with a light honeyed old rose fragrance, throughout summer, and very winter-hardy. 4’ x 4’. Named for Henry VIII’s flagship.
Molineux : Extraordinarily good repeat flowering, upright growth and very little disease. Tea rose scented rosettes with musky elements. 3’ x 2’. Named for Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Pat Austin : Striking copper-orange loose-petalled blooms with a strong tea rose fragrance. Strong growth. Medium shrub or short climber. 4’ x 3.5’.
Scepter'd Isle : Cupped blooms open to reveal golden stamens. Free-flowering with upright growth. Has a powerful myrrh fragrance. 3’ x 2.5’
Jo Hanslip
October 2010
GARDENING FOR PLEASURE
Collecting seeds
Collecting seed from plants is not difficult and can not only be very rewarding, but can also save you money on buying new seeds. Plants raised from home-collected seed may not produce exactly the same crops (either size, colour or shape) as the original plant. In the case of vegetables and herbs, this usually only happens if the original plant was an F1 hybrid, although the resulting new crops will probably still be worthwhile so it’s worth having a go.
Because many fruits such as apples have been grafted on to different root stocks, the resulting plants may differ wildly. This is particularly the case with dwarf trees when you could end up with a massive tree instead of a nice compact one.
All that’s required to collect seed is a pair of secateurs or scissors, something in which to place the seed heads – small bags, bowls or kitchen paper work well; paper bags or envelopes to store the seeds and a pen for labelling the envelopes/bags. Polythene bags should not be used to store seed although they are ideal for collecting the seed heads before extracting the seeds.
Because different plants flower at different times, when you collect seed will depend on individual specimens. Some early flowers may well have seed ready by late June, but most will be ready in early Autumn. It’s therefore best to keep an eye on individual plants once they start flowering for the tell-tale signs in the flower heads.
You must wait until the seeds are ripe. Good indications that the seed is ready is when they change colour, usually getting darker, or when the pods begin to split in readiness to shed their seeds. Bear in mind that on most plants, not all the seed heads ripen at once, so collecting seed can continue for many weeks. If you missed the first lot you’re bound to get another chance later on. If you collect seed before it’s ready, then nothing you can do will make it grow.
You cannot collect seeds from dead flowers. The seeds need to mature and then they need to ripen. Think of an apple - you know you can't eat the little green apples that you see when the flowers have died. It's the same with other seed containers - they need to grow bigger and mature before they are any good. Seed production is a three-stage process: first, the seeds have to be fertilised, then they have to mature, then they have to ripen. If they haven't been fertilised, they won't mature. If they haven't been fertilised and grown to maturity, they won't ripen. If they haven't been fertilised, matured, and ripened, they won't be viable. Sometimes, it takes weeks or even months from the time the flower dies to when the seeds are ready.
When the seeds are ripe, nature will disperse them. If you want to collect them yourself, you need to wait until just before they would be dispersed naturally, because you know that they will be ripe then. The seed pod will become dry and will usually change colour, probably from green to brown or white, and the seeds inside will change from green or white to brown or black. Think of the apple again - the seeds inside an unripe apple are white. When the apple is ripe, it changes colour and the seeds inside become brown.
Seed heads should be as dry as possible when you collect them. Pick a dry day when there isn’t too much wind as many seeds are very light and easily blown away.
In order to produce seed a plant has to either flower, or in the case of crops like aubergine and tomatoes, bear seed-carrying fruit. If you want to collect seed, you must allow at least some plants to complete their life cycle naturally. So, for instance, if you want to collect seeds from broccoli, you must leave some of the florets to mature and not harvest them for eating and if you want to collect seed from tomatoes, you must allow some of the fruit to mature on the plant.
The simplest way of collecting the seed from flowering plants is to pick off the complete seed head and place it in a bag. If you are collecting more than one type of seed at the same time, use a different bag for each type and make sure you label the bag beforehand or have pieces of paper on which you can write the names ready to place in the bags with the seed heads.
Once the seed has been collected, it’s best to take them indoors or to a sheltered spot out of the wind before removing the seeds. If the seed heads aren’t completely dry, they will need to be allowed to dry off before the seeds are removed. Allow them to dry naturally with no artificial heat.
Once they are dry, place a large piece of paper on a flat surface and remove the seeds from the flower heads by either shaking or lightly scrunching with your fingertips. Remove any large bits of debris such as dried petals or pods, then finally package in small paper bags or envelopes, seal and store in a cool dry place.
When collecting seeds from fleshy plants such as tomatoes, courgettes and pumpkins, the procedure is a little different, as any pulp must be removed from around the seeds before they are finally dried off. With larger seeds, this is just a matter of picking them out and washing in a bowl of water before allowing to dry naturally. With smaller seed such as tomatoes, place them in a sieve and wash under cold running water, agitating them with your fingertips, until all the pulp is removed. Once again, they should be air-dried before placing in paper bags/envelopes for storing.
Store in a cool dry place out of direct sun light. You can keep them in the refrigerator, but not the freezer.
Jo Hanslip
September 2010
http://theseedsite.co.uk/
http://www.pots2plots.com/Collecting%20
Have you collected all the seeds from your garden (or your neighbour's garden!) that you wanted to?
Jo