librarian2003 (librarian2003) wrote in weagardening, @ 2011-10-10 01:35:00 |
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Week 3
It's another busy schedule for us this week.
Our plants of the week were:
On Tuesday, Hydrangea paniculata from Maureen and Roscoea from Jean. On Friday, Hardy cyclamen from Carole and Potentilla from Margaret.
Images for Friday's plants of the week will follow, and I'll update this post to include them. Meantime, here are the others:
Hydrangea paniculata and Roscoea: Potentilla and Cyclamen
(Photobucket is now updated)
Our sites of the week are five more that are worth checking out:
GARDENING FOR PLEASURE
Sites of the week : Week 3
1 For seeds, garden games and garden sundries
Nicky’s Nursery:
http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/
2 For information on all things to do with gardens, from explanations of gardening terms to plantfiles and photos, to blogs and forums and advice.
Dave’s Garden
http://davesgarden.com/aboutus/tour/
3 For information
Kew Gardens
http://www.kew.org
4 For masses of information and advice for all gardeners
Allotment Growing
http://www.allotment.org.uk/
5 For an archive of interesting articles, and more
The Garden History Society
http://www.gardenhistorysociety.org/
Jo Hanslip
October 2011
Our main topics were Autumn Propagation and Protecting Plants Over Winter. Both of these were group discussions, but here are some notes on Autumn Propagation
GARDENING FOR PLEASURE
Autumn propagation
• Collect berries from trees and shrubs for autumn sowing.
• Collect seed for autumn sowing
• Sow hardy annuals for earlier spring flowering
From September to mid-October, sow hardy annuals where they are to flower next year, unless the soil is too heavy, when they can be sown in modules. Sow sweet peas in September for sturdy, earlier flowering plants.
In the herb and vegetable garden, sow parsley and chervil in September to provide a spring crop. Decide whether to sow broad beans or wait until spring. Sow winter lettuce under cloches, in cold frames or greenhouse.
• Take cuttings of borderline hardy plants such as penstemons
• Take cuttings of tender plants, such as pelargoniums and fuchsias
Those which become leggy and woody, such as geraniums and marguerites, are better started from cuttings for next season, unless you wish to grow them into standards.
• Take semi-ripe cuttings
There’s still just time to take semi-ripe cuttings. Shrubs such as berberis, buddleja, box cistus, cotoneaster, elaeagnus, escallonia, euonymus, exochorda, forsythia, hebe, hypericum, potentilla, pyracantha, ribes, spiraea and weigela respond well to this type of cutting.
Take 2” long semi-ripe cuttings, place the pots in an unheated propagator and leave them in a light place, but out of direct sunlight. They should be rooted by next spring.
Alpine plants that have outgrown their space can be trimmed back as hard as necessary in autumn, and you can make cuttings from the prunings.
• Take hardwood cuttings
Hardwood cuttings may be taken from deciduous shrubs at any time over the winter, but October is the best time. Roses, particularly ramblers, rugosas, musks, gallicas and the old and species roses, take very well from hardwood cuttings. So do most deciduous shrubs.
A hardwood cutting is made in autumn from a length of one year old wood that has grown in the current year, with bark that is coloured and firm enough not to give when squeezed. About 8-10 inches long is ideal, but may be longer if there is a great distance between nodes. Prunings are very acceptable.
Wet the lowest inch of stem and dip in rooting hormone. Choose a well-drained sheltered spot in the garden and make a slit trench with a spade. In heavy soil, put an inch of sharp sand in the bottom. Space cuttings 6 inches apart. Rest the lower end firmly in the base of the trench, covering them to ½ to 2/3 of their length. Tread the soil firmly around them, then loosen the top inch or so of soil with a hoe. Alternatively, root in a garden frame. The cuttings will be ready the following autumn.
• Take root cuttings
A wide range of plants of suckering-type habit – trees and shrubs, climbers, bush and cane fruit, alpines, perennials and even some vegetables – can be increased from root cuttings taken from late autumn to late winter, when the plant is dormant. The technique is perhaps most useful for thick-rooted perennials such as acanthus and oriental poppy. Root cuttings from grafted plants, such as lilacs, will not come true, since they will be cuttings of the rootstock, not the chosen plant.
Choose a mild day, when the ground is workable. Lift the plant and wash most of the soil off the roots until you can see what you are doing. For plants too large to lift, or those that resent disturbance, scrape away as much soil as possible to expose the roots.
Select young roots, preferably about the thickness of a pencil. Do not remove too many from one plant – two or three is ample. Use a sharp knife and keep in a polythene bag. Replant the parent as quickly as possible.
Trim off any thin, wiry rootlets. Cut the roots into sections, 2-3 inches long, the cut nearest the crown being made straight across, and the lower cut on a slant so you know which end is which. Use a cuttings compost. Hormone rooting powder is not necessary, but a light dusting of fungicide can be helpful. Insert the cuttings vertically into a pre-dibbed hole about 2 inches apart. If in doubt about which way is up, lay them horizontally. Most do not need heat, although Ceanothus and Romneya do better with a little bottom heat. Buds will appear in spring. Shoot growth often precedes root growth, so do not pot on too quickly. Occasionally roots will only sprout from the new shoots, and this will also take longer.
• Layer plants
Shrubs such as rhododendrons, cotinus and hazel, which are difficult to propagate, can be layered.
Roots are induced to develop by covering a stem with soil while it is still attached to the parent plant. The rooted portion of the stem is then separated and grown on. The stem to be layered is usually cut, ring-barked or twisted. This partially interrupts the flow of hormones and carbohydrates which, as they accumulate at the wound site, promote root growth. A rooting hormone can also be used.
Simple layering
Best done between autumn and spring. The parent should be young and can be pruned the previous season to produce vigorous, flexible stems low down on the plant. A slanting cut is made on the underside of the stem which is firmly pegged or secured at that point into the soil. The shoot tip is tied to a vertical cane. Formation of sufficient roots will usually take twelve months.
Serpentine layering
Used for plants with long, pliable stems, such as clematis. Mound the stems with soil, leaving only the buds exposed.
Natural layering
Some plants, such as strawberries, naturally produce runners. These root at the node, forming a new plant.
Tip layering
Commonly used for blackberries. In summer, a young, vigorous shoot tip is buried in a hole 3-4 inches deep. A new shoot appears a few weeks later – roots will already have developed.
Mound layering
The stems of a young parent plant are cut back in late winter or early spring to within three inches of the ground. When the new shoots are 6-8 inches long, mound soil up over their bases, and again twice more until summer. By autumn, the stems will have rooted. Can be used for woody plants, including sage, thyme, hebe, and for hardy geraniums.
Trench layering
Primarily used for fruit rootstocks, but the same technique can be used to plant hedges, e.g. with roses, where there are not enough plants to fill the space. The parent plant is planted at an angle so that its shoots can be pegged down in shallow trenches (about 2 inches deep) and covered with soil.
• Divide plants
Dividing clumps will rejuvenate them, as well as increase the stock. For hardy perennials, division can be undertaken as they are dying down in autumn or just before growth starts in spring. Late flowering perennials such as Michaelmas daisies should be left until spring. Grasses, ferns and many border perennials benefit from being divided every 3-4 years.
Lift, divide and replant old clumps of rhubarb.
Early flowering perennials, such as primulas, doronicum (leopard’s bane) and pulmonaria (lungwort) do best if divided immediately after flowering.
Some plants resent root disturbance, and should be divided as little as possible – Paeonia, Helleborus, Anemone x hybrida (Japanese anemone) and alstroemeria are in this category.
Some of the ornamental grasses, particularly, need to be cut with a sharp knife or spade. The old, woody centres should be discarded, retaining the vigorous new growths on the outside. If you take very small divisions, these may be best potted up first. Replant as quickly as possible to prevent the roots from drying out.
• Grafting and budding
This involves taking stem or bud cuttings from the plant you want to propagate and grafting it onto a stock. Most roses are produced this way, although roses will grow on their own roots. Many ornamental trees and shrubs are grafted, and almost all fruit trees. Grafting may restrict size (fruit trees), give added vigour (roses) or advance flowering (wisteria), but it does lead to suckers from the rootstock. If these are not removed, the more vigorous rootstock will take over and the grafted plant will die.
Jo Hanslip
October 2011
Until next week, then!
Jo