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Monthly Musings from Moors Meadow Garden
Another month over, it doesnt seem much more than a few days since I wrote
my piece for October, at the rate time flies I will be half way through December
before I have started November. I am sure when I turn round suddenly I catch
sight of myself going backwards in a different direction!
I had a quick amble around the garden yesterday to see what was happening
and which jobs I ought to be getting on with, please note the emphasis on
ought, well maybe I will make a start tomorrow!
We have been parting the Crocosmia Emily Mackenzie which has become very
congested so the flowers have not been so prolific, we now have a barrow load of
corms to re-plant in the lower garden en-mass around the Parrotia persica
(Persian Witch Hazel).
There are a lot of plants which need parting or moving completely from the
long herbaceous border such as various Geraniums, Ligularia and Lysimachia
clethroides (must remember to pot some up for Shirley),and maybe some Stachys
macrantha, they will all be moved to the lower garden to see if they will come
in the grass, the more the better as it all means less strimming for me.
I have been looking at how much needs pruning, in places it needs a good
seeing to but mostly it will be just a gentle snip here and there as we gave it
all a good hack back last winter.
The autumn colours are looking good with some colourful Kniphofia (Red Hot
Pokers) and a variety of Acers (Maple), the bright pink Nerine (Spider Lily),
and the red and yellowed berried Viburnum opulus (Guelder Rose). The
Cercidiphyllum (Katsura Tree) is good at this time of year not just for the leaf
colours of various mixtures of yellow, pink, orange and red but the distinctive
fragrance which pervades the garden of toffee apples.
Of particular notice at the bottom of the garden is a very striking
Geranium which is a mass of purple flowers with a scarlet centre. The plants are
about 2ft (60cm) high and have spread tremendously for excellent ground cover. I
wish I could remember the name but with well over 300 species I would need a
special Geranium book to find it, I suppose I could make one up.
Earlier today I had a lovely treat of seeing a Kingfisher on the dragonfly
sculpture in the lake.
Mellors the new hand is beginning to make a difference, albeit
slowly.
Plant of the month: Fuchsia Mrs Popple
This genus of about 100 species are from South and Central America except
for 4 species from New Zealand and one from Tahiti. Most of the American species
inhabit areas of very high rainfall, sometimes growing as epiphytes or on
boulders in moss forests and are pollinated by humming birds.
There are thousands of hybrids and cultivars developed for the pendulous
flowers in a range of shades of red, white, pink and purple. They are deciduous
or evergreen trees, shrubs or perennials.
Mrs Popple, I am not sure who Mrs Popple was, is one of the most hardy
and is a bushy shrub of about 3ft (1m) and prefers moist well drained soil in
sun or light shade. It is easily propagated from cuttings, I have also moved
some big plants at the same time splitting them to make several more.
In the garden, when my parents moved here in 1955, there was just a Lilac,
a Bay Tree and Fuchsia Mrs Popple which are all still here.
Gardeners dictionary:
Epiphyte - A plant that grows on the trunk, branch, twig, or even leaves of
another plant but does not take steal nourishment from its host as does a
parasite.
Hybrid - a plant grown from cross-pollination of two different species or
two different strains of one species
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