Flower Power : Poppy

 

 

 

 

R U soppy 4 a poppy?

 

Maybe you should be, as

 

They’re not so crazy as a daisy
 

Much more frilly than a lily
 

With less danger than your hydrangea
 

But, more hocus pocus than any crocus
 

 

 

Nothing like it is there, when you’re driving along, you round a bend and suddenly see the mellow but vibrant landscape of a poppy field.  






Simplistic, but astonishingly breath-taking.  In fact they radiate an almost spectral glow, shimmering in the sunlight. 

Monet saw it. 

We are keenly aware that nothing written about poppies could ever be complete without a dedication to those; our fallen.  Our heroes.  Remembrance that these simple but exquisite blooms will always hold that poignant significance. 






Immortalised last year (2014) in the installation by Paul Cummins and Tom Piper at the Tower of London in memoriam of the centenary of the outbreak of World War I.  Almost one million ceramic poppies filling the moat at The Tower.

Lest we forget

 

Never in the field of human conflict 

has so much been owed by so many

to so few

 

Yet there's also perversity, as despite this association with purity, grace and hope, the seemingly innocent poppy, due to it's medicinal, hallucinogenic and narcotic compounds is also taint by the dark arts.  The very epitome of juxtapose. 

 

 

 

There are so many varieties of poppies, from the stubborn, near impossible but irresistible and striking blue meconopsis through to the delicious but fleeting co-operative little annual varieties that you can sow anywhere and will reward with their deliciously almost fluorescent blooms fluttering and dancing about. 

 

 

We’ve seeded various varieties in our beds here.  Some tall, some short, some annuals, some perennials and as most are reliable and they’re always a joy, we should see consecutive flowering from June right through to the first frosts.  From the gentle Shirley to the tall and elegant Double Paeony and of course the stunning, ravishing and brilliant architectural traditional Oriental Poppies which no garden could be complete without. 

BRING IT ON.

 

 

 

As if that weren't enough, in addition we’ve also decided on a little experiment.  Always prepared (dear reader) as we are to go that extra mile for you, we’ve planted some poppy seeds, of the type sold as groceries for human consumption, just to see if they're hardy enough to withstand virtually anything and still respond.  They’re probably heat treated, pasteurised and pulverised by the food industry so as to render them useless, but who knows?  We’ll keep you posted should anything come of that.  Of course, if this were to work, you’d never have to buy seeds ever again, as one 85p packet could potentially last you a lifetime, provided you like poppies and you only want one variety of flower in your garden for all of forever – in which case – back of the net. 

 

Elsewhere we’re also trying some Meconopsis, to see if we can have any success with these obdurate and intractable rascals.  Apparently they take eight weeks just to germinate and will demand constant vigilance thereafter, taking up to two years to flower - if at all.  Nothing ventured …………………….

 

 

I was infuriated the other morning (as doubtless you'll concur)  to come down and discover the first giant bud on our mysterious self seeders, just on the very cusp of its burst to glory, had been plucked at its prime - snapped off. 

 

Just snapped right off?  W.T.F.

 

How?? 

 

Why?? 

 

 

We take a very dim view of such shenanigans and there’s no place here at the USG-Plot for any delinquent vandalism and obviously we are keen to stamp out this and deter any similar violations or further recidivist activity.  So if you, or someone you know, has any information regarding this offence which could result in the possible apprehension of the miscreant:  please contact our incident room. 

 

 

In the meantime pop in some poppies to brighten up your borders and get some delightful diversity of colours and textures swaying in your breeze and bringing some dazzle into your daze.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoeing & Mowing

 

 

HAVE YOU GOT YOUR DUCKS IN A ROW?? 

 

We’re keeping a lid on things here but it’s a bit of a mission between the weeds, weather fluctuations and ramshackle fencing. 

It all needs maintaining though as the key to keeping your garden looking as though it’s all togged up in its Sunday spats every day of the week is to keep it tidy. 
 

   

Provided the edges are neat, the grass is mown and everything’s deadheaded, you’re good to go. 

 

 

A TV gardener once advised not to work against nature.  Except that you kind of are; this is pretty much exactly what you’re endeavouring to do. 

This advice entirely defeats the object, if the object be to produce a chocolate box cottage style garden or a more formal planting arrangement like you’d expect to see on a day out at a stately home or garden attraction.  As nature doesn’t specifically set everything out in nice neat formal rows with pretty ditsy things bobbing and trailing from pots and hanging baskets. 

 

Nature steps straight up with the big guns, gigantic great stalking weeds with leaves as big as umbrellas which look as though they’d obliterate all other life forms.  Left to its own inclinations it will spread and sprawl around, the prolific plants invading and eliminating the softer and weaker types in this madly competitive frenzy.  If you allowed nature to architect your planting style you’d have knotweed, hogweed, bindweed and brambles all entangled and competing as far as the eye could see. 

 

No; TV gardener.  I think we very much need to work at variance with nature.

 

 

So keeping it tidy is the key to achieving maximum satisfaction. 

Though this one might be over egging it a tad, interspersing geraniums with plastic topiary – not leaving anything to chance here. (twerps) 

 

 

 

 

The more you learn about plants the keener you become to develop your knowledge, experiment with different varieties and start collecting.  But, unless you have unlimited space you could end up over-stocking.  We made the mistake of overplanting at our last house.  We had a small area of approx. 15m² overplanted with:

 

Ceanothus

Weigela

Pyracantha

Cornus

Lilac

Hebe

Chaenomeles

Hardy Fuschia

Hibiscus

Verbena Bonariensis

 

Shall I go on?? 

 

OK:

 

Jasmine

Passiflora

Climbing roses

Kerria japonica

Viburnum

Eryngium

Euphorbia

Clematis

Phygelius

Caryopteris

Crocosmia

Hemerocallis

 

Yes, it was a problem requiring hours every weekend between May-September just to prune it back and keep it under control.  Instead of relaxing and enjoying the garden half of every weekend was lost in pruning and lopping, trying to regain some appearance of order.  You’ll then find, as it’s so difficult to infiltrate the general melee, that other low growing things are encroaching from below and gradually taking over underneath. 

 

Then came the bramble invasion.  They were sending runners underground and sprouting up pretty much everywhere. 

In less accessible places they were growing strongly upwards on thick branches and becoming matted and entangled with the established shrubs and rampaging into the neighbouring gardens. 

We hacked them, throttled them and poisoned the roots but all to no avail.  It was a mystery as to how they appeared because this wasn’t a problem for the first ten years, then suddenly they were there and out of control ever after.  Hence why we are sticking to annual and low growing manageable perennials here at the USG-Plot.

 

 

Check out garden competition winners.  Whatever their style, be it tropical or a formal knot garden you’ll see one prevailing feature, everything’s manicured to within an inch of its life.  It's all been meticulously planned, prepared and maintained with military-like precision.  No weed would dare venture in and the plants are all verdant, robust and razzle dazzle cat's pyjamas. 

 

I know there’s a slide away from this toward informal meadow style planting, which is preferable to some and lightens the workload but this ain’t what gets your visitors gazing round with their tongues lolling out.

 

 

 

It’s a good idea to have everything, but everything, planted, tidied, swept, mown and deadheaded in time for Wimbledon so you can snuggle in to watch the tennis and only have to peel yourself away for the most urgent of watering, mowing or chopping some mint to lightly refresh your Pimms. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soil & Toil

 

 

When you take on your first garden there are some hard and fast rules but there’s nothing to stop you breaking all the rules and being an experimental maverick.  Anything goes really as all in all gardening’s a bit of an unknown quantity. 

There are a new young and funky generation of garden designers now coming through at the big shows, all trying to make their mark and put their stamp on designing. 

Gone are the beardy weirdies to make way for these new wave fashion forward kids all trying to be cleverly esoteric, knock off a few corners and blur the lines of the established hierarchy while going for GOLD in the arenas of horticultural. 

 
But are we really seeing anything new, or just niche? 

 

Isn't it all a bit passé and pastiche? 

 

With the pros all competing to be top banana leaf, the messages and inspirational representations all get a bit convoluted in the over-styling; especially for those who are happy with old school and just want to look at some pretty flower combinations. 

 

 

 

Do we want fast paced fashion forward design at home?  After all, you wouldn’t plant up your new garden and invite the neighbours in and explain to them:  

 

This is the water feature which signifies the flow between nature and spirituality, the alliums clasp the universe and the fig tree is mystic symbolism of creation, divinity and the symbiotic representation of the emergence of humanity transcending its ephemeral journey. 

 

Trust me, they’ll be after you with a net before you can say pergola. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, it all goes to prove that everyone has different ideas so no need to ask “can I do this – or can I do that?”.  Yes you can – just do it.  You could end up with some costly mistakes but that can happen even if you read all the books and heed all the advice, so take a chance. 

 

For any Morse or Midsomer Murders fans you can approach it like all a bit like a murder mystery?? 

Will my tomatoes get struck down by Blight? 

Will I ever get my Wisteria into bloom? 

Will the slugs obliterate my Delphiniums?  

As every day’s a new day in the garden, you’ll just have to wait and see. 

We have two dwarf sunflowers this year planted next to each other in identical pots, in identical compost.  One is the first sunflower in the garden to bloom, the other has completely shrivelled away – what’s that all about?? 

BONKERS



Anyway, how ever the mop flops you’ll have unexpected successes and plenty of disappointments, so just enjoy yourself.

 

We had a mystery of our own a couple of weeks ago.  Every morning bucket loads of earth and compost were being scattered all across the path. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick sweep to restore order.  Next day it’s all strewn everywhere again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It turned out to be a certain Mr/s Blackbird who were scratching around in the newly dug beds.  At first I thought they were foraging for nesting materials from the compost detritus, until it became obvious they were after the worms residing close to the surface of the freshly turned earth.  Which is fine, excepting of course if you’re a worm(!!!!!)  Not sure how much damage they were causing by also disturbing, at best, thieving, at worst, all the seeds newly sown in there a couple of weeks earlier. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doubt if the Springwatch Team’d agree though.  They’d likely have an O.B. Unit, 2 producers and a thermal imaging camera all over it. 

 

Me.  I’d even the score with another: two and twenty blackbirds, some hot water crust pastry and a nice drop of #gravy.  TWEET that my little bird brained, fine feathered friends.   

 

So enjoy your garden.  If I were ever asked for the best gardening advice (which believe me is unlikely).  I’d reply, Don’t procrastinate.  One thing I’ve learned is that if the weather is on your side, get outside and get your jobs done.  Before I found it a pleasure to be dithering about outside and instead it was a chore; I used to put off going out and tackling the weeding, clearing and tidying and instead fiddle about inside time wasting.  But if you want to complete a task and the weather is on your side then get out and get it done, because in this climate you have no guarantees that once it starts raining it won’t rain for 40 days (and 40 nights).  So get your tubs planted up, the herb garden weeded or your climbers tied in while the going’s good and then once it’s raining at least you can look out with satisfaction on a job well done and of course a bit of rain’s always welcome, because at least it saves us having to do any watering.  Another job done.