Last updated 10:31, Thursday, 14 August 2008

Gardening with Toni Magean, head of Parks at Copeland Council

Hollyhock: Can be prone to wind damage

I KNOW the recent weather feels more like autumn than mid-summer – and how the garden has felt the effects.

Many of the blooms from my baskets and troughs have been damaged by the heavy rain and the larger blooms, such as my cascading begonias, have been knocked to the ground. The strong winds have also blown over some of my taller perennials, particularly the hollyhocks which I have now cut back and added additional support.

I spent quite a bit of time removing the damaged blooms and cutting back the growth to my petunias. Although I grow varieties of petunias which are described as resistant to wet weather such as the wave and tidal series, it was clear the West Cumbrian weather has proved too challenging for them. However, if we do see a dry spell again, I am sure they will respond with a wonderful display.

Last week I was invited by the Friends of Egremont Castle and Grounds to attend the Nationwide Community and Heritage Regional Awards, which was held at the Lowry in Manchester. The friends group was selected as regional finalist and was the only group from Cumbria.

The award was presented to the group for their community work in the grounds of the castle. The gardens and grounds are simply wonderfully maintained and the friends’ group has driven a number of improvements and added new features to the gardens.

While the weather has restricted activities in the garden, I have been busy under cover preparing my seed trays as it is the ideal time for sowing perennial seeds. Once germinated these will be pricked into trays or pots so to establish before the onset of the winter. In the spring they will be put into position in the garden.

Perennials I have sown this week are:-

Alcea rosea “Majorette” (Hollyhock). Native to Asia, this is a dwarf flowering hollyhock providing a colourful range of double powderpuff flowers reaching to a height of 3 feet, and given the recent wind damage to my hollyhocks this year I hope this will be a more suitable variety for the exposed parts of my garden.

Digitalis parviflora (Spanish Foxglove) – a true perennial and is native to northern Spain. Plants form a rosette of dark green leaves, bearing tightly packed stems of unusual rusty-red to brown flowers in early summer.

Papaver Orientale “Fruit Punch” (Oriental Poppy) – native to Turkey, the plants form clumps and as the buds open, they reveal crumpled, translucent petals that unfurl into striking cupped flowers with black centres – incidentally Scarlet was the only available colour until the 1930s and 1940s. However, Fruit Punch provides a mixture of vibrant reds, hot pinks, bright orange and illusive plum shades.

Geranium psilostemon Fluorescent (Cranesbill) – native to the Mediterranean region, this variety has incredible fluorescent, shimmering pink flowers with a jet black eye which creates a carpet effect just above the foliage.

Although it takes a lot longer to maturity, I always find growing plants from seed a lot more rewarding.