Campanula Family for the Rockery

Members of the Buttercup family are called Ranunculaceae. To grow the plants successfully beware the seeds tend to have a short period of viability and need planting straight away.

I was tempted to cut the leaves from my hellebore a bit early this year but have decided to wait a bit longer. Here is a selection of 2018 flowers from RHS and my garden.

One gardeners Daisy is another gardeners weed. This Ox- Eye daisy is made up from numerous white ray flowers surrounding a bright yellow disk flower or florets the outer white petals are common in many daisies. Bellis perennis is the common daisy growing in meadows and many lawns. Lots of children will be familiar with the Daisy chains made by linking flowers together.

Abeliophyllum distichum also called White Forsythia is more refined than traditional yellow Forsythia to which it is distantly related, both being part of the Olive family.

A call this a rock box as it is one way of displaying rockery plants above ground level.

The best trees for chalk soil conditions tend to be locally grown and not be Dutch imports. In fact they resemble shrubs more than trees but there are the odd exception that are tree like.

A rock garden is a grand place to display your alpine plants. You can shade them with rocks, provide deep root runs and provide rain cover with perspex roofs

Alstromeria are one of the longest lived cut flowers I know. Several weeks of flowering are possible if the bunch is bought with colour just showing. Ensure there is plenty of bud and you will be delighted.

Alpine or border Campanulas come in many species and varieties.

This is one of the many books in my collection but the only one to focus on growing big, bigger and biggest vegetables. If you want to grow giant vegetable for exhibition or to get large crops then there are many pointers in ‘How to Grow Giant Vegetables’ by Bernard Lavery and below.

Succulents demonstrate the ability to adapt and survive in the harshest of environments. They are well known for growing in dry inhospitable locations such as desert areas.  As shown in the range of families in this plant group there is an astonishing variety of size, shape, form  and colour to be found.

My perennial Phlox have been a good stalwart flower for cutting and filling a vase this last few weeks. I found the pink colours had more scent but all the Phlox seemed to drink copious amounts of water (I wondered if water and scent were related). The Penstemon in the same vase as the Phlox was not as successful as they had a far shorter life. Another successful long lasting cut flower is the Alstromeria. The Reds performed better than the yellows but both lasted over a week.