Oenothera biennis Our Evening Primrose

The English obsession with grass came into being in the 17th century, when the close cut lawn was a status symbol of the rich. Only they could afford to take land out of production for purely aesthetic purposes, and maintaining a lawn before the invention of the mower was a highly skilled and labour-intensive process. The middle classes started growing lawns from the 1860s onwards, and the Victorian popularity for outdoor sports led to their proliferation. Grass species from the Old World were taken to America during this period, and the lawn took there over in the early 20th century. In 2005, NASA published research suggesting that lawns (including residential and commercial lawns and golf courses) were the single largest irrigated ‘crop’ in America, covering about 128,000 square kilometres. In 2013 there were upwards of 15 millions lawns in Britain, costing us £54 million in fertilisers and £127 million on lawn mowers.

So many recent, trendy aesthetics are loud and impactful—patterns are bolder, colors are brighter, and palettes are warmer. In fact, a lot of the latest viral trends, including grandmillennial, maximalism, and even Barbiecore, are beloved because they make such a statement. 

Missouri, situated in the heart of the United States, boasts a range of USDA Hardiness Zones (5 to 7) due to its diverse climate and geographical variations. In this comprehensive guide, you will learn about the planting zones of Missouri, providing local gardeners with valuable insights to make informed decisions for thriving landscapes.

Q: We have a Malus (ornamental crab apple tree) in our back garden, which has grown from small to its present 20ft over 15 years. It buds and flowers nicely, but then turns a bit shabby. It doesn’t seem like a healthy tree. Can you help? We are debating whether we need to remove it and replace it. If it does need to be removed, what replacement would you suggest? CF, Co Kilkenny

Courgettes

This summer has been damp and the plants have grown lush. In some way this has contributed to a dramatic cut in the number of greenfly on my roses and other plants (perhaps they found other feeding grounds or did not mate as prolifically).

Yellow can be a difficult colour in the garden and I know of one keen gardener that tries to avoid all Yellow flowers. However this Potentilla or cinqufoil grabbed my attention hence the yowser headline. No wonder the Potentilla is also known as the Buttercup shrub as the strong yellow is reminiscent of the field buttercup.

2018 has been a very good year for Primroses and Primula. The cool, wet spring and occasional bursts of sunshine have played their part.

Grasses give a rich combination of autumnal colours

This is Gardeners Tips 2,000 extant post since April 2008. I have lost count how many photographs and images have been included but here are just a few repeats.

As gardeners mature they enter a purple patch in their life and potentially in the garden. Some of the best plants with purple or coppery coloured leaves take several years to mature like the notional gardener. Amongst the favourites must be the copper beech and the many Acers with reddish leaves.

I have been reading the Penguin Encyclopedia of Gardening which aims to provide ‘….an explanation of words used in a technical sense in a horticultural context in the UK and USA.’ Set out as an A to Z this resulting post, missing a thousand definitions, is unlikely to rank highly with search engines.