One of my favorite fall gardening joys (I call them joys instead of chores) is planting pansies and violas. This is a yearly rite of passage for me that I have been enjoying since childhood. One of my first memories was helping plant pansies in my parent’s garden when I was about three years old.
William Thompson, an Englishman, began experimenting with crossing various species of violas in the 1800s to eventually develop the pansy (Viola x wittrockiana) we all know and love today. Through the years, plant breeders have developed various flower colors in assorted shades of white, red, pink, purple, lavender, blue, yellow, orange, or black. Pansies and their relatives are among the few annual bedding plants with such a wide range of color choices.
Pansies will have the largest flowers but should be deadheaded regularly to bloom well. Violas, on the other hand, will prolifically flower without much deadheading. I would recommend periodically removing seed heads on violas. Remove any damaged leaves to give your plants a boost. I have a great pair of scissors with long, thin blades that I constantly use to deadhead and trim off old foliage.
Can’t make up your mind whether to plant pansies or violas? Then try panolas, a hybrid cross between pansies and violas. Panolas have the cold hardiness and consistent flowering characteristics of a viola but have a larger bloom similar to a pansy.
These are all cool season annuals, and now is the time of year to plant them. They prefer to be planted in organically rich, well-drained soil in full sun. Violas and panolas will tolerate filtered sun better than pansies but will not produce as many flowers. During periods of extremely cold weather, pansies won’t flower as well, as violas tend to
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Interior designer Stephanie Hunt’s seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom Park City, Utah, home is a grown-up, glammed-up, sophisticated version of a funhouse—it’s got so many surprises and delights at every turn. And believe it or not, she got the inspiration for the home on a freezing winter trip to Reykjavík, Iceland. “We were there for a quick weekend trip and I was struck by how the simple barn structures—very close together—looked like one unit. Because we’re art collectors I wondered what it would feel like to have each pod or pavilion, if you will, developed in a simple, honest architectural style, connected by halls and glass elements, with the halls serving sort of in-home art galleries,” she explains.
Ornamental Japanese Maples are widely available for planting in your garden. The autumn colouring makes these trees spectacular when planted en mass in a woodland or Japanese garden setting.
Oak trees conjure up images of Robin Hood and mystical Oak forests. Britain has made good use of Oak trees down the centuries. ‘From little acorns great Oak trees grow’
Hay fever and Asthma attacks can be brought on by Scented Plants as well as pollen or Fungal Spores. Histamin problems can also be exacerbated by scent and smells in the garden.
For something a bit different this book on botanic art covers some of the unusual colours from black flowers, plants and seaweed like strange green, blue and puce pink.
One thing is sure the climate in your garden will change. You already know one week will be different to the next and I can’t remember when two months or any years were the identical to others. In many areas you can get 3 or 4 seasons in one day (or in Scotland one hour!).
Snowdrops are officially called Galanthus. This snowdrop is Galanthus elwessii with larger than normal blooms and a honey scent the other main species are Nivalis and Plicatus. The snowdrop is very hardy, grows in most soils and prefers partial shade.
Arduaine Garden in Scotland is well-known in international Rhododendron circles for the number of wonderful species grown here, many of which are considered tender elsewhere and grow unusually under a canopy of mature Japanese larch. To some people, rhododendrons are those unpleasant purple-flowered objects which clog up our native woodlands. This is but one species, Rhododendron ponticum or a hybrid of it which spreads rapidly both by seed and sucker. Arduaine’s collection is extensive containing about 400 distinct species. The rhododendrons range from the large-leaved giants such as Rhododendron protistum, Rhododendron sinogrande and Rhododendron macabeanum to the small-leaved, high altitude plants which are often classed as rock plants, a sample of which would include Rhododendron fastigiatum, impeditum and orthocladum. In between these two extremes sit the majority of species of differing sizes with a variety of foliage shapes and an astonishing range of flower colour and form. One of the specialities is the only Rhododendron from Ceylon – Rhododendron arboreum subsp. zeylanicum.