• 4 months ago
Transcript
00:00Hello, welcome to Gardener's World. These Pak Choy, although they're still growing,
00:17have started to go to seed, so they've passed their best, and the last couple of days they
00:22have been ravaged by either pigeons or pheasants. I haven't caught either in the act, but both
00:28have that distinctive pattern of tearing at the leaves, and these certainly have been
00:32torn up. So, their days are done, and I need to clear the bed and prepare it for spring
00:39vegetables when the ground warms up in a few weeks' time.
00:43Talking about spring, of course we had the spring equinox a few days ago, so although
00:49the weather here at Longmeadow is a little grey and chilly today, the days are getting
00:55longer. On tonight's programme, we visit the Isle of Wight to meet a gardener with
01:02a consuming passion for daylilies. There's a daylily for everybody, and they come from
01:07two inches, tiny little plants to five foot tall. And Frances goes to the Royal Botanic
01:14Gardens in Edinburgh to explore their magnificent collection of gingers. Look at this, this
01:20is amazing. This is beautiful, isn't it? And I shall be getting my daylilies and cannas
01:26out of their winter protection to spark them on to their journey into summer. On top of
01:32that, I shall be sowing some exotic annuals to give me some late-season colour. Come on
01:39then, let's go, let's get rid of this. Come on, good girl.
01:51As the snowdrops fade for about a month afterwards, it's the perfect moment to lift and divide
02:06them. Snowdrops spread by seed quite successfully, but relatively slowly. And of course you can
02:12plant them as bulbs, but by far the best way to increase your stock of snowdrops is to
02:18take a clump, lift it, divide it, and replant it in two or three different sections. And
02:26you can see that if I take that and just gently with my hand break that, and that gives me
02:32two substantial clumps quite quickly, within about a year or two we'll double in size.
02:37You take half your snowdrops and divide them into two, you've automatically doubled your
02:42stock and then that's going to double in a couple of years, and if you do it every year,
02:46it's surprising how quickly you can go from say a dozen plants to a beautiful white snowy
02:53drift of flowers. And there's a snowdrop bulb, nice big bulb, nice and healthy, root system
03:01beneath it, and whatever you do, don't cut the foliage off, because as that dies back
03:09it would feed the bulb which is going to contain next year's flower.
03:13These snowdrops on this side have only been here about four years, and they were planted
03:23singularly all the way along, so you can see that they have spread pretty well already.
03:28And snowdrops are unusual among spring bulbs in that they really enjoy woodland conditions,
03:38that is slightly damp, but there are always trees present. You never see snowdrops in a
03:44big open field, they need a bit of shade and some moisture. I really want to bulk up on this side,
03:56these ones are only two years old, and we cut this hedge back in the winter to reveal them,
04:03but what it's revealed is it's a bit patchy, so if I can plant a few in here we can start
04:11to bulk it out. And also I don't want them to look like rows of park bedding,
04:16it should look as natural as possible. Now Longmeadow is fairly damp at the moment,
04:26but you mustn't let them dry out, and although the chances of fine dry weather in March and April
04:34are pretty slim, if it is very dry it's a good idea to keep them watered. So what I like to do
04:40is water them in and then maybe water them again before the leaves die back. Once the leaves have
04:45died back you can forget all about them, they'll look after themselves. I do love snowdrops,
04:54I guess everybody does, but for me it's the mast effect that looks so good. There's no
04:59question there are some people who channel their horticultural energy into the love of just one
05:05plant. Last summer we went to the Isle of Wight to meet a man and share his enthusiasm for his
05:13special plant. I'm Nick Pearce, my passion is Hemerocallis or daylilies. A daylily literally
05:29because every flower just lasts one day. There's a daylily for everybody and they come from two
05:37inches tiny little plants to things about five foot tall. It's a hobby that's gone a bit mad.
05:44It started when I came to the Isle of Wight and I was looking for a nice place to live and I found
05:51this beautiful little cottage and the fantastic thing about it was it has this marvellous great
05:57long garden. I put up a greenhouse and I thought well why don't I start hybridising my own. I
06:04really had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know what was good and I was just pollinating
06:11everything with everything without any kind of clear direction or focus. I mean now looking back
06:16I realise how awful they were but that's the thing about growing anything from seed or trying to
06:21introduce a new variety is that you have to grow hundreds to actually find one good one. I mean it
06:27may take you like 10 years before you register your first variety but every year thereafter you've
06:32got a new set of seedlings coming along. So these are my daylily seed beds basically. These are all
06:44my seedlings that I'm trialling. I'm going to see how big it's going to grow, how big the flower is,
06:52how tall the scape is, how multi-branched it is, what the foliage is like, whether it's clean,
06:56whether it grows well, whether it clumps or whether it just stays and grows very slowly.
07:00So it's basically trying to see whether it's garden worthy as well as being a beautiful flower.
07:06This is Dr. Strangelove. Beautiful quality in the sense that it has these purple streaks. I'm using
07:16that as a parent plant so as the father in this case because I'm taking the pollen and I'm putting
07:21it on this unregistered variety, this seedling which I think is good as a parent and I'm hoping
07:26to get something between the two. What I'd like is this kind of size, that kind of shape but with
07:32some white markings through the flower. So it's just a matter of taking stamen and putting the
07:39pollen from the anther onto the female part of the other flower which is the pistil. The flower
07:45will die tomorrow but hopefully it will start to swell at the base and we'll have some seed for
07:50next year. We're on the eastern tip of the Isle of Wight and we don't get a lot of water and I,
08:00like so many people, have been inspired by Beth Chateau's gravel garden and she doesn't water at
08:05all and I thought I'll go exactly the same way with this. This is a dry area, I can't water it
08:11so I filled the garden with grasses and with my daylilies. The one thing they will do is tolerate
08:18drought better than any other perennial that I know and here they are flowering beautifully.
08:28I've put loads of well-rotted manure and everything in it to try and improve the soil
08:33but other than that they get a good bit of muck when they go in and then they're just left alone
08:38and they are that tough, that good a plant. If you've got a dry, awkward position and most
08:42perennials won't survive then stick a daylily in to just see how beautiful it looks.
08:49This is Selmer longlegs, probably given the name longlegs because it's a lovely tall variety.
08:57It's basically what they call a self because it's the same colour all over,
09:01very free flowering, very nice plant. This is wild wookiee and just another good plant that's just
09:10going to flower really well. This is screaming demon and I've used this quite a lot actually in
09:17the hybridisation programme purely because of the way it flowers, it has this unusual form
09:23and the way it splays and twists and curls, beautiful plant.
09:29There's a peak season for daylilies which is the end of June, beginning of July so at this time
09:34of the year you go through the garden and it's just awash with flower but actually they flower
09:39from May to September. Each flower only lasts a day but you'll have another 100 buds on there so
09:46you'll have it blooming usually for about four to six weeks during the year.
09:51They can look a bit messy afterwards, it's very easy just to hack them back just to give them a
09:55chop and don't be afraid to you know be brutal with them. One thing I've not mentioned is how
10:02bomb-proof they are. I can't put them in the compost because they'll just keep growing,
10:06they're that easy. Once you've got them all you need to do is leave them alone but after a few
10:12years they'll do so well that you're going to need to divide them and you'll have loads of plants
10:16to give to your friends, neighbours, whoever you want to, and then just put a bit of the
10:20plant back in and it'll start all over again for you. It's an easy, beautiful plant.
10:30Everyone should have a daylily in the garden, there's a variety for everyone,
10:33there's a colour for everyone, it's just down to personal choice what you like.
10:37I'm pretty sure we can find one for you.
10:51I certainly agree that there isn't a garden that can't have a Hemerocallis or two or three,
10:57although they don't grow as well here as I'd like them to. I think we're generally too wet,
11:03but one thing that Nick didn't say about them is that they are very good to eat. Add Hemerocallis
11:09flowers to a salad and not only will it make it look good, but they'll taste better too,
11:14they're lovely. I'm cutting back last year's growth on the Pencilmonds here. I kept them on
11:22despite the fact that they look untidy because they do form a protective layer and that means
11:28that the new shoots, which are hardy but only down to about minus five, have survived much colder
11:34weather than that and although they have been bashed and untidy they've done a good job.
11:38However, now is the time to get rid of those and so we can have this year's plant unfettered and
11:45of course it won't flower till mid to late summer, whereas in front that Daphne, very delicately
11:53flowering. Daphnes have never done very well for me, so actually it's double the pleasure to see
12:00them when they do perform and I've got two or three, they're small, they're almost fragile,
12:05but they're very beautiful. Come on Nige, come on, good boy.
12:11Come on.
12:19At this time of year there's real competition for space in the greenhouse because all winter
12:25this is just packed with plants that need protection from the cold. It's not a warm
12:30greenhouse, we keep it at just above five degrees but that's frost protected. The Cannas, for example,
12:36under here are very happy here all winter, cool, kept reasonably moist, water them once a week
12:42and just gently growing and you can see that they're coming into action. There's some nice
12:49new growth here, they're packed in old potting compost so there's no nutrition.
12:54What I'm trying to do is to just keep them ticking over. If they get too big too soon I've got great
13:00big plants that I've got nowhere to put, so that's a little bit of a balancing act. Whereas on this
13:05side, this which looks like nothing and I've just bunged it into an old pot, is Eucomus bicolor.
13:12Now Eucomus likes to be bone dry all winter but frost free and then you add water and a bit of
13:18warmth in summer and it's got that fantastic pineapple flower. So that's two ways of protecting
13:24tender plants but I've got another group which have a very different regime.
13:35This is where I keep all the dahlias over winter. Now it's time to get them out and check them.
13:51These were put away about November this year. The idea is to lift them just after the first frost.
13:57When the leaves blacken then you can lift them up and that means the tubers won't be touched.
14:02I've stored them in plastic and remember we're trying to cut down on plastic but the first and
14:08the best thing you can do with your plastic is to use it because it's the throwing away of it
14:13that is the problem. So they've been stored in plastic and old potting compost and you can see
14:18there's a little bit of growth there in the dark. Now if I lift this up and this is a variety called
14:23Chimboraza which is a lovely red and yellow one for the jewel garden. Get rid of all the loose
14:31compost so you can inspect it. The idea is just to go over each dahlia and make sure it's in good
14:36nick. We use old potting compost but you could use vermiculite if you've got it, sand, any material
14:42that will remain moist without being sopping wet because what we want are nice plump tubers.
14:50Two things I'm looking for is are they shriveled up in which case they're too dry
14:55or are they rotten in which case they're probably too wet although it could have been eaten.
15:00We've got a little bit of problem that's actually slug damage but
15:03that is a nice firm tuber so I'm not going to take that off. There we have a rotten one.
15:10A little bit of mold on there but that's no problem. We've got another shriveled up tuber
15:15there so that can come out. Slightly damaged one but that's okay that's a good plant.
15:23Now there are two things I can do with this at this stage. I can pop them up in fresh compost,
15:28water them, put them somewhere warm and that will trigger them into growth
15:32or I can force them with heat above a radiator or if you've got a heated mat put them on there,
15:40water them, you will get vigorous new growth and that makes great material for cuttings
15:45and actually that's what I'm going to do with this. So I've got fresh compost here. This is a
15:51coir based compost so what we want to do is build new tubers and grow the ones we have
15:58so that they are really strong. We're feeding the roots and the top growth
16:03and the new cut material is going to come from the top there and now that will go on a heated mat
16:12in the greenhouse and I reckon we'll be taking cuttings from that in about four weeks time.
16:17And of course the reason why we go to such trouble with these tender plants, be they dahlias or
16:22cannons or whatever it might be, is because they do add another glorious dimension to the garden
16:28in summer and if you've got a conservatory or a really big greenhouse then you can take it even
16:34further and have a wider range of plants all the year round. And last summer Francis went to
16:42Edinburgh to visit the Royal Botanic Garden to celebrate their amazing collection of indoor tender plants.
16:57When I was about 20 I began to fall in love with plants and gardening so I got myself a job as an
17:02apprentice gardener in Kent and after a few years there I decided I wanted to learn even more so I
17:08came here to study. This is the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Back in 2010 I came here to
17:18learn horticulture and botany. I spent many happy hours here studying some amazing plants
17:25in the glass houses, woodlands, rock garden and in the beautiful herbaceous borders that stretch
17:31for over 160 metres. Along with incredible plants there are some hugely dedicated people who work
17:39here. Today I'm meeting up with Mark Newman who has spent his whole working life travelling the
17:43world studying just one plant family, the gingers. So Mark, why gingers? Well I was looking for a
17:50project when I was starting my PhD in Aberdeen and the lady who was researching the gingers at the
17:58time wanted someone to work on chromosomes so that's what I ended up doing. And you've been
18:02doing gingers ever since? Pretty much ever since, I had one or two other jobs but yeah most of my
18:07life has been on these plants and there's still an awful lot to do. And this is a group that you're
18:12working on at the moment, is that right? That's right, these plants belong in a genus called
18:16globa. These plants have an inflorescence so each one of these is a branch of an inflorescence that
18:22has maybe three or four flowers in it. So there'll be flowers opening day by day over a period of weeks.
18:34Gingers are a huge family, they come from far and exotic places.
18:39Look at this, this is amazing. This is beautiful isn't it? This is Hedicium gardenerianum
18:44which I collected when I was in southwest China in 1996 and it grew there at the edge
18:53of a field at about 800 meters altitude so it's fairly cool but it wouldn't take any frost I think
18:59or perhaps very light frost. I love it for the stature and the waxy coating on the stems
19:07and the bold leaves that stand so well but the colour combination of pale orange and
19:12red filaments is beautiful I think and the scent is filling this house. Is that coming from this?
19:17It is, yes. It's amazing isn't it? And could you grow this in the UK? You could, it needs cool glass
19:24and quite a lot of fertilization, a lot of water when it's growing. These stems grow and flower
19:30once so after they've flowered then you just cut them down completely. Right to the base? Yes, right
19:35to the base. Okay. With those conditions, with a decent summer, it'll flower late in the year
19:41like this. Okay, beautiful. Worth the effort isn't it? It is certainly, yes.
19:49But there are some gingers you may be more familiar with.
19:54Ah, now this is more recognizable isn't it? That's right, this is common ginger.
19:58This particular plant I think is grown from material bought in a supermarket. Really?
20:03It's very easy to grow. If you see these healthy looking buds on a piece in the supermarket,
20:09you just plant it in a free draining soil with quite a lot of fertilizer and keep it well watered
20:16when it's in growth in the summer and keep it warm. It won't take any frost at all so you have
20:21to grow it indoors. We think it's from somewhere in tropical Asia but it's been in cultivation for
20:26so long that we haven't really pinpointed the origin of it but it's well worth growing.
20:32It's got a lovely scent when it's fresh compared to the powdered ginger.
20:38Smells amazing doesn't it? Lovely. And great to cook with as well of course.
20:42This one is cardamom and this one is grown for its fruits rather than its rhizomes. Yes.
20:49This plant is still quite small, it'll grow three or four times
20:53bigger than that before it flowers and then this one here is a young plant of turmeric.
21:00It's a really delicate plant isn't it? It is isn't it? I like the shape of the leaves and
21:03the fact that they're folded like that and then underneath the soil will be rhizomes that look
21:09rather similar to the ginger ones but they're bright yellow when you cut them and have that
21:14characteristic earthy smell. Amazing, all these different plants in the same family.
21:18It is interesting isn't it? So lovely looking and so useful as well.
21:23So there you go. Next time you're in a supermarket, look out for fresh ginger
21:27and maybe try growing it on your windowsill.
21:39I do love the botanic gardens in Edinburgh. One of my favourite gardens in the British Isles.
21:45I also love ginger and I have tried growing it but I found it quite a lot of fuss because it
21:51does need a lot of heat. But there are exotic plants that are very easy to grow from seed
21:57and you don't have to look after them over winter because they're essentially annuals
22:01and you can discard them. And there's a plant that I never would be without,
22:04certainly in the jaw garden, and that is tethonia. Now tethonia is a Mexican sunflower. It's got
22:10fantastic intense orange flowers and works brilliantly on two levels. The first of all
22:17as orange. Orange is a really powerful colour in the garden but also it's the colour opposite of
22:23blue. So if you want to accentuate the blue in your garden, grow some orange next to it
22:27and both colours will be stronger as a result. Now I'm going to sow them in these little planks.
22:33These are made out of coir and you can see there are two different types. That sort of looks like
22:37a tea bag wrapped around it. That actually does have netting around it but you can't see it.
22:42And you simply place them in a seed tray, put them in a basin of water or a sink,
22:48leave them for no more than 5-10 minutes and what you have are plugs and they're just held
22:55in the bag. The seed then grows, the roots form and when they reach the edge of the bag they air prune
23:03and that means they're nice and tight and condensed and you just plant the whole thing out.
23:06If you need to pot it on you will need a container of some sort and you can either recycle a
23:11plastic pot or use another pot that isn't made out of plastic and just pot it on into that.
23:18But we'll worry about that nearer the time. This is Chithonia rotundifolia torch. The seeds
23:26will need some heat to germinate. So if you haven't got a heated mat then certainly above
23:32a radiator. They're quite big seeds which is good because it means that we can really try and just
23:37sow one for each of these plugs. Now with my fingers that's tricky so a little thing that I
23:44often do is I have a container of water and dip a pencil or something in the water and that just
23:50helps you pick up the seed. You see the seed there sticks to the water and then I can just place it
23:56down and take it off. Of course if you have deft and nimble fingers you won't need to resort to
24:06pencils and water. Now when I've sown them and I've placed them on top I'll turn the pencil around
24:14and just push them gently in so they don't fall off. Well that's one tray of Chithonia. I'll probably
24:21sow at least another if not a couple more trays because I do like to have a lot in the garden.
24:26They're a fabulous plant. Now I'm also going to grow a climber called Cobia scandens. It's actually
24:32a perennial but I treat it as an annual here. It's got marvellous sort of bell-shaped flowers.
24:38They're fragrant and what's great about them is that they will start to flower in mid to late
24:44summer and go right on profusely until the weather gets too cold. Now a lot of people will tell you
24:51to soak these before sowing them. That certainly will do no harm. I have never soaked them and
24:58they've always germinated quite well for me but what is a good idea is to put them in sideways.
25:04By putting them on edge you're fixing them into the coir. There's no need to cover it up because
25:12actually light will help germination and again this needs heat and light so put in a bright place
25:20in order to germinate. When it comes to labelling I'm trying out non-plastic labels. These I've
25:28just found they're like lolly sticks. A bit small but wooden labels are perfectly good.
25:34The combination of plenty of heat, light and moisture means that these will now germinate
25:41fairly quickly but they will take their time to develop so particularly with the tethonia
25:45this is something I would get on with so it can get a nice strong plant by mid-summer.
25:49Perhaps, who knows, this could be a job for the weekend and here are some others.
25:58If you've got an apple or a pear tree it's important to get on and do any pruning that
26:08you want to do now but remember pruning in winter stimulates vigorous regrowth and this
26:16new growth will not bear any fruit for at least two and up to four more years so plan ahead.
26:23And the general idea is to create a permanent open framework through which a pigeon can easily fly.
26:34After a hard winter ferns are looking very bedraggled and now is the time to cut off
26:41all top growth to reveal the knuckle of bud that will burst forth with new fronds very soon.
26:48One of the best spring jobs is to mulch your borders. Put a layer of organic material,
26:57and I'm using homemade compost, over all bare soil. The main tip is to keep it good and thick.
27:05Far better to do a small area properly than a thin layer over the whole garden.
27:18In the last few days the frogs here at Long Meadow have really got busy. There are so many
27:33and there's frog spawn there and that is increasing by the day and what frogs like for their frog
27:39spawn is still shallow water. Now it could be a puddle, it could be just a little area, but if
27:44you've got a pond resist any temptation to clean it out, tidy it up or add any plants. Let the frogs
27:51do their thing and their cycle is they come to the water now, they lay the frog spawn, that then
27:56hatches out and the young frogs will leave in summer. The adult frogs will leave the water by
28:02and large and spend most of their time on land in your garden eating slugs so you want to treasure
28:09them apart from the fact that they are completely fascinating. Well that's it for today, don't
28:16forget that this weekend the clocks go forward, the best day in the gardening calendar, and I'll
28:22see you back here at Long Meadow at the same time next week. So until then, bye-bye.
28:52you