July Notebook

Garden tasks for July

• Get more out of your bedding displays and repeat flowering perennials; start dead heading and extend the season of plants such as pelargonium, day lily and bearded iris.
• Do your research and avoid disappointment before you collect and sow seed from your favourite plants in the garden. Some seed is best sown fresh, immediately after it is collected, some is better kept dry until the spring, and the most tricky sometimes require periods of high and low temperatures to break dormancy before they will germinate.
• Cut leylandii, western red cedar and other conifer hedges several times throughout the growing season. Don’t be tempted to put it off until the autumn. Cutting conifers too late in the year will result in ugly bare patches which will fail to re-grow.
• Apply a summer lawn food if your grass is starting to look tired. If the problem persists repeat feed again but no later than August. Promoting too much leafy growth after your lawn has peaked will be detrimental to its health.
• Plant autumn flowering bulbs now for a spectacular display in September and October. Varieties of Nerine and Amaryllis are some of the best producing bold pink and pure white flowers late in the year. Both should be planted in groups of five or more just below the surface of the soil.

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Old Lions #2

In June’s Old Lions the Friends of Winterbourne met a remarkable ginkgo tree with some ancient relatives.

Ginkgo and Wisteria, Old Lion, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Ginkgo biloba, Old Lion, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Ginkgo biloba, photograph by Jenny Lilly

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Looking good this month:

Parahebe ‘Snow Clouds’ in the Australasian Border

Clematis x durandii in the Walled Garden

Dierama pulcherrimum in the Pink and Blue Border

Dierama igneum behind the Gilbert Orchid House

Styrax japonicus near the Japanese Tea House

Dactylorhiza in the Key Hole Bog

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