Down In The Basement

Gardens below street level can be very damp and gloomy places. Plants with dark green foliage tend to do best here but you need some flowers to bring in the light. Colours can be difficult to use and my preference would be stick with white.

White busy lizzies (Impatiens) are safe choice and so are white begonias. You could try the larger tuberous begonias as well as the smaller waxy-flowered bedding types. Zantedeschia aethiopica, the giant white arum, commonly sold as a houseplant, is perfectly hardy and will provide a striking display in a damp basement. For more subtle effects, try Aquilegia ‘Munstead White’, with its cute upturned bonnets in early summer, or one of the many tellima varieties with there delicate frothy flower heads in white or cream.

At Little Green Space (the online urban gardening site) there are shady ready planted boxes available for those who are busy and want instant splendour.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Healthy Mints

I love mints and there are loads of different types to experiment with, including from apple, banana, chocolate, lemon and pineapple to ginger, along with the more usual peppermint and spearmint varieties. However, I would be loath to plant them in the garden because once they get established they run everywhere. In pots, they can be a lot of fun. You need to keep them moist though and repot plants once they become straggly.

Mint can also be fun for the children when grown in window boxes. It is pretty hardy. Have a look at the range of containers at online stores like little green space.

If your plants looks a bit and pale and weak in the spring, and later develop orange spots and start to lose their leaves, they have got the dreaded mint rust disease. If you are starting mint from scratch, especially if someone has given you a few runners, you can protect mint plants from infection. What you do is dip the runners (the rooty bits without leaves) in warm water heated to 45 degrees C. Use a thermometer, it mustn’t be hotter than this. Leave them for ten minutes then rinse in cold water before planting.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Which Camelia to Choose?

You don’t have to walk far in many parts of London to see just how well camellias thrive in pots. Given some light shade, a little bit of shelter and an ericaceous compost, they smother themselves in bloom from early to late spring.

If you look more closely, you may have noticed that some camellias hold on to their flowers until they turn brown while others shed their coloured petals everywhere once the blooms mature.
There are lots of different camellias but the ones you see in London gardens are nearly always varieties of the Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica) or one of the Camellia x williamsii hybrids. The former hold on to their dead blooms, the later drop their petals.

Which to choose? I would always go for the one that looks without the need for deadheading. But, if you have a bad back or don’t like sweeping, the Japanese types may be your taste.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(Little Green Space have used Camelia for several corporate projects and found them to be very popular).

A Gardening Medical Chest

The Chelsea Physic Garden, founded in 1673 by the Society of Apothecaries, is still one of London’s best-kept secrets but it is a must for anyone seriously interested in the healing power of plants. The Garden of World Medicine is truly fascinating with beds containing healing plants used by different ethnic groups. A feature that I am very keen to see is the new Pharmaceutical Garden.

With slightly quirky opening times (12-5pm on Wednesday to Friday and 12-6pm on Sundays), it pays to plan your visit. You’ll find the entrance tucked away in Swan Walk just on the left past the National Army Museum in Royal Hospital Road (nearest tube Sloane Square). The cafÈ is particularly good and you’ll find interesting plants on sale.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(The Little Green Space Ladybird often visits the Chelsea Physic Garden - a truly magnificent day out. If the owner of this picture would like credit, please let us know. We would also be happy to take it down if required,)

Ferns for Dry Shade

Not all ferns need damp conditions. Some naturally grow in very dry parts of woods and these are especially useful for planting in dry soil beneath trees, next to walls, or a fillers or underplanting for containers.

1. Toughest of all is the male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas). It’s deciduous with typically divided ferny leaves, disappearing completely from autumn till spring. This British native grows around 60cm but there are several more ornamental forms that only reach half this size.
2. Hard shield fern (Polystichum aculeatum). A bold evergreen forming plants around 30cm tall and 60cm across.

3. Soft shield fern (Polystichum setiferum). A big evergreen fern growing about 90cm across and almost as tall. The variety ‘Divisilobum’ grows almost flat.
4. Golden scale fern (Dryopteris affinis ). Interesting habit of remaining evergreen for most of the winter and then flopping in early spring before the new fronds unfurl. The shuttlecock form ‘Polydactyla’ is particularly striking.
5. Hart’s tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium). If you’ve ever seen the tongue of deer, the fronds are about the size and shape. It’s evergreen and seems totally unbothered about what soil it grows in.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Readers should note that many of the ready planted window boxes and container gardens at little green space contain different types of fern and add shape and structure to the overall effect. (tip from the litle green space ladybird).

Grasses

Grasses can make superb specimens for large pots where there form can be really appreciated. They are mostly pretty drought-tolerant, rarely suffer from pests and diseases, and never need more than annual haircut. Here are of three of my favourites which can rival the best flowering shrubs when in bloom:

Stipa gigantea, the golden oat, forms elegant arching flowering stems up to 1.5m or more, gently swaying in the breeze above a neat clump of greyish evergreen foliage.

Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’, the Zebra grass, has green leaved banded with horizontal cream stripes. The plume-like flowers appear in late summer and go on well into the autumn. In a 30cm pot, you can expect to reach about 1.5m.

Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hamelin' , the fountain or foxtail grass, form neat mounds of mid-green leaves and becomes smothered in hairy bottlebrush like flowers from late summer until the frosts.

Standard Fuscias

Standard fuchsias can be quite expensive but they are quite easy to grow. Pot up a young plant and insert a bamboo cane that is the same length as you want the main stem to grow. Tie in the stem to the cane as it grows (use soft garden twine rather wire) and pinch out any shoots that grow away from the main stems. Once it reaches the height you want, pinch out the very tip of the shoot and wait for it to branch. When you have two shoots at the top, pinch them out again once they grow to about 10cm.

Keep repeating this until you 8 shoots, 16 shoots and so on to get a really bushy head, When you are satisfied, let the head grow out a bit. When it’s the right size, start pinching out the tips again to keep it under control and get progressively more flowers. By now, the main stem tied to the cane should be totally clean of shoots and leaves. As the summer progresses, it will become stronger and more woody.

Written By Alistair Ayres