September 2012

Bringing your garden to life

Gardening Tips Expert Advice Product Guides Recipes

Capital Gardens

September Jobs●Who said there is nothing to do in the garden in September?

Pocket GardenScissors worth£6.99 for every

reader

*

●The best apple pie recipe in the world!!!!

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Click & Grow Smart PotWorth £34.99

●Chris Beardshaw

●Ann-Marie Powell

Win a Click and Grow Smart Pot

Ann-Marie Powell InterviewWe start our children’s gardening club pilot this month.The pilot will be held at Alexandra Palace GardeningCentre.

Young Gardeners Club will officially begin inspiring childrenfrom the ages of 4-10 on Saturday 15th September, we planto have a full roll out this Autumn for the following gardencentres: Morden Hall, Woods of Berkhamsted, Neal’sNurseries.

Editor’s Blurb

This month we interview TV personality Ann-Marie Powell,she has featured on numerous Gardening shows on theBBC,Channel 4 as well as the UKTV network. Famed for herrole on Garden SOS, Ann-Marie is also a Chelsea Flowershow gold medal winner. Her show garden for the BritishHeart Foundation was awe inspiring.

September Jobs

Plants & Gardens Magazine is pushing to become best freegardening magazine, and in order to do that you have toprovide the very best content from the best gardeners.

Chris Beardshaw is an award winning gardener with 24awards both nationally and internationally.He is a highly respected TV personality, who has appeared inshows such as Gardeners World, Great Garden Detectives,The Great Garden Challenge and many more.

Chris Beardshaw Interview

Subject to availability. Whilst stocks last. Limited one item per person.Valid: 01/09/2012 - 30/09/2012

September

FREE

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Another month another great give away. We haveteamed up with Click & Grow to give away one of theirsmart self watering flower pots which will grow plantsfor you with minimal care.

● Insert 4 AA Batteries● Add water● Wait 1-2 weeks for the cute sprouts to appear● Feel proud

Samuel Dontoh Samuel Dontoh

Lynne AllbuttJohn SchofieldTim Mcleod-Rice

Ann-Marie PowellChris Beardshaw

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We are giving away one of our most popular products, theNortene Pocket Garden Scissors. To get your free gardenscissors, simply print this page and cut out the coupon andbring it to your local Capital Gardens store to receive youritem. Offer limited to one item per person.

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Keep on sowing

In every issue

Editors Notes

Plant Focus

Seasonal

4 Keep on sowing

5 September Jobs

9 Sweet Pickings

13 Apples

15 Worlds best Apple pie recipe

19 How to make a book planter

Plant focus

21 Rudebeckia

Q&A

7-8 Chris Beardshaw

11-12 Anne Mary Powell

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 3

Contents

With your harvest well under way and insome cases over you may be wondering whatyou can grow over the colder months of theyear ready for harvesting in the spring. Well,there are many types of vegetable that canbe sown in the autumn that will over winterready for a spring crop. Here are a few foryou to think about.

Sow in Oct/Nov andthis bean will produce hardy young plantsstrong enough to withstand winter frosts andwill grow away quickly as soon as thewarmer spring days arrive.

Sow in Sept/Oct andyou will grow one of the best ball headedcabbage around. This variety can produce ahead of around 2 lb and will be ready toharvest in April or May.

Sow in October under clochesor cold frame and you will get the earliestcrop in May. The benefit of this variety is thatit is extra bolt resistant.

Spring is no more, but thatshouldn’t stop a determinedgardener from sowing seeds,and reaping the rewards ofearly sowing.

Sow in October and Seracwill crop from mid May. This variety producesvery white heavy heads with an excellentflavour.

Sow in Sept/Octfor early spring cropping. White Lisbon is themost popular overwintering spring onion.Pea Douce Provence. Sow in Oct/Nov for anApril/May crop. Douce Provence is sweetand succulent and extremely versatile.Lettuce Arctic King. Sow in late Septemberfor an early spring crop. This is a fine lettuceknown for its exceptional cold resistance andbred solely for autumn sowing.Onion sets, shallots, garlic and chard will allover winter and get going really quickly inspring.

Away from the vegetable plot and for theflower lovers, autumn is the time for plantingyour spring flowering bulbs. Daffodils, tulips,crocus, lilies, iris and hyacinths to name buta few, so when you’re harvesting your springvegetables you can look across to your bedsand borders and see the first splashes ofcolour for the year ahead.

Tim Mcleod-Rice

Keep on sowingHow to beat mothernature

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 4

Contents

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 5

September is a great time for planting. Althoughtemperatures are falling the ground is warm, encouragingplants to establish root growth before winter sets in.

- masses of intense-blueflowers on easy-to-grow, low, shrubby plants with foliage thatturns yellow in autumn. Loves the sun.

- this hardy, reliable JapaneseAnemone produces an abundant, long-lasting display of cool,white flowers over a long period on tall graceful stems. Willthrive and spread in sun or partial shade.

this Japanese grass makes asuperb mature specimen (and looks great in a pot) and by thispoint in the year has produced a tall fountain of narrowgraceful stems, each with white leaf margins, giving the wholeplant a silvery appearance. Particularly stunning if plantedwith the sun behind it.

these robust hydrangeas hail fromChina and Japan and produce large, very long-lasting, cone-shaped flower-heads. The flowers begin white and flush pinkand are sometimes so large as to weigh the branches down.There are lots of different named varieties - all are good.

- few plants are capable ofproducing flowers over as long a period as this scrambling,climbing Potato vine. Starting in the summer, the sprays ofstar-shaped, white flowers can still be seen along its branchesat Christmas if the weather has been mild.

- a spectacular South American salviathriving there in damp ground (hence its common name - theBog Sage).Produces tall stems of strikingly coloured, clear-blue flowers over a long period from August to November.

- a tough, tried and tested gardenplant sometimes overlooked because of its familiarity. Archingbranches will fan out in an attractive herringbone patternacross a wall or fence and will be covered in red berries at thistime of the year. Its late-spring flowers are loved by bees. Itmakes a great support for late flowering Clematis too.

- after laying dormant for the summer in awell-drained spot soaking up the sun the Nerine bulb nowmakes a fantastic autumn show. Narrow stems topped withnumerous funnel-shaped flowers in a range of hues fromwhite to improbable pink.9. (Coneflower) from North America areinvaluable perennials for the late season garden producingdaisy-like flowers in a range of yellow, amber and russetyshades.

make ideal trees for smallergardens and now is a perfect time to plant. In spring they arecovered in blossom and at this time of year they are laden withstriking displays of berries. There are lots to choose from:

'Joseph Rock' has orange-yellow berries; produces white ones and those of the Rowan

( ) are red.

JohnJohn Schofield

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 6

Chris Beardshaw

Chris Beardshaw is an award-winning U.K. gardener, who is perhaps bestknown as a presenter of the BBC's long-running television series,Gardeners' World, alongside Monty Don and Rachel De Thame. Chris isformally trained, and holds an M.A. in Landscape Architecture from theUniversity of Gloucestershire. He has won several prestigious gardeningawards, including, in 1999, a Gold Medal for his "Dig For Victory" garden atthe Chelsea Flower Show, and, in 2008, a Gold Medal at R.H.S. Tatton Park.

Gardeners World, The Flying Gardener, Great Garden Detectives,,Country Lives, The Great Garden Challenge, Hidden Gardens,Weekend Gardener and Wild About Your Garden.

Gardeners Question Time

Chris BeardshawAs you say it’s incredibly varied; I can be in the studio one daydesigning for a client and the next I will be in small town orvillage recording for Radio 4’s Gardeners Question Time, and yetanother I could be filming, writing or lecturing to Postgraduatedegree students at Birmingham City University! And it is thisvariation that I really love - it keeps me stimulated and being ableto meet new people, visit interesting gardens or landscapes orget behind the scenes access to somewhere is a real privilegeand I really do appreciate every day for who and what it brings.

I was very young when I first became excited at what plants cando. For my fourth birthday I was given a watering can (a plasticelephant one!) and a packed of cress seeds. It was unbeknownto me at that time that cress germinates on practically anythingdamp but as a four year old I thought I was really green fingeredand coming down in the morning to check my seeds anddiscover that all of them had popped up and was thriving wassuch a thrill that I then began growing anything and everything Icould! I grew up in the Worcestershire countryside so wasoutside most of the time and worked on farms as a boy duringholidays and then at eleven I began working at my local nurserythe owner of which became a great mentor to me andencouraged my love of horticulture. So much so that I chose tostudy Horticulture at Pershore College, one of the tophorticultural colleges at that time and then later was drawn toLandscape Architecture so I now combine my horticulturalknowledge with the design work. I’ve never wanted to doanything other than work with plants and I still feel that way now.

My designs are all bespoke to suit the client, the needs and thelocation but I guess everyone does have a style and mine tend tobe very plant rich and plant focused. I really enjoy responding tothe very different situations clients have and seeing what designresponse emerges!

I have seen a great many over the years and it is always difficultto choose favourites because I like gardens for very differentreasons – a bit like music I guess, it depends on what you fancyat that particular moment. But I do most admire gardens thathave personality, that are really loved by their owners and havebeen put together with thought and vision. There are some

classics like Hidcote Manor Gardens which under carefulguidance of the Head Gardener Glyn Jones is constantly beingmoved forwards and another garden I really enjoy is WollertonOld Hall in Shropshire.

A good magnolia for a very small garden is Magnolia stellata orif you have a bit more room then Magnolia soulangeana is also agreat option. I particularly like Prunus Serrula for its distinctiveand touchable peeling bark and in the same family the floweringcherry tree Prunus autumnalis rosea is lovely.

You will always find a plant thriving whatever the condition sowhilst this year may have been a wash out plants like Roses andPeonies where many of the buds have rotted off in general treesand herbaceous perennials have benefitted in terms of growth.

Bees can emerge early in the year if there is some warmsunshine to tempt them so it is good to think about a range ofplants for all year round that will cater for this most valuable ofgarden pollinators. Starting early on include flowering plantssuch as Snowdrops, Aconites and Hellebore moving ontoPrimroses and Primula’s, Acacia, and Foxgloves to encourageand then aim to keep flowering plants through the summer andas far into autumn as possible. Roses, Pear and Apple trees,Lupins, Salvias and Penstemons are all popular but try to steeraway from double or multi-petalled cultivars and hybrids as theydo not contain an active nectary which renders it useless to abee.

One plant that has stood out this year is the Tulbaghia. Wecame across some in a nursery just before Hampton CourtPalace Flower Show and decided to use them in the UrbanOasis scheme but I’ve just seen them again in a beautifuldisplay at the Shrewsbury Flower Show. They have pretty starlike flowers, we had the pink form, on tall stems with strappyleaves around the base and look good clumped together in 3’s or5’s.

Exclusive Q&AGarden Designer & TV presenter Chris Beardshaw talks to us about his Career, inspirations,and the creative process he goes through when designing bespoke gardens for clients.

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 8

SWEET PICKINGSThis year brambles seem to have taken on triffid-like growingqualities in gardens and hedgerows and I have been inspired tomodified a friends advice, ‘If life gives you lemons, makelemonade’, to ‘if life gives you brambles, make blackberry jam’.I was fortunate enough to be brought up picking ‘food for free’ asa natural and organic part of my lifestyle, long before it wasvogue .

My Nan was an old fashioned Nan, cooking veg in seasonfrom my Granddad’s garden and foraging for fruit in hedgerows.She passed away over 20 years ago but the tradition of blackberrypicking lives on. I remember our trips with fondness; theanticipation, the excitement, the eventual boredom but then theculinary rewards and pride in knowing that I had contributed tothe much-enjoyed pie, tart, crumble or jam.

Blackberry picking was often a spontaneous affair as therewere always rich pickings on the common ground adjacent toNan’s cottage and as kids, we could do this unsupervised whichwas always an added incentive. For more serious bakingcommitments like WI events, village fetes or poorly people, Nanwould lead a two or threemile walk to collect thejuicy berries fromunchartered hedges.Plastic bags stuffed inone pocket, boiled sweetsin another , a gang of kidsand dogs would all set offmilling around my Nan,like characters from anEnid Blyton book. Iremember getting backfrom one blackberry forayto find Nan had a hole inher bag and hadn’t evennoticed it wasn’t filling up.Typically, this resulted inroars of laughter and legpulling for many blackberry seasons to follow.There are many superstitions and legends connected with thepopular autumnal berries. In one old proverb they signify haste.A man is so excited to pick the berries that he jumps into thebush and the thorns cause him to lose his eyesight. He regainsit, however, upon jumping back out of the bush. Greekmythology contains a legend similar to this. When Bellerophon,a mortal, tries to ride Pegasus to Olympus, he falls and becomesblind and injured upon landing in a thorny bush. This is hispunishment for trying to take the power of the gods. Therefore,the fruit also symbolizes arrogance. A little ironically, last year I arrogantly claimed that I was toobusy to go blackberrying; I could sense my Nan’s ghostlydisbelief and exasperation at such a ridiculous notion. I went. In

fact I went several times. Admittedly, some batches were passedonto Mum to actually create the tart or crumble but I did manageto make a little blackberry vodka as well as experimenting withless traditional recipes for Blackberry Sauce (allegedly deliciouswith pigeon, though as a vegetarian I can vouch that it’s alsogood with char-grilled veggies) and Blackberry Schezuan saucethat is also fabulous. All these recipes (and more) were found onthe internet. And whilst I appreciate some of the technologicaladvances such as Google, I just wish that ‘Blackberry’ was inprime position in the Google listings in all its glory as a not adarn mobile phone.

Blackberies were also used in Christian art to symbolisespiritual neglect or ignorance. Mid-Mediterranean folklore claimsChrist’s Crown of Thorns was made out of blackberry runnerswith the deep red juice of the berries representing Christ’s blood.Another legend suggests that the Devil spits (or even pees) onblackberries on Michaelmas Day (29th September) rending themunsuitable for picking. The tale goes that the Devil was kickedout of Heaven on St Michael’s Feast Day and landed on a

blackberry bush. He cursedthe bush and this curse isrenewed every year onMichaelmas Day, resulting inthe belief it is unlucky to pickblackberries after this date.If indeed you find it a ‘devil’ ofa job picking the fruit fromthe thorny bushes, you cangrow the thornless blackberryin your own garden on trelliswork, against a wall or in aninformal hedgerow. ChooseLoch Maree for beautifuldouble pink flowers whichmake the shrub attractive aswell as productive, or theLoch Ness variety that isperfect for the smaller garden

and doesn’t need staking. Both varieties fruit well and aredisease resistant.

And the last words must go to American author and farmer,with a relevant surname, Wendell Berry, who advices, “Betterthan any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet berries.”

LynneLynne Allbutt

www.lynneallbutt.com

Lynne has an impressive gardeningresume with over 25 years in theLandscaping & Garden Design Industry.

Lynne is best known following TV shows:

Garden Designer & Co-Presenter

Judge

Presenter & Garden Designer

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 9

SWEET PICKINGS

September is generally a cooler,gustier month than August and thedays are noticeably shorter. Whilethere's not as much to do in theornamental garden at this time ofthe year, if you have a fruit orvegetable patch, you'll be busyreaping the rewards of harvest. It'salso time to get out and startplanting spring-flowering bulbs fornext year. Make the most of theremaining warmth while you can!

1. Divide herbaceousperennials

2. Pick autumn raspberries

3. Collect and sow seed fromperennials and hardyannuals

4. Dig up remaining potatoesbefore slug damage spoilsthem

5. Net ponds before leaf fallgets underway

6. Keep up with watering ofnew plants, using rain orgrey water if possible

7. Start to reduce thefrequency of houseplantwatering

8. Clean out cold frames andgreenhouses so that theyare ready for use in theautumn

9. Cover leafy vegetable cropswith bird-proof netting

10. Plant spring flowering bulbs

Top 10 Jobs This Month

●

I’d like to think my gardens are individual to each commission, but I hope they are all rooted in the natural, using texture, tone,and a space’s natural ambience - light and shadow and a garden’s surrounding environment - to create gardens which suit theclient’s personality and exceed their expectations.

●

I’ve been designing gardens since 1999 and am drawn to the varying aspects of garden design – horticulture, architecture, andproject management are all a creative challenge. After travelling abroad in my early twenties, experiencing the most phenomenallandscapes, on my return I was inspired to recreate spaces where people felt completely at home. Designing gardens seemed anatural choice and after retraining as garden designer I worked at wholesale plant nursery Tendercare to build upon my plantknowledge, before setting up my design practice. Every day, and every project brings a new and exciting challenge - I’ve neverlooked back.

●

As part of a garden design television programme, (Lost Gardens for Channel 4), I worked on the redesign of the cloister garden ofa Benedictine monastery on the Isle of Wight. Womenwere closed to the order and I required specialdispensation to be allowed into the site. Once the designhad been completed, the challenges of the build wereplentiful. The large cloister garden was at the heart of themonastery with no direct access, so machinery(including diggers and bob cats), and great palettes ofYork stone had to be craned in over the roof. There wereseveral hairy moments and it was an extraordinaryexperience.

●

I’m inspired by every garden I visit – there’s alwayssomething to take from a space, but it’s landscapeand its surrounding architecture which inspire memost. My office is in deepest Sussex and is anexceptionally beautiful place to work, but in contrast Ialso love the architecture, shapes, textures andcolours of the city and am pleased that so many ofour projects are in London. If pushed to pick a

favourite garden, it would be a hard choice between Broughton Hall inOxfordshire, Waltham Place in Berkshire and of course, my own!

Ann-Marie PowellAnn-Marie Powell is an RHS Chelsea Gold (2010) and Silver Flora (2011)Medalist representing both Green and Black’s and The British HeartFoundation in association with Brewin Dolphin Investments.

Garden SOS, Chelsea Flower Show coverage

RHS Hampton Court Flower Show coverage

This Morning, Sky High, House of Horrors, Grass Roots

Lost Gardens, Real Gardens, Gardeners Gardens

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 11

Ann-Marie Powell ●

In a small space, keep the design simple and uncluttered using a restricted planting and materials palette. Elements such as wallsand steps can become multifunctional if used in the right proportions, creating places to sit, or even hidden storage areas. Plantsshould have a long flowering period, interest throughout the seasons, use a garden’s vertical height (think climbers and uprightsmall trees) and at least some plants should be evergreen to provide year round structure.

●

I love multi-stemmed trees in small spaces, most especially those that work hard to hold your interest. Spring flower, summer leafshape, autumn colour and then interesting bark allow you to experience the seasons year round and really connect with your space.Favourites include multi-stemmed Cercis siliquastrum, Amelanchier lamarckii and Cornus kousa. And in town, I wouldn’t be withoutpleached trees, particularly hornbeam, to provide privacy at a garden’s boundaries.

●

My absolute favourite climber for sun or shade is Trachelospermum jasminoides. We regularly plant whole fence lines with thisevergreen, scented white flowering beauty to blur the boundaries of small garden spaces.

●

Grasses and ferns are pretty much bomb proof and this year are about the only plants in my garden that haven’t been chomped at byslugs and snails! My favourites are Miscanthus sinensis ‘Malepartus’, Deschampsia cespitosa and the architectural evergreen fernAsplenium scolopendrium.

●

I’m very squeamish and rather than gathering them up by torchlight, prefer to use a biological control by applying slug nematodes.With all the rain this year I have topped up my control with Neudorff Sluggo Slug and Snail Killer, which is certified organic, resistantto rain and I’ve found is extremely effective if applied regularly.

·

I love so many of the late season performers which provide a burst of colour before the nights draw in, Echinacea, Eupatorium,Dahlia, Pennisetum alopecuroides and Anemone x hydrida in their myriad and varying varieties are all stunning.

● Hardscape / Hard Landscaping for theGarden (2001)

● Urban Gardens (2006)

● Ann Marie-Powell’s Plans for SmallGardens (2012)

www.ann-mariepowell.com

Apples

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 3Plants & Gardens Magazine / 13

●Worlds best Apple Pie recipe

●Apple Trees ready for planting

●What to do with bumper crop

An old favourite. It was raised by

Mr Hale of Swan Pool near

Worcester and thought to be a

seedling from Devonshire

Quarrenden. Introduced in 1874

and received a First Class

Certificate from the Royal

Horticultural Society in 1875. A

hardy reliable variety with

resistance to mildew. Leave the

fruit on the tree until fully ripe and

the flavour and aroma are

enhanced. Tip bearing variety.

Picking time September.

Pollination group 3.

By far the most popular cooking

apple. The reason is easy to see.

Heavy crops of extra large fruit,

with creamy white flesh that is

juicy and full of flavour. But think

before making it your first choice.

The variety is vigorous so it needs

plenty of space.

It is also a triploid and needs two

other varieties of apples to cross-

pollinate. If you can live with this

then the rewards are great. If not

then Bountiful would be the next

choice

Raised in 1964 at East Malling

Research Station in Kent. The first

new cooking apple for decades. A

good choice for people who want

large fruit but haven't the space for

a Bramley’s Seedling. This compact

variety pollinates freely, does not

suffer from mildew and is heavy

cropping. The fruits are pale green,

striped with orange to red and

they store well. Fruit is sweet and

juicy and retains its shape. Picking

time late September. Pollination

group 3.

Apples are ranked No. 1 inantioxidant activity

compared with 40 othercommercially available fruitsand vegetables. That means aserving of apples has more of

the antioxidant power youneed to fight aging, cancer

and heart disease.

Fun facts

●Apple Trees ready for planting

A simple slice of heaven

Some recipes only requirea simple touch to wow, thisapple pie recipe does justthat.

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 15

A simple slice of heaven

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch doublecrust pie

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

8 Granny Smith apples - peeled,cored and sliced

Recipe

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butterin a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugarand brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and letsimmer.

Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, moundedslightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar andbutter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce thetemperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 16

The ultimate in comfort foods when you are having a

bad day or you just want to splurge on something that

is yummy!

Who doesn’t love an apple pie? YUMMY! Apple pie is

fairly easy to make and it freezes beautifully. You can

also cut your pies into slices and freeze those

separately. That way, you can pull out a slice at noon

and it will be ready for dessert after dinner! Check out

our amazing Apple Pie recipe, it will blow your mind,

how can such a simple recipe be so amazing?

Fruit Crisps are essentially dried fruit, but done in such

a way that they turn out crispy. They are not fried and

hence no oil is added. For this reason, fruit crisps are

exceptionally healthy, and are an excellent treat for a

kids' lunchbox.

Crisps that are actually healthy, and contribute towards

your fruit intake (or 5-a-day).

Apple Butter is not actually a butter It is basically a

jam or jellie with a smooth and creamy consistancy

like butter. It is amazing on toast!Plants & Gardens Magazine / 17

Surplus Apples can oftenbecome a burden ratherthan a blessing. Here welook what you can do withyour bumper crops.

Apple sauce is such as comforting food and a great

side dish for just about any meal. When you make

your own, it is even better! Applesauce can be used on

pork, roast, and even over ice cream.

Apple Salad is great alternative to the regular green

salad. These are especially good in the early Autumn

when apples are at the peak of flavor! You can mix

apples with normal leafy greens or make a delicious

fruit salad.

Turnovers can be filled with everything from apples

and blueberries, to meats like chicken, beef and pork,

to cheese, raisins, cranberries and sweet potatoes, to

wild rabbit and leeks.

Kids love them, they make a fantastic treat for the old

and young.

Apple cake is one of the great joys in life! Not to be

confused with the Apple Pie. It is one of those dessert

“comfort foods” , and full of apple and cinnamon

goodness.

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 18

Apples floatbecause 25% oftheir volume is

air.

How to make a book planterGot any old books sitting in the loft gathering dust? Why not use them for creative purposes?Here we show you how to make your very own book planter for succulents.

Using the hard back as aguide cut all the way throughuntil you hit the outer backpage. You may need to gentlytear some of the pages out toensure you progress.

The harder you cut through thepages the more pages you willbe able to pull out.

Select a item which has eithera square or circle shape thatyou can use to draw an outlineof. Do not use items too largeas this destroys the artisticelement of a plant growingthrough a book. Now using aStanley knife cut out the shape.From the hardback, then usethe cover as a guide.

The night before, rub a verythin layer of white glueagainst theloose paper binding, justenough to make some of thepages stick. Itdoesn’t need to be precise. Itjust helps when starting to cutinto the book that the pagesstay in one place.

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 19

1 week later new growth

Now the fun begins, you havemanaged to cut your waythrough the hefty hardbackbook. It is time to clean upyour work surface, and getyour the succulent plant ofyour choice ready for the finalstage of this amazing DIY

As you work your way throughyou will notice that the pagesdo not look 100% even andthere are a lot of imperfections.

You need not worry as no onewill see the internals. So keepcutting through until you reachthe back page.

Line the book with plastic,any type of plastic will do,you must ensure theplastic fits into the hole.The plastic needs to be cutjust above the rim, butmake sure you do not leavetoo much plastic showingas this will destroy thebeautiful effects.

Now get the book cover andplace it over the plant. Youwill notice the compost isshowing, so make sure youadd either dry moss/smallstones or gravel to cover thecompost. Once that is doneyour book planter is nowcomplete.

If your book is very, very deep,you can put a layer of gravel atthe bottom of the hole. Thiswill provide some drainagethat your succulents wouldappreciate. Succulents don’tneed much water but they doprefer to not have their rootssitting in water so the gravelprovides a place for the waterto drain that the roots won’ttouch. In a regular sizedbooked you won’t have roomfor gravel. Don’t worry; thesucculents will still live evenwithout the drainage.

In this ‘how to’ we usedSempervivum - Blue Boywhich can be bought from allour garden centres for £2.99.As a succulent and relative ofthe heat-loving cactus, thesempervivum needs lots ofsunshine to thrive. It is bestto plant in a sunny window.

Plants & Gardens Magazine /21

RudbeckiaRudbeckia

Cone flower

Asteraceae

60cm (6ft) x 90cm (36in)

Full sun or partial shade

Fully hardy

Moderately fertile, that is moist but well-drained soil.

Apply a 2-inch layer of mulch to retain moisture andcontrol weeds. After the first killing frost, cut stems back toan inch or two above soil line.

Divide plants every 3 to 4 years as new growth beginsbetween September and March, lifting plants and dividingthem into clumps. Generally disease and pest free.

We currently stock the following varieties ofRudbeckia

● Little Gold Star

● Goldstrum

● Really wild recipes including ‘energy soup’

● Organic ways to improve health and wealth

● How Viagra can boost your ‘flower power’

● Celebrity gardening revelations

● Simple steps to design your own garden

● Lots of money saving ideas

● Ways to ‘bee’ friendly

● The secret behind red daffodils

● Which bathroom products will deter slugs

● Great gardening gifts

● Horti-scopes for gardeners

● Outdoor inspiration for children & teenagers

● Clever ways to ‘guard your garden’

● How to keep pets happy outdoors

Allbutts Almanac 2012Allbutts Almanac 2012

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Allbutt’s Almanac 2012 is a fun, insightful, and enlightening book.Packed with useful tips for the novice and professional gardener.

Book

of th

e mon

th

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 24

YES, I’LL HELP A FAMILY FEED THEMSELVES,BY PLANTING AN ACRE OF LAND WITHDROUGHT-TOLERANT SEEDS

DONATE ONLINE AT FARMAFRICA.ORG.UK/DONATEOR CALL 020 7430 0440

Registered charity no. 326901Food and Agricultural Research Management Ltd is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales no. 01926828

WinWin

Email answers to: competitions@capitalgardens.co.uk

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 25

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 26

Approximately £34.99

ANN-MARIE’SBOOK ISOUT NOW!

Written by a ,Ann-Marie Powell’s Plans for Small Gardens lists all the gardening ingredients

you need to create and maintain your own perfect patch of greenery.

Packed full of beautiful colour photographs, detailed planting and construction plans anda handy practical section at the back, Plans for Small Gardens is ideal for both novice andexpert gardeners. Ensuring that you have all the resources you need, whilst including yearby year maintenance guides, Ann-Marie helps your garden to flourish for years to come.

visit for more information & to purchase a copyPlans for Small Gardens is published by Pavilion, an imprint of Anova Books

Plants & Gardens Magazine / 27