August 2012

Capital Gardens Gardening Tips Expert Advice Product Guides Recipes

Bringing your garden to life

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Get the most out of your Orchidwith our expert care tips andadvice

Hampton CourtHighlights from the show &images of our RHS display stand

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Roses‘This month’s Editor’s Choice is the beautiful Calla Lilly

which look superb at this time of year. Myfavourite has to be ‘Odessa’ with richly coloured,satin-textured, deep-burgundy flowers that are elegantlycurved and look majestic from all angles. We have a greatselection of these lilies in-store starting from £6.99.

Editor’s Choice

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Ask an expertHaving issues with your garden? Do you need expert ad-vice? You can now seek expert advice and tips. Just emailus your questions. Answers will be published in thefollowing issue.Email: s.dontoh@capitalgarden.co.uk

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Editor: Samuel DontohLayout: Samuel Dontoh

ContributorsRoses article: John HoylandOrchids article: John SchofieldSummer Pruning: Stephanie DonaldsonPlant Photography: Samuel DontohJuice Recipe Guide: Samuel DontohHampton Court Q&A 1: Robert GeeHampton Court Q&A 2: Anoushka Feiler

The rose is the nation’s favourite flower and with so many tochoose from in a huge variety of shapes, sizes, colours andperfumes, there really is a rose to suit everyone’s taste.

You can even have a rose bush named after you if you havemoney to spare!

The rose has a long and revered history and since it is oftenassociated with love and romance it has become a ‘must by’item on Valentine’s Day when its price goes through theroof!

Check-out our mini-magazine devoted to the rose on page 11

The August issue is our best yet. We have some greatcontributors this month, including Stephanie Donaldson.Stephanie is an author and an avid blogger, Stephanie isalso a contributing gardens editor of Country Livingmagazine, author of many gardening books and a veryhands-on gardener.She is a long-time believer in organic methods, herexpertise in this area led to her co-authoring the Prince ofWales’ most recent book, The Elements of OrganicGardening.

Stephanie’s blog can be found here:http://blog.theenduringgardener.com/

You can also download The Enduring Gardener app. Clickhere to downloadOr scan the QR code to download

A look at some of our most luxurious gardenfurniture. This is a must read for those looking forinspiration or seeking to wow their garden partyguests.

►How to grow roses►Rose care tips►Best rose care products for your roses

A rose guide by award winning nurseryman JohnHoyland. With excellent tips on growing roses. Rosecare tips and a range of rose care products toensure you get the best out of your roses.

Orchids are the largest family of the plant kingdomwith over 25,000 naturally occurring species in theworld. They are stunningly beautiful, and make forgreat centre pieces. However, we often receivequestions about their care. So we have created acomprehensive care guide.

►Q&A with Robert Gee►Q&A with Anoushka Feiler►RHS Stand display

You spend all year waiting, plaining and dreamingabout the Hampton Court show, and just like that ithas come and gone. We have some highlights fromthe show, and a Q&A with award winning designerAnoushka Feiler.

Stephanie Donaldson delves into the muchdebated topic of summer pruning in her article ‘Whysummer pruning is a good idea’. Stephanie is the coauthor of Prince Charles recent book The ElementsOf Organic Gardening.

Photo taken at Alexandra Palace Garden Centre

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This Westminster Serenity Polyteak Fusion and PU Leather armchair set marries two new gardenfurniture materials.The Polyteak table has the natural appearance of teak but with the added bonuses of being resistantto fading, warping and splintering. The Westminster PU Leather Armchair in white adds elegance and sophistication to any outdoorspace

Westminster PU leather is a textured polyurethane coated fabric which is water resistant, extremelydurable and the ideal material for the construction of outdoor furniture. The foam used for filling inthis Serenity range allows rapid drainage for any seepage through the seams following prolongeddownpours. It is also easy to clean using warm water or household wipes.

● 6 x Serenity PU Leather Armchair● Height: 870 mm● Width: 560 mm● Depth: 660 mm● 1 x Fusion Polyteak Table● Height: 740 mm● Width: 2000 mm● Depth: 100 mm

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Mark Gabbertas is an award winning furniture designer based inLondon. An intrinsic part of Mark's design process is the belief thatthe design of an object is always governed by an appreciation ofcommercial realities. He believes passionately that if a great designdoes not sell, perhaps it is not such a great design.

CloudTruly taking the indoors out, Cloud is the ultimate expression of theoutdoor living trend. A wide number of different units can integratetogether to create almost limitless design possibilities. If you canimagine it, the chances are it can be created with Cloud.From

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Roses

The essential care rose guideBy award winning nurseryman John Hoyland

Patio roses

Magazine

It is not surprising that the rose is the favourite plant ofBritish gardeners. With gorgeous flowers, full of beautyand romance, they come in a range of colours, many withscented blooms and many producing attractive hips in theautumn; they can be grown in borders, containers, overarches, pergolas and as groundcover; they are easy togrow and are long-lived and there are varieties that thrivein deep shade as well as full sun. What more couldanyone ask of a plant?

There are thousands of different roses available andincreasingly, modern varieties are being bred for ease ofgrowth, free flowering, and pest and disease resistance.There are so many varieties available that it is possible tofind a rose for any situation in the garden – up a shadynorth-facing wall, through a floriferous herbaceous border,in pots on a sunny patio.

Shrub/English roses: bushy, low-maintenance roses, usually with large flowers. Plant singly or in groups in borders togetherwith other shrubs and herbaceous perennials.

Patio and miniature roses: average 45cm high, ideal for low hedging, containers or rockeries.

Climbing/rambling roses: good for covering walls, fences or growing over arches, pillars and pergolas. Ramblers are veryvigorous and are sometimes used to clamber through trees.

Groundcover roses: low-growing and spreading roses that are ideal for ground cover, down slopes or banks or for quicklycovering unsightly areas.

Standard roses: tall-stemmed roses make attractive centrepieces or even a small avenue in borders. They can also be grown inlarge pots.

“A true poet does not bother to be“A true poet does not bother to bepoetical. Nor does a nursery gardenerpoetical. Nor does a nursery gardenerscent his roses”scent his roses”

Roses

Light yellow. Mild fragrance. 25 to 30

petals. Average diameter 3.75". Medium

to large flower, very double, borne

mostly solitary, in small clusters.

This variety produces masses of slightly

scented lemon-yellow blooms

throughout summer, above glossy green

foliage.

Bred by Paul Chessum in 1995. Happy

Times produces slightly scented, small

pink double flowers. Blooms in flushes

throughout the season.

SummerPruning

There’s a tendency to view summer pruning as a mysterious art

carried out by the experts, while the rest of us stick to winter

pruning. Actually, summer pruning isn’t risky and sometimes

it really is a better option than winter pruning. One of the main

difference between the two techniques is that pruning in winter

stimulates growth; pruning in summer checks it. Another

important difference is that it is the ONLY TIME to prune

members of the prunus family – plums, almonds, apricots,

nectarines, peaches, gages etc to minimise the risk of silver

leaf infection. Silver leaf is a fungal disease and its wind-borne

spores are released from late autumn through to spring when

they can enter fresh pruning cuts.

Maybe it’s all the foliage that is off-putting when it comes to

summer pruning, it is all so much easier in the winter when you

can see exactly what you are doing. Besides which, there’s a

fear that cutting back new growth will also be cutting away next

year’s fruit or flowers. Worry not, what you are cutting away is

the over-vigorous growth that is crowding the tree and using

energy that is better directed to the fruiting buds. This is

especially true of trained fruit trees such as cordons, espaliers

and step-overs. Left to their own devices in summer they will

quickly turn into unruly mop-tops and all the early training will

be lost in a forest of foliage. From their second year of planting,

late summer is when all trained fruit trees should have their

main pruning. Summer pruning will also restrict the growth

and help shape other fruiting and ornamental trees.

Soft fruit can also be summer pruned. Cut any damaged wood

from blackcurrants straight after fruiting and keep prickly

gooseberries under control by removing crossing or damaged

branches. By summer pruning red and white currants, extra

light and air will reach the fruit and speed the ripening process.

In the ornamental garden it’s the early flowering shrubs that

should be pruned immediately after flowering. Philadelphus,

kolkwitzia, deutzia and should all be treated this

way. To keep the shrub shapely, cut out a third of the old brown

wood close to the ground – this will encourage new flowering

shoots - and then trim away any over-exuberant growth. Where

a shrub has got overlarge and leggy it can be hard-pruned to

within 20 cm of the ground. When taking this drastic action

give the plant a thorough soaking, fork some bonemeal into the

soil and top with a moisture retaining mulch.

Some plants are ‘bleeders’ and lose alarming amounts of sap

if pruned in late winter or early spring. Birches and maples fall

in to this category and are best pruned in summer. Similarly,

grapevines, which must be given their main pruning before the

end of January to avoid bleeding, should have the vigorous new

lateral growths left untrimmed until mid-summer.

So, get out there with your secateurs and get to grips with

summer pruning, it really isn’t rocket science and your garden

will look all the better for it.

© Stephanie Donaldson

Stephanie Donaldson’s Blog

Roses will grow in almost any soil, aslong as it is not continually wet or boggy.To give your rose the best start in yourgarden, dig lots of garden compost orwell-rotted manure into the soil whereyou are planting the rose.

After planting water the plant well.Established plants can tolerate prolongeddry spells but for the first year afterplanting make sure that the soil aroundthe rose is kept moist. If you aregrowing roses in pots, they need to beregularly watered so that the compostdoesn’t dry out but at the same time isnever waterlogged.

To be able to produce so many flowers,roses need regular feeding. In the spring,sprinkle a rose fertiliser around the roses.Follow this up with a mulch of compost

or ma-nure around the crown of theplant. Do this every yearand you will havevigorous, healthy plants.Feed roses that aregrown in pots orcontainers every twoweeks from spring untilthe end of summer witha liquid rose fertiliser.

How to grow roses

The rose family alsoincludes pears, apples,

cherries, plums,peaches, apricots, and

almonds.

The definitive guide

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Rose and Shrub Food

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roses and other shrubs. The

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RRP £6.70

Rose care

Rose Care Tips● When planting your roses you

should be aware that usingmanure can burn the new rootsof your rose bushes. Never usefresh manure on roses. It's muchsafer to use well-rotted compostfor your roses to which somemanure has been added. Youcan even use this to mulch yourrose bushes after planting them.

● Patio roses and many low-growing floribundas look great incontainers. It is important towater them regularly as roses incontainers tend to dry out morequickly than roses that have beenplanted in flower beds.

● Roses should be always beplanted with an application ofmycorrhizal fungi available underthe brand name ‘rootgrow™’.

Rose hips containmore Vitamin C

than any other fruitor vegetable.

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The first plants of each newspecies brought back to Englandfetched high prices. The largestamount ever recorded was in

1890 when £1,500 was paid forone orchid, that is equivalent to

around £96,500 today!

Despite growing wild on the branches of forest trees intropical areas of Asia and northern Australia, the exoticMoth orchid makes an excellent and easy-to-grow house-plant which will thrive surprisingly well in the averageliving-room.The easy going nature of this orchid, combined with itsstrikingly beautiful flowers has made it one of the biggestselling houseplants in UK. The blooms are large and said toresemble moths in flight – hence the Latin name

from Greek words meaning ‘moth-like’. Theycan be pure white through shades of pink and purple butalso red and orange and they are often strikingly patternedand mottled.In their wild environment the plants live on trees, usingtheir strong fleshy roots to anchor themselves to branchesbelow the leaf canopy. The atmosphere is warm and humid,the air around them is laden with moisture, and the light isdappled as they are sheltered from the burning rays of thesun by the tree’s foliage above.Our homes might seem a world away from thisjungle-living, but they are actually not a bad substitute, of-fering warmth and shade.A window sill that does not get direct sunlight will suit thembest and somewhere that is not exposed to wildlyfluctuating temperatures.

Blooms appear on arching flower-spikes at anytime of year and can last up to 3 months. A smallplant may just have the one flower stem but an old,established specimen may produce as many as ahundred. Young plants will probably only floweronce a year but as they age they may flower twiceor even three times.

When flowering has finished, or better still, whenthere are one or two flowers left the flower stemshould be cut down to about 1 inch above the first‘node’ on the flower stem. This will be below wherethe first flower appeared and will be a little bumpon the stem. The plant may quickly form anotherflower spike from there. If the flower spike diescompletely and goes brown the whole thing shouldbe cut down.

Moth orchids like to be moist but not sodden andshould never be left to stand in water. Living in thebranches of trees in the tropics they have access toconstant moisture but it drains away quickly.As a general guide water once every 4 to 7 days butit will depend on the time of year and how warm it is.If you can, collect rainwater (it would not have beena problem this year!) and use that to water theplants. Try to water in the morning so that anyexcess has dried from the foliage and crown of theplant before the evening to avoid bacteria andfungus developing.

Repotting may have to be done every year as theopen, barky compost gradually breaks down andholds too much moisture. Or the plant may begetting too big for the pot. Always use a properorchid compost.

If you are lucky your plant will produce more plants.Sometimes a flower bud will develop into aminiature plant on the flower stem with its own tinyroots. These can be taken off and potted up to makenew plants that should themselves be flowering in afew years.

2 Stem Ikaria2 stem Multi Pink

Arch WhiteArch Pink

Orchids plants are thelargest family of the plantkingdom with over 25,000

naturally occurring speciesin the world, as well as allthe specially-developed

hybrids!

Drip feed Orchid liquid Plant food Orchid Drip feeder Orchid food

FEED

Chillies need warmth and can getoverheated in hot climates. Onegreat benefit of gardening incontainers is that you can moveyour plants to better conditions asneeded.

Dry soil is disastrous for peppers;it will slow or even stopproduction. Your challenge will beto keep the soil evenly moist butnot wet. Mulching will help retainsoil moisture and keep weedsdown.

Starting early in the growingseason fertilize with a weaksolution of a balanced liquidfertiliser, a time-release fertiliser.Too much nitrogen will createplants with lush foliage and fewpeppers.

Keep an eye out for aphids and fleabeetles. If you smoke or handletobacco wash your hands beforeyou touch the pepper plants,because peppers are vulnerable tothe tobacco mosaic virus.

To harvest, use a clean knife to cutthe stem of the pepper. Pulling ortwisting can damage the plant andleave it susceptible to insects ordiseases.

Chilli

recipe

JUICE

GuIDE

Stamina● 3 small – medium beetroots (small to medium have the sweetest flavour)

● 3 oranges (peeled)

● thumb sized piece of fresh ginger

Wash the beetroot and remove the tops. Peel the rind off the oranges.

Push all the ingredients through your vegetable juicer. If you use organic

beetroot and ginger, you don’t have to peel them. Pour it into glasses, stir and

serve.

● 3oz beetroot, cooked and peeled

● 6 lf oz freshly squeezed orange juice without the pulp (approx. 3-4 oranges)

● 1 pc lemon, juice only

● 1/2 fl oz honey

● 6 pc ice cubes

Cook the beetroot, with the skin, in plain water until well soft. Drain and leave to

cool. Peel the beetroot while still warm. Ensure that you wear gloves during that

process, as avoid the purple flesh stain your hands deep red in color.

Chill the beetroot well.

In a blender combine the ice, honey and lemon juice all ingredients and blend

well to a smooth pulp.

Turn on the blender to high speed and incorporate the orange juice.

Adjust lemon and honey to taste and serve well chilled.

BeetrootDrinking beetroot juice has been known to boosts stamina and could help people exercise for up to 16% longer. A study by theUniversity of Exeter found that the nitrate contained in the vegetable leads to a reduction in oxygen uptake - making exerciseless tiring. This has a direct effect on stamina. So if you are doing a charity run, digging in your garden, a tall glass of beetrootjuice may help you to achieve your goal in record time. Here are some juicing recipes for beetroot.

Serves 2

Serves 2

WatermelonWhen you mention lycopene, the first vegetable that springs to most peoples mind is Tomatoes. Lycopene isa powerful antioxidant that helps fight heart disease and several types of cancer — prostate cancer in particular. Water-melon, however, has the highest concentrations of lycopene of any fresh fruit or vegetable. Not many people enjoy drink-ing Tomato juice for its health benefits, this is why Watermelon is the perfect choice for an antioxidant juice.Watermelon does not offend many pallets.

● 8-10lb watermelon (seedless)

● 4-6 tbsp of rose water

● 2 tablespoons of raw sugar (optional)

● mint sprigs (optional) for garnish

● rose petals (optional) for garnish

Carve the flesh from a watermelon, removing the seeds

if you could not get hold of a seedless water melon.

Juice the melon in a juicing machine, then mix in 4-6

Tbsp. rose water and 2 Tbsp. raw sugar (optional).

Garnish with mint sprigs and rose petals. Chill before

serving.

Serves 2

● half a watermelon, seedless

● 2 tablespoons sugar (or vary to how sweet you want it)

● 1/2 cup cold water

Scoop the watermelon into a blender, add the sugar,

blend into puree until smooth. Pour and enjoy.

Add ice cubes for lovely summer drink.

Serves 2

Watermelon's officialname is Citrullus Lanatusof the botanical familyCurcurbitaceae. It is

cousins to cucumbers,pumpkins and squash.

Growing Watermelon1 Sow seed in pots

somewhere warm. Grow

plants to a good size before

planting outside, after the last

frost date (early June in most

areas).

2 Give each plant about 3ft to

grow each way.

3 Cover the soil with black

plastic - ideally a woven

plastic mulch as it will let the

rain through. Avoid hoeing.

circulationcirculationGingerCirculation issues blight the young and the old. It is normally more prominent during the winter, however serioussufferers are left feeling cold, even in the summer. The record rainfall has meant that temperatures have remained lowand this along with other factors mean poor circulation issues are ever present this summer.

This is where ginger comes in it has a warming effect on the body and this is excellent for circulatory problems and ithelps alleviate cold hands and feet. Ginger is also well known for its anti-inflammatory properties and hence itstreatment for joints and connective tissues.

● 1 inch slice ginger root

● 1 Fresh lemon

● Juice of 5 – 6 carrots with tops

● 1 Seeded apple

Juice all ingredients with a juicer or use a

high powered blender and strain the

mixture with a nut milk bag.

Serves 2

The ginger root isnot actually a

root, it is arhizome.

● 1 medium piece (approx. 1/4 cup)

Ginger

● 2 lemons, peeled

● 1 very ripe peach

● 4 red delicious apples

● 2 large cucumbers

● 3 carrots

● 1 bunch coriandar

● 2 bunches kale

● 1 bunch spinach

Serves 2

Juice all ingredients with a juiceror use a high powered blenderand strain the mixture with a nutmilk bag.

Ginger can be a powerful flavourso reduce the quantity if neces-sary. However ginger’s deliciouspotency can also be wonderful foradding flavour to any juice recipethat seems a little too bland. Thepeach and coriander in this recipealso deliver a nice level of sweet tobalance the ginger.

Hampton Court 2012 The Italian Job – Garden

EDITOR’S CHOICE

3 years

Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden and Bury Court. I also love the High Line inNew York.

Planting and seats. There was the wonderful double yellow line bench in thegarden ‘A riot of colour’, the floating seats with plants underneath in the garden‘Contemporary Contemplation’ and the thyme under planted seats in the garden‘Falling Leaves’.

Two favourites – Echinacea purpurea ‘Fatal Attraction’ and Selinum wallichianumboth for their deep purple stems.

Hosta ‘Praying Hands’ and Dianthus barbatus nigrescens 'Sooty'.

Think about what you need the garden for. Try to imagine it to be an extension ofyour house and divide the areas into ‘rooms’ that suit your different needs.

● Allow plenty of room for plant borders.● When buying plants – buy lots of the same thing and plant together in odd

numbers. Limit your planting to a few varieties rather than many.

Arrive with an empty boot and an empty mind.

In a very specific way the garden was inspired by people who suffer from an overactivebladder and their difference in life-quality once they receive treatment; these people talkabout how they got their life back and how wonderful that was. This dramatic change inlife quality inspired everything about the design.

In a more general way I hoped that the design would resonate with all visitors in someway. We nearly all experience harder times and this garden hopefully reminded you howgardening and having a closer relationship with plants can be a tonic to some and a life-line to others

I first pitched to the sponsor in November – so nine months of planning. The build tookthree weeks.

Yes, the plants I originally bought did not flower and the grasses were not mature enoughso I had to buy new plants to create the same look just two weeks before the show.

Absolutely.

Q&A

Anoushka Feiler

Bestique creates unique gardens,landscapes and interiors forhomes, businesses or specialevents.

www.bestique.co.uk

Capital GardensRHS Display

Groundwork, the community charity with a green heart, is 30 this year andstrongly believe that bleak, grey areas lead to bleak, grey societies. Their aim isto empower more people to change under-utilised bits of land into parks,gardens, playgrounds and allotments that people can enjoy with theirneighbours after the show, the gardens will be relocated to communities inneed of urban green space in London, Birmingham, Ellesmere Port andMerthyr Tydfil.

Definitely. The whole project is great exposure for Capital Gardens. To be seento be actively involved at one of the biggest flower shows in the world can onlybe a positive thing for us. To be working so closely with the RHS is a greatadvert and helps to raise our profile and cement our place leading the way inhorticulture in London Garden Centres.

Our team of four spent a whole day at Hampton Court arranging the plants.This however wouldn’t have been possible without the time planning theproject back at the centre. We practiced arranging the plants and designed thelayout in advance to ensure that we took enough plant material on the day. Inthe final hour of the show we sold off a large majority of the plants to showvisitors in a frantic frenzy. This helped us to collapse the stand quickly anddramatically reduced the amount of stock that we had to bring back to thegarden centre.

Plan ahead. It’s all in the preparation. Be prepared to respond to unexpectedissues that may pop up and be able to overcome problems on the spur of themoment. Sleep well beforehand! The hours are long and you have to stick tospecified deadlines. Take lots of food and drink!

We wanted to use as many plants as we could which we stock in our Garden Centresto give people a good idea of what they might expect to find if they visit us. We felt itwould be a great advertising opportunity. A large centre piece in each of the 26planters was essential to give structure, along with an exciting mix of foliage, colourand textures. It was also key to use plants which we were confident that we could selloff at the end of the show and hopefully inspire people to come and visit us.

The Urban Oasis Feature by Groundwork by Designer and broadcaster Chris Beard-shaw was amazing. It was a realistic display of how the city landscape can bedramatically changed with a little community TLC. An urban oasis can take manyforms. This garden feature brought to life the many ways spare pockets of land can beput to use in amongst dense housing in our towns and cities. Community orchards,food growing schemes, reclaimed land after industry has left, ways to encouragechildren to play amongst trees, flower gardens, an experiment station – all this is pos-sible in the most unlikely of places.

Q&A

Robert Gee

Reductions on: Plants Garden Furniture Bbq’s Giftware Pots

www.capitalgardens.co.uk

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