Episode 4 Gardeners' World

Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World.

Last week, we got the lining in, with Joe's help,

attached a hosepipe up and started to fill the pond.

It's full now and it's ready for the next phase, which will be

hiding those edges and starting the planting.

That can happen in the fullness of time. There is no hurry.

Anyway, we've got a lot going on today.

'Carol is looking at primroses growing in the wild.

'She's gone to southern Ireland to meet a man devoted

'to saving heritage varieties.'

Prima rosa, the first rose of spring.

As soon as you see it, you anticipate the year ahead.

'Joe continues his design masterclass

'and this week looking at the role of verticals in the garden.'

Once you've got your garden layout, the next thing to do

is think about how to break up all that space, especially at eye level.

I shall be planting clematis and making plants for free by taking cuttings.

Now is the perfect moment to take basal cuttings.

I know that cuttings can intimidate people.

Somehow it feels like an advanced level of horticulture, but it isn't.

It's dead easy and everyone should try it

because you've got nothing to lose and masses to gain.

Free plants and most of them work.

You don't have to worry about it. It just happens.

Basal cuttings are perfect for plants like delphiniums, lamiums,

lupins, all producing new shoots now. You can see on this delphinium

you've got this lovely new, vigorous growth.

If I took a cutting there, it wouldn't root

and as it gets bigger, those stems are hollow and they won't produce roots.

Down at the base of the plant, that's the word, basal,

it's ideal for taking cuttings. Scrape it away, use a sharp knife.

Get in there and just cut below the soil, like that.

Pop it in there, seal it over

and that will keep before you go and put it into a rooting medium.

We can only just spare one growth on that one

but I've got a group of three here.

I could spare that one there.

Just by taking one or two shoots from each clump,

I'm not reducing the display because, after all,

delphiniums in full glory in midsummer, fantastic!

I don't want to lose that.

I'm just adding to the stock and gradually it will build up,

you can never have too many delphiniums, in this life.

I'll take one more from that and then we'll go and pot them up.

I have to stress that the sooner you can get the cutting into soil,

the more likely it is to take.

Don't hang about. Keep it in the bag and straight to the compost.

The compost wants to have really good drainage.

I'm going to add some perlite.

Just mix it up, and grit would do the job, just as well.

Take a pot...

There's the cut material.

If I stuck that in the pot like that,

there's so much foliage that's losing moisture

that it would flop and then die before the root could grow.

I need to cut it back a little bit.

You need to leave some foliage, which will feed the roots,

but not too much.

With basal cuttings, you don't want to cut the end off,

that's where the roots are going to grow from.

That can go on to a bench and if you keep it misted,

it should root fine.

If you haven't got a heated bench,

and you're out all day and putting it on a windowsill,

it's a good idea to protect it, to stop it drying out.

The simplest way is to put a polythene bag over the top.

There you are, like that.

If you haven't got any plants in the garden to take cuttings from,

when you buy a plant that's nice and healthy,

before you plant it out, look and see

if there's anywhere you can take cuttings from.

You can see on this one,

that would make nice cut material.

Before putting it out, I just cut away underneath

and I've got myself, potentially, an extra plant

which next year will be as big as that.

Have a look at this.

Here's a clump of primroses.

Just a foot or so away, a cowslip, a bit early.

Between them, they have hybridised to produce this,

which has got primrose flowers but a cowslip long stem.

Primulas, of all kinds, do hybridise very easily

and Carol has been to southern Ireland, both to see and celebrate

primroses growing in the wild, so to speak,

and also to visit a gardener who's used that hybridisation

both to make lots of new varieties

and rescue old ones which otherwise would have been lost forever.

The primrose. The Prima rosa, the first rose of spring.

It's full of hope and promise.

Ever since I was little, until the very first primrose,

I've just been in love with the plant. It's a picture of perfection.

This is just such a typical site to find primrose growing in the wild.

It's a tremendously successful plant,

it loves banks like this,

or verges or ditches... the edge of woodland.

One of the reasons for its success is this very wonderful evolution

where you get two distinctive forms of flowers.

Superficially, they all look the same

but when you look into their insides,

you find that on some plants the centre is what's called pin-eyed,

it just looks like a pin sticking out of the flower.

That's the stigma which receives the pollen from these other plants,

which are thrum-eyed

and that means there's a ring of fluffy anthers

that contain all the pollen.

The pollen can be taken from here,

delivered to the stigma on the pin-eyed plant

and pollination takes place.

Perhaps, the most astonishing thing about this beautiful,

simple little plant is that it has spawned a whole proliferation

of polyanthus and primulas that we all use in our gardens.

'Cultivars of Primula vulgaris

'have been cherished since Elizabethan times.

'From the late 19th century, a few women in Ireland began to take

'a special interest in them, nurturing them

'and passing divisions to friends and neighbours.

'When the commercial plant industry adopted the primrose,

'its priority was to produce brightly coloured flowers for bedding.

'The little Irish hand-me-down primulas fell by the wayside.

'Retired dentist Joe Kennedy took up their cause

'and for the last 35 years he's been breeding new varieties

'that have much in common with the old Irish primulas.'

So, Joe, how did you come across these old varieties

of primroses in the first place?

I used to go around to various gardening clubs

giving talks on primroses, mostly,

and there were wonderful ladies there.

I won't call them old ladies, but they were lovely.

-Ladies of mature years?

-Perhaps.

Anyway, they would love to get me to come to their garden

and they were so proud to take me down into their garden

and see these lovely little gems that they had.

Those little gems had come from their granny or from 1900,

that sort of vintage.

If I could start breeding and try and preserve this longevity

and that started me trying to do that.

What is so striking about your plants is that

they still have the same quality and charm and prettiness

of some of those old varieties.

-This is very striking.

-This is very like the wild primrose.

If you look, there are two flowers, the sepals have turned into petals.

Another development of that, further,

is the Jack in the green,

where the sepal becomes leaf-like.

Then, a further development from that,

you've got colour in the sepals.

A lot of your plants, Joe, have got these dark leaves.

-They are just a foil for those pale flowers.

-It is, yes.

I'm hoping to develop a whole range of dark leaf types,

along with others to use. There are other little ones.

There's one down there.

This little beauty.

This is one called Kinlough Beauty, which is of the same era.

It is so dainty.

Polyanthus, really, that's what they call them,

being upon a leg like that.

This is not reminiscent of those big garish polyanthus that you see?

No, it's a much more delicate... and at the bottom of the garden

it's lovely to have a few little ones like this, you know.

Nowadays people are content to put things in their garden

and turf them out two years later, but that's not real gardening.

That's not what gardening is about, is it?

It's the person that has the little gems

and they're so proud of them and they love them.

And nurturing them and bringing them on and swapping them and exchanging.

But you must have plants that have longevity,

otherwise you're wasting your time.

I think people more and more are recognising

the qualities of some of these lovely, old varieties.

I think it will develop, it will develop

and people are working more in gardens now than they were

ten or 15 years ago, I can see that.

People are beginning to find the joy in producing something

and keeping it and loving it.

-Yeah, and passing it on.

-And passing it on.

Through the work of Joe and other devoted growers,

these old varieties are enjoying a renaissance

and both they and new cultivars, with same charm,

are becoming available in specialist nurseries.

I'm planting three clematis along the wall.

If you remember I planted some roses here

and the idea is that the clematis will grow amongst the roses

and we'll have this wonderful smothering of flowers.

I've chosen the clematis carefully to match in with roses

and also to give some succession.

The first one down there is Clematis paniculata.

This is a lovely, evergreen clematis from New Zealand,

smothered with white flowers in May.

Down that end, I've got a Viticella clematis,

'Alba Luxurians', which has got white flowers

with a little green twist to them.

Here I'm planting a clematis called 'John Huxtable'.

All clematis, and there are hundreds to choose from,

are divided into three groups.

Group 1 are the small, early-flowering types

like Alpina and Armandii.

Group 2 are the large-flowering, mid-seasoned varieties

like 'Nelly Moser' and 'The President'.

Group 3 are the mid-to-late season,

which include the mass flowers of Viticellas.

Whatever one you choose, they all need planting in the same way.

Whereas with the roses, I more or less just made a hole

and popped them in the ground, clematis must be planted deep.

At least twice the depth of the pot the clematis comes in.

The hole wants to be two feet deep.

That's so that the roots can go down

into really good compost or manure

because they like feeding and they like moisture.

I always feel that when you're planting anything, really,

but particularly a long-lasting plant like clematis,

the really important point is choosing which one to grow.

As ever, the best thing to do is to go along to the garden

and see them growing, see how they look in situ.

We went along last summer to Bolam, in Northumberland,

where Heather Russell has a fabulous collection of Viticella clematis.

I've been growing Viticella clematis for nearly 20 years.

They are so hardy, floriferous, so easy to grow

and give you late summer colour.

They are such a good addition to any garden.

This is 'Abundance' and you can see where they get their name.

I bought this because I had just found out about Viticellas.

The Viticella clematis

are much hardier than the large, early-flowered varieties.

I had lost a lot of those in the early days

and I'd given up on clematis. I thought those were clematis.

It's only reading an article about these wonderful things

that I thought, "Those sound much better," so I tried them.

I bought every one I could see because they did turn out

to be so good.

You will get a very good display

and a very long life with Viticella

if you plant them right in the first place.

They do need food. You have to mulch them

so you can maintain the moisture in the ground

and make sure that they are well supported.

But after that, it's just sitting back and enjoying them.

Every winter, I cut all the Viticellas down to the ground,

it couldn't be easier.

And in the spring, they start to throw new shoots up from the ground,

and all of this, from here upwards, is this year's growth,

which is amazing, actually, when you come to think about it.

Viticella species is a little bell, and a lot of the group have inherited

that bell shape, but they are crossed with different clematis.

So you have quite a wide variety of size and shape within the group.

Lots of Viticellas have unknown parentage.

This one, I bought as a growing seedling of a white campaniflora,

but when it flowered, it was actually this beautiful, inky purple bell

with a silver back, and it's so floriferous and healthy

that I feel very fortunate to have it.

And I've called it Bolam bell - it's not registered

but it's just delicious, really, and it produces so much seed -

bucketfuls of seed, actually.

Most clematis produce a little bit of seed, but this is prolific,

and it drops to the ground and seedlings will be growing in the gravel like mustard and cress.

It's lovely to be able to put the fork in

and to give them away to garden visitors, so they can be growing clematis

and hopefully Bolam bell-type things in their garden.

Some of my favourites: 'Emilia Plater' is lovely,

she has soft blue, crepey flowers, lots of them,

and over a very long period.

And 'Kermesina' is long-flowering,

she has a red flower with a white centre, which really lights it up.

And I suppose, one that is everybody's favourite is 'Huldene',

she is white with mauve bars to the back -

a very well-formed flower and a good doer.

I just can't imagine the garden now without Clematis viticella.

They are so colourful and they are such a fabulous backdrop

that the garden would be less without them.

Heather's garden is open to the public by appointment,

and for more information, go to our website:

I will be putting plenty of this compost underneath.

This is actually not finished compost,

this is from the second-to-last heap, as I want it to be bulky.

And if you haven't got compost you could use paper,

you could use straw, anything that will hold moisture,

because clematis are thirsty and greedy,

but compost or manure is ideal.

If I take this out the pot, I want the soil level to be about there.

That will protect it against wilt.

In fact, this is a group three clematis

and they tend not to suffer from wilt, but group two do.

If you've got a group two clematis - and those are all the named varieties,

the hybrids that we are all so familiar with -

plant them deep and if they get wilt, they'll grow back from the base.

Soil around the roots.

The next phase is to give it a really good soak.

Except for group one clematis - and group one are all the clematis that flower in spring -

you should prune them back after you've planted,

and that will encourage good, new growth from the base.

So we've got a nice, strong plant, which will help fill that wall.

It's set now, and the final thing is to really mulch it,

and don't stint on this.

Give clematis a thick mulch,

because the one thing that guarantees good clematis is food.

All this work is geared at making the wall look good,

getting plenty of upright colour.

That was a terrible weakness at Longmeadow when we came, because there was nothing.

It was this great open, empty expanse

and since then I've tried to get as much upright growth

as I possibly can into the garden.

And this week, Joe continues his design masterclass, looking at

the different ways we can use those vertical elements in our gardens.

Once you've got your garden layout, the next thing to do is think about the vertical elements

in the garden, how to break up all that space, especially at eye level.

Because otherwise you see the whole garden at once, and there's nothing more dull.

You want to create interest and be drawn through it.

With this formal layout, I will look at imposing more formality

onto the garden, and maybe putting some trellising across here,

so the view is funnelled straight down the middle,

and you also enter different rooms as you move through.

On this informal layout,

we're looking to maybe screen off the back area, create some seclusion,

a sense of privacy towards the back, and then balance it out,

so as you move through it, you want to see what's around that corner.

On this garden, I can see very informal planting,

just helping to break up the areas.

If you put a tree over there, and there, and there,

the balance of the planting to the hard landscaping is coming together.

You see the elements breaking the space vertically,

and that is really important in any good garden design.

There are plenty of ways to introduce vertical elements into the garden.

Depending on what you use, these can add rhythm, screening,

or something to simply draw the eye, all adding to the garden design.

There's a whole range of structures or plants to use to achieve a variety of effects.

This garden has been designed using hedges to break up the vertical space.

The Cornus behind me is above my eye level so I can't see over it,

so I'm intrigued as to what's behind there.

Whereas this box hedge does a really important job of breaking up a large expanse of lawn.

But also, the height is key, because I can see most of the garden beyond,

which makes me want to go and explore further.

This beech hedge has been grown intentionally tall,

to create a sense of seclusion and privacy behind it.

It also creates a beautiful backdrop for this wonderful bench.

So when choosing vertical elements in your garden, think about

what you're trying to achieve, and that will determine their height.

When it comes to taller planting in your garden,

there are quite a few considerations.

Something like this bamboo is absolutely perfect,

it has a really strong vertical element, wonderful yellow stems

that have been cleaned up, so you can partially see through them.

But what's great about bamboos is they haven't got too much spread,

so they don't cast too much shade in the garden.

The right vertical element in the right place can create a desire to

explore areas of the garden, guiding you or your eye through the space.

It doesn't have to block a view completely - an archway, obelisk

or something that is partially see-through works really well.

And customise structures -

vintage finds and reclaimed objects make wonderful features.

This structure cuts into the garden to divide up the garden space,

but as you come round and into it, you see it is actually a very

generous, wide arch, and it funnels you through, it draws the eye in.

And then you realise it is actually L-shaped and it draws you

around this corner, so I'm now running parallel to the garden wall.

There's this lovely pot at the end,

and the whole thing takes me through to the next part of the garden.

In all these gardens, the verticals are used to great effect.

They hide secrets to be discovered,

give rhythm to the space and physically guide you around,

creating interesting gardens full of discovery.

It's about using all three dimensions.

We've looked at the layout of a garden, how to introduce height,

but, of course, a really good garden needs plenty of movement.

So next time we're going to look at how to achieve that through focus and flow.

I've tried to use verticals in every possible way in this garden,

and one of the things I've noticed is that

if you make the entrance between two hedges as narrow as possible,

that makes the vertical side seem taller, and it gets a kind of energy

going upwards, and it works well in a garden of any size.

Talking about energy going upwards,

last October I started an experiment with sweet peas.

The idea is to find out the best time to sow them.

I sowed a batch in October in pots which have been overwintering in the cold frames.

I shall sow another batch now, also into pots,

and around the end of April, beginning of May, depending on the weather,

I shall also sow some seed directly into the soil.

I will grow the three batches side-by-side,

the same piece of soil, the same seeds,

under the same conditions, and we will just see which fares better.

I keep sowing sweet peas as simple as possible.

Just normal, peat-free potting compost, I don't soak them,

I don't nick them, I just get them in and if they're kept watered,

they'll germinate perfectly well.

I use three-inch pots, which I find are very suitable

and I put three seeds per pot.

The idea is you plant the pot out in its entirety,

rather than separating the seedlings.

So if one or two don't germinate, I still plant it out as is.

These should germinate by the end of the week

and grow quite fast at this time of year,

so I'd expect to plant them out around about the middle of May,

having hardened off and grown into nice, bushy plants.

Right, just give these some water...

..and let them get on with it.

That's a job done. Now, here are a few other jobs to do this weekend.

Any container plants, whether kept outside or indoors over winter,

should be showing signs of new growth,

so it's time to give them a little bit of encouragement.

Scrape away the top layer of compost in the container and replace it with fresh.

Make sure it's well watered,

and this will give it a boost to support all that fresh growth.

It's important to keep seedlings moving on,

otherwise they can very quickly outgrow their container.

So prick out seedlings as soon as they have a true leaf,

to give them more room for better root growth.

With water shortages about, it's very important that we all collect as much rainwater as we can.

You'll be surprised how much comes off even a small roof.

Use any kind of container and attach it to a downpipe,

and as long as you can dip into it to get the water out,

it really doesn't matter what you use.

Inevitably at this time of year, if you've been sowing seeds

since the New Year, you get this build-up of seedlings,

and yet it's still a bit early to plant a lot of them out.

For example, these artichokes were sown in mid-January,

and they're developing nice little plants, but I don't want to

put them into the garden for at least another month yet.

This is where cold frames come in handy, because they can be stored

and gradually hardened off by opening and closing them,

and still protected at the same time.

In fact, cold frames are so useful

and not really given the credit they deserve, I don't think.

You can raise plants in them, you can store them,

you can harden them off, and it doesn't matter how big they are,

I bet you find you use every inch of them all the time.

That's it for this week. We'll be back next week, of course,

when it's Easter weekend, and more time in the garden.

So until then, bye-bye.