Episode 6 Gardeners' World


Episode 6

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Transcript


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Hello, welcome to Gardeners' World.

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This is the Writing Garden,

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which I started to make about a year ago exactly.

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Of course, this means that the way that it looks now is fresh and new.

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It hasn't done a full 12-month cycle,

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so to see these white daffodils, a variety called Thalia,

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come through and looking really good is a thrill.

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The soil here is very heavy,

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and after last winter it's also very wet.

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Mushroom compost is exceptionally good at lightening heavy soil.

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It's got lime in it and it breaks down the clay.

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Any kind of mulch will keep in moisture,

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so what's in the ground will then work its way to the plants

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rather than evaporating, and also it's the best way to suppress weeds.

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So if you haven't mulched your borders, I would advise that this

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is the single most important thing to be getting on with now.

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Auriculas are spring showstoppers.

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This week, we meet a collector with a passion

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for these floral prima donnas.

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If you look at them, they're all little faces looking at you.

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They are the stars.

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From the elegantly dainty

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to big and blowsy,

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Camellias come in many forms and Carol meets a world authority.

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It's not really a job. It's a way of life.

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You wake up in the morning and you look out and you think,

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-"Wow, spring's on its way."

-Yeah, exactly.

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I'll be starting to restock and rejuvenate my dry garden

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with tips on how to select and place plants to maximum effect.

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At this time of year, the acid green of Euphorbias is the richest,

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brightest colour in the garden, such a signal to me of April.

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This is Euphorbia characias wulfenii,

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one of the biggest, and has got these fantastic columns of bracts.

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These are not the flowers, they're bracts.

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The flowers are tiny in there. Euphorbias, we'll take as cuttings.

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Now, as you've got new growth coming through, is a good time to do it.

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But wear gloves because as soon as you cut into them,

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they exude latex.

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That latex is toxic and your skin will react with them.

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Just be a little bit careful.

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This is probably the only time you'll ever see me

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wearing gloves for gardening.

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But euphorbias are a special case.

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OK. Now I'm protected.

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What I'm looking for are nice, healthy new shoots.

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I'm just going to take a couple.

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I'm not taking too much of next year's growth.

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Can you see? As soon as you cut it, it's got a milky latex.

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It's that that irritates.

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That's what the gloves are all about.

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Not the plant itself. I'll take one more from here.

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Always when you're taking cuttings, use a polythene bag.

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Essentially, this is surgery. You're transplanting the plants.

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So you're cutting it off.

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The minute you cut it, that plant starts to die.

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Everything you can do to delay the dying

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will increase the chance of new roots coming and living.

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Taking euphorbia cuttings is just like any other cutting, really,

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with one slight exception. We have a shoot there.

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You can see latex is smearing itself around. We remove the lower leaves.

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Where there are leaves, you have water leaving the plant.

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We want just enough, but no more. That will do.

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Then, make a clean cut with a sharp knife

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and dip the end in some ground charcoal.

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This isn't essential, but it does help seal the wound

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and stop the cutting losing vital moisture.

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For any cuttings, always use a very freely drained compost.

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Doesn't matter what type.

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Push it down the edge, or in this case the corner.

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The reason for that is that against the sides it dries out less quickly.

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Pop that in like that.

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As soon as they're in the pot, water them,

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put them somewhere warm but not in direct blazing sunshine.

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Then, in about two to four weeks you'll see signs of new growth,

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which means they've got roots.

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When mine are growing, I'll show you how to pot them on.

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Euphorbias are dramatic and wonderful,

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but they're border plants. They mix in the hurly-burly of the garden.

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But some plants stand aloof and alone,

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and even demand their own theatre.

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At this time of year, none are more special than auriculas.

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I am a freelance writer.

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My garden is a great joy to me, so I'm devoting more time

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to the smaller things which give a lot of pleasure.

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The auriculas are a perfect example.

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I love them because they are in fact living antiques.

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They have been bred to get them more and more refined

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and more and more different.

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Some are very velvety, some are full of the farina,

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the lovely dust which makes them silver.

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This is one that has been bred by someone fairly recently,

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quite unusual. A new type of auricula.

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They do require quite a lot of fussing, but that is relaxing,

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that is part of the fun of having them -

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they're almost more like having pets.

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These are the ones that are coming into flower.

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But to see them in their full glory, let's go to the auricula theatre.

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There's a reference by John Evelyn in about 1690 or even earlier

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where he describes auriculas being shown theatrically.

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The need was there to cover, so the rain didn't wash them

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and make them splodgy.

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If you look at them, they're all little faces looking at you.

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They are the stars.

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This is one of my favourites. It's called Mrs Cairn's Blue.

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It's a border, which means it's one of the country cousins,

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it's not one of the very posh ones.

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But I love it for the colour. I also love it because it's quite rare.

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That's a good example of a double. It's a nice acid yellow.

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It's called Forest Sunlight.

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This is one of the much more traditional ones

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that were beloved of growers throughout history.

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It's White Wings.

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This one is particularly interesting

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because it's what they call a hose in hose.

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In other words, you're getting two flower formations.

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It's an Elizabethan term, and that came from the stockings

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that they used to wear, which were one pair tucked into another pair.

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All these plants are extremely artificial

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and are arrived at by a grower just selecting what he wants.

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So if he wants stripes, he will find one that is a bit striped,

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then keep that and breed it with another one that's a bit striped

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and so on and so forth.

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All I really want to do is to tell people they're not difficult.

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They're very suitable if you've got a tiny place or just a backyard.

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They look fantastic if they're displayed en masse.

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People are a little bit scared of them

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and they think they're going to be difficult

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and they're going to kill them.

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They're quite tough. They're Alpine plants, after all.

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Auriculas are absolutely sublime.

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If you build a collection like Patricia's,

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they become a performance in their own right,

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quite separate from whatever else you may be doing in the garden.

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She says they're not difficult to grow, and they're not,

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but they are particular.

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There are certain things you do need to know.

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If you buy them, you'll probably get them like this in a plastic pot.

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They both look and perform much better in a terracotta pot.

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If you're going to the trouble of growing auriculas,

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get a terracotta pot.

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They're beautiful.

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Then get a loam-based compost and add grit or sharp sand.

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The result is perfect for them.

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Then gently take them out of the plastic pot, like that.

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Put them into a small pot. Don't try and pot them up too much.

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I just need a little bit of compost underneath it. Pop that in.

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That'll be fine.

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That's all you have to do.

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You can see what Patricia referred to as the farination,

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which simply means the rather flowery, waxy quality

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that you get on some auriculas. This is highly prized.

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If you put that out in the rain or you water it from above,

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that can wash off, so just water around the roots.

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It can take a little bit of rain, but protect it.

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In summer, don't let auriculas get too hot.

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Whatever happens, don't let them dry out completely.

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They will reward you with these completely unique flowers.

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There is nothing else that has that sense

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of delightful man-made artificiality in the garden.

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Come on.

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I know, it's good, isn't it?

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I've been experimenting quite a lot recently with soil blocks.

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I've used them for years, but then I stopped.

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I've come back to them because it would be nice to do without

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the paraphernalia, of all the plastic of raising seeds.

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That's where soil blocks come in.

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Soil blocks are made using a soil blocker. You can buy these online.

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This one costs about 15 quid. A pretty useful all-round size.

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To use it, you have to make your own compost, but that's not complex

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because bought compost can be part of it.

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If you buy a peat-free compost, that can make up 50% of the result.

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Then you have a bit of soil from your garden, but you need a binder.

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This is where coir comes in. This is a block of coir.

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This is how you buy it.

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You soak it in water and it ends up looking like this.

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It breaks down and it's a fairly friable, loose growing medium.

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I've worked out a recipe which is fundamentally half coir

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plus some soil from the garden, a bit of leaf mould

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and a bit of garden compost.

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On our website, you can get the actual recipe that I use.

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Mix it up. It's sieved, it's well mixed.

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This is where it really differs from using plugs or seed trays,

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because then we make that into mud.

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So I'll water it.

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You have to experiment with this to see how much water to add.

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I mix it up so that it's wet enough

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that when I squeeze it in my hand, water actually runs out.

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Yeah, there's water running out.

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What I'm left with is holding together reasonably well.

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So wet the blocker.

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Hold it and push it really firmly

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and twist it around into your compost mud.

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Lift it, and hopefully they'll come out clean.

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This doesn't have to be in a seed tray,

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it could just be on a flat piece of wood.

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You can see that there's a divot in each one,

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designed so you can just pop your seed in

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and it won't roll off or roll away.

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Perfect arrangement.

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I'm going to put the next row a little bit apart from it,

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because one of the great virtues of soil blocks

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is that the roots air prune.

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As they reach the edge of the block, they stop growing

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and will spread, and you'll get a nice, solid, fibrous root ball.

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Whereas if you have plugs, this is slightly unfair

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because this is a very old one,

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but it's a good example to see how they get root bound.

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Any plant grown in a plastic container will reach

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the end of the container and then go round or up or sideways,

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and it never recovers from that.

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It might grow, it might work, but it never performs properly.

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Whereas when you have a soil block and the roots are all contained

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within the block, you plant it out and it grows away much quicker.

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I still use plugs, I still use all kinds of different compost,

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but it all adds to the variety of your garden.

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Talking of variety of the garden,

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Carol is continuing her series looking at the iconic plants

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that have made our gardens,

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and the people that have given their lives

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to developing particular plants.

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Set in a valley that tumbles down to the sea,

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historical Abbotsbury Gardens are a sub-tropical paradise.

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Within its 20 acres, it nurtures some exquisite specimen camellias.

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Camellias are familiar shrubs, and yet there's something special,

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something mysterious, something Eastern about them.

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hardly surprising since they come from the Far East.

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For several months in the year, they wait in the wings,

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this dark presence, but first thing in the spring

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they step into the spotlight,

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covered in this myriad of beautiful flowers,

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some of them great big rosettes,

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some of them tiny, dainty butterflies.

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They really do take centre stage.

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Jennifer Trehane, specialist camellia grower and world expert

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has been visiting the gardens at Abbotsbury

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for over 40 years to admire their collection.

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You think of camellias being shrubs,

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-but a lot of these are trees, aren't they?

-Absolutely.

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This is how they grow if you don't actually prune them

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and keep them down to shape.

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But they've been at Abbotsbury for a long time, haven't they?

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Yes, these were all planted here in the 19th century.

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-This particular one...

-Which is beautiful.

-You love it, don't you?

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Yeah, I really do.

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This is Alba Plena, one of the first two japonica varieties to be

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brought into Britain on a tea clipper. They came in in the 1790s.

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It's still available now, actually. Stood the test of time.

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Didn't your father have quite a lot to do with popularising them?

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My father was absolutely key.

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He collected 1,000 different varieties from all over the world

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and tried and tested them first.

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That was very important to see how well

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they performed in the British Isles.

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You've continued that work.

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Well, I've tried.

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Because I love my job, it's not really a job, it's a way of life.

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-They really do just light up the place.

-They do.

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And you wake up in the morning, and I look out and you think,

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-"Wow, spring's on its way."

-Yeah, exactly.

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One of the things I think is most endearing about camellias is

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-the way their flower forms vary.

-Absolutely.

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I just love these formal doubles with their regular flower

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petals packed in together and beautiful.

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They almost look as though they've been drawn, don't they?

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Yes, they do.

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And they made wonderful buttonholes for the Victorian gentleman.

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You could hardly get anything more different than this, could you?

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Isn't it beautiful? So simple. It's a single form flower, Carol.

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It's only got eight petals or less. It has that wonderful simplicity.

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I just love them.

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This is different again, isn't it?

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Yes, it's a completely different flower form.

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It's an anemone form camellia.

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And you can see why

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because it has this very tight centre of petaloid stamens.

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And this wonderful ring of true petals around it.

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-It's almost like it can't make its mind up.

-It is.

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But it's very lovely.

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This is only one of several different flower forms. There are plenty more.

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Jennifer, you're at the hub, the very centre of the camellia world.

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Which way do you think camellias are going? What are the coming trends?

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I think there's a great movement away from the bigger flowered,

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brightly coloured exotic looking camellias to the more delicate,

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miniature camellias that are more garden-worthy.

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They fit into the modern garden because they are compact growers.

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They're upright and disease-resistant.

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So this has got loads of buds on it. And it's full of flower.

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It's been flowering since December.

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Jennifer, you're such a leading authority on camellias,

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people must ask you loads of questions about them.

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What are the most common ones?

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One of the most common ones is, "My camellia's got yellow leaves.

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"It looks tired and sick.

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"What can I do about it?"

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If it's in the springtime, it probably needs feeding.

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And then people, think, "I'll dash out with the feed now, immediately."

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No.

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Wait for the young leaves to start forming

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and then you know that that's an optimum point to give

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it its breakfast, if you like, after the winter.

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Of course, another question I get asked is,

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"Is there trouble at the roots?"

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Is your camellia in a wet position? Are the roots drowning?

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Maybe you've planted it in soil that's a little on the alkaline side,

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because camellias do like to be in a slightly acidic soil.

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So it could be that it's in the wrong site.

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And the other thing is "My plant has got too big. It's out of control".

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What can I do about that?

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The obvious thing to do is to prune it.

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The time to prune is just before growth starts,

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when the plant is still just dormant.

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They're tough. They like being pruned.

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They're stimulated by pruning. So it's very easy to do.

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But meanwhile, when you've tackled all these problems,

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what's your advice about what to do with them this weekend?

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I think this weekend, I would be enjoying them.

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I would be looking at the blooms, as I do, out of my kitchen window

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and say, "Isn't spring a wonderful season?"

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You've got all these various flowers, colours, shapes, sizes.

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All within the one genus, the camellia.

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I've got some kale here. There we are.

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That's that.

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Well, if you want to take Jennifer's advice and go

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and enjoy camellias, there are lots of different places you can.

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If you look on our website you'll have addresses

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and opening times of the various gardens,

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including Abbotsbury.

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But if you want to be busy this weekend,

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here's some jobs you can be getting on with.

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'Shallots are delicious and now is the best time to plant them as sets.

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'Prepare the ground by forking it over and add a little compost.

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'Then place each set with the roots facing down so half of it is buried.

0:21:230:21:28

'This will then multiply

0:21:280:21:29

'and produce a bunch of new shallots for harvesting in summer.

0:21:290:21:32

'Space the sets about six to nine inches apart in rows or a grid.

0:21:340:21:39

'And then keep them weeded.

0:21:390:21:40

'It's now time to sow sunflowers.

0:21:470:21:50

'You can use pots, modules or, as I am, soil blocks.

0:21:500:21:54

'Plant two seeds per unit and put them somewhere warm.

0:21:560:21:59

'When they've germinated, remove the weaker of the two seedlings.

0:22:010:22:04

'Many young seedlings, like these tomatoes I sowed a month ago,

0:22:090:22:13

'are now ready to be pricked out.

0:22:130:22:15

'Hold them by a leaf and carefully lift them,

0:22:150:22:18

'keeping as much root attached as possible.

0:22:180:22:20

'Plant them onto a module or seed tray, leaving

0:22:230:22:26

'plenty of room for the roots to develop.

0:22:260:22:28

'They will then grow strongly

0:22:300:22:32

'and be ready to pot on in a few weeks' time.'

0:22:320:22:34

This is...

0:22:460:22:48

It's a semi-tender clematis from New Zealand

0:22:480:22:51

and I planted it last spring

0:22:510:22:54

hoping it would survive our winters but to be honest, a bit worried

0:22:540:22:57

because it can be very cold here.

0:22:570:22:58

And although it was so wet last winter, it was incredibly mild

0:22:590:23:03

so it's loved it, grown really well. It's flowering gloriously.

0:23:030:23:07

It's very happy and, I think, very beautiful.

0:23:070:23:10

This is the dry garden,

0:23:190:23:21

so called because it's got sun for most of the day

0:23:210:23:25

and also, the soil drains really fast.

0:23:250:23:29

And two weeks ago, I began taking all the plants out.

0:23:290:23:33

All these plants came out of just these two bits of ground.

0:23:330:23:37

And it's been dug over, weeded as best as we can.

0:23:370:23:40

And it's now ready for replanting.

0:23:400:23:42

Before I replant, I'm going to give this a little bit of refreshment.

0:23:420:23:47

I'm adding compost. Not very much.

0:23:500:23:53

A thin layer to add bacteria and fungi to the soil.

0:23:540:23:58

Because that life provides the means for the plants to take up

0:23:580:24:04

the nutrients.

0:24:040:24:05

Half an inch thick and that's all you need.

0:24:050:24:08

Having put compost on, I'm adding grit.

0:24:130:24:16

The compost is refreshing the soil. It's not acting as a mulch.

0:24:160:24:21

But the grit is improving drainage.

0:24:210:24:22

Spread the gravel evenly over the whole area

0:24:240:24:27

so it's on top of the compost.

0:24:270:24:28

Finally, I need to work it all in.

0:24:310:24:34

You can use anything to do it.

0:24:340:24:35

You could rotivate it if it's a big area, you could use a fork,

0:24:350:24:38

but I love using this tool.

0:24:380:24:39

This is a cultivator. I remember my grandfather had one.

0:24:390:24:42

I don't get to use it very often, so I jumped at the chance.

0:24:420:24:46

Of course, it's designed to cultivate deeply

0:24:460:24:49

and churn the soil over and mix it all up.

0:24:490:24:51

Right, having gone to all the trouble of preparing the soil,

0:24:540:24:58

now it's important not to walk on it.

0:24:580:25:00

So let's put a plank or two back down

0:25:000:25:03

so we can get on with the creative bit,

0:25:040:25:08

which is starting to place the plants.

0:25:080:25:10

This is why it's worth putting plants in pots,

0:25:100:25:13

because it gives you the chance to move them around, take your time

0:25:130:25:16

and the other tip is, don't plant anything

0:25:160:25:20

until you've got everything out because you've going to alter

0:25:200:25:23

things as you go along. Putting one thing down will affect another.

0:25:230:25:26

And you know this grows four foot tall and that's only four inches,

0:25:260:25:29

so it needs to be in front and so on and so forth.

0:25:290:25:32

Take your time. I'm going to start with the iris...

0:25:320:25:35

Which are looking perfectly healthy and I hope these will flower.

0:25:370:25:40

They don't want to be too far back,

0:25:400:25:42

so we'll keep these fairly near the front.

0:25:420:25:45

Because although the flowers are quite tall,

0:25:450:25:48

it is important they get sunshine.

0:25:480:25:50

I don't want them blocked by too much.

0:25:500:25:53

Don't dot them

0:25:550:25:57

unless that's specifically an effect that you want.

0:25:570:26:00

They'll be much more effective in groups

0:26:000:26:02

and if that means just one group, so be it.

0:26:020:26:05

I like to do odd numbers because it looks slightly more natural.

0:26:050:26:09

Sedums are designed to cope with nice stony, well-drained conditions.

0:26:110:26:15

And here they grow much shorter, but healthy and upright.

0:26:150:26:18

I shall be putting back most of the plants I've taken out.

0:26:200:26:23

But I've bought a few new ones.

0:26:230:26:25

And I want to get them in position so I can work around them.

0:26:250:26:28

These are three very different plants.

0:26:300:26:32

I've got a biennial, which is Verbascum olympicum. Really tall.

0:26:320:26:37

Loves tough conditions and has wonderful felted, woolly foliage.

0:26:370:26:41

I've got a perennial. This is an achillea,

0:26:430:26:45

Achillea moonshine,

0:26:450:26:46

which is really my favourite achillea

0:26:460:26:48

because it has a slight luminous, white glow to the yellow flowers.

0:26:480:26:53

And I've got a cistus. This is Cistus ladanifer...

0:26:540:26:57

A shrub which loves baking sun

0:26:580:27:02

and has got white flowers

0:27:020:27:05

and slightly sticky foliage.

0:27:050:27:08

Now, the cistus wants to go fairly near the front...

0:27:110:27:14

And getting all the sun.

0:27:160:27:17

The heat will radiate off the walls too, so somewhere around there.

0:27:170:27:21

The verbascum, on the other hand, is really tall,

0:27:230:27:25

so it wants to go nearer the back.

0:27:250:27:27

This could go...

0:27:290:27:31

..right back there. And it will grow six foot tall. Be really dramatic.

0:27:330:27:37

The achillea is quite delicate.

0:27:400:27:42

Its effect is luminous, but subtle.

0:27:430:27:47

So let's put this...

0:27:470:27:48

..about there for the moment.

0:27:530:27:55

This is going to take time. It's not a job to be rushed.

0:27:560:27:59

Only going to do it maybe once more in my lifetime.

0:27:590:28:02

So I want to make sure it's right.

0:28:020:28:04

And not until I'm really happy with any of them

0:28:040:28:07

will I plant any of them.

0:28:070:28:08

It will happen over the next few days, anyway.

0:28:080:28:10

That's it for this week.

0:28:100:28:12

Next week is Easter and, of course, it's the first chance

0:28:120:28:15

most of us have to spend some real time out in our gardens.

0:28:150:28:19

Join me here in my garden at Longmeadow at the same time

0:28:200:28:24

next Friday.

0:28:240:28:25

Until then, bye-bye.

0:28:250:28:26

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