At Beechgrove we do grow an inordinate range of plants. As I often comment, at maximum there are five presenters all with their own ideas and as a result, from time to time there are so many ‘balls in the air’ that things slip the mind.
We start a process off and somehow down the line a couple of months later there is loud ‘oops’ from someone who suddenly remembers a little project they had begun and which had not been looked at to see what progress had been made. That is the big excuse from me concerning our hardy annuals this season. However, all was not lost.
To recap, while hardy annuals can be a wonderful stop-gap to fill a bit of space, sometimes they are sown rather late because of soil conditions and that will inevitably shorten their flowering season. In these parts we usually sow them in early to mid May but in a later season, they may not go into the ground until nearer the end of the month.
Several years ago, I tried a wee experiment as follows: take time to sow a range of hardy annuals in cells in early April, in the glasshouse. The process takes a little bit of time but I equated that with the time taken to thin seedlings that have been direct sown.
What’s more I argue that, when the soil conditions are ready to sow direct in the open, the cell-grown plants can be planted out too using a dibber and they will already be several weeks ahead.
We repeated the exercise of sowing in cells this year and then planting out in the Driveway border – a narrow, south facing, raised bed, an ideal location.
As it turned out, the weather pattern caught us out, top growth was extremely slow to begin with, but the roots were enjoying the cool moist conditions.
As a result, when the fine weather did arrive, there was an explosion of top growth, difficult to untangle at times.
The real purpose of the exercise however, was to have a look at some new varieties of hardy annuals with a few old favourites (not duplicates of the new varieties) just to compare growth rates and performance and in that regard, we did have some success.
A postscript to that observation about the weather relates to the soil itself. While the location was ideal but because the soil is well looked after, it was too rich for this job.
Hardy annuals show up best when grown in a soil that is comparatively low in nutrients because the foliage grows less vigorously whilst the energy is directed to producing good flowers.
Not to be too dramatic, so far as the plant is concerned, the ultimate outcome is about the creation of good seed and for that you have to have plenty flowers to attract the pollinating insects! I’m sure you got that message ages ago but we do need to remind ourselves of it from time to time.
As I say, we did have some success because there were several varieties that showed enough promise to be noted for next year and here are a few of them:
Agrostemma ‘Milas’ common name Corn Cockle. One of the very reliable oldies, a tall plant (60cm), for the back of the border but a great delight.
I’m not good with colour shades but the open flowers, about 5cm across are a lovely pale lavender pink, shading to white in the centre.
Calendula ‘Red Buff’ is a new Scotch Marigold to me. Quite different, smaller flowers but plenty of them, orange with a firey glow and growing to about 30-40cm high.
Dimorphotheca ‘Palm Springs Mxd’ Star of the Veldt. This is a cracker, flowers are a vibrant mixture of orange shades. Grew to about 30cm high, it obviously loved the sunny weather.
Echium vulgare ‘Blue Bedder’ Annual Borage or Viper’s Bugloss. Another oldie, this is a MUST, never fails, the bees love it. Grows to about 45cm
Gilia tricolor ‘Blue Eyes’. An old favourite in a new guise. What can I say, it is an absolute delight.
Iberis ‘Super Mixture’ Candytuft. One of the best performers this season, it produces a huge number of flowers. Grew to about 30cm
Nigella ‘Choc Ice’ I just had to mention Nigella! This particular Love-in-a- mist has a rather unusual combination of colours. It is quite a compact plant, well worth its place as well as the regular variety Miss Jekyll.
Make a note to try these in your 2014 diary, you won’t be disappointed.