Sowings made from May to July yield young plants ready to set out in late summer or early autumn, so they can put down good roots into warm, moist soil. Hardy ground-covering rosettes then sit tight through winter, ready to rise up and flower from the following spring. Most biennials are simple, rather than highly bred plants, and their pretty, semiwild appearance is ideally suited to the modern, wildlife-friendly garden. Many, like native viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare) attract pollinating insects and are adept self-seeders, happy to just get on and grow untended.
Marvellous myosotis
In my garden the show starts with a sea of blue forget-me-nots descended from plants added some 15 years ago. Any growing in the wrong place are easily pulled up. These are soon followed by honesty, which shines out from dry, shady corners and hedge bottoms, doubling as food plants for the caterpillars of orange tip butterflies. Their flat seedpods start off green, before turning to silvery coins that persist well into winter. June brings towering foxgloves and borders threaded with fragrant sweet rocket, whose white, pink or purple four-petalled flowers glimmer at dusk. There are plenty of options for drier conditions, where biennial clary (Salvia sclarea ‘Turkestanica’) will shimmer alongside the giant silvery thistles of onopordums. Horned and Iceland poppies enjoy well-drained gravel and scree beds.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 16, 2020-Ausgabe von Amateur Gardening.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 16, 2020-Ausgabe von Amateur Gardening.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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To dig or not to dig?
Should we be carrying out a full dig on plots now? Bob considers the pros and cons of the 'autumn dig' debate
The box ball blues
As if his beleaguered box hadn't already taken a beating, Toby now has to deal with some hungry box caterpillars
Save your own seeds
Masterclass on: seed saving
Strange sightings
Three unusual insects turn up in Val's garden in one day
A bolt from the blue!
Cornflowers are perfect for garden and vase
Winter moth prevention
Ruth shows you how to avoid maggoty tree fruits
Create a winter container
There are as many options as in summer
Lightweight gardening tools
AS well as being good for our mental health, gardening is also great exercise.
Autumn price round-up
AG finds better bargains in lesser-known brands
Rudbeckias
Rudbeckias are ideal for sunny summer patios and borders, with some able to survive our coldest winters