The Grampound Times
Christmas 2006 (Edition 43)
Our community in Cornwall
Going to Seed in the Garden
by Gillian Thompson
Every year, in spring, I sow somewhere in the region of 120 different varieties of seed. They come from various sources – seed I saved, in the previous autumn, from my own plants; free packets of seed, given away with a gardening magazine; seed from the Royal Horticultural Society and the Hardy Plant Society (membership of both organisations entitles you to choose up to 20 packets of seed under their seed swap schemes); and, just occasionally, packets of seed I have actually purchased!
Such industry will, of course, result in a considerable number of plants. In Spring 2004, I grew 2,206 different plants. This was quite ridiculous – I have a small garden and even giving away trays full of plants at a time, still resulted in several hundred going on the compost heap. The situation was untenable and my solution was not to sow all the seeds in a packet and to limit myself to a maximum of 24 plants of each variety, no matter how desirable the plant. In case you are wondering how I arrived at a figure of “24” this is because there are 24 cells in the trays I use for potting on.
These simple measures mean that for the last two years I have raised something like 1,000 plants in each year. Still a considerable number, but there are always losses along the way – I’m very erratic in my watering habits!
Some are favourites, which I wouldn’t be without Cosmos bipinnatus (it comes in shades of pink, white and deep lilac); Cleome hassleriana (the spider flower, in similar shades to the Cosmos and, therefore, ideal bed mates); Lavatera trimestris ‘ Mont Blanc’ (white mallow) and ‘Silver Cup’ (pink mallow). All four are lovely together in a vase. They are all grown on what I fancifully call my “cutting plot” (actually a corner of someone else’s garden), I can’t bear to cut flowers from my garden proper.
Other annuals grown for the vase include Rudbeckia hirta ‘Irish Eyes’ (sometimes called ‘Green Eyes’), with its yellow, pointed petals and olive green, central cone. I also like Amaranthus caudatus ‘Viridis’ (the green version of love-lies-bleeding), which is placed to dangle its long tassels over the edge of the vase and Nicotiana ‘Lime Green’ (tobacco plant). Nicotiana sylvestris is also grown, but at six foot tall, this is usually found a home in the border near where I like to sit, so that I can enjoy its lovely fragrance on a warm summer evening.
But, I don’t confine myself to annuals (those that flower and die in one season), I also grow, from seed, perennials (those that come back year after year), biennials (those that grow into substantial plants one year and then flower the next – examples include foxgloves, wallflowers, and sweet Williams) and the occasional tree – well to be honest one tree Paulownia tomontosa (the foxglove tree). Left to its own devices it will grow to over 30 foot, but if cut to ground level every year the result is a tree which grows to 7-8 foot in a season, with lovely large leaves, but without the “foxglove” flowers from which the tree gets its common name.
Most of my seeds are started in the glasshouse in February and March, and are sown into three-inch pots, clearly labelled – well they are when they start, I cannot guarantee that the label won’t mysteriously disappear at some point in the plants’ life – there are several plants growing on in quiet corners, waiting to come into flower, so that I can identify them. When they are large enough to handle, they are potted on into cell trays, where they remain until they have established a good root system, when they are potted on once more into an appropriately sized pot (4 or 5 inches, depending on how large the plant is destined to be). From there the vast majority will be planted straight into the garden, but some are grown on in their pots until a suitable gap appears. This certainly applies to the biennials; they will stay in their pots until the summer bedding comes out and then they replace them, ready to flower the coming year.
Campanulas , the perennial kind, I’ve discovered, are easy from seed, though they may take a couple of years to actually flower. Passiflora caerulea (the exotic looking passion flower) was also relatively easy from seed – the hard part was getting it through its first winter, but after that there has been no holding it. One plant is growing up into the boundary hedge, which divides and shelters my garden from the fields behind and the other is growing through a large, as yet, unidentified shrub. Both will be in flower right through the summer, and they follow that class act by setting edible orange fruit, however, don’t get too excited, the taste is uninteresting.
I’ve grown to like grasses – well they are fashionable at the moment and gardening has its “in” plants, just like everything else. Some are annuals, like Hordeum jubatum (the squirrel tail grass). It is truly lovely and “lifts” any vase of flowers it is put with. This year I’m also trying Coix lacryma-jobi. The picture on the seed packet shows an attractive grass, some three feet in height – now won’t that be something! I’m also rather fond of Pennisetum glaucum ‘Purple Majesty’, it’s a half-hardy annual, which means it can’t go outside until all danger of frost has passed, but I find it very hard to grow. Because I know that it is tricky (at least for me) I potted on 48 seedlings (yes I know I’ve just broken my own rule), but even so, I’m down to my last nine and two of those are looking very sorry for themselves! However, even if only one survives, it will be worth it – 4 feet of dark purple grass, with a “head” that looks and feels like a soft loo brush. It will be the centrepiece of a floral display in a pot.
Carex pendula , actually a perennial reed, but usually thought of as a grass, is very easy from seed and makes a splendid addition to any border, with its long arching stems. Deschampsia cespitosa was another very obliging perennial. It will grow tall (my reference book says six feet, but mine haven’t reached such lofty heights – yet) and has a graceful mounding habit.
Some perennial plants are so willing to grow from seed, that you really should grow them for yourself – they will fill a border in no time and at very little cost. Among them are Delphiniums, Dahlias and Cannas (the Indian shot plant, so called because its seed is round and hard like shot). And what is more, all of them have large, easy to handle seed, so there is really no excuse for you not to give seed sowing a try for yourself!
© 2006 Grampound with Creed Parish Council