Gloucester Gardener

03/06/2024

Foxgloves and roses galore!

28/05/2024

Loving the Cornus kousa (also known as Dogwood) and her showy bracts!

17/05/2024

A robin on a mission - mouths to feed! Followed me around the garden all afternoon 😍

12/05/2024

If your evergreen ferns are looking a bit sorry for themselves, it is an ideal time to cut back the old foliage. Cut off the fronds right down at the base, but take care not to damage the newly emerging fronds and dispose of the old foliage. Then sit back and enjoy the fresh fronds unfurling!

29/04/2024

I love this little combo of Stachys byzantina (Lambs Ear) and Ajuga reptans 'Atropurpurea' (bugle). Both are easy-to-grow, evergreen plants which will spread and suppress weeds. You just need to be a bit ruthless after flowering to keep them in check if you have limited space.

18/04/2024

The forget-me-nots are doing their thing at the moment and the bees are just loving them!

I just love to see tulips floating on a sea of forget-me-not flowers! 💙

Some people consider them to be weeds, and to be fair they do seed all over the place, but just look out for the seedlings that have seeded for flowering next year and either move them to where you want them, or add to your compost bin!

11/04/2024

It is recommended to leave the old flowers on hydrangea macrophylla shrubs over winter to protect the new buds forming.

If your hydrangeas have got new leaves on them, now is the time to remove last years flower heads. Remove the spent flower back to the just above the next pair of green leaves. Take care not to damage the new shoots as they are quite delicate.

Remove any dead or weak stems right to the base of the plant.

I always give them a slow-release fertiliser after pruning, and mulch around the shrubs with garden compost.

Note that Hydrangea paniculata or aborescens produce flowers on new growth, so may be cut back harder if required.

08/04/2024

Came across rather a lot of adult vine weevils in my conservatory today. These little critters have obviously hatched out from the pots I have been overwintering. Although the adult weevils will nibble away at the leaves of plants and make it look unsightly, it is their larvae that causes the most damage, as they devour the roots of plants.

You will probably not notice the weevil's larvae until the plant withers or dies completely. When repotting plants you may come across the white C shaped grubs around the roots. These are vine weevil larvae. The birds will thank you for them!

Vine weevils are active between April and September, so it is a continuous battle to protect your plants against these vicious little creatures, especially as the adult vine weevils are generally nocturnal, so difficult to spot. They have a particular liking for fuchsias, primulas, polyanthus, cyclamen, strawberries and heucheras.

There are nematodes that you can purchase to naturally keep their numbers down, or alternatively, you can buy a vine weevil killer that you water into the soil to protect the plants.

06/04/2024

When your daffodils and tulips have finished flowering, it's a good idea to take off the faded flowers. This will ensure that the bulbs do not waste energy making seeds and instead regenerate for flowering next year.

Don't be tempted to remove the leaves or tie in a knot, as the leaves are need to put the goodness back into the bulb for more gorgeous flowers next year. I always give mine some general purpose fertiliser too.

03/04/2024

So satisfying when you see Hydrangea cuttings have rooted! I took these in the autumn and most have put down roots. Even the stick that looked dead has two shoots growing from further down the stem.
Time for potting on!

27/03/2024

Please look out for hedgehogs before strimming.
Thank you on behalf of these dear little creatures x

STRIMMERS

We’ve had a hedgehog admitted from Arlingham last week with horrible strimmer injuries. It was taken to our vet and sadly the only option was to euthanise him. The photos of his cut spines on his head show some of the trauma. We haven’t shown his face which was severely injured.

I caught this male hedgehog last summer on my surveys. He was a healthy adult with plenty of years ahead of him.

Hedgehogs don’t move out of the way of machinery, they curl up. Please please check before you cut the grass or better still don’t use a strimmer at all. They are devastating for wildlife.

27/03/2024

Please look out for hedgehogs before strimming!
Thank you from these lovely creatures x

STRIMMERS

We’ve had a hedgehog admitted from Arlingham last week with horrible strimmer injuries. It was taken to our vet and sadly the only option was to euthanise him. The photos of his cut spines on his head show some of the trauma. We haven’t shown his face which was severely injured.

I caught this male hedgehog last summer on my surveys. He was a healthy adult with plenty of years ahead of him.

Hedgehogs don’t move out of the way of machinery, they curl up. Please please check before you cut the grass or better still don’t use a strimmer at all. They are devastating for wildlife.