Kate's Cuttings

How has the exceptionally dry summer affected your garden? At Charnwood we have suffered a few losses.  Some we won’t worry too much about: we won’t be losing any sleep over not having mint rampant among the borders, or that dark leaved Lysimachia ‘Firecracker’ with the dainty yellow flower popping up everywhere.  Both are rather thuggish and no doubt will return next Spring. Losing a couple of little trees and shrubs has been much sadder including  an Acer and a Daphne. In wetter times I’d use it as an opportunity to plant something else but, given the regular watering new things need, ... Read more…

Writing this mid-July, the best description of ‘Charnwood’ is crispy! The rainwater butts are being raided: watering is an almost daily occurrence but carefully done to help preserve this lifesaving resource. Recently planted trees and shrubs are on the list, those that haven’t yet got their roots down far enough to weather the heat. They get a good soak around once a week.  Then the beans, courgettes and sweet peas in the veg garden, and annuals in pots ready to be planted out. Pots next: the bigger ones don’t need watering every day and the agaves, geraniums and plants from hotter clim... Read more…

Our Anisodontea is looking really pretty as I write in mid May.  It flowers all year round, a few even showed up on Christmas Day last year.  But now it is literally smothered in dainty pink blooms and will be all summer.  It is a member of the mallow family, which includes Hibiscus and Lavatera and makes a largish woody shrub or small tree. Ours got a bit tall and gangly and prone to wind damage so I pruned it back: it has gone from strength to strength.  After a few years of flowering all the time, it not surprisingly runs out of steam so it’s worth taking some cuttings in the summer: ... Read more…

‘A beautiful garden in May is the very best life can offer. ….. The sheer radiance of the garden, the energy that cannot be supressed or diminished, rides over any weather and fills the garden with a constant, soaring song of delight’. In case you think I’ve had a glass or two too many, those are the words of Monty Don from his ‘Down to Earth’ book. Typically Monty, full of emotion and even an obsession of all things green.  Okay it may be a bit OTT for you, but the sentiment is surely spot on? But there’s work to do too.  One job I don’t always get round to soon enough and then regret i... Read more…

In March 2002 these words appeared in this excellent newsletter: ‘Call me sad, but I am an obsessive gardener and have always wanted a gardening column.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Alan Titchmarsh or Pippa Greenwood but the chance to share my successes (few) and failures (many) with other gardeners and for them to share their experiences with the rest of us seems to be a worthwhile and harmless exercise in this increasingly complicated world’. It never occurred to me that I would still be writing my Kate’s Cuttings column 20 years later! Those of you who know me well will be aware that I... Read more…

Most of this year in the garden so far seems to have been spent on my poor old knees raking off slime in the borders to make sure the spring bulbs can come through and be seen.  I’ve a brilliant tool for it, it’s a hand held bamboo rake , does the job a treat. It manages to get the gunk off such as leaves, soggy plant material and other yuk, without doing any damage.  I got mine from the Great Dixter online shop, but the Niwaki site has it too.  The other good tool I use all year round is a little short handled spade that came from a builders’ merchant.  It’s probably no good if you are ... Read more…

This winter flowering virburnum looks and smell goregous right now.  Seasons greetings to you all and here's to a happier and healthier 2022. Read more…

The garden in December can be a rather desolate place, but it needn’t be. Obviously, it can’t have the freshness and prettiness of Spring or the rampant colour of Summer. But there are some treasures that come into their own over the winter months, and some of them add that important dimension, a lovely scent. One of my favourites is the Winter Flowering Virburnum ( see January 2022), sometimes sold with its old name of V.Fragrans.  Virburnums are gentle, unassuming plants but many have the advantage of coming into flower when there is not too much competition and flowering over a long p... Read more…

Stopping the use of peat has hit the media again – I guess it never went away and it’s clear how damaging its extraction is to the planet now.  Monty Don tweeted this last month: ‘Some gardeners are missing the point: It really doesn’t matter how well plants in your garden grow or do not grow, no plants or garden justify the use of peat. Ever. We must therefore adapt- even if that means a loss of quality (which I firmly believe is not the case)’ I must admit I found the early substitutes for peat based compost were disappointing. More recently though they’re much better.  When I’m making... Read more…

October means bulbs!  Perusing the catalogues, planning where to put them and imagining the wonderful show next Spring is part of the joy of being a gardener for me.  This year I’ve tried something a bit different.  We had a water feature with a little waterfall and a pond powered by a mini solar panel that never really worked and always got clogged up with leaves and other random debris.  So we filled it in and tried to make a bog garden out of it.  That didn’t work either, I think we made too many drainage holes in the bottom!  So plan C is now underway. I have ordered some bulbs with ... Read more…