Summer Archives - The 3 Growbags

Peaks and troughs

28 August 2020August 28, 2020the3growbagsLeave a comment

When our old Belfast sink finally became too chipped and stained for kitchen use, out it went by the back door, and my ever-resourceful husband had it turned into a vintage garden trough in no time. No sink, trough or container specifically dedicated to growing alpines, sempervivums and other succulents is by any means low maintenance; this is probably because one has to use such a gritty, free-draining potting mix that it becomes a magnet for self-seeders – and seldom the ones you’d welcome. Life is just too short to sterilise this quantity of compost, so I tend to use plants that are robust enough to see off the interlopers. Making this miniature alpine landscape is all a matter of trial and error, but...

Datisca cannabina – Cretan hemp*

14 August 2020August 14, 2020the3growbagsLeave a comment

If plants were twinned with characters from books, there is little doubt that Datisca cannabina would be paired up with Roald Dahl’s BFG. My Great Plant this Month is truly a gentle giant of a plant. This clump-forming, herbaceous perennial, to 2m or more in height, is almost as wide as it is high; however, this spread is from wingtip to wingtip, not the width at the base which is a scant 45 cms across. The fresh green, pinnate foliage, like an ash tree (or a hash tree to some!) is borne on green stems that arch over in time,...

Lepechinia hastata – pakaha

31 July 2020July 31, 2020the3growbags2 Comments

Plants grown in containers are really starting to come into their own in the heat of summer, and there is one in particular which I would hate to be without. Belonging to the same family as salvias (lamiaceae), my subject today certainly does bear close resemblance to many of the sages and I am often asked, ‘which salvia is that?’ when friends see it in flower. The tall spikes of purple-magenta, tubular flowers are borne in summer and autumn, and are held aloft on stout square stems which are a beguiling dark burgundy-grey in colour; the combination with its...

Clematis ‘Venosa Violacea’ AGM

17 July 2020July 18, 2020the3growbagsLeave a comment

It all began on a very windy day in February when I noticed that our aged Chimonanthus praecox was being blown sideways under the weight of a winter flowering clematis and a honeysuckle. So, I did a bit of emergency topping there and then and made a note to finish off the job in the spring when the clematis had finished flowering. To cut a long story short, I then took a long hard look at the rest of the border and decided that our out-sized Itea ilicifolia and a far-too-tall Rosa glauca needed a long- overdue hard prune as well. As often happens, one thing leads to another and before I knew...