Monitoring the health and well being in nature

It's the annual butterfly count here in the UK from 16th July- 7th August and I'm taking part again this year.  Last year I also blogged about this event with a post on the plight of the small tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) - "Taking the Pulse of Nature" as our native butterfly and moth numbers are in decline in the UK.  This survey is in it's 2nd year and our contributions will make a big difference to conservationists in their understanding of these beautiful  invertebrates as they monitor their health and well being in nature.  Records show already that the Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) is really struggling and has had a terrible year while the Common Blue (Polyommatus icrushas) is having a great summer.   

Common Blue Attribution: Andrew Smith [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Meadow Brown Attribution: David Hawgood[CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

If you too would like to join in with us the details are here at the Big Butterfly Count Website.  Just find a sunny place to sit for 15 minutes in a garden, woodland, field or park from 16th July - 7th August and record what you see.  Then you can submit your sightings online up until the end of August.  It's really easy to take part in the worlds biggest weekly butterfly count and great fun aswell.

If you click on the picture to the left you can view a slideshow of the butterflies  that are most at risk here in the UK.  

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."
~ Hans Christian Anderson

I'll be posting the sightings from my garden soon.

 

Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)

It's not only butterflies that can be found during the day.  While out walking along the lade I managed to take a quick photograph of this moth that I disturbed along the little path that is edged with long grass.  It's a day time flying moth called a Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata).  Even though this moth isn't on the species watch list for the Butterfly count I'll still be letting them know about this sighting.

Are you participating in the 2011 Butterfly count or is there a similar event in your own country this year?

This is a copyright post written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com. If this is your first visit to www. leavesnbloom.blogspot.com you might want to take a second to subscribe to my RSS Feed, http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom 

and   my blog so you can stay updated on posts and information! I look forward to getting to know you.

Related Post

Taking the Pulse of Nature

Interesting External Link

UK Great Butterfly Count Results 2010

"Ever since the creation of the world  his eternal power and divine nature, invisible  though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has  made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

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© 2009- 2011 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.

Puckered Pink Parasols

Kalmia latifolia (Calico Bush or Mountain Laurel) has been a low maintenance garden shrub that I have admired for many years.  My first encounter with this evergreen ericaceous shrub was in the days when pram pushing was one of my main daily duties.  Every June and early July I used to walk a particular route so I could admire the three large Kalmia bushes in flower in one front garden. The flowers caught my eye as they were not from one of those 'must have' shrubs that seemed to frequent most gardens in the neighbourhood such as Pieris, Azaleas and Rhododendrons. I was smitten by the little unusually shaped flowers that resembled little puckered pink parasols.  It was the only garden I knew in my locality where Kalmia's grew and I promised myself that one day I too would have at least one of those in my garden. 

Kalmia latifolia flowers are 2-2.5cm (¾-1in) across, in large clusters 8-10cm (3-4in) or more across.

Height eventually - 1.5-2.5 metres after 20-50 years (5-8 ft)

Spread eventually -1.5-2.5 metres (5-8ft)

Royal Horticultural Society 'Award of Garden Merit' (AGM)

Well many years later with a new garden to stock I bought  my first Kalmia  and I bought the wrong shrub! 

I purchased Kalmia angustifolia f. 'rubra' (Sheeps Laurel)  instead of the much taller and bushier Kalmia latifolia (Mountain Laurel) and planted it towards the back of the border in a partially shaded location. I waited and waited for it to flower and only when I saw  the tiniest of flowers did I realised that it wasn't the plant I had admired all those years earlier.  


The Kalmia angustifolia shrub is classed as a dwarf shrub though it is has a spreading habit and suckers. It has little willow shaped leaves and every winter I'm sure it's going to die on me as it hangs it's small narrow evergreen leaves in such a wilting fashion. It's probably in protest at being planted in the coldest and one of the damper parts of my east facing border. The shrub is supposed to be hardy to -15°C (5°F) but last winter the temperatures reached  -18°C and it survived.  Quite frankly it's lost in that border which is full of lush leaves at this time of year and unless you  tiptoe over the the candelabra primroses and hostas you'll never see it. 


I missed capturing the flowers in their peak week of flowering which was in the middle of June and this photo was taken in early July just as the final few flowers were fading.  Seeing this photograph reminds me that I must get out and deadhead this shrub.

Kalmia angustifolia flowers are 1cm (½in) across in clusters 5cm (2in) across

Height eventually in metres - 60cm (24in)

Spread eventually in metres - 1.5m (5ft)

Royal Horticultural Society 'Award of Garden Merit' (AGM) 

 

I then sourced  Kalmia latifolia (I lost the label so I'm not sure of the cultivar) and for the first few years it just produced green growth and never flowered.  Seemingly it's a common trait with this plant and once it starts to flower it will flower freely from then on. This year in early spring I was delighted to see that little vivid red buds were appearing on the shrub and as the months of May and June rolled on the buds got bigger and bigger. 

I followed the recommendations by the RHS  planting it in a partially shaded location in a border with a north westerly outlook but recently I've discovered that for Kalmia's to flower really well  they need to be planted in full sun here in North East Scotland (source: Glendoick Nurseries).

Maybe it's just my imagination but as the buds are opening they remind me ever so slightly of little alpine strawberries.

Pruning and Feeding Requirements 

The shrub has been in flower for weeks now with it's little hexagonal shaped flowers. It's nowhere near the stage of needing pruned but if required can be done in early spring of each year. It can grow to 2.5m high but I'll never have room for it if I let it grow to that height!  The only feeding I give it is a scattering of sequestrene granules each spring as my soil is slightly acidic though it is prone to yellowish leaves anyway.  My only bit of cautionary advice with the Kalmia family is that all parts of the plant are toxic especially to cattle. (source: Wikipedia)

Speaking of parasols - it looks like July is the wettest month of the year here at Leavesnbloom.  For the past 3 years our Davis Weather station has been recording and broadcasting the local weather conditions from our back garden to the Internet and the trend is showing that July has been the wettest of all the months in each of those years.  My little spent blooms of Kalmia parasols were floating in water this morning after another deluge of heavy rain.  No doubt the hostas, ligularias and lythrums are just loving it unlike the rest of my herbaceous stock. I see that my neighbour yet again this year is improvising  her sun parasol and is using it as an umbrella to cover her rotary washing line to keep her laundry dry outside.

On a final note you'll notice that I've a new button in the blog footer.  You can now find leavesnbloom listed at Alltop - Top Gardening News. I would like to say thank you to the Alltop team for considering my blog worthy enough to be placed on their virtual magazine rack and I suppose that means that I better start blogging a bit more often over here! ...........oh if only time allowed.

This is a copyright post written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com. If this is your first visit to www. leavesnbloom.blogspot.com you might want to take a second to subscribe to my RSS Feed, http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom and   my blog so you can stay updated on posts and information. 

I look forward to getting to know you! Until next time......

"Ever since the creation of the world  his eternal power and divine nature, invisible  though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has  made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

.

© 2009 -  2011 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.

A Scottish Garden Bloggers Bloom Day in July

It's another Garden Bloggers Bloom Day in July down in the leavesnbloom garden.  The begining of the month saw the garden plants being pelted by rain coming down at a rate of between 4-6 inches per hour along with thunder and lightning on numerous days. While yesterday and the day before were just perfect summer days with sunshine and lots of heat and the flowers were flourishing as you'll soon see.

Collage 1

Large left photo: This is Allium christophii  (Star of Persia) reaching up into the sky.  These alliums used to be in bigger numbers in the garden but now I only have a few clumps with about 4 plants in each.  I think over the years many have succumbed to my heavy wet clay.  This  photo was taken from the clump that face south in the garden last week and as you can see this is what a Perthshire sky has looked like most of July.

Top Small from left to right:  Allium cernuum is a small clump of 3 plants that grow in a south westerly position in the back garden. I have many seedlings growing around the main plants which hopefully will be at the flowering stage in another 2 - 3 years time.   Heuchera's are planted in drifts all over my front garden and this is just one of many that thrive in the north facing border.  They are great flowers for the bees and in the back garden I'm known for having a small tripod standing next to a clump so that I can capture some bee shots.  Zenobia pulverulenta 'Blue Sky' grows under the silver pear tree - Pyrus salicifolia 'Pendula' and  it has lovely white aniseed scented bell shaped flowers. It's not a very vigorous silver leafed shrub and it certainly doesn't stand out in the garden....... maybe because it has to compete with the arching tree canopy above though  I honestly don't think it could survive anywhere else in the garden.

 

Small photo Below from left to right collage 1: Pink Viola's are growing around the edge of a container and I couldn't resist having a little closeup shot of a little viola face.  Stachys macrantha 'Rosea' grows in a large clump in both the front and back gardens.  If it is really warm it will wilt in the back garden and it's one plant that really would prefer not to have been planted in a southwesterly location. My only regret with this garden plant is that it doesn't flower long enough for my liking.
 

Digitalis self seeds in a hap-hazard fashion all over the east facing border in the back garden.  I'm a very relaxed type of gardener  and I just let nature decide where to plant it as it can be a difficult border to grow things in due to the winter wet.   I'm really surprised that Gladiolus communis subsp. 'Byzantinus' are included in this months GBBD.  The bulbs were newly planted last autumn and I was sure they would be a winter casualty after the harsh winter temperatures. Their hardiness has surprised me and they are flowering really well for their first year in the garden.  They are right in  saying that  plants bulbs don't read textbooks! but I did plant the 15 bulbs under the silver pear tree that has a southerly outlook so that might have helped in protecting them.

Large photo bottom right collage 1: Nepeta x faassenii  is a plant that I let grow and seed where ever it pleases.  This one clump is about 1mx1m wide and beloved by the wildlife and surprisingly so neglected by the local moggies.

                         ooo~000~ooo                            

Collage 2


Top photos from left to right - Cerinthe major purpurascens  is an annual here in the garden and it grows along side the pedestrian footpath. It's just one plant but it has about 8 arched stems with purplish bracts just now and I'm hoping to overwinter it in the house.  Anthemis tinctoria 'Sauce Hollandaise' grows as well in the front garden in a south easterly position.  I purchased 3 plants a few years ago that now have grown into a very substantial grouping of more than a metre square when in full flower.   Rosa 'Rhapsody in Blue' is one rose I forgot to prune this year and is one that I think I am going to have to move this autumn into the front garden.  It has never thrived ever since the other shrubs nearby started to block more and more of the south westerly sunlight.  Alchelmilla mollis............. well it's more like a weed here as it will grow even amongst the gravel but I remove as many of the seedlings as I can and dead head before the flowers go to seed.  I grow it primarily for the wildlife in the garden to enjoy but this year it has seeded in into the lawn so maybe my love affair with this plant is finally about to end. 

Bottom left large photo collage 2: Ligularia stenocephala 'The Rocket'  is a large clump that grows in my problem corner which is wet all year round with heavy clay and has a northerly aspect.

Bottom right large photo collage 2:The Flowering carpet yellow rose managed to pull through another winter though it seemed to be much more prepared this year than last year as it hardly flowered last year. It grows next to the Lavender Hidcote along the pedestrian footpath and gets baked when the sun decides to appear.

ooo~000~ooo

Collage 3

Small top left to right: Clematis 'Crystal Fountain' didn't flower at all last year and maybe if it wasn't in a northerly position it might do better but it does have to compete with a vigorous golden bamboo nearby.  Tanacetum parthenium better known as Feverfew grows in different parts of the back garden but thrives in the southwesterly position.  I let this self seed every year but most of the plants will grow for about 2 years before they flower themselves out.  

Large photo top right: Eryngium bougatti 'Picos Blue' is slowly making its presence known in the garden.  I wish I had purchased more than one of these a few years ago as in bigger numbers they would give a lot more impact to the border.  This one is planted in a southwesterly position and beloved by the wildlife.  I think root cuttings would be the best way for me to increase the stock.

Large photo bottom left collage 3: Lavender 'Hidcote' grows in poor soil next to the pedestrian footpath and gets baked in the summer.  It thrives in it's south easterly location and the clump is at least 1m x 1m wide.

Small photo bottom left to right collage 3: Geranium 'Rozanne' grows in a south east position in the same border as the Silver Pear tree.  It hasn't been as vigorous as I expected but it was only planted last summer so hopefully it will start to spread soon.  Tradescantia x andersoniana 'Osprey'  is not an invasive plant here - it's not very vigorous either and only has one short flowering season.  It faces south east as well and seems to hate our wet summers but I just love its candyfloss looking flowering centres.

ooo~000~ooo

and there's more.........

In the front garden

The neighbours cat along with Spirea 'Golden Princess'  (top right) and Hebe 'Pixie' (bottom right). 

ooo~000~ooo

In the Back Garden

Photo left to right: Potentilla fruticosa 'Pink Beauty' in the back garden and Eryngium bougatti 'Picos Blue' with a Flowering Carpet Red rose standard, Chrysanthemum maximum  (Shasta daisies), red Centranthrus in the background and  Dianthus at the base of the photograph.

ooo~000~ooo

Well that's just a small selection of what's in flower just now in certain parts of the gardens. Lack of time prevented me from taking any more snapshots yesterday ........... and quite frankly it would have taken forever for the blog page to have loaded if I had included everything.  At least I don't have much weeding to do for the next few weeks in the back garden.  I can hardly see any visible soil and those weeds that do appear are about 1 feet high by the time I eventually see them. 

Have a great Garden Bloggers Bloom Day blog hopping and for even more GBBD inspiration you have two  links to choose from...........

• The original GBBD hosted by Carol in the USA.

• The much newer European GBBD hosted by Gesine in Germany. 

This is a copyright post written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com. If this is your first visit to www. leavesnbloom.blogspot.com you might want to take a second to subscribe to my RSS Feed, http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom  and   my blog so you can stay updated on posts and information! 

"Ever since the creation of the world  his eternal power and divine nature, invisible  though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has  made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

©2009 -  2011 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.

Tips on having the best looking planted containers

Planted containers full of bedding plants are a typical sight outside any front door or patio especially during the summer months - but how good looking are yours?  Maybe you are just thinking about having a new container on the patio and you really want it to look its best this summer. Or maybe you've just been out for a walk in the neighbourhood and noticed that others are looking much better than yours.  Well  here are the 10 tips that I have used with great success throughout the years. 

How to Have the Best Looking Planted Containers

The one plant I can't do without in my planted containers! Oesteospermums

1. Make sure you have a good quality compost that has some added John Innes mixed in so that doesn't dry out too much in the summer as multi purpose compost is very hard to "re wet" again.



2.  Add water retaining gel  to the compost and mix well before planting.  You can add a slow release fertilizer as there is normally only enough feed in the compost to sustain the plants for the first 6 weeks but I much prefer to feed while watering.
 

3.  This sounds very obvious but it is so important to choose suitable plants for your location. Pick plants that like the shade if your container is going to be mostly in a shady location and vice versa for a sunny aspect. 
 

4. If you are  growing young bedding plants make sure you pinch out the growing tips to make bushier plants with more potential flowering stems. Pinching out the tips will normally slow down flowering by about 6 weeks on that stem so you are best to do that early in the season.


5.  Feed until the end of June with a high nitrogen feed (miracle gro or similar product) as you want to encourage as much green growth as possible.  Feeding with a high nitrogen feed from the end of June onwards encourages lush green soft shoots which aphids just adore.  (My only exception to this rule is when I am transplanting  as I will always feed with a high nitrogen feed  at the first watering to prevent transplant shock).  

6.  Now that you have all of this green growth you now want the bedding plants to concentrate on producing blooms. Cease the high nitrogen feed from the beginning of July and feed thereafter with a high potash feed - like tomato feed or potash..  Exhibition growers will feed with a quarter the recommended potash strength  at every single watering and I add a little potash to my watering can  every  time I water my containers at home as well.  


7. Check watering daily and aim to keep the compost moist but not soggy. 


8.  Try not to water over the blooms or over the leaves as you will encourage mildew to form.

9. Dead head regularly to encourage more flowers.

10.  Check for aphids and if you are not organic and use a chemical spray to control them make sure you use 2 different products. The aphid generations develop resistance to each active ingredient over the season so it is wise to spray with alternate products.
 
I hope these tips will help you achieve great looking bedding containers this season............. all you need now is a little bit of sunshine. 


What are your tips for success with planted containers?


This is a copyright post written for www.leavesnbloom.blogspot.com. If this is your first visit to www. leavesnbloom.blogspot.com you might want to take a second to subscribe to my RSS Feed, http://feeds.feedburner.com/LeavesnBloom 

and   my blog so you can stay updated on posts and information! 

"Ever since the creation of the world  his eternal power and divine nature, invisible  though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has  made. So they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

.

©2010 2011 Leavesnbloom ~ All Rights Reserved.

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