Sowing and potting

Cool and rather showery since the last post, and not much has been done in the garden; but yesterday I had a sowing and potting-up day in the greenhouse.

There’s still a sweet pea flower showing in the pot against the back wall, though it’s not particularly photogenic and won’t last long.  This year, after planting out the seedlings that were sown in late winter, I sowed some late seeds into the pot to provide a succession of flowers, and that seemed to work well; there were flowers in there for a long period, even though some of the plants suffered from under-watering over the dry summer.  I’ve now sown seeds for next year into small pots in the cold frame, and will try to remember to keep them watered; I think last winter’s failure was due to the pots drying out.

Sage and euonymus cuttings

I also tackled the several pots of cuttings taken in summer and earlier this autumn.  Some have already been divided up and potted on; the green and purple sages are doing well in their little pots, but I had left the cuttings of the variegated sage ‘Icterina’ until now.  It's a relatively new plant for me.  For a few years I had wondered about it – the yellowish colouring can look rather sickly – but having acquired one at a village plant sale a couple of years ago and having planted it out in the patio bed, I’ve decided that it can provide a nice contrast to green-leaved plants.  And, since there are plans afoot that may mean that that bed will have to be reworked, I had taken cuttings to ensure that I wouldn’t lose it.  The cuttings of the variegated euonymus which had been attacked by a scale insect infestation – taken in case of terminal decline of the parent plant – have also produced roots and have also gone into little pots, as have osteospermums and wallflowers, and two Photinia ‘Red Robin’ cuttings.  They are all set out in front of the greenhouse; I must remember to keep them watered and protected, if necessary, from excessively cold weather.

The euonymus cuttings were interesting; they seem to have produced most of their new roots near the top of the cutting rather than at the bottom.  I've never seen that before.

There are other cuttings about which I’m less certain.  You might think that signs of new growth on a cutting are a sure indication of its having rooted, but no, they seem to be able to keep growing without having produced any roots at all.  How do they do that?  The safe sign is roots poking out of the bottom of the pot.  There are cuttings of winter savory and Dianthus ‘Mrs Sinkins’ that are looking decidedly peaky but have the merest beginnings of growth on them, so I’m leaving them over winter to see if any roots appear!

A party of up to seven male pheasants has taken to strolling around the garden, probably sheltering from the local shoot (they have worked out that they’re safe here).  They particularly like hanging around under the seed and fatball feeders, and scratching about in the grass for dropped food – which is usefully scarifying moss out of the area.  I wonder if I can get them to do the whole lawn?

The bachelor party