Hi again @lorenzoantolovi. I would not let overwintered plants dry out completely, just keep them on the dry side of damp. There are exceptions, such as some perennial bulbs. The Calla Lily or Zantedeschia aethiopica as it is known botanically is one. I let them dry out completely and leave them in a spare room until Spring.
This gardening lark is full of contradictions and I think using your instinct helps. I could never ice climb, kayak or raise highland ponies. Gardening sounds a breeze compared to all that so keep asking. I am sure you will be a great success.
Our posts crossed there Lorenzo - that made me laugh...you're just a youngster really Don't fancy the ice climbing - once ropes are involved - I'm out! Scrambling's fine but you lot are just downright mad! Re your mountain biking - did you see the Adventure Show the other night though? A chap with MS is still doing it. Utterly astonishing, inspirational, and very moving.
Good luck to you with your plants - just keep experimenting. That's the best way. We have a seed swap on the forum too - and also, many people are happy to offer cuttings as well.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Just one more thing....All that organic horse muck will work wonders. Stack it up for a year to rot down and watch your plants rocket. You probably know that, but it just occured to me.
Nice picture, them is certainly the Angus hills, pretty much what I see when I look out my window. Thank you for being so supportive, it really is very encouraging. I have loads of other questions on other planting / care topics and after such nice messages from everyone I won't be shy in asking. Where exactly were you when you took this picture and where are you based now.
That was on Mount Blair - a bit further up the glen, and a little west. It sits on the Angus/Perthshire border. Not very taxing, but a good viewpoint on a nice day. I've done quite a lot of the hills in that area - the weather is often more 'sedate' than in the west! I'm south of Glasgow, and have been in and around here most of my life. That's a really good point Purplerain's made about the manure. If you have any areas you don't need until next year, you can layer it straight on to give the ground a real boost. If you want to add it to existing planted areas, let it rot down for at least 6 months or so. I work in an equestrian centre, so I can get it whenever I want
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Awesome awesome awesome, just cant believe how much you guys are being so helpful. If ever you are in the area you should let me know and visit the farm for tea and cake and you can have a tour of the farm if you wish. I have not actually done that much walking here, shamefull! I have been up Mayar and Dreish on my birthday several years ago and into the Glen Clova hotel after for my dinner, lovely.
I got 3 x canna lilly and a few Dhalias this year. I swore I would not be the type of gardener that had to lift plants for the winter but they had such beautiful foliage and flowers I couldn't resist. I presume the Canna's are tubers or bulbs that get dried off and stored and the Dallia's are cared for by just keeping them frost free and on dry side of wet as mentioned by you P.R. earlier, Is this correct?
On the manure front, this is very funny. As there is so much land, being on a farm, no one poo picks, so unfortunately there are no nice piles just waiting for me to go and tuck into, so to speak, so I have been known to go around on the quad bike with a trailer for hours and hours picking here and there, only the stallions do it in one spot which saves allot of time. However I've only ever used it in my garden for the area, pre lawn. Have never used it on flower beds.
There is however a couple of massive piles on cow dung which has been out since April. Can you feel another question coming! If I wait until all my plants have died back and hibernate for winter, maybe November, do either of you think it will be ok to mulch the beds with this manure, as by the time they start growing next year, that manure will be a year old. Also I have about an inch of bark on my beds for weed supressant and moisture retention. If applying manure I presume I would have to remove all this bark, apply manure, let it rot further over winter and reapply bark next spring to stop weeds growing out of all that composted manure. Gosh, being a gardener is though stuff, I swear it's more time and energy consuming than all my old extreme sports put together. I have a large section of grass that I want to lift asap, apply manure and make beds out of next year. Being thinking of this for last few months but so much to do and not enough time. I'll ask about seed swap later as this is time for bed now. Look fwd to hearing back. Thanks
Hi @lorenzoantolovi. The Canna Lily and the Dahlias can be treated in the same way, in that they can be lifted dried and stored until next Spring. I grow the Calla Lily in pots (not the Canna) so I just stop watering around now and leave them in the pots over Winter in a cool dry place. They tell me when they want to come back to life by peeping through in Spring. Here is an article about the Canna https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=324.
@Fairygirl will give you the best advice on manure, but my instinct is not to use fresh stuff on established beds. The whole idea is to let the worms pull it down into the soil and it would be too toxic at that stage. New ground should be OK though.
Thank you for your kind invitation. I might take you up on that next year.
So when I dig up the Canna's and the Dhalias they will have root balls with lots of soil, this is how I bought them. Do I shake off some excess soil and leave to dry or do I loose all of the soil and roots and dry and store in a cool room. I presume I should lift Canna just before first frost and Dhalias just after first frost. Aye you would be very welcome anytime. I'm sure there must be some kind of messaging system on this site.
Check this out. After my massively overgrown Wygelia bush finished flowering in July (bees go crazy for it) I chopped it down as it was too big and scraggly and in the way if a new flower bed. Have wanted to chop it down for years but never new it's ID till thus year and was never confident about the dark art of taking cuttings (only for expert wizzards) so I took the plunge as it was coming down by hook or crook. I took about 15 cuttings and just checked them the other day and they have really good root systems, I can't believe it. Another milestone! My wife will be so pleased as she loves it, now I will incorporate then into bare areas of our bush, bees will love it too.
Nice lot of Weigela cuttings, you can make a hedge of them. I thought I was mad with 60 odd hydrangeas! Ive cut original Weigela plants right down to the ground when the get out of hand, if you don’t do it straight after flowering you can lose flowers next year but the year after they’ll be fantastic.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Well done with your cuttings - that's brilliant! I don't really do dahlias or cannas - although I like them. I think most people leave a bit of soil attached. I'm sure others will advise on that though. Do you mean the big foliage plant Canna or the Calla lily that Purplerain has? I used to keep Cannas in the house over winter, just in a pot of soil/compost and leave them pretty much until new growth started. Not sure on cow manure - I think it may be a bit more potent than horse, so perhaps a little more caution with it. If you have well rotted stuff, you could put it on top of the bark and let it all get worked down into the soil over winter. Someone else may have better knowledge of that. You can always start a new thread for it too. Re making new beds in the grass - just lift the turf [cut it short first] and turn it over so that it's grass side down, then stick a thick layer of manure on top. By next spring or so, it will be workable. You migth get the odd bit of grass appearing, but it's usually quite easy to pull out, and you can put a layer of mulch down to help. I created new beds in this garden from an area of rough, compacted grass by doing exactly that. The plants I put in the following year grew very well! Driesh and Mayar are a good pair of hills. You can see the tops of them from M. Blair. The Corbett in Glen Clova [accessed from behind the hotel ] is a nice walk too. Great views and nice lochans. I usually put some walk photos on the camera thread we have here. It's a nice thread for all those photos people have which aren't strictly garden related, but have wildlife or holiday photos and so on
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
This gardening lark is full of contradictions and I think using your instinct helps. I could never ice climb, kayak or raise highland ponies. Gardening sounds a breeze compared to all that so keep asking. I am sure you will be a great success.
Don't fancy the ice climbing - once ropes are involved - I'm out! Scrambling's fine but you lot are just downright mad!
Re your mountain biking - did you see the Adventure Show the other night though? A chap with MS is still doing it. Utterly astonishing, inspirational, and very moving.
Good luck to you with your plants - just keep experimenting. That's the best way.
We have a seed swap on the forum too - and also, many people are happy to offer cuttings as well.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
That's a really good point Purplerain's made about the manure. If you have any areas you don't need until next year, you can layer it straight on to give the ground a real boost. If you want to add it to existing planted areas, let it rot down for at least 6 months or so. I work in an equestrian centre, so I can get it whenever I want
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I got 3 x canna lilly and a few Dhalias this year. I swore I would not be the type of gardener that had to lift plants for the winter but they had such beautiful foliage and flowers I couldn't resist. I presume the Canna's are tubers or bulbs that get dried off and stored and the Dallia's are cared for by just keeping them frost free and on dry side of wet as mentioned by you P.R. earlier, Is this correct?
On the manure front, this is very funny. As there is so much land, being on a farm, no one poo picks, so unfortunately there are no nice piles just waiting for me to go and tuck into, so to speak, so I have been known to go around on the quad bike with a trailer for hours and hours picking here and there, only the stallions do it in one spot which saves allot of time. However I've only ever used it in my garden for the area, pre lawn. Have never used it on flower beds.
There is however a couple of massive piles on cow dung which has been out since April. Can you feel another question coming! If I wait until all my plants have died back and hibernate for winter, maybe November, do either of you think it will be ok to mulch the beds with this manure, as by the time they start growing next year, that manure will be a year old. Also I have about an inch of bark on my beds for weed supressant and moisture retention. If applying manure I presume I would have to remove all this bark, apply manure, let it rot further over winter and reapply bark next spring to stop weeds growing out of all that composted manure. Gosh, being a gardener is though stuff, I swear it's more time and energy consuming than all my old extreme sports put together. I have a large section of grass that I want to lift asap, apply manure and make beds out of next year. Being thinking of this for last few months but so much to do and not enough time. I'll ask about seed swap later as this is time for bed now. Look fwd to hearing back. Thanks
@Fairygirl will give you the best advice on manure, but my instinct is not to use fresh stuff on established beds. The whole idea is to let the worms pull it down into the soil and it would be too toxic at that stage. New ground should be OK though.
Thank you for your kind invitation. I might take you up on that next year.
Aye you would be very welcome anytime. I'm sure there must be some kind of messaging system on this site.
Check this out. After my massively overgrown Wygelia bush finished flowering in July (bees go crazy for it) I chopped it down as it was too big and scraggly and in the way if a new flower bed. Have wanted to chop it down for years but never new it's ID till thus year and was never confident about the dark art of taking cuttings (only for expert wizzards) so I took the plunge as it was coming down by hook or crook. I took about 15 cuttings and just checked them the other day and they have really good root systems, I can't believe it. Another milestone! My wife will be so pleased as she loves it, now I will incorporate then into bare areas of our bush, bees will love it too.
Ive cut original Weigela plants right down to the ground when the get out of hand, if you don’t do it straight after flowering you can lose flowers next year but the year after they’ll be fantastic.
I don't really do dahlias or cannas - although I like them. I think most people leave a bit of soil attached. I'm sure others will advise on that though. Do you mean the big foliage plant Canna or the Calla lily that Purplerain has? I used to keep Cannas in the house over winter, just in a pot of soil/compost and leave them pretty much until new growth started.
Not sure on cow manure - I think it may be a bit more potent than horse, so perhaps a little more caution with it. If you have well rotted stuff, you could put it on top of the bark and let it all get worked down into the soil over winter. Someone else may have better knowledge of that. You can always start a new thread for it too.
Re making new beds in the grass - just lift the turf [cut it short first] and turn it over so that it's grass side down, then stick a thick layer of manure on top. By next spring or so, it will be workable. You migth get the odd bit of grass appearing, but it's usually quite easy to pull out, and you can put a layer of mulch down to help. I created new beds in this garden from an area of rough, compacted grass by doing exactly that. The plants I put in the following year grew very well!
Driesh and Mayar are a good pair of hills. You can see the tops of them from M. Blair. The Corbett in Glen Clova [accessed from behind the hotel ] is a nice walk too. Great views and nice lochans. I usually put some walk photos on the camera thread we have here. It's a nice thread for all those photos people have which aren't strictly garden related, but have wildlife or holiday photos and so on
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...