Alan Titchmarsh details approach for keeping orchids blooming
I enjoy this time of year, not just for the truth that is my birthday this month, however also since of the smell of bonfires and cosier nights around a fire. It’s the ideal time to raise and divide overcrowded herbaceous perennials, gather seed and still cut flowers for the vase, too.
Express columnist Mark Lane outlined your gardening tasks list for this month
In addition, it’s the ideal time to plant up your winter ornamental pots and begin planting bulbs for wonderful colour next spring and early summer.While enjoying this month, with the clocks going back and much shorter days, time well invested now in the garden will gain rewards for the upcoming months and next year. Numerous herbaceous perennials might be going over, but for those plants with excellent structure, seedheads can look excellent over the winter season, offer food for wildlife and keep in mind brown is still a colour. So seedheads, such as Achillea, Echinacea, Agastache or Rudbeckia need to be left in place.If these are grown together with ornamental yards then your garden will look helpful for months
over winter. However the odd seedhead can be cut off and turned upside down over a paper bag and hung upside down up until all of the seed has actually gathered in the bag, ready to plant later on totally free brand-new plants for next year.Overcrowded perennials, which might not have actually flowered so well this year, or have just outgrown their space can be raised, divided and replanted throughout the
garden. Dividing plants sounds complex, however it actually is easy, and it’s a great method to be familiar with how your plants grow.READ MORE: Best remaining foods to make’ cheap’natural plant fertiliser It’s a good time of year to start planting peonies, according to Mark (Image: GETTY)Geraniums, for instance,have a network of tightly-packed roots which can merely be pulled apart by hand. As-long-as
you have an excellent clump of root and greenery or shoots then when planted in a fresh brand-new hole, ideally enhanced
with homemade garden compost, they will begin to get their roots into the soil, get developed and be prepared to flower next year.Woody perennials or those with a woody crown, such as Aster or Agapanthus will require some strength to divide them. First dig them up, and then either take a spade and with a lot of courage cut downwards through the plant like slicing a cake or
utilize a sharp knife and divide the clump into sections.Each area can once again be replanted at the same depth in a fresh hole. Many herbaceous perennials will need dividing every 3 to 5 years but remember you can also take cuttings and collect seed from them too to make more plants for free.October is also the best time to plant peonies. Herbaceous peonies will pass away back in the fall, while tree peonies are shrubbier.Herbaceous peonies need a bright area in the garden. Examine to see where the highest bud is above the roots. Plant so that the bud is 5 centimetres listed below soil level.Tree peonies can be in sun or dappled shade. Look for a woody bulge at the base of the stems. This is where the graft is. Plant so that the graft is 10 to 15 centimetres listed below soil level with simply the twigs or stems visible.DON’T MISS 10 plants to sow in the garden now for winter season fragrance [LIST] Why we should prepare soil in autumn and how to do it [
PROFESSIONAL] Professional’s ‘common misunderstanding’that could eliminate your yard [WARNING] It’s a great time of year to plant bulbs now for Spring colour, too (Image: GETTY) Now is likewise the best time to consider that dubious location in your garden. Spring colour will bring such a location to life and with using bulbs will bring colour
and scent. Bulbs such as pure white snowdrops, blue or white Anemone blanda or white Anemone nemorosa, white or buttery-yellow daffodils and bluebells can be planted now, together with ferns, Skimmia, the biennial foxglove and even
sweet-smelling honeysuckle, such as Lonicera japonica ‘Halliana’with white and yellow blooms, will flower as early as April when numerous
of these bulbs will be in flower as well.And, obviously, honeysuckle is excellent for climbing into a tree, to cover trelliswork versus a wall or just left to scramble through the border or used to camouflage the wheelie bin or oil tank.For the sunnier part of your garden then now is the time to plant tulips and alliums. My leading five of each are: Tulipa’Blueberry Ripple’, with white petals streaked with purple, Tulipa’Abu Hassan ‘, with deep mahogany petals edged with golden-yellow, Tulipa’ Orange Emperor ‘, a carrot-orange tulip with a pale yellow base, Tulipa’Jan Reus’, a rich crimson on the outdoors and dark Indian lake internally, and Tulipa’ Grand Perfection ‘a creamy-white and crimson Dutch Work of art. For the ideal alliums try Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’with perfect worlds of purple flowers, Allium stipitatum ‘Mount Everest’which has spherical umbels of 50 or more white star-shaped flowers.For a cooler planting scheme try the blue allium Allium caeruleum which has intense blue flowers on stiff stems, and for another later blooming allium you can not beat Allium sphaerocephalon with drumstick egg-shaped flowerheads on slender stems that sway in the wind, and for a looser umbel of yellow bell-shaped flowers grow Allium flavum. Allium leaves can be rather tatty looking as soon as the bulb is in flower so remember to plant some groundcover plants below to disguise the leaves.With the colder weather now is the time to collect scented-leaf Pelargonium and other tender perennials. Pelargoniums can be potted up and brought indoors as winter season houseplants, while tender perennials such as Salvia, Canna
and Dahlia can either be left in the ground with a thick mulch 10cm of spent mushroom compost or homemade garden compost, or raised, dried and kept in dry compost in a box or crate prepared for next spring. Criminal plants: It is a crime to have these growing in your garden (Image: EXPRESS.CO.UK) Also, start thinking of your winter decorative containers. Ordering your plants for shipment in October or going to nurseries and garden centres will still give you time to plant them up while the compost
is still warm, and provide time to grow on a bit and begin to flower just when you need some colour in the garden. Perfect plants for pots are Viola, Primrose, Wallflower, Polyanthus, Sugary Food William and Forget-me-nots. Winter season violas come in numerous colour combinations and lots of have a lovely sweet scent. My favourite is Viola F1 ‘Honey Bee ‘with warm amber, copper and honey blossoms which flower in my
garden from October to June with a delicious sweet scent.For a cacophony of colour why not try Viola’Sorbet F1 Mixed’with flowers from white to deep purple, blue to orange, some single coloured others multi coloured. Unlike their larger cousins, pansies, winter violas tend to hold up much better to harsher weather. Fill your containers to the brim and place them by your front or back entrance, or perhaps line a pathway with winter season bed linen plants or show them off in hanging baskets. Deadhead with a set of scissors frequently to lengthen flowering.When temperatures drop remember to protect your containers by
wrapping them in horticultural fleece or hessian. Keep in mind to keep weeding, specifically perennial weeds( Image: GETTY)Every year I provide my houseplants a summer season vacation by displaying them outside on the patio, but a lot of houseplants are from warmer climates and are
therefore not frost durable, so you’ll require to start bringing them indoors.Do this gradually and acclimatise them to the warmer temperature level inside, specifically if the central heating has currently been put on. Slowly bring them closer to the walls of your home, hold back from watering a little and when ready bring them inside your home to be enjoyed.October can still be a month filled with beautiful ornamentals, and with overcrowded plants and much to do in the garden, keep in mind to keep weeding, especially perennial weeds, and please check your bonfires regularly for hibernating hedgehogs and toads.Mark’s gardening tasks for October Raise and divide overcrowded herbaceous perennials Plant up your winter season decorative pots and begin planting bulbs Plant peonies Start believing
about your winter season ornamental containers Order your plants