It’s only during the last week that I have got around to planting up some summer container displays and this year, in addition to trusted favourites such as fuchsias and begonias, I’ve opted to plant some containers with coleus, also known as Solenostemon scutellarioides or painted nettle plants.
My late father used to grow them from seed sown in spring and, as a child, I loved them for their velvety and sometimes frilly-edged foliage in patterned combinations of bright red, burgundy, yellow, green, pink, brown and bronze.
Some people are charmed by their flamboyant colouring while others find them hideous and gaudy.
In any case, after many years out of fashion, coleus now seems to be undergoing a bit of a renaissance and I was recently delighted to find some available to buy as plants in a garden centre.
Usually grown as annuals, these tender foliage plants can be grown either as bedding plants to add a dash of colour and drama to beds, borders and containers through the summer, or as house plants for indoors or in a conservatory. They are fast-growing and once planted, it is recommended to regularly pinch out the growing tips to encourage a bushier plant.
Waste of energy
Although pale blue flowers are produced, these are insignificant and best removed before they develop so the plant doesn’t waste energy producing flowers and seeds. Also, if you let coleus flower, the leaves suffer for it, losing their beauty and vigour.
In planting my containers with coleus, I’ve taken inspiration from TJ Maher’s spectacular displays at his Patthana Garden in Kiltegan, Co Wicklow.
Here, he uses single colours of coleus individually in pots or blends several different foliage colours and patterns together for complimentary effects or he places them as accent plants in combination with other tender perennials and summer annuals. One particularly lovely variety that he grows is Solenostemon scutellarioides ‘Campfire’ with burnt orange foliage. It looks very striking when offset against the glossy, deep red-purple leaves of aeoniums or in partnership with the warm yellow and orange tones of tagetes or with red or orange-flowered dahlias. This one is on my wish list for planting next year.
Through the lens
June is when our garden reaches its peak of growth and colour and it’s the ideal time now to take photographs and video footage of areas where improvements need to be made.
These images will help as a reminder of plants to be pruned or moved, issues to be fixed and gaps to be filled when planning and undertaking renovations during winter and next spring.
It takes this tree up to 25 years to produce its first flowers.
It’s useful to take both close-up and wide-angle pictures of the garden. Wide-angle photographs can show the general design and effects of the space, while close-ups can show the specifics of individual plants or plant combinations.
Wandering with the camera also focuses attention on what is looking good in the garden just now.
One of my favourite roses in full bloom at this time is Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’, an old shrub rose that is repeat flowering and can be grown as a shrub or trained as a climbing plant.
Sumptuous blooms
The sumptuous blooms are a warm apricot, exuding a lovely, fruity scent. I can also see several plump flower buds on the tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, and excitement is building for their opening into goblet-shaped, orange and yellow-green blooms. It takes this tree up to 25 years to produce its first flowers. This one is flowering only a few years yet and so the novelty factor still prevails. Later, its distinctively shaped leaves will turn butter yellow if we get a good autumn.
Our flowering dogwoods, Cornus kousa, never fail to draw attention in June but their floral mantle this year is a bit more muted than the last as they tend to flower and fruit well in alternate years. However, the strongly variegated Cornus kousa ‘Wolf Eyes’, featuring ivory-margined, grey-green leaves, is proving very effective at brightening a shady spot in the garden with a bonus of showy, creamy-white, flower-like bracts.
Shady spot
Also lighting up a partially shady spot is the Chinese lantern shrub, Crinodendron hookerianum. Clearly revelling in its sheltered position against a west-facing wall, its branches are dripping with crimson red, lantern-shaped flowers which shine out against the glossy, dark green, evergreen leaves.
Many varieties of hardy geraniums are in bloom now too and the eye-catching flowers of Geranium ‘Anne Thomson’ are just opening in a bold, vibrant shade of magenta with each bloom having distinctive veining and a black centre. This hard-working perennial will continue blooming from now until halted by the first frosts.
Mary Keenan and Ross Doyle run Gash Gardens, Co Laois open to the public. See gashgardens.ie
Q&A: What kind of plants thrive in heavy soil?
Can you tell me which plants will do well on a heavy clay soil? Mary, Co Kerry
Clay soil can be sticky, hard to work and can bake solid in summer. But it’s also nutrient rich and perfect for growing a range of plants. Before you invest, try to improve the soil by digging in plenty of coarse grit or bulky organic matter such as home-made compost, well-rotted manure or composted bark.
The pincushion flower, Astrantia ‘Roma’, performs well in heavy clay soil.
Such amendments will help open up the structure of the soil, create air spaces, relieve compaction, improve drainage and reduce problems with cracking in summer. Make sure to only walk on or work clay soil when it’s dry, to minimise compaction. Plants that will thrive in clay soil include roses, hydrangeas, viburnums, mahonias, coloured-stemmed dogwoods, as well as perennials like astrantia, persicaria, Japanese anemones, asters, hardy geraniums, brunnera and pulmonaria.
Give wisteria a summer prune, cutting all the long, whippy sideshoots back to around 30cm, leaving just five or six buds on each shoot.Sow seeds of biennials such as Sweet William, foxgloves and ‘honesty’ for flowering next summer.
Trim box topiary plants on a dry, cool and slightly overcast day. Avoid pruning in extreme heat or full sun because this can scorch the leaves.
It’s only during the last week that I have got around to planting up some summer container displays and this year, in addition to trusted favourites such as fuchsias and begonias, I’ve opted to plant some containers with coleus, also known as Solenostemon scutellarioides or painted nettle plants.
My late father used to grow them from seed sown in spring and, as a child, I loved them for their velvety and sometimes frilly-edged foliage in patterned combinations of bright red, burgundy, yellow, green, pink, brown and bronze.
Some people are charmed by their flamboyant colouring while others find them hideous and gaudy.
In any case, after many years out of fashion, coleus now seems to be undergoing a bit of a renaissance and I was recently delighted to find some available to buy as plants in a garden centre.
Usually grown as annuals, these tender foliage plants can be grown either as bedding plants to add a dash of colour and drama to beds, borders and containers through the summer, or as house plants for indoors or in a conservatory. They are fast-growing and once planted, it is recommended to regularly pinch out the growing tips to encourage a bushier plant.
Waste of energy
Although pale blue flowers are produced, these are insignificant and best removed before they develop so the plant doesn’t waste energy producing flowers and seeds. Also, if you let coleus flower, the leaves suffer for it, losing their beauty and vigour.
In planting my containers with coleus, I’ve taken inspiration from TJ Maher’s spectacular displays at his Patthana Garden in Kiltegan, Co Wicklow.
Here, he uses single colours of coleus individually in pots or blends several different foliage colours and patterns together for complimentary effects or he places them as accent plants in combination with other tender perennials and summer annuals. One particularly lovely variety that he grows is Solenostemon scutellarioides ‘Campfire’ with burnt orange foliage. It looks very striking when offset against the glossy, deep red-purple leaves of aeoniums or in partnership with the warm yellow and orange tones of tagetes or with red or orange-flowered dahlias. This one is on my wish list for planting next year.
Through the lens
June is when our garden reaches its peak of growth and colour and it’s the ideal time now to take photographs and video footage of areas where improvements need to be made.
These images will help as a reminder of plants to be pruned or moved, issues to be fixed and gaps to be filled when planning and undertaking renovations during winter and next spring.
It takes this tree up to 25 years to produce its first flowers.
It’s useful to take both close-up and wide-angle pictures of the garden. Wide-angle photographs can show the general design and effects of the space, while close-ups can show the specifics of individual plants or plant combinations.
Wandering with the camera also focuses attention on what is looking good in the garden just now.
One of my favourite roses in full bloom at this time is Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’, an old shrub rose that is repeat flowering and can be grown as a shrub or trained as a climbing plant.
Sumptuous blooms
The sumptuous blooms are a warm apricot, exuding a lovely, fruity scent. I can also see several plump flower buds on the tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, and excitement is building for their opening into goblet-shaped, orange and yellow-green blooms. It takes this tree up to 25 years to produce its first flowers. This one is flowering only a few years yet and so the novelty factor still prevails. Later, its distinctively shaped leaves will turn butter yellow if we get a good autumn.
Our flowering dogwoods, Cornus kousa, never fail to draw attention in June but their floral mantle this year is a bit more muted than the last as they tend to flower and fruit well in alternate years. However, the strongly variegated Cornus kousa ‘Wolf Eyes’, featuring ivory-margined, grey-green leaves, is proving very effective at brightening a shady spot in the garden with a bonus of showy, creamy-white, flower-like bracts.
Shady spot
Also lighting up a partially shady spot is the Chinese lantern shrub, Crinodendron hookerianum. Clearly revelling in its sheltered position against a west-facing wall, its branches are dripping with crimson red, lantern-shaped flowers which shine out against the glossy, dark green, evergreen leaves.
Many varieties of hardy geraniums are in bloom now too and the eye-catching flowers of Geranium ‘Anne Thomson’ are just opening in a bold, vibrant shade of magenta with each bloom having distinctive veining and a black centre. This hard-working perennial will continue blooming from now until halted by the first frosts.
Mary Keenan and Ross Doyle run Gash Gardens, Co Laois open to the public. See gashgardens.ie
Q&A: What kind of plants thrive in heavy soil?
Can you tell me which plants will do well on a heavy clay soil? Mary, Co Kerry
Clay soil can be sticky, hard to work and can bake solid in summer. But it’s also nutrient rich and perfect for growing a range of plants. Before you invest, try to improve the soil by digging in plenty of coarse grit or bulky organic matter such as home-made compost, well-rotted manure or composted bark.
The pincushion flower, Astrantia ‘Roma’, performs well in heavy clay soil.
Such amendments will help open up the structure of the soil, create air spaces, relieve compaction, improve drainage and reduce problems with cracking in summer. Make sure to only walk on or work clay soil when it’s dry, to minimise compaction. Plants that will thrive in clay soil include roses, hydrangeas, viburnums, mahonias, coloured-stemmed dogwoods, as well as perennials like astrantia, persicaria, Japanese anemones, asters, hardy geraniums, brunnera and pulmonaria.
Give wisteria a summer prune, cutting all the long, whippy sideshoots back to around 30cm, leaving just five or six buds on each shoot.Sow seeds of biennials such as Sweet William, foxgloves and ‘honesty’ for flowering next summer.
Trim box topiary plants on a dry, cool and slightly overcast day. Avoid pruning in extreme heat or full sun because this can scorch the leaves.
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