Gardeners World episode 26 2012: At Longmeadow, Monty Don has plenty of advice for jobs to be getting on with in early autumn and has tips for planting bulbs in a variety of places in the garden.
At Glebe Cottage, Carol Klein answers another gardener’s dilemma when she shows the best way to divide and care for agapanthus, as well as giving her advice on dividing perennial plants. It is the start of one of the best seasons for planting and, from RHS Rosemoor, Rachel de Thame recommends autumn flowering plants for our gardens, which also have the benefit of adding scent.
Plus, from earlier this year, a visit to the water meadows at Cricklade in Wiltshire to enjoy the spectacle of the fritillary meadows. Reserve manager Anita Barratt talks about these beautiful spring flowers, which can be planted in gardens right now.
Gardeners World episode 26 2012
Monty plants narcissus bulbs
October is the perfect time to plant daffodil bulbs for spring. Monty Don plants Narcissus pseudonarcissus and the poet’s narcissus, Narcissus poeticus. Daffodils often look at their best when growing through grass. To get the ‘natural look’, Monty throws his bulbs out randomly and then plants them where they fall.
This species has pale yellow flowers, with a darker central trumpet. The long, narrow leaves are slightly greyish green in colour and rise from the base of the stem. The plant grows from a bulb. The flowers produce seeds, which when germinated, take five to seven years to produce a flowering plant. (Sexual [seed] reproduction mixes the traits of both parent flowers, so if garden hybrid cultivars are planted close to wild populations of Narcissus pseudonarcissus, there is a danger that the new seedlings, having hybrid vigour, could out-compete the wild plants.)
Carol divides perennials
Now that autumn is here it is a good time to lift and divide many garden perennials. Carol Klein shows us how to divide, Hemerocallis, Epimedium, and Lobelia, all plants with fibrous roots.
