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From Horkan's Lifestyle and Garden Centre - gardencentre.ie Fact Sheets Covering with climbers.
Gardening with climbers has become very popular in our modern concrete jungle over the past number of years. Climbers offer a softer option and in general are maintaince free. Now is the ideal time to start planting new climbers for fast establishment before summer. Some of the best.
The choice of available plants suitable as climbers is added to every year with new and improved varieties but many of the older varieties are still very useful. One of my own favourites is Clematis pearl de zure a beautiful easy to grow free flowering climber ideal for covering large sheltered walls. The bright blue flowers form in early June and flower through to late summer. The foliage is deep green and luscious A super wall plant for a sunny sheltered location. The side branches are tied in throughout the summer and there is little need for pruning. Clematis pearl de zure is also ideal for planting through existing climbers like ivies, conifers, or hedges. Evergreen Ivies.
For good foliage colour consider planting the evergreen ivies including gold heart, sulphur heart or canariensis which are self clinging with all year round foliage colour and ideal for mixed planting with free flowering summer clematis. Look for the bright foliage variety called gold child which has wonderful butter yellow foliage with a green splash – excellent on a wall for year round colour. Ivies offer you year round colour ideal for any wall and perfect to support other intertwining flowering climbers like clematis and honey suckles to scramble through the ivy offering additional colour & interest.
Boston Ivy.
Parthenocissus vetchii has beautiful large green foliage, fast growing stems cover large areas quickly. The foliage turns deep scarlet and reds throughout autumn. Boston ivy is suitable for large wall areas or tree stumps where quick growth and cover is important. A wonderful large leaved fast growing climber at home on a large or small wall. Superb colour in summer and autumn. Winter Colour. Pyracantha or firethorn is a very popular wall shrub. Strong growth with evergreen foliage covered in may with white flowers and super bunches of berries from mid September. Pyracantha is hardy and very easy to grow tolerating all soil types and berrying as young plants. Look for the French varieties, which are prolific croppers of very large berries on young plants.
Horkys tip: plant summer flowering clematis at the base of your establish Pyracantha to give lots of summer colour the clematis can be cut back hard in October to reveal the bunches of red berries. Clematis. The most popular of all the flowering climbers and rightly so. Clematis produces an abundance of flower colour in spring; summer and autumn depending on the variety you plant. Customers often find clematis difficult to establish. Remember clematis need good soil preparation and the addition of composted organic matter is essential. Summer flowering varieties should be planted eight inches deeper than the existing root ball. If you continue to experience difficulty growing clematis try the easier spring flowering clematis Montana Rubens or the mid summer clematis viticella varieties. Clematis requires regular feeding throughout the summer and water during dry periods. They can be planted through existing larger shrubs or hedges for added colour. Look for excellent varieties like gipsy queen, hagley hybrid and dr rupple. Over all a wonderful fast growing free flowering climber rewarding you with lots of spring and summer colour. Can be grown in containers on patios etc.
Sweet scent. Summer flowering honey suckles are always a good choice. The beautiful sweet scent is carried from July to late September. Honeysuckle grows and establishes very quickly and is ideal for all soil types. Horkys tip: plant summer flowering climbing roses now including the beautiful scented patio climbers which are ideal for all sized gardens and perform well even in their first year with repeat flowers and super sweet scent. Patio climbers are ideal for growing out of containers. Roses to plant now. Roses can be planted now in mid March for super colour in early summer. We profile some of the best varieties….
Trumpeter. Rich red flowers produced in abundance until early winter, excellent disease resistance and repeat flowering ability. A mc gready rose bred in Ireland by the famous rose grower in 1978. Trumpeter is a low growing bush rose with dark green foliage with a lovely red colour to the younger growth. The flower buds form in June in abundance up to fifteen per stem and open gradually the flowers are deep blood red and stand out from a long distance creating a real splash of colour from late June onwards. The foliage is glossy and keeps many of the rose diseases at bay. Plant trumpeter in groups to create a uniform stunning display, space your plants two feet apart. Dead head the flowers throughout the summer to encourage the production of new flowering wood. Horkys tip : prepare the soil for all roses with Westland composted farmyard manure , as roses are hungry feeders and appreciate well prepared soil. Sweet dream.
Excellent Rich orange flowers right throughout the summer – excellent in containers or flower borders – Wonderful show of colour all summer. A popular patio rose with a super show of colour throughout the summer. Sweet dream has a deep apricot colour starting in June and flowering to late autumn. The bush is very compact with nice dark green foliage. Ideal for patio containers mixed with summer bedding or for bedding out in rose borders and as a dot plant through mixed shrub borders. Sweet dream is trouble free and settles in even to the smallest flower border. Space the plants eighteen inches apart and plant in groups and add nursery stock compost to the planting hole. Horkys tip: Feed your roses with top rose once a month, and remember to dead head throughout the summer. For added colour consider the patio Peter pan and sunhit for a splash of vibrant colours.
Ruby Wedding.: Ruby Wedding is one of the outstanding red hybrid tea roses you could grow. A very neat hybrid tea rose ideal for the front of a mixed rose border or used on mass in a larger bed. The flowers are a rich crimson colour which are unfading as they mature. The flowers are produced in profusion and perfectly shaped. Disease resistance is excellent on the dark green foliage. A very good choice for the smaller garden where quality and shape is important. The free flowering bushes are well clothed with healthy foliage which is coppery red when young.
Horkys tip: Apply Roseclear spray now and repeat every two weeks to give your roses protection from greenfly and disease. Plantex will prevent weed growth.
To create excellent weed control cover the soil with plantex material and place a layer of bark mulch over this material. Plantex can be used on shrub borders, rose beds, rockeries and fruit borders for superb weed control with out the use of chemicals. Remember Horkans garden Centre in Sligo & Castlebar are open seven days sun 12 to 6. © Copyright 2003 by Horkan's Lifestyle and Garden Centre. |
