Beware the statuesque stunner...

Iwonder how many zillion young plants in plugs and polystyrene sections have been safely transported home and planted out in gardens across the UK. Here we are well into June and there still seems to be an endless supply of them sitting on trolleys in the garden centres and multiples across the land.

Some have been in these little containers for quite some time, they are now completely stuck in the sections and quite difficult to extract.

My real point is that apart from acquiring a few to fill in blanks, you should really have the bedding out job completed by now if you are to have a decent display for the best part of the summer and early autumn.

In our area the municipal baskets, troughs and tubs have been set out to clothe our streets and squares with vibrant colours. These are certainly changing times. The job used to be done by local authority employees but in most instances nowadays it is being carried out by an army of volunteers. We owe them a huge vote of thanks.

No sooner do we have that job completed than we gardeners have to look ahead to next spring.

This thought applies to those of us who like to grow our bedding plants at home.

I have in mind wallflower, myosotis, and polyanthus. These are the proven staple performers selected to overwinter in their flowering positions to blossom forth the following spring. But nowadays we have also to consider a wide range of pansies and violas that are winter hardy, as we have illustrated at Beechgrove.

While wallflower and myosotis are grown from seed, the polyanthus and primroses are perennials, and at this time, we separate the lifted plants into their separate colours before splitting up each one into single crowns. They are then lined out in a shaded part of the garden, given a dressing of nitrogenous fertiliser and a good watering overhead to settle them in their nursery bed.

By autumn planting time, they will have grown into fine young ‘adult’ plants to be set out in beds to overwinter and flower the following spring so completing another annual cycle.

You may have noted that we had several quite vigorous discussions at Beechgrove about using mixed colours in formal bedding schemes as well as how to choose the right tulip types and varieties to match the groundcover under-storey.

You may also have noticed that in bedding schemes, I don’t like mixed selections and I’m quite fussy about choosing the right tulip type and colour to be treated like an accessory in a dress outfit.

Daffodils do not figure in my thoughts when planning bedding because, generally they flower too early.

The plant that has suffered most with the changing techniques of propagation and presentation is the wallflower.

In olden days, when I were a boy, wallflower seeds were sown thinly in rows in the open ground, about the end of this month. By early to mid-August, the young seedlings were lifted carefully, singled out and planted back in a decent bit of soil at about 15cm apart.

The key point about this technique is that, in the process of lifting the seedlings, the tip of the tap root is broken off. As a result, the plant will form a bushy top and root system. By planting time about early October, you have a well balanced plant with a well developed branching root system with no dominant tap root and a top to match.

Now a complete change of topic as we reach the right time of year to counter the spread of Skunk Cabbage.

This American native develops into a statuesque and stunning herbaceous plant best used near a pond/stream/damp area in the garden. The problem occurs after flowering when the foliage takes over.

It can produce leaves a metre long and half that width. That is why I use the word statuesque. This asset may not be a disadvantage if you know the plant and have plenty of room to accommodate it.

The problems arise when it escapes into the wild. How does it jump the garden fence and become a real threat to native wild life – simply because of the blanketing effect of the foliage?

Not to mention careless people dumping it in the wild.

The flower produces berries feeding the birds who then sow the seeds – wherever.

Because the plant is often sited beside running water, the seeds may float away to lodge downstream somewhere, hence causing the problem.

Answer: Like how to handle Leyland Cypressdon’t turn your back on it.

As soon as the spathes produce their seeds – cut them off and destroy.

Dinna put them in the compost heap.

A classic bedding scheme – at Kew Gardens. No mixes there, a deliberately selected range of plants – that’s my idea of a first-class bedding scheme

The fantastic American Skunk Cabbage before the leaves start to expand and create problems

Polyanthus split up and lined out