Weed it and reap: tips to turn tatty into tidy

ORIENTAL poppies add interest to the garden when everything around them has retreated below ground.

By this time in the season however they are starting to look tatty.

So, before the new growth starts, I like to remove damaged foliage, root out any weeds showing around their roots and clear away autumn leaves that have become caught amongst them.

Around them, the daffodils are growing strongly and the crocuses planted last autumn have begun to open.

The tips of tulips and hyacinths are appearing, along with dwarf irises, grown in small pots so that I can sit them on the garden table and make a feature of their jewel-like colours.

The sprigs of flowering currant I cut last week to add to a vase of daffodils have opened and the flowers have turned out to be white, not the usual pink.

That’s the joy of moving to a new garden, there are always surprises to discover and as this is a much better white variety than any that I’ve grown previously I’ve decided to postpone removing the bush, which is encroaching on one of the magnolias, until I’ve successfully rooted some cuttings.

The hellebores, which I planted last year, are flourishing and the front border is now spangled with flowers in shades from white to purple.

But my attempts to remove the large clumps of both Flag irises and Siberian irises from this part of the garden have been a failure.

The rhizomes are so old and tough that splitting them up and digging them out has proved impossible.

A spade just bounces off

GARDENS

Most gardeners are fortified by a mug of tea. A strong brew will help you tackle the heaviest of tasks.

But have you ever thought of growing your own?

The tea plant, Camellia sinensis, is suitable for growing in most parts of the country, although you may need to keep it in a pot and move it under cover for the first few years until mature. them, no fork can get beneath them and my garden knives have proved themselves unequal to the job.

I have plans for this border that don’t include these tall irises so my next line of attack will involve a very sharp saw.

Once they are finally free of the soil I’ll discard all but the youngest rhizomes, which I’ll pop into pots until I can find a better spot for them and I’ll fill the gap where they were growing with another azalea and more of the ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ peonies that already grow in this border.

I also have my eye on the small, weeping cherry that grows at one side of the front lawn.

It is sparse and sicklylooking, although going by the amount of lichen that grows on its branches it’s been in the ground for a while.

Cherry trees struggle in wet, heavy soil and this is growing in solid clay, so it might be time to replace it with something like a Stag’s Horn Sumach, which is a native of the damp woodlands of North America.

So long as enough leaf mould and compost are added to the soil to improve the drainage, a Sumach should feel right at home in this spot.