Topic
Case Studies
...Drive
...Foundations
Companion Planting
...A, B, C, D, E,
...F, G, H, I, J, K,
...L, M, N, O, P, Q,
...R, S, T, U, V, W,
...X, Y, Z
...Pest Control
...using Plants
Garden Construction
Garden Design
...How to Use the Colour Wheel Concepts for Selection of Flowers, Foliage and Flower Shape
...RHS Mixed Borders
......Bedding Plants
......Her Perennials
......Other Plants
......Camera photos of Plant supports
Garden Maintenance
Glossary
Home
Library
Offbeat Glossary
Plants
...Poisonous Plants
Soil
...Soil Nutrients
Tool Shed
Useful Data

................

Topic - Plant Photo Galleries

Camera Photo Galleries:-

RHS Garden at Wisley
Plant Supports .
Coleus Bedding Foliage Trial 1, 2 .

National Trust Garden at Sissinghurst Castle
Plant Supports 1, 2 .

Dry Garden of
RHS Garden at
Hyde Hall
Plants .

Nursery of
Peter Beales Roses
Display Garden
Roses .

Nursery of
RV Roger
Roses A1, .

Damage by Plants in Chilham Village .

Pavements of Funchal, Madeira
Damage to Trees
1, 2, .

The plant with photo in the above Camera Photo Galleries
join
the plants with photos in the other Plant Photo Galleries below in
Plant with Photo Index of Ivydene Gardens - 444
A 1, Photos - 36
B 1, Photos - 13
C 1, Photos - 35
D 1, Photos - 14
E 1, Photos - 21
F 1, Photos - 1
G 1, Photos - 5
H 1, Photos - 21
I 1, Photos - 8
J 1, Photos - 1
K 1, Photos - 1
L 1, Photos - 14
M 1, Photos - 9
N 1, Photos - 12
O 1, Photos - 5
P 1, Photos - 54
Q 1, Photos -
R 1, Photos - 60
S 1, Photos - 111
T 1, Photos - 13
U 1, Photos - 5
V 1, Photos - 4
W 1, Photos - 2
X 1 Photos -
Y 1, Photos -
Z 1 Photos -

Articles/Items in Ivydene Gardens - 88

and in
Flower Shape and Plant Use of
Bedding
Bulb
Evergreen Perennial
Herbaceous Perennial
Rose
Evergreen Shrub
Deciduous Shrub
Evergreen Tree
Deciduous Tree
Annual
Fern
Wildflower

Aquatic
Bamboo

Bedding
...by Flower Shape
...Camera photos of Coleus Bedding Foliage Trial

Further details on Bedding from the Infill Galleries:-
...for Spring
...for Summer
...for Autumn
...for Winter
...for Sandy Soil
...for Acid Soil
...for Chalky Soil
...for Clay Soil
...Flower Colour:-
......Black
......Blue
......Orange
......Pink
......Purple
......Red
......White
......Yellow
......Multi-coloured
...Use of Bedding:-
......Aromatic Fol
......Scented Flo
......Long Flo
......Coloured Fol
......for Bees, etc
......Cut Flos
......Hanging Pot
......Pots/ Troughs
......Screening
......Window Box
......Bedding Out
......Filling in
Further details on Annuals from the Infill Galleries:-
Uses of Annuals
...Exposed Sites
...Sheltered Sites
...in Greenhouse
...Extra Poor Soil
...Very Rich Soil
...Gap Filling
...Patio Pots
...Cut Flowers 1, 2
...Everlasting Flos
...Attract Insects
...with Fragrance
...Bee Pollinated
...Annual Pairing
...Low-Growing
...Med-Growing
...Tall Growing
...Flower Colour:-
......Black/Brown
......Blue-Purple
......Green
......Red-Pink
......White
......Yellow/Orange
...for its Foliage
...in Moist Soil
...in Shade
...as Houseplants
...Edging Beds
...Hanging Basket
...Vining Annuals
...Plants for Cut Flowers which flower during:-
......January
......February
......March
......April
......May
......June
......July
......August
......September
......October
......November
......December
Further Details on Biennials from the Infill Galleries:-
Use of Bieenials
...Cottage Garden
...Cut Flower
...for Rock Work
...Patio Pots
...Conservatory
...for Wildlife
...Scented Flo

Bulb
...Allium/ Anemone
...Autumn
...Colchicum/ Crocus
...Dahlia
...Gladiolus
...Hippeastrum/ Lily
...Late Summer
...Narcissus
...Spring
...Tulip
...Winter
Climber
...Clematis
...Climbers
Conifer
Deciduous Shrub
...Shrubs - Decid
Deciduous Tree
...Trees - Decid
Evergreen Perennial
...P-Evergreen A-L
...P-Evergreen M-Z
...Flower Shape
Evergreen Shrub
...Shrubs - Evgr
...Heather Shrub
Evergreen Tree
...Trees - Evgr
Fern
Grass
Hedging
Herbaceous Perennial
...P -Herbaceous
...RHS Wisley
...Flower Shape
Herb
Odds and Sods
Rhododendron
Rose
...RHS Wisley A-F
...RHS Wisley G-R
...RHS Wisley S-Z
...Rose Use
...Other Roses A-F
...Other Roses G-R
...Other Roses S-Z
Soft Fruit
Top Fruit
...Apple
...Cherry
...Pear
Vegetable

Wild Flower
with its
flower colour page,
space,
Site Map page in its flower colour
NOTE Gallery
...Blue Note
...Brown Note
...Cream Note
...Green Note
...Mauve Note
...Multi-Cols Note
...Orange Note
...Pink A-G Note
...Pink H-Z Note
...Purple Note
...Red Note
...White A-D Note
...White E-P Note
...White Q-Z Note
...Yellow A-G Note
...Yellow H-Z Note
...Shrub/Tree Note
Poisonous
Wildflower Plants

............

Topic - Flower/Foliage Colour
Colour Wheel Galleries
Following your choice using Garden Style then that changes your Plant Selection Process
Garden Style
...Infill Plants
...12 Bloom Colours per Month Index
...12 Foliage Colours per Month Index
...All Plants Index
...Cultivation, Position, Use Index
...Shape, Form
Index

or
you could use these Flower Colour Wheels with number of colours
All Flowers 53
All Flowers per Month 12
with its
Explanation of
Structure of this Website with
...User Guidelines
All Bee-Pollinated Flowers per Month 12
...Index
Rock Garden and Alpine Flower Colour Wheel with number of colours
Rock Plant Flowers 53
...Rock Plant Photos

or
these Foliage Colour Wheels structures, which I have done but until I can take the photos and I am certain of the plant label's validity, these may not progress much further
All Foliage 212
All Spring Foliage 212
All Summer Foliage 212
All Autumn Foliage 212
All Winter Foliage 212

or
Flower Colour Wheel without photos, but with links to photos
12 Bloom Colours per Month Index
...All Plants Index

............

Topic - Wildlife on Plant Photo Gallery
Butterfly
Usage of Plants
by Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis and Butterfly

Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis and Butterfly usage of
Plant A-C
Plant C-M
Plant N-W
Butterfly usage of Plant

followed by all the Wild Flower Family Pages:-

Picture Folder Name Pages:-

Since 14 June 2019 I have also started to put my own full-sized 4000 x 3000 digital Camera images into the relevant topics in this website again for use in the Public Domain - since there may
be 9 or more to a page the resulting 43Mb website page may take some time to load. Since I have more than 26,522 photos using 111,460Mb of my disk space, then the extra upfront cost per annum before creating more folders like Photo coleus is just over 3.16 pence per photo has been paid for the total number in that entire photo collection before any are sent to the website.
It is hoped that you may find them of interest.

When supporting plants in a bed, it is found that not only do those plants grow upwards, but also they expand their roots and footpad sideways each year.

Plant Supports Folder from RHS
Garden at Wisley taken on
11 April 2013
1, 2, 3, 8, 11,
12, 13,
Plants 4, 7, 10,
Bedding Plants 5,
Plant Supports for Unknown Plants 5,
Clematis Climbers 6,
the RHS does not appear to either follow it's own pruning advice or advice from The Pruning of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers by George E. Brown.
ISBN 0-571-11084-3 with the plants in Pages 1-7 of this folder. You can see from looking at both these resources as to whether the pruning carried out on the remainder of the plants in Pages 7-16 was correct.
Narcissus (Daffodil) 9,
Phlox Plant Supports 14, 15

Coleus Bedding Trial Folder
from Plant Trials Field in RHS Garden
at Wisley taken on
2 October 2013
1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23, 24, 25,
26, 27, 28, 29, 30,
31, 32, Index

Sissinghurst Castle Garden taken on
19 April 2013 with Plant Supports
1, 5, 10
Plants 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
Recommended Rose Pruning Methods 13

Sissinghurst Folder from
Sissinghurst Castle Garden taken on
10 April 2018 with Plant Supports
2,
Plants 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Dry garden at hyde hall 4-may-2019 Folder from
Dry Garden at Hyde Hall taken on
4 May 2019 without Plant Supports
Plants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Rose peter beales may 25 2014
Folder from
Display Garden at Peter Beales Roses taken on 25 May 2014 of Roses
1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 13

Rose rv roger july 21-25 2014 Folder from Rose Nursery of RV Roger taken
on 21-25 July 2014 of Roses
1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 13
 

Chilham 20-08-2013 Folder from Chilham Village in Kent
taken on 18 August 2013 of
Plants Causing Damage to Buildings
1, 2, 3, 4

Madeira trees 2019 Folder from
Funchal in Madeira
taken on 28 February 2019 of
Damage to Trees in Pavements of Funchal
1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 13 for trees 1-54, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23, 24, 25, for trees 55-

List of Pictures in a Picture Folder:-

Plants and plant supports in Sissinghurst Castle Garden on 10 April 2018.

Plant supports are erected in the spring to support the plants growing from underneath them. When those plants die down in the autumn, then these minor supports are withdrawn leaving the support posts if these were used to attach the minor supports to. Other plant supports are created for climbers and erected on walls, fences and posts.
 

Sissinghurst 2
Plants without Supports Page 1

Anemone nemerosa 'Allenii'
IMG 5519.JPG

Anemone nemerosa 'Allenii'
IMG 5520.JPG

Anemone nemerosa 'Allenii'
IMG 5521.JPG

Bulbs in flower
IMG 5546.JPG

Cynara cardunculus
IMG 5550.JPG

Cynara cardunculus
IMG 5551.JPG

Delphinium trial bed
IMG 5516.JPG

Delphinium trial bed
IMG 5517.JPG

Delphinium trial bed
IMG 5518.JPG

Dicentra formosa 'Alba'
IMG 5540.JPG

Hyacinth 'Delft Blue'
IMG 5506.JPG

Sissinghurst 2
Plant Supports Page 2

Rosa 'Henri Martin' rose support
IMG 5522.JPG

Rosa 'Henri Martin' rose support
IMG 5523.JPG

Rosa 'Henri Martin' rose support
IMG 5524.JPG

Roses support
IMG 5528.JPG

Roses support
IMG 5529.JPG

Sissinghurst 2
Plants without Supports Page 3

Erigeron quakeress
IMG 5532.JPG

Erigeron quakeress
IMG 5533.JPG

Erigeron quakeress
IMG 5534.JPG

Helleborus argutifolius
IMG 5542.JPG

Helleborus argutifolius
IMG 5544.JPG

Helleborus argutifolius
IMG 5545.JPG

Hyacinth 'Miss Saigon'
IMG 5488.JPG

Hyacinth 'Miss Saigon'
IMG 5489.JPG

Narcissus 'Petrel'
IMG 5491.JPG

Narcissus 'Petrel'
IMG 5492.JPG

Narcissus 'Petrel'
IMG 5493.JPG

Sissinghurst 2
Plants without Supports Page 4

Hyacinth 'White Pearl'
IMG 5485.JPG

Hyacinth 'White Pearl'
IMG 5486.JPG

Lilium superbum 'Sweet Surrender'
IMG 5530.JPG

Lilium superbum 'Sweet Surrender'
IMG 5531.JPG

Lysamachia cinata 'Firecracker'
IMG 5513.JPG

Lysamachia cinata 'Firecracker'
IMG 5514.JPG

Lysamachia cinata 'Firecracker'
IMG 5515.JPG

Paeonia suffructicosa 'Shimanishiki'
IMG 5527.JPG

Peony
IMG 5510.JPG

Peony
IMG 5511.JPG

Peony
IMG 5512.JPG

Sissinghurst 2
Plants without Supports Page 5

Polyanthus 'Harvest Yellow'
IMG 5477.JPG

Polyanthus 'Harvest Yellow'
IMG 5478.JPG

Polyanthus 'Harvest Yellow'
IMG 5479.JPG

Polygonatum multiflorum
IMG 5535.JPG

Polygonatum multiflorum
IMG 5536.JPG

Polygonatum multiflorum
IMG 5537.JPG

Primula fuchsia victorians
IMG 5495.JPG

Primula fuchsia victorians
IMG 5496.JPG

Primula ghia
IMG 5539.JPG

Primula 'Guinevere'
IMG 5525.JPG

Primula 'Guinevere'
IMG 5526.JPG

Sissinghurst 2
Plants without Supports Page 6

Primula 'Indian Red'
IMG 5481.JPG

Primula 'Indian Red'
IMG 5482.JPG

Primula 'Indian Red'
IMG 5483.JPG

Primula 'Indian Red'
IMG 5498.JPG

Primula 'Indian Red'
IMG 5499.JPG

Sissinghurst 2
Plants without Supports Page 7

Primula 'Winter White'
IMG 5502.JPG

Primula 'Winter White'
IMG 5503.JPG

Primula 'Winter White'
IMG 5504.JPG

Pulsatilla rubra
IMG 5547.JPG

Pulsatilla rubra
IMG 5548.JPG

Wallflower 'Sunset'
IMG 5508.JPG

Wallflower 'Sunset'
IMG 5509.JPG

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 1

(o)Adder's Tongue
Amaranth
(o)Arrow-Grass
(o)Arum
(o)Balsam
Bamboo
(o)Barberry
(o)Bedstraw
(o)Beech
(o)Bellflower
(o)Bindweed
(o)Birch
(o)Birds-Nest
(o)Birthwort
(o)Bogbean
(o)Bog Myrtle
(o)Borage
(o)Box
(o)Broomrape
(o)Buckthorn
(o)Buddleia
(o)Bur-reed
(o)Buttercup
(o)Butterwort
(o)Cornel (Dogwood)
(o)Crowberry
(o)Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 1
(o)Crucifer (Cabbage/Mustard) 2
Cypress
(o)Daffodil
(o)Daisy
(o)Daisy Cudweeds
(o)Daisy Chamomiles
(o)Daisy Thistle
(o)Daisy Catsears (o)Daisy Hawkweeds
(o)Daisy Hawksbeards
(o)Daphne
(o)Diapensia
(o)Dock Bistorts
(o)Dock Sorrels

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 2

(o)Clubmoss
(o)Duckweed
(o)Eel-Grass
(o)Elm
(o)Filmy Fern
(o)Horsetail
(o)Polypody
Quillwort
(o)Royal Fern
(o)Figwort - Mulleins
(o)Figwort - Speedwells
(o)Flax
(o)Flowering-Rush
(o)Frog-bit
(o)Fumitory
(o)Gentian
(o)Geranium
(o)Glassworts
(o)Gooseberry
(o)Goosefoot
(o)Grass 1
(o)Grass 2
(o)Grass 3
(o)Grass Soft Bromes 1
(o)Grass Soft Bromes 2
(o)Grass Soft Bromes 3 (o)Hazel
(o)Heath
(o)Hemp
(o)Herb-Paris
(o)Holly
(o)Honeysuckle
(o)Horned-Pondweed
(o)Hornwort
(o)Iris
(o)Ivy
(o)Jacobs Ladder
(o)Lily
(o)Lily Garlic
(o)Lime
(o)Lobelia
(o)Loosestrife
(o)Mallow
(o)Maple
(o)Mares-tail
(o)Marsh Pennywort
(o)Melon (Gourd/Cucumber)
 

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 3

(o)Mesem-bryanthemum
(o)Mignonette
(o)Milkwort
(o)Mistletoe
(o)Moschatel
Naiad
(o)Nettle
(o)Nightshade
(o)Oleaster
(o)Olive
(o)Orchid 1
(o)Orchid 2
(o)Orchid 3
(o)Orchid 4
(o)Parnassus-Grass
(o)Peaflower
(o)Peaflower Clover 1
(o)Peaflower Clover 2
(o)Peaflower Clover 3
(o)Peaflower Vetches/Peas
Peony
(o)Periwinkle
Pillwort
Pine
(o)Pink 1
(o)Pink 2
Pipewort
(o)Pitcher-Plant
(o)Plantain
(o)Pondweed
(o)Poppy
(o)Primrose
(o)Purslane
Rannock Rush
(o)Reedmace
(o)Rockrose
(o)Rose 1
(o)Rose 2
(o)Rose 3
(o)Rose 4
(o)Rush
(o)Rush Woodrushes
(o)Saint Johns Wort
Saltmarsh Grasses
(o)Sandalwood
(o)Saxifrage
 

WILD FLOWER FAMILY
PAGE MENU 4

Seaheath
(o)Sea Lavender
(o)Sedge Rush-like
(o)Sedges Carex 1
(o)Sedges Carex 2
(o)Sedges Carex 3
(o)Sedges Carex 4
(o)Spindle-Tree
(o)Spurge
(o)Stonecrop
(o)Sundew
(o)Tamarisk
Tassel Pondweed
(o)Teasel
(o)Thyme 1
(o)Thyme 2
(o)Umbellifer 1
(o)Umbellifer 2
(o)Valerian
(o)Verbena
(o)Violet
(o)Water Fern
(o)Waterlily
(o)Water Milfoil
(o)Water Plantain
(o)Water Starwort
Waterwort
(o)Willow
(o)Willow-Herb
(o)Wintergreen
(o)Wood-Sorrel
(o)Yam
(o)Yew

It is worth remembering that especially with roses that the colour of the petals of the flower may change - The following photos are of Rosa 'Lincolnshire Poacher' which I took on the same day in R.V. Roger's Nursery Field:-

Closed Bud

Opening Bud

Juvenile Flower

Older Juvenile Flower

Middle-aged Flower - Flower Colour in Season in its
Rose Description Page is
"Buff Yellow, with a very slight pink tint at the edges in May-October."

Plant Labelling - A suggestion for plant labelling to help visitors

A different solution is that each gardening member of the RHS staff at Wisley be provided with Large White Plastic Angled-Head Labels which are 20 inches (50 cms) in height with a 6 x 4 inch (16 x 10 cms) writing surface and a Marker pen with Black ink to provide a good temporary label for the above broken label (in Lost Flowers page) or for missing labels.
Then, the black background permanent label could be ordered at the end of that working day to replace this temporary label, which has been inserted into the ground in front of the relevant plant section.

If you are concerned about these labels going on "Walkabout", then insert another white label behind the plant and make it invisible to the public.

Mature Flower

Juvenile Flower and Dying Flower

Form of Rose Bush

There are 720 roses in the Rose Galleries; many of which have the above series of pictures in their respective Rose Description Page.

So one might avoid the disappointment that the 2 elephants had when their trunks were entwined instead of them each carrying their trunk using their own trunk, and your disappointment of buying a rose to discover that the colour you bought it for is only the case when it has its juvenile flowers; if you look at all the photos of the roses in the respective Rose Description Page!!!!

Site design and content copyright ©September 2019.
Chris Garnons-Williams.

DISCLAIMER: Links to external sites are provided as a
courtesy to visitors. Ivydene Horticultural Services are
not responsible for the content and/or quality of external
web sites linked from this site.  

Ivydene Gardens Photo Sissinghurst Plants Gallery 2:
Page 1 has photos of Plants without Supports from the
sissinghurst Folder in Sissinghurst Castle Garden taken on 10 April 2018.

Photos taken by Chris Garnons-Williams using a digital camera in the original size and as a thumbnail.
These can used in the Public Domain for educational purposes in schools, or at home, to:-

• Assist in selecting a plant.
• To be used in providing details of plants and their colours for use in a painting,
• in Jewellery,
• in the shape of plants in stone, metal or ceramic statuary,
• pictures on homemade greetings cards, or
• posters for display on walls at home.

Row 1 has the Pass-Through Camera image of Thumbnail image named in Row 2
and is usually 4000 x 3000 pixels.

Row 2 has same image reduced to fit the image frame of 160 x 120 pixels as a
Passthrough Thumbnail to show all of the Camera Image. This image has been
reduced to 72 pixels per inch by Freeway before I stored it as a Passthrough image
for use both here (from August 2019) and as the image in
Plant with Photo Index of Ivydene Gardens A 1 Gallery.

Click on either image and drag to your desktop.
Then you can crop the Pass-Through Camera image to obtain the particular detail
that you require from that image, before using that cropped result in your endeavour.

Copying the pages and then clicking on the images to drag them may not work.

Plant without Supports of
Anemone nemerosa 'Allenii' IMG 5519.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

Plant without Supports of
Anemone nemerosa 'Allenii' IMG 5520.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

Plant without Supports of
Anemone nemerosa 'Allenii' IMG 5521.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

Plant without Supports of
Bulbs in flower IMG 5546.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

Plant without Supports of
Cynara cardunculus IMG 5550.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

Plant without Supports of
Cynara cardunculus IMG 5551.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

Plant without Supports of
Delphinium trial bed IMG 5516.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

Plant without Supports of
Delphinium trial bed IMG 5517.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

Plant without Supports of
Delphinium trial bed IMG 5518.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

Plant without Supports of
Dicentra formosa 'Alba' IMG 5540.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

Plant without Supports of
Hyacinth 'Delft Blue' IMG 5506.JPG
taken on 10 April 2018 Sissinghurst Castle Garden by Chris Garnons-Williams

I have copied the archived post below, because what is stated there is extremely important, since 99.99% of
gardeners in the UK totally ignore the fact that plants require humus and think that double-digging is beneficial
every year. That is why they are killing their soil and their plants do not grow well.

How Soil Works in the Category Archives: Flowering House Plants of Houseplantsguru. com:-

"Nature’s plan is to build up the humus year after year and this can only be done by organic matter. There is need
to replace and return that which has been taken out. The Chinese, who are the best gardeners, collect, ‘use’, and
return to the soil, every possible kind of waste, vegetable, animal and human. In over 4000 years of intensive
cultivation they still support more human beings per hectare than any other country in the world! On the other
hand in areas like the Middle West of the U.S.A. And the Regina Plain of Canada, where the Wheel of Life has not
been recognized, tens of thousands of hectares which once grew heavy crops are now useless, or practically so.

Every flower crop grown reduces the organic content of the ground. Every piece of work done helps to break down
the humus. The value of the soil in your garden, therefore, is not the mica particles or grains of sand. It lies in the
humus that the soil contains. Humus makes all the difference to successful gardening. Have plenty of humus
present and the soil is in good tilth. Humus is the organic colloid of the soil. It can store water, it can store plant
foods, it can help to keep the soil open. It can help to ensure the right aeration. It will give ideal insulation against
heat and cold.

Using Compost

Garden owners proposing to dig their land shallowly in preparation for flower growing, should realize the
importance of adding ample quantities of organic matter before they start. Composted farmyard manure, fine
wool shoddy, properly composted vegetable refuse, or hop manure should be added at the rate of one good
barrow-load to 10 m2 (12 sq yds) and in addition into the top 25 or 50 mm (1 or 2 in) of soil finely divided sedge
peat, non-acid in character should be raked in at about half a bucketful (9 litres) per square metre (2 gallons per
sq yd). This organic matter in the top few millimetres of soil gives the little roots a good start and so sends them
on to find the organic matter below.

It is when the organic content of the soil has been helped in this way, that the gardener dares to add plant foods
of an organic origin. These are usually applied on the surface of the ground and raked in. Fertilizers with an
organic base are particularly useful. Fish Manure may be applied at 105 to 140 g/m2 (3 oz to 4 oz per sq yd), or a
meat and bone meal or even hoof and horn meal mixed with equal quantities of wood ashes may be used at a
similar rate. These plant foods can be supplied not only when the flower garden is first made but every season
very early in the spring. A good dried poultry manure to which a little potash has been added is another fertilizer
that is very useful when applied at this time.

Minimum Digging

Flower growers must realize that proper soil treatment is the first essential to success. The millions and millions
of soil bacteria that live in the ground to help the gardener, much appreciate little or no digging. It enables
them to work better, for they need conditions which are natural. So do give them what they need.

Liming

Lime should be regarded as an essential except in very definite cases where acidity is demanded, e.g. the
heaths and heathers, rhododendrons and azaleas.

Lime not only prevents soil from being acid but it ‘sweetens’ it, as well as playing its part as a plant food.
It improves the texture and workability of heavy soils. It helps to release other plant foods, and it
decomposes organic compounds in the soil so that they can be used as plant food also.

Generally speaking it should be applied at about 245 g/m2 (7 oz per sq yd). It should not be dug in, as it
washes down into the soil very quickly. It should be sprinkled on the surface of the ground after the digging
and manuring has been done. Do not mix lime with organic fertilizers. There are three main types of lime:
Quicklime, sometimes sold as Buxton Lime or Lump Lime, which has to be slaked down on the soil;
Chalk or Limestone, often sold as Ground Limestone, only half as valuable as quicklime; and
Hydrated Lime, which is perhaps the most convenient to handle and is therefore most usually used by gardeners.
The quantity of lime mentioned previously i.e. 245 g/m2 (7 oz per sq yd), refers to hydrated lime."
 

The following is the opinion of Chris Garnons-Williams to the above:-

If you walk through an old wooded area, which is not intensively managed, you will see dead leaves on the
ground, together with fallen branches, brambles, nettles, other weeds and juvenile plants. There will be
waste material from birds and animals and this has not been cleared up and disposed of. This mulch then
provides the organic material to be recycled via the ground with its different organisms to the roots of those
same trees for them to continue to grow.
Nobody digs up the ground to push this material in a few inches or to the depth of the topsoil, nature does it
with earthworms and other organisms at the rate required by the organisms down below to then use it. The
trees in this wood then grow fairly uniformly using the available resources.

So, do not dig the manure, wool shoddy, vegetable refuse or hop manure or anything else in. Leave it on top
as a mulch and that includes the organic fertilizers and the lime.
Instead of adding finely divided sedge peat, add spent mushroom compost which contains peat which has
already been used; and so you are using their waste product for recycling, instead of destroying more peat
bogs which have taken 1000's of years to be created. You could use bracken instead of peat.

The topsoil is full of organisms, either the waste products from are used by another or they are. If you turn
them up from the bottom of the topsoil to the top, then those new top ones will starve to death and the ones
who were at the top are now at the bottom and they will as well since it is only waste down there which is
not their normal fare. They do have a bus transport system to get them back to their original levels, since water
is the only transport system down there, which unfortunately normally goes downwards.

So why do you not use the companion planting cultivation method as further detailed in Companion Planting?
You may follow this with the following which is normally used for the vegetable garden:-

"Spinach is sown in spring in rows 50cm apart over the whole vegetable garden area for the following
purposes:

• these rows divide the vegetable garden up for the whole year,
• the spinach roots prevent erosion, so the usual paths between beds are omitted,
• young spinach plants provide protection and shade for the vegetable crops to be grown between them,
• spinach provides ideal material for sheet surface composting, which becomes an intermediate space, a footpath, and
• it is in between these lines of spinach that the other vegetable varieties are arranged."

This could be used in the flower beds as the system between the permanent plants of trees, shrubs
and perennials, which is where you may put bedding. This will also provide you with access to the bedding
and the permanent plants together with the nitrogen fertilizer for the other plants from the legumes of
spinach.
You plant your bedding, bulbs or vegetables through the mulch between the lines of spinach. The damage you
do to where you plant is fairly quickly repaired by the organisms in the surrounding soil, who each come into
the level below the ground level where they normally reside, until they meet their relatives onthe other side of
the planting hole. The ecosystem is then restored.