The 25thApril- 3rd of May is National Beanpole Week
This is your chance to support Britain’s coppiced woodlands by choosing eco-friendly, locally-grown coppiced beanpoles and peasticks instead of imported bamboo canes. You will also be helping the environment, wildlife, rural jobs as well as ancient skills and traditions. Traditionally-managed coppiced woodlands are a really important part of our countryside because they supply us with truly sustainable wood and provide an incredibly rich wildlife habitat. Numerous special events are taking place and you can find out more on Bean Poles. A directory of suppliers can also be found on Coppice Products and on Allotment Forrestry.
Visit the Pashley Manor Tulip Festival
Now in its fifteenth year, this year’s festival takes place between Friday 24th April and Monday 4th May. (Entry £8) This quintessentially English garden at Ticehurst in East Sussex is the setting for 20,000 blooms with some 90 varieties on display – from the vibrant red and hot orange coloured tulips in the herbaceous borders to the cream, white, pale golden yellow and apricot tulips in the Elizabethan Garden and the pink and white tulips along the Terrace. Pashley’s Tulip Festival is held in association with Bloms Bulbs and if you see something you like you can place an order for bulbs to be delivered and paid for in the autumn. For more details and directions go to Pashley Manor Gardens.
A Rose that may not be a Rose
Forty-two years ago, two great rose breeders began a breeding programme with a rare plant called Hulthemia Persica, with a view to producing beautiful robust roses with a crimson heart at the centre of each flower. Although Hulthemia is arguably not a rose, it is a close relative and has proved to be a tough character, withstanding heat, drought and freezing. In the intervening years several hybrids have been produced, but this year’s trio, named The Persian Mystery Roses, have got the breeders, Harkness, very excited. They are repeat flowering, with rose-like foliage and each of the large flowers has the characteristic crimson hear. Alissar, Princess of Phoenicia and Persian Mystery are both in shades of pink while The Sun and the Heart is a beautiful soft yellow with crimson bases to the petals. £12.95 bare root only from Roses.
Keeping the Cats Away
It is an unfortunate fact that cats view a carefully prepared seedbed as a large and very inviting litter tray. This can be disheartening – not to say unhygienic. After years of devising ever-more-elaborate ways of dissuading them, I have decided that one of the quickest – and most effective – methods is to use peasticks. Simply lay them across the seedbed. There will still be sufficient light for the seeds to germinate, they are easy to move aside for weeding and the cats won’t like having to pick their way amongst the branches. I generally use last year’s pea sticks, which have become too brittle to use as plant supports but are ideal for this purpose. Once the seedlings are growing well, I reposition the peasticks so that they are in parallel rows between the seedlings for a few more weeks, before removing them entirely. Then I put them through the shredder and use them as a mulch.
