Page 44 - Phonebox Magazine November 2007

A Month in the Garden
Linette Applegate
This month is a great time to look forward to next year, look Any trees or shrubs that you wish to
around your garden and decide if you want to change anything. If planning a new garden or individual borders, use the winter weather to your advantage, as winter frosts can help break up heavy clay soils, leaving the soil more workable next spring.
Dig over the ground, adding good quality, weed free manure and remove any weeds, making sure all the roots are removed. This is a good time to plan what plants you may wish to include, by looking through seed and nursery catalogues. Put your ideas on paper so you have a master plan to follow.
move can safely be transplanted now,
and perennials can also still be planted.
Roses respond well to planting this time
of year, whilst the soil is still warm
enough to encourage a little root growth.
Any plants appreciate being well watered
before planting, stand bare root roses and trees in a bucket of water for an hour, and if the dry weather continues, watering may be required after planting. K
Plant of the Month Viburnum tinus ‘Pink Prelude’
In any garden there will always be plenty of showy flowers, which have caught your eye at the garden centre, shouting “buy me, buy me!” Yet the garden in winter can be a gloomy place if you rely solely on summer blooms.
Wonderful when used to brighten a partly shaded corner, this dense evergreen shrub will not grow at an alarming rate. It will reach 1.2m in height and width in around 5 years, eventually reaching 3m at maturity, yet can be pruned if desired.
Flowering in the quietest time of the year, the buds start to swell from around September, and bloom throughout late autumn and into winter. The flower heads compose of many small individual flowers, which vary from white, pale pink and dark rose.
Other cultivars available include ‘Eve Price’, pink in bud, opening to pale pink flowers, ‘French White’, large pure white flowers and ‘Gwenllian’ has many pink flowers, deeper pink when in bud.
The common name for this shrub is laurustinus. It is easy to grow, tolerates most soils and sunlight levels, and is resistant to many pests and diseases. Yes, this is a common shrub – but for all the right reasons. K
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44 Phonebox Magazine