It’s August and it’s hot and even the flowers have given growing. But that’s no excuse to give up on your garden
Gardening with Patricia Jordan
SO, IT’S August; it’s holiday time and it’s hot and even the plants have stopped growing. So, where to head off to in order to cool down? The beach, the swimming pool or your own pool if you are lucky? What a joy to have one just a step away even if you have to clean it every week and test the chemical content every day. The sun is so hot now that it burns off the chlorine in the water very quickly and that has to be constantly replaced to keep things healthy. Having a pool can be a delight and a chore. A delight because here is delicious coolness right on your doorstep, but it can be a chore if you don’t have a self-cleaning pool and the right sort of plants to enhance the pool area.
Some, like us, go for the minimalist look — a Cycad palm and Canna lilies in Cretan-type urns against a lovely Goldcrest Conifer. No leaves there to fall into the water, although we do have some very large Poplars further along and their leaves can be a bit of a nuisance in the early winter gales. We have to put up with that for the privacy they give in addition to filtering the noise of traffic from the road. Some pool owners have planters of annuals well back from the pool and extra fencing to keep out stray leaves and dead flower heads, while giving privacy from prying eyes. Others plant right up to the pool edge where leaves and dead flower heads can drop in and spoil the water, and have a row of oleanders which are really non- friendly plants.
When I was talking about Bougainvillea last month, I mentioned that the best variety to grow near the pool area is the double-headed variety, because any dead blossoms have to be pruned off by hand. You certainly don’t want plants that drop flower heads every day like single Bougainvillea, Hemerocallis (day lilies) or Hibiscus (see Plant of the Month). Keep jaggy-edged plants away from the pool surrounds too, as children inevitably run along the sides and a collision with a Yucca or an Agave could cause considerable injury.
When I can’t stand the heat any more, I am always reminded that the weather will cool after August 15 and although it doesn’t always happen immediately, by the end of the month there will be a drop of a degree or two. Take extra care when you are watering plants as the first lot of water from a hosepipe left out in the open can be very warm at the end of a hot August day and you could kill your plants by ‘boiling them’. Try to direct it somewhere else until the water chills. If you have terracotta pots wet them well or they will absorb the water intended for the plants.
I WOULD love to hear from anyone who has had real success with dahlias here. Late summer in the United Kingdom meant gardens full of these lovely flowers and village flower shows with abundant classes for them (I used to win prizes for mine). I tried growing them during our first summer here without much luck. They are very fleshy plants and need a lot of water. After we had had an irrigation system installed I tried again but I do think they find it too hot here despite their Mexican origins. Maybe I should try a low nitrogen fertiliser to get more flowers and less greenery.
Already we can buy many different varieties of dahlias in garden centres in the springtime and now that we can import small quantities of bulbs, seeds and plants from within the EU it will give us lots more choice to enhance our plots. Those of you who are keen gardeners know that all that is offered for sale here is not always suitable for this aggressive climate. Some plants are indeed too tender and crave cooler climes. Lots of the plants and shrubs that are available here have their origins in South Africa where temperatures are also high but there is more rainfall. Agapanthus and Osteospermum are prime examples that do well here and I have grown kniphofias from seed. They grow in the wild there but are great garden plants too. This year I saw Echiums in many garden centres and they thrive here because they like hot dry climates. Their natural home is in the Canary Islands where their startling blue flower spikes tower above everything else. This spring I sowed pink and white seeds as well and am hoping that they will be able to endure the midsummer heat in their infancy.
We should be looking to grow plants that began life in this hot dry area and which have now been hybridised and have names ending with damascena, syrica, cyprius, cretica, persicum and turkestanica which indicate just where they originally found Rosa damascena and the lovely Salvia sclarea var. turkestanica, which is a sage with large velvety leaves and huge plumes of white flowers. Plants with silver or grey leaves are particularly fitted for living in hot climates as the little hairs, which make them appear silver, are acting as filters against the sun and wind and collect any little drops of moisture which helps to cool the plant down. Bushes and trees with frond-like leaves achieve the same results and that is why you see mimosas, jacaranda, eucalypts and all kinds of palms thriving here despite the high temperatures.
Try growing your own plants. Secret Seeds: www.secretseeds.com, Plantworld Seeds: www.plantworld-devon.co.uk, Chilterns Seeds: www.chilternseeds.co.uk
Plant of the Month: Hibiscus
THE HIBISCUS most widely grown in Cyprus is Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Rose of China), which has large bright red flowers around a central tube with stamens and pistils at the top. Flowers bloom on current growth and may be single or double in shades of white, pink, orange, apricot and yellow as well as the more traditional red. This species has been so widely cultivated and hybridised over time that around 3,000 different hybrids have been registered worldwide. It belongs to the Malvaceae family and has several common names: China Rose, Shoe Flower, Chinese Hibiscus or Hawaiian Hibiscus.
This wonderful, evergreen shrub grows to somewhere between three and five metres and has dark green, shiny leaves, which contrast well with the bright blossoms. Flowering time starts around April depending where you live, but each flower lasts barely a day and the flowers drop quickly after their brief, exquisite appearance. Whether used as a specimen bush or as hedging, Hibiscus will grow as high as 400 metres quite happily, although not in cold, wet conditions when it may perish in bad winters or be very late to come into flower. Propagate by cuttings, layering or grafting. Prune out about one third of the old wood each season to refresh the shrub. By pinching out the stem tips in spring, you will get many more flowers.
Grow Hibiscus in well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade, but make sure to water freely during the growing season and apply some fertiliser about once a month. With a life span of five to twenty years it will give much pleasure and joy in your garden
Originally from China, Hibiscus grows well here as it does in many other sub tropical and tropical countries. It’s a good shrub to have in the garden for although aphids and leaf spot might be a problem, it doesn’t present any risk to humans or wild life and indeed the flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies. Jamaicans reportedly use the flowers to polish their shoes and in other areas they are used for traditional fabric dyes. Tea, made from dried Hibiscus flowers, is high in Vitamin C and also a mild diuretic and laxative and can be found on supermarket shelves in Cyprus. In Hawaii, a woman wearing a hibiscus flower behind her right ear is single whilst if she puts it behind her left ear then she is ‘taken’.
Questions and answers
Question: I have lots of ants in my garden and even in some of the flowerpots. What can I do about them?
Answer. Ants can be a real problem in the garden, especially if they get into plant pots and begin to tunnel in amongst the roots of plants. It really depends how averse you are to using chemicals in your garden or courtyard how you deal with them. You can deter ants from gaining entry to your pots by placing a piece of gauze or nylon stocking at the bottom inside of the pot before you fill it with soil and I read somewhere recently that if you sprinkle a little sugar over a mass of ants and let them carry off the grains they will lead you to their nests which you could then destroy by pouring boiling water down the entrance hole. However do be careful not to kill any nearby plants as well. You could use an aerosol especially for crawling creatures, which is really effective but might be tiresome or expensive if you are trying to cover a big area. My husband buys ‘Divipan’ from the Garden Chemical shop, which he mixes with water and keeps in a bottle just for that purpose. When he sees the telltale piles of excavated soil, he pours some of the liquid in that area but I fear it is a long job.
Question Now that Cyprus is in the EU, do you know if we are allowed to have plants sent by post from the UK to Cyprus? I am aware that within the UK, you can order plants from other EU countries by post and wonder if the same is now possible at this end.
David Buss
Answer When I was at the Chelsea Flower Show I asked several big nurseries about importing plants into Cyprus now that we are in the EU. They said that when they send out their plants they include a Plant Passport, which tracks the history of any plant. A small amount of plants, seeds and bulbs may be imported or sent to you from anywhere in the EU. This ruling applies to all parts of the EU, including the UK, where it has been in force for quite some time already. I would recommend having plants sent dry rooted and ask the firm to send a ‘Plant Passport’ with them.
