By Patricia Jordan
WHEN I first came to live in Cyprus, I discovered from members of the Flower Club I joined that carnations were out of favour. Talking to local growers around the same time at a show in the Agricultural Halls, I had the same reaction. Although, they had been among the top favourites for years, they were now passé. Well, their position on the favourite flowers list has not improved at all over the years, here or in the UK, and they are still passé. In fact, they are called the ‘cheap man’s flowers’! These flowers full of history and meaning, and cultivated for centuries, starting with the Romans and Greeks, are now definitely on the back burner. I’m sorry to say that if you have a January birthday, they are your birth month flower, but perhaps you could ask for something else, if you know the giver well enough!
Supermarket ‘staples’ include orchids, would you believe. These once truly exotic flowers are produced so cheaply nowadays that they no longer have the allure that they once had. Perhaps you wouldn’t regard lilies in that category, but this is another one that has lost its following. With their dramatic stamens removed lest the heavy pollen spoils clothes or curtains, they look denuded in a vase, although they do exude a lovely perfume.
What surprised me most about these findings was the inclusion of bright and cheery sunflowers! My son has artificial ones he bought years ago on a trip to France, and they have moved house with him ever since, reminding him of his ‘fab’ holiday there! I love them for their brashness and cheerful faces, and the way they attract birds to their large seed heads during the wintertime. I was very flattered some years ago, when someone from NASA, asked to use a photo of one of mine on a space mission. Along with these no-noes, are included begonias, not one of my favourites either, and especially those that look like ballerinas’ tutus, although I know how difficult they are to grow to ‘Show Status’.
Even though delphiniums, dahlias and gladioli are now regarded as ‘Granny Flowers’, the last two are on the ‘In’ list. Delphiniums do not do well here, unless you live at very high elevations, and dahlias need too much water and grow better in more hilly regions. Gladioli can grow in gardens lower down, but their statuesque flowers need some company in the border, or they will look like a row of soldiers! Chrysanthemums, whose flowers to me smell of autumn and all things dying, are one of the favourite flowers, which surprised me no end!
So, what is in favour at the moment? It won’t surprise you to find roses still feature highly, along with peonies, which are sometimes called peony roses. Gypsophila, that airy-fairy filler addition to bouquets, is there too, maybe for its ethereal effect, and wild flowers, whose life is all too short and from where everything began, are amongst the favourites, so we need to keep them around!
WHAT TO DO IN THE GARDEN IN OCTOBER
October is the start of the Cyprus gardening year for me and many other serious gardeners. After the heat of the summer and a lowering of temperature along with an odd shower or two, the time is right to get out in the garden again. Removal of dead or dying plants is a priority, as is digging over the soil and adding in some compost, homemade or otherwise. Unless you garden in the Red Soil villages, your garden soil is likely to be sandy and fine, so it will need some humus to bulk it all up to sustain the plants you have earmarked for this next phase of gardening. Some good downpours will help to wet the ground thoroughly so that roots can start to pick up nutriments from below, with which to feed the new plants. Don’t attempt to plant trees and shrubs until the earth is damp or they will not prosper. Select them while the garden centres have a good choice, but be patient for a little while longer to set them in their places.
The same advice goes for Dutch bulbs, which should be on sale now. They cannot make roots in dry soil, so prepare the areas for planting, but hold off a while yet. Tulips are always last to flower, so they don’t mind hanging around. Keep them in a dry place until the right time. If we have a good winter’s rain this time round, then you may find that bulbs that didn’t emerge last year because of the lack of it, may just do so this year.
Hedges and topiaries will have put on growth despite the weather, although not as fast as in the autumn-spring period. Nevertheless, they may need a trim. Cloud-pruned trees can quickly go out of shape and are expensive to buy, so keep an eye on them. I saw some huge cloud-pruned trees in a garden centre in Zygi the other day, which would need a JCB to install them and a large ladder to tend them. They were very expensive, so great care would be needed to ensure that they thrive. Cloud-pruned old olive trees are attractive and popular, but make sure that you buy them from a reputable place.
One of my favourite bushes has just flowered again, the second or third time this year. Leucophyllum frutescens or the Texas Ranger is a shrub or small tree that reacts to high humidity or rainfall, when the pretty pink flowers burst into bloom, driving the local bees into a feeding frenzy. Other bushes that have withstood the summer heat are carissa, plumbago and hibiscus. My husband has been on guard on the Hibiscus rosa sinensis in our garden, checking them every day for mealy bugs. He swears by the finger and thumb method of squashing them to keep the bushes clear. I have not had any reports from readers on mealy bug infestations on hibiscus this summer around the island. Do let me know if they have been a nuisance in your area.
There are all manner of goodies on the garden centre benches just waiting for you to choose your favourites. Short-day plants like pot mums are there, along with zinnias, (see Plant of the Month) with their lovely colours to brighten up the flowerbeds. If your planters need refreshing, there are so many plants to choose from, along with a great variety of fresh herbs, which will grow just as easily in pots and planters as in the garden.
If you like to grow flowers from seeds, you can sow some seeds now that it is cooler. I am always a little wary about sowing at this time of year, as the resulting seedlings have to survive the winter, which where I live can be quite cold sometimes. So my advice is to only sow half a packet and keep the rest until the spring. I keep seed packets in the fridge until I am just about to sow them, giving them a ‘sort of winter’, which they would get out of doors anyway. Annual flowers are sown straight into the ground, so leave them until spring or they may just rot off in the (hopefully) coming wet months. Even after all the heat we have had this summer, I notice many of the seeds from my spring and summer flowers have germinated on their own, without any help from me.
Plant of the Month Zinnia elegans
Zinnias, natives of the South Western States of America and even into Mexico, where they originally grew in scrubland and dry grassland, also thrive in warm climates in other parts of the world. Members of the daisy family, these annuals grown easily from seed, are available in nurseries in plugs and pots in late summer, providing lots of cheerful colour in our autumn gardens. This relieves the gardener of the hard work of starting them off from seed and carefully watching over their growth, which can take 3-3½ months from planting the seeds to maturity.
Be aware that they do not grow well in areas of humidity and can be subject to powdery mildew, although some of the newer varieties are mildew resistant. Powdery mildew occurs when plants grow too close together, or accidently have had water sprayed onto the leaves. Adding a little fertiliser to the well-drained soil that zinnias prefer ensures lots of growth. The pretty flowers, appearing on single stems, may have petals growing in a single circle or multiple rows, in a wide range of colours. They thrive in sunshine, attracting bees and butterflies to the flowers. Some varieties can reach a metre in height, while others hug the ground. Dead heading regularly will ensure continuous flowering. Alas, once temperatures drop significantly, like most annuals, they will die off.
