How to grow cosmos flowers .

How to grow cosmos flowers - Saga:
Cosmos varieties

Pink and white cosmos
Widely available varieties of Cosmos bipinnatus
‘Purity’ (100cm/39 in)
An old single white, but still effective in September light when it looks gloriously fresh.

‘Sensation Mixed’ (120cm/4ft)
A mixture of single colours in shades of pink-red through to white. It’s tall and stately so not as useful in smaller gardens.

‘Sonata Series Mixed’ ( 60cm/2ft)
A shorter cosmos, but with equally large flowers, so this is good at the front of the border, or in a container, or grow for cutting. Sarah Raven has an all-pink version ‘Sonata Pink’.

‘Sweet Sixteen’ (90cm/3ft)
This picotee-edged cosmos has pale petals edged in deep-pink and each flower has some extra petals at the heart, giving each flower a frilly look. ‘Sweet Kisses’ seems very similar.

‘Seashells’ (120cm/4ft)
This taller cosmos comes in a mixture of pinks and whites, but the petals are almost cylindrical or fluted.

‘Cupcakes’ (up to 90cm/3ft)
This is very special, with dished flowers consisting of fused petals that look like cupcake cases. The whites turn blush-pink and many of the flowers have extra petals. Bred by Thompson & Morgan.

‘Hummingbird’ (45cm/18in)
A very new Dutch-bred series with fluted petals on larger flowers. There’s a pink and a white and this is far better than ‘Seashells’.

‘Daydream’ (90cm/3ft)
A white cosmos with powder-pink centres - adored by flower arrangers.

‘Double Click’ (100cm/39in)
This Dutch-bred series was the first to contain semi-doubles and doubles and they look very aster-like. However they do get very heavy-headed in summer rain, and can flop. In good summers they add much to the vase and garden and the flowers last for a long time because thy can’t be pollinated.

‘Xanthos’ (60cm/2ft)
Soft-yellow blooms on compact plants, so perfect for the front of a border or a container. Very new and very well-thought of, this May-flowering cosmos bred in Holland has been given a Fleuroselect Gold Medal this year. You can buy seeds or plugs.

'Apollo' (60cm/2ft)
A brand new British-bred variety, these cosmos flowers come in shades of pink, white and purple.
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The Walled Garden at Mells.

The Walled Garden at Mells – The walled garden at Mells:

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How to grow winter squash.

- How to grow winter squash - Saga:

When to pick
Harvest winter squash as late as possible and only cut once the skin has thickened and the stalk has become dry, and then store them until late November before starting to eat them.
They are tasteless if eaten fresh because they need six weeks to a couple of months to develop the nutty, sweet flavour.

‘Uchiki Kuri’
'Uchiki Kuri', also known as the Japanese Red Onion squash, is a bright orange sweet squash that I enjoy eating with my Sunday roasts.
It is probably from Hokkaido in Japan - kuri is a Japanese term for squash.
August - October, 4 months from sowing.
Harvest when the skin is hard, leaving out in the sun for 10 days to ripen further.

- A Visual Guide to Winter Squash Varieties | Epicurious.com:
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Myth or Magic? 16 Pest Control Hacks.

Myth or Magic? 16 Pest Control Hacks We Tested For You:

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12 Garden Plants That Repel Mosquitos.

12 Garden Plants That Repel Mosquitos So You Can Enjoy Being OutsideLiving Rich With Coupons®:

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Hypericum perforatum.

Hypericum perforatum | The Agroforestry Research Trust:

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My allotment.

'Uchiki Kuri’
The Japanese red onion squash, round and orange with an excellent flavour.
















This year I grow a lot of flowers - always a fresh bouquet in the home!

My new Plants.

Erigeron Karvinskianus AGM:
- Hayloft Plants:
"A long-flowering, ever-changing carpet of colour.
Such a long flowering period, from May to October it is surely a must-have for every garden.
Happy in borders and containers, as an edging plant for tumbling over a wall.
Great ground cover and loved by bees.
Prefers well-drained soil in sun or part-shade.
Height 25cm (10”). Spread 30cm (12”).
Fully hardy perennial.
Cut back to ground level in the autumn to retain neat growth.
Dead-head to encourage further flowering.
Divide every 2-3 years to maintain vigour.
Propagate by division in spring.
Gently Self-sows into all the nooks and crannies."


Monarda Balmy™ Rose:
Prefer damp soil in sun or part shade. Height & spread 45cm (18”).
Fully hardy perennials.
Excellent early-flowering, compact monarda.
Dwarf variety is deer and rabbit resistant, as well as mildew resistant.
Vibrant, shaggy rose-colored blooms in abundance top this compact plant with very dark green, fragrant minty-basil-scented foliage.


Trifolium repans 'Purpurascens Quadrifolium':
Common Name: Clover, Shamrock 'Purpurascens Quadrifolium'
This is an ornamental variety of the common wild flower, White clover.
The leaves are divided into four leaflets rather than the usual three so if you are superstitious and value four leaf clovers this is the plant for you.
Each leaf is dark maroon purple and nicely edged and speckled with green.
It is a low growing hardy perennial that eventually spreads over a wide area with its stems rooting as they go.
The flowers are the usual clover heads of tiny flowers clustered into a rounded head.
They detract considerably from the effect of the plant and should be removed.
It may pay to let a certain number of flowers to stay for a week or two to satisfy the plants need to flower then cut them off.
Removing them as they appear tends to encourage the plant to produce more.


Geranium, Grandeur Odorata Orange:
Kept frost free, one plant can come back year after year, looking bigger and better each time.
Tender Perennial - can be brought back outside after Ice-Saints in mid-May.
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Anemone De Caen Bride white bulbs.

Anemone De Caen Bride white bulbs x 30 bulbs:

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Raspberry Fallgold (Autumn Fruiting).

Ever-bearing.
Primocane varieties produce flowers and fruit on stems grown in the same year.
Most Autumn fruiting varieties are primocanes producing fruit in their first year of growth.

The 'Fall Gold' is a self-fertilizing, double cropping raspberry bush.
The first crop arrives in August and the second in October.
After the first harvest, cut the stems back to ground level.
After winter, prune only the dry part of the stems (those which bore fruit in the autumn).
It is from these stems that the first crop will arrive the following summer.
'Fall Gold 'raspberries are firm, medium sized, scented and very tasty.
You can train your raspberry bush along a fence or against a pergola.

A rare, exciting self-fertile gold raspberry with the same delicious sweet taste of red varieties, and with the ability to produce two crops each season.
After a late summer to fall harvest, a second crop arrives the following spring on the same canes.

Each cane produces for two years, a late crop from the first year’s new green growth and an early crop the following year from the same cane, now woody.
Even if you cut ever-bearing raspberries to the ground in winter or spring, you will still get one crop of berries in late summer from new growth.
Ever-Bearing Raspberries:
TWO CROP option: For two small crops, one in July and one in September, remove the weakest, thinnest canes with dead flowering or fruiting bracts.
ONE CROP option: For one large late summer crop, remove all canes, and the crop will come entirely from the new summer’s growth and produce berries in September through October.


Another advantage of autumn-fruiting raspberries is that they don't need supporting and you just hack the lot down in February.
Autumn Bliss aren't necessarily the tastiest of raspbs, but I started picking on June 22nd this year and they'll go on until November, weather permitting.