Indian Balsam and a walk along the canal path at Leighton Buzzard.

Walking along the canal path at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England, recently, I came upon this interesting looking plant, which was new to me. It was growing abundantly along the side of the canal, separated from the path and reminded me of a small orchid.

When I got home, I looked it up and this is what I found:

'Indian Balsam

Impatiens glandulifera

Introduced as a garden plant from the Himalayas in 1839, and naturalised along waterways and in waste places, this tall, stout-stemmed species grows 100-200 cm high.  It is hairless and the stems reddish. There is no mistaking the rather orchid-like, mave, dangling flowers.

Flower: purplish pink, 2-5.4 cm, petals 5, forming a broad, lower lip and hood; sepals 3, lower forming a mauve, spurred bag.

Flower arrangement: long-stalked racemes arising from leaf-axils.

Flowering time: July - October.

Leaf: opposite or in threes, 5-18 cm long, elliptic, toothed; reddish glands along basal margins.

Fruit: capsule, club-shaped, opening by 5 valves, which spring into coils, shooting out seeds.'

Information from 'Illustrated Guide to Wild Flowers' by Stephen Blackmore

The Indian Balsam flowers were just behind me as I stood admiring the lock keeper's cottage below.

Join me as I walked along the towpath. If you look carefully at the next picture, you will see the Indian Balsam flowers just behind the signpost.

The red and black boat is preparing to use the lock to descend to the lower level (see next picture).

The lock gates must be opened to allow the boat to pass through and down.

We caught up with the red and black boat further down the canal just after we had lunch.

This was the pub where we had lunch. It was called the Globe Inn. We had a lovely lunch of fish and chips, scampi and chips and hunters' chicken with chips.

A Bumper Harvest of Runner Beans

We are currently enjoying the results of Jim's labours on the runner bean patch.

Every year he plants the seeds on May 26th, a special birthday, which he always remembers and carefully tends the seedlings until they are able to grow up the poles. It can be like running the gambit because slugs and snails are often abundant in a wet Spring and they will gobble up any fresh shoot that pokes its head above the soil. Jim uses slug pellets. It's the only way, we find. I think the birds have realised the pellets are not for them because they leave well alone.

Yum!

Happy gardening!

Taking Geranium Cuttings

These beautiful plants are really pelargoniums, but they have come to be known as geraniums and grace many gardens and municipal walkways in summer.

Now is the time to take cuttings to ensure continuity for next year. They are easy to propagate and it's fun to do. Just cut off a suitable piece from a healthy plant and remove all flower heads and excess leaves. This allows the cutting to establish roots quickly. This is what I started with:

and this is what I ended up with:

If you want to, you can dob the end of the cutting in some hormone rooting powder, but I don't bother. I find that they root perfectly well without it. Next push the cutting into a small pot with some compost in it and water. If you use a large pot, you can put several cuttings around the edge. I do both. During the wintertime, I get most sun at the front of the house in the evenings and that winter also has the largest window ledge so I can fit almost twelve little pots along there and keep an eye on them during the colder months.  There cuttings will be big enough by next April to put out in the border.

You will need to water when the pot is dry, but don't over-water and keep an eye on the leaves. Sometimes you bring them in with a small caterpillar on the leaf and if you don't remove it, then it will munch away until all the leaves are gone and the caterpillar is fat! Put the caterpillar back in the garden to dessimate something which doesn't matter so much. It's a good idea to label the pots with the colour the flowers will eventually turn out to be. I usually take three slips of each colour.

Here is a mixed pot of cuttings:

This year I am taking cuttings of white, pink, peach and red geraniums. We'll see later how they do.

Happy gardening!

Mesembryanthemum

This is such a useful little plant for summer. It's a bit late now over here in England, but if you buy just one packet of seeds at the start of summer, you will have a dazzling display in a tub on your patio or in the border. They flower all through the summer, when the sun comes out! So pretty, just like little stars!

They are annuals, so will only last for one season, but, as you can see, they are well worth it.

Mesembryanthemum, originally from southern Africa.

Happy Gardening!

Cotinus - the smoke bush

You gave me diamonds, I gave you smoke.

You gave me water, I gave you hope.

You gave me earth - I rested my feet.

By the shed in my garden we used to meet.

You gave me sunlight that shone from above.

At the end of the summer I glowed with your love

My colours were many, red, brown, orange, yellow

Our love became strong, bonded and mellow.

Copyright Stella Jones 2016

Honeysuckle - Lonicera periclymenum

Honeysuckle is one of my favourite plants of all. It is easy to care for and has a wonderful scent, particularly in the evenings. This one was new last year and it has done really well, filling up a vacant space against the fence on a south-facing aspect.

The honeysuckle should ideally be place in a position of half-shade, where it will bloom from June - September. In five years, it will grow to 1 meter.

Bees love honeysuckle, as do moths, who visit mostly in the evening when the scent is at its strongest.

The flowers are several on each stem and the plant has a clever way of attracting insects to pollination. When the flower first opens, the stamens are prominent, the stigma more enclosed so that when the insect lands in order to suck the nectar from the sac at the bottom of the flower, it cannot avoid being covered in pollen. When it passes over a second day flower, the stamens have dropped downwards and the stigma is prominent, allowing the pollen from the insect to drop off onto it and cross pollinate. You can see the difference in the next two pictures. The stigma is more prominent in the second picture. The stigma is the long protuberance with a bobble on the end.

Pruning should take place at the end of winter, beginning of Spring.

In Autumn the plant is covered in beautiful red berries, some of which are edible and can be made into jam or jellies. Always check first before using them for culinary use because some varieties are mildly poisonous.

This honeysuckle is the yellow and white. I recently bought a pink and white one. I'll let you know how it does.

Happy Gardening!

Our Goldfish at feeding time.

We've had our garden pond for nearly three years now and at the moment it's doing well. The water is clear, the fish are happy and the water lily is thriving. We have water snails and oxygenating weed to help and so far, no green slime on the top. It hasn't always been easy to keep the pond in good condition and we have tried various pumps and weeds with varying success.

So far though - no babies. Of the five fish we have in there, there must surely be one female, or more.  I've had ponds before and one year we looked and saw many babies swimming around - hard to see at first because they were brown. This time, nothing so far. 

We have a toad that makes an appearance from time to time, but so far no frogs and no frogspawn either. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next year. Once they find us, we'll have them forever (I hope).

Mr. or Mrs. Toad

What have been your experiences with a pond in a small garden? Have you any tips you would like to share?

Happy Gardening!