Using Achilleas in the garden (From York Press)

Using Achilleas in the garden

12:50pm Saturday 20th August 2011 in Gardening

ACHILLEAS are increasingly popular perennials with new varieties popping up regularly. No longer is the palette limited to shades of yellow on tall, middle-of-the-border specimens such as ‘Gold Plate’ and ‘Coronation Gold’.

The new plants are much neater, forming tidy clumps topped with flowers in glorious shades of cerise and paprika, terracotta and blackcurrant.

It is fairly easy to grow, hardy and does best in a sunny spot in well-drained soil.

There is one wayward member of the family, however, with runners that spread underground through the soil to pop up wherever the new shoots can find a little room.

Instead of the flat flowers, this one has double button blooms on branching stems and all varieties seem to be white.

This plant is a good filler in a bed; although numerous, the stems are thin with narrow, dark leaves and the flowers last for months, opening from late May until mid to late August.

Ours are beginning to fade now but they seem to have been lighting up the garden all summer. The flowers are good for picking and look beautiful mixed in with sweet peas which are ready for cutting round about the same time.

It cannot be denied that the roots of this plant can be invasive and it shouldn’t be planted where this habit will be a problem.

However, with vigilance Achillea ptarmica can be kept in check as a large clump and any runners pulled up as soon as they are recognised as such. Grown through a support or surrounded by other sturdier plants, it looks lovely partnered with other white plants such as Shasta daisies and white lupins or with tall blue species such as delphiniums and campanulas.

• YORK Organic Gardeners Association (YOGA) will hold its fourth annual Taste and Flavour Fruit and Vegetable Show on Saturday, September 3 at Brunswick Nursery in Bishopthorpe.

The show is a chance for anyone, old hands and those new to grow your own, who grows fruit and vegetables without the use of chemicals to come along and show off their produce. The emphasis of the show is flavour rather than appearance, so don’t worry if your tomatoes and beans look less than perfect – they could be a winner.

There are 41 classes for fruit, vegetables, produce (jams, cakes etc) and a children’s section. Entries can be brought along between 10am and noon, judging will then take place before the doors are open to the public at 2pm. Prize giving will be at 3pm and at the end of the show there is the grand tasting when everyone can sample the exhibits. Further details and an online entry form can be found at yorkorganicgardenersassociation.org.uk or by phoning 01759302147.

Brunswick Nursery is on Appleton Road just over the railway bridge at the edge of the village. It is accessible from the York-Selby bike path. The nursery stocks a wide range of plants for sale as well as crafts, a cafe for light refreshments and a shop.

In the veg patch

PLUMS are ready so it is time to get them picked before the wasps get at them. We have harvested a few pounds from our ancient plum tree which stands in a grassy patch, its thick trunk so twisted and gnarled it is a wonder it can support its fruit-laden stems.

A number of heavy branches were removed in the winter, damaged by snow and age, so the crop isn’t a abundant as last summer but even so there is plenty to eat and freeze.

Weekend catch-up

NOW that most garden birds have fledged and left their nests, it is a good time to give hedges a trim. By the time we get to August they are looking overgrown, spilling on to paths, blocking gates and sending shoots skywards.

A bit of time spent taking them back and neatly trimming the tops makes a remarkable difference and new growth will soon begin to appear to thicken out any bare spots.

Clearing the soil around the base of the hedge and a good soaking topped with a mulch of garden compost will soon perk them up.

open garden

Tomorrow

In aid of the National Gardens Scheme

Havoc Hall, Oswaldkirk, YO62 5XY, 21 miles north of York.

Large garden divided into several areas including knot, herbaceous, shrub and flower gardens, courtyard and vegetables areas, a woodland walk and lawn with trees and hedges. There is also a two-acre wild flower meadow and small lake. Open 1pm to 5.30pm, admission £3.

TV and radio

Tomorrow

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Bob Flowerdew, Bunny Guinness and Matthew Wilson are in London where they advise gardeners from Canning Town. Eric Robson is in the chair. (Repeated from Friday).

Wednesday

7.30pm, C5, Garden ER. David Domoney creates a garden for a single dad and his daughter and gives some advice to The Gadget Show’s Ortis Deley.

Friday August 26

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Bob Flowerdew, Bunny Guinness and Matthew Wilson visit the Southport Flower Show and chairman Eric Robson looks at the history of this, the largest independent horticultural event in Britain. (Repeated on Sunday at 2pm).

8.30pm, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. Monty Don starts planting a wet meadow with herbaceous perennials that like heavy soil, Carol Klein visits the Welsh mountains and Tom Hart-Dyke looks at unusual plants to grow in the UK.

Saturday, August 27

7am, BBC Radio York, Julia Booth. Julia presents her weekly plant surgery with expert Nigel Harrison.