Crambe and phlomis in the garden

The effect is that of a huge gypsophila, filling a corner with surprising grace considering the strong stem and beefy leaves below the cloud of blooms.

The plant came through the winter unscathed, perhaps because the sandy soil allowed a quick passage of water through rather than leaving plants such as this standing in very cold and at times frozen earth.

It is strange to be gardening in a well established plot, well established that is by someone else and at times I have found it difficult to get over this fact and begin to make my own mark.

Slowly things are changing but some plants are so perfectly placed that a fit of pique on my part would be the only reason for their removal. Such is the crambe, placed at the corner of a bed that leads us to the vegetable area.

Covering the bare flowering stem are the snaking branches of Jerusalem Sage, Phlomis with velvet-soft grey leaves and rich yellow flowers that attract a myriad of insects. This plant can be a little tender and so, like the crambe, needs a sunny site and well-drained soil.

Its stems, which may be considered messy after autumn, should be left in place until late spring together with the spent flowers. They provide a winter home for insects which snuggle down in the papery cells.

Last winter, ours was heavy with ladybirds until the weather warmed in early spring.

Behind the crambe grows a buddleia, although not B.davidii, which one would expect in such a spot. It is the more unusual Buddleia globosa or Orange ball tree with small deep-coloured flowers as early as May although ours has yet to bloom.

As the crambe fades, the buddleia will come to the fore, the shades of its flowers echoing those of the phlomis.

Weekend catch up

It is time to get the final containers planted up with bedding and tender plants for summer colour.

Trays of petunias, geraniums and lobelia can still be found in garden centres and on market stalls but some plants will be beginning to look leggy and starved, desperate to be planted into something bigger and given a good feed.

However there may be some last-minute bargains as plants get sold off and if they are planted up and watered well straight away most will make a good recovery and provide flowers for the rest of the summer.

In the veg patch

The gooseberry bush was bent over with fruit, some of the branches weighed down to the ground with green berries.

Since it was also showing sign of gooseberry sawfly caterpillar, a dreadful pest that can strip a shrub of leaves within days, we decided last Sunday to get the fruit picked.

My eldest son started off the picking, hands covered in gloves as protection against the thorned stems and by the timed I joined him half the shrub had been stripped, branches turning upright once relieved of their load. In the end, we got seven and a half pounds of green berries.

That evening my daughter and I topped and tailed them, the tedious job relieved by Sunday night television and a large pot of tea. The berries were rinsed, dried and frozen in several bags. Our first harvest.

Open gardens

Tomorrow

In aid of the National Gardens Scheme

Hillbark, Church Lane, Bardsey, LS17 9DH. One-acre, award-winning garden on three south-facing levels with hidden corners, formal topiary, perennials, ponds, gravel, rock and stream gardens, marginal planting and rambling roses. Open 11am-5pm, admission £3.50.

Terrington House, Terrington, YO60 6PU. Formal three-acre garden with herbaceous and mixed borders, roses, hostas, impressive trees, a shell house, herb garden, parterre and vegetables. Open 11am-4pm, admission £3.50. Also open today 11am-4pm.

Yorke House, Dacre Banks, near Summerbridge, HG3 4EW. Flower arrangers two-acre garden with colour-themed borders filled with flowering and foliage plants, large ornamental ponds and a stream, nut and rose walks, Millennium garden, views over Nidderdale and picnic area. Open 11am-5pm, admission £3.00.

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. Chairman Eric Robson and his team of experts answer horticultural queries from gardeners in Dumfries and Galloway. Christine Walkden visits Logan Botanic Gardens and the gardening weather forecast is at 2.40pm.

Friday

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners Question Time. From Plympton St Maurice in Devon with chairman Eric Robson. (Repeated on Sunday at 2pm).

8pm, ITV1, Love Your Garden. Alan Titchmarsh shows how to create a chic town garden, Valentine Warner looks at growing produce in a small space and Matt James reviews outdoor seats.