Scented plants
I have little doubt that most people on this planet have their own list of favourite scented plants – scented buy virtue of their flowers, foliage, their fruit and even roots. Many have developed collections of scented plants for their pleasure, for medicinal use or for culinary use. Some have collections of scented plants for [...]
Do your research
I do hope that you will all have a joyous and blessed Christmas Day. You will no doubt be suffering from too much good food and a lot to drink during this wonderful time of year. Just as a yachtsman is never satisfied with the boat he has but always wants one a few feet [...]
The most superb onion can be grown in Guyana
You have to be very careful about applying too much nitrogenous fertilizer to onions, otherwise the bulbs will become too soft and susceptible to diseases like neck rot and downy mildew, especially if there is a wet period when they are growing and when good drainage become critical. Otherwise onions really don’t give too much [...]
Have a focal point in your garden
As I have recounted before, the breadfruit tree (Artocarpus altilis, which used to be A communis) came to the West Indies in 1793 on the good ship Providence, actually to Jamaica and St Vincent, both of which had well established botanical gardens. Every child of school age throughout the West Indies must have been told [...]
Don’t forget the golden rule about tree roots and canopies
Remember the Golden Rule: Tree roots will grow outwards as far as their branches, and often more than the area covered by their branches (the canopy). With Fir trees this is not likely to be very far, but with Saman trees the spread of roots will be enormous because the head of the tree is [...]
Climbing plants are an important part of any plant collection.
They play an important part in masking structures which are unsightly, and raise the flower level far higher than is normally achieved by shrubs, and many trees. Also they add an architectural dimension to the garden, and none more so than the aroids. Aroids are the large-leaved residents of the rain forest. Large leaved because they [...]
Don’t waste time growing cactus from seed
There are quite a few members of the cactus family that grow very well in Guyana, providing they are given good drainage and exposure to sunlight. Probably the most free flowering ones are the night flowering Cereus` and the prickly pears, and the only ‘tree’ cactus that I know – the Pereskia – a vicious [...]
Bulbous confusion
There are two bulbous plants which cause a bit of confusion in the minds of those wishing to give them a precise identity. They are the Amaryllis, and the Hippeastrum. Both belong to the great (and mainly bulbous) family, the Amaryllidaceae. Some taxonomists will have it that they should really be attached to the another [...]
Try growing tomatoes from seed
There are three basic things which determine how our plants grow: sufficient water, sufficient carbon dioxide and sufficient heat. The absence of any one of them will stop your plants growing in their tracks. Commercial growers in glasshouses can inject carbon dioxide into their crop when CO2 levels fall too low, but for most of us [...]
Keep the little horrors on the back foot
There are two really persistent ‘bugs’ which trouble the gardener, or more correctly the plants in the garden. These are mealy bug and scale. Both of these horrors suck the sap out of plants, and will kill them if they are not controlled. The mealy bug is covered with a kind of cotton wool, which protects [...]
Ground-cover plants provide protection against water loss
When there is a lot of dry weather around one’s thoughts should go to conserving moisture in the ground, and here the application of rather heavy mulches is the order of the day for really precious plants. Mulches can be several inches thick in some places. Black plastic sheeting can be used on the ground [...]
Some cuttings can be very small
I have mentioned previously that some cuttings can be enormously long: six, eight, or even twelve feet long. And they can be extremely small. Imagine starting off with a cutting several feet long and deciding it was too big. Then making a cutting a few inches long and deciding that was too big. It is possible [...]
Orchids are just plants
It’s amazing just how many people are intimidated by orchids – by the myths connected to their cultivation, and by the folk lore which surrounds them. After all, orchids are just plants, albeit with exotic flowers, and not so easy to grow from seed. However, many other plants are just as difficult. Even orchids don’t find [...]
Succulents are a challenge
Succulents (which include most cacti) are always a challenge to the grower. How much water to give them, how much light, how often should they be potted, what pests and diseases afflict them? These are questions of which nightmares are made. Succulents are designed to survive in regions of very low rainfall, some in areas getting [...]
The tropics give quick results
Gardeners in the tropics, including Guyanese gardeners, often get quick results. What would take several seasons to achieve in temperate climates may often take them only a year or so to achieve. Whilst it’s not instant maturity, growth here is so rapid that it’s not all that far removed from it. I have observed over many years [...]