April will be a busy month around the Gardens, with all different sorts of events, guided tours and initiatives taking place. Every Sunday afternoon, from now until September, we’ll have music ensembles on the bandstand, on the main lawn. Jazz music echoing around the Gardens is always a joy to hear, especially when the weather is sunny!

The Japanese Garden Society is due to come on site to help with the maintenance of the Japanese Garden. The members of the Society are highly skilled in Japanese gardening and horticultural techniques. Among the jobs they will do are trimming the “karikomi” azalea and box topiary, pruning trees and shrubs, and thinning the bamboos. They’ll also topdress the Japanese Garden with limestone gravel, which will enhance the atmosphere.

We’re also really excited to watch as our newly planted herbaceous border wakes up from its winter slumber, with temporary hazel structures coppiced from our nature reserve to help support the tallest plants.

We will welcome students from BMet College, who will help us to carry out with lawn repairs, and other seasonal jobs. Last month, some groups helped to prune the roses in the Rose Garden, which meant that the job was finished faster and more efficiently, and prune shrubs and trees.

The Gardens will be a riot of colour this month and from the middle of April, the magnolias will be stunning in the Rock Garden (fingers crossed we don’t have any late frosts that will damage the flowers).

Meanwhile, horticultural activities in the nurseries are in full swing. We’ll be planting Pericallis Senetti™ and Schizanthus, commonly known as ‘poor man’s orchids’, as well as potting 3,500 bedding plug plants into cells and growing them in the nursery, before planting them out in late May once the risk of frost has passed.

We’ll also be replacing the pelargoniums in the Mediterranean House, with young plants propagated from cuttings last September. These will flower all summer long and, with luck, throughout next autumn and winter, too.

We’ve been working on our interpretation labels. This time last year, we labelled 200 educational plants within the glasshouses and this year, we’ve been tackling the Wilson border, one of the most beloved areas of our Gardens.

A set of new, dedicated plant labels describe the connection between the plants and the famous plant hunter Ernest “Chinese” Wilson, who worked at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The plants are clearly described with up-to-date facts and findings according to APGIV (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification 4), the latest in plant nomenclature (naming) since 2016. The planting in the border will also be incremented with some new specimens, all of them being Wilson’s introductions.

We hope you enjoy all the Gardens have to offer this month.

SEASONAL TIPS FOR APRIL

As you can tell, April is a great time to get out in your garden, and there is so much you can do. Here are some tasks for the month:

• Finish sowing tomato seeds indoors ready to plant out. If you’re struggling for growing space, buy ready-grown tomato plants and grow them on.
• Continue to sow all hardy and tender seeds under cover – take care not to expose them to frost.
• Keep an eye on your seedlings. As soon as they have their first ‘true’ or adult leaves (the pair after the cotyledons or ‘seed leaves’) put them in pots or modules of their own.
• If your greenhouse is heated, plant your summer hanging baskets with plug plants, and keep them under cover until all risk of frost has passed.
• Pinch out the tips of fuchsia shoots and sweet pea plants to encourage bushy plants this summer.
• Dust the mower off and make sure you use a higher cutting setting to prevent shocking or damaging the lawn. By only removing a small portion, this will encourage the grass to produce strong new growth.
• Now the soil is warming up, sow hardy annuals in finely cultivated soil.
• Keep on top of weeding and prevent them flowering and going to seed.
• Start to apply slow release fertiliser around beds and borders.

This month the horticultural team is starting with the spring maintenance of the Gardens: pruning winter flowering trees and shrubs, dividing herbaceous plants, sowing seeds and proceeding with the first cut of the lawn. Very exciting!

In the Winter Border (long adorned with a constellation of early-flowering bulbs and perennials), it is now the time to prune many different woody species. Willows and stem dogwoods (Salix and Cornus species respectively) are cut down rather severely, so promoting a new growth of brightly coloured stems. Lonicera, Viburnum, Mahonia and Camellia species can also been pruned, after the flowering flush is over. Such practice is important in terms of rejuvenating the plants, as well as maintaining the right balance and height in the border.

In the Grass Garden and Cameron Path, a number of herbaceous species have been divided and moved to different positions. The importance of dividing herbaceous perennials shouldn’t be underestimated: it ensures health, vigour and longevity of plants. In addition to that, it is an opportunity for multiplying the stock, and increasing the collection. The task is usually carried out in spring or autumn, preferably in a gloomy weather (but this is not a problem in our British Isles!). Spring is certainly a best time for tender or half-hardy species; therefore, since we grow many exotics and Southern Hemisphere representatives in the Gardens, March is a perfect month. This year the garden team is particularly keen on rejuvenating some mature clumps of Chionochloa rubra (the red tussock grass from New Zealand).

Talking about grasses, In the Grass Garden the several ornamental species are all starting to come back from dormancy. After the very prolonged winter display of flower heads (we all felt in love with the rustic colours and sense of the winter frost on them), it is time for cutting the old stems down.

In the Terrace, the team has been making plans for the summer display. Dahlias will once again be making their welcomed return to the terrace. The box and beech hedges will be lowered down a little bit, so allowing a more open vista of our “Oasis of Delight”. (This is how some of our gardeners like to call the grounds, after the title of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens book; check this link, if you want to know more: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oasis-Delight-History-Birmingham-Botanical/dp/1858582466 ). Always on the Terrace, the box hedges will need to be sprayed monthly against blight, and the paths kept weed-free during spring and summer.

Some of the Garden’s areas have been improved over the winter months. The Bamboo Corner has been cleared from some unwanted hard-landscaping material and top dressed with woodchip, which blends beautifully with the golden-coloured bamboo canes. In the Kitchen “Scarecrow” Garden some raised beds have been repaired and are now ready for being cultivated with a variety of vegetables and flowers. In the Herb Garden, the display will be implemented with new plants acquired from various nursery (our Plant Sales included!) or grown directly from seed. In the Rose Garden, eight new Victorian-style obelisk have been positioned in the centre of the beds: climbing roses will be trained on the obelisks, so adding structure and colour in one of the most prominent and beloved area of the Garden. The Alpine Yard is still undergoing major renovation; while preparing for the kick-off of the construction phase, several different plants have been dug out and “heeled in” in the border. This is only a temporary home for them, as we aim to reuse the plants in the new planting scheme of the area. Watch this space!

Meanwhile, the indoor team will be busy changing the displays in the cool glasshouses. The daffodils grown in pots and cold frames over the winter are now ready to be brought in. Green garden canes and string will be used to stake the tall flowers to stop them from falling over. These will also be used in the 21m long floral display in the Mediterranean House during March.
In the Tropical and Subtropical Glasshouses, the increasingly warm temperatures will lead to flush and floriferous growth of plants. There will a lot of colour and botanical interest here over the next months.

 

SEASONAL TIPS FOR MARCH

If you aren’t sure of what needs to be done in your own garden, why not follow our seasonal tips for March below:

• Give any bulbs that you have in pots a high-potassium feed every 10-14 days to prolong the display, as well helping the bulb replenish it stores for next year.
• Lift and split herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses. Not only does it increase your stock, it also allows you to fill up any bare areas in your garden. If you only re-plant the younger growth and discard the old material it will also provide the plants with renewed vigour to grow.
• Turn your compost heaps. On a cold day this job will warm you up and it will allow the layers of material to mix together, letting in air and helping material to rot. This gives you a much better chance of making high-quality garden compost.
• Start planting summer flowering bulbs such as Lilles and Gladiolus for a summer display or to use as cut flowers for your house.
• As Rose buds are fattening up, it’s the perfect time to prune your roses to an outward facing bud.
• It’s important to clean glasshouses and cold frames ready for the new growing season.
• Wash plant pots and seed trays to prevent pests and diseases from damaging precious young plants.
• Sow hardy annuals seeds such as sweet peas (if you didn’t get round to doing it in the autumn) – remember that April will be too late to do this.
• Start feeding houseplants with a high nitrogen fertiliser every 7 to 14 days to encourage growth.
• Place Canna, Dahlias and Ginger Lilies in a warm spot in the glasshouse and give them a good water to encourage new growth.

Happy New Year to you all, we are all looking forward to the next twelve months in the Gardens!
The first thing that has to be done is the removal of the Magic Lantern Display, whose illuminated features were scattered all over the Gardens. We hope you all managed to view and enjoy the display, the Gardens were really magical.

January is a month of “groundwork” in every garden. Our gardeners will be aerating the grass areas that have been compacted during the winter events, and also turning over the trodden soil in the beds to help alleviate compactions, which is bad news for root growth. Once the compacted soil has been turned over, our homemade compost will be spread. This will improve the soil structure, hopefully encouraging worms and improve drainage.

Tree ties will be checked for space for the next year’s growth, tree labels will be loosened again to give growing space.  If the tree is thriving, any tree stakes will be removed, allowing the tree to form its own anchoring roots and encouraging it to stand by itself.  Tree stakes left supporting trees for too long can stop trees developing correctly, they become dependent on the stakes and never develop a basal flare which helps them to sway in the wind, not stand rigid.

All winter protection will be examined and made good if necessary.  Last year, the “Beasts from the East” caused some damage to our conifers (because of the combination of strong winds and snow loads on the branches). The golden conifer to the rear of the Lawn Aviary has lost two large lower boughs and various other conifers have opened up as the weight of the snow has brought the branches down.  If you are quick and knock the snow off, the branches will sometimes bounce back, no harm done.  But, sometimes the branches stay bent.  Snow on shrub beds can be a good thing though as it can act as an insulator, protecting some plants – especially alpines and bulbs.

The groundwork is also carried out “behind the scenes”. January is a great month for investing some precious time in the potting shed. Our gardeners take advantage of the wet days for going through the plant collections of the Gardens, and update the labelling, recording and interpretation systems. Many hours can also been spent in ordering the right plants from the catalogue and reading books to get inspiration for the next planting schemes to use in the Gardens.

If you come to the Gardens, watch out for flowering shrubs, at this time of the year many are scenting the air, especially on still, sunny days.  Many of our Viburnum, Lonicera, Daphne and Hamamelis species are in full glory now. It is not a coincidence that many are planted by paths so you can see (and sniff) them easily.

This has been a mild winter so far, so many herbaceous plants are coming back quite early. Snowdrops, early daffodils and winter aconites are showing growth, and it is not too late to cut the leaves off your hellebores before the flowers are hidden by them.

In the Tropical and Subtropical Houses, the annual winter tree canopy pruning has been finished in good time. This is a very important task to be carried out for our gardeners, since spring arrives earlier under glass and the tender species will put up a lot of growth in a very short time. We need to keep them in a controllable size!

Another area to check very carefully is our Bonsai Yard. Our loaned and beloved bonsai trees are very sensitive plants, and suffer (sometime irremediably) by the combination of wet and frosty cold. If it freezes for more than three nights, we have to take the bonsai indoors, or at least protect them very thoroughly with some horticultural fleece. Last year we had to bring them in three times: let’s hope for a milder January this year!