Sadly, it’s time to say goodbye to the last of the warmer weather, and welcome the colder temperatures – making sure to keep toasty warm with hot water bottles and cups of tea and coffee while out and about in the garden. There’s still plenty to do!

Now that summer greenhouse crops are over, it’s a good idea to give the greenhouse a thorough clean because this will prevent pests from hibernating and rearing their ugly heads next spring. It’s important to hose down the glass really well to allow for maximum light to be let in throughout autumn and winter.

Outside, a good money-saving tip from us is to put your raked leaves in a separate compost container. Composted leaf litter will make perfect soil conditioner for next year!

Dead leaves are a common problem this time of year – you’ll need to cover your ponds to keep the leaves out or at the very least, monitor closely and scoop them out regularly. When leaves start to decompose, they promote algae growth and release compounds that can cause harm to fish. Prevention is always easier (and cheaper) than cure, so cover your ponds early.

Whilst the soil is still warm, carry on planting trees and shrubs. Plants will still have time to put down new roots. If you have heavy soil, carry out any digging necessary, particularly in the vegetable patch. If you wait for the winter rains, you’ll find that the soil is virtually unworkable. Winter frosts will break down the large lumps into a fine tilth, ready for next year’s sowings.

Now is the time to start lifting your dahlias and other tender perennials, storing them in a dry, frost-free area. It’s also now the right time to remove summer bedding and replant with winter bedding.

Cut back herbaceous perennials back to the ground to encourage fresh growth come spring and avoid any damage over winter. Be sure to burn any diseased material and don’t add it to your compost.

Last but not least, you can finally hang up your lawn mower! Give your grass one final mow before growth stops and continue to aerate and scarify. You can always seed and turf too if the good weather continues.

If you’re looking to get out in the Garden this month, make sure you have:

• Harvested apples, pears, grapes and nuts
• Pruned climbing roses
• Cut back any perennials that have started to die down
• Moved your tender perennials into a protected environment (greenhouse or conservatory)
• Finished collecting seeds from the garden to sow next year

Please find a link for the 2019/20 AGM Annual Report and Accounts report here

https://birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/BBHS-Annual-Report-2019-20-Signed-1.pdf

More information can be found via these links:

BBG Articles – Companies House

During September, the indoor team will be busy potting spring bulbs in the nursery, looking to use them in the Mediterranean House next spring. Hyacinths will be planted in 13cm half pots, 3 bulbs to a pot, each with their noses protruding out of the compost so that they don’t rot. Meanwhile, Daffodils will be planted in 18cm pots, 7 bulbs to a pot. Once this is complete, the Hyacinths and Narcissus will be placed outside in a north facing, dark covered cold frame until late winter. The cold and dark is needed to initiate good root growth.

 

Outside, the team will be planting spring bulbs in our bedding displays. This will be done once the 4,000-winter flowering Polyanthus has been planted out first. The gardening team will also start discussing, choosing and ordering around 10,000 to 12,000 bedding plants for the next 18 months. Yes, for summer 2019 and winter 2019/2020! Gardeners always have to plan ahead!

 

Moreover, if you’re looking to create your own horticultural getaway, remember that now is a great time to propagate tender plants, ready for next year’s display. Coleus, Pelargonium (geranium) and Salvia can be propagated by cuttings now and will become a good-sized plant before the weather turns cold. For the best results, take cuttings from healthy and non-flowering stems. They should be about 10cm long and cut just below a node, which is the part of the stem from which one or more leaves emerge, often forming a slight swell.

 

 

Once this has been done, remove the lower leaves to prevent them from rotting and pot them into a free draining compost mix. We recommend 75% multipurpose compost and 25% sand, grit or perlite. Then, make sure you water them when the compost is dry and place them in a warm shady place. Lastly, place a polythene bag over them to keep the humidity high and prevent them from drying out so quickly.

 

September is also the perfect time to divide herbaceous perennials, now that the weather is cooler and damper. After 3 to 5 years, perennials can get pretty big and can start getting woody – they can even die out in the centre and lose vigour. By lifting them and cutting them into smaller sections with a spade, it helps to rejuvenate the plant. Don’t forget to water them in well. You may find you now have too many plants – why not give or swap them with your family and friends!

 

Towards the end of the month, why not visit the gardens to see one the first trees producing autumnal leaves?

 

 

Although for many it’s holiday season, work at the Gardens is full on!

 

The wisteria, both on the Pavilion Tearoom and the boundary wall in the Alpine Yard, will have their second pruning this year. Many years ago, Wisteria was sometimes called “two and eight plants”. This didn’t refer to old currency, but was to help remember what months they needed to be pruned in. This encourages the plant to form flower buds rather than green growth.

Feeding is also a big job this month – most plants will now need a high potash (potassium) fertiliser to encourage more flowers. Tomato food is an excellent source of potash and, if you look on the bottle, you will notice something called NPK. These are the three main nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and kalium (Potassium). Nitrogen is for leaves or shoots, phosphorus is for roots and potassium is for flowers and fruits. Shoots, roots, flowers and fruits!

 

Horticultural staff and volunteers will all be doing their fair share of weeding around the place too. Annual weeds such as annual willow-herb, pearlwort and bitter cress will be hoed off and left to dry out in the strong sunshine. Perennial weeds such as Oxalis, dandelion and perennial nettle will have to be removed using a hand fork or garden fork, to ensure no roots are left behind.

 

In addition, during August, the Butterfly House will be stocked with 100 pupae every week, keeping it full of gorgeous butterflies until the first week of September. The Gardens buy these pupae from Stratford Butterfly Farm and carefully glue them the right way up onto bamboo canes. Some adult butterflies only live for two to three weeks, so we have to keep it stocked up with pupae. Once emerged, the butterflies feed on nectar of Buddleja, Lantana and tropical Vinca, as well as sugar water from the plastic feeders and the fermented, rotting banana, apple and orange.

Don’t forget to move your houseplants into a cool, shady room or in a shady spot outside if you’re going on holiday. By giving them a good soak before you go, they should last for a week or two until you get back.

 

David Domoney, a Chartered Horticulturist and gardening personality on ITV1’s Love Your Garden and This Morning, has been announced as the new patron of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

This news comes at a very exciting time for the Gardens. Welcoming more than 110,000 visitors yearly, their 6-strong gardening team maintains 15 acres of beautiful Grade 2* listed gardens, while simultaneously conserving the 7,000 plants grown across the 15-acre site, attracting national recognition. The Gardens recently won an RHS Gold Medal for an exhibit of cyclamen drawn from their National Collection, one of only two in the country, and achieved a commendation for their nomination in the Horticulture Week Custodian Awards for ‘Best Garden’.

 

As an independent educational charity, the Gardens rely on their 5,000 members, friends, visitors and events to generate the funds required for the upkeep. Moreover, they also rely on the invaluable efforts of volunteers to help with the huge amount of work that goes into attending shows and caring for this iconic heritage landmark. As one of only two pre-Victorian Botanic Gardens that remain independent in the UK, this unique city space now welcomes David and his invaluable knowledge and experience in the industry to a new partnership that will raise awareness of the Gardens and assist them in continuing with these initiatives.

 

James Wheeler, CEO at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, commented: ‘We are delighted to announce that David Domoney is the brand new patron of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. His passion for community gardening and helping schools engage with the environment around them matches our own and we are very excited about the potential opportunities and projects we can work on in the future together with this in mind.’’

 

He continued: “We look forward to sharing our plans for the future with David, drawing on his expertise and advice as a prominent and renowned figure within the gardening community. With his huge following online, we know David will be an influential ally for the Gardens in helping to raise the profile of our valuable work.’’

 

Trustee and Chairman of the Gardens’ Horticultural Committee Vic Aspland, commented, “ I am pleased to welcome David as our Patron, as he is as passionate about plants as we are. His expertise will be invaluable for opening up new initiatives by the Gardens.”

 

David Domoney is a distinguished and multi-award winning horticulturist, with 30 Royal Horticultural Society Medals and awards under his belt. He has a long association with the Midlands, having gone to school at Moseley and having grown up in Hall Green; he lives now with his family in Stratford Upon Avon. Alongside presenting on ITV1, he also writes a weekly column for The Sunday Mirror and a monthly column for Grow Your Own magazine in which he encourages the nation into gardening. David is a strong advocate of community gardening and champions this through his national community gardening campaign Cultivation Street (now in its 6^th year), which helps Britain’s communities and schools to engage with nature. David also organises The Young Gardeners of the Year competition (now in its 9^th year), in association with HRH the Prince of Wales Prince’s Foundation. This April David Domoney was also selected by HRH Prince Edward to receive the Prince Edward Award of Excellence in Horticulture.

 

David said, “There’s something truly magical about Birmingham Botanical Gardens. I visited them on school trips as a kid, so I have known their beauty for some time. The huge array of plant life on display is always a sight to behold and wandering through the different zones offers the perfect escape from the stresses of hectic day-to-day life. It is thus with great pleasure that I join with the team at Birmingham Botanical Gardens in support of this incredible heritage site. The educational programme they have in place for schools in the region is particularly excellent and bears an affinity to my Cultivation Street campaign, making us a great pairing. As someone who lives locally to Birmingham, the upkeep of these gardens is particularly close to my heart and it’s a real honour to work with James and his highly-skilled team.”

 

David and the Gardens are now working together to develop community learning and organise events, while promoting each other’s initiatives and projects regularly in the future.

With over 110,000 visitors yearly, our 6-strong gardening team work on the Gardens general maintenance, while simultaneously also aiming to conserve the 7,000 plants we have across our 15-acre site and bring more attention to the work we do on a national scale. Having recently won an RHS Gold Medal for our National Cyclamen Collection, one of only two in the country, we thought we’d enter this year’s Horticulture Week Custodian Awards to top off a year of fantastic achievements and celebrate our beautiful site and hard-working team.

 

The Horticulture Week Custodian Awards praise the best parks and gardens, giving gardens and green space managers working to ensure the best possible future for all kinds of green spaces, the chance to showcase their achievements, reward team effort and highlight to stakeholders the vital role they play.

 

We are delighted to say that we were not only shortlisted for ‘Best Gardens’ and ‘Best Gardening Team’, but also received a commendation for our nomination in the ‘Best Garden’ category.

 

The ceremony was at the gorgeous Woburn Abbey House & Gardens in their Sculpture Gallery and welcomed representatives from major national organisations such as English Heritage, the National Trust and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, as well as other independent gardens, local authorities, and specialist private and third sector partners.

 

We rely on our 5,000 members, Friends, visitors and events to bring in the funds we need for upkeep and we rely on volunteers to help with the huge amount of work that goes into attending shows and caring for this iconic heritage landmark. As one of only two Victorian Botanic Gardens that remain independent in the UK, we are thrilled with this achievement and would like to thank everyone involved – this unique city space is kept in fantastic condition thanks to your hard work!

With all the hot and dry weather around this summer, have you done your bit to help water companies to supply us?

At the time of writing this, water companies say that we have enough water but, we are using it faster than it can be treated and supplied to us!

We can all help by:

• Taking showers and NOT baths- a 5 minute shower uses 40 litres of water (half the volume of a standard bath)

• Not washing the car- but remember to keep registration plates, lights and windows clear

• Don’t water lawns. Although they look dead, they will grow back quickly when it rains

• Turn off the tap when you clean your teeth. A running tap uses up to nine litres of water a minute

• Use a watering can in the garden NOT a sprinkler or a hosepipe. Sprinklers and hosepipes left running can use between 500 and 1,000 litres of water an hour

• Fit a water butt to collect rainwater off your roof. Water butts store 200 litres of water. Using rainwater reduces the amount of treated water you use. Plants prefer rainwater anyway!

Going on holiday in August? Have you got anyone to look after your houseplants while you are away? If not, don’t forget to move your houseplants in a cool, shady room or in a shady spot outside. Then by giving them a good soak before you go, they should last for a week or two until you get back.