Walking through mint 

As   I have mentioned in a previous post, I love Mint, not to eat specifically, but I find the scent particularly attractive.  I have several different varieties in my garden.  Peppermint, Apple Mint, Strawberry Mint, Curly Mint, A variety that I have found called Berries and Cream, Ginger mint and lastly but to be truthful the most useful of all, kitchen mint or Spearmint.  I have tried to grow variegated pineapple mint, but the slugs quickly devoured it.  which is extremely annoying as Mint is a very vigorous plant and will quickly take over the garden, but this seems to be dependent on the slug population of the garden. It is true that they leave the spearmint alone, but all the other types I do have to cosset a little.  My favourite is the Strawberry Mint. Strawberry mint has a delicously amazing scent. It really does smell like a dish of crushed strawberries and mint.  The leaves are small and deciduous, and it will retreat underground over the winter.  I found it quite slow to emerge this year, but that may be due to the wet, cold spring that we had.   Although, I am very pleased that the spearmint appears without fail with its fresh green leaves in the early spring.   I have found that by containerising the mints and placing them at strategic points around the garden so that I have to brush past them, I get the most refreshing scent as I work. 

Partiularly if I also place a Lemon verbeba or lemon scented Pelargonium nearby as well. Although the flowers on my Strawberry Mint are not as show stopping as on other flower focussed plants, the bees do seem to gravitate towards them and when there is a large patch of mint it is quite a pleasing patch of pale lilac topped with the hum of busy bees gathering their food.  Mint grows and propagates by long underground runners. therefore, it is easy to obtain new plants by dividing old plants in the Spring or Autumn

Self seeders

The hardy annual flowers that self seed will withstand a wide scope of conditions and when the  seeds drop from flowers grown that year they will germinate readily in the warm damp soil of late summer/autumn to remain in the soil as small plants over the winter ready to burst into growth in the Spring. 

I am very keen on self seeders or volunteers.  My favourite is the Nigella.  I have grown a blue variety (Miss Jekyll), the White Alba, and a multi-coloured variety called Persian Jewels.  I sow a little fresh seed each year just to keep the colour strong but they are really just scattered around the garden, I thin them out as they grow but really they are  allowed to do their thing.  I also grow forget me nots. The original seed packet was sown many years ago, and now, when pulling them up at the end of the season, I just scatter their seeds all around the garden. their sky blue flowers create  a haze of fresh blue in my front and back garden during the springtime.  Apparently, this will happen with Lunaria (Honesty) as well, but I have yet to see that in my garden as the slugs seem to get to the plants before they have a chance to grow. I grew Godetia this year, and I have adopted the same technique with the spent flowers.  I just need to learn to recognise the small plants and hope that they germinate.  One flower that I do recognise as  a small plant is the Calendula.  I sowed packets of  orange and yellow Pot Marigold (Calendula)  several years ago, and these do seem to be self seeding around my garden, so I am hopeful of that continuing next year.   I am hoping that both these will self seed and I will be able to keep them in my garden, thereby providing a splash of colour early in the year.   There are also some perennials that will self seed. In my garden, the predominant self seeder is the Centranthus or Valerian.  This is a plant originating in the Mediterranean and introduced to Europe in the 1600s.  It is a prolific self seeder, and having a tap root can require a good tug to pull out unwanted volunteers.  They are tough and colourful.  Coming in shades of pink and white, they are very welcome. 

  I have also noticed geraniums popping up in my beds. Hardy Geraniums are wonderful flowers.  tough and colourful.  They work really well in the semi shaded areas of my garden.  I have them in the sun and in part shade, and although they work well in the sunny part of the garden, I do feel that they prefer at least a little shade.  They are woodland plants, after all.  They come in various shades of pink and blue.  In my garden, they begin to flower in late spring.  They will flower for a few weeks, and I usually cut them back when they have finished  flowering as the leaves can get a little straggly, untidy, and begin to go brown.  If they are watered or it is a wet summer, fresh young leaves will begin to emerge within weeks, and the plant will flower intermittently throughout the season, filling any gaps quickly.   I find it necessary to keep these plants in check by splitting them up regularly, but they are such good doers that I do not mind this and will buy varieties as I see them.  I currently have Johnson’s blue, Wargraves pink, and 2 others that have been given to me by friends that I do not know the names of.  And, last but certainly not least, they are impervious to slugs and snails.  So, in my garden, this will ensure that I will continue to grow them.