Floral Friday - Family Friendly Shrubs - Lavatera

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I have always loved Lavateras with their attractive and showy pink flowers.  If you have a large garden and want a summer flowering shrub then this is the plant for you.  Its common name is Mallow.

If you do not have space for a 1.5 to 2 m shrub then there are now a number of compact varieties available so look out for them online or in your local garden centre. Compact and floriferous, Lavatera 'Barnsley Baby' is perfect for patio containers and small gardens.

For me, its family friendly characteristics include:-

• It is really easy to grow.
• Lots of multiple flowers on one plant.
• It is perennial, which means it will come back the next year.  Though it may be short-lived.
• As a shrub it is low maintenance.
• Will attract butterflies, bees and moths as it is a great mid-season nectar plant.
• It is quick growing and has a very long flowering period.   
• Produces abundant flowers.
• It is semi-evergreen.

 

 

 

I think the Lavatera in these photos is  Lavater x clementii 'Rosea'.   I was given it as a  one foot cutting last year and forgot to ask the cultivar.  All these photos were taken in November, it had been flowering since June and you can see its spread.  You really can’t ask any more of a plant.

This Floral Friday post is one of a series suggesting family friendly plants you and your children could grow in your garden. Please take a look at other previous suggestions.



 



 



Floral Friday: Cosmos - Family Friendly Plants

The Cosmos is the sort of flower that you may have seen in other people’s gardens and thought I would love to have that displaying in my garden.  It’s a lovely statuesque cottage garden flower, usually with very pretty pastel colours and feathery leaves. It is rather magical for toddlers as it grows to just about their height making it ideal for viewing, smelling and picking.  In fact the more picking the better as that will encourage more flowers to bloom.

The packets of seeds sold in the shops are usually those of Cosmos bipinnatus, which is an annual, and the variety you will most commonly see in the summer. 

 

The characteristics that make it family friendly and a good seed to sow with you children are:-

• It is pretty easy to grow from seed.
• It usually only takes about 12 weeks from sowing to flower – so you will not have to wait too long.
• It has a long flowering period, as it will flower from June to September or even the first frosts.  Certainly I have seen them flowering into late October this year.
• You can sow in pots or direct into the ground.  Although not a wildflower they were used to magnificent effect  in the Olympic Park planting scheme this year.
• Good cutting flower.
• Butterflies love Cosmos.

 

 

 

 

There is also one other type of Cosmos worth a mention because children love its scent.  It is the Cosmos atrosanguineus   If I say a good variety to buy is 'Chocamocha'  then I am sure you will have guessed the aroma.  Yes there really is a plant with a chocolatety smell. 

This is a perennial plant which means it will comeback every year.  However it is not fully frost hardy.  To minimise frost damage you need either to protect its roots with a cloche or to take the plant into a frost free environment, such as a greenhouse for the winter.

Add  a packet of  cosmos seeds to your spring shopping list or even better pop a couple of packets in your children's Christmas stocking this year.



Floral Friday - Michaelmas Daisy - Family Friendly Plants

Bee on Aster

A good late summer performer for the garden is the Aster or Michaelmas Daisy. So called because it has daisy-like flowers from pink, purple to blue and it flowers at the time of Michaelmas, on 29 September when in parts of Europe remember Archangel Michael.


Its reliability and hardiness help to make it a truly family friendly plant. Other characteristics include

• It is can be bought as a perennial, which means it comes back every year.

• The bees like it and it provides late summer nectar for them.

• It is low maintenance.

• It does not succumb to slug and snail damage.

If growing with children you could grow from seed. However for me this plant’s value lies in providing instant late summer colour. There are many other flowering plants that would be easier for them to grow. I would suggest a visit to the garden centre from the end of July onwards to see what varieties are available.  You will need to cut back the plant at the end of the season.



A number of common varieties are about 4 feet high, but some of the taller varieties can start to look a bit scraggy towards the end of the season. Worth considering are shorter and dwarf varieties like the one below, no more than 2 feet tall and which will not be such a target for a football .

Aster lateriflorus 'Bucks Fizz'

This Floral Friday post is one of a series suggesting family friendly plants you and your children could grow in your garden.  Please take a look at our previous suggestions.

Floral Friday - Aquilegia - Family Friendly Plants

Aquilegia

If you know this flower, other names for it are Columbine and Grandma Bonnets; you may be saying what so family friendly about it? It is a cottage garden plant with thin stems holding up the very pretty flower heads which could easily get knocked by a ball or trampled upon. I say yes all of these things are true, but it is a lovely flower to have in May. It blooms about the same time as For get me nots and bluebells.

For me, its family friendly characteristics include:-

• It is really easy to grow.
• It flowers early in the garden.
• Lots of multiple flowers on one plant.
• It is perennial, which means it will come back the next year.
• It is low maintenance.
• It does not get nibbled by slugs and snails.
• It is available in a wide range of colours, pink, cream, purple, white and yellow. If you have a child who loves pretty flowers they are going to adore these.





Columbines are a short-lived perennial (4 or 5 years, usually), so let them re-seed from parent plants and you’ll always have some around.  You can grow them easily from seed.  As they flower early you can sow them in pots and trays from January onwards.  If you want to go for an easier option buy a couple of different varieties as soon as they are in the garden centres at about Easter time.  As they self-seed and cross pollinate easily then you will find many more and different varieties in your garden in the following years.

You will need to cut away old foliage in the late summer.  But as you see from the above photograph taken in my garden in mid-October the foliage soon reappears.  It provides an attractive plant throughout the winter.

Floral Friday - Chives - What to plant with your Kids

Chives

It is its versatility that makes chives such a great plant to grow with your kids.  It is of course a culinary herb and part of the onion family, but its flowers are beautiful – a delicate ball of pinky, purple.   

The child and family friendly properties of the chive plant Allium Schoenoprasum include :-

• It is a hardy perennial, which means it will come up every year.

• It has edible leaves and flowers.

• It requires little maintenance.

• It is relatively pest free.

• Its clumps will cope with being hit by balls.

Chives are an essential addition to any herb garden. Equally you could equally grow them in any flower border or in pots. Ideally they like well-drained soil and full sun, but they will grow in other conditions. You can grow from seed in the spring or buy one or two pots from the local garden centre. You will need to cut it down in late summer or autumn so it can grow again in the spring.

This year in our house we have watched and photographed the flower heads developing, picked them as a cut flower and eaten both leaves and flowers. We still have some dried chive flowers in a vase. All from one plant. Not bad I reckon!

If you liked this then please take a look at other family friendly plants selected for our Floral Friday feature,

Floral Friday - Nasturtiums - What to Plant with your Kids

If you are not too sure what flowers to plant with your kids this is a good one to get going with.  It is an easy- grow annual. 


Nasturtiums

This plant’s family friendly features include:-

• Large seeds which are easy to sow.
• 8 Weeks from seed to flower. Short waiting time - Very child friendly!
• It will self-seed.
• You can sow direct into the ground or sow in pots.
• Both the flower and leaf are edible. 
• It requires very little maintenance.

I have a childhood memory of a story where a roof was thought to be on fire. When the fire brigade arrived it was found to be a roof of trailing nasturtiums. You can certainly get some fiery colours, orange, blood orange, red and yellow. Though I have yet to find a roof that matched the image placed in my mind by that story.

Nasturtiums at Chelsea Flower Show

Trailing varieties are available and they are also lots of more compact ones on the market suitable for pots and edges of the border.


Sometimes butterflies lay their eggs under nasturtium leaves. When the eggs hatch hundreds of tiny caterpillars can munch their way through them. A great chance to read  together the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.   You may need to check the leaves regularly and remove the caterpillars. Black fly also like nasturtiums. Your child can help get rid of these by watering them and the plants all over with a weak solution of eco washing up liquid.

Both leaves and petals are edible. Some children may find that their peppery taste does not suit them. Although they are annuals it is easy to ensure more will come up next year.   If you let their seeds fall to the ground some will probably self -seed the next year. The seeds are also very easy to collect and save to plant next year. So one packet of seeds will last a long time - my sort of plant!

Floral Friday: Edible Flowers - Calendula

Calendula officinalis

Calendula officinalis is one of my top ten flower plants to grow with children.  Everyone thinks of a sunflower as a children’s flower.  The pot or English Marigold may not grow so tall, but it matches the sunflower’s beauty, petal pattern and gorgeous orange and yellow colours.





Marigold - child friendly plant

Its family-friendly characteristics include:-

• It is an annual & easy to grow from seed.

• It will self- seed.

• It is bee friendly.

• The plant will keep flowering from June/July to the first frosts (though you will need to keep deadheading for this to occur).

• It has edible flowers – use in salads or to dye rice.

You do not see the grown flowers very often in garden centres so you will need to grow from seed. There is a wide variety of orange to yellow flowers available at varying heights.

You can germinate in pots or sow direct into the ground once the soil begins to warms up in March /April.

Do not confuse with French Marigolds Tagetes Patula which are not edible.


 

Marigolds on edge of vegetable bed



It is also used as a companion plant particularly for certain vegetables. It is therefore often a favourite on the allotment.  It repels whitefly from tomatoes and can lure aphids away from beans. It also attracts beneficial insects, including ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies, all which prey on aphids.  Wish my vegetable plot looked like the one above.

Floral Friday: Edible Flowers - Courgette Flowers

Today I am introducing Floral Friday. A regular post every Friday on flowering plants to grow with your kids, and to have in your garden. All the plants featured will be ‘family friendly’. By this I mean they will either:-

 

• Grow easily and be a ‘good doer’.
• May self –seed. 
• Will have a point of interest e.g. interesting smell or edible. 
• Not too much maintenance. 
• Long flowering. 
• Will withstand a couple of hit by a football. 
• Not too invasive.

I will feature not just flowers from herbaceous plants, but also from shrubs, tree and vegetables. I hope the regular feature will help to inspire you and your family to grow more whilst also growing your kids.

 

 

Courgette Seedling

 

 

To start us off today, I have chosen an edible flower from the courgette plant.

 

This is such an easy plant to grow from its lovely large seeds. If you haven’t grown courgette with kids before and you have space in a vegetable plot for them, then they are well worth trying. The deep yellow flowers are one of the most beautiful of all the vegetable flowers. They don't last long as they need to turn into that courgette. Watching them daily is an easy way for a child to see how a flower turns into a vegetable.

  

 

Courgette Flower

 

Deep Fried Courgettes

And, of course, if you don’t want all the numerous courgettes that one plant is likely to produce you can always eat the flower. They are really yummy deep fried in batter.

  

I have more on growing courgettes with children on my kidsinthegarden site.

 

 

 

More Green Space and Less Hard Surfaces in your Garden - WHY?

A recent report by the London Wildlife Trust on how London is losing its green gardens came up with some interesting facts.

• There are approx 3.8 million gardens in London (if you count front and back gardens separately) – Wow what a lot.
• 24% of London is domestic outdoor space with 14% of it vegetated. It is therefore really valuable green space.

As a result of garden design and maintenance since 1998/99 there has been a 12% drop in vegetation in gardens, hard surfaces have increased within gardens by 26% and areas of garden buildings by 55%. These are real losses as once an area is paved it is likely to be a long time, if ever, before it is removed.

The report got me thinking about how we transform our gardens to become more family friendly and suit the needs of our kids by adding paving, dens and outdoor offices. For front gardens car parking and more paving to ease maintenance are an increasing popular choice. Although planning permission is now needed if you wish to pave over your front garden unless the paving is permeable.

Our front garden



So how has our garden fared.  Are we helping this green decline?  In the back we have lifted a whole load of sleepers and created a vegetable bed (sorry edible garden – see previous post).  However we are extending the back of the house causing a 10ft loss of garden. So nil points here

In the front 2 years ago all the paving was lifted and a new garden created.  The idea was to create a low maintenance front garden full of plants.  The photo you see shows the garden now at the end of June having had no maintenance all year except for pruning of the dogwood.  So we are moving in the right direction here.

I reckon therefore our garden comes out neutral in terms of change, but more by accident then design - how does yours do?  I want our garden to attract wildlife and know that keeping it as vegetated as possible and planting insect attracting plants will help.  So from now on I will be monitoring it and checking on how we are doing.

May Flowers

There is usually lots going on my flower garden in May and this year the borders are blooming lovely. Some of my favourite family friendly plants are appearing.

Forget Me Nots, Aquilegia and Californian Poppies. Their pretty flowers all appeal to children and they have easy names to remember – that is if you use the common name of Grannies Bonnets for the Aquilegia. For us adults they are great because they self seed like crazy, require very little maintenance and do not seem to be particularly tasty to slugs and snails. Not so family friendly can be their habit of self seeding into a lawn. Their seedlings are also great for potting up and giving to friends and neighbours.

Today I realized that in fact I have forgotten. Last year I was given a packet of New Zealand Forget Me Not seeds which I had intended to sow in the autumn. This New Zealand native plant has intense blue flowers which group together in large clusters with huge glossy leaves. There are only four seeds in the packet so if I manage to grow them I think that they are going to be quite special. I also note that the New Zealand seed packet has an 8cm long measuring tape printed on it so you do not need to guess at measurements when planting your seeds. What a good idea.