Blog

When your mower oil has seen better days you will need an oil change, but when is the best time to change your oil? You only usually need to change it or have it changed once a year if you're just using your mower for your garden, though heavier use of your mower can necessitate more oil changes.&nbsp;Another thing you need to watch out for is the colour of your oil, you want it to be a nice golden colour like the oil in the image for this post. If it's black and sludgy or a chalky colour, change it immediately as it can adversely affect your machine.&nbsp;If you follow our tips about assessing oil colour, you'll be sure to have a well oiled machine.&nbsp;

A Well Oiled Machine

A dependable and attractive addition to any garden, you can never really go wrong if you get a cordyline or two so here's short guide to them.&nbsp;First, know thy cordylines. There are a great many types of cordyline, but we’ll stick to the ones you’re most likely to encounter; cordyline australis, and cordyline fruticosa. Your standard cordyline australis is an evergreen tree that can look a little like a palm tree when it’s established, but there are other varieties of cordyline australis that you may be familiar with like the ‘Torbay Red’ and ‘Torbay Dazzler’ that don’t become as big but have a fantastic colour. Other varieties under the cordyline australis umbrella that may interest you are the intensely coloured, ‘Southern Splendour’ and the ‘Red Star’ variety.&nbsp;Let’s move on to cordyline fruticosa. While you can plant them outside, cordyline fruticosa serve well as houseplants. Some stunning varieties of cordyline fruticosa include ‘Black Magic’ and the fascinatingly coloured ‘Candy Cane’.&nbsp; When it comes to the conditions cordylines like, cordyline australis can survive sub-zero temperatures of minus 5 degrees Celsius. Frost, however, can affect the plant and cause things like cordyline slime flux where the plant excretes a foul-smelling sap like substance because of frost damage. You can usually cut the affected area away to keep the plant healthy. To avoid slime flux when overwintering, wrap your plant when the weather is dry to avoid rot, and mulch cordylines in flower beds before winter strikes. With cordyline fruticosa, pick the hardiest variety you can if you want to have them outside, and keep them in containers so they can be moved inside over winter. For both types, never waterlog your soil and make sure that they have access to enough sun, but not too much direct sunlight.&nbsp;Happy cordyline planting!

Sweet Cordylines

If you haven't read them all here are the posts we've posted about plants and their care.&nbsp;1. <a data-mce-href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/the-right-hedge" href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/the-right-hedge">The Right Hedge</a>2. <a data-mce-href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/black-spot" href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/black-spot">Black Spot</a>3. <a data-mce-href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/slug-resistant-hostas" href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/slug-resistant-hostas">Slug Resistant Hostas</a>4. <a data-mce-href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/the-wonder-of-hydrangeas" href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/the-wonder-of-hydrangeas">The Wonder of Hydrangeas</a>5. <a data-mce-href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/embroidering-a-mead" href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/embroidering-a-mead" data-mce-selected="inline-boundary">Embroidering a Mead﻿</a>6. <a data-mce-href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/paradise-in-a-tray" href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/paradise-in-a-tray">Paradise in a Tray</a>7. <a data-mce-href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/a-sweet-scent" href="https://gardensandlawnmowersbyclive.com/blog/a-sweet-scent">A Sweet Scent</a>

Plants, Plants, Plants

Green cypress isolated on white background

The might of the Mughal dynasty lasted from 1526 until the sun set on the empire in 1857. The Mughal rulers were generally cosmopolitan and were renowned for their interest in their various construction projects. The Taj Mahal is perhaps one of the best-known buildings commissioned by a Mughal emperor called Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife. The original gardens of the Taj Mahal were built with the ideals of Mughal garden design in mind but were altered rather extensively years later by Lord Curzon when he was Viceroy of India.&nbsp; So, what were the integral features of Mughal garden design? Like Persian gardens, Mughal gardens were centred around breathtakingly geometrically exact walkways, channels of water, water features, and shimmering pools. Because access to large amounts of water was a necessity in Mughal garden design the location of a garden was always carefully chosen to ensure that it could be conveyed to the garden consistently. But beauty was not the only thing the imperial garden designers had in mind they literally wanted to create a vison of paradise on earth. Every plant and structure and their positioning was dictated by this desire to reflect a kind of paradise on earth where all was harmonious and peace reigned.&nbsp;Take a trip over to our virtual shed next week Thursday to see another post on garden history.&nbsp;

An Emperor's Garden

First of all, if you have a complex tree cutting job that needs to be done, especially if the tree you need to cut leans over in some way which increases the likelihood you will have difficulties, call a tree surgeon. It is always worth calling a tree surgeon for reasons of health and safety.&nbsp; But if you’re doing a slightly smaller job, you feel confident doing, you may want to know how to avoid a very common and frustrating problem; getting your chainsaw stuck in whatever you’re cutting. Your primary concern before doing anything with a chainsaw should be the cleanliness and condition of the chain itself. Tired, old chains are more likely to cause you a sticky problem when you’re trying to cut something. It’s the same with tired, old guide bars, or guide bars with dirt on. Look after your machine and it will look after you. You also need check the tension of your chain and adjust it according to what the instruction manual says if necessary. If there is anything amiss with either bar or chain or both you may have to have them replaced.&nbsp; It is also important to be careful about how you operate your chainsaw if you don't want it to get stuck. Cutting at awkward angles and not cutting the correct the notches in a trunk can cause sticking.&nbsp; And don’t forget to wear all the safety wear you need if your going to use any machinery.

Never Break the Chain

If you’re a June baby one of your birth flowers like the other, the rose, by any other name would also smell as sweet: honeysuckle. It is likely that you will be most familiar with the type of honeysuckle that often decks a pergola, climbing honeysuckle. Climbing honeysuckle is fantastically easy to look after once established, all you need to do is mulch once a year in the spring, and water your climbing honeysuckle thoroughly when the weather is very hot and dry. The lengthy flowering period of this kind of honeysuckle is another plus as they usually flower from mid-summer to autumn. The frosts of winter also need not be a worry because climbing honeysuckle is typically hardy. A particularly beautiful variety of climbing honeysuckle is Lonicera estrusca ‘Donald Waterer’ with its massive clusters of leaves and blooms. It does prefer a slightly warmer climate so you may have more success with it if you don’t live in a colder part of the country.Adding a shrubby honeysuckle to your garden can help with keeping your garden looking great year-round as several of them flower in the winter. However, if you would like a summer flowering variety, Lonicera syringantha is a type of shrubby honeysuckle that flowers in the spring and summer. Other than the differences in the flowering period of the majority of shrubby honeysuckles, caring for them requires you to take pretty much the same steps that caring for climbing honeysuckle requires.Something to note is that the fruit of the honeysuckle can be toxic to both humans and pets, so please take this into account when handling the plant. But there is a variety that produces fruit that is safe to eat, Lonicera caerulea. This edible honeysuckle produces flavoursome fruits that look like elongated blueberries and are delicious raw or in a compote.&nbsp;

A Sweet Scent

Gardens and Mowers by Clive