I have just found this thread, HappyMarion, and it has blown me away. What an inspiration you are! You make me feel totally lazy. I have a completely child-free day and night tomorrow, so am hoping for good weather to tidy my garden and sow my first outdoor seeds in my toasty warm raised beds that have been covered for wks with polythene. Fleece cut and waiting, but it has been too windy so far! How great to have lighter nights to stay out longer!
I will be watching your thread avidly now, for more ideas. Though how you fit in painting, writing etc is beyond me! I am not able to get nr my cross-stitch once the garden wakes up! Still read lots at bedtime, but computer time is really hard to find.
My neighbour is 89 this year, and has recently lost a lot of mobility, and she really misses being able to get out to her garden, so I try to take it indoors for her. Your displays have shown me how many more of her plants I can take in, that I would never have thought of. The Big magnolia is about to burst open soon, so I think I will try floating some flowers from that with her pink/red camellias. Could that work? I grew the primula 'Firecracker' for her from seed this yr, and it has performed beautifully, along with Pansy'Flamenco' inpots, through really bad weather.
Thank you for a wonderful, entertaining post.
And I would love to vote for you too, if Edd can explain exactly how.
Oh, Thank you so much ,garden jeannie. Your neighbour must be very grateful for your thoughtful help. I am sure she would love some magnolia perfume in the house . Lots of flowers do float so do try it. It is certainly worth it for the flowers that hang their heads to ptotect their pollen from the weather like hellebores. You can then appreciate their nectar guidelines and the beauty of their stamens. I have sent in an application to the team who do the Britains Best Gardens series but have not heard anything yet. They must have hundreds apply but i thought my celebrations for being fifty years tending the same garden would tie in with Alan's fifty years as a gardener. It would be lovely for all my friends to see what I talk a great deal about on the telly. I know how much time looking after children takes. i had seven and still remember as i tend my gardenwhat the children got up to in it. They had a three tiered tree house, a museum with the treasures they had dug up all labled- some of the bones had marvelous Latinised dinosaur names,made "Puddings " out of the blackberries and wild strawberries, made dens and shops and houses and camped under the Bramley. They had a small football pitch and a badminton net and tennis net, swings from tyres on ropes, aerial descents from the biggest trees and masses of flowers the girls would pick for decoratng their bedrooms when they had had a big cleanout. They also had to put up with me dishing them up large helpings of broccoli etc and boasted tht only us and the queen could have veg as fresh as this! Ahh, the memories. But back to the present as rain is forecast for this afternoon in Bristol. It is quite dull now but the pollution seems to have dispersed a bit so I may get some work done outside today. Yesterday was quite impossible.
Worked all morning in the slate scree and Persian runner, weeding and reolacing the weeds with polyanthus plants, saying goodbye till next year to puschkinias, ipheons, scillas etc and hullo to fritillarias and early bluebells, admiring the primroses, planning my next big step to transform what was my Olympic rings into an Olympic shrubbery. for which I have in big pots nine azaleas and three dwarf rhododendrons, one red patio rose I bought at Wisley and lots of bulbs and polys for in between. Now I am looking anxiously at the sky which is glowering back at me as I would like to have a break and visit my friends and the plants I cared for at the Botanic Garden, but should not if the pollution returns. Perhaps the time has come for supermarkets to stock facemasks like they have in Chinese cities. Better safe than sorry. Well, early lunch then we shall see.
I made it to the Botanic garden amid the gloom of drizzly rain and had to borrow one of their umbrellas to get me back across the Downs to the bus stop dry as the rain started in earnest. The garden was looking lovely, especially the magnolias and the woodland edge garden. Next wek I shall return their umbrella and take my camera on a nice day. but it was lovely to see all the new developments and some of the orchids in Subtropical House were mind blowingly beautiful. And the rain has watered in my new plantings too so that job will not need doing tomorrow.
Much fresher today and two mostly dry days forecast so hundreds of plants are due to come out of the conservatory to be hardened off before planting out and make way for the bigger pots of tomatoes to be grown under glass for Mr. Fothergills Trials and the peppers are now threatening to outgrow their pots as well. I shall weed as I go, replacing the weeds with the plants already hardened off. The bitter cress is already flowering so must come out pronto and the cleavers and bindweed are so easy to weaken by pulling out now they are small. I do love getting up close and personal with the weeds and new plantings but have to remember to have a good stretch and a stroll around the garden every half hour or so to keep myself supple. You can even get too enthusiastic about weeding!
Posts
December at my front door;
End of April last year up in the butterfly garden. Do you think that is enough, Edd?
That looks beautiful happy marion
I have just found this thread, HappyMarion, and it has blown me away. What an inspiration you are! You make me feel totally lazy. I have a completely child-free day and night tomorrow, so am hoping for good weather to tidy my garden and sow my first outdoor seeds in my toasty warm raised beds that have been covered for wks with polythene. Fleece cut and waiting, but it has been too windy so far! How great to have lighter nights to stay out longer!
I will be watching your thread avidly now, for more ideas. Though how you fit in painting, writing etc is beyond me! I am not able to get nr my cross-stitch once the garden wakes up! Still read lots at bedtime, but computer time is really hard to find.
My neighbour is 89 this year, and has recently lost a lot of mobility, and she really misses being able to get out to her garden, so I try to take it indoors for her. Your displays have shown me how many more of her plants I can take in, that I would never have thought of. The Big magnolia is about to burst open soon, so I think I will try floating some flowers from that with her pink/red camellias. Could that work? I grew the primula 'Firecracker' for her from seed this yr, and it has performed beautifully, along with Pansy'Flamenco' inpots, through really bad weather.
Thank you for a wonderful, entertaining post.
And I would love to vote for you too, if Edd can explain exactly how.
Oh, Thank you so much ,garden jeannie. Your neighbour must be very grateful for your thoughtful help. I am sure she would love some magnolia perfume in the house . Lots of flowers do float so do try it. It is certainly worth it for the flowers that hang their heads to ptotect their pollen from the weather like hellebores. You can then appreciate their nectar guidelines and the beauty of their stamens. I have sent in an application to the team who do the Britains Best Gardens series but have not heard anything yet. They must have hundreds apply but i thought my celebrations for being fifty years tending the same garden would tie in with Alan's fifty years as a gardener. It would be lovely for all my friends to see what I talk a great deal about on the telly. I know how much time looking after children takes. i had seven and still remember as i tend my gardenwhat the children got up to in it. They had a three tiered tree house, a museum with the treasures they had dug up all labled- some of the bones had marvelous Latinised dinosaur names,made "Puddings " out of the blackberries and wild strawberries, made dens and shops and houses and camped under the Bramley. They had a small football pitch and a badminton net and tennis net, swings from tyres on ropes, aerial descents from the biggest trees and masses of flowers the girls would pick for decoratng their bedrooms when they had had a big cleanout. They also had to put up with me dishing them up large helpings of broccoli etc and boasted tht only us and the queen could have veg as fresh as this! Ahh, the memories. But back to the present as rain is forecast for this afternoon in Bristol. It is quite dull now but the pollution seems to have dispersed a bit so I may get some work done outside today. Yesterday was quite impossible.
Worked all morning in the slate scree and Persian runner, weeding and reolacing the weeds with polyanthus plants, saying goodbye till next year to puschkinias, ipheons, scillas etc and hullo to fritillarias and early bluebells, admiring the primroses, planning my next big step to transform what was my Olympic rings into an Olympic shrubbery. for which I have in big pots nine azaleas and three dwarf rhododendrons, one red patio rose I bought at Wisley and lots of bulbs and polys for in between. Now I am looking anxiously at the sky which is glowering back at me as I would like to have a break and visit my friends and the plants I cared for at the Botanic Garden, but should not if the pollution returns. Perhaps the time has come for supermarkets to stock facemasks like they have in Chinese cities. Better safe than sorry. Well, early lunch then we shall see.
I made it to the Botanic garden amid the gloom of drizzly rain and had to borrow one of their umbrellas to get me back across the Downs to the bus stop dry as the rain started in earnest. The garden was looking lovely, especially the magnolias and the woodland edge garden. Next wek I shall return their umbrella and take my camera on a nice day. but it was lovely to see all the new developments and some of the orchids in Subtropical House were mind blowingly beautiful. And the rain has watered in my new plantings too so that job will not need doing tomorrow.
Much fresher today and two mostly dry days forecast so hundreds of plants are due to come out of the conservatory to be hardened off before planting out and make way for the bigger pots of tomatoes to be grown under glass for Mr. Fothergills Trials and the peppers are now threatening to outgrow their pots as well. I shall weed as I go, replacing the weeds with the plants already hardened off. The bitter cress is already flowering so must come out pronto and the cleavers and bindweed are so easy to weaken by pulling out now they are small. I do love getting up close and personal with the weeds and new plantings but have to remember to have a good stretch and a stroll around the garden every half hour or so to keep myself supple. You can even get too enthusiastic about weeding!
April 5th is a very dull morning in Bristol but not in my garden where golden flowers are shining like miniatu
re suns form dark corners and the plum blossom is amazing.