It's funny the way some plants go for a walk around the garden to find where they would rather be! My Phlomis Russeliana has done that, but I'm happy with where it's decided to go. The other place was getting too shady where a tree has grown. Planning on putting Hostas and Epimedium there next March/April. My Monardas sometimes disappear only to pop up again another year. My autumn raspberries go walkabout too, so the veggie garden is sometimes planned around them.
My Madonna lilies were magnificent for 2 years, then the dreaded lily beetle arrived. I often can't find the beetles, I know they drop off when disturbed, but the lilies are eaten.
Don't know Haquetia, see it likes moisture, which you must have as you tried Gunnera and Tricyrtis. I have Tricyrtis is a shady damp place, but the deer have discovered it so that's probably the end of it. I lack damp, shady places. With beds above walls and the normal Dordogne summer my garden tends to be warm and well drained. This summer warmth hasn't happened yet!
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Hi B-L. Sounds we have things (garden) in common but tell me please your "plot" looks really great and I have read several books on just such a set up as you have there - moving to foreign parts, refurbishing old farmhouse and renovating/creating a garden all around it as well. Sounds very much to me that you have a book there waiting to be written - or have you already done so - if so please inform me - I would love to read it all. Ref the moisture loving plants ( I still have and always have had quite a number) all my gardening life (56 yrs) I have lived in the dryest part of England and have had to manipulate it all to suit as and what I want to grow. I like to think I did not do to badly but you as a plant lover will understand just how sad it is when having given a plant its best chance ( which we should/must) it walks out on you. Win some lose some for sure and the overall result counts I guess but... I should mention here though that my first garden was on a site with a spring in one corner (Bushey Lea) so I naturally took advantage of that. Nice to talk to you. Regards and best wishes.
Hello Mr Keen,.... were you trying to post some photos there..? I cannot see them in your last 2 posts...
...I like to give people space to talk as I ramble on a bit, much like some of the roses I love so much...and sometimes my ramblings are not to everyone's taste...
I've been looking at your lovely Hosta's there above.... all very nice indeed, and a joy to see when in flower.. that is the time I like them most...
...I also noted something which I enjoy almost as much as the plants themselves, and that's a decent bit of hard landscaping... well, it looks decent to me, a most attractive pattern... I expect you'll tell me they're just cheap old bricks or slabs but I wish mine were like that... it really sets the plants off... in place of grass which I also like very much mind and used to enjoy mowing...
...I have to put up with pink and grey paving slabs put down before I got here and I'm not going to change them any time soon, much as I would like to...
I've been reading what you have to say and note that you have so many years experience of growing all manner of things, many I've barely heard of... I mean, Ostrowskia's.. for heaven's sake... I shall have to go look that up... I note too your many failures...well, we've all had those... it's very disappointing when you find that some plants just don't like your garden... but a pleasant surprise when you find seedlings from other peoples...
...I have a reddish grassy plant growing - I know what it is - Uncinia rubra - I didn't plant it, it was growing in no soil whatsoever, it seeded into gravel above a thick membrane.... to give it some respect I've potted it up to give it a better life [it'll probably drop dead]... and will find another spot for it... I'm not sure I would have bought one to be honest...
Do you grow conifers Mr Keen.... I quite like a few of these, always had some in my gardens...nowadays they have to be slim, narrow little things, slow growing and must never get in the way...
...I find in a garden like mine, with lots of feminine pinkyness going on... that dark green/blue outlines like these give a calming masculine feel that I need and I use them also as 'full stops'... these are the ones I'm growing..
Chamaecyparis 'Van Pelts Blue'... I just love this slim upright form, very blue glaucous... tolerates and grows well in a hot dry mediterranean type plot... but I have it in cooler conditions here... I find it quite beautiful...
Thuja 'Emerald' ... this is one of my favourites [Smaragd is it's other name], conical very green and narrow...
Thuja 'Brobecks Tower'... another slim outline, slightly twisty, makes a good stopping point...
Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Boulevard' ... another bluey with gorgeous soft foliage and a rounded shape...
Pine mugo 'Wintergold'... this is in a dry rocky place...and I love it's winter colour...
very dwarf...
I also have a couple of prostrate Junipers, a blue and a green, I love these too for their ground covering abilities, can't remember their names...
in other gardens, much larger, I've grown Thuja 'Zebrina'.. this can grow big in time, lovely yellow pineapple scented foliage..
Taxus 'Standishi'... very narrow and very slow...red berries enliven it's appeal
I was not put off by Leylandii 'Castlewellan'.. as a single specimen only away from boundaries...
I fear I have rambled on too much, tell me about yours Mr Keen... you must have some surely...?? hope to talk again very soon... bi for now...
p.s. we all love Busy Lizzie's garden Mr Keen... it looks like a touch of Sissinghurst... roses scrambling over walls and suchlike...
.."a bientot'' I suppose I should say, at this point..
Hi Salino (and for all).. Great to hear from you, thought I had bored you to sleep. Ref your rambling on well not to me and you may have noticed I have more than a very similar tendency myself - you love to natter, I love to natter, we all love to natter. Please do comment any time - love to hear it. And please do drop the Mr. Keen thing - officially I am Keen 1 but the name is Syd to yourself and any others on Site who may care to use it. Ref the many plants I have grown I am just one of many on Site I am sure but you can do a lot of gardening in 56 yrs. I will if I may comment separately on this plant thing and all our likes and dislikes - next post. Now ref conifers. Yes I have always liked them but sparingly since they can I think if overdone be a little heavy. I have had three gardens now and they all had them some biggish and also tall and slimmish - I suppose it depends on the space you have available. I had Cham. law. Fletcherii, Thuyas and a dwarf Pine or two at first and also the Irish Juniper (until it finally goes (literally) sideways. Had a selection at second which this may sound a bit awful but since the garden was only smallish space was at a premium - I took off all the lower branches on all of them and clipped the tops to a ball - looked quite good actually and left space under to plant. Here ( we have been just about three years) the conifers were here on arrival - 3 lovely green tall slim Thuyas, two golden Chams clipped tight at the front. Theres a couple of minis in my recently created raised bed for some encrusted Saxifragas etc ( not mossy) - they are Elwoods and Elwoods gold and also another nearby green flecked white whose name I know not. One of my favourites is Thuya Rhinegold (sp?) which I had in the first two gardens and will get round to planting one here. Another very important aspect with the conifers is their winter worth and as you said adding some height etc. Like the Marjoram etc love to crush a bit of foliage for that lovely "Piney" smell, especially with Thuyas. Ref those spaces I have no idea what on earth happened there but I ain't no genius on PC's as I said-hopefully the Site can remove them?. Regards.
Posts
Hi WW. Two most excellent gardeners and writers - lovely folk with it.
Yes, both "lovely" in their own way.
It's funny the way some plants go for a walk around the garden to find where they would rather be! My Phlomis Russeliana has done that, but I'm happy with where it's decided to go. The other place was getting too shady where a tree has grown. Planning on putting Hostas and Epimedium there next March/April. My Monardas sometimes disappear only to pop up again another year. My autumn raspberries go walkabout too, so the veggie garden is sometimes planned around them.
My Madonna lilies were magnificent for 2 years, then the dreaded lily beetle arrived. I often can't find the beetles, I know they drop off when disturbed, but the lilies are eaten.
Don't know Haquetia, see it likes moisture, which you must have as you tried Gunnera and Tricyrtis. I have Tricyrtis is a shady damp place, but the deer have discovered it so that's probably the end of it. I lack damp, shady places. With beds above walls and the normal Dordogne summer my garden tends to be warm and well drained. This summer warmth hasn't happened yet!
Hi B-L. Sounds we have things (garden) in common but tell me please your "plot" looks really great and I have read several books on just such a set up as you have there - moving to foreign parts, refurbishing old farmhouse and renovating/creating a garden all around it as well. Sounds very much to me that you have a book there waiting to be written - or have you already done so - if so please inform me - I would love to read it all. Ref the moisture loving plants ( I still have and always have had quite a number) all my gardening life (56 yrs) I have lived in the dryest part of England and have had to manipulate it all to suit as and what I want to grow. I like to think I did not do to badly but you as a plant lover will understand just how sad it is when having given a plant its best chance ( which we should/must) it walks out on you. Win some lose some for sure and the overall result counts I guess but... I should mention here though that my first garden was on a site with a spring in one corner (Bushey Lea) so I naturally took advantage of that. Nice to talk to you. Regards and best wishes.
Hi Salino. Where are you - miss our natterings, hope all is well.
Hi. Wheres Salino - miss our natterings - hope all is well with you.
Hi Salino. Where are you - miss our natterings, hope all is well.
Keen your hostas look great. Do you have any advice about slugs?
My robinias flower better some years than others.
I haven't written a book. Don't think I could sit that long! I may write more today than usual because I have pulled a muscle in my back.
Hello Mr Keen,.... were you trying to post some photos there..? I cannot see them in your last 2 posts...
...I like to give people space to talk as I ramble on a bit, much like some of the roses I love so much...and sometimes my ramblings are not to everyone's taste...
I've been looking at your lovely Hosta's there above.... all very nice indeed, and a joy to see when in flower.. that is the time I like them most...
...I also noted something which I enjoy almost as much as the plants themselves, and that's a decent bit of hard landscaping... well, it looks decent to me, a most attractive pattern... I expect you'll tell me they're just cheap old bricks or slabs but I wish mine were like that... it really sets the plants off... in place of grass which I also like very much mind and used to enjoy mowing...
...I have to put up with pink and grey paving slabs put down before I got here and I'm not going to change them any time soon, much as I would like to...
I've been reading what you have to say and note that you have so many years experience of growing all manner of things, many I've barely heard of... I mean, Ostrowskia's.. for heaven's sake...
I shall have to go look that up... I note too your many failures...well, we've all had those... it's very disappointing when you find that some plants just don't like your garden... but a pleasant surprise when you find seedlings from other peoples...
...I have a reddish grassy plant growing - I know what it is - Uncinia rubra - I didn't plant it, it was growing in no soil whatsoever, it seeded into gravel above a thick membrane.... to give it some respect I've potted it up to give it a better life [it'll probably drop dead]... and will find another spot for it... I'm not sure I would have bought one to be honest...
Do you grow conifers Mr Keen.... I quite like a few of these, always had some in my gardens...nowadays they have to be slim, narrow little things, slow growing and must never get in the way...
...I find in a garden like mine, with lots of feminine pinkyness going on... that dark green/blue outlines like these give a calming masculine feel that I need and I use them also as 'full stops'... these are the ones I'm growing..
Chamaecyparis 'Van Pelts Blue'... I just love this slim upright form, very blue glaucous... tolerates and grows well in a hot dry mediterranean type plot... but I have it in cooler conditions here... I find it quite beautiful...
Thuja 'Emerald' ... this is one of my favourites [Smaragd is it's other name], conical very green and narrow...
Thuja 'Brobecks Tower'... another slim outline, slightly twisty, makes a good stopping point...
Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Boulevard' ... another bluey with gorgeous soft foliage and a rounded shape...
Pine mugo 'Wintergold'... this is in a dry rocky place...and I love it's winter colour...
very dwarf...
I also have a couple of prostrate Junipers, a blue and a green, I love these too for their ground covering abilities, can't remember their names...
in other gardens, much larger, I've grown Thuja 'Zebrina'.. this can grow big in time, lovely yellow pineapple scented foliage..
Taxus 'Standishi'... very narrow and very slow...red berries enliven it's appeal
I was not put off by Leylandii 'Castlewellan'.. as a single specimen only away from boundaries...
I fear I have rambled on too much, tell me about yours Mr Keen... you must have some surely...??
hope to talk again very soon... bi for now...
p.s. we all love Busy Lizzie's garden Mr Keen... it looks like a touch of Sissinghurst... roses scrambling over walls and suchlike...
.."a bientot'' I suppose I should say, at this point..
Hi Salino (and for all).. Great to hear from you, thought I had bored you to sleep. Ref your rambling on well not to me and you may have noticed I have more than a very similar tendency myself - you love to natter, I love to natter, we all love to natter. Please do comment any time - love to hear it. And please do drop the Mr. Keen thing - officially I am Keen 1 but the name is Syd to yourself and any others on Site who may care to use it. Ref the many plants I have grown I am just one of many on Site I am sure but you can do a lot of gardening in 56 yrs. I will if I may comment separately on this plant thing and all our likes and dislikes - next post. Now ref conifers. Yes I have always liked them but sparingly since they can I think if overdone be a little heavy. I have had three gardens now and they all had them some biggish and also tall and slimmish - I suppose it depends on the space you have available. I had Cham. law. Fletcherii, Thuyas and a dwarf Pine or two at first and also the Irish Juniper (until it finally goes (literally) sideways. Had a selection at second which this may sound a bit awful but since the garden was only smallish space was at a premium - I took off all the lower branches on all of them and clipped the tops to a ball - looked quite good actually and left space under to plant. Here ( we have been just about three years) the conifers were here on arrival - 3 lovely green tall slim Thuyas, two golden Chams clipped tight at the front. Theres a couple of minis in my recently created raised bed for some encrusted Saxifragas etc ( not mossy) - they are Elwoods and Elwoods gold and also another nearby green flecked white whose name I know not. One of my favourites is Thuya Rhinegold (sp?) which I had in the first two gardens and will get round to planting one here. Another very important aspect with the conifers is their winter worth and as you said adding some height etc. Like the Marjoram etc love to crush a bit of foliage for that lovely "Piney" smell, especially with Thuyas. Ref those spaces I have no idea what on earth happened there but I ain't no genius on PC's as I said-hopefully the Site can remove them?. Regards.