Good morning Marion, when you're up and about. And once again Happy New Year to you and I hope your 2016 site is as enjoyable as the 2015 One.
Here's today's photo of the Priscilla gladi a beginning one of the Purple. Looks promising. The Pink hasn't got going yet.
The agapanthus are beginning to flower, and this shot isn't very attractive, bPut it shows how dry we are at the moment. Our dams are all down to half level.
My goodness what a wonderful response full of good wishes to my new thread. Thank you all so much. Maureen I too have lots of Limanthes douglasii - the poached egg plant. I used it as green manure many years ago and Bob Flowerdew answered my question of when best to dig it in at a talk he gave, saying dig in half and leave half for the butterflies so now it delights me in paths far from the original veg. patch! Lovely annual and last year I had three flowerings, same as the forget-me-nots and the weigela shrubs.I read in one of the newspapers yesterday that the journalist thought we had lost a season last year. I think we had an extra one. Pat your gladioli are spectacular, I do wish engineers could come up with a way to send some flood water to the countries with drought problems.
My garden is very damp this morning but it was 10 degrees at eight o'clock so feels milder indoors at least. My family visitors did not leave till almost midnight so I got up late. The smell from the Xmas hyacinths is super in the kitchen and I now have six spikes from three bulbs. These will certainly go out in the garden after they have finished flowering with the hope of new baby bulbs forming.
Marion, my garden is small, damp and shady, in the Pennines. I struggle to keep Spring bulbs going for more than a few years (and they are an important source of perfume early in the year) - they rarely rot, as drainage is pretty good, but just dwindle... Do you have any tips, please?
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Morning Marion, sounds like you had s lovely time yesterday with your family.
It baffles me at how they can send people into space with such mind blowing technology and yet can't come up with a global water sharing scheme that would change the lives of millions..........we can only live in hope.
Hello Marion, looking forward to your new endeavours. I love scented plants and flowers and try to include as many as I can, though the perfume often gets blown away! I love my shrub roses, Rosa Mundi and the rugosas that really do fill the air on a summer evening, old fashioned Lad's Love artemisia, to stroke every time I go past and scented day lilies. I noticed today that Chiltern have a number of perfumed Aquilegias - very tempting, but so is most of their catalogue!
Liri, the bulk of my daffs and narcissi are growing in grass. That way they don't get disurbed. I find it is all too easy to forget where bulbs are in borders, especially the little ones, and then they get dug up, moved around and maybe damaged too in the process. Or they get overgrown by more vigorous perennials so their leaves can't stock them up with food as they should, so they gradually weaken. I'm in the Pennines too, even higher than you and it is often windy, but on calmer days the scent in my daffodil meadow is amazing, even though most of them are not especially scented varieties, just standard yellow ones.
Oh Buttercupdays your post has reminded me to get some hips from the Rosa rugosa hedge fronting our local pub whose flowers i sniff every time I pass when it is in bloom! Yes bulbs do well in long grass and in my spinney I have the wild Narcissus pseudonarcissus which just spread every year without any help from me. They are not tall so no wind would harm them Liriodendron and very cheap to buy. They also smell lovely in quantity.
Thanks for that, Buttercupdays. Perhaps I should be more careful to feed my bulbs in the borders after flowering. The ones in grass are also dwindling though. I suspect increasing amounts of shade are having an effect.
I'm really looking forward to picking up some new ideas from you, Marion! You're such an inspiration.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Posts
A fear years ago I grew Limanthes, poached egg flower, which have spread profusely and is great for pollinators.
Good morning Marion, when you're up and about. And once again Happy New Year to you and I hope your 2016 site is as enjoyable as the 2015 One.
Here's today's photo of the Priscilla gladi a beginning one of the Purple. Looks promising. The Pink hasn't got going yet.
The agapanthus are beginning to flower, and this shot isn't very attractive, bPut it shows how dry we are at the moment. Our dams are all down to half level.
My goodness what a wonderful response full of good wishes to my new thread. Thank you all so much. Maureen I too have lots of Limanthes douglasii - the poached egg plant. I used it as green manure many years ago and Bob Flowerdew answered my question of when best to dig it in at a talk he gave, saying dig in half and leave half for the butterflies so now it delights me in paths far from the original veg. patch! Lovely annual and last year I had three flowerings, same as the forget-me-nots and the weigela shrubs.I read in one of the newspapers yesterday that the journalist thought we had lost a season last year. I think we had an extra one. Pat your gladioli are spectacular, I do wish engineers could come up with a way to send some flood water to the countries with drought problems.
My garden is very damp this morning but it was 10 degrees at eight o'clock so feels milder indoors at least. My family visitors did not leave till almost midnight so I got up late. The smell from the Xmas hyacinths is super in the kitchen and I now have six spikes from three bulbs. These will certainly go out in the garden after they have finished flowering with the hope of new baby bulbs forming.
Marion, my garden is small, damp and shady, in the Pennines. I struggle to keep Spring bulbs going for more than a few years (and they are an important source of perfume early in the year) - they rarely rot, as drainage is pretty good, but just dwindle... Do you have any tips, please?
Morning Marion, sounds like you had s lovely time yesterday with your family.
It baffles me at how they can send people into space with such mind blowing technology and yet can't come up with a global water sharing scheme that would change the lives of millions..........we can only live in hope.
Have a good day.
Hello Marion, looking forward to your new endeavours. I love scented plants and flowers and try to include as many as I can, though the perfume often gets blown away! I love my shrub roses, Rosa Mundi and the rugosas that really do fill the air on a summer evening, old fashioned Lad's Love artemisia, to stroke every time I go past and scented day lilies. I noticed today that Chiltern have a number of perfumed Aquilegias - very tempting, but so is most of their catalogue!
Liri, the bulk of my daffs and narcissi are growing in grass. That way they don't get disurbed. I find it is all too easy to forget where bulbs are in borders, especially the little ones, and then they get dug up, moved around and maybe damaged too in the process. Or they get overgrown by more vigorous perennials so their leaves can't stock them up with food as they should, so they gradually weaken. I'm in the Pennines too, even higher than you and it is often windy, but on calmer days the scent in my daffodil meadow is amazing, even though most of them are not especially scented varieties, just standard yellow ones.
Oh Buttercupdays your post has reminded me to get some hips from the Rosa rugosa hedge fronting our local pub whose flowers i sniff every time I pass when it is in bloom! Yes bulbs do well in long grass and in my spinney I have the wild Narcissus pseudonarcissus which just spread every year without any help from me. They are not tall so no wind would harm them Liriodendron and very cheap to buy. They also smell lovely in quantity.
Thanks for that, Buttercupdays. Perhaps I should be more careful to feed my bulbs in the borders after flowering. The ones in grass are also dwindling though. I suspect increasing amounts of shade are having an effect.
I'm really looking forward to picking up some new ideas from you, Marion! You're such an inspiration.
Sorry, Marion - thanks to you too - your post arrived after I'd sent mine! I really fancy trying the wild Narcissus.
Happy New Year to you Marion
your thead is inspirational to us all, thank you
A A Milne