General Chat

Julia, I had the red one and o.h. managed to break it before it got going, he is always poking around in 'my' tubs telling me I don't look after them properly, he lost me that one and then managed to pull up my Elizabeth Campanula which had done so well for two years before that. He is a real pain and hopeless at gardening really, it's only since I have been around that there is anything nice growing here. It was such a boring patch before with a hebe growing like a huge carbuncle spreading over the lawn and dead in the middle, and a conifer that grew to the ground so that another huge area was lost to use. I cut the lower branches of that off so he gained a lot more garden space as I did with the hebe and some other shrubs, and now there is more planted in the ground or in tubs so that it looks splendid.

Hope yours thrive when you get them in,should be cooler soon and some rain too

Lizx

By the way, another lovely fresh bunch up from the allotment before I was up this morning
Julia in Derbyshire

Purple, you are so right, I didn't type it correctly. I have a coral coloured one in my jungle/tropical border,and have a wine coloured one ready to be planted and trained up a wall on the 'front'. It is too dammed hot to go in the front at the moment, but I am keeping the plant well watered in readiness
Julia in Derbyshire

Thanks Liz, still don't recognise the name though.

goodness that is a long time for a cyclamen to flower, i would leave it as, if you move it to another pot an diturb the roots it may die.

ann
Glos

Ann, I think Julia means Phygelius, we had a lovely one with orange flowers growing up the outside of the house near the front door but o.h. cut it down in mistake for a weed one time and it never came back!

I have a cyclamen that hasn't stopped flowering since I bougth it for £1.50 in Hunstanton in November 06! It's still in it's original pot and is on the kitchen windowsill, no heating except the cooker even in winter. It's a white raggy edged one and is lovely, I am half afraid to repot it as it might not carry on. I also have a lovely cerise ordinary cyclamen on the bathroom windowsill which faces same way as kitchen and also has no heating at all, and it does wonderfully well. I do love them but no space inside for any more altho I have my outdoor ones in a tub, which I got in a small pot from Aberglasney Gardens in Wales, a few years ago and have made up wonderfully.

Lizx

When I go down to Cornwall at this time of year, the hedges are full of fuschias.......the bells are so large and fat and the foliage so healthy......they seem to grow wild.....

I will have a go with the tubs Ann......thanks for the tips on other plants too....

:0)....

Sally, buy a tub/pot, put some compost in (bought from the garden centre) and buy a couple of well developed plants. We have just put a zinnia in one pot and a Gazania in another pot, both give a good show.

What hobbies do you have? maybe we share other interests (F History for example)

Julia, we too have more fuchsias than you can count, love them all, we have a lovely basket with two in, one is Blackie an one is Millennium.
Must look out for the Bergamot then, sounds interesting. Not heard of the Pygelius, will look for that too.
We are at our daughters in hampshire at the weekend and they have a wonderful garden centre near them (well they have more than one but haskins is the one I like best (helped by the fact it is next to Hobbycraft!!)

Off to buy the papers before it gets too hot to walk round the shops.

Ann x

Hello Ann - your daughter and son in law, are very lucky with their orchids. I think they are beautifull. Just had a smell of the berganot, and though it is not a strong smell it is slightly orangy, but its appearance more than makes up for the lack of smell. I can't resist clematis, I'll stick one anywhere I can. Another good climber is the pygelius. It comes from South Africa, and has tubular bell shaped flowers abit like some fuschias, and I can't begin to count the amount of fuschias I have in hanging baskets.
We too like the garden centres to have a nice coffee shop, though the one we are going to on Sunday hasn't , but it is only a few miles from another one that we go to and it is worth the drive because it is in what is know as D.H. Lawrence country, and I pass the house that my Gt. Grandfather and his family lived in when they first came this way from Lincolnshire, and in the 1881 census.
In the winter, when we have been shut in all week, we will have a drive to a garden centre for somewhere to go, even if we do not buy anything (not often). The meals are such good value for money, and have a very varied menu.
I'm off now to attend to day three of my sourdough starter, make some strawberry conserve, yes we have a glut, feed my tomatoes, and pot up the bergamot. That pile of ironing will just have to wait till it is cooler.

Best Regards
Julia in Derbyshire

It seems you have a keen interest in gardening Ann, which proves that sharing a birthday does not mean you have the same interests......lol...

Mum & Dad and FiL, my Sis and BiL, my Daughter, all are keen gardeners......but that talent has passed OH and I by.......that is why we have trees and lawn.......and the odd daff or tulip that pops up every year without trying.......I have been thinking about having things in pots scattered about the garden.......like the tubs outside the front of the house......and growing sweet peas might be a good idea.....

I will have a quick google and see what I have to do.......I also want to grow some wild flowers from seed.....

sally

Good morning Julia and thank you.

We do have cyclamen in the winter as my OH loves them and can't resist them!! Our conservatory gets really hot, especially if we are away, we do have blinds now but contrarily, if we leave them down it is too dark for many plants.

Our daughter and son in law grow orchids very successfully but they keep them in the lounge, they need light but not too much, warmth but not heat, they are very fussy plants. we are often tempted but have so far resisted as we don't have a place in the house that seems right for them. Never thought of artificial ones!!

OH also grows and can't resist clematis, we have had some beautiful ones this year and the flowers have lasted well, one has been in flower since early May.

I like the sound of your jungle garden, i like ferns, didn't used to but they have 'grown' (sorry) on me, I have them in pots down by our end of the garden water feature, next to a bed full of hostas. This is where we sit if we go out for an evening drink in the garden. I like the sound of your bergamot. does it smell like bergamot oil?

We too are frequent garden centre visitors, but we do like them to have a good coffee shop as well, all part of the outing!!!!

Love
Ann xx

Good Morning Ann, I think you would describe my conservatory as being more west facing, but not without its problems when it comes to plants. I have a tray of cacti on top of the tumble drier, but on the window sills I have a couple of New Guinea Bizzy Lizzies and a couple of Pot Mums. I also have several pots of 'artificial' Orchids. A couple of years ago, I bought several real Orchids, but found I could not 'keep' them. They had cost me a small fortune, and were absolutely beautiful. Wherever I went I bought another, but I could not make them survive. So, what I did was buy some artifical stems, two of the same type per pot, and pot them up to look like the real thing. And people certainly thing they are the real thing.Of course, you still have them in situ in the winter, when I entersperse them with cyclamens. All very colourful, all year round, and cost effective, because I recently took the cyclamens down into the greenhouse as they were past their best, left them to dry out for a couple of weeks, tidied them up, and they are now in new growth, ready for the winter.
Yesterday, I called in the garden centre, as you do, on my way somewhere, because I wanted a new tub. I thought they were all too expensive, but ended up buying two lovely mimulus plants and a Bergamot. This is about 2 1/2 foot tall, and has beautiful fuschia pink coloured flowers on top abit like thistles. I am told it will die down in the winter, but come back again and spread. A couple of years ago, I created a jungle/tropical border, but got a bit board with just the greenery. So I like to drop in some tall striking pots among the ferns etc., such as lilies, for a bit of colour. The Bergamot is destined for there also, when I have put it into a longtom pot.
Alot of my gardening is trial and error, but eventually I do find what goes best where. I am always on the look out for something new. We have four nice garden centres within about a five mile radius, and as a regular visitor to them all, I have become accustomed to which centre is best for what plant etc. One I am going to on Sunday, for instance, is great for clematis. I have wanted to put somemore of these in, to grow on this side of a trellis, in view from my kitchen window. A small 'water garden' in a large tub, has sadly spring a leek, so I will out the few water plants, and put in a couple of contrasting clematis.
Every year I always say I am not spending as much on my garden, but I just cannot resist, though I do have a policy that a plant has got to be worth its price. At one time, it was nothing over £5, but nowadays it is more like £6.99. But then, what else do I spend my money on.
All winter I am on the lap top, and there again, I am very cautious for what searches I have done, especially when some charge £20 per hour, though I have found the one at Northampton, whilst being very thorough, only give you what you have asked for, that is if you know what you want, rather than point you to something else.
The thing is, everything costs, and if we want it, we have to pay.
Happy gardening
Julia in Derbyshire

As I said Sally ours are grown in tubs so you don't really need a garden yo grow them in.

Julia, when you come back, what plants do you put in your conservatory and is it south facing? ours gets so hot that only cactus seem to survive, I would like to try something else in there.

ann
Glos

One of my favourite flowers Ann.......when FiL used to have a nice garden.......MiL would always bring me a bunch when they popped in........shame the garden is all laid to lawn now.....

sally

Lovely gardening thread. Can't join in now as I have to start the tea in a few minutes. I absolutely love gardening, and OH has an allotment. I never seem to go anywhere without I buy at least one plant for the conservatory window sill (older type of conservatory built by my dad and his mate).
Julia in Derbyshire

I am sure you have a spot somewhere in that garden, it seems like a garden for all seasons and aspects Lol!! I meant to have a look at the front to see what the next stage will be.
Yes I like my higgledy piggledy garden with plants in all the places they shouldn't be!!! T''s sweet peas are all in tubs, for some reason they don't grow too well in our soil. they are against the trellis on the lower patio can't be seen from the house but can be smelled when we sit down there in the evening. That reminds me, we've got a white plant flowering, have a vague recollection of planting it last year - bought in a sale at Blooms but can't remember what it is, thought it might be a lavatera but it is not like the pink one we used to have (outgrew its position and got the chop!!!

Ann xx

Aw Teddy, that is sad.

Ann, but it looks so wonderful!! I know mine is different, but yours was my inspiration... I loved yours... and I love that tumble and mass of flowers and green, all jostling for space.... I don't like to see earth between plants, lol Yours is definitely my sort of garden, with little treasures all tucked away ready for you to find them as you wander around!!

Love

Daff xxxx

Just been to look at them on an online *nursery* and it seems thay prefer a spot with full on sun :¬(( I'll have to wander around and find one then...... xxxxx

The smell of Sweet Peas, reminds me of my dear Auntie, who helped bring me up, after the death of my mother. It was her favourite flower, She was a single lady, and only had a little garden, but she looked after it,and was very proud of her sweet peas, lily of the valley and London pride. Also had a small plum rree grown from a stone she had planted.
Sadly, she had asbestosis and died on D-Day,. never living to see me grow up, and when I think what I could have done for her, it makes me very sad. So when I smell them, it is tinged with sadness.

Mo

Yes if they would climb high they would look good on the Horse Chestnuts. We had a couple but not seen them this year, they were old so maybe they outgrew their strength (or got choked out, as you k now it is the survival of the fittest in our garden!)

Thanks Dawnie.... I still owe you a pm!! Hope you are feeling better. xxx

Love

Daff xxxx

Daff

I got some bedding plants online and were ok and the tree i got online is still going.