General Chat

My climbing fuschia is growing inches every day, wish my hostas would. my neighbours are in flower and mine show no sign.

Unfortunately my hostas suffered when we were away for a week, you can't take your eyes off them for a minute, they are now very lacy. I have a whole bed of them and love them before the snails get them, they are all different. I do like phormiums as well but they are not frost hardy so we have lost a few in our time.

Just looked it up... and I've got one, a red one, lol... but it isn't in the ground yet, it's still in it's pot....... and it doesn't have a flower. :¬((

My hosta does, though, two... I only have one, wasn't that keen to be honest, but now I have it, I have grown to love the leaves, and go wild if the slugs go near it!!

Love

Daff xxxx

Phormiums can go up to twelve feet when the flower is out, but arent the leaves sharp!

Hi Sunny
The flower stem has just kept on growing upwards its now about 4 feet above the leaves and has 5 flower side shoots. not opened up yet to see the colour but stll amazed how it sprung up from the middle virtually overnight.
I suppose the flower stem could have been at the leaves level & not seen as its a very big shrub, must be 2 feet in circumference, but its still amaxzng how it just grew!!

the gardens sound lovely Liz. at least you wont need to water your new plants today then!

I bet those gardens look a bit sorry today if it has rained as hard as it did here, almost like hailstones coming down, so they were lucky the rain held off for the open days, Saturday and Sunday.
I did get my new plants in last evening as soon as I got home so hope they are ok, better go and check now the rain has stopped.

Lizx

Julia, and all, I am sure you would have loved some of the gardens we visited today, in a tiny village called Lammas a few miles from here. As always we were late cos whilst I was ready to go, o.h. was doing his usual faffing about so we only had an hour but wow, we went first to Lammas Hall, the gardens were beautiful, not perfect and the owner directed me to go across the grass, we don't call it a lawn cos it's not, it's a mess!, well it had clover and barish patches but the beech garden was worth the walk, a square garden surrounded by beech hedges, with four flower beds, lots of lavender and roses and many other plants in shades of purple, of course lol, and pink mainly, the centrepiece was a completely circular bed of lavender about 10' across with dozens of bees, butterflies etc and a big Ali Baba pot in the middle, old and weathered, from which some bright spark said When you rub that pot the genie comes out to do the garden lol
It really was magical and I watched other people walk in there as I had, you stop short and a smile just appears, you can't help it because of the beauty of it all. Yes some of the roses needed deadheading and it wasn't manicured and perfect but the beauty was there for all to share. There were other parts of the grounds to see too and all lovely. Then we went to the Coach House garden, the woman who lives there was on the plant stall where I got three pots of pinks for 60p, as mine are getting a bit past it, and a houseleek for 20p as I collect these and have three or four different ones now. The garden border of the Coach house was lovely round three sides of a nice lawn with a huge tree in the centre for a bit of shade, there was a small wall behind the flowerborder and behind that a meadow that went down to the River Bure, it was lovely. We walked back round the village church to one of the other houses we had been recommended to fit in viewing before the 5pm closing time, and what a joy that was. The garden was very small but so well laid out and so much packed in, I fell in love with a clematis that that had huge pale lilacypink flowers edged with purple, it was spectacular and dozens of sideplate size flowers on it. Through a little archway was another small garden next to a path and a small wall, on the other side was the river and a little set of steps down to a rowing boat. The chap who lived there was feeding by hand two swans with their two remaining cygnets, there had been 10 to start with but foxes, local cats and many other hunter and foe had taken 8 of them. They were such a friendly couple and told us how they found the cottage and bought it, doing it up slowly, while they stayed in their house several miles away. It has taken four years but during that time they got the chance to buy the cottage next door as the 80 yr old lady there was persuaded by her daughter to move nearer her, she was worried about her mother apparently driving straight out onto the road with out looking, at rather a fast pace, everytime she wanted to visit the shops or the doctor etc lol The couple therefore had to sell their original house and move into the old lady's house while they finished the restoration of the first house, and now they plan to do up the old lady's cottage and rent it out as a holiday let. What a tranquil wonderful place it will be to holiday, with a river at the end of the garden, which is shallow enough at that point to paddle or swim in, or row a boat on,
I saw a little miracle while I was there too, a neighbour called round with his baby girl, one of twins whose mother had a heart attack as she was giving birth, I vaguely remember reading about it in the paper. The little girl was small for her age but so sweet and her mummy and her twin are well now, so a happy ending for all. And what a place to bring up children, the chap said the first thing they will do is teach the children to swim and respect the water etc. but the whole scene was idyllic and I am green with envy now at such a beautiful place to live.


Daff, I am sure you will find some lovely places to visit and more cheap plants to buy too, don't forget at some point to go to Aberglesny if you haven't been as the building is as lovely as the gardens!

Lizx

hi Anina, yur post gave me inspiration, nite . x

Hi all, I was re reading this thread, and it occured to me that gardeners are very much like the people on here who are so very generous with their time when we are stuck.
If you take note of what thrives in other gardens in your area, then they will probably do well in your spot. Also I find that if you ask for advice from other gardeners, or just admire their gardens, often they will inindate you with offers of cuttings ect.
My other hobby is patchwork and quilting, and like-minded ladies are much the same. (we are all a bit batty as well)
Enjoy your hobbies folks, and when it goes pear-shaped, it makes other folk feel good about their succeses.

hi jean love and enjoy your garden. x

We have a couple of the climbing fuschia too, new this year, and they are growing fast, about two ft six at the moment. We were given a stone donkey with two pannier baskets and have that in our main garden and are very fond of him. One of our cats used to spend hours sitting between his ears!

I'm not into statuary, generally, either... but do plan on an Aphrodite eventually, all coyly tucked away around a corner, lol... reason being, one of my sons was born in Cyprus, so it will hold a memory... I'd like it to be quirkified, though, lol... and have some plants screening her modesty, lol!!

We'll see.

Next door have wind chimes, quite a few... they do tend to keep me awake on a breezy night, and I can't sleep with the window closed, either. Still, they are wonderful neighbours, so mustn't complain!!

Love

Daff xxxx

I have just put my peas and sweetcorn into their final spot!! And found a couple of nice pots for the grasses. Then it rained... well, bucketed, is a more apt description!!

Love

Daff xxxx

Managed to get two contrasting clematis on my trip to the garden centre, also a climbing fuschia, said to be the only variety that does this.
I do not like Aphrodite like statues in my garden, but then I don't like Gnomes. It is just that my garden is not that kind of garden, but I know alot of people do like them.
However I do like jingly-janglies, like wind-chimes. So went to a second garden centre and bought two more, had a lovely much needed cup of tea and a lovely drive home. What a way for a very keen gardener to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Best Regards to you all
Julia in Derbyshire

I agree with everything on this thread, and although I have a jungle/tropical border, after a couple of years to get it established, I got a bit fed up with just all the green leaves to look at. So, now I buy anything that is about 2-3 foot high, with plenty of colour, and 'drop' them in between the ferns and foliage. I do not 'do' bedding plants as such, but love the fuschia hanging baskets, and the bizzie lizzie window boxes on the summer house. Fortunately for me, my kitchen is on the back, so I can see everything from my window. I even have baskets up in the winter for a bit of colour, though not as much of it.
I did the garden visiting about a couple of years ago, and without sounding big headed, was not greatly impressed. I thought mine was better, but the entrance monies are for charity, so it is a good idea.
I would not say my garden is perfect, but it suits me, and unless the nosey neighbours hang out their bedroom windows and cran their neck, it is for my viewing only.
Happy gardening ladies, off to the garden centre for one or two things, but OH is as now emptying the car boot.
Julia in Derbyshire

Thanks Liz........ Poor R, I'll be dragging him around all these gardens now!

Jude, I am naughty for buying plants and then not getting around to planting them....... I have made myself promise that I shall do it more quickly in future, before they become potbound, lol Your garden sounds lovely, too.

Love

Daff xxxx

www.ngs.org.uk/ will take you to the site then you put in your postcode and how far away you want to go, and the dates etc and the open gardens are listed, we have visited dozens over the years, some more than once. Some times they have lots in one village so you can see many different styles, talk to knowledgable people and get lovely plants at a fraction of the cost usually of garden centres. Sundays will never be the same once you start this malarkey lol

Some garden centres etc have leaflets, there is one printed every year for each area.

Lizx

Ours is a jungle, but l love it:o)))) Wild grasses from the bird seeds, beautiful yellow thistles about 4ft high, aliums about the same height, obedient plant (don't know it by any other name) this year are about 4 ft hight. My secret path, well the beginning of the path is'nt secret but you can't see the rest, tiny bench half way round right next to what was the pond but we filled it in, loads of weeds!! lol
l have'nt a clue what l'm doing, and too often buy plants and forget to plant them. l have 6 waiting to be planted now!!!!

The birds love it with all the grass and thistles:o))

jude :o)

Ours is cottage style, but the front has recently been landscaped for ease of care as it was a steep slope to mow. We buy plants and think where to put them afterwards. Some plants are disappointing when the blurb praises them to the skies. We had 2 nice large pot and bought tree peonies to go in them. They have done nothing but open a few leaves this year. But the Sedum is almost in flower and will be a blaze of colour soon.

That's a good idea, Liz..... how do I find out which gardens are open in this area? I'll google in a moment.... I can now start driving further afield, as well... might drag Ann kicking and screaming along with me for the company, ;¬)) Another week or so!!

I have to start developing a long-term attitude to my garden... having moved around so much, I had to go for instant effect.... many of my shrubs were in containers so that I could move them more easily. If I went for long-term effect... well, often, I would only have 1 year in a place.... not much time to see the fruits of my labour.

I have had the hard landscaping done for me.... the skeleton is there, now I need to fill it all in, lol I love jam-packed plantings... cottage style with a couple of modern twists thrown in. It will evolve over the coming years.... but I am loving it right now, as well, and that is the important thing.

Love

Daff xxxx