General Chat

Days are getting longer; winter jasmine back in full flower'; snowdrops showing white.

Don't know who wrote this, but my garden favourite :-

When to the flowers so beautiful,
The father gave a name;
Back came a little blue-eyed one,
(All timidly it came).
And standing at the fathers feet,
And gazing in his face;
It said in low and trembling tones,
And with a modest grace;
"Dear God, the name thou gavest me,
Alas, I have forgot";
Kindly the father looked him down,
And said' "forget me not".

Happy days

Strangely enough, I only went to the garden centre yesterday - splashed out £10 of my remaining Christmas money on different seeds, so I'm hoping to have a mixture of flowers and herbs this year. For now, I'm keeping them in the conservatory but it's so nice that it's finally getting warmer!

The forget-me-not is much undervalued for its decorative qualities because of its habit of spreading. Havent got it in my garden for that very reason, but love to see it growing.

Lots of dangling yellow catkins about here..
I always think they indicate spring is on it's way.
Crocus too, I've seen.

Gwyn

Thanks folks. Joan, Meant there were hopeful signs. Nearly quoted Churchill after El Alamein - the end of the beginning, at least. We are starting to roll on a victory path, but not there yet.

Thanks to all Happy days

We have Forget-me- nots in abunance, I love blue flowers.

Thanks Sandie. They glow in a certain type of light. Very accommodating plants.

Best wishes Happy days

Morning Harry
Hope you don't mind,verse written by
Emily Bruce Roelofson

Mau x

Delighted in fact Mau. Often wondered.

Best wishes to your good-self. Happy days-

Good Morning to All
Lovely poem Harry, I too like Forget-Me-Knots

Now, whilst I do not want to come across as the harbinger of doom and gloom, and recommend remembering the maxim,' ne'er cast a clout till May is out', my thoughts are somewhat with Amokavid.
Whilst it is nice to see the odd lovely days we get, though few and far between just yet, and new green growth on some plants, we must not be too hasty.
This is the usual 'calm, before the storm', which girds us all forth to make a start. But, alas we will repent, for our eagerness.
However, I am like Kate, in already visiting the garden centres and buying seeds, and in our case, onion sets for the allotment. Unfortunately, they come into the garden centres far too early, and the best get picked over, leaving little choice. So, I am afraid we have to buy now, but definitely plant latter.
In fact, we never stop visiting the garden centres around here, during the winter. Ours are a wonderful source for all kinds of gifts, Christmas decorations (now in the sales), books, fish, (indoors), all pet paraphinallia, wild bird feeds, clothes, particularly non gardening, all kinds of luscious goodies, and of course, outdoor plants such as spring pansies, heathers, and primroses, which would make up a lovely hanging basket full of colour to take through until almost Easter, by which time, we are setting our summer seeds.
I am just as eager to 'make a start', but, and I say this sitting firmly on my trowel and secataurs, I will have to be content for now, to just looking in the garden centres, and collecting packets of seeds in readiness.
Happy gardening.
Julia in Derbyshire

So sayeth the woman who, by the middle of February, regularly runs her hands through a bag of compost, just to get the feel of it, and to get abit of muck under me nails.

Morning All
Well I have been for a long walk this morning and seen many bulbs just showing their shoots. Snowdrops in abundance and surprise surprise when I looked out into my own back garden I have just seen the pale yellow primroses. Joy of Joys. I really love them.
I too have a garden usually full of forget me nots. I love these too as They die back when the other plants need bedding out and in removing them they self set. Perfect.

Linda :o) XxX

Have you girls never heard of global warming? Get planting and be the first to reap a harvest.

I'll leave mine for a month or two.

Happy days

" a garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever"

I think I put this on another thread............

I'm Welsh.. also love yellow flowers, but cannot get daffodils to grow !!..?

Soil is too heavy / clay I expect !!

Hubby does the garden generally , I do the pruning , tend to stick to shrubs and perennials , he does the annuals in the pots.

Yes, Harry a garden kept well is a thing of beauty :)

Maternal grandfather was a very keen gardener, huge garden like an orchard and self sufficient with veg ,fruit and he loved his roses .

Dad's garden again very large ,but not as large as gramps, grew loads of veg, beautiful soil...kidney beans you could kill for.lol

Our garden is large front and back, I wouldn't /couldn't have bought a house with a tiny garden, hubby is also a keen gardener grows loads of veg, despite the heavy soil.

None of the above are blood related but all had / have a passion for gardening :))...

Sandie.

Sandie,, Most daffs fail cos they're not planted deep enough. The Welsh daffodil (Tenby daff?) is my favourite. Short in height; good flower; and about the first proper daffodil to flower.

I also , love the yellow Welsh poppy, which seed everywhere, but a pleasure to have in the garden.
Happy days

Harry~~

I have loads of yellow Welsh poppies,also nicked the seeds from an orange type my friend had but no luck with those.
Oh, I also have the traditional red poppy a beautiful show:)

Thanks for the info on the daffs:)

I also love my perennial geraniums (think they are ..without looking in my book this late at night). I have small beautiful deep pink ones (so does my neighbour now on his driveway,) lol they must seed too,spiny pretty white ones, the common pink ones (which always grow so large a clump they eventually split and flatten in our weather) , and the tall dark purple ones.

Used to have blue and yellow lupins until they started seeding and growing in the lawn..time for them to go.lol

Sandie.

My last call on this one, although any more replies would be welcome.
Joan - mine are singles. I grow a few in pots so i can lift them up and look inside - they are pretty as a picture.

Sandie - love the perennial geraniums as well. I still like the common one (Endresii) - never asks for anything, pretty leaves and flowers a long time - and keeps the weeds down.

Best wishes to all who have replied Happy days

Hi
Spring has definitely arrived in west London. My first Daffodil is in bloom today. I have snowdrops and several cyclamen in bloom.
Take care
Von

Amazingly today I noticed celandine flowering in the front garden.
It too is potentially rampant but like the forgetmenots it disappears completely by the early summer and does look so bright when we need a glimmer of sunshine

Linda :O) XxX

Another of my favourites is the delicate perennial fuchsia, which is sentimental to me as it original came from gramp's garden,then to dad's..
I now have 6 clumps of if around the front and back gardens.
Some peeps let it grow large but hubby always cuts it back to ground level every year so it usually comes to about 4ft high.

I was disappointed with my wedding bouquet when it arrived, it was supposed to be Stepanotis and a blue flower..name I forget.
So went into the garden and picked lilies of the valley and forget-me-nots to boost the bouquet. I was so pleased with result:) especially as they were from my dad;s garden.:)

Over 40 yrs ago mum had scarlet accessories for a wedding, she didn't want a carnation and florist couldn't guarantee a scarlet rose corsage, so sister and I picked a bundle of red kidney bean flowers and a bit of greenery from the garden, bit of artistry, hey presto a lovely corsage:)
A few less kidney beans that yr tho .lol

My snowdrops are in full bloom.