Hobbies and Crafts

I think it must be a good year for Hostas Ann. Mine are in 9 large pots, those very big terracotta ones, and they are looking really good.

Down one side of the house is a longish, shaded area and when we moved in it had a paved path and a 12" strip of earth which was just full of weeds. We paved over the strip and put my pots of hostas down there and now we have painted the fence a light sage colour it has lightened up the whole area.

I got 24 French marigold plants free with a voucher from Homebase so I have planted them in a trough and a couple of pots. They look nice and healthy and are putting a bit more colour in to the garden.

Lol in the greenhouse we have about 200 French marigold seedlings/plants. OH planted the whole packet and it looks as though they have all come up. He can plant them out !!!!! :-D

Your Hosta tubs sound great.

200 marigolds would just about fill this little garden, lol. Sadly I don't have a greenhouse anymore. We left it at our old house as there is really not much room for one here.

I am pleased with the garden now. When we moved at the end of September I found it a bit depressing as we came from a big, mature garden that we developed over 27 years to a small bit of scrubby lawn and not much else. It was worth paying for another small removal van to bring a lot of our big pots here as it has given us some plants to start off with.

The corner we concentrated on first now looks as though it has been established for a long while though nothing has been in more than a few months. The grass has been weeded and fed and scarified to within an inch of its life and is now looking green and healthy. Tubs of lilies and pots of agapanthus are all coming up to bloom and - joy of joys - no red lily beetle since we moved here.

There was a bed of five very leggy straggly rose bushes when we moved in. We cut them right back and they look healthier now and have a few buds so I am waiting to see what they look like in flower before I decide whether to keep them or not.

You'll have gathered from me rambling on that I've got over being depressed and am finding it a pleasure to go in to the garden again now :-)

Went to the garden centre for coffee this morning and they had Surfina petunias for 99p each instead of £1.69. Strong plants too so just had to buy 4, one to fill in where I had a space and three to make up a new basket. (As if we didn't have enough already. Then OH decided we needed a new climbing rose but that was nor 99p. :-D :-D

Sounds really good value Ann. The climbing rose will last longer so is always good value. What variety is it?

I was at Chelsea last week and feel in love with a shrub rose Jaqueline Du Pre - white with amazing pink sepals that look as though they were painted on. I got a catalogue so I can order it, but just working out were to put it.

If anyone lives near Worcester the amazing annual plant sale at Bransford is on again on the 7 and 8 June. It's on Facebook. I get there earlier each year but I think some people must camp out overnight to be the first in :-D

Might tell OH about the plant sale K. The rose is a yellow rose, very tight rosettes called (I think and it is raining so can't nip out to see) 'something' Georgiana I will check when it is dry. :-)

I have put a few photos of the gardens of Cornwall and Dorset on the photo blog.

Phew, well we are back from a rather soggy Edinburgh.

It was lovely but I was surprised to see no flowers. I hadn't really thought about it, but I suppose being so much further North they can't risk putting anything out yet.

The only bedding I saw was under cover on the actual station platform itself.

There were some absolutely gorgeous Azaleas out though, in The Princes Street Gardens, vivid oranges and yellows that always smell so lovely.

It has obviously been raining for the last week here in Surrey as well, the garden looks like a jungle. I dread to think what we will find in Somerset when we get back after a fortnight.

One advantage is that the hanging baskets are looking very lush as are the tubs and troughs I planted up before we went. Just as well it rained as I doubt they would have been watered whilst we were away.

If it stops raining tomorrow I will venture down the garden to see how it is all doing. From the kitchen window I an see that the Swiss Chard has bolted and the red, yellow, orange and white stems must be about five or six feet high, they look amazing but are now taking up far too much space in the very small veggie patch.

M.


:-)

Were you up there for something specific Maryanna? I can't remember.today is the first really wet day here for several days. Anyway glad you are home ok. Yes the gardens are looking very green now and everything is growing like mad. :-)

We went up with our friends who are over here for a few weeks from Australia, Ann.

We stayed in a hotel on the Royal Mile so nice and convenient.


Glad you enjoyed Cornwall and Dorset, love Abbotsbury but haven't been for far too long.

M.

photos of some of the gardens on the photo blog

Anyone who saw me just now must have wondered what on earth I was doing - bottom in the air and head practically in the earth of the rose bed. Not a pretty sight!

I was trying to gently unearth the name tags that the previous owners had buried when they planted half a dozen roses. They planted them 4-5 years ago and that was the last time they did anything with them at all. We cut them right back when we moved in and 5 of the 6 are quite big again now, though one is looking a bit sorry still. I've given them all a good feed of a slow release fertiliser today and thought it might be good to know what I've got in the bed.

I managed to unearth all six tags and googled them and they are all very nice roses and all of them supposed to be very fragrant but I am not sure how good they are going to look together. They are a right mixture of colours so I'll just have to wait and see what they look like when they are all in bloom and then decide whether I am going to keep them or not.

Hope you are in for a lovely surprise Vera, sounds as if despite neglect they are thriving. We have one thing left in our garden from when we moved in and that is hidden behind a salix tree. It is a large red floribunda rose which goes on flowering every year even though we can't see it properly. :-D

Trying to clear and replant a large border and the blessed trees over the next estate are throwing off all their 'fluffy bits'. It is making my eyes itch and me sneeze so I have had to take a break. :-) I had not realised how large one clump of grass had grown as it was hidden by the Aquilegia. So now we have huge clumps of grass and Aquilegia everywhere and a full garden bin :-(

Our new lawnmower was delivered yesterday and very posh it is too :-D

Ann weve been having fluffy bits floating around, I'm not sure if it's from willow or poplar trees :-S but I don't like it :-|

Lesley x

They get in your mouth and eyes everywhere and have even floated indoors. Not sure what trees they are from either.

That stuff gets everywhere, I had some in my eye yesterday I couldn't seem to fish out.

It seems to be Willow, Lime and Poplar trees. .when I was a kid I used to get the most awful hay fever around this time of year, ruined my O levels as I was doped up on Piriton which sent me to sleep.

My. Mum got really fed up with me sneezing continually and the accompanying nose bleeds. She took me to the doctor who said. " what do you expect when you live in Willow Way ? "

Nearby we have Poplar Walk and Willow Close and both roads, which are fairly quiet, are covered with so much white fluffy stuff it looks like snow. My friend just a few doors up lives in a house called The Limes, She isn't to popular with me at the moment as all her fluff is heading in my direction. Not that she planted them, bless her.

M.

There doesn't seem to be any coming down now so perhaps that is it for this year.; Not sure what the trees are, may be some willows there.

Just planted 15 bedding geraniums and another 24 French marigolds, but I overeached a bit and my back tweaked so I thought I had better stop. so have just been supervising the positioning of tubs, mainly fuchsias (we overwintered some for a change this year, usually lose them) but also a couple of pelargoniums, a geranium and a pot of begonias. Then moved a large tub (well supervised the move) with a hydrangea in it which appears to be flowering this year (it is about 10 years old at least and has only flowered about twice), and also a pot with a large clump of hardy geraniums (cranesbill) in which is also flowering. Only in the pot because I wanted it out and OH didn't want to throw it out. Anyway we have come in now. OH also pricked out two trays of Rudbeckia so they will need planting out soon as well.

We have just been to the local garden centre looking at bird tables. Phew, what a load of rubbish, £30 for a short one with just a flat top, House types for £45, £50, £100. None of which I would give house (or rather garden) room. Also looked at another rose but OH couldn't see a good one for where we want it. Anyway, going to Newent garden centre tomorrow as we want a couple more heucheras for the bed we cleared so we'll look there. We get the Heucheras from Newent plant centre which is near the garden centre we go to, because they actually grow them and supply garden centres.

OH is now muttering about making a bird table/house :-) :-)

Sounds like you have had a busy day Ann. Or your husband has !! We got my sister a nice bird table for Christmas from Robert Dyas, cost about £20.

For several years we have had some big stone troughs, given by neighbours who moved but didn't like the new people buying their house enough, to leave them for them, in our drive.

There are eight of them they are all about four feet long but are quite shallow. Apart from some bulbs and a lot of weeds they have never had very much planted in them. Except a few years ago when I got a tray of 48 Petunias for a couple of quid and they did really well. The problem is or was, having no water on the drive things didn't seem to get watered. I do chuck water in the pots that are on the doorstep every morning when I am in residence.

A month ago we got another water butt and put it on the corner of the garage, it is full already !! With water more easily available we decided to do something with the troughs. So today we made a trip to a garden centre. I bought two herbs for each one, Thymes, Marjorams, Sages plus something a bit taller for each, like a Lavender, mini Bay tree, Blackcurrant bush and bronze Fennel.

It all looks very nice out there and the majority of my planting is edible. I have also planted up a load of lettuces, put in some more runner beans and sprinkled some radish seeds. On a more colourful note the garden centre were selling off trays of 6 New Guinea Hybrids for £1.50, so I got a couple for some pots that needed a bit of colour.

I also cut back a load of Kerria and gave my Phlox the Chelsea Chop, swept the patio and washed down the garden table and chairs. All this whilst being bossed about by my 2 year old grand daughter and pushing her around on her trike and making " cups of tea " with dubious ingredients from the garden.

I am now sitting down and am wondering if I will ever get out of my chair again. I can't even bring myself to go and get a drink. I am just hoping it will be nice enough to actually be able to sit in it and enjoy it.

I love Summer.

M. :-)

Think you were more busy than me Maryanna The troughs sound very attractive with the herbs in now and as you say all edible. Watch out for snails and slugs though.

With the Chelsea chop for the Phlox. Do you do that before they flower. We have never done it to ours.; What effect does it have?

I was reading the garden ornaments thread on the gen board. And thinking what a pity it is that so many people on here have gardens but never seem to visit this thread. Can't say anything though as it seems as if I am trying to 'push' my own thread.

We have loads of ornaments, a huge red dragon, a red mushroom, a large pink Buddha, two bird baths (One red), three water features, a large stone lady, a stone gnome, found in the garden when we moved another gnome we had when grandchildren were young, a man leaning on a lampost out of my Mum's garden and various small birds and animals, squirrel, rabbit, owl, bird etc. :-D