Hobbies and Crafts

Well, as well as my tuberoses, I also got some Peruvian Daffodils in the £ shop, they have some very unusual plants in there and most that I bought last year were successful.

I think they are a type of Crinum, looking at the picture, also known as Hymenocallis, googling them it appears they have very pretty flowers but floppy foliage so we shall see, worth a try for £1.

Can't really do a lot outside, the fence on both sides is having to be replaced, along the whole length of the garden which will involve big muddy boots trampling over the newly emerging plants. That is those that have survived being crushed by the broken fence panels, many of which have been laying over the flower beds for a few weeks now.

The grass is slowly drying outs and the bulbs are either out or coming out. The main problem will be digging up the patio and relaying it after it's trying to be a swimming pool effort and the retaining wall is looking dodgy, full of cracks so we shall have to see.

Oh, and it looks like something nasty has happened to the Summer house.........

There was me thinking that after all last years work I could just sit back and enjoy it this year.

M. :-(

Gardening presents are the best. For my 10th birthday my presents included a red watering can and that set the trend. One of my retirement presents was a new Fort wheelbarrow which is a joy and beautifully balanced.

Have started to seriously sort through my seeds and am sitting on my hands to stop me sowing them too soon when we get a lovely day like today. Hope to start a great tidy up today, wash down the greenhouse, sort out the seed trays etc. Wonderful to get outside

Anyone growing anything new this year? Trying out Cosmos Rubenza - dark ruby red- for the first time, but will also grow Cosmos Purity White in case I change my mind

Lol Vera, there speaks a gardener.

Happy birthday, I hope you have had a lovely day. :-) :-)

We were out today and I was amazed at the amount of crocuses and daffodils out along the verges.

Your garden must be a picture Ann. We have very little colour in our garden at the moment. I've been waiting to see if anything that the previous owners had planted was going to come up but they obviously weren't gardeners as all we have found is some weeds and a couple of dead shrubs.

A little while ago I got 6 primroses free with a voucher from Homebase and this weekend I was able to get another freebie12. I've got them all in shades of gold as that always looks so sunny and cheerful so at least I'll have a bit of colour in one tiny corner.

Today is my birthday and daughter rang a couple of days ago to ask if there was anything particular I would like for a present. She didn't seem impressed when I suggested a bag or two of compost!

I had a walk round the garden in the lovely sunshine this morning (trying to ignore the fact that I have a sore throat). I was amazed at how many flowers there are out there, Crocus, Helebores, Daffs, dutch Iris, snowdrops, more than usual for February.

Those who don't go on facebook, I have put some photos of the flowers in the garden on the photo blog.

Sounds like a very confused jasmine there Maryanna. It will be interesting to see what the Tuberose does then.

Ann, I had a walk down the lane earlier on the way to the shops. There is a Summer Jasmine, which this winter, has stayed completely green.

It is absolutely smothered with flower buds, not only that I should guess that a good quarter of them are out and in flower. The smell is amazing but something we usually experience somewhere around June or July, not February.

In the £ shop today, I bought some Tuberose bulbs, thought I would give them a go,they are supposed to have a very strong scent.

Not too sure what to do with them but I assume plant soon and wait for them to flower in summer.

The crocus are like a carpet at the moment, well more like a small rug really.

M.

I bet you will soon be tempted when you visit a garden centre Vera. We will look forward to hearing what you choose. We now have a lot of lilac coloured crocus out in the garden plus a few daffs and some helebores and the Mahonia tree is still full of blossom, as is the winter flowering jasmine.

There is a tree in a neighbours garden (not a flowering cherry not as big but not very small either, the blossom is white) which is full of blossom.

Thanks for the idea Maryanna but I already have lots of hostas in pots all down one side of the house. I have copper tape round the pots and that seems to keep the snails and slugs off, provided I keep the pots a little bit away from the wall. Otherwise the little devils just crawl up the wall and over on to the leaves.

I've got several different sorts and they do add a bit of interest to a long boring bit of paving.

Vera, how about some Hostas, as well as the variegated leaves you get blue flower spikes. Just keep an eye on them as slugs and snails tent to find them Oh so tempting.

M

Thanks ladies. I shall have a look round the garden centres and see what I can find

Vera I have planted spring, summer and autumn flowering bulbs under my forsythia, I don't lift the bulbs so there isn't much work involved.

Two weeks ago I planted five sungold tomato seeds and all five have taken, another week or so and I will have to plant them up into individual pots...............here comes summer:-D

Heuchera seem to be fairly easy to grow, although we did lose a couple last year. There are some with bright green leaves that would look ok, they don't root that deeply so should survive there.

You might remember a few weeks ago OH planted out one of our witch hazels in a bed in the corner of the garden. It's a yellow one and is now flowering well and has really brightened up the corner, but I don't think that corner will look very interesting in the summer. I'd like to plant something around and under it.

I'm looking for something that won't mind shade from the witch hazel in the summer. I'd like a bit of colour, preferably in the summer/autumn season. Any ideas please? Do you think heuchera would work?

Yes sadly, still more expected. When we go to Dorset we usually drive down the M5 to Taunton where we have coffee in Sainsburys, then we drive across via the Ilminster road and when we come home we usually take the road that goes through Somerton so I do know the area that you are talking about. (A lot of our ancestors come from the Somerset area.)

Ann, no we usually come from the coast to Taunton then onto the A303 and back up through Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire. This week we had to pick something up from a friend who lives further up near Glastonbury.

That is the area worst affected, north of Ilminster and East of Bridgwater way. She is ok where she is but it is all the land around there that is under water.it is very low lying.

Still more expected I hear. M. :-(

It must be awful to live there, the people interviewed are distraught, they can't see an end to it can they. I assume you were not on the motorway when you drove back?

Ann, it has heads on it about ten inches or more, across, they are huge !! They are a lovely pink that even when they fade, stay a nice colour. This year though it has just kept on flowering and without any frosts they are still a pretty pink.

The poor sheep over the back had to be moved out of their field as it was so wet. There are three big bulls in the next field and even they look like they are having a job wading through the water sometimes.

When we came back on Tuesday through the Levels it was like driving along a causeway, luckily the actual road us quite high but instead of fields each side it looks like you are driving through sea.

I feel so sorry for the people who live there, it is going to take so long to get any sort of normality back. A bit if a soggy garden is nothing compared to what they have to contend with.

M.

Maryanna so spring is well on the way albeit a bit damp. Our Bacopa has flowered all through too, although we have had to tip the hanging basket onto its side as it was getting waterlogged. And we too have winter flowering jasmine out, plus two daffs in full flower, a couple of large clumps of crocus, some Helebores, Mahonia, one small rose bud on a pot grown rose (the only way we can grow roses in this garden). There are still primulas out, mostly flowered all through the winter so far, and an alpine that I don't know the name of. Dutch Irises are starting to flower.

Fancy Hydrangia still flowering, I guess that location is in a micro climat from the flowers that are still flowering.

Lovely sunny day here on the Surrey / Hampshire border, had a horrible, very rainy, night and it is so windy. Garden is under a good few inches of water, I dare not go up the on the lawn, the poor grass.

From what I can see from the patio steps though is that the plants seem to be getting on with things regardless. I have Winter Jasmine and Kerrias, that have been out since before Christmas as have the Bergenias and Helebores.

There is a big clump of Snowdrops in the front lawn which I took photos of on New Years Day and now a group of a smaller variety is almost out, I also have a few a the small yellow crocus in flower and a couple if Daffs that could be out if we get a few more days sun. Nothing happening as far as the Forsythias are concerned though.

Out the back, the Daffs are well up, a couple of wallflowers and primroses are flowering and some of the basket plants such as Bacopa, Felicia, Lysimachia and Bidens are still in full flower and continue to grow.

At the house on the Devon Somerset border where it has been even wetter if anything but probably milder as on the coast, all my summer pots are still blooming, the climbing Rose round the door has at least a dozen flowers on it the Fuschias haven't stopped, even the frilly ones and my Daffs and Wallflowers are well out. Next door has the most beautiful Hydrangea in full flower and several Pelargoniums in her front wall. I brought all mine in, just in case.

I suppose although it had been so wet and windy it had been mild. The last thing we need now are some heavy frosts or even snow, that will just finish everything off or delay things that are starting to flower. Fingers crossed. No cold and even more, NO MORE RAIN. !!!!!!
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M.