Daydream fund challenge part 4

choille

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31125694

Remember the abandoned dog at the railway station, well what a great ending to a very sad story.

Fay

Well I promised some time ago to try and post some pics but I have had major problems trying to do it. But I'm ready to try again...lets see!

Veg patch-I want raised beds though

Looking back over the veg patch, greenhouse to the left. This is raised up because it is above an underground air raid shelter.


This is to the left coming out of the back door. The back of the house faces north. The wisteria is beautiful when it flowers and will need its winter prune soon. Also a lovely climbing rose is on the pergola.


Out and to the right of the back door and down the side of the house.





This is an area I would welcome some advice with. When we moved in the bed with the now muted clay fence behind it was full of neglected conifers. We had them removed and I've been stuck with what to do since. The trees on the adjoining land take a lot of the light away, hence painting the fence a lighter colour. I've been testing things out in this bed, it faces west (but a fair bit of shade although not total shade) and is usually quite dry. Euphoribia have done well, rose special child, aliums (oddly), perennial geranium, weigelia, poppy, and most bedding does ok here. I would like it mainly perennials and a cottage garden feel would be good. Any help??

This is before the trees were trimmed (a lot!) and the fence painted.



Another area for help-very narrow border with the pear tree in it. Currently on the right hand side you can see a salvia hot lips that has gone crazy. I have tried lots in here since moving in-tall, short, medium. What would you do with it?

I could also do with advice on my front garden but I will do that another day. I've tolderated photobucket enough.
The garden layour is strange to describe. Lots of different levels and 3 lawns. Outside the back door there is also a large raised area (behind the greenhouse) with a beautiful magnolia in it, large holly tree, and a lovely woodland type feel to it.
Thanks for looking

alfie_1

hi all.... ive been to the IOW today. friends selling her house there and they should be exchanging any day. we went to fetch some precious stuff and fill bags with rubbish [tip]. it was dry but soooooo cold that side of island. we took the rural route [called the military rd ? going back centuries apparently] beautifull views and cottages... truly lovely side of the island..

Davesnave

alfie_1 wrote: »

. we took the rural route [called the military rd ? going back centuries apparently] beautifull views and cottages... truly lovely side of the island..

Ah that's the Alf Tennyson's side.....Bit windswept today I'd think.

I remember DD2 and me trying to reach the ladder to the beach at Whale Chine along there, and giving up because the wind was threatening to blow us over the cliff before we could reach it! :eek:

Davesnave

Fay, I think your border in front of the fence may always need to allow winter access for pruning those trees, so perennials are a good choice for much of it, though shrubs like buddleia and the dark forms of elderberry which recover from hard pruning quickly would also work. Strategic planting of a few evergreens, just to keep from total nudity in winter would still be possible too, depending on what your tree person uses to reach the trees.

Perennials with 'presence' for this area might be cardoons, a helianthus like 'Lemon Queen,' or Eupatorium Purpureum (a good form, as some are a bit weedy.)

In the bed in front of the seat, I wouldn't want to block the view, but I'd probably want to increase the variety of foliage types and shades. So, maybe keep the salvia, but add some non-green plants like stachys or a brachyglottis (which you may need to hard prune occasionally) or possibly a small miscanthus. Hebes can be kept low and will still have leaves at this time of year. Plenty to choose from, like 'Caledonia' which is a purplish colour.

Alexelisey

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Oh, just looked out the bedroom window, and the lights across the Mersey are really reflected beautifully in the river. Must be very still out there. And saw a couple of ships on the river earlier today - mostly chemical/oil tankers going to and from Stanlow. It's such fun to see the ships going by, even though they're too far away to see detail... I use this site for Mersey Shipping to find out what they're called and where they're going.

Maggie you must see "my" ships sometimes - the Encounter (currently in port), the Endeavor and the Philipp :j I have containers on them most sailings, although if you had a view of the Isle of Grain in Kent you'd see the others which I use every week. There was a Coast programme once and I saw the stern end of the Endeavor and I got really excited!

All quiet and normal here, our hen who got picked on in the summer has started laying again and seems contented enough even though she lives on her own. She can see the others and talk to them if she wants. Now we're just waiting for the two "chicks", nearly six months old, to start laying.

We have a few days away next weekend, which will be a nice change. Just down to the coast to spend my birthday in a B&B, it'll be good to see the area in February, it's one of the few times of year that we've not visited.

Keep warm and well, everyone *hugs*

Fay

Thanks ever so much Dave *rushes off to check the plants you've suggested *

Davesnave

Fay wrote: »

Thanks ever so much Dave *rushes off to check the plants you've suggested *

They're just a few off the top of my head and I'm sure there are hundreds more that would be at least as appropriate, if not more so, because choosing plants is a very personal thing. I'm not really a gardener in the true sense either, since it's my DW who does all the placement. I just grow them.

Stopped off at Howdens today to view some worktops.... and had a surreal experience. Virtually every surface in their display area was taken up with the most amazing buffet food! I was handed a plate and told, "Get stuck in!" I had no idea what was going on, but as it was just past 12, I didn't need a second bidding.

Turned out that students at the local catering college place had made everything, possibly as part of an exam, and they needed to shift it. Obviously, builders came to mind.... :rotfl:

It wasn't long before the news spread by mobile phone and vans began arriving full of hungry chaps, but by that time I'd had at least one of everything.....:p Believe me, it was all of a terrific standard; even the Scotch egg yolks looking as orange as ours at home.

Somehow, I managed to do a food shop after that, but I really didn't feel like it. _pale_

As for the worktop I specifically wanted to see....it's discontinued! :rotfl:

choille

Well Dave - that sounds like you couldn't have planned that better if you'd tried.

Today was a bit surreal as we still have the car filled with hay - not in bags just completely Deep South really teuchter stuff - hay just everywhere - as much as you can stuff in a car.......I just felt we'd sunk to new depths, plummeted into a greater morass of depravity....in a way.

Well we heard tell of a trailer & went a got it & it's in really excellent condition. So bang goes a smart fridge freezer, but it will mean that I don't have hay sticking out of all my orifices - well my facial ones at least, when we go anywhere in the car.

Davesnave

"50 Shades of Hay"? :eek:

Nah, I don't really see a car full of hay as the ultimate in depravity! :rotfl: