Awful weather - typical Brits talk

pink_poppy

The Hosta has lived to fight another day, YBE. I've put it in a temporary pot, on top of a garden chair, until I decide what to do with it and I'm keeping my fingers crossed in the meantime   
We didn't get to Dumbarton or Stirling, unfortunately. We've been clearing out my late MiL's house and garden in Ayrshire and we're just too tired to stop off anywhere on the way home. She loved her garden and had oodles of pots, so I've inherited some of them

Dusty, your pear blossom still looks lovely. I forgot to say about Woody Woodpecker - fab pic. I like your willow grove too.

That doesn't bode well for the fruit trees in Lidl, Farway. I'll steer clear of the Golden Delicious and just hope I get something that will grow here. I might not be able to go there until Friday, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's not much left to choose from.

Mmm, Baileys and chocolate, twopenny - yum   
Your apple blossom looks beautiful - I wouldn't mind one of them - Cox is probably my favourite apple.

It's a bit grey outside, but so mild. I think we have rain forecast this afternoon, so no gardening. I took a couple of pics this morning (next post as they're on my phone) - there's an overgrown area behind where the pond was and I'd like to clear it and plant a Sambucus Nigra?? (the one with pink flowers). At the moment it's full of ivy, bluebells and Winter Jasmine (I think). I'll try to save the WJ and relocate somewhere else. I also spotted a wee violet (just one flower) and the forget-me-nots are back, even though I thought DH had managed to kill them off last year...

pink_poppy

Overgrown area, wee violet and forget-me-nots/daisies…

twopenny

Makes you wonder why we guy all this fancy stuff because when you see how pretty those self seeded flowers are it's just as lovely.
Perhaps we should get down closer to stuff.
Or for some of us, raised banks 😉 

When I was working on the moors I have a picnic lunch laying in the sun and see all sorts you'd normally miss that were real pretty.

Hanging about here because it's rainy and sunny and don't want to break the relax quite day by heading for town and the madness.

pink_poppy

Just been for a walk… aren’t Horse Chestnut flowers beautiful close up 😍

YoungBlueEyes

Woohoo for inherited pots and Hostas with strong bu99erance genes pp I like your mossy stones too

I agree 2p, it's a wonder we go to 'oh and a few plants' centers at all when the natural things are so beautiful, if we'd just stop to look.  What is this life, if, full of care etc.  l like your horse chestnut flowers pp, they're more elegant and ..intricate?... than some people realise. Smell ok too. Daisies and forget-me-nots are a good combo  

Thanks Dusty + Less, but I think my Heavenly Blue wosnames are dying on me, despite me getting it right (!) It was meant to be a bit showery about 4pm for an hour or so, but it started raining about 1030 and didn't stop 'til nearly bedtime. So now they're definitely unhappy and northward-bound. The rancunculus are alright though, so - swings and roundabouts :rolleyes:

I like your pear blossoms and your willow grove there Dusty, just wants a sitooterie imo. And a stream running along the right hand side so that dogs can splash about Gawd toms in June? Well if any of us can do it it'll be you ha haa!

You're right Farway, it is amazing how much you get done when you're only tootling about, you don't realise until you do it all in one day I could spend a week out there really, with little jobs just presenting themselves. That's the thing they don't tell you about going to work all day - it takes all soddin day! I'm working the next 6 Fridays too   Oh and in case anyone is thinking of nipping to morries to check out their fruit trees - take plenty of money. They've gone from £12 to £15 to £20 ! Just plain stuff too as far as I can tell. Apples and cherries and stuff and a couple of pears. 

I love your apple tree 2p yum Speaking of yum - swop the milk for Baileys next time you make a coffee  I'm gonna have to clear the rotting sludge clean out my birdbath I think, watching birds bath is a pure joy  

OT dry today, they say. Mild out there at 6' with a high of 15' to come. Possibly.

Also - have you fallen down the back of one of those gorgeous mountains Luna? @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Edit - here’s one of the Heavenly Blues and a something - 

I can’t do any more for them so they can stop there now. #Shawshank

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

I agree 2p, it's a wonder we go to 'oh and a few plants' centers at all when the natural things are so beautiful, if we'd just stop to look.  What is this life, if, full of care etc.
I like your pear blossoms and your willow grove there Dusty, just wants a sitooterie imo. And a stream running along the right hand side so that dogs can splash about Gawd toms in June? Well if any of us can do it it'll be you ha haa!

The most difficult part of our place is the stream area. I can plonk an old thing in the garden, and it'll look OK, but the stream area's supposed to appear reasonably natural. No spare Crocosmia 'Lucifer' etc!  Then there's the fact that shade, squirrels, slugs, and natural plants kill wussy things off before they establish.  So, yes, Shawshank  definitely applies!

Then there are more issues when a plant is over-successful. Valerian is a good example. I like it, but not in every space.  Much has been culled, but some seeds may have drifted downstream to our strange neighbour's place.

The willow grove might get a sitoouterie one day, but we could do with some of those closer to the house first. We have a seat overlooking the waterfall, but no one sits on it in winter, and in the summer, there's no water! Such is life. Mrs Dusty, being a midge-magnet, wouldn't sit in either place. What she wants is a patio with a citrus candle thing, but we can't afford the patio yet.

Also, the willow area is primarily a farming environment, so it can be full of sheep and sheep poo. It rarely looks so tidy as in the photo, because the sheep chew up the smaller willow stems and stomp the grass down. We aren't having sheep here while our fences need repair, so that's another situation we'll need to resolve this year, one way or another.

Before narcissi go completely off the radar, I'd better post my last few pictures of them at Rosemoor. Here's more of the very yellow ones in the Stone Garden:

And here are some weird little ones, naturalised in the grass, called N. bulbocodium, or colloquially, the Hoop Petticoat Daffodil. 

They look out of proportion to me. I prefer the Tetes or Jetfire.

OT: Currently sunny with a favourable bonfire wind. Rain, some heavy, this evening and overnight. Outlook: seen worse!

twopenny

Oh my gawd Bluey! 
That's something you don't want to see 😭
Perhaps it will come good with some sun, stranger things have happened in the garden.

At least it's only a 4 day week this week. What about a job in a library? They seem to only be part time.

The little plant is Chickweed I think. I let it grow in my garden for the little blue flower and it doesn't swamp anything.

Poppy that's a lovely photo. I do remember that they had that pink inside but you forget. Beautiful trees all year round just huuuge

Not sure about today. I couldn't walk at all yesterday afternoon which was scary but swimming pool open for first time in 3 weeks so that's on the cards if I can get there.
Sun is shining, birds rushing around the garden, enormous bee out there so big it can hardly fly. But big fluffy clouds growing from the horizon.
It's definitely one of those wait and see days. I have some plants to plant and potting to do even if I have to do it on my hands and knees 😏 at least bluey has saved me one job of going to Morrisons to look at trees. I'd rather pay more for a good one than that much for one with a 50-50 chance.

Farway

Sunny & mild start, but like Dusty, rain is on the way for tomorrow, so I need to make full use of dry spell today

Luckily, my back feels fine and raring to go once the sun warms the place up.

High hopes for the Self fertile Cox there 2P, and all the creatures let you taste at least one of them. The blossom is nice though, so I suppose that's something.

pink_poppy said:

That doesn't bode well for the fruit trees in Lidl, Farway. I'll steer clear of the Golden Delicious and just hope I get something that will grow here. I might not be able to go there until Friday, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's not much left to choose from.

Could be a good idea to have your mobile handy, so you can check on the suitability of the variety to your area, assuming you have a choice of course

One site I find useful is https://www.pomonafruits.co.uk/

They do have good guides, taste notes etc.

For instance, they mention James Grieve which should suit you, Scottish variety, and is a good tasty juicy apple. You cannot buy in shops because it does not travel well.

YoungBlueEyes said:

 Oh and in case anyone is thinking of nipping to morries to check out their fruit trees - take plenty of money. They've gone from £12 to £15 to £20 ! Just plain stuff too as far as I can tell. Apples and cherries and stuff and a couple of pears.

Gulp, that's frightening , I was thinking of toddling up there sometime this week. I think they did the same last year because I remember all the dead ones Yellow Stickered, eventually came down to a couple of quid for a dead stick in a pot.

I did see some in Home Bargains, bare root & nothing special, but were around a tenner.

I think 2Ps right, makes sense to pay more for something you know is good and has a fighting chance to start with

By coincidence, I was thinking about Hooped daffs last night, I've wanted some ever since I saw them at Wisley, which like Rosemoor, has them naturalised in a huge Alpine Meadow, along with cowslips, real Welsh daffs etc.

If I think of it, I'll get in early this year and order before everyone runs out.

Managed to get two large pots sorted & ready for my peas, rain permitting I'll hunt some old sticks out for supports later, nothing fancy like Hazel, mine are old buddleia

Spotted some strawberry flowers, again nothing special, just old wanderers that escaped Vine Weevils. Picture if rain hold off.

LessImpecunious

Your Heavenly Blues should have a chance Bluey, despite the rain, as you've planted them in a well-draining mix, just needs enough of their roots to survive and recover....

I think the little blue-flowered plant may be Veronica arvensis (Common Speedwell) 2P, not Chickweed - that has white flowers.

-taff

Can't believe I haven't popped in for three days...In my defence I was attempting to help OH felt the shed roof, then allotmenting to save some peas from shipbags [ ybe!] but it doesn't look like they were after them anyway, so I stuck the next lot in, weeded, made a tree cabbage protection structure [ need to get some mesh now, anyone know the search term to find the right kind?] , sowed more beetroot and properly protected it against marauding foxes and some other stuff that knackered me out and totally eff'd up my ankle...

That's a beautiful white daff Dusty, not so much on the Jetfire, they do look like the petals have all blown off. Lovely Woody the...

Sorry you're cronky 2p, it's definitely no fun especially when you want to get on and do. And fancy her pulling a face abut plums...I'd be over the moon to be offered free home grown plums. woop apricots! Lovely jingle bells too and doggos. And the cows stopping traffic. I got a builders cement mixing bucket [ huge] from lidl for about 6 quid last week to make another pond in mine , if you'd be interested in one of those...I'm not going to bury it, just pile stuff up around it. Beautiful horse chestnuts too.

Totally agree about the more money on better quality, my quince from the net [orangepippin I think]  is going great guns this year, hoping to put it in the ground later on in the spring/summer.

And sorry, it was the suvveners who got the sun [ except yesterday] Wicked Bob the Boulder [ great name btw] good haul for 80p though even if some of it is hankering for the fjords, enough should justify the princely sum you've been busy too! I did like your work diatribe too, it's true, and they don't tell you you have to do it for years too...Such a swindle.

pp, looks like yours are variegated too. Fingers crossed the hosta is still intact.

greenbee, the metal cheapie arches? I bought three of those this year to make the bean structure with added wire mesh over them, they were very bargainous. 

Farway, did you get to the bottom of the toppled birdbath? And sleazy nightclub specsavers more than beer goggles needed for both sexes. well done sorting your pea habitat too...

Also, I may have bought a pom pom buddleia from ebay, will see how that turns out but they d grow fast so hopefully it'll sneak out of Norway...