Awful weather - typical Brits talk

pink_poppy

Baileys in hot chocolate is yum too and very warming on a cold day.

Is the Buddleia the one with the orange pom poms, taff??
Sounds like you’ve been busy, as always.
Good idea on the builders bucket pond - I need to do something with my washing up bowl pond as it’s just sitting there not doing much. I think it’s in the right place, but maybe needs sinking into the soil a bit.

I didn’t know James Grieve was a Scottish variety, Farway, I planted one in an old garden years ago and sometimes wonder if it’s still there. I’ll look out for it in Lidl, thanks.

Those hooped daffs are funny looking, Dusty, they look like they’ve been nibbled 😂

The Horse Chestnut tree was definitely huge, twopenny. I took a pic but it doesn’t do it justice.

I’ve been for a walk this morning - it was lovely and sunny and quite warm (I didn't need my thermal top on for sure 🥵). Took a couple of photos… can anyone name the geese (and I don’t mean Mildred and Muriel 😂)?? The nearby crab apples are blossoming and looking beautiful - one has a baby tree growing from the trunk this year 😊

Working_Mum

Hello everyone,
It's a bit blowy here but R0meo and I had a lovely walk around the wind turbines this morning - I managed to lose TWO balls - the one I went out with and the spare one in my pocket and R0meo was seriously unimpressed. It's hard starting your working week with a dog sitting looking at you like his world has caved in!

I hope you are firmly on the mend 2P after your tumble. It sounded really quite scary so I hope you're taking things steady. I hope you got a swim?? Our sea swim was cancelled on Sunday as the waves were simply too high. I was gutted but we had a nice breakfast anyway and caught the ozone so lulled ourselves into thinking we were doing something healthy!

I think it's lovely you're rehoming your MIL's pots and plants PP. I love peonies. My neighbour next door has three tree peonies in her front garden and two of them, the pink and the white, are flowering already - she has a later flowering peachy coloured one which is adorable. I have put woollen slug pellets and crushed eggshells around my hostas in my garden. You can buy copper tape which goes around the tops of your pots to prevent slugs sliming their way up and over the top to help themselves to your hostas. 

The area around one of my larger hostas was dug up by something unknown at the weekend so I've filled in the area with compost and surrounded it with woollen slug pellets and eggshells and have crossed my fingers - it's a huge one and don't really want to have to think about replacing it if I'm honest!

I love your willow walkway Dusty - it looks ace. 

I have high hopes for your little blue rescues YBE - they're in a sunny spot so I have my fingers crossed. I didn't want to venture into any supermarket of GC this weekend as I thought it'd be bonkers and I struggle with crowds! I've got a GC voucher I need to spend so will have to venture out soon - was thinking it'd have to be after the next BH though

I did a bit if tidying up in my garden over the weekend; cutting the grass, some weeding and the like. I have some gaps which need filling in my wild forest-ty area at the bottom of the garden - it is where I removed the gravel last year so knew I'd have this issue so I've decided to ruminate on it a while and see what ideas come to mind!

I found some dog fur in my garage so decided to push it through the hook on a hanging basket chain. It has almost gone and I spotted a little bluetit who kept popping to it, rolling it into a tight ball and then flying off with it between its beak. I managed to get a snap



I'm trying to create a copse of trees in pots on my lower patio! My patio fruit trees have started growing and the cherry has a little bit of blossom. My goosegog is heading north though I think as there has been no growth at all since I planted it in its pot

It rained like billy-oh yesterday which wasn't forecast. It gave my plants a good soaking so I was happy with that! I'm trying not to spend huge amounts of money on plants this year so trying to be patient and intentional. I have started a list of things I like to see come up in my garden next Spring though so I can get them in during the autumn.

Wishing everyone a super week ahead - no rain in the forecast for me currently so think I'll be out there every night after work eyeing up whether I'll dig a pond or not!

((WM))

wort

Lovely fruit blossom on show here. I didn’t realize the flower on the cox was so big.
fingers crossed 🤞🏻 YBE for your blue thing, a little hint of green there. 

Easter Sun was sunny and enjoyed a family tea. Even sat out for an hour.
Work was busy Monday with tech issues with contactless 🫣
Today started nice, so planted the verbena, then as all the weeds had reappeared in the paving I decided to spray rather than dig out again. After which I went out and we had a downpour so the spraying was a waste of time.
the bluebells are out I don’t have many think I stole from my dd2 s . Some of the seeds I sowed outside are sprouting so hoping the slugs have blinkers on 🤞🏻

-taff

pink_poppy said:

I Took a couple of photos… can anyone name the geese (and I don’t mean Mildred and Muriel 😂)??

My sister can Name That Bird In One so I asked her...Greylag Geese..

-taff

Working_Mum said:

I'm trying not to spend huge amounts of money on plants this year so trying to be patient and intentional. I have started a list of things I like to see come up in my garden next Spring though so I can get them in during the autumn.


((WM))

Can't remember where I read o saw this [ might have been here, brain does not compute all memories] but it was something to the effect of the longer you garden, the less plants you buy which was alluding to the fact that once you have a perennial, you can propogate from it however it s done [ they have obviously not heard of my disaster rosemary cuttings 3 living from about 80 odd] and gain not only more plants but a more cohesive planting scheme where things repeat...

pink_poppy

Ooh, thanks taff (& sister) for the goose ID - not one I've come across before  

W_M, so nice to see you back here. I thought about you when a Rhubarb butter recipe popped up on FB - I wondered if you'd tried it as I know you make apple butter.
Funny you mentioned about the Bluetit helping itself to dog fluff - I was watching a Goldfinch this afternoon backwards and forwards to where our pond used to be collecting leftover fluffy pond liner stuff. It was busy pulling at it, then it would have a wee stretch (looked quite comical) and then it would start pulling at it again, before flying off with a beakful.
Your neighbour's peonies sound lovely. My MiL's peonies are nowhere near flowering - no buds at all - I like the leaves though.

wort, can I ask where you got your Verbena from?? Is it the Bona wotsit one?? That one is on my wanted list.

It's a lovely evening here - warm and sunny with a clear night forecast. There was talk of a decent Aurora this week, so I'll be hanging out of the bedroom window tonight    

pink_poppy

I’ve just been out to put the recycling in the bin and there was a wee bird tweeting away at the very top of one of the crab apple trees - I couldn’t make out what it was so I zoomed in and took a pic… it was a wee Bluetit 💙

LessImpecunious

My blossom finally catching up with everyone else's - here's a pear (Jargonelle, don't think we've ever had an edible pear from it, but beautiful blossom, and loaded - couldn't get a good shot of the whole tree tho😕) 

(Also, apologies, despite following advice someone posted t'other day I couldn't resize successfully by dragging corners, etc - just squashed the pic...)

First apple flower....

and here's some plum, looks good(ish), but tree is sadly moribund unfortunately, so not holding out much hope...

Intended to try for a cherry shot too, but forgot!

Weather cool (breeze, especially) but sunny spells with several (white) butterflies flitting about ...

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Those hooped daffs are funny looking, Dusty, they look like they’ve been nibbled 😂

The Horse Chestnut tree was definitely huge, twopenny. I took a pic but it doesn’t do it justice.

I'm not a fan of the Hooped Petticoat Daff, but I included it in case someone else found it attractive, or had spotted some without the luxury of a RHS name tag!. 

Your detailed Horse Chestnut photo set me off on a trip down Memory Lane. I suddenly recalled inheriting some trees in pots with my first house, one of which was a chestnut. Although I wasn't a gardener then, it bothered me to destroy the large sapling, so I took it to my parents' house in Warminster, to see if I might plant it at the far end of the garden. Dad, who'd never planted a tree in his life, wasn't keen on something that would cast shade, so I nipped into the lane behind, and planted the chestnut just behind the boundary fence. I don't remember much more, except that the tree was still living when my folks moved to another town in the 1980s.

So... Google car at the ready, I nipped across to Warminster and 'drove' along the lane to see if my chestnut was still there. If so, it would be nearly 50 years old.  Alas, just before the point where it might still be, a barrier against traffic stopped the car!  The lane now leads to a nature reserve. Maybe it's best not to know!

I've been enjoying everyone's photos of fruit tree blossoms. There's no doubt, the pears have the whitest of white blooms, even if many do not produce worthwhile fruit. I liked the two blue tit photos as well, even if they reminded me of my inability to catch the great tits here when they visit the feeders. There and gone in a couple of seconds!

I'm glad Less.... Edit: Whoops, it was taff! (and sister) ...was able to ID pp's Greylag Geese. I knew they looked too chubby for Canada Geese, because I've had a recent encounter with 4 of those at Rosemoor. You might have spotted one lurking in the background of my Skunk Cabbage photo. They were two pairs, not existing entirely peaceably, as the dominant couple were trying to drive the other two away from what was possibly their chosen nesting site.

There's the Asian Skunk Cabbage again, and in the background, the oak I thought had been a casualty in the winter storms. It looks rather lop=sided!

Eventually, all four gained enough confidence to come onto dry land to feed on the grass. By then, there were few visitors left, and we kept at a respectful distance. A tip: if you want to see local gardens without the crowds, pop in at about 16.00. That still allows 2 hours, and people will be thin on the ground after 17.00.

Yesterday, we had perfect conditions for the bonfire I'd prepared in the stream area.   It even rained on cue at dusk, when I wanted to be sure it was truly 'out.' With tonnes of thatching bales stored nearby, a shift in the wind could be catastrophic. After the rain, a mixed day today, with sunshine and cloud in equal measure....and our Easter guests all go home. Lovely to see them all, of course, but some calm gardening time (and far less washing-up!) is now in order. The next few days look changeable, but better is promised at the weekend.  

Dustyevsky

-taff said:

Working_Mum said:

I'm trying not to spend huge amounts of money on plants this year so trying to be patient and intentional. I have started a list of things I like to see come up in my garden next Spring though so I can get them in during the autumn.
((WM))

Can't remember where I read o saw this [ might have been here, brain does not compute all memories] but it was something to the effect of the longer you garden, the less plants you buy which was alluding to the fact that once you have a perennial, you can propogate from it however it s done [ they have obviously not heard of my disaster rosemary cuttings 3 living from about 80 odd] and gain not only more plants but a more cohesive planting scheme where things repeat...

Rosemary is notorious for dying when potted-up. Don't be too kind. Lots of grit and not much water. I give the same advice for this plant that self-seeds easily, but buys a one way ticket to Norway if you have the temerity to move a seedling and attempt to care for it. 

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/81302/erodium-pelargoniiflorum/details

Just take a small plant with as much soil as possible attached, dump it in a hole, and run away! Alternatively, simply accept it cheerfully moving about the garden. 

Oh, and the RHS is wrong . It grows just fine on our acid soil, and if you ever see one 0.5m tall, take a photo. I never have!.