Awful weather - typical Brits talk

pink_poppy

Dusty, the thrushes are backwards and forwards all day. I think they must be two different families, because they fly off in opposite directions and have squared off to each other on occasions. They love the suet block crumbs and also the sultanas I throw out several times a day.

I was sad to find a wee juvenile Robin dead on the path yesterday 😢 I think it must have flown into the garage window. The nest I accidentally uncovered a while back is exactly the same - a broken shell in the nest alongside some eggs. I’m wondering if it had been abandoned for some reason before I came across it, because I thought parents removed the shells from hatched chicks??

taff, your garden is huge. It’s looking good with all the plants.

Your rose is beautiful, twopenny.

wort, is your hydrangea (??) evergreen?? I planted one in my last garden, but it never got to the flowering stage. I couldn’t spot the bees 🐝 

YBE, Robin De Niro 😂

OT - another gorgeous day here. I loved these clouds (spot the photobombing UFO) this morning…

twopenny

No, unfortunately the climbing hydrangea is deciduous but on the other hand won't get damaged in winter.
I got mine from Morrie's. 
Yup, still hanging about. It's quiet, 26c and the fountain going, birds singing and I'm finishing my book in the garden. It's too nice to get busy.
Most I'm doing is watching the washing dry and waiting for my coffee to percolate. 🙂

wort

2p my house is just a fairly new semi, the hydrangea wraps round my garage onto the garden wall, Pp that one isn’t evergreen but I do have the evergreen one at the other side of the garden, it took a few years to bloom, so long I’d forgotten it was a hydrangea as the leaves are different. My water butt is empty now. Though it’s looking like we might get rain Weds.

wort

Dusty glad you got to eat the strawberry, and hope you enjoyed the party 🎊 
Farway the poppies in the sunlight ,great pic and I think I prefer the small white wisteria tree than the arch tbh.
Taff look like you are going to be busy , but it will be worth it.
2 p you are so good with the roses, the peach one is fabulous especially good if it is scented.

YoungBlueEyes

Just a quick one this morning, I’ve a shower to get yet. 

Dusty that’s a proper party menu, washed down with some good beer was it? Yep I’ll point out to Big Boss Man that I’m not a newbie any more, tomorrow probably cos Monday are mental. I’ll have to think how to phrase it…. 

Good luck with your seeds Farway, and your dahlias 🤞🏻 Good thing there’s always a morries for plan B eh. Ooh that’s a(nother) new one on me - Wedding Cake Tree. Well named eh! 

Gawd gb I thought you just had some plants to get out and a bit of pruning or something, that’s proper work! Well if anyone can do it it’s you. 

Taff your garden’s a belter, and I love the colour of your shed 😊 De-manging (?) foxes, your kharma will be in great shape 😃

Woohoo for your apricots 2p 👏🏻 I’d have that rose 😍 but you can keep the heat. 27’?! We’re about half that (feels like) on this side and I’m fine with it thankyou. 

Ah I’d love a hydrangea like that wort, such a beauty. I’m on my phone so zooming in to see the bees is a bit easier  

pp was Robin De Niro waiting for ya this morning? Record him saying something so taff can tell us if he’s talking Italian 🎼

OT cool and nice here atm, but a bit of warmth to come. They say. A high of 17’c and no rain. 

Oh and I asked Cissie if vinegar was good for bites - she said it’s alright if you’ve no proper cream. Apparently I was misremembering our ‘suntan lotion’ which was oil and vinegar shook up in a 7Up bottle - the oil keeps your skin moisturised and the vinegar keeps the bugs away and stops you burning. I don’t remember any of us ever being bitten or burning, but that’s still not medical advice.

greenbee

Sounds like your 'suntan lotion' was more of a marinade YBE  

Yes, there's a lot to do in the garden, but it needed doing anyway. This has just helped to speed up the process - and given the weather we're having I think it's a good idea to focus on improving the garden rather than leaving it for another year!

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

I've flicked back a few more pages to try a proper catchup. I love the pic of your cosmos Dusty, that's such a vibrant rich colour.

Yes, it's great when it opens, but that vibrancy does fade to pink after a time.That might be OK, though, in some situations.  If/when we get to plant it, I'll do another photo.

-taff said:

 Gorgeous rose too, hats off  Look at those perfect green [no black spot] leaves! Shame about the ongoing name assocations ....And yes, peat free is useless...maybe I should try some expensive stuff...begins with an s or something and is made in Dustys neck of the woods somewhere...

The name offered, and its alternative associations, are wrong!    The rose is 'Climbing Arthur Bell.'

https://www.rhsplants.co.uk/plants/_/rosa-climbing-arthur-bell/classid.2000046631/

Mrs Dusty has spoken....and she has the label....err....somewhere!

On the compost front, if you're thinking of Sylvagrow, that comes from Wiltshire. I've used it, and it's OK, but for better value, I'm now using a local garden centre's own brand, made in Ireland, and still containing sphagnum peat.  It's lovely stuff, with zero detritus, and £5 for 50litres, if you buy 4 bags. Sadly, this doesn't help folks here, apart from those living roughly between the Launceston, Bude and Crediton areas, which is the only clue I'm giving. I don't want to find them sold out next week!  

PS Your garden looks like parts of ours, where things are going on. Those 'things' take years, but they happen if an overall plan is kept in mind and the components are economically gathered. After all, we are not registered charities with huge funds and many willing helpers, working for free!

Lovely Hydrangea petiolaris, wort! They do cheer a building up. We've not had one since our first house with a difficult north-facing wall, as our last two houses have been rendered and need painting. Maybe the next one.... 

2p, It's worse when your car doesn't just tell you what gear to be in, but also puts it in that gear regardless. Our wee buzz-box wouldn't buzz so much if we could override the auto!

Another flying fish pp...! Wow, that one can jump!

OT: More general warmth, but with some cloud to keep temps down a little, and another chilly night down to 5c tonight. Do I spot some rain approaching at the weekend?  Hope so.

Today's photo : After Farway's wonderful wisteria tunnel at Whizzley, I bring you the Rosemoor cheapo alternative! It's the squash tunnel in the veggie garden, which they've cheered-up temporarily with Hesperis matronalis (Dame's Violet.)  I guess the squashes won't go in for another week or two. Meanwhile, the insects benefit.   Peach wall in background.

 

Farway

A lot of reading catchup to be done since yesterday, a busy lot.

-taff said:

I happened to catch a piece of film on youtube the other day about the first xeriscape gardens being done in Nevada as a response to water conservatione etc and was amazed it was 25 years old. That particular thing seems to have been living in my head for a lot longer. I expect using weeds as garden pkants and not weeding so vigorously will be the same in another twenty years...And yes, peat free is useless...maybe I should try some expensive stuff...begins with an s or something and is made in Dustys neck of the woods somewhere...

I had to look up xeriscape, seems to be what I know as Prairie Planting, but I expect there are differences I'm unaware of.

There is a cracker of Prairie planting at Wisley, I think they did something similar for the Olympic stadium in London? Seem to recall a programme about it, and the method spread from there.

If you search under Olympic Park, there's lots, including YTube

If I had time, space & dosh I'd have one.

Now I want a climbing Hydrangea, I need a house with umpteen walls, one for wisteria, one for the hydrangea, one for the fig, grape, peach etc etc. Have to be octagon shaped house at least.

twopenny said:

No, unfortunately the climbing hydrangea is deciduous but on the other hand won't get damaged in winter.
I got mine from Morrie's.

Must take my blinkers when I visit, or I'll come home with one!

wort said:

Farway the poppies in the sunlight ,great pic and I think I prefer the small white wisteria tree than the arch tbh.

Ta, there was another white one, hanging over a pond, if it had been reflected it would be a cracking pic, but no reflections so had to walk on by [the Leroy Van Dyke one, cos I'm very old]

Dustyevsky said:

The name offered, and its alternative associations, are wrong!    The rose is 'Climbing Arthur Bell.'

https://www.rhsplants.co.uk/plants/_/rosa-climbing-arthur-bell/classid.2000046631/

Mrs Dusty has spoken....and she has the label....err....somewhere!

On the compost front, if you're thinking of Sylvagrow, that comes from Wiltshire. I've used it, and it's OK, but for better value, I'm now using a local garden centre's own brand, made in Ireland, and still containing sphagnum peat.  It's lovely stuff, with zero detritus, and £5 for 50litres, if you buy 4 bags. Sadly, this doesn't help folks here, apart from those living roughly between the Launceston, Bude and Crediton areas, which is the only clue I'm giving. I don't want to find them sold out next week!  

I had an Arthur Bell, shrub one, it was right duffer, but came as "free gift" on promotion so could hardly complain. I was glad when it died away TBH.

Compost, not tried Sylvagrow, I see it is RHS endorsed, so I may have to sell a kidney & buy a bag next year.

Caught up on watering, and generally caught up all round, even plicked out the Minibelle toms

The rootless dwarf dahlias seem to have survived transplanting

I've got one male flower on a cuc, so that has settled in

And, I spotted one surviving Sunset apple this morning, maybe I'll get a taste after all, rat permitting

Plus, fox in neighbour's garden first thing, probably the culprit knocking over my bird bath and digging the new clematis up.

Does a grapefruit flower trump a ripe strawberry?

This grapefruit is outside, sheltered of course, grown from a pip by DS when he was at Uni decades ago

Only flowered once before, many years back. 

I think it's flowering may be linked with new Popes, a bit like weeping Madonnas.

pink_poppy

YBE, your puns are getting worse 😂

Dusty, yours too 😂

Edited to add Farway to that list too 😂

I’m considering hanging the washing out in full PPE, the midges are that bad this year 🦟  I can see oil and vinegar might deter them, but I’m not sure I want to smell like a bag of chip shop chips 😂 gb, your marinade quip made me lol. 

I wonder if my evergreen hydrangea is still there and if it’s started flowering, wort. It would be 6-7 years ago that I planted it.

The Rosemoor squash tunnel is stunning, Dusty. I think big swathes of colour can look so effective.

Congratulations on the grapefruit flower, Farway, very impressive.

I was out for a walk earlier and spotted a newly fledged baby robin ❤️ I took a pic from a distance before it had the good sense to hide behind a plant. I’ve got a baby blackbird in the back garden and it just sits there on the grass looking dopey.

I noticed the orange Pom Pom buddleia is flowering by the loch (was it wort or taff that bought one??) and a few roses - the plant ID app says one of them is a Damask rose, but the other one it wasn’t sure about. It was a lovely walk, not quite as warm as previous days, but still pleasant.

Some pics…

pink_poppy

I'm looking for a plant recommendation, please...

I'm after an evergreen free-standing bushy thing to act as a privacy screen. Flowers would be nice, red leaves also nice (I would have considered photinia red robin). South facing aspect. Needs to grow to about 4-5 feet?? Suitable for our (normally) wet Scottish climate

Anyone have any plant suggestions??