Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

Back, exhausted, after taking in 11 of the 20 open gardens, in and just outside our small town. Most weren't repeats, so that was good. We even managed one that wasn't involved, because we said nice things about it to the owner who was weeding! It was better than most of the official plots.

Photos will come later. There's a sad lack of sitooteries, though. There were some good ones, but those were too personal, connected to the house etc and I didn't feel comfortable taking photos of them. Instead, here's the one close to the house at the big place. Not Lutyens inspired, more Titanic Luxury Liner.... 

Will be better when the climbers climb along the ropes.

goldfinches

I'm also exhausted from yomping round the 6 open gardens in the suburb where I have my allotment. Overall verdict, the gardens were lovely but the teas were a rip off. I took this photo of some lovely rosa mundi grown with a pink rose because it was so pretty and smelt so good. 



It was all growing in a raised bed next to some steps down to a small courtyard and they'd arranged it so that the roses were all flowering at about my nose height which made the combined scent an absolute knockout. 
I saw lots of other lovely things and spotted the difference having a greenhouse makes to the height of tomato plants, generally worth the painful walk and next year I'll know my way around without having to keep asking for directions!

twopenny

Love that idea of mixing it with the dark pink rose.

And having it by the steps.

Too late now I've no room there but if I move my sitooeri (abv) I could do that around the edge with white hydrangas in front.

Thinking of moving it because come the hot weather my neighbours son and children will be echoing right by the one I've made. She didn't use that side of the garden and the conservatory door is just 6ft away.

My Hydrangas are out from end of May, should be August. What's going on?

Got some cuttings where new neighbours were trimming. Clematis with huge black leaves. Always worth a go.

That's from my gardening friends house so it will be a good one. I wonder what else they are thinking of getting rid of?

wort

Morning all, after a wet cold drizzly Sunday the sun is out this morning. Not sure how long for though.
I had a vision of a posse of cats strolling down the street sharpening their claws, peeling off into a garden each to get to work 😂
My cat makes me laugh, he enters the room after his breakfast and surveys all round looking for where the sun is hitting, today it’s a tiny patch up against the tv cupboard or the window sill , the latter won and he’s just had a wash and curled up to sleep.
YBE I see what you mean about the death stare white cat ! 

Dusty love the astrantia in the border, I’m sure I’ve got some somewhere, also the foliage of different colours in the other pic, I strive to do that in my garden, when I planned it and bought things ,I went for evergreen of differing shades with reds and yellow thrown in.

I love a Japanese garden, I loved the one at Tatton park and now every time I see them I wish I had done that. Although to be fair I think the same when I see the ones on Tv that have the jungle style ones with tree ferns and lush vegetation in a small back yard 😉
When I first started out with mine I wanted a seaside vibe, so I had phormiums of all colours ,gravel and railway sleeper paths, and a palm.Then came all the other plants I saw and wanted and things got hoiked out and others put in. So now it’s completely different except for the palm and path🫣 Too easily distracted by pretty stuff.😂

wort

My neighbour has a stripy rose like that, not very big yet as only been in since last year. But seems to like the situation.
I have noticed a Rowan growing just the other side of my back fence ,right where I don’t want it to grow unfortunately it will have to go. I’m thinking it’s a bird planted one, I had one in a tub for years that the birds planted in my garden.

Dusty , I’m thinking that the sun loungers somehow don’t fit with the style of house🧐 and it should be those ornate metal chairs and table affairs , that don’t look quite so comfortable.

YoungBlueEyes

No weather comments today cos it's changing as fast as I'm typing! It's raining, well it was but now the sun's out. Sorry no, it's black as the ace of spades and persisting it down. Sorry no the wind blew it away and it's warm out there now. Ah wait no.. It's a lovely Spring morning out there. Autumn, I mean Autumn. 

Aww a hedgehog shelter 2p. Is that the bramble pile cleared then? Agree about looking for the little things, I took a pic yesterday which just sums it up. I'll put it up in a min. Fingers crossed your gardening friend will be getting rid of all sorts you never knew you wanted

Blackies waiting for you, that's lovely pp Were you singing Bob Marley's 3 4 Little Birds when you saw them? 

Cherries and rasps Farway, you lucky bu99er. One of my cherry trees had a few flowers on it but no sign of fruit yet. My toms haven't even flowered yet but that might be a washout this year. My apple tree is producing a good few fruits (not as many fruits as flowers, but this is the first year so) but they're dropping off! And not in a 'Ooh I've produced too many, I'll kick every other one off to make room' sort of way either. Dunno what's up with that.... I've never had a fruit tree before so I'll leave it be and see what transpires in the end. 

No open gardens here yet so I'll just make do with the lovely photos on here I don't know that I'm keen on stripey roses tbh, Posh Friend's was the first I've seen of them. I would definitely be keen on that Titanic sitooterie though  

A posse of cats sharpening their claws and peeling off to go to work - I'd probably like them better if they did that  

Sunshine and showers today, cool and/or warm, windy, with high and/or low humidity. Or not. Possibly.

Farway

Just a spot of rain overnight, hardly even a teaspoonful, so looking like I'm going to have to take the hose up to volunteer plot & water the pots. I'll do that after lunch 'cos there's a volunteer “do” later so I can combine both in one trip.

twopenny said:

Got some cuttings where new neighbours were trimming. Clematis with huge black leaves. Always worth a go.

That's from my gardening friends house so it will be a good one. I wonder what else they are thinking of getting rid of?

Hope the cuttings take, it sounds an interesting plant. The house garden plants sound similar to DD new house, very neat & tidy mature garden, and so far every plant hat has flowered or made itself known, like bulbs, has been good.

I'm waiting on her Buddleia now & hoping it's not bog-standard purple, just so I can have some cuttings.

wort said:

I have noticed a Rowan growing just the other side of my back fence ,right where I don’t want it to grow unfortunately it will have to go. I’m thinking it’s a bird planted one, I had one in a tub for years that the birds planted in my garden.

Dusty , I’m thinking that the sun loungers somehow don’t fit with the style of house🧐 and it should be those ornate metal chairs and table affairs , that don’t look quite so comfortable.

I like rowans, in fact I opted for one when the council offered trees for the verge opposite, due to be planted this Autumn. But of course any old tree could turn up, as I have zero control over what's on a Council lorry that day.

Metal chairs on hot sunny day, yikes, reminds me of the Blacksmith's dog joke, making a bolt for the door, boom boom

T & M have confirmed my money for the non show apple tree will be refunded back to my credit card, now I'm on the lookout for pot gown one, but not at any price. It's for DD's garden.

Today's pic is fuchsia. You may recall I used pruning earlier this year as cuttings and there was some debate if it was “right time” or not.

Seems it was fine and don't go by the calendar,

YoungBlueEyes

Anybody getting a bit porky should just eat snails like wot French girls do cos they’re not fat. Well there can’t be any fat on a snail - look at the miles he’s done in my bin lid ha haa! 

And just to make a liar of meself here’s some weather pics, taken minutes apart - 

Flaming June 🙄

Dustyevsky

We've had cats, hedgehogs, and all sorts of animals on here, but this might be a first. En route to one of the country gardens yesterday, we stopped to converse with some friendly heifers and a young bull. They all seemed remarkably tame, and once acquainted, the bull decided he'd quite like to lick my camera....He didn't quite succeed! Remarking on how forward the animals were, one of our number then said, "Well, they should be, they belong to us!" meaning her farm. "We make a fuss of them when they're very young." The farm is some miles from where we were, so we didn't suspect a 'special relationship!'

Quite a fine day here, but with a strong NW wind, as usual. Not much rain overnight, so everything will dry out fast.

Farway

Honestly, this thread goes from Bees Bums to Bulls Noses

Lovely