GreenFly - A 'flylady style' gardening thread with weekly tasks to tame your garden

redofromstart

I will have a think, I know you are very low key no theme for the wedding itself. Wallflowers might be an option if you can find them locally? They should still be flowering and smelling late May.

debtfreewannabe321

Oo good idea @Cherryfudge ! @redofromstart I hope I don't sound like an incompetent novice 🫣 but what do you mean by wallflower? X

redofromstart

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81934649#Comment_81934649

Short lived plants, treat as annuals and they should be in flower quickly if you get them in now and I love the scented ones. Used to be sold cheaply in bundles in the greengrocers wrapped in newspaper. Example here with free delivery today.

Cherryfudge

@debtfreewannabe321 Off topic as far as plants go (sorry) but I went to a lovely wedding last year where there were bubble machines. Perhaps tubs of bubbles for the guests would add a fun touch, and be a sort of decoration without much expense or effort?

Wallflowers are one of my favourites and I can generally keep them going more than a year. I have bright yellow ones at present but they come in reds and creams too.

debtfreewannabe321

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81934686#Comment_81934686

Ah thank you redo, of course! I already have a very full basket with that site and thought I would come ask here instead - my basket was not the most MSE 🤣. @Cherryfudge bubbles are a good idea too, I will have a look for some bargains on those too. Thank you both 🤗.

Cherryfudge

This wedding discussion has made the front page of the forum! Hopefully that will mean lots of people contributing good ideas.

Cherryfudge

How did everyone fare over Storm Dave? No damage here, though I'd just had to water the outdoor pots and possibly the extra weight kept them in place. The birch tree had already shed a lot of twigs in the previous high winds so it didn't lose much this time.

redofromstart

Some damage here @Cherryfudge as I was away and didn't have chance to put things safe. I have a big branch dangling from a conifer which I will need someone to help me with - not least because I am hideously allergic to them.

A few hours done this morning on weeding, and some freshening of pots - removing the top inch of compost and topping them up. I also sorted through my seed collection as I know I will not be planting much this year so I may as well gift them to somebody who will be. I am also putting fresh labels in my bulb pots while the colours are still obvious as they will be moving with me if I ever get this place ready to go on the market.

The garden is delightfully full of blossom at the moment. My favourite shrub is flowering and the scent is just glorious, a very well established Daphne Odora Jaqueline Postill. I have never managed to get a cutting to root and despair at the online price so I was delighted to see a reasonably priced foot high specimen at a plant fair at the weekend, even more so as my parents very generously bought it for me.

Cherryfudge

How lovely to have the Daphne! Especially as it was a present!

I hope you can get someone to take the conifer branch down for you? Is there perhaps a friend with a log burner or open fire who could chainsaw it in return for having the wood? I know it takes a couple of years to dry, but with energy prices being what they are, free wood is worth considering.

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous and I spent a while cutting the grass and watering the pots, then planted an aubretia as I've always wanted some and intended to buy seed and never ever got round to it. This one was from a garden centre so I've paid more but it's a good strong plant. Then I bought a lily called Orange Matrix and a pot of sweet peas - they were marked down to 64p a pot so I couldn't not. As6a made me do it.

The damson tree has a few blossoms, which is quite unusual. (Last year, zilch). The big greengage that fruited so heavily last year was cut back to a more manageable height and is once again laden with blossom, so you may hear more of it as the year goes on.

Today looks increasingly like rain, but I might need to water another lot of pots regardless.

Cherryfudge

And by way of a PS, last year we spent out of a new hose, a week before the hosepipe ban came in. Then in the sales I bought an 'eight pattern spray gun' for it, trusting the bit that said it fits most hoses. Yesterday I not only needed it but was able to find it (in the bottom of the basket of winter gloves and woolly hats). It fits and makes watering a lot easier.

It will also be something the grand children can play with! I remember when mine were primary school age there was agricultural land behind us with a huge rotating spray that swooshed over the lane at the back of us: great fun! (Though I can control the tap on this one).