Scrubber's Journal

Laughing as always with your journal, well done sir.

Scrubber you  mean you might have fallen and squashed plants in my corner???? Just as well Shoosh was keeping an eye on you. Do you mean you are throwing out Bluebells??  Would you put some to the side for me please if you really are getting rid of them?

I will ignore your very bold behaviour and the cat was sleeping while all that was going on!

Another incorrigible one!

well peter here is a definte never PUT GRAVEL AND MEMBRANE IN FLOWER BEDS. i have cursed and cursed today while getting gravel off flower beds in between berberis thumbergii i am scratched to death. i will NEVER  do this again no mater how hard the weeding gets never ever again. you were naughty doing something like that but i wont scold you now everyone has to do something naughty every now and again, still havent done anything naughty yet,especailly something that your sr josephine would  disapprove of anyway

Peter - I'm going to ask the same as Elizabeth - if you are really dumping bluebells, I would dearly love some. I have sereval areas where they could do their own thing!

Are bluebells really that invasive? I have some in pots currently waiting to be planted - should I keep them in the pots instead? Are these English bluebells or the Spanish ones (very invasive) because mine are English ones?

I empathise with bulb nightmares. Last year I spent 3 days digging up crocosmia corms (the weedy orange ones) which my Dad had stupidly planted years ago (taken from a ditch) to remind him of his holiday in West Cork. He hadn't considered how they got in the ditches in the first place. They spread & spread & choked & killed the neighbouring plants. When I thought I got rid of them I noticed he'd also planted them on the other side of the garden! After that I made him swear he'd never plant anything in the garden again (no loss to him)! I still find one poking up here and there but I managed to get rid of 99% of them so in hindsight although it was hard work I'm happy I spent so long digging them up. It's tiring but it's such a relief when they're gone!

Spideog, bluebells run rampant in the ditches like Crocosmia. Monty Don gives the same advice as Scrubber and I believe it refers to both types of bluebells.

Spideog I dont know. Mine are irish i think!!! naturalised in woodland. But they spread like the dickens especially in rich soil! Those 'weedy orange ones are so wondeful in the west I can see why your dad would want to bring them in! Elizabeth and Nuala I shall dig up some good clumps and put them into pots so you shall have some. Id say they will hold well as Ill have the clay around them and then we can get them to you eventually. You are more than welcome. Poor kitty you have my sympathy. Its so annoying when we do something that we think will help and it doesnt! Guilty, Rachel and grinning! Yes Myrtle she was on the little wall. Mine has a drop of about fifteen feet on the other side! I would have twisted in mid air like Shoosh to avoid plants Elizabeth! So pleased you are laughing with me Fran!

Go raibh mile maith agat, Peadar!

Many thanks Peter. 

Peter you have been warned you will not get any sympathy from us when it all goes wrong!!!!!!!! please be careful you take too many risks  I Think I am the other incorrigible one to whom Rachel refers and I do not think this is a good thing I need to go away and look up the exact meaning of this word :) but If I am been compared to you then surely this can only be a good thing

mary I know what it means because Sr Josephine made me look it up! It means one just cannot be corrected! Welcome to the club. Nuala, Ta or rather beidh failte romhat!And Elizabeth, my only two words of french! de rien! There's erudition for ye!

Thanks for the advice! I love bluebells so I'll have to think long and hard about where I put them now. I don't want a repeat of the crocosmia fiasco! I definitely won't leave it to chance! Is there also a risk of them seeding themselves or would they still be okay in pots?

Scrubber "those weedy orange ones" are absolutely beautiful in the ditches and they light the place up so nicely when they're in flower - but I can no longer look upon them as a thing of beauty! Every time I see them I think of the annoyance and frustration caused when digging them out and I worry that someone else might do the same as my Dad and have them taking over their garden. I guess you must now think the same of bluebells! I still have some crocosmia though - only the more well behaved types which I'm still watching like a hawk.

I'm so annoyed with you!    I spke to a gardener today who had a prize winning garden but his disability now means he can only get someone to clean up around.  Imagine how stupid you'd feel if you fell!!!!  Anyway I took home some of the weedy crocosmia (from my holiday in West cork) even though I've had the experience of the devil lucifer.  I just like them even the foliage.  I also divided my spanish bluebells yesterday and introduced them to a new part of the garden.  When you've no money and a large garden you appreciate something that will actually grow and spread.

Yes Scrubber you are bold. Too many risks and just not worth it. I told you that before and did you listen to me?? No, so behave yourself and imagine the awfulness of sitting looking down into the scrub unable to get down with your broken leg, or worse. I will not be coming to visit with grapes and choccies and books if you are hurt doing something daft.  So there. Off to the naughty step for a few hours and no chocolate cake for a month.

I think montbretia from now on referred to as "those weedy orange ones" are great when used in the right place - I Have them on the back of a bank at the back of the house where there is not great soil and I would not be without them - the foliage provides a lovely backdrop of citrus green and then the lovley orange flowers come later in the Summer. As for bluebells i also love them and have them in my woodland bed where they can spread away to their hearts content but it is all relative it depends on the size of your garden your style of planting and the budget to which you are working. This is starting to get like the discussion on Ladies Mantle love it or hate it  

Blees me father as I may be about to sin

It has been some time since my last confession.

You see, I am with Scrubber on this. Bluebells are invasive. Bluebells are badgers. They may be fine in open counyrtside or hedgerow but not in my garden.

I have been having dreams about Monsanto and imminent round up of those bluebells at the back of the garden. Managed to offload a small proportion but the remainder are in need of the last rights after breaking that commandment about shalt not kill.

i have a few areas that my orange crocosmia can romp away. ros gave me loads of it so i will also give some to my mother in law 

Ooop! Bluebells AND Crocosmia have "snuck" into my beds .... 

Tony loved the idea of badger bluebells. I use another word just change tletters two and three! Elizabeth, mary and Anne I am suitably chastened and anyway there are no more overhanging branches. can i get off the step now? Great to have 'romp areas' Kitty!

Yes Scrubber you may leave the naughty step and I hope you have learned your lesson and will be good from now on. Tony gave me a huge box of Badgers which I will plant by the ditches and I hope have no regrets.!!