20 February 2012 00:17:05
If Carlsberg did Gardening Weekends......
For once, the stars that govern garden visiting must have alligned this weekend as I ended up visiting 4 fab gardens over the two days, and in February! It started yesterday with the two gardens Paddy mentioned which were stunning with the amount of interest and colour at this time of year. I never knew much about the different varieties of snowdrops or how they differed but after examining so many cultivars closely, they are truly amazing and I think Galanthomania may be creeping in. My favourites would have to be the ones with extra green, particularly the double flowerd ones. Paddy, or dare I say Inspector Clouseau - note the hat ;-) has put up great photos so I'll just put up a few close-ups of snowdrops and maybe one or two others.
One horticultural treat after another, today it continued with my first day on Jimi Blake's Plants Person course at Huntingbrook which included a visit to June Blake's also, and was very enjoyable and informative. Hellebores were the other big feature in all 4 gardens and I picked up a very dark purple one at June's, as the little seedlings that Jimi permitted us to remove from his garden may take a while to flower. A great weekend of garden visiting, hopefully followed by a great week of gardening to come!
10 February 2012 21:40:53
Eryngium 'Blue Hobbit' in a basket
This one gave me hope and I might try repeating it as the Nemesia and Swan River Daisies in the front were still in flower after Christmas. In the background I have Eryngium 'Blue Hobbit' and some lime coloured Nicotiana and Petunias and Glechoma (what a horrible name!) trailing down the front.
10 February 2012 21:33:39
Hanging baskets/Window boxes
Has anyone any suggestions for something a little different for windowboxes and hanging Baskets? As we live on the street with no front garden I want to do it properly this year as I bottled it last year! I got as far as planting a few up but because I wasn't totally happy with them, they ended up on the gas cylinders! Any tips much appreciated!
10 February 2012 14:58:45
May 2011
Last April I put up a journal about making a Bee and butterfly border - I was kidding myself a little bit as this was really just an excuse to take over a bit of the yard beyond the garden that wasn't really part of our rental agreement. It went well but started looking very untidy towards the end of the summer and was lacking in colour as things went over. I guess this is the problem with trying to please the insect community. After watching Sarah Ravens program this morning though I'm all set to get on top of it again, sow lots of annuals and hopefully make it more appealing to all this year.
04 February 2012 20:38:09
A Gas plant
I was just looking through Beth Chatto's 100 'must have plants' (only a fraction of which I have) in Gardens Illustrated and came accross Dictamnus albus. Does anybody grow this and did you know that the flowers produce a gas that is flamable? If you don't believe me watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8yDWkwu5aI
It is supposed to have a nice lemon scent but might be susceptible to spontaneously combusting on a hot day, if we had one!