Month: November 2012

the Gaillardia is still flowering.

Took a few shots of the full moon earlier this evening …..

No matter how many times I buy basil plants, I find that they really don’t last long indoors, even on the kitchen windowsill. They go very limp, and develop small black spots. I wonder is there anything I can do to prevent this?

Micilin was ‘delighted’ to be asked to pose for the camera especially when I told him you had specially asked for his picture Michelle. he is inundated with leaves at present so we had to clean up about the cave before ‘snapping’.

Otherwise it was a gentle day, lovely dry weather, not too cold, I planted all my tulip and allium bulbs and marked them so here’s hoping for a good show later. Spent a lot of time digging out a small bank of clay which was under a line of stones. I thought that the whole thing would look better if it were a steep bank and wonder of wonders it does! And i got another rose out of one that i dug up-it divided easily at the root. Being delighted with that I stepped back and promptly stood on another one-you win some you lose some!

A nice bright sunny  morning here so about 1pm we went for a walk round the park and I brought my camera. This garrya was looking lovely. I like the silver tassles at this time of year and would be a lovely shrub for anyone that likes flower arranging.

I have chosen this photo as my favourite of 2012 because its the first time since 2009 I have managed to grow anything up my pergola, lets hope I can get it covered in climates flowers in the next few years.

The Phormium shown, appeared about two years ago, to be dying, because of the severe weather, which was on its way at the time. Remember first January of that year, very cold but not so much snow, then at the end of November, the snow returned and remained until one or two days after Christmas day. As time passed on, it seemed that the plant which was much bigger than it is now, began to deteriorate and I was taking dead leaves away. One side seemed very bad but it is showing a come back now and please God it will be as good as ever.

This weed is a scourge and I got rid of everyone in the early fall.

Now is has reappeared everwhere.

I like the look of it but not its presence.

Any name for it?

I love the colour contrast here between the Achillea and Penstemon.

There’s this bloody French gardening site
keep mailing me reams of their sh*te
Since there’s no “Unsubscribe”
I’m resigned to imbibe
20 litres of Merde de Vache Lite®

I have chosen this Anemone as it was one of my first summer flowers that i had planted with other bulbs to flower, and i had actually taken a photo of this the day before it had opened to so when it opened i just couldn’t get over how perfect it looked to me. Def my Favourite photo of the year with the Anemone open.

Maybe I read Hazel’s journal slightly wrong!

I thought we were to find our favourite photo of 2012 from our garden.

This is my favourite photo of 2012, taken on 30 June.

I love this to bits!

I made this from the last of the green tomatoes. I found a really simple recipe on the internet.

It is delicious and now I have been bitten by the bug. Apple chutney next – will make lots and give some away.

that’s all I got this year. Or at least one was orange, the othe two are green. I had the orange one in an Italian fish dish and a salad and it was lovely! I managed to get some seeds too.

Quality as opposed to quantity for sure…..

I’ve had this rose since the spring, and was told that it blooms and blooms and blooms very late in the season, and so far, this is true. It is still quite small this year, but hopefully as the years go by it will provide even more colour in summer and late in the autumn! It’s a bush rose, bright pink, I have no idea of its name as it was from a cutting from my mum, who got it from a friend, etc… I’ll look for the name but if anybody knows it, let me know please!

While I was outside doing the photo shoot with Criken, I noticed how well this plant was looking in the light.

Am nearly dreading what this plant is going to do next year, when I see the growth it has produced this year.

I was trilled a few months back when Criken called me over and said he wanted to talk about somthing.

I was surprised when he said he wanted to take part in the ‘Movember’ thing. I was amazed he had even heard about it, all he ever hears is ”the bells, the bells”.

Well true to his word he has succeeded and done a great job on his Movember Tash.

I must confess to having a little bit of a competitive streak in me. I want ‘the first’ flower to open, ‘the biggest’ flower, ‘the out-of-the-ordinary’ flower/plant, ‘the longest-lasting’ flower/plant etc. Ya get the picture????

When Steve bought me 8 different Hippeastrums during the Tall Ships Festival in August, I thought I had winter ‘wrapped up’ with the most exotic blooms I have ever seen. They all had such luxuriant names like Kendra Kennedy, Giraffe, Orange, White Star to name a few. Only one wasn’t red (white star obviously). The names of all the others suggested that they would all be different! But I’ve come to realize that you have seen ONE red and you have seen them all. I have been humbled, and my competitive streak has been buried for ever. 

But one thing that I AM pleased with is that most of them had at least 3 flowering stems.

It’s now time to enjoy whatever flower/plant that opens, and knock competition on the head COMPLETELY. I will take everything at face value, and appreciate everything without looking for that extra ‘edge’. But whatever the colour, ALL Hippeastrums are gorgeous. But it’s a right slap in the face, all the same.

Not to be put off by my disastrous foray into tulip growing this spring and being determined not to let them get the better of me I had decided to give them another bash but hadn’t actually got around to buying any.
When I was out at lunch today I spotted and quickly grabbed these packs, reduced to £1 each, how could I not?!

OK, it doesn’t rival Deborah’s bargain bulb haul from a couple of years back but I’m still well pleased, I’ll be keeping a keen eye on the shop in question over the next few days as they had a few others that might be added to the bargain bucket soon.

One of the plants that came back with me from the Chelsea trip a few years ago, was Pelargonium ‘ardens’. A really beautiful plant, fell in love with it the minute I saw it.

I got it home safely and enjoyed it all that summer long.

Sadly it slowly but surely faded and failed no matter what I tried. About two months ago I was throwing it out, it had a few leaves earlier on but these had slowly faded away.

Me being me, at the last moment I said ”one more try”.

I repotted it with lots of grit mixed in with the compost, terracotta pot, and watered it very sparingly.

I was trilled on Saturday when I spotted some small leaves have made an appearence. This is one plant that is coming in for the winter, (even if the better half ends up outside in the garden), same person is out tonight so I can type this in safety ;-)))))

If it fails this time then so be it, but I can’t say I didn’t try. And the rewards will be worth it if all goes well.

This seedhead was looking nice today in the sunshine.  Cold day here but nice and dry. Once well wrapped up it wasn’t too bad outside.

Apparently discussion became very heated in the Scrub today according to Cherub. It began as a result of Statue Scrubber saying (quite gently!) that he really liked November as everything seemed to ease down and things were not so hectic. Micilin Dee then pronounced-Micilin hardly ever just ‘says’ anything –that ‘ it was a season when things were pared back to the bone, where the spirit becomes more important and one breathes the air of contemplative serenity’. This was given in his most authoritative voice with lots of whistling sibilants and complete conviction. Unfortunately both Cherubs then began a chorus of ‘Boring, Booorrring’. No one was sure whether they were being disrespectful to Micilin or talking about the garden in November but as Cherub informed m , they particularly favoured June and July when they were surrounded by roses and definitely looked their best. Lord Buddha smiled and gazed enigmatically in the direction of the river.

 ‘Lookit, Mr. Scrubber even’ shouted Cherub Lute.’ I bet he’s bored to the bottom of his wellies just hauling leaves down to the bottoms, day after day after day’. This was a clever move as it made him sound very Sympatico to Mr. Scrubber, who really does not mind at all raking and hauling and dumping all those wonderful leaves-it gives him space to think and plan -‘contemplative serenity’ in fact! ‘Yes and there’s loads of twigs and branches to be cleared before he can mow the lawn and anyway its too late to be mowing at present’ This from Cherub Lute and then both went back to ‘Boring ,Booooring’

Cherub explained that Mr. Scrubber does not at all mind cleaning up and that an added bonus at this time of the year is that the bones of the garden emerge and Mr. Scrubber and indeed Cherub himself took a particular delight in seeing rocks that had been enveloped in foliage for months now standing free in all their glory. It was getting quite dark at this stage and Cherubs Lute and Cymbals were a little afraid that the bones of the garden might emerge in a rather frightening combination. As Micilin Dee observed of them-note he didn’t just say it-‘They never know the difference between a well turned figure of speech and its literal equivalent!’ So they quietened down and as Mr Scrubber gratefully looked around at his leaf- free well -mown lawn, and the lovely shapes and shadows of a twilight- lit Scrub, he thought of all the work of the last few days, ‘Monotonous perhaps, a bit repetitive, but definitely so very far removed from ‘Booorrring!’

I managed to get an hour in the garden this afternoon. The sun was shining and I enjoyed cutting back some plants and removing dead leaves etc. And as I worked I planned for next year. ……..”plant more of that, extend that area, divide those clumps of primulas” etc…          I was in my element!

Then I saw it! Was I seeing right? It couldn’t be, could it? 

But, closer examination just confirmed my worst fears.

My beautiful, wonderful Picea orientalis ‘Aurea’ was in a sad state. Some branches were broken off and lying on the ground and others were broken but still hanging to the trunk. The bark was stripped for quite a distance down one side of the trunk. I planted this perfect little tree 4/5 years ago when I first made the Inner Circle and it has been admired by visitors ever since. The fresh tips of growth each year are a beautifully striking golden colour, giving it its name.

My perfect little tree is ruined and I feel gutted, absolutely gutted! 

Further investigation around the garden also revealed a young red maple and a weeping willow had been attacked too but but their loss can not be compared to that of my oriental spruce.

This damage is the work of deer – beautiful creatures but a menace in the garden.

I had been worried that my recently purchased Eucryphia ‘Pink Cloud’ was not pink at all.

But, good news today.

The blooms at the top of the tree are pink and the ones below white. Probably just a teething problem.

Yesterday I showed you a staking failure with an orchid.

Here’s a little something I prepared earlier 😛