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Post by cheerypeabrain on Apr 23, 2019 20:39:47 GMT
Love my little Acer at this time of year
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 24, 2019 1:48:27 GMT
As who wouldn't?!
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Post by bjd on Apr 24, 2019 6:02:03 GMT
I really love those too. I wanted one for years but they grow badly in Toulouse: wrong soil, too hot and dry in summer. But here they really do well, so I have at least 4, both dark red and green. Not in pots though.
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Post by breeze on Apr 24, 2019 11:39:55 GMT
I can see why, so delicate and fresh looking.
When the leaves are still small on all the trees here I feel pretty sure winter is over.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Apr 26, 2019 14:31:03 GMT
My sister Susie turned up this morning with a small Acer that she bought for £3 at the local supermarket! She also gave me a bag of ericaceous compost to plant it in. I mixed that in with some John Innes no. 3 and popped it in a nice pot. Yesterday when she visited I let her choose a few pots of seedlings to grow on in her greenhouse. Thought that it would give me more room....but this morning she also brought me six grass seedlings!
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Post by mickthecactus on Apr 26, 2019 15:12:09 GMT
My sister Susie turned up this morning with a small Acer that she bought for £3 at the local supermarket! She also gave me a bag of ericaceous compost to plant it in. I mixed that in with some John Innes no. 3 and popped it in a nice pot. Yesterday when she visited I let her choose a few pots of seedlings to grow on in her greenhouse. Thought that it would give me more room....but this morning she also brought me six grass seedlings! Had she taken a break from sewing shirts for soldiers?
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Post by bjd on Apr 26, 2019 16:51:58 GMT
I finally got around to taking some photos in my garden, including the Japanese maples. Here is one:
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 27, 2019 1:34:36 GMT
Japanese maples and lilac trees - - two things I adore, but can't have in my preferred climate.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Apr 27, 2019 17:06:55 GMT
Lovely Acers bjd...the one Susie bought for me has red foliage too.
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Post by kerouac2 on May 2, 2019 14:35:00 GMT
I'm about to buy a new bag of potting soil for my window box. Will this qualify me to intervene here?
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Post by bjd on Jun 2, 2019 5:43:35 GMT
One flower that I like a lot but rarely have luck with is clematis. Last year I bought several to plant along trellises in the fence. One bloomed wonderfully all summer, one died and the rest didn't die but didn't bloom. This year, last year's bloomer has done nothing, one that didn't bloom last year is doing nicely and has flowers, another has just leaves.
Two weeks ago I stopped at the nursery and saw a clematis with double red flowers for sale. It cost more than the others I bought but I took it anyway. I planted it on the opposite side of the garden, lots of sun all day but with the root shaded by flowers. It seems to be dying. I watered it some more and yesterday I finally moved it elsewhere. Of course, the day I moved it, we got up to 33° in late afternoon, so it was not the best time.
Obviously I'm doing something wrong, but take comfort from my neighbour who says, "You can't always do what you like with gardens."
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2019 7:06:01 GMT
Your neighbor is wise!
You could always plant the less showy, but frightingly robust autumn clematis, although it might be too rampant in your climate.
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Post by bjd on Jun 2, 2019 11:26:39 GMT
She reminds me of Samantha Bee!
I have never seen any of those here, but indeed it would probably take over the place.
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Post by bjd on Jun 3, 2019 16:59:26 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 3, 2019 19:30:58 GMT
That should help a lot. I LOVE your fence!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 4, 2019 17:32:58 GMT
Excellent bjd...I also love your fence. I sorted out the big pot in the front garden today...ripped out the violas, tidied up the little cordyline and filled the rest of the pot with purple and white petunias and white millionbells... Then I got a huge pot out of the shed, filled it with compost and planted 6 sweetcorn into it...planted 2 cucumber plants in the GH...run out of compost now.
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Post by bjd on Jun 4, 2019 18:24:40 GMT
I also threw out some old violas & pansies and replaced them with petunias. I always tell myself to stick to one colour but end up buying different ones. In any case, it's the end of planting season so I took what I could get: purple, white and a couple of pink ones.
I have lots of compost but have discovered an ants nest in my compost bin.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 28, 2019 15:45:11 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 28, 2019 16:43:01 GMT
It is a jewel, Cheery! What is that to the right of the lavender in picture #2 and shown again the penultimate picture?
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 28, 2019 17:38:32 GMT
Its a veronica Bixa...I've got 3 or 4 but that one is my favourite. Once the flowers go over I cut it back and usually get a 2nd flush of flowers.
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Post by bjd on Jun 29, 2019 8:35:45 GMT
A view of one side of my garden. The agapanthuses at the end weren't blooming yet the other day but they are now.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 10, 2019 3:41:19 GMT
That is a great mixed border!
I emptied the compost basket today and it was pretty satisfying in the sense that I had to put very little "undigested" matter back into it. Bunches of plants on the patio got a nice rich top dressing of the stuff and I have a little barrel of it stashed as well.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 10, 2019 18:12:32 GMT
I just planted my second set of dill seeds. Far fewer than the first time, because once they start growing, there is no stopping them. The first plantation will soon be going to seed, so I will collect them in a couple of weeks or so.
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Post by bjd on Jul 10, 2019 18:58:30 GMT
I bought a packet of dill seeds at Lidl last year but have lost it. Dill is so hard to find.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 10, 2019 19:01:15 GMT
new plant, a dwarf helenium lantana starting to flower at last the only little french marigolds left, snails and slugs got the rest achillea antirrhinum scabious and some cosmos
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Post by bjd on Jul 10, 2019 19:06:56 GMT
I love the colour of your snapdragons, Cheery. I planted some blue scabious last year but they seem to have disappeared.
As I sit at my computer with the door open to the garden, I see the place where we took out a big camellia tree. The soil is a bit sandy there and whenever I pull up the weeds that grow (none of the grass seeds grew), I see small birds making holes and having dust baths.
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Post by fumobici on Jul 10, 2019 21:08:21 GMT
Lovely flower show cpb.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 11, 2019 12:28:06 GMT
These are beautiful. Our back garden is very shady, limiting what we can do with it. Odd that I've never heard about the leek moths; Vermont is very close by. I love leeks and the whole stinky family. Two kinds of chives in one of the balcony pots. Since I'm on the top storey of a triplex, I get quite a lot of light front and back. Does dill do well in pots? I don't have parsley or regular coriander; the closest I have is something called cutting celery (just leaves) and a hybrid called parcel. They do well in a pot. I have something called Vietnamese coriander, actually Rau ram (and other names depending on the Southeast Asian country). Used some in my tempeh rendang. The Thai basil will also be added but only upon serving.
I've never heard of leek salad. Always used it in soups or stir-fries, perhaps in a gratin.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 11, 2019 14:39:23 GMT
Thank you for the nice comments....
Today we are having stir fry and I'm using green beans, courgette, carrot and spring onions from the garden.
Shady gardens can be difficult, in our shady flower bed I've planted ferns, epimediums, artemesia,mahonia, calla lilies, arisema, cordyline, Japanese anemones, bluebells, astrantia and dicentra...as well as other stuff I cant remember.....
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Post by bjd on Jul 11, 2019 15:32:40 GMT
Thank you for the nice comments.... Shady gardens can be difficult, in our shady flower bed I've planted ferns, epimediums, artemesia,mahonia, calla lilies, arisema, cordyline, Japanese anemones, bluebells, astrantia and dicentra...as well as other stuff I cant remember..... I thought you said you have a small garden?
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