Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

General Subjects => Blogs and Diaries => Topic started by: tonyg on March 14, 2010, 10:29:20 PM

Title: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on March 14, 2010, 10:29:20 PM
A while ago a forumist suggested I show more of my garden.  At lectures people occasionally ask to come and see the garden.  The truth is far from the pretty pictures I usually show.  However I have decided to start a thread to show you what it is really like - the 'Lost Garden of Hellesdon' as I sometimes call it!

We moved here 18 years ago inheriting an old garden with clematis, roses and bizarrely (since we bought in November when they were dormant) many Crocus tommasinianus :).  A disused vegetable plot and several sick fruit trees.  For the first 5 years I made good progress with raised beds for alpines, shrub/herbaceous borders and vegetable patch.  Then we had Ruth and later Amy ... everything went into reverse in the garden!  Nature has gradually reclaimed its own.  Some areas still have interesting plantings but all is weedy, nettles and brambles galore.  The cheap and immature shrubs (notably eleagnus) rampaged, blocking out a lot of light.

The garden faces South and the soil is light and very sandy.  Drainage is extremely fast, we never get a puddle.  The soil is therefore poor and hungry and suits some plants much better than others.

To start here are some winter shots.  I like the snow, my garden looks as good as anyones when well covered ;)
A view from down the garden
The Greenhouse
The Spring Crocus Frame
Cyclamen coum seedlings
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on March 14, 2010, 10:45:10 PM
Tony I am looking forward to your next posting I always like to see and hear about other members gardens. Its nice to see how the garden has developed over time and find out what challenges there was. Your spring crocus frame looks interesting. Cant wait to see more.
Angie :)



Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 14, 2010, 11:27:29 PM
I will to get help from a friend with a slide scanner for the archive shots ... but it's not going to happen just yet! 

Hope to share plants, plantings and observations here.  You'll see the garden, warts and all, and hopefully see it change for the better over time.  Maybe the commitment on here will increase my commitment out there :D

And, always glad of help, I may get a few bits of useful advice along the way!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: mark smyth on March 14, 2010, 11:50:38 PM
I'm agreeing to more people coming for a look at my garden which has made me get the place in order. More visitors tomorrow, Tuesday and Friday.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on March 15, 2010, 12:09:53 AM
I am looking forward to seeing your garden Tony, because - unless you are being falsely modest - it sounds much like my own. Intentions are always of the best but the reality is far from ideal. I have two weeks holiday from work starting on Thursday and I intend to spend it all in the garden, firstly with a weed eater than some Roundup in selected places and then, probably, nursing a bad back. Unless the weather defeats me of course. We may get the solid rain I've been begging for, for weeks. ???
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on March 15, 2010, 09:46:55 AM
Good idea Tony !!
You know we're all a very curious lot..  ;D ;D so we want to know all about what goes on in other peoples gardens.
I'm sure we will be learning from it !
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: David Nicholson on March 15, 2010, 11:24:57 AM
I'm pretty good on intentions and woefully short on action.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on March 15, 2010, 12:35:00 PM
Tony, I'm delighted to see your working garden, a real garden warts and all, which is what makes it so interesting  ;)  We all strive to grow plants well but Mother Nature has a way of putting us in our place and so we have to please her and 'go with the flow' to a degree out in the open  :)  Even so, your expertise and knowledge is a fount that would be wonderful to share and therefore my gaze is towards the 'nerve centre' from where you can toss crumbs any time you like  ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: ChrisB on March 15, 2010, 01:09:08 PM
This thread will be top of my reading list.  We all have gardens that need attention, mine more than most at the moment.  People always think that plant enthusiasts will have nice looking gardens, but so often it just isn't true.  I'd like to get my garden ship shape, but I fear that, if I do, I'll want to sell up and move to another, because if a garden is perfect, it just isn't a garden really.  Looking forward to more Tony.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: maggiepie on March 15, 2010, 07:35:43 PM
Can't wait to see more pics of your gardens, Tony.
Am sure to get a few good ideas  ;D

Btw, I see washing on the line, how do you manage to hold pegs with gloved hands?
People around here hang washing out whenever there is sun, even in winter. Can't see how they can hold pegs when it is -20C out.
Can't see how clothes would get dry. ( not to mention the smoke, most people around here have wood burning furnaces)

My clothesline gets stored during winter, I wouldn't be able to reach it through the snowdrifts.

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Martinr on March 15, 2010, 08:19:46 PM
Tony, you've no idea how good it makes me feel to know I'm not the only gardener who never quite gets on top of everything at the same time. Now I can stop feeling guilty about taking Saturdays off to go to shows!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: David Shaw on March 15, 2010, 08:37:13 PM
I'm about to start on last summers weeding and tidying - or is it the summers before? ???
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 15, 2010, 08:40:55 PM
I'm having doubts ... ???  All this interest and I've hardly started!

David - you're only a year or two behind??  Ruth is now 12 ..... need I say more?

Martin R - 'never quite gets on top of things' ... I'd settle for that.  I feel like I never got started.

Helen - The idea had bee for freeze-dried washing the day before ... but it snowed while our backs were turned.

Robin - I'm reminded of an old joke.  A man is building a compost heap in his neglected garden, the neighbour hangs over the fence. 
Man: "I think its important to have a good compost heap."
Neighbour, looking across the garden: "You've got a compost heap, what you need is a garden!"
I've got plenty of warts - hope I can find a few crumbs for you ;)

Lesley - no false modesty.  You know what they say about the camera never lies ... just wait for the pics when the snow has melted :P

Angie - Its gonna be more about how the garden will develop ... and even then it will be slowly ::)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on March 15, 2010, 08:51:18 PM
Tony.. slowly is fine with me and its will just be nice to see your work in progress.
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 15, 2010, 10:05:47 PM
OK time to bare all, well not quite all (too depressing!)  At least lets melt the snow and see what it hides.

More washing out and the girls garden toys have moved about.  The play house was the cat house winter 2008/9 but he has won Jacinta over and is now allowed to sleep indoors (currently on Ruths bed.)  

The garden is about 90ft x 35ft, the shot looking towards the house is taked from about 60ft away.  The spring crocus frame is showing its age, a Heath Robinson combination of bits from other peoples discarded secondary glazing, it does the job .... just.  It's not what you've got but what you do with it that matters - now where did I hear that before :o

The frost damaged pot has been outside for years.  It was still whole when the snowy pictures were taken.  This has been the harshest winter since we have been here.  The Primula marginata in it has been used for propagation material for a few years.  I think it will have to be planted out now ... if I can find a space for it.

Sacrilege to say it but Snowdrops are better garden plants than the fleeting jewels that are crocuses here.  The two shots were taken over a month apart.  
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Brian Ellis on March 15, 2010, 10:06:32 PM
Quote
Sacrilege to say it but Snowdrops are better garden plants

 ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Susan on March 15, 2010, 11:14:37 PM
Tony, thank you for sharing your garden.   My husband tells people that we are in the 30th year of our first five year plan.  Kind of puts a garden into perspective I feel. 

Susan

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on March 15, 2010, 11:19:57 PM
Tony, now that you have a new extension on the house maybe you need a new extension on the greenhouse - your family of crocuses etc needs more space (you could adapt the climbing frame into another sort of frame maybe  -just an idea Sssssh  ;D )

Sorry to jump the railway sleeper - this should be post 18b
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 15, 2010, 11:31:29 PM
In 2008 we tried to sell up and move.  Not a year for developing the garden.

In 2009 we extended the house (again) which zapped most gardening time.  Planning, organising, deciding, buying, decorating, moving out and back in it seemed like we'd never finish!  

Before we started building there was an 8ft x 3ft railway sleeper frame to dismantle and move plus a similar sized raised bed that neede to be rotated though 180 degrees.  .... Now that's what friends are for - thanks to my mate Alex it only took a morning.

So we go into 2010 at a lowpoint in garden terms although 2009 did have its highlights :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: ChrisB on March 16, 2010, 09:51:16 AM
Love those three pretty flowers in your last photo Tony  ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on March 16, 2010, 09:50:51 PM
Quote
The garden faces South and the soil is light and very sandy.

Two pluses I think; easier to add humus than dig clay  :P  Sunflowers of all species obviously thriving in your South facing garden and An East and West facing wall is a bonus too  :D

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on March 16, 2010, 09:51:59 PM
Tony, nice to see the pictures of your garden and coldframes. I have plenty of pots and plants damaged by frost this winter, I think I shall store them in my polytunnel next winter. Should cold frames be in shade or full sun :-[.
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 16, 2010, 10:52:22 PM
Should cold frames be in sun or shade?  Well, I guess it depends what you want to put in them.  Most of mine are surrounded on three sides by a low wall so I have sunny, part shady and shady aspects.  (The open end faces North.)  The access frame and its low-level partner by the greenhouse are the sunniest but in winter the low sun only reaches them for a few hours due to the garden fence opposite and a building beyond the end of the garden. 
Bulbs generally like sun in the growing season so the sunny frames are fine.  I cover the frames with shade netting in summer (as well as the top glazing) to keep the pots from excessive heat.   The spring crocus get heavier shading as they definitely do not want to be overcooked!  The pots all stand on a bed of sand (approx 10cm deep, sometimes more) which is usually slightly moist in summer under the more shady frames.
If you are using the frames for rooted cuttings or young seedlings then shading may be more important even in spring/autumn.  I keep seedling dicots in the part shaded area.  Rooted cuttings start off under the bench in the greenhouse before moving on to part shade or full sun.  Seedling bulbs get pretty much the same treatment as their grown up relatives.
You might want to grow petiolarid primulas or shortias (for example) in cold frames.  Down here even a mostly shaded frame may not be 'cold' enough.  ......I have tried, the hot dry summer air defeats them eventually although the dedicated gardener might have shade with mist units to keep the humidity up.  I came to the conclusion that I should have left them in Scotland where I found them :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on March 16, 2010, 10:59:02 PM
Thanks for the information and advice Tony, there is so much to learn. wish I started gardening earlier when my brain was at its peak ::)
Angie :).
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on March 17, 2010, 07:08:57 PM
You should worry Angie. MY brain is way past its peak, let alone back and knees! ???

Tony your 3 sunflowers are all very beautiful. Give them our love.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 18, 2010, 11:49:21 PM
This little Sunflower had an AGS meeting last night.  Local Group Show .... plus committee meeting after :P
The show is very informal with just a few members contributing plants.  However it is always a good night out with the best array of Alpine plants and bulbs seen in public in Norfolk outside the National AGS Show on May 1st.  Two of our senior members judge and then talk us through some of the more interesting plants.  While judging took place the members were invited to vote for their choice of lecture titles for some of our upcoming speakers.  Mostly very one-sided votes (good!) but a close call between "Morocco" and "Spring in South Africa" will mean that one speaker will have to visit us again soon!  Pleased to announce that the April meeting will be Ian Young on Woodland Plants in the Garden.

I took a few plants along and had some success.  The little silver cup I returned home with rings like a bell when struck with a pencil ... it will return to the meetings as it proved very successful in calling everyone to order last night :D

Pictured below :
Crocus angustifolius.  Bought at Wisley in 1991
Corydalis popovii.  Seed raised many years ago.  One large tuber, kept dry in summer, cool and well lit in winter.
Corydalis schanginii ssp schanginii.  From Janis (via Alan Edwards).  Same routine as C popovii.
Cyclamen alpinum.  Two seedlings.   :) :)
Narcissus hedreanthus luteolentus.  Judges thought it a poor form, I like it!
Narcissus cantabricus.  Seed raised again ... detect a pattern? :)
Cyclamen hederifolium.  Shown in a foliage class.
Lastly Crocus vernus from seed I collected near Wengen a few years ago.  Just one has made it to flowering size and it did not go to the show.  I saved this one just for you :-*
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Brian Ellis on March 19, 2010, 08:38:47 AM
Quote
Two of our senior members judge

Perhaps they would rather be 'most knowledgeable' rather than senior Tony!  I won't tell - honest.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on March 19, 2010, 09:50:33 AM
Many congratulations Tony  8)  All your flowers are really lovely and I especially like:

Quote
Corydalis popovii.  Seed raised many years ago.  One large tuber, kept dry in summer, cool and well lit in winter.
Corydalis schanginii ssp schanginii.  From Janis (via Alan Edwards).  Same routine as C popovii.

Which one won you the silver bell?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 19, 2010, 11:44:37 AM
The silver 'Bell' was for the most points in the show.  The best plant in show was Iris graeberiana brought along by Ashley Saddler ... he got a Silver Cup!

Brian, all of our members are knowledgeable .... and most are senior citizens.  Perhaps I should have said 'longstanding' as that is less subjective ;)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on March 20, 2010, 11:56:23 PM
Narcissus hedreanthus luteolentus.  Judges thought it a poor form, I like it!

Judges! What do they know? :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 21, 2010, 09:17:45 PM
When I started this thread a week ago I knew I was risking being exposed as a careless, untidy gardener.  Now that you have seen it at its worst there is only one way we can go!  Thanks to those who have left messages of support, hopefully you will also add words of advice when I have decisions to make or when you see a solution to one of my many problems!  I have had one message (it was a friendly message) suggesting that it would have been less risky if I had left everyone thinking my garden was a sea of crocuses.  Well, the first pic tonight is for you, David ;)

A week is a long time in politics, or so they say, it is also a long time in a garden when spring finally arrives.  As luck would have it the much warmer and sunnier weather coincides with a very busy time at work.  The crocuses are past their best although there are still a few to post here and in the crocus thread.  Having posted a Crocus vernus from seed collected nr Wengen last week, tonight I have pictures of Crocus vernus vernus from Andorra.  I collected the seed in the mistaken belief that it was Crocus nudiflorus which also grows in the same valley, the Val D'Incles.  This is a very distinctive form.

I also grow a wide range of Narcissus species in the Access frame.  These have rapidly progressed in the last week.  Narcissus tazetta is a lovely thing, all the more so when you get up close and catch the heady scent.  This is a seed raised form, although the label says it should be Narcissus pallidiflorus, it is a nice surprise to add Narcissus tazetta to the collection.  The pale form of Narcissus pseudonarcissus ssp eugeniae  (is it correctly named?) has incrased from one to three flowers this year.  Hopefully it will continue this rate of progress.  Narcissus cantabricus fma petunioides is a gift from a forumist.  It is a very fine form.  Thanks Alex!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: mark smyth on March 21, 2010, 09:33:16 PM
Your Narcissus pseudonarcissus eugeniae is the same as Anne's which means mine are wrong yet no-one at the daffodil show today pointed it out ???
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on March 22, 2010, 10:40:09 AM
Tony, your crocus frame is glorious - really a sea of crocuses   :)

Very interesting to hear where your crocus originated from as seed and to see your success.  Love your Narcissus tazetta and hope to smell mine soon - do they set seed from commercial bulbs?

Looking forward to seeing more of your flowerings  8)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on March 22, 2010, 12:48:02 PM
I agree with Robin your crocus plants are amazing, cant wait to see more.
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: indigo on March 22, 2010, 06:23:31 PM
Well I think your garden is great, it's lived in and yet you grow all sorts of special stuff in your pots, well done you.  Super pics :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 22, 2010, 11:09:12 PM
Welcome Indigo and thank-you for your kind comments.  Even in its wild state the garden does look better in summer than it does now .... although all the pots of bulbs look rather bare then ;D 
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on March 23, 2010, 04:53:38 AM
Your Narcissus pseudonarcissus eugeniae is the same as Anne's

And very lovely it is, too. :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on March 23, 2010, 05:07:21 AM
I was going to put this note in the "Moan moan..." thread but have decided to put it here, as a terrible lesson to those with untidy gardens.

I have done the most incredibly stupid thing. I emptied my outdoor pot of the yellow form of Frit rhodokanakis, in order to give one away with some others to post this week. Did it while hosing a raised bed. Then I started to pull on the hose to get it off the gravel driveway before Roger came in and drove over it (it's a new one) and while pulling the hose with my right hand, the left hand, holding the pot with the frit bulbs was sort of jerking up and down in time with the hose pulling. Then I realized that the pot had lost most of its bulbs (they were already separated from the compost). There had been 3 fat flowering size and half a dozen smaller. Now there was only 1 large and a couple of smaller. Of course I have searched the driveway which is covered in gravel much like the bulbs themselves, greyish, whitish, and found nothing at all. Also have searched the long grass at the side of the drive and found nothing at all. I'll go on searching tonight until it gets dark and again in the morning but I fear, that through my own carelessness and the fact of an untidy long grass area, they are gone for good.

LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU ALL, WHO LET GRASS AND WEEDS GET OUT OF HAND!!!!!

So my recipient will only get a little one I'm afraid.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on March 23, 2010, 09:55:34 AM
What a shame Lesley !  :'(
And a beautiful Frit is is too !!  :-\
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on March 23, 2010, 10:10:19 AM
Lesley, what a tragedy to spill your beautiful Frits but won't they appear where they have fallen maybe next year?

Hose pipes have a life of their own like vacuum cleaner hoses - I have fallen foul of both too in the past  :o
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: mark smyth on March 23, 2010, 02:06:52 PM
Lesley it was the same for me when I dropped Crocus and Narcissus seeds. I have gravel also. Drop a small Crocus corm and it's instantly hidden also
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 23, 2010, 02:10:31 PM
Oh Lesley :'( :'(  My most mortifying moment with a plant occurred in a car park years ago when I was a regular n the show bench.  I had won a class with a Dionysia aretioides and was packing the plants away after the show.  Put the dionysia down by the car, loaded a couple of other pots into their spaces.  Hailed by a fellow enthusiast I turned too quickly to return the greeting and dragged my foot across the cushion :o   It did create a few cuttings to give away (and several show goers benefitted) but ...... Oh Tony :'( :'(

And yes, I too have inadvertantly split seeds ... into neighbouring seed pots :( 
And the balanced glass frame covers occasionally meet with accidents ::)
I'll quit here - while I'm behind!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on March 23, 2010, 08:07:59 PM
I don't mind dropping seed so much as that has a germinating chance but if I don't find these bulbs they'll shrivel up and die. The grass is too long and rough for them to root into it and if they're still on the driveway they'll either be squashed or just dehydrate badly. I'm still looking though.

The other day Teddy grabbed the pot with the year's harvest of Ranunculus parnassifolius. He loves to toss things in the air. It was on the carpet and I did manage to find a few.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on March 23, 2010, 09:18:30 PM
I HATE hoses. As you say Robin, they have a life of their own (like lawnmowers) and leap out of one's hand and squirt up one's skirt, truly the main reason why I always wear trousers. And they get caught on things, especially if there is a joiner in them, and they twist and choke off and have to be untangled and are just BEASTLY!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 23, 2010, 11:41:37 PM
Moving on .... One of the more successful parts of the garden is a raised bed outside the living room window.  8ft by 4ft edged with railway sleepers.  It was constructed three years ago (..I think!) with plenty of garden compost dug into the natural sandy soil topped up with copius amounts of recycled potting compost from the bulb collection.  I have shown plants from here on the forum over the last couple of years.  After the winter it looks as though I will need to refresh some areas but I will wait a few weeks before doing anything drastic.  Bulbs are still emerging and some herbaceous plants will awaken now the days are longer and warmer.  
Pictured below:
Scilla species, open to offers as to which one.  
Campanula cochlearifolia, two seedlings planted out last year.  Note the very different colour of the foliage.  One had while flowers, the other common blue.  
Degenia velebitica has suffered in the winter, one of the old plants ha srotted at the neck.  However a few seedlings should ensure that it is self sustaining.
It will soon be Easter, the first Pulsatilla will perhaps flower during the Pasquetide.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on March 24, 2010, 01:09:00 AM
Railway sleepers are really a great resource. I used to be able to buy them for around $5 each. Now they're closer to $100! The ones we get are made from Australian jarrah which is I think, Eucalyptus marginata, a very very hard and heavy timber. Now they're also made from Cupressus macrocarpa.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on March 24, 2010, 08:44:52 AM
I believe Degenia velebitica is short lived Tony - at least I don't think I've been able to keep a plant for more than two flowering seasons...  :-\
But as you say, it does seed out freely - I've got a nice little colony on a slope now that should produce a good view in a month's time !  :D :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Anthony Darby on March 24, 2010, 12:59:22 PM
Railway sleepers are really a great resource. I used to be able to buy them for around $5 each. Now they're closer to $100! The ones we get are made from Australian jarrah which is I think, Eucalyptus marginata, a very very hard and heavy timber. Now they're also made from Cupressus macrocarpa.
Not sure if you are allowed to buy old railway sleepers anymore? I have some at the front of my snowdrop border, but they ooze tar even on a cold day.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on March 24, 2010, 01:03:43 PM
 It is not permitted to sell old railway sleepers anymore in the UK: because of the contamination from the oozing Anthony describes and the associated carcinogens.
We are told to emphasise this ( the banning of the sale)  on the radio programme.  

Large lumps of untreated wood in the size and shape of railway sleepers are available.... I'm told they are rather expensive.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: David Shaw on March 24, 2010, 02:03:52 PM
I grew Degenia velbetica from see a good number of years ago and some of the resultant plants are still doing well. Fortunately because I don't seem to be able to grow their seed and they don't self seed for me.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 24, 2010, 02:34:08 PM
It is not permitted to sell old railway sleepers anymore in the UK: because of the contamination from the oozing Anthony describes and the associated carcinogens.
We are told to emphasise this ( the banning of the sale)  on the radio programme.  

Large lumps of untreated wood in the size and shape of railway sleepers are available.... I'm told they are rather expensive.
Thanks for reminding us of this Maggi.
I had a choice between 'new' sleepers (untreated) and South African hardwood ones which are also untreated.  I chose the latter which were cheaper.  I was told they are so hard that you need special equipment to cut them, hence they don't need treating ???
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Anthony Darby on March 24, 2010, 03:30:24 PM
I think the special equipment is called a saw Tony? ::)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 24, 2010, 04:38:29 PM
I was told that my 'mate with a chainsaw' would not be able to do it safely.  They have indeed a saw ... but a special saw :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 24, 2010, 06:59:57 PM
Daphne mezereum, a seedling planted out 15 years ago.  For a long time overshadowed (almost overpowered) by an adjacent eleagnus, it has a bit of a 'lean' just now.  I am hoping it will grow back the other way towards the light now that the eleagnus has been cut down.  (A stump remains to be dealth with.)

Tulipa edulis is quite compact if it emerges in bright, cold conditions.  Even in the garden it quickly elongates in mild conditions.

Fritillaria stenanthera, raised from seed sown 9 years ago.  This is the most impressive flowering so far.

Allium akaka will not flower for a while but the foliage is very striking at present.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on March 24, 2010, 08:42:08 PM
Jarrah can't be cut with a handsaw and a chainsaw is blunted within seconds. So it has to be cut with heavy machinery, industiral type saws. Of course the older, the harder. I've not seen any of our sleepers oozing tar, even on the hottest days. Parts of the road though, that's a different matter.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on March 24, 2010, 08:55:20 PM
Tulipa edulis is lovely in the sun. I don't seem to have much luck with my Daphne it just goes so leggy, wandered if i could cut it back?
Angie
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 24, 2010, 09:41:06 PM
Having seen some stunted plants in the wild with plenty berries I think you might be OK to cut back ... but don't quote me, daphne can be moody.  Mind you, if its leggy and not flowering much you have little to lose.  Someone did once comment that mine was a nice form.  Just luck though since it came from seed.  Perhaps you need to start a few new ones that way and keep the best of them.

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on March 24, 2010, 10:01:03 PM
I think you are right I have lost some Daphne's in the past for no reason, well one was my fault I stepped back and fell over it and it was crushed to death ::). I think I will give this one the chop as I say its not nice anyway.
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: ChrisB on March 25, 2010, 09:38:30 AM
I cut back a D. tangutica successfully.  It had grown really leggy, was a self sown seedling anyway and I decided to give it go.  It has come back nice and compact, so now I have no qualms about pruning them when they need it.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on March 25, 2010, 10:05:54 AM
In what season did you cut it back Chris ?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 25, 2010, 04:38:38 PM
Daphnes can be propagated from cuttings.  As a rooting medium I use fine pumice over a layer of vermiculite in a seed tray.  The tray with holes in the base (coarse vermiculite stops the fine pumice from draining through) stands in another without holes into which water is poured, just enough to keep the mix damp.  Covered with a plastic hood and kept part shaded the cuttings can root quite quickly but woody daphne can take several months.  Potting on and keeping them growing can also be a bit hit and miss but I have had success with several different species/hybrids.

Here is a rooted cutting of Daphne x burkwoodii 'Somerset'; a six month old Daphne arbuscula and a two year old Daphne arbuscula.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 25, 2010, 04:40:37 PM
Driven indoors by the rain now - I spent a happy hour tidying up the greenhouse and frame area this morning.  The spring crocus frame looks much better except for the lack of flowers :'(
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: ChrisB on March 26, 2010, 12:24:17 PM
It was autumn, Luc, Autumn 2008 to be exact.  Here is what it looks like now, something is chewing it a bit, but its full of buds:
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on March 26, 2010, 04:08:23 PM
Thanks Chris !  :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 27, 2010, 10:55:35 PM
Having tidied the frame area I need to decide what to do with the Primula marginata looking rather sad in its frost damaged pot.  I have decided to plant it out ... will report on its progress in due course.  Having referred to using it for propagation material I thought I'd show you what I meant.

I take small pieces, usually single rosettes, and insert them in the cuttings tray recently described.  I take cuttings soon after flowering as a rule but they'll likely root taken almost any time of year using the methods I employ.  Taken in late spring/early summer rooting is quickest.  Once well rooted they can be potted up in a gritty mix and grow away well.  Pictured below is a late summer cutting from last year (potted up this week after the photo was taken), a cutting from 2008, a cutting from 2006 (now a good size).  Followed by two plants roughly ten years old planted in a 'hole in the ground' trough.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Paddy Tobin on March 28, 2010, 09:43:50 AM
Tony, what is a "hole-in-the-ground trough". It strikes me as a Geoff Hamilton idea.

Paddy
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on March 28, 2010, 01:13:55 PM
Great to see cuttings develop into fully flowering plants over the years and to have tips on how they were successful.  Your cold frame looks fantastic Tony - trying to think how I can incorporate one here  ::)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 28, 2010, 08:14:42 PM
Hole in the ground trough.  No pics of construction as it was 20th Century trough .. BD .. before digital :P
Ingredients: A few spare hours.  Hypertufa (Sand, Cement, Soil-less compost .. I used coir).  Cardboard box, bricks, bits of wood.
Dig a hole in the ground a bit bigger than the cardboard box that will be the form for the inner surface.  Place one or two  blocks of wood / polystyrene at the bottom of the hole, they will leave the drainagehole when removed from the finished trough.  Fill the bottom of hole with hypertufa.  Place box centrally. Fill around box with hypertufa, you can use chicken wire to reinforce the corners (I did not bother and it has lasted OK).  Pack the box with a few bricks to prevent inward collapse, you could just fill with soil.  Leave to set.  Cover with ploythene if rain expected.  When set dig it out ... he says!  My trough was a bit thick sided .... so it was very heavy :-X
The outer edges can have a very natural, rough finish when a trough is made this way.  The surface can be finished before it has dried completely.   I used a stiff brush and an old knife to good effect.  Also drilled out some holes for planting in the sides of the trough at this time.
It was fun to do (I was younger and had an assistant!) but its really too heavy.  The coated fish box method Ian advocates gives an end product less likely to lead to a slipped disc :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Paddy Tobin on March 28, 2010, 08:43:46 PM
Got it, Tony. I use the double box method - one box within another and fill the space between with the hypertufa mixture. And, like you, I make them too heavy.

Paddy
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 28, 2010, 08:45:50 PM
I have used the double box method too.  The results were very 'square', I like the rough, imperfect finish of the hole in the ground version.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 02, 2010, 12:02:14 AM
Here are a couple of pics of a trough Ruth & I planted up at the weekend.  The trough (double box) is about 15 years old and was long overdue attention ... the only plant in it was a dandelion!  Nice gritty compost, some old pieces of tufa (from the original planting) some of last years cuttings and seedlings plus sempervivums from a big pot which shattered in the frost.

Also another shot of that seedling pulsatilla - it knows the calendar and we'll see a flower for Easter.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 02, 2010, 09:01:52 AM
A great project to do together - looking forward to seeing it develop as the seedlings, cuttings and Semps grow in that well seasoned trough  :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 04, 2010, 10:46:17 PM
A few days off at Easter - a chance to get out in the garden?  Too many showers to dodge for major works and a lethargy relict of the hour change and too many long shifts at work have limited my efforts.  Also there has been family fun time around Easter.  Biscuits, buns, cakes iced and decorated with marzipan eggs, chicks, bunnies and all. 
However, I did attack the stump of an old eleagnus which needed removing.  I had not thought I would be able to get it out alone but perseverance pays ... as does having a short, sharp pruning saw :)  Oh, and I did have to dig quite a big hole around it!  But as you can see below I now have a planting space to prepare.  Facing West it is also part shaded by the shrubs to the South so I am planning a 'woodland margin' planting with some shade lovers towards the fence.  I already have a Hammemalis 'Arnold Promise' to be the 'feature plant' replacing the structure that the eleagnus was supposed to supply.  It did give structure for a while but in recent years it just got tooooo big, requiring massive and repeated pruning.  The work is not quite over yet though.  When we first moved in I planted Tropaeolum ciliatum in this area .... a BIG mistake.  I removed a bin-bag full of roots and tubers when I cleared the area for the eleagnus planting but a few pieces escaped.  For the last decade it has been twining up in and around the eleagnus, strangling the Daphne mezereum if given the chance and generally making a nusiance of itself.  I have been gathering up all evidence of it but will give it a chance to regrow (and be weeded out) before I add many new plants to this area.  I doubt I'll ever completely eradicate it but I live in hope.
Beyond the Mahonia 'Charity' and Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn', both planted over 15 years ago there is a patch of hellebores which have seeded to make a dense clump.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on April 04, 2010, 11:40:20 PM
So your summer time is just starting Tony? Ours ended on Sunday morning so we are now 11 hours ahead of the UK instead of 13 as for the last 6 months. Yesterday seemed interminably long.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 05, 2010, 08:55:02 AM
Yes, Lesley, we put the clocks forward last Sunday morning.  Now just over a week later the childrens internal clocks seem to have adjusted ... indeed, even mine seems better tuned to the change today, just as well, work today :(
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 05, 2010, 11:06:53 PM
The little pulsatilla seedling is just in flower ... but the first flower has been beaten up by a hailstorm at the weekend.  The picture below is of another plant, a few feet away which fared better.  I'll return to the little one in future, there are other buds developing.  In flower in the last couple of weeks, Corydalis malkensis, white, which seeds around gently but widely.  I think the seeds must be flung away from the parent plant when the narrow pods burst open.  They occur in odd places not as a distinct colony.  Corydalis solida has not yet seeded in for me.  Here the pale pink one is 'Beth Evans'.  In the greenhouse the dionysias are still looking good.  The third 'survivor' here is Dionysia tapetodes.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 06, 2010, 09:29:36 AM
Lovely to see your garden welcoming Spring Tony..... I will watch with interest as to how your Corydalis spreads ; it's a plant that I have only just started appreciating here in the wild, the meadows are full of Corydalis solida!  Is your Pulsatilla seedling from last year?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 06, 2010, 10:31:12 AM
The larger plant is 2 or perhaps three years old.  There will be about twenty flowers in all.  I'll try and get a picture of it at its best.  Here is a shot of the 'baby' just now, another plant in bud and a different self sown plant from a previous year, this one would be 3 or 4 years old.  There are others developing, flowers for a month or so ... and then the lovely seed heads.   I can bring some fresh seed with me in August but perhaps you should try and introduce the native species from seed.  Sown fresh it germinates quickly, as you can see it establishes well from open ground sowing!  My free draining, sandy soil suits pulsatillas well, your slope must drain quickly too.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 06, 2010, 11:28:09 AM
Wonderful!  Great photos of it at different stages! Thanks  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on April 06, 2010, 04:37:11 PM
Lovely seeing your Pulsatilla flowering, mine are still tight budded but cant blame them its raining out there again. I only planted them last year so hopefully they will bulk up.
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 06, 2010, 11:42:29 PM
A quick look at the greenhouse today.  Warm, sunny and windy, things dry out fast in these conditions from now until late autumn.  Almost time to start shading.  Here is how it looks without its summer clothes.

The alignment is almost North-South.  The west side bench, close to the boundary fence is more shaded but as the east side is very open round to the south aspect, the whole gets full light for a good part of the day.  Under the east side bench where it is quite well lit, young bulbs and cyclamen abound.  I also keep an area under here free where the less hardy items from above can be placed in severe winter weather.  The glass is removed around the sides at bench height (except 1 pane where dionysias live!) to give the best ventillation.  It has been like this for 12 years without a problem.  I know that others will flinch at the thought of 'weakening' a greenhouse in this way.  However, my greenhouse is sheltered from the worst of the wind by buildings and trees.  There is also glass taken out down to ground level at the south end.  The wind blows through, it will never have no escape.  I have another greenhouse, much older, with a door and just one vent.  Many years ago I accidentally left the door partly open in a storm and the wind blew several panes out of the roof as it had no way out!  I use no heat ... not much point with all that glass missing!  'Grow them hard' is my approach, although our winter lows are moderated by being only 20 miles from the sea. 
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on April 06, 2010, 11:49:49 PM
Looks fantastic and so many young plants, great to see 8)
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 07, 2010, 05:38:06 PM
Gosh Tony you've got your hands full with all those young plants to look after  :o

Do you have a watering system or just use a can?

When do you expose your Cyclamen to more light?

The Cyclamen seeds that Thomas sent me have geminated but are very wee and I put them outside every day in part sun - should they stay in shade?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 07, 2010, 09:25:30 PM
Not so difficult really - all the 'weans' - the secret is growing a lot of things that need similar treatment.  And the bulbs I grow are almost exclusively winter growers so nothing happens too quickly.  In summer's heat they are dormant and when all those bedding plants need constant monitoring I can put me feet up  ::) :P

I use a watering can with fine rose plus a hose when everything needs a good soak.  As the weather warms up (now) I have to keep a close eye on things.  The plants are in full growth and need plenty of water.  As the foliage begins to yellow I will switch to a smaller watering can with a narrow spout.  This way I can water those that need it but give the ones with yellow leaves a miss.  Too much water, especially in plastic pots when the plants are dying back can lead to rot, especially in a warm greenhouse.

The cyclamen under the bench stay there all year.  Many are C repandum which generally needs a semi-shady site.  I am planning to plant some out this year ... in the new semi-shady bed that I am working on.  The other cyclamen (alpinum, cilicium, mirabile, coum, hederifolium, graecum) need some sun although coum wouold not want too much under glass this far south.  (Ian Y needs to maximise sun/warmth to get good flowering in Aberdeen though).

Your seedlings need to be kept growing as long as possible, so avoid too much sun.  The longer they keep their leaves the bigger the baby tuber will be.  When they are mature I'd guess that a semi-shaded position wil be fine in your area.  It sound like you are doing OK.  
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 07, 2010, 11:56:38 PM
A few pictures from the raised bed near the back of the house.  The main subjects are the ladybirds who are present in large numbers following last summers’ extraordinary visitation!   The ‘plague’ made local TV news as some parts of North Norfolk were almost coated in ladybirds on a few warm early summer days.  Here in Norwich I saw far more in the garden than ever before.  Working outside over the winter I often uncovered overwintering ladybirds.  Now they are warming themselves in the sun, here on the slate and timber of the raised bed.  Is the spider predatory?  Perhaps one of our bug-buffs can tell us.  Hopefully we will continue to see plenty of ladybirds this summer. 

Also in the raised bed are two forms of Primula elatior.  The more dwarf and floriferous one is from seed collected high in the Pyrenees and donated to the AGS seed exchange.  I have seen this plant in flower in the Cirque de Gavarnie so it has special memories for me.

And finally the last crocus in flower here is this special form of Crocus minimus.  Seed raised it has both very dark outer petals and a white style.  A special crocus to end a good spring flowering.  Seed pods are appearing  ... just hope it stays cool enough for long enough to ensure they all mature ... and not until after our Easter hols trip to Wales next week.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 08, 2010, 08:46:53 AM
Tony, your inclusiveness in the way you talk about your methods is great and I am already addicted to this Blog about your garden....there are so many crumbs and soon slices of cake I imagine  ;D

Love your photographs of the ladybirds

A Beautiful form of Primula elatior and very special Crocus  8)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 08, 2010, 10:17:15 AM
Tony, your inclusiveness in the way you talk about your methods is great and I am already addicted to this Blog about your garden....there are so many crumbs and soon slices of cake I imagine  ;D
Your wish is my command!

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

But soon there will only be a few crumbs left  :'(
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 08, 2010, 11:38:08 AM
 ;D ;D ;D :P :'(
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on April 08, 2010, 04:24:01 PM
Darn! I missed the cake........ :-\
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 08, 2010, 04:43:13 PM
Darn! I missed the cake........ :-\
Send Ian down with an empty plastic tub when he comes .... you never know your luck :-*

... We'll make another .... that last slice will have found a good home by then.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 08, 2010, 11:00:16 PM
A perfect spring day here.  Some work done in the garden but the highlight was a picnic in the park with Amy (7) :)  We also planted peas and carrot seeds in the veg plot plus some flower seeds in Amy's garden.  Yes, we also have some sunflowers germinating on her bedroom windowsill.  Amy has a passion for butterflies so we were both delighted to see a Tortoiseshell in the greenhouse today.  After visiting the Primula marginata it also paid its respects to a tecophilea .... but I was too slow to press the shutter there :(

The Corydalis malkenisis pictured recently has moved to the seed stage already (two weeks since the previous pic was taken) in a few days the seed will be ripe ... will I be here to catch it?  Perhaps I should gather a few green pods before we go away.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on April 08, 2010, 11:06:08 PM
I reckon you can collect that Corydalis malkensis seed tomorrow, Tony  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on April 09, 2010, 08:15:27 AM
Enjoying your flowers, loved the ladybirds :).
Your greenhouse was so tidy which made me feel a bit ashamed and  :-[ of the mess mine is  in, so yesterday I spent all day tiding the greenhouse a polytunnel up.I was so tired I was only able to read a few posts.
Tony I think you need to change your header to TIDY AND WONDERFUL GARDEN full of healthy and exciting plants.
Enjoying this thread.

Maggi -  make sure when Ian goes down there he takes a big container, so you can fit a big cake in and maybe there will be a slice for me ;D

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: ashley on April 09, 2010, 11:39:35 AM
... in a few days the seed will be ripe ... will I be here to catch it?  

Tony, a bit of garden fleece around the seed pods and tied loosely at the stem should prevent loss.  It looks ugly but if you're away that hardly matters!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 09, 2010, 02:23:19 PM
... in a few days the seed will be ripe ... will I be here to catch it?  

Tony, a bit of garden fleece around the seed pods and tied loosely at the stem should prevent loss.  It looks ugly but if you're away that hardly matters!
Thanks Ashley.  Not sure I have any fleece (its on the shopping list!) but I will try a  different catch 'container' and also harvest some before we go, as Maggi reccommends.  I'll report on the outcomes when we return.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 09, 2010, 02:36:37 PM
Enjoying your flowers, loved the ladybirds :).
Your greenhouse was so tidy which made me feel a bit ashamed and  :-[ of the mess mine is  in, so yesterday I spent all day tiding the greenhouse a polytunnel up.I was so tired I was only able to read a few posts.
Tony I think you need to change your header to TIDY AND WONDERFUL GARDEN full of healthy and exciting plants.
Angie :)
If I were to accurately describe the garden for this thread it would be 'Weedy and untidy Garden with a couple of cute corners where all the nice things are'  But that would be tooooo long :-X  When I get it all tidy I'll start a new thread .... but don't hold your breath!
The camera can lie about Greenhouses too although it's the floor that usually gives it away.  (I have swept out recently!)  When I started it was partly to share my problems and triumphs in a way that did not need lots of dead-end threads, and partly in the hope that I might show things in a way that 'anyone could do it'.
Thanks for the positive feedback!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: David Nicholson on April 10, 2010, 07:59:26 PM
... in a few days the seed will be ripe ... will I be here to catch it?  

Tony, a bit of garden fleece around the seed pods and tied loosely at the stem should prevent loss.  It looks ugly but if you're away that hardly matters!
Thanks Ashley.  Not sure I have any fleece (its on the shopping list!) but I will try a  different catch 'container' and also harvest some before we go, as Maggi reccommends.  I'll report on the outcomes when we return.

Remember Tony, put it on very carefully. Don't push it, that would be the favourite ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 10, 2010, 08:20:09 PM
... in a few days the seed will be ripe ... will I be here to catch it?  

Tony, a bit of garden fleece around the seed pods and tied loosely at the stem should prevent loss.  It looks ugly but if you're away that hardly matters!
Thanks Ashley.  Not sure I have any fleece (its on the shopping list!) but I will try a  different catch 'container' and also harvest some before we go, as Maggi reccommends.  I'll report on the outcomes when we return.

Remember Tony, put it on very carefully. Don't push it, that would be the favourite ;D
At least Tony was on the winner ... but not this one :P
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: David Nicholson on April 10, 2010, 08:26:21 PM
... in a few days the seed will be ripe ... will I be here to catch it?  

Tony, a bit of garden fleece around the seed pods and tied loosely at the stem should prevent loss.  It looks ugly but if you're away that hardly matters!
Thanks Ashley.  Not sure I have any fleece (its on the shopping list!) but I will try a  different catch 'container' and also harvest some before we go, as Maggi reccommends.  I'll report on the outcomes when we return.

Remember Tony, put it on very carefully. Don't push it, that would be the favourite ;D
At least Tony was on the winner ... but not this one :P

 ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on April 11, 2010, 12:00:40 AM
If I were to accurately describe the garden for this thread it would be 'Weedy and untidy Garden with a couple of cute corners where all the nice things are'  But that would be tooooo long :-X  When I get it all tidy I'll start a new thread .... but don't hold your breath!

Yeah...me too... like in 2028!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 20, 2010, 12:04:30 AM
The garden is still untidy .... going away for a week does not help!  Wales was great, weather glorious.  If time allows I'll post a few pictures later.

Noting the likely sunshine while we were away I added some shading just before we went.  It really does make a difference.  The plants behind the netting made it through the week without stress.  Those in the open struggled.  My holiday watering assistant did not water the outdoor pots - a mistake, I should have encouraged a quick hosing down mid-week.

The shading around the access frame is partly to keep Narcissus fly out, I must find the missing piece to finish the job.  I attach the shading outside the glass as this is much better at keeping the temperatures down than shading inside.

The crocus seedlings are mostly OK (and now well watered) but the mature plants beyond have some yellow leaves.  The spring crocus frame would also have benefitted from shading.  The pots at the far end get some shade from the adjacent fence.  Note how the near ones have more yellow leaves, they are in full sun.  I will add shade to all these tomorrow as more warm spring sunshine is forecast.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 20, 2010, 12:11:01 AM
A few before and after pics.  The Pulsatillas continue to shine while Iris bucharica is transformed!  Once a rare bulb this clump cost me £1.50 as dry bulbs last autumn.

A warm place to hide :)

A taste of Wales .... the caravan is just beyond the bridge.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on April 20, 2010, 03:21:02 AM
I really like the Welsh stone wall with its doorway and the daffs are lovely of course.

One just about needs to have a checklist of things to be done in certain circumstances, such as going away for a week's holiday. There are always even tiny things that can make a big difference to the results when one returns. I'm planning about a week in Australia mid spring and Roger won't water and there's no-one else so I need to be thinking now, about how to combat a drier-than-it-should-be spell. But will I?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on April 20, 2010, 10:18:04 AM
I love your "Tales of the Unexpected" Tony...  :D :D
maybe they are more "expected" though...  ;D ;D
Thanks for this very enjoyable series !
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 20, 2010, 10:59:03 AM
Tony, glad you had a sunshine holiday in Wales and your photo through the arch with daffodils certainly portrays just that.

Very interesting ideas about shading and am coming to the same conclusion here with my seedling emerging - I keep having to move them t maximise light but reduce intense heat when the sun shines; a chilly wind can be deceptive.

I have an automatic watering system for pots which has a central reservoir that can be timed on the tap and regulated which I really must set up at some stage - I just don't like all the tubes snaking round the garden!!!!!!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on April 20, 2010, 11:13:27 PM
Really lovely Pulsatilla 8).
Nice to hear that you had a nice week in Wales and it was warm and sunny, its freezing up here, back to winter temperatures >:(.
Was looking up Malvern Spring show I think I need a wee break away from here. Sun and plants perfect.
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 22, 2010, 11:31:07 PM
A visit to a tidy garden today!
After an excellent lecture by Ian Young at Norfolk AGS we spent a day at Wisley.  .... Well actually we spent more of the day in the car but Wisley was still good :) Excellent in fact, under Paul C's expert care.  A few flower photos later but here proof that Ian was there! 

Also a special guest on the Cyclamen bench in the behind-the-scenes polytunnel.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on April 23, 2010, 11:04:39 AM
Sunglasses and t.shirt 8), its woolly hats and fleeces here.
Looking forward to seeing more when you have the time to post them.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 23, 2010, 12:27:30 PM
Lucky you, Tony, to be so close and enjoy an excellent lecture given by the BD and then to follow it with a trip to Wisley - too much of a good time but looking forward to sharing it through your photos. Great shot of the BD in front of the pansy tower wearing the Forum Polo shirt no less the whole scene is very Spiring-like - was the Duck nesting or laying eggs?  ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on April 23, 2010, 01:41:43 PM
I've just been outside to check the temperature here in damp Aberdeen.... it's just about 4 degrees C :P
Is it any wonder the BD looks so pleased ?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 23, 2010, 03:40:48 PM
I've just been outside to check the temperature here in damp Aberdeen.... it's just about 4 degrees C :P
Is it any wonder the BD looks so pleased ?
That'll wipe the smile off his face :'(

Even hotter here today although the breeze is refreshing.  Too hot for a forum fleecie and for many bulbs which are yellowing despite the shading.  Seed pods galore appear on the crocuses :)

Angie more pics tonight hopefully.  Maggi did not send an empty cake-tin down with Ian :( ... but if you pop round later there might be a few crumbs left from the cup-cakes ;)

Robin, yes indeed!  Paul told us there were 10 eggs under Mrs Daffy.  It's her 3rd year in the same spot!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on April 23, 2010, 04:00:55 PM
Bother! I knew we'd forgotten something! It was the cake tin.   >:(

As if that wasn't enough to depress us... it's raining now, too.   :'(
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on April 23, 2010, 07:00:24 PM
Bother! I knew we'd forgotten something! It was the cake tin.   >:(

As if that wasn't enough to depress us... it's raining now, too.   :'(

Maggi if we had remembered that cake tin we could have had a great BIG slice of cake, it could have been snowing or gale force winds out there and even if it was -50  I would have been so happy eating that cake :'(. 
Never mind I am sure I have a BIG cake of chocolate hidden somewhere ;D ;D ;D ;D

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on April 23, 2010, 07:41:55 PM
Angie: Ian is home... he's brought chocolate buns with him!! There's two for you.... if you're quick !!(VERY quick!) ;D
Baked by Tony..... yummy!! 8)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 23, 2010, 11:59:20 PM
We had ours with cream 8)

A few pics from Wisley.  The season has moved on apace since Erics' thread from earlier this month.

I love the patterns made by the emerging ferns.
Leucojum aestivum luxuriates by the waters edge. ... as does Fritillaria meleagris.
Erythroniums aplenty ... although the massed Pagoda were quite a formal planting.  I prefer the informal, natural look but these were stunning.
I also prefer the pinks of Erythronium revolutum, this one certainly caught the eye (and the sun :))
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 24, 2010, 10:05:39 AM
Wonderful to have caught those fern fronds just before unfurling - I love them too  8)

Beautiful natural scenes at Wisley by the waterside, Spring in essence  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on April 24, 2010, 11:03:38 PM
Lovely Erythroniums. I love Wisley, just wish I lived closer.
Robin said what I was thinking those ferns are so lovely at that stage.
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 29, 2010, 10:47:52 AM
Three pics of seed from Corydalis malkensis.  It appeared close to ripe when we left for a week in Wales after Easter.  I collected some green pods, wrapped one stem in a plastic food bag and placed another inside a jam-jar.  These latter two were left in-situ.  The results:  harvested green, lots of healthy seed; jam jar, some ripe seed; plastic bag, some ripe seed but deterioration suggesting rot would soon set in if I had left it too long.  So green, almost ripe pods is the best approach.

As it happens the pods 'left to nature' had not quite fully ripened, so I was able to collect from them when I got back anyway!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 07, 2010, 11:55:02 PM
Very busy with work the last two weeks plus AGS show last weekend.  I got a few plants ready for planting out a while back, put them by the raised bed .... and went to work.  Despite the cool weather it has been dry until today.  You can see how disaster overtakes the careless gardener.  The limp campanula has recovered as I write this, after a soaking this morning.  The ptilotrichium may not grow on .... time will tell.

The raised bed at the sunny, back of the house has been colourful for a while now.  Spring bulbs are giving way to other alpines.  Pulsatilla albana, here in its yellow form, is a cute, small flowered species.  As all the pulsatillas I grow, seed raised.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 08, 2010, 11:27:18 PM
Oh Tony, I do this all the time, put plants by to plant at the weekend and suddenly they're limp and dying because we had a warm wind for a couple of days. Most recover when well watered but some don't and yet again I curse my stupidity. I have had to accept that not only am I an untidy and lazy gardener, but also a BAD gardener, which is shameful.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 09, 2010, 10:58:26 PM
Lesley - there is no such thing as a bad gardener!  Anyone who practices our wholesome, life enhancing hobby is GOOD :)  The world needs less man-made, indoor things and more natural, outdoor things, we are doing our bit, even if we do have the occasional bad day :-*
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 10, 2010, 01:00:15 AM
Well I didn't so much mean that I am BAD as in wicked but bad AT it, if you see what I mean.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 10, 2010, 08:51:19 AM
Aaah - yes, in that sense I am very bad :o  ;)

But despite that, I do have some spare seed of Corydalis malkensis.  If anyone would like some it could make two or thee portions.  Just PM me with your address. 
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 13, 2010, 09:10:43 PM
All corydalis seed now on its way to faraway places.

As the spring progresses pressure on my time has brought gardening almost to a halt.  (Although I have hopes for a few hours tomorrow :))  Small is beautiful could be the alpine gardeners motto.  In my case each trough is a small garden ... but even in an area this small there are weeds!  Below are some pictures of a trough I planted up a year ago.   A small trough made using the double box method about 15 years ago.  The first pic is from just after planting while the second was taken recently.  Most of the plants have only grown slowly, although the tiny phlox has spread nicely.  I have grown this in a grdaen bed but its diminutive size makes it ideal for a trough.  I am also heartened to see gentiana verna flowering for a second season.  The dandelion seedling (which has many siblings elsewhere :P) has been removed using a chunky pair of tweezers which are also very useful for collecting spilt crocus seeds :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on May 14, 2010, 12:20:35 PM
I was thinking on my walk this morning about planting a trough with Alpines to give me an Alpine fix whilst here - your trough is really attractive Tony with the slate crevices.  Lovely Gentiana verna and what is the serrated leaf plant on the left?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on May 14, 2010, 12:42:27 PM
Robin,  I've just realised you are in the UK but not coming to the Aberdeen Show tomorrow.... naughty, naughty!!
[attach=1]

 or there's the Southport AGS Show, too....... :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on May 14, 2010, 01:33:21 PM
Maggi I would dearly love to come to Aberdeen - you know I like Shows  8) Good luck to everyone exhibiting and setting up I look forward to seeing photos so I'm virtually there  ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 14, 2010, 09:46:01 PM
I was thinking on my walk this morning about planting a trough with Alpines to give me an Alpine fix whilst here - your trough is really attractive Tony with the slate crevices.  Lovely Gentiana verna and what is the serrated leaf plant on the left?
It's a good time to be planting an alpine trough.  You should be able to get plants ready to flower now .... then you can enjoy them before you move on again! 

If you mean the plant to the left in the close up of the gentian, it is Saxifraga cotyledon (or raised from seed ex S cotyledon so perhaps garden hybrid.)  The only time I have seen it in the wild was in the Valais!  Near Saas Fee where we will have an appartment for a week before we visit Les Marecottes in August :)  It is not difficult to raise from seed and this form offers cutting material too ... I could try bringing a few bits with me.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: mark smyth on May 14, 2010, 10:08:03 PM
RR are you coming over for a visit?

This is my Pulsatilla alban lutea - much too big for the crevice it grows in
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 16, 2010, 01:59:29 AM
For small crevice gardens, perhaps small, compact cushions are best. A lovely Pulsatilla though Mark. :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on May 16, 2010, 06:25:08 PM
RR are you coming over for a visit?

This is my Pulsatilla alban lutea - much too big for the crevice it grows in

Mark, what a fantastic Pulsatilla - it absolutely lights up the crevice - the foliage looks great too  8)

Looking around and enjoying a completely different form of gardening in England whilst on holiday  :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on May 17, 2010, 09:08:20 AM
Hope you enjoy your break and I like Maggi would have loved to have seen you at the Aberdeen show, maybe next year. There is always a room here for you, but breakfast wont be anything special as everyone that knows me can tell you I CANT COOK  :'(.
At least the weather has warmed up a bit. I was down at the Malvern Spring Show and its was cold even for a Scot.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on May 17, 2010, 04:31:02 PM
Angie, what a kind offer :)   One day I would love to make it up to Aberdeen to see you all - and your gardens, of course :D  i am always interested in what others grow and how - which is why I'm lingering here waiting for some pearls to drop  :P
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on May 17, 2010, 06:36:47 PM
Robin I will hold you to that promise.
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 25, 2010, 09:31:28 PM
The crocus harvest is almost complete.  Warm weather always brings a rush of seed pods and this year has been no exception.  Pictured below is Crocus cvijicii, which opens its pods at the sides, spilling the seed close to the shoot.  The shrivelling topgrowth leaves a hole .... into which the seed may fall and 'plant' itself at depth.

A chunky pair of surgical tweezers is very useful in the greenhouse.  I collect spilt seeds with it and it is very good for tidying the dead flowers from cushion plants.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 25, 2010, 09:42:53 PM
Fellow forumist David Millward (Dr Rock) braved the ash clouds and flew down from Edinburgh to give an excellent lecture last week.  We took in a couple of local gardens and a nature reserve while he was here.  Cecilia Coller is perhaps best known for her exploits at AGS shows but her rock garden provided the best photo opportunities.

The phlox cv (name not coming back to me - sorry) was quite stunning, perfectly sited among big rocks.  I grow Erinacea anthyllis, a spiny broom relative from the Pyrenees, in my garden butit is nothing like the metre wide specimen shown here.

Back home Tropaeolum tricolorum scrambles happily through shrubs.  The tubers are safe from frost in the sandy soil beneath the shrubs, close to a south facing wall.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on May 26, 2010, 05:17:22 PM
Tony I like Erinacea anthyllis, I have never seen this before. 8)
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 26, 2010, 09:47:15 PM
I might be able to send some seed in the summer Angie (ours). It's prickly as a gorse bush though. ???
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on May 26, 2010, 09:54:19 PM
Thank you Lesley :-*, my other seeds are doing well. I think I am getting better with seeds now.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 26, 2010, 10:12:57 PM
I don't know how the erinacea will do in Aberdeen.  I think it needs plenty sunshine to ripen the woody growth and promote good flowering.  What are your experiences Lesley?  Forgive my ignorance but how does your climate compare with Aberdeen in the northern UK?

.... I would also be happy to raise some new plants from seed.  Mine never sets any and is not in the best site but is too big to move :( ...and too prickly ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on May 26, 2010, 10:23:51 PM
I don't know how the erinacea will do in Aberdeen.  I think it needs plenty sunshine to ripen the woody growth and promote good flowering.  What are your experiences Lesley?  Forgive my ignorance but how does your climate compare with Aberdeen in the northern UK?


Tony do you think we dont get any sunshine in Aberdeen :o :o :o I wish we did have more sunny days here.
Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 28, 2010, 01:38:40 AM
Forgive my ignorance but how does your climate compare with Aberdeen in the northern UK?

Favourably Tony. Very favourably. ;D

Having said that, winter has arrived with a bang, a whole week now of first thick mist and drizzle; four, going into the fifth of solid, heavy rain, and snow in the air too, though not on the ground. It's early for this and many of the deciduous trees still have leaves, some of the beeches, willows, birches etc and especially the larches so that the colours are superb, being very wet, whole golden carpets on the ground on Three Mile Hill when I came out of town this morning.

But back to the subject in hand. I have two large plants of the Erinacea and both flower very well and set some seed. Long nosed tweezers are necessary to collect it because of the prickles. Both plants are in pretty much full sun, in large troughs (one limestone and the other hypertufa) so the wood would get well ripened I should think. The only water they ever get is from the sky (like now) and sometimes that means no water for a couple of months but the roots will be way down deep by now.

If I can collect some seed next late spring, I'll send it off to you both (Angie and Tony). It is not difficult from cuttings either (except the handling).

By the way, a little packet of Corydalis seed arrived this morning, having survived MAF's ministrations. Thanks so much Tony.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on May 28, 2010, 05:39:00 PM
Forgive my ignorance but how does your climate compare with Aberdeen in the northern UK?

Favourably Tony. Very favourably. ;D



Hurrumph! :P

Though I must admit the Anthyllis didn't flower in our garden and the BD ditched it when he was last looking for more bulb planting ground.  ::)

If it is any consolation to you, Lesley, it is cold enough for snow here..... some sunny skies but chilly and raining.... horrible, in fact!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 28, 2010, 05:42:07 PM
Forgive my ignorance but how does your climate compare with Aberdeen in the northern UK?
Favourably Tony. Very favourably. ;D
Hurrumph! :P
Though I must admit the Anthyllis didn't flower in our garden and the BD ditched it when he was last looking for more bulb planting ground.  ::)
If it is any consolation to you, Lesley, it is cold enough for snow here..... some sunny skies but chilly and raining.... horrible, in fact!
Ah but would you want to live in a place where the rhodies get stressed out by the dry heat ... like I do here :P
Off to Wales for a week - camping and hoping for it to be dry!!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on May 28, 2010, 05:50:56 PM
Well, no, my rhodos are VERY important to me! :D

Enjoy your holiday.... I'd pack plenty woolies and thick socks if I were you!  ::)
(It's at times like this I am grateful not to be anyone going camping, to be truthful!!)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on May 28, 2010, 10:35:40 PM
Though I must admit the Anthyllis didn't flower in our garden and the BD ditched it when he was last looking for more bulb planting ground.  ::)

Maggi could BD not have ditched it my way  ::)

Tony enjoy your week in Wales... will look forward to see some nice pictures of sunny Wales.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 30, 2010, 12:20:54 AM
Our snow hasn't come to much I'm pleased to say, just a dusting on the local hills though there's quite a lot up-country. The rain has been a real problem for some people, over 8 inches here in 4 days but as we're on a hill it has been all good, for me, the first really decent rain, by which I mean penetrating to more than 2 or 3 inches, in probably 4 years. Major floods though on the Taieri Plain below us and many roads blocked with flooding or slips. A dozen of my Market vendors couldn't get there yesterday. The public came though, real heroes as it teamed solidly for every minutes of the day.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on July 01, 2010, 07:26:55 PM
Heatwave here .... turning the world upside-down following on from Lesley's post!

Very busy time at home as we continue the renovations started last year.  The garden is luxuriously wild at this time of year.  The 'old' side of the front garden has some nice Dianthus carthusianorum seeding around.  This form came as var valesiacum, a 'dwarf' form.  It is shorter than the other form I grow but not as tight as those I saw around Zermatt.  The natural planting here even includes wild grasses ... a meadow if you use your imagination :)

The pale pink is Aethionema grandiflorum which also seeds around .... a bit too much if not deadheaded.  The seasonal growth can be cut back quite hard, giving the plant a 'bun' appearance around the woody central stem.  If you don't cut it back there will be seedlings to fill every gap in the garden.

In a patch around the back that I cleared earlier this year Tropaeolum ciliatum (I showed you the sweet potato-like tubers earlier) is reappearing from fragments left behind.  I am removing them!  It is a rampageous thug, witness the speed of growth up this polygonatum :P
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on July 01, 2010, 08:13:05 PM
A few gems from the 'tame' parts of the garden.

Campanula cochlearifolia, white and blue.  Grown from seed and spreading nicely.  It has done so before but does not always make it through the winter ... too wet?
Androsace lanuginosa tumbling down the side of the new trough.
Geranium cinereum from Pyrenean seed but not as dwarf as those I saw many years ago on an exposed ridge in the Pyrenees.
Calochortus flower so much later than the other bulbs ... surrounded by dry and brown remains.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: David Nicholson on July 01, 2010, 08:28:26 PM
Do you get away with Calochortus in the open garden Tony?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on July 01, 2010, 10:28:12 PM
Tony nice to see more of your garden 8).

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on July 01, 2010, 10:41:10 PM
The Calochortus are lovely, but aren't they all? I can confirm the thuggery of Trop. ciliatum. I bought mine - as T. azureum! - and it had never left me no matter how much I dig it out. Even Roundup is only partially helpful. Pretty flowers but small and too much foliage in comparison.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on July 02, 2010, 01:26:46 PM
Do you get away with Calochortus in the open garden Tony?

Exactly my thoughts ???

Love the "meadow" Tony - it really looks natural.
Your Aethionema very much resembles the A. schistosum I grow Tony !
(needs trimming just as well !)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on July 02, 2010, 09:49:43 PM
Lovely to see your wild meadow Tony, so pretty and full of interest....your Campanula cochlearifolia, white and blue are gorgeous too! 8)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on July 05, 2010, 10:46:43 AM
Thanks for the kind comments.
Luc, the aethionema came as AGS seed, I cannot say for sure what name ir should have.  A. cordifolium or A grandiflorum were the two which I thought closest to the plant I grow.  I'll take a look at A schistosum and see if it matches.
David - Calochortus under glass.  I did have one of the small 'hanging lantern' types in a sand bed for several years but recent disturbance in the bed has 'lost' it!  I will try more outside eventually, some of the ones I grow increase quite well.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: David Nicholson on July 05, 2010, 10:59:43 AM

David - Calochortus under glass.  I did have one of the small 'hanging lantern' types in a sand bed for several years but recent disturbance in the bed has 'lost' it!  I will try more outside eventually, some of the ones I grow increase quite well.

Good to see yours doing well Tony, Luc and I have both had a terrible Calochortus season, see Calochortus thread.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 25, 2010, 09:29:20 PM
After a bit of a break due to holidays and work/family commitments the blog picks up where it left off with a picture of Campanula cochlearifolia.  Now spreading quite widely under the slate top dressing the two seedlings from 2009 are flowering again amongst the seed heads from earlier this summer.
Not far away a long established group of Cyclamen coum are well into leaf after a cool and wet spell in the last month.
Last autumn I planted some spare bulbs in a newly developed raised area, top dressing with slate.  The aforementioned campanula and other small alpines were interplanted and all have grown well in 2010.  This year I have extended the 'renewal of the front garden by extending the planting.  The pics below summarise the process.  I will show you some of the results in due course.
In the opposite corner to the 2009 slate bed there is an old planting of bulbs, the area featured as 'meadow' planting in the summer.  Many years ago I brought back some seed of a big verbascum from Andorra.  The resulting generations continue to survive my low maintenace weeding  ;D and one such has made a magnificent rosette of furry foliage during the summer, swamping its neighbours but I liked the look of it!  Now in full flower I feel justified in leaving it to flourish :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on September 25, 2010, 10:34:34 PM
Tony nice to have you back. That's some amount of Cyclamen coum you have growing there.
I was thinking of lifting a small patch of grass which is hard to cut but wasn't sure what to do I thought about gravel but I do like the look of your slate. My husband is always doing slating work and I have seen the pile of slate chipping left I was thinking if I threw that in the cement mixer to take of the sharp edges off it could work.
Love your Verbascum   8) looking forward to seeing more.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 25, 2010, 10:56:59 PM
Thanks Angie!  Actually that is only some of the cyclamen ... I planted 20+ young plants out about 12 years ago and they have seeded into a clump about 3feet across with outliers across the rest of the garden :)  It likes the sunny places rather than the half shade that I first tried it in.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on September 25, 2010, 11:07:36 PM
Tony funny you saying that about your cyclamen in full sun. I put mine in shade( a small patch ) but after a visit to Roma's and seeing all her swaths of cyclamen basking in full sun I realised mine were in the wrong place.
Yours must be a wonderful sight when they are all in flower.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 25, 2010, 11:20:56 PM
Yes, a sunny spot definitely best.
I have planted lots of Cyclamen hederifolium in the back garden over the years, often in places that have become overgrown :-[  Here is an example, before and after a tidy up.
Cyclamen graecum needs a warmer summer rest than is possible outside here but thrives under glass - even a time ravaged old greenhouse.  This is due for demolition sometime next year, its in totally the worng place since our 2009 extension.  Sadly it is steel, cemented into the ground so we cannot pick it up and move it (as we did with a 12x8 aluminium one 14 years ago.)  Don't know how I am going to deal with the Cyclamen graecum, current thoughts are inserting large rocks in the obvious gaps between plants and placing a temporary cover over the plants in summer.
Tha last two shots are Cyclamen graecum forms in the 12x8 greenhouse where I have too many of them!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on September 26, 2010, 09:21:49 AM
Too many, never. I can't wait to mine bulk up . My garden is really like a cottage garden ( just a jungle of plant )  ;D but since joining the SRGC I have been finding spaces to put all these little treasures.

I think you have a good idea there with the rocks, that is some neglected Cyclamen the markings on the leaf is wonderful.

Years ago when I started gardening our friends who win the title of best back garden in Aberdeen used to always change there garden and I could never understand why but now that I am a gardener I am the same  I move things about and dig lots out to give me more space for my alpine plants .I wonder if you are ever happy with what you have.

We are away to do a extension to the house and I am already worrying about my plants, sometimes I think I shouldn't as we have to move two large Acers and then the problem is where to put them. There isn't one space in my garden. This is mainly caused by my addiction. I hold my hands up I am a plantaholic ( not sure if that's the right spelling ) ::) but you will now what I mean.

 Thanks for showing your Cyclamen  8)

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 26, 2010, 11:45:15 PM
The activity which has taken up most of my gardening time this month has, of course, been repotting the bulbs.  I seem to use a veritable mountain of compost each year (see pic below :)), mixed in my wheelbarrow.  The current recipe is roughly 60% John Innes no2 (loam based), 40% sharp gritty sand.  Add 3 litres of perlite and a teacup of bonemeal per 25 litres of JI2 and mix well.  
There are an awful lot of pots, although I am planting more out as the years go by.  At the start the pots look so untidy with dried foliage from last seasons growth, but when its all done  :) :) :) ..... pictures to follow when it is!
I am well aware of the polarised view of forumists re: Cats.  Our Timmy eliminates enough potential crocus eaters for me to be tolerant of his choice of places to snooze.  However this does not extend into the growing season :o so I have to find somewhere else for him to sleep.  Much to my surprise he liked my idea .... but yesterday next doors ginger cat had found it a good place to rest so I may have to install another!
First repot to flower (10 days ago) was Cochicum montanum - a narrow petalled form collected as seed near Gavarnie when Ruth (who is going to go to bed soon !!!!!!!) was just 1 year old (she's now an insomniac thirteen year old)  :P
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on September 27, 2010, 04:54:20 AM
Compost mountain? I thought that was Mont Blanc! ;D and I agree with Angie there can NEVER be too many of Cyc graecum, anywhere. :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on September 27, 2010, 08:46:08 AM
Tony, it's great to follow your activities in your garden and I'm most impressed with your compost mix!  The way you describe the process it sounds like a happy medium for your bulbs to bake in and rise with plenty of moisture too  ;D  Your C.montanum Gavarnie are fabulous - where are they from?   I love the watchful eye of your lucky black cat in purpose built bed  8)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 27, 2010, 11:19:56 AM
Robin - here is the answer!  I must learn to write less perhaps? ;)
First repot to flower (10 days ago) was Cochicum montanum - a narrow petalled form collected as seed near Gavarnie when Ruth (who is going to go to bed soon !!!!!!!) was just 1 year old (she's now an insomniac thirteen year old)  :P
Glad you like what you see ... and he's a very special cat.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on October 02, 2010, 11:02:08 PM
As the rains fall and the temperature drops so the autumn crocus put in an appearance.  The feature in this post is a group of Crocus niveus that I planted out 8+ years ago.  They have survived in good numbers while other species planted at the same time have disappeared or dwindled.  Mind you, they have had a lot of overgrowth to contend with over the years.  I worked hard to clear most of it before they emerged this year .... and now a fresh crop of weeds have come up with the crocuses!  A week ago, noses only; Tuesday, flowers not opened; Thursday (sunshine) flowers; Saturday, they have survived Fridays storm .... and its raining again now!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on October 02, 2010, 11:15:31 PM
A view across the North end of the front garden with the slate top dressing.  Part planted up 13 months ago and part planted up recently with bulbs in net pots.  The older planting has matured nicely and the bulbs are returning and looking happy so far.  Crocus niveus (again) two different forms (and different to those in the last posting).  This species has some of the largest flowers in the genus with the added bonus that they are quite robust and stand up to the weather better than the smaller species.  Colchicum cupanii has been overgrown by the happy clump of Campanula cochlearifolia.  I do not think that this will disadvantage the colchicum too much ... and the campanula will continue on its travels next year anyway!
In the newest planting Crocus pulchellus and Crocus kotschyanus brighten up the slate.  I am happy with this top dressing but will look to introduce some smaller and a few larger pieces to make it look less uniform ... and perhaps a bit more natural.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 18, 2010, 09:13:07 PM
Finally found time to get back to work on the garden make-over.  Mostly clearance work so far, Jacinta loves the 'slash and burn' part of gardening ...although here it is really slash and recycle :D  We cut back a 'dwarf' conifer today - that was the easy bit, now I have to remove the stump :P

The plan is to create a garden room, somewhere to sit, eat, talk and enjoy the garden.  I am imagining raised beds and alpines around it.  Jacinta is imagining Lavender hedges.  The girls are imagining a table tennis table ;D  It will be an area 10ft x 15ft approx. sited against the wall.  We saw a similar space in a garden we visited, it had a pergola over the top, climbers around the edges.  We liked it ... but that won't be table-tennis friendly.  (Estimated completion date 2012 ... hoped for completion date summer 2011 ;))

Many Cyclamen hederifolium used to grow along the wall.  Most of those which survived under the overgrowth have been relocated.  The leaves are really as good as the flowers.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on November 18, 2010, 10:04:09 PM
Looking forward to see who will be the winner. Somewhere nice to sit sounds good to me.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on November 19, 2010, 01:53:48 PM
You've been a busy lad Tony ! :D
You obviously need a nice place to have a rest (occasionally  ;D) 
I hope the raised beds will win... so much better than boring lavender hedges... :-X
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: fermi de Sousa on November 20, 2010, 03:37:25 PM

I hope the raised beds will win... so much better than boring lavender hedges... :-X

Perhaps a compromise: raised beds edged in dwarf lavender? ;D

cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on November 20, 2010, 07:45:04 PM

I hope the raised beds will win... so much better than boring lavender hedges... :-X

Perhaps a compromise: raised beds edged in dwarf lavender? ;D

cheers
fermi

With a table tennis net across the middle? ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 20, 2010, 08:36:13 PM
I hope the raised beds will win... so much better than boring lavender hedges... :-X
Perhaps a compromise: raised beds edged in dwarf lavender? ;D
With a table tennis net across the middle? ;D
I knew I could rely on my friends for some helpful suggestions ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on November 22, 2010, 08:50:00 AM
Great expectations in your garden Tony!  I love the C. hederifolim patch and agree that the leaves give equal pleasure and more enduring than the flower. 

I am a fan of lavender and it's great to run your fingers through it, dry it for sachets and sprays to give to friends and a dwarf one could make a good edging to clip.  Butterflies and bees would love it all summer long and so good for Photos and ID (Amy?). A raised alpine bed/wall is wonderful too at a height to enjoy in detail when you are eating al fresco and provides lots of little niches to blow seed in to (Ruth?)

Badminton is a great game for all ages and provided hundreds of hours of entertainment for our family as they grew up with a net attached to two extending poles and it's easier to find the shuttle cock!!!

Good luck with all your ventures in your lovely garden  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 22, 2010, 09:27:40 AM
Thanks Robin.  I'm sure lavender will feature somewhere.  Badminton was my game when I was growing up, only one I was any good at.  Not sure we've got space for it  ... shuttlecocks fly high and wide ;)

When will we see more of your alpine garden adventures?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 25, 2010, 07:03:25 PM
Not great gardening weather!  Always good to check things outside though.  I did get the frame cover back on the autumn crocuses before the snow came.  I had removed it to let the recent rain give them a drink. 

The seals around the glass in the lights of my aging greenhouse are failing, resulting in 'glass slip' where the glass slides out of the open light, especially in frosty, snowy weather.  I have had to push them back into place and expect I will need to do this again ... and again until I get round to making repairs.

Inside the greenhouse I have had a repeat visits from a Blackbird.  (Timmy - where have you been?) These feathered vandals are searching for juicy grubs and do it very messily.  I have had several pots of bulbs excavated but not eaten, it's not mouse!  I have seen the offender, don't like to think the greenhouse is a rich source of food for him but hopefully he has removed a few pests as well as this Dionysia aretioides cutting!

November snow again here - not a lot (yet) but already the garden looks better ;D
I had prepared a pic of Crocus laevigatus dark form before the snow, here it is, still flowering in the winter after many years exposure.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 29, 2010, 11:11:23 PM
Rather more snow now!  Can imagine how much worse it is in the North having seen 2ft of recent snowfall in the alps one summer.

The slate beds out front are quite curvaceous under six inches of snow while the greenhouse and frames are loaded down.  I decided to clear the snow as more is forecast.  The weight might be enough to do serious damage.  Note the sliding glass mentioned earlier.  Under the  snow, especially at edges and along gutter area was ice, up to an inch thick.  Much heavier than the powdery snow, I removed this also.  The end result may not be so pretty but leaving it to build up might have been truly ugly!

Cyclamen mirabile got caught in the snow leak but I am afraid that other peoples gardens still look better than mine, even in the snow ;)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on November 30, 2010, 11:08:17 AM
Hi Tony

I did the same yesterday, the snow was really building up so I too cleared as much as I could. The guttering  on the house has buckled. Last year I couldn't believe the damage that was caused to polytunnels at a nursery in Edinburgh so I push as much snow of as possible.
It's really nice to look at but I can see some of my bushes are damaged already. To think we are still in November.
Your house looks lovely in the snow.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 12, 2011, 10:43:56 PM
As the days begin to draw out a little and the mild weather awakens the early flowers here is the first update for 2011.

After the harsh cold of December, January has been dull and increasingly mild.  The first weeks of February have continued in similar vein bringing quite a rush of colour to the garden as crocus, cyclamen, snowdrops and irises appear.  Here are just a few, the first shot showing flowers in the slate bed  which was shown snowbound in the last post of 2010.

Iris 'Katherine Hodgekin' was planted out as some undersized bulbs two years ago.  After a non-flowering season last year they are now nicely settled in.
The Crocus tommasinianus shown is one of the best 'pink' forms I have, just as good in the garden as in a pot and needing less looking after!  The small striped Crocus vernus is not to everyone's taste, although it is often admired.  It's chief virtue in my eyes is its indestructibility in the garden.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: WimB on February 13, 2011, 07:19:58 AM
As the days begin to draw out a little and the mild weather awakens the early flowers here is the first update for 2011.

After the harsh cold of December, January has been dull and increasingly mild.  The first weeks of February have continued in similar vein bringing quite a rush of colour to the garden as crocus, cyclamen, snowdrops and irises appear.  Here are just a few, the first shot showing flowers in the slate bed  which was shown snowbound in the last post of 2010.

Iris 'Katherine Hodgekin' was planted out as some undersized bulbs two years ago.  After a non-flowering season last year they are now nicely settled in.
The Crocus tommasinianus shown is one of the best 'pink' forms I have, just as good in the garden as in a pot and needing less looking after!  The small striped Crocus vernus is not to everyone's taste, although it is often admired.  It's chief virtue in my eyes is its indestructibility in the garden.

Tony,

I love your striped Crocus vernus, reminds me of Colchicum kesselringii.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on February 13, 2011, 09:05:55 AM
Tony the crocus and cyclamen are nice against the slate. My iris Katherine Hodgeekins are just starting to come.
Looking forward to seeing more.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 13, 2011, 05:02:31 PM
It's not all good news though.  The severe cold in December took its toll on some of my plants.  I do not give any artificial heat so I try to only grow plants that can cope with the conditions here.  This winter has been the most severe in the 20 years and as well as losing Cyclamen rohlfsianum which always struggles I have said goodbye to Freesia andersonii and Oxalis versicolor.  The latter has survived here for all those 20 years .... until now :(  Some Cyclamen graecum have also suffered, they will survive but it might be time to say goodbye to a few .....it will make room for more iris and crocus :).  Mind you, a few of the crocus are showing signs of stress.  I kept the pots fairly dry through the intense cold but Crocus ochroleucus 'large form' which I believe originates from the Golan Heights has succumbed to a neck rot, perhaps due to frost damage.  Hyacinthoides (Scilla) lingulata usually makes i under glass but you can see from the photo below that different forms have responded in different ways.  One has lost all leaves, one has lost none and the third has lost leaves on plants nearest the glass.  There may be small bulbs left below ground - maybe.

AND as soon as it gets milder the aphids are back >:(  Who'd be a gardener?!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on February 13, 2011, 05:12:06 PM

AND as soon as it gets milder the aphids are back >:(  Who'd be a gardener?!

Yes sometimes I wonder as well why we put so much effort in. I have so many mature plants in the garden looking dead or are dead, time will tell. I think having two really cold winters hasn't helped. And why is it always the plants that you like the most go. I did some tidying up in my polytunnel yesterday and I have quite a few that have got neck rot.
Hope your aphids won't be to that bad maybe the winter will have killed them all off  ::) ;D

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on February 13, 2011, 10:29:50 PM
A very interesting blog Tony, illustrating the Good, the Bad and the Ugly...  ;D

The stripy Crocus Vernus is also a favourite for me !!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 22, 2011, 11:56:52 PM
Too ugly for photos :'( ... but see recent Bulb Log if you want some graphic details.

I am gradually realising more losses from the pre Christmas cold here.  Plants reveal their death slowly at this time of year.  Added to those mentioned earlier are Tropeaolum tricolorum, various South African romuleas, Tecophilea cyanocrocus (a large potful at the edge of the plunge - those in the middle seem OK), Crocus ochroleucus albino form (smallest offsets seem OK, big corms rotted), Crocus caspius, Narcissus triandrus, Narcissus serotinus and Nerine masonorum. 

As before these are all plants that I have grown in the same way, in the same place for many years.  This was the most severe cold weather event here in at least 20 years.  Most of the losses have come in pots at the edges of the greenhouse bench.  So far I can detect NO LOSSES in the outside frames where the pots sit on a bed of sand, surrounded by concrete blocks.  Despite being 'outside' the insulating effect of the blocks and the ground seem to have made a real difference.  Outside are seedling crocus and other bulbs which might be expected to be more susceptible to extreme cold but these seem OK.  Clearly the greenhouse benches, with cold air above and below are the coldest places.  I will be considering soil warming cables (as Ian Young uses) as an option for the future in the greenhouse benches.

In the short term .... is it worth planting the seed of a dozen Moraea species that I got from exchanges this winter?  Doubt any would have come through this winter :-\ :-\
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Darren on February 23, 2011, 08:09:02 AM
Very sorry to hear of your losses Tony.

If you decide to replace your South African bulbs please let me know and I will send you some seed or bulbs.

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on February 23, 2011, 09:26:19 AM
Hi Tony, first sorry to hear of your losses. I am not very knowledgeable, still learning a lot about pot culture.  When I did my plunge trays I wasn't sure about putting in soil warming cables as I had overhead heating so I did one with and one without. I can't believe the difference in the beds. The one with the heat and it's only set really low has no green algae on the pots or the soil. Also the unheated bed sand is really wet.
This year I will empty my plunge bed and fit warming cables. If we get another winter like the last two I think I better be safe than sorry. I suppose I should have done this right from the beginning then at least if anything went wrong with the overhead heating the plants would have stood a better chance of surviving.

Come on Tony, Darren has made a lovely offer. Get those cables in and get growing and we will benifit by seeing some more of your lovely pictures. ;)

Angie :)

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 24, 2011, 11:21:21 AM
Very sorry to hear of your losses Tony.

If you decide to replace your South African bulbs please let me know and I will send you some seed or bulbs.

A kind offer - when I have sorted the cables I will be in touch with an offer of something in exchange.  Big Thank You!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Gerry Webster on February 26, 2011, 05:47:33 PM
Tony - I’m very sorry to hear about your losses.
I’ve just been assessing the losses in my garden due to the excessive cold. While not extensive, they are curious. So, most of the contents of two pots of 3 year seedlings of Crocus robertianus (not in leaf at the time) have gone but 4 year seedlings of C. caspius (in leaf) are fine. The first is supposedly hardy while the second is supposedly somewhat tender. A pot of C. banaticus (in leaf at the time) is fine, but next to it, a pot of a later flowering form of the same species (not in leaf) seems to be empty. Very odd.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 26, 2011, 09:58:52 PM
I'm feeling slightly better after talking to friends at Harlow Show today.  I am not alone in recording losses this winter.  Even the professionals have been hit.  Rob P reported frames of winter narcissus lost and other alpine species wiped out.  Norman S also suffered in Cambrigeshire, Crocus caspius forms cultivated for decades lost.  Cold with no snow cover was the most damaging. 
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 27, 2011, 09:20:04 PM
Oh sunny day .............. :)

A few views of the frames, plants and a problem taken on a bright Sunday morning.
I have 6ft x 4ft of frame taken up with various narcissus.  The winter flowering types have flowered really well this year, seemingly unaffected by the cold, perhaps held up by the cold which means flowers now as the days draw out and the light is better.  I have a lot of damaged flowers, I think it is slugs (little ones) but it might be snails.  I'll take a torch outside in a minute and see if I can catch the little bu****s.  Narcissus x minicycla is one of my favourites.  The whole plant is really tiny, especially if grown 'hard'.  Despite the losses in the greenhouse the picture of the crocus seed frame (2009 sown) shows no sign of cold stress, all pots with growing shoots ... yes growing, not rotting off!

In the greenhouse Fritillaria stenanthera has been quite unaffected by the cold unlike the plants in several of the surrounding pots.  A nice connection with a plant I photographed at Harlow yesterday - the seed of this came from Jim Almond who raised Saxifraga 'Coolock Gem' named after his street and his daughter.
Now the days are warmer Timmy has taken up residence in the greenhouse again, guarding against blackbirds and rodents ... wish I had time to just sit in the sun 8)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 27, 2011, 09:38:31 PM
And in the garden ...

Narcissus pallidiflorus (seed raised ex Pyrenees) has been hiding its light under a bush for years.  Our clearance project has opened it up to the light, I will move it out of harms way in the summer.
Narcissus albidus (correct me if I am wrong) is a first season planting.  I'm not sure if it will do well outside but these were spare bulbs so worth an experiment ... at least they are unslugged!
Primula marginata dwarf form was one of the first alpine plants I bought at a show (probably Early Spring twenty or so years ago).  It is a great, easy and floriferous plant for pot, trough or open garden.  The first to flower are under cover but the one in a raised trough is also out now.  In a more shaded trough the buds offer promise of things to come.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: mark smyth on February 27, 2011, 11:05:36 PM
Most of my autumn flowering Crocus have died due to neck rot :'( and my S. linguata  :'( and Cyclamen and special Primulas .... :'(
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 27, 2011, 11:15:44 PM
Ouch!!
My autumn crocus frame seems fine, even Crocus caspius which was ko'd in the greenhouse.  Three factors helped: Breezeblock frame provided some insulation, pots were on the ground, not on raised benches and most important of all they were on the dry side.  The pots in the greenhouse benches are smaller and dry more quickly ... so I water them more often, with dire consequences this winter.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 04, 2011, 10:45:34 PM
Spent a couple of hours in the garden today :o  A rare occurrence :(  But the sun shone and it was good despite the cold!

Cyclamen coum at its best now is seeding around very freely since I reworked the front garden ... in two or three years time the patch will be twice the size!
Hepaticas raised form seed a few years ago are flowering now.  Not a special form but a pretty harbinger of Spring.  A closer look reveals the crop of new seedlings here also.
Tulips can be planted after Christmas and grow OK.  However these Tulipa sprengeri were put aside late autumn and forgotten when the snow and ice arrived.  Now discovered, they seem firm and are beginning to shoot. I planted them today, noting that those planted in September are above ground in good leaf already.  I'll report on how the late arrivals get on.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on March 04, 2011, 11:08:50 PM
Tony that Cyclamen coup is amazing, what an amount you have and what a great display 8)

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 05, 2011, 12:04:02 AM
Thanks Angie - once I realised that they like to be in a fairly sunny spot here they have thrived with very little help attention.  Anything that has survived the ravages of time since we had the children is tough indeed!

The garden time was split between working on further clearance for our long awaited outdoor seating/dining/entertaining area and clearance in the greenhouse.  Several trays of winter casualties have been removed.  As I mentioned in a previous blog some plants are dying slowly even now two months after the freeze receded.  Some Cyclamen graecum plants which had earlier seemed to have survived are now collapsing, examination of the tubers reveals soft areas.  There has been frost damage which has in turn led to rot setting in as temperatures rise.  Perhaps I could recover some by cutting the damaged areas away and treating the remains with fungicide but I am seeing this as an opportunity to have a drastic clearout, creating space for new (hardier!)  things raised from seed which are waiting in frames outside.  I will installing soil warming cables before installing the new plants next winter!  Sternbergias struggled with the cold in the greenhouse, although as yet the foliage has not rotted off.  In the garden they seen fine ... a learning point ;)

To end on a bright note Androsace carnea has come into flower early in a trough, I last saw it in flower at 10,000 feet above Zermatt.  Finally, another look at Primula marginata, more advanced and in a different light.

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 10, 2011, 11:27:13 PM
A hard frost earlier in the week.

Three bright and sunny days have seen many pots in frames get very dry as many bulbs are now in full growth.  First use of the hose this year.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 13, 2011, 12:10:31 AM
I usually close my crocus lecture with the comment that "as the first pulsatilla raises its head to the sun the crocus season is almost done."  Well here is the first pulsatilla this year ... and very early it is too.  Albeit the crocus in the front garden are mostly tatty now, there are a few nice ones still coming out in the frames.

Last spring I featured Corydalis malkensis and a little later sought to capture the seed which threatened to ripen while we were away at Easter.  I did manage to harvest some good seed (green pods taken from plants before we left) and here are the resulting seedlings which have emerged at exactly the same time as the parent plants came through.

Tulipa (Amana) edulis is always the earliest tulip.  Prone to flop in dull weather it is very hardy and makes a good show even in my overgrown 'meadow'.  In the greenhouse Chionodxa cretica is a tiny relative of the more showy garden plants.  I remember Vic Aspland talking about finding this in the wild while on a Cyclamen expedition, the bulbs were over 12 inches deep in the ground!

Finally, it is our local AGS show on Wednesday 16th (at Hethersett near Norwich) and although showing has taken a back seat lately I have a few pots in a shady place in the hope that the flowers will hold for a few more days.  It has been bright and sunny today, quite warm sunshine, quite unlike what folks up t'north are experiencing.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 26, 2011, 11:26:01 PM
Belatedly here is the show report from Norfolk AGS group Spring Show on 16th March.  The evening was enjoyed by all, as is often the case there were only a few exhibitors but the display was very colourful.  My brief return to the show scene was conspicuously successful although the bizarre awards ceremony saw myself and the show secretary presenting each other with the two awards!

Chionodoxa cretica made a rare appearance on the bench, the flowers are very dainty, dwarfed by the flower of Chionodoxa lucilliae added for comparison.

Back home the greenhouse display is muted this spring after the damage dome by the intense pre-Christmas cold.  However Fritillaria atroviolacea raised from seed collected in Iran by Kurt Vickery seems undamaged.  Only about 12cm high this is a dainty little Frit.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 27, 2011, 10:01:45 PM
With the warm weather comes germination.  Not all of the new arrivals are welcome .... weeds galore in the garden.  However I have something to celebrate.  Firstly the biennial Campanula formaneckiana left me a crop of its offspring in a pot which by rights should have been emptied and disposed of by now, if I were a really tidy gardener I would not have these seedlings ;) 

The big celebration is the arrival above ground of Trillium grandiflorum seedlings.  A gift from forumist Kristal Walek, I followed the instructions to the letter.  The fresh seed was sown in a woodsy mixture and kept in a cool North facing frame.  I had to cover the pot with something to stop blackbirds foraging in the mixture.  The instructions said the seed would make roots the first winter and only appear above ground after the second winter.  Lo and behold, exactly as Kristal advised, here are seedlings.  I will keep them in the same frame for now but the next challenge is to grow them on into mature plants.  If you have any advise on Trillium from seed please post it here.  I have never grown them successfully before (only tried twice) as we have an unsympathetic garden and climate.

Another forumist due my thanks is Lesley Cox from NZ.  She sent the Crocus biflorus ssp alexandrii which first flowered here in June 2010.  Now in their second season since returning North they have almost turned around.  Hopefully this lovely form will bulk up as well here as it has for Lesley.

A year ago I replanted an old trough with new plants and a piece of weathered tufa.  The little saxifraga cuttings are growing slowly in the tufa, here Sax x apiculata.  The Primula marginata flowers in thius trough have been hit by a couple of frosts in the last 10 days.

Finally a shot of Narcissus bulbocodium in my big raised bed.  This form has always been a really good doer in pots, even winning a Farrer Medal for Lee and Julie Martin to whom I gave a few.  It has never persisted in the garden but as I had some to spare last repot I am trying again.  This time they are in a net pot which I can easily lift to divide them and refresh the growing medium in summer.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: David Nicholson on March 28, 2011, 05:34:17 PM

........Finally a shot of Narcissus bulbocodium in my big raised bed.  This form has always been a really good doer in pots, even winning a Farrer Medal for Lee and Julie Martin to whom I gave a few.  It has never persisted in the garden but as I had some to spare last repot I am trying again.  This time they are in a net pot which I can easily lift to divide them and refresh the growing medium in summer.

Tony, just to show you that your progeny does well where ever it is here's a pic of the six pan class that Lee and Julie won at Exeter last Saturday. Then one of my friend, Mike Quest, with a 30cm(ish) pot full that,word has it, he just missed out on the Farrer at the same Show. Followed by my little pot that Mike passed on to me.

In at least one Nursery it has been listed as Narcissus 'Lee Martin' but my understanding is that Lee didn't name it as such and it was listed like that by mistake.

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 29, 2011, 11:12:35 PM
David - I believe Lee & Julie have won Farrer Medal with two forms of N bulbocodium.   The one in the six pan is the one originally from me while the 'obesus' which you have is the other. 

Here there is much promise of the flowers to come.  I love watching as the plants awaken after their winter sleep.

Gentiana acaulis, Saxifraga paniculata, Saxifraga callosa, Saxifraga cotyledon all promising flowers sooner or later.

Campanula cochlearifolia, two small potted of seedlings released a year ago now make a spreading mat.  Curiously two more released in the rear garden raised bed at the same time have dwindled to just a few rosettes.  The soil there may be more compacted, this is a plant that likes to run in a loose substrate, the front garden bed is younger and less compacted.

I have already referred to many Cyclamen coum seedlings in the front garden, now my eyes are picking out some newly emerged seedlings of Corydalis malkensis too :)

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 02, 2011, 09:26:06 PM
Iris bucharica is the stand-out plant in the slate bed today.  The flowers will not last long in the very warm weather but it is a fine clump.  I think they will need lifting and dividing this summer.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 02, 2011, 11:55:56 PM
And in the greenhouse, last autumn I planted my collection of juno irises into part of the plunge bed.  They do not do so well in pots inder my careless handling so I decided to release them into a suitable 'bed'.  Here they are in a strip of plunge separated from the sand by some slices of slate.  Definitely better than pots.  I would also like to try them in a bulb frame like Darren has shown us .... watch this space.
The plants are a mix of Iris vicaria forms, Iris magnifica and Iris x Warlsind.  I also show my plant of Iris caucasica, blooming for the first time under this regime.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on April 03, 2011, 08:57:13 AM
Love the Juno irises. I think  a lot of us are looking at building bulb frames. Darren has got us all hooked.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 04, 2011, 10:53:06 PM
What a difference a day makes.
Tulipa greigii: Saturday morning in bud, Sunday morning .....
These are raised from seed given to me years ago by an octogenarian AGS member, Reg Greenhill.  Another old friend remembered by the plant they gave me :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 08, 2011, 11:01:38 PM
Mothers Day outing to Cromer ... after I had cooked Roast Beef, Yorkshires and roast potatoes, her favourite.
Amy is a little ray of sunshine ... and our resident butterfly expert.  She recently co-presented a short slideshow at her first Butterfly Conservation meeting :)  (No emoticon for 'Proud Dad')  She would quickly identify the Comma and Orange Tip seen in the garden here this week.  Back on Cromer cliffs there was a huge patch of Ranunculus ficaria just yards from Cromer Pier where someone bought Chips for tea ... so much for the roasties!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 08, 2011, 11:16:23 PM
Back home and the Spring will be very short if this heatwave continues.  Primula auricula copes better than most.  I have seen this growing in very exposed places against rocks in the Alps.  Iris suaveolens flowers are much more fleeting, lasting just a few days in the sunshine.  The anemone pictured was raised from seed as A coronaria but most of the plants resemble Anemone x fulgens as I have grown it in the past.  Cyclamen repandum is often seen in semi-shaded humus beds but some forms seem happy in much warmer, dryer places.  (Are these forms now referred to as Cyclamen peloponesiacum?)  Many pulsatillas in the garden now, I just love the silky flowers.  Many flowers please the eye and the nose, these are pleasing in another sense - touch.
Finally, I showed my Trillium grandiflorum seedlings as they emerged recently.  Here they are plus their blackbird protection.  You can see a line of seedlings across the pot, reflecting the area that the blackbirds did not disturb.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on April 09, 2011, 11:20:06 PM
Very well done Amy, a great naturalist in the making. I love the orange tip  patterns on its folded wings. These are butterflies we don't see in NZ so always a treat on the Forum.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on April 10, 2011, 08:28:17 AM
Tony it looked as if you had a great day out. Amy looks so lovely, no wonder you are so proud. Nothing better than a bag of chips and a stroll along the waterfront.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 14, 2011, 10:52:49 PM
Away for 12 days ... look what I left behind :(
Gentiana acaulis - one of the classic alpines.  4 flowers out as I left.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 17, 2011, 12:15:57 AM
A few more pics taken before we travelled to Wales.

Silver saxifrages are advancing fast in the warn weather.  Saxifraga callosa and Saxifraga cotyledon were pictured on March 29th showing a hint of buds to come.  Just over two weeks later the evidence is clear for all to see.  As it promises to stay warm I will not be surprised to find Sax callosa flowers open on our return after Easter.

Bellevalia dubia is an acquired taste perhaps.  The long foliage is largely undamaged after a hard winter and the upper florets are a brilliant blue BUT the overall effect is muted by the open nature of the raceme of flowers and the dingy lower flowers.

I am gradually warming to Scilla persica.  Grown in a pot it is lanky, leafy and unexciting.  Here in the garden, in a sunny spot it takes on a much more pleasing appearance.  A bit big for the alpine purist, it associates well with other medium sized spring bulbs.  Easy to grow and easy from seed I like it.

Another silky pulsatilla, I just cannot resist them!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 17, 2011, 12:33:05 AM
And in Wales ... spring is in the air.

Those who know me well will not be surprised to see the train :)  Never lost the childhood fascination with steam which led to an early and lasting love affair with the Talyllyn Railway which celebrates 60 years of Preservation this year. 

Ruth and I encountered the woolly family when junior was less than one hour old ... Aaaaah!

The lineside wildflowers are looking great, the season here well advanced, just as back home.  Dog violets and primroses aplenty providing nectar for butterflies, much activity on the sunny days.  Amy will be in her element when she joins us next week.

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on April 17, 2011, 09:55:30 PM
Wonderful pictures Tony. Who wanted to go to the Conference anyway? I wish we had peacock buterflies.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on April 22, 2011, 03:25:18 PM
Have just sat down to read and enjoy the winter and spring months in your garden diary, Tony, and it's wonderful to see so many glorious alpines multiplying and flourishing under your care after the sad losses of a very harsh winter.  Your slate bed is just amazing and I love the natural background it provides. It's interesting to know where some of your seed came from and to see so many seedlings emerging.  Happy holidays and I look forward to more news from your blog. :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 27, 2011, 05:15:19 PM
Wales is home from home and we enjoy revisiting favourite places.  One is the converted farmyard pottery run by a very good friend.  We did not 'pot' this time but a walk up the track to this idyllic place is always special.  On the way back an obliging Holly Blue butterfly alighted for us, this species is distinctive in having really blue backs to it's wings.  By Six O'clock most of the myriad dandelion clocks had blown.  We had fabulous weather and enjoyed some super sunsets over Cardigan Bay.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Ragged Robin on May 02, 2011, 12:04:51 PM
Lovely images, especially the Holly Blue
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 14, 2011, 12:03:04 AM
A few showers have broken the drought here but still longing for proper rain.
Plants are suffering the arid conditions.  Campanula cochlearifolia very nearly done to a crisp and Campanula barbata which grows in some very dry places in the mountains, also stressed.  Only one solution.  
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Tim Ingram on May 14, 2011, 08:49:31 AM
Tony - my garden seems to be becoming more and more untidy as the years progress! But people still seem to enjoy it. It is exceptionally dry and I think Norfolk is little different to Kent. It suits my love of dryland plants and must be great for a lot of bulbs. Apart from visiting Aberconwy and a couple of other quite well known nurseries(!), at some protestation from the children, we had a wonderful holiday in North Wales a year or two ago, and took the Ffestiniog railway all the way up to Blaenau. We stopped part of the way down and walked through the oak woodland to the next station, absolutely beautiful and a huge contrast to the slate quarries.

I had a very enjoyable time when I last visited Norfolk, to talk to the Cottage Garden Group, and miss bringing plants up to the Wymondham Show. I look forward to hearing more about the conference you are holding next year - it may inspire us to do something similar down in the south-east.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Brian Ellis on May 14, 2011, 09:20:06 AM
Tim, your talk on umbellifers was an eye opener, much to my surprise I found I grew a dozen of those you mentioned.  Many of the group said how much they had enjoyed it.  Many thanks.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 23, 2011, 12:03:00 AM
A busy week but not much time for the garden ... and no rain here yet.  After a trip to Leeds for an AGS lecture a week ago, I spent a happy 36 hours near Shrewsbury with a Shropshire Lass and  her lad (another talk).  I returned with a tray full of plants a couple of builders sacks and a load of well rotted horse manure.  The sacks after providing initial amusement will serve a useful purpose here, more of that another time. 
This weekends gardening time has largely been hi-jacked by a significant birthday ..... mine!  Lots of family time, some of it spent putting the bits together, plus a BIG pressie or two.  The trough will be familiar in style to Norfolk AGS members as Norman who makes them has been offering them as raffle prizes at meetings (YES - good for group funds!)  Commissions like this one are paid for - someone must love me :)  Jacinta and I sat out under the stars with hot chocolate last night - as we came in there was a black shadow in the trough.  Timmy never misses the chance to explore a new box, we have 'lost' him when he has hidden in boxes indoors!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on May 23, 2011, 01:35:01 PM
Great presents, Tony!  8)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on May 23, 2011, 04:36:22 PM
Tony first of all belated happy birthday. I bet my garden is untidier than yours at the moment. I have pots everywhere, even blown into the pond. Branches leaves, fir cones in their hundreds all over the grass. Scared to look and see if my polytunnel is still there. What I was thinking is if you have the time to sit under the stars you are must be up to date with everything so do you fancy coming up here to help tidy my garden. ::) ;D

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 23, 2011, 05:15:12 PM
Tony first of all belated happy birthday. I bet my garden is untidier than yours at the moment. I have pots everywhere, even blown into the pond. Branches leaves, fir cones in their hundreds all over the grass. Scared to look and see if my polytunnel is still there. What I was thinking is if you have the time to sit under the stars you are must be up to date with everything so do you fancy coming up here to help tidy my garden. ::) ;D

Angie :)
HA HA HA HA HA  ;D  It was too dark for weeding ... I should show you the really ugly corners! 
Hope your garden survives the gales, a bad time of year for such high winds.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 24, 2011, 09:35:10 PM
Found time tonight to put the green builders bags and the horse manure to good use.  With our major reworking of the garden still far from finished these 'miniature gardens' have superior compost, and have absorbed some of the 'spare' garden soil.  I am now wondering if I could use one for alpines or for a temporary bulb bed.  Hmmm .....

And then there is my best present ;D  Jacinta says she'll never do anything so complex (on such a small weave) again - a labour of love :-*  
(It was completed a (long!) while ago but to be presented with it framed, so perfect, was a great treat.)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 26, 2011, 11:53:33 PM
The crocus embroidery is a real treasure and will no doubt become a family heirloom. You lucky man! ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on May 27, 2011, 02:59:09 PM
Somebody loves you a lot. I used to do embroidery and cross stitch, they took hours and hours to do, then you had the expense of the framing. My friend that went back to America left me two large boxes of threads  beads and patterns, don't no if I will ever get around to do anything with them. to much hard work.

Like Lesley said it will be lovely to pass the embroidery down the family.

Angie :)

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 30, 2011, 10:31:55 PM
It rained today, just a little.  Before the big event I found time to plant up the Birthday trough.  My first thoughts had been to use slate for the hard landscaping but I don't have enough decent pieces for this job.  However I do have a surplus of tufa pieces of various sizes reclaimed from plantings made many years ago.  The compost I used is my standard alpine mix of John Innes No 3 with added gritty sand.  I experimented with the larger pieces of tufa until I found an arrangement that pleased me.  The pieces are buried to at least half their depth for better stability and water retention.  As I continued to fill with compost I used gritty sand across the gaps, washed down with successive waterings to help bed the whole thing together.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 30, 2011, 11:01:24 PM
After ensuring that the tufa was well bedded in (several waterings plus more sand and compost) I tried out various planting schemes before the actual planting was done.  The eagle eyed will notice that not all the plants ended up in the places shown in the 'test' picture!  To try and get a uniform finish, a top dressing of stone to match the tufa was needed.  I was able to reclaim lots of small pieces of tufa and lost of 'dust' which combined with some pale limestone chippings that I have used in the past to give me a nice mixed size top dressing.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 30, 2011, 11:09:26 PM
I will report back on the progress of the plants over the coming seasons.  The most risky planting is this Androsace cylindrica seedling (2010 sown) in a rather large hole in the tufa.  The hole was made by the person who gave me the tufa and is bigger than I would have chosen, however with the angle the rock is set at it creates a East facing cave which should be a suitable niche for this androsace ... if I can keep it watered enough for the plant to properly establish.  The only plant in flower is Campanula choruhensis with large white bells.  The plant has a second basal growth so although the flowering one will likely die off the plant should persist.  I hope that the Townsendia exscapa will do well, I had a good crop of seedlings from my own seed last year. 
The finished planting is pleasing to my eye  :)... how many of the plants will stand the test of time?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on May 30, 2011, 11:53:15 PM
Very nice. The tufa looks really good.  I like how the trough had happy birthday on it. Hope your Townsendia do well. I took seed from my Townsendia today. I hope I get it to germinate.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on May 31, 2011, 11:30:58 AM
A job well done Tony !  :D
The trough looks very nice !  Just worried that the Campanula choruhensis will outgrow it's allowed space...  :-\
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on June 06, 2011, 11:28:36 PM
A job well done Tony !  :D
The trough looks very nice !  Just worried that the Campanula choruhensis will outgrow it's allowed space...  :-\
Thanks Luc - hopefully the campanula will grow out over the sides, if it becomes a weed I will treat it like a weed :o
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on June 12, 2011, 10:21:20 PM
A short half term trip to Wales where we met up with all my siblings (and my mum!) who presented me with a final birthday present.  This one will last a long time :)
The Talyllyn Railway was celebrating 60 years of preservation with an all-night-steam.  We enjoyed the sunset trains and Yes, we were still on the train at midnight .... when it started to lash down with rain and blow a gale.  We were under canvas this holiday :(   Highlight on the plant front was finding Dactylorhiza in the woods at Dolgoch (most plants in a marshy area just at the woodland margin) where I have walked for the last 40 years without ever seeing them!
Back home the 'meadow' part of the front garden looked good.  I have now weeded out most of the grass, it is too much of a weed to let it seed into the slate.  The aetheonema grandiflorum need cutting back now the flowers have finished which will make it look tidier.  Many of the small plants I put in last year are still small, we have had virtually no rain since the winter.  Clarkia amoena arrived as wild seed years ago.  A biennial (annual if sown in spring) it self sows like a weed when allowed to but kept to a small area makes a colourful spectacle in mid summer.  I just have to remember to weed it out before all the seed is shed.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on June 12, 2011, 11:25:48 PM
A wonderful present Tony, but I don't like the sound of that "final." Maybe just something smaller next year, like socks. :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on June 12, 2011, 11:28:50 PM
A wonderful present Tony, but I don't like the sound of that "final." Maybe just something smaller next year, like socks. :D
;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on July 09, 2011, 12:33:21 AM
Its been a hectic few weeks here.  Finally getting enough rain, so the weeds are doing well!  A quick makeover in the garden railway sleeper bed has seen an old helianthemum finally removed.  I have cut it back in the past to keep it in check but despite the extensive display of flowers each spring I have removed it to make way for a couple of low growing Daphne.

The Norfolk AGS decided to have a small display at the Royal Norfolk Show recently.  Allotted a 3feet square base we elected to show troughs and containers.  Norman, our trough man came up with an empty light weight (plastic) trough which I offered to plant up.  To keep it to a manageable weight I packed the bottom of the trough with empty plastic boxes and pieces of polystyrene, covered with an old compost sack.  This left around 4 inches of usable depth.  Most of the plants were seedlings and cuttings but I had to dig a few from the garden to bulk up the display.  I showed some pics of planting the tufa in a recent tufa thread.

On the building day Norman supplied a few nice plants - in flower! - to bulk up the display.  It took three of us about three hours to put it all together, including a quick trip to a local business park for black paper and a few other essentials.  A borrowed staple gun made easy work of covering the woodwork.  The team was Norman Read, TG and Ian Black.

The display was well received and a large quantity of publicity material and AGS 'Easy' leaflets was taken from the (unmanned) display table.  I'll let you know if any new members turn up at local meetings!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on July 19, 2011, 11:10:18 PM
A few weeks ago I was bemoaning the lack of rain ::)  Campanula cochlearifolia in the slate dressed raised bed was 'done to a crisp'.  Well, here it is after a few weeks of regular rain.  It's a tough thing, clearly loving the slate top dressing, still wandering on amongst the stones, just as it does in nature.

I still have to return Normans trough and plants ... I am enjoying the flowers on this Jovibarba :)

As soon as the marjoram in the garden starts to flower we have Gatekeepers aplenty on sunny days.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Anthony Darby on July 19, 2011, 11:25:13 PM
I wonder if the gatekeeper will ever spread into Scotland?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on July 20, 2011, 01:39:19 AM
I wish it had spread into New Zealand. He could keep my gate any time. :D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Anthony Darby on July 20, 2011, 02:08:42 AM
I released some in my garden in Dunblane back in the late 70s. One or two appeared the next year and this was recorded in George Thomson's book "The Butterflies of Scotland".
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 10, 2011, 08:44:12 PM
The previous post was just before the school holidays .... I return at the end of the first week of the autumn term.  Gardening takes a back seat in August as the day job has to be fitted in around family holidays.  We enjoyed another trip to Wales, via our friendly Shropshire windmill.  The weather turned autumnal, no mists but some mellow fruitfulness!

Returning home the autumn bulbs are well advanced in the garden, Sternbergia and now also crocus in variety.  The repot of the bulbs is being compromised by a sickness problem at work which has cancelled my planned week off for that job.   >:(   I have to it it in when I can.  There are far too many small pots with just a few bulbs in them, as a solution I am planting these in small mesh pots (thanks to Celia at the windmill who gifted me a starter pack!)  I can see several advantages to this approach.  Space saving, better root run, easier to maintain adequate moisture in compost and insulation (ie small pots freeze quick!)  I'll report on this project again.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 25, 2011, 10:00:30 PM
Almost completed the repotting marathon.  A report will follow soon.  Some lovely summery weather now that Autumn has officially started!  So here are a few pictures of plants in flower in the garden now.

A single Crocus pulchellus white form has appeared in the lawn by the childrens swing.  It must have been there for at least 12 years, likely longer.  There was once a flower bed in this area and this bulb must have escaped the clearance all those years ago.  I think this is the first time it has flowered since .... a comment on how rarely I  have cut the grass in the last few years!  

Anemone coronaria has produced a flower for the second time this year.  We had a nice display in the spring, don't know if this is a one off or the start of another flush.  Close by a potful of cyclamen cilicium seedlings have been planted out.  Many more buds to open yet :)

In the front garden various autumn bulbs have been adding colour and interest.  Perhaps the best so far is Colchicum cupanii var bertolinii which seems to have come through the harsh winter and wet summer quite unharmed.  This is very good news as the big potful in the greenhouse fared much less well.  Another example of how we do not always need to fuss over our 'pets in pots!'
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on October 04, 2011, 10:16:52 PM
Some of the hottest weather of the year, recently.  Some spring flowers have had a second outing, Gentiana angustifolia catching my eye each morning as I open the curtains  :)  Not far beyond are the last flowers of Crocus niveus, hurried away by the extreme heat.  Crocus tournefortii has come after the niveus this year, a new one seems to pop up every day just now.  Great photo opportunities for early risers catching the dew on the flowers.  And, enjoying the sunshine, a final flower on Campanula cochlearifolia, one of the big success stories of the slate dressed bed.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on October 22, 2011, 11:39:23 PM
At last, time to report on the repot!  More good news than bad, a pleasant surprise after the extreme cold last winter.  Losses in the bulbs were mostly confined to those from South Africa and a few others of known vulnerability.  Many of these I have grown for 20 years before disaster struck.  I did lose a few crocuses, those from the Levant seem less hardy.  Losses otherwise were in pots at the edge of frames where pots were wetter and froze harder.  Some bulbs split into many smaller ones but this did not happen often, indeed in the access frame with glass all round and overhead, most things did just as well as normal.

I have switched almost all bulbs into a standard deep pot.  In many cases there were not enough bulbs to fill such a pot.  These were paired up with suitably different pot-mates or planted in the new mesh pot bed shown earlier.  The net result is a considerable reduction in the number of pots and the space they take up.  .....Lots of space for new things, I am already sowing seed :)

As I came to sow seed I discovered a few packets of 'spare' bulbs from last autumn which I had neglected to plant.  Amazingly all seem to have survived.  Tropaeolum tricolorum was making new shoots, Calochortus uniflorus ready to root.  Oxalis versicolor yielded just a few small bulbs but enough to restart after the rest were killed in the frost.

Finally for tonight, I have removed the huge Grevillea 'Canberra Gem' which was obstructing paths and being a general nusiance.  As the roots came out, up came two tubers of Tropaeolum tricolorum, a plant killed outright in the greenhouse last winter.  Proof yet again  that we can kill a plant by potting it.  Here, under a shrub, against a south wall it had survived.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on October 23, 2011, 11:03:32 AM
All nice and tidy. You need to change your subject heading   :) Will be really interesting to see how the tiny mesh pots work out. I fancy trying those. I have so many tiny bulbs.

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: David Nicholson on October 23, 2011, 06:51:29 PM
Tony, when you get a minute would you please give us the dimentions and depth of your new pot. Supplier would be useful too please.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on October 23, 2011, 10:50:19 PM
All nice and tidy. You need to change your subject heading   :) Will be really interesting to see how the tiny mesh pots work out. I fancy trying those. I have so many tiny bulbs.

Angie  :)
Ha Ha Ha - remember how the camera can lie.  I am only showing you the good bits, the nettles and brambles have done VERY well this year!
I can recommend a supplier for the mesh post when you want one.

Tony, when you get a minute would you please give us the dimentions and depth of your new pot. Supplier would be useful too please.
Away right now, I'll let you know dimensions later.  I was alerted to the 'end of line' sale of these pots and bought a lifetime supply with the intention of passing some on to other growers.  They sit in my shed awaiting some action ... so I may be able to help!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on October 23, 2011, 11:15:34 PM
Here's a few more good bits - Crocus laevigatus in the garden, at least one is a self sown seedling.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 18, 2011, 11:10:13 AM
Life continues to get in the way of gardening!  However, I will continue with the Blog .... and keep its current title!

In the garden here autumn progresses.  Seedlings of Sorbus hupehensis have surprised and delighted me with their autumn colour.  I was inspired to order seed from the exchange last year after seeing Ian's pics of this in the Bulb Log.  A couple of weeks ago Hamamelis mollis had it's moment of glory, providing some fantastic autumn colour.

Meanwhile in the frames the last of the autumn crocus are just about finished as the first of the winter narcissus start to bloom.  Here an early, tall form of Narcissus cantabricus.

Out and about with my camera, having joined the Blipfoto community, I have encountered my first hyacinths of spring  :P :P  and made what I hope will be the first of regular visits to our nearest nature reserve, Buxton Heath.  This ancient valley mire is being managed back to health by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.  It has been a great autumn for fungi, here is a milk-cap, Lactarius ?chrysorrhoeus and a Russula ?fragilis.

You can follow the Daily Photo Journal using the link in my signature.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 21, 2011, 08:45:39 PM
One for Angie - Epilobium fleischeri - Thanks Angie.
Seed received late last year, sown this spring, flowered this autumn .... now going to seed nicely  :)  :-*

I was trying for an arty shot of this narcissus seedling, took five shots, in the course of which an incy wincy travelled from the back of the corona, round to the front and ..... well, see for yourself!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: razvan chisu on November 21, 2011, 09:23:49 PM
that's a lovely epilobium. how do you grow it? any special conditions?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on November 21, 2011, 10:47:23 PM
Tony glad to hear that you are keeping on with your blog, thought for one minute you were going to say that you were stopping. I enjoy seeing what you are doing and seeing your lovely pictures.

Well done with the Epilobium fleischeri. I tried with my seed but had no success. But like I have said many times before not that good with seed yet. Its a really nice flower so I will try again.

Angie :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: mark smyth on November 21, 2011, 10:50:02 PM
One for Angie - Epilobium fleischeri - Thanks Angie.

Is it as small as it looks? Can I beg some seeds?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 22, 2011, 11:22:15 PM
Grew to about 10 inches, likely there will be seed in a while.  Send an SAE with your Crocus Group fiver and you'll certainly get some!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 22, 2011, 11:36:23 PM
that's a lovely epilobium. how do you grow it? any special conditions?
No special treatment.  Seed sown in spring, potted on in summer.  Would probably have been happier planted out at that stage, the neglected ones, left in pots too long did poorly.  I've seen it in the alps growing in dry places and scree.  Seed for you too?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: razvan chisu on November 23, 2011, 07:35:20 AM
yes, please. :)
thanks
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on January 06, 2012, 09:08:35 PM
Starting out on the third year of this Blog you might think the garden is tidier now.  Sadly, wrongly!  Family comes first and health issues for two of the family have slowed us down in the last twelve months.  Although things are not sorted I am happy to report that we are back on an even keel now and hope for a better year ahead. 

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the Blog, it's always nice to get your feedback .... and any ideas you have to help me be a better gardener.  A passion for plants does not necessarily make a good gardener, I can do with all the help I can get!

It's been a very strange winter in Norfolk, a succession of plants thinking it was spring in November and early December.  Lot's of unseasonal flowers (in small quantities) mingling with the regular winter flowerers.

In order of appearance:
Androsace languginosa.  Flowers appeared in late November.  The plant had been toasted to a crisp last April and has taken until now to make flowers.  (They succumbed to a hard frost late December)
Clematis orientalis, looking quite attractive without it's clothes petals ;D
Cyclamen coum.  Plenty of flowers now, this was one of the first.
Chimonanthus praecox.  Raised from seed, a nice form which is gloriously scented and in great condition as we have had no extreme cold weather.
Crocus laevigatus 'fontenayi' flowering just before Christmas.
Narcissus 'December Gold' living up to its name.
A Christmas Day bud on Gentiana angustifolia.  It has not fully opened as it gets no sun at this time of year.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Tim Ingram on January 08, 2012, 04:52:51 PM
Tony - I can symphathise with health issues; perhaps slowing down a little is not such a bad thing! We have all sorts of things flowering at silly times - Gentiana acaulis, Crocus 'Bowles' White' (about a month early?), some of the tuberous spring anemones and so on. I imagine that plants that don't normally get very severe winter weather in Nature, and are not adapted to a long winter dormancy, have their normal annual rythms quite out of kilter. Most snowdrops, which I thought might be especially early, on the other hand seem to be behaving fairly normally. No wonder gardening continues to surprise us so much!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on January 17, 2012, 09:18:43 PM
At last, a restart of the Grand Plan for the lost garden of Hellesdon!  With hired help we have begun to make the big changes so long planned.  The demolition of the steel greenhouse hit a snag when the angle grinder blade needed replacing but the lock-nut was seized up.  They'll be back another day to finish what they started there.  Andy was a powerhouse, removing the many lumps of concrete used long ago to edge two raised beds and lifting concrete paths, resulting in the mini-everest rock pile.  I had a busy time clearing the undergrowth from the area, filling the white builders bag with chopped arisings and making a good start on a second bag.  Oh, we also removed the stump of a 'dwarf' conifer which was too heavy to lift and had to be further cut up.  A fabulous day weatherwise made it all great fun.

It was a very frosty start but Cyclamen coum is as tough as old boots.  In the surviving greenhouse a fine form of crocus reticulatus, raised from home produced seed is looking good in the mini-net-pot bed that featured in the Blog last autumn.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on January 17, 2012, 10:54:23 PM
When will the Lost gardens of Hellesdon be opened to the public  ;D Looks as if you are having fun.
Looking forward to see the changes.

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Tim Ingram on January 18, 2012, 10:11:27 AM
Maybe tufa is back on the agenda? My wife is rapidly getting more interested in alpines now so I am hoping a nice batch of tufa will be a good early birthday present (her birthday is in December!)! Will you have members gardens open when you hold your special event this year?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Shadylanejewel on January 18, 2012, 08:11:30 PM
This is one topic I've gone back and have been reading from the start (currently about 1/2 way) - unfortunately, I have to work sometimes.  :(

The subject is one I can definitely relate to.  I just don't know how others seem to find the time to have such perfect gardens - alas maybe someday.

Regardless that your garden may be "Untidy", your flowers are gorgeous!   ;D  Keep up the great work.

Julie
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on January 18, 2012, 08:30:27 PM
Maybe tufa is back on the agenda? My wife is rapidly getting more interested in alpines now so I am hoping a nice batch of tufa will be a good early birthday present (her birthday is in December!)! Will you have members gardens open when you hold your special event this year?
Yes to Tufa, hoping it is the hard stuff though.  Some that I have from years ago is very prone to frost damage.
Members gardens open on September 9th after our Conference?  I'll let you know ... we're not blessed with any classic 'alpine' gardens in Norwich but there are some nice gardens (members and others) around the county.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on January 18, 2012, 08:33:31 PM
This is one topic I've gone back and have been reading from the start (currently about 1/2 way) - unfortunately, I have to work sometimes.  :(
The subject is one I can definitely relate to.  I just don't know how others seem to find the time to have such perfect gardens - alas maybe someday.
Regardless that your garden may be "Untidy", your flowers are gorgeous!   ;D  Keep up the great work.
Julie
Thanks Julie  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on January 19, 2012, 09:27:02 PM
It's gone!

Next visit from Andy will be after his week off .... I have to arrange "the biggest skip you can get" for Tuesday week.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on January 19, 2012, 09:35:56 PM
Remind me, Tony... why did you decide to get rid of that glass house?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on January 19, 2012, 09:42:38 PM
The sun came out mid-morning and I was drawn to the greenhouse.  Neglected for over a year (apart from planting bulbs into one of the plunge beds last autumn) it needs a lot of tlc.  Filthy floor, cobwebs galore and living up to its name Greenhouse!

Now the floor is clean, the rubbish removed, most of the glass washed down (well OK I need to get down on my knees under the plunges next time) and I even found time for some plant-care too.  Oh happy day!

I sowed a lot of my own narcissus seed late in 2010.  It germinated after the early winter cold and I managed (more by luck the judgement) to keep it growing right through until late summer.  After a short dormancy the seedlings are up and growing again, pots covered with a thick layer of moss.  I have removed moss and liverwort from bulb seedpots before and prefer to do this when the plants are in growth.  It is quite easy to peel the mossy layer away from the top and top dress with some fresh compost.  I planted the seeds at depth and when in growth you can ensure that the tine bulbs are not removed accidentally.

I do not grow many alpines in pots at present but Primula marginata 'Dwarf Form' is one that I have had for over twenty years.  It is so easy to propagate from cuttings (inserted in some damp sand - the plunge often works fine if kept moist) and seems very happy in a pot.  It does look a lot better if the old leaves are tidied up during the winter.  Spot the long-nosed tweezers that are a useful tool when fingers are too fat!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on January 19, 2012, 09:59:06 PM
Remind me, Tony... why did you decide to get rid of that glass house?
It has taken me twenty years to finally do the evil deed Maggi!  When we first moved in it looked quite derelict and I mooted the idea of removing it only to be sternly rebuked by a local AGS stalwart!  Cleaned up and with plunge and bulb bed installed it did service for a while.  However it had very little ventillation, was steel, concreted into the ground with glass held in by putty and a few clips.  When children came along my 'care routine' kind of shifted indoors and I suffered losses in this greenhouse because it got so hot so quickly.  In truth in the last 10 years the only things in it have been Cyclamen graecum and a few bulbs. 

A couple of years ago we built our second extension which left Ruth's bedroom windows about 6 feet from the greenhouse.  It just was not in the right place.   If it could have been moved I would have moved it but age had corroded the bolts where it was bolted together (and it was made in a small number of big, welded pieces).  Being concreted in around the edges, combined with the considerable weight, made lifting it whole impossible (and it would not have fitted through the gate!)

So, reluctantly, as we want to re-model all of that side of the garden, I accepted that it had to go.  I already like the sense of space that we now have at this end of the garden, and that even despite our mini-everest rockpile.  I do have plans to add extra cold frames (Access type) around the other (larger) greenhouse, so it's not all doom and gloom on the greenhouse front.  One of the hardest lessons for me to learn has been to make my plans fit the time I have available .... hopefully there will be a little more time in the next few years than there has been in the past few :-\
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on January 19, 2012, 10:01:38 PM
Thanks Tony.... I'm sure you have made the right choice.
Open space near the house always seems luxurious.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on January 20, 2012, 08:46:59 AM
I'm not a fan of "reality telivision".... this is sooo much better !!!  8) ;)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 10, 2012, 12:23:25 AM
More progress on The Grand Plan this week.  Never mind the cold, when you are working this hard you generate your own central heating!

Space ...  but not yet the Final Frontier!

The same view as before - still cluttered.  Well you cannot have everything!  BTW the washing rotary line was not made for midgets .... it rusted through at ground level and the current compromise is 'ram what's left into the hole and hope.' ;D

Cycalemn coum proving its worth again.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 23, 2012, 11:11:01 PM
No progress to report on the Grand Plan.  We are at the stone choosing stage for the 'patio' area.  York riven or Natural Sandstone?  Any suggestions gratefully received.

Sunshine today, warm too.  Hopefully not the start of another long, hot, dry Spring.  Last year was not good for alpines and bulbs here.

A couple of crocus shots from the garden today.

Crocus cvijicii which I am trying in the open garden for the first time.  And a happy pollinator at work.  (I could have shown you lots of aphids who are also appreciating the warmth :( :(  Look closely on the C cvijicii for a start.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on February 25, 2012, 11:48:10 PM
No progress to report on the Grand Plan.  We are at the stone choosing stage for the 'patio' area.  York riven or Natural Sandstone?  Any suggestions gratefully received.


Tony nice crocus pictures.
I have Indian sandstone on one of my patio areas, not very happy with it. It gets very slippy and lots of bits have flaked away. Maybe it ok down south where it doesn't get such a hard frost on it.

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 27, 2012, 11:40:39 PM
One month later!  (2 weeks written off when Jacinta struck down with flu)

Electricity in the greenhouse.  Not seen since it was moved almost exactly 15 years ago.  Power also to the site of the new outdoor dining/seating area.  A whole days work for a nifty electrician.  (A weeks wages for me  :()  Builder coming to quote for laying stone tomorrow.  Will it be done for our 20th Wedding Anniversary which is in one months time?  :)

Pulsatilla vulgaris coming into flower as the last crocus fade.  Spring!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: mark smyth on March 28, 2012, 12:16:43 AM
I'd like to get electricity in to my greenhouse also
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on March 28, 2012, 08:03:25 AM
One month later!  (2 weeks written off when Jacinta struck down with flu)

Builder coming to quote for laying stone tomorrow.  Will it be done for our 20th Wedding Anniversary which is in one months time?  :)

Off course it will be done. Then you can sit there in comfort and wine and dine your wife. Looking forward to see the table set for the evening dinning by candle light or electric now that you have electric power to your new patio area  ;D

Its my 30th wedding anniversary on the 31st of March and hubby said last night I have booked a meal out for us on Friday night. I replied it wouldn't happen to be at the Carron restaurant, his reply was yes. I then said it wouldn't be because I got £100 voucher from my niece at Christmas time for that same restaurant. He said he had forgot all about that  ::) :-X.
Any way as long as he doesn't forget my expensive chocolates I don't mind  ( 3 bags of white chocolate buttons for £1 ) heaven  :)

Angie  :)

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Peter Maguire on March 28, 2012, 12:34:13 PM
Nice to see that your husband's saving some money so that you can buy more plants.  ;)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on March 28, 2012, 09:55:00 PM
Don't let him give you golf balls as a pressie Angie. ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: fermi de Sousa on March 29, 2012, 02:42:08 AM
Don't let him give you golf balls as a pressie Angie. ;D
I know what Angie would be serving up to him if he did! :o ;D
cheers
fermi
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on March 29, 2012, 07:49:46 AM
Don't let him give you golf balls as a pressie Angie. ;D
I know what Angie would be serving up to him if he did! :o ;D
cheers
fermi

You know me to well  :-X

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lina Hesseling on March 29, 2012, 11:55:08 AM

Don't let him give you golf balls as a pressie Angie. ;D
I know what Angie would be serving up to him if he did! :o ;D
cheers
fermi
[/quote]

Chocolate, maybe? ;)

Lina.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on March 30, 2012, 03:28:02 PM
What a difference a day makes.  The two pics of Iris bucharica  were taken 24 hours  apart.  In the warm weather  the flowers develop apace.  The pictures are of a clump in thefront garden, also pictured to show how it has 'greened up' since 2011.  The clump of iris has declined significantly since last year.  I think this is due in part to the very hot spring last year.  All the bulbs were dried crisp by the end of April, a shortened growing season leading to reduced size and strength of flowering in 2012.  Iris bucharica flowering late in the bulb season seems to have suffered more than most, perhaps also due to the cool, damp summer which followed the drought last spring.

Final shot is of a tray of cuttings and seedlings.  The cuttings are the few survivors from late cuttings last summer which sat in the pumice rooting medium until last week, notable are two Dionysia aretioides.  The seedlings are the first from 2012 exchange seed, growing so fast they'll likely make a good weed!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on April 30, 2012, 06:08:19 PM
Another month, another update!

We did get the patio laid before our Wedding Anniversary ... just!   But then it was cold, windy and wet on the day so the planned barbecue was postponed.  Now we have to  do some temporary landscaping around the stones.  More hard landscaping will follow when we have time to plan it properly!  The builders bags with some of the 'surplus' soil have mostly been planted up.  Strawberries, peas and annual flowers, all chosen by the girls.

Update on two troughs planted last summer.  The birthday trough has very mixed results, some losses,including the campanula Luc thought would be a thug!  Androsace cylindrica has survived a slugging ... no sign of flowers though :(
The lightweight trough planted for a temporary display at the Norfolk Show is thriving.  Only shallow soil depth over plastic packing but all the plants are looking good!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: David Nicholson on April 30, 2012, 07:02:39 PM
Coming on well Tony- I do like a plan to come together. Perhaps in my case  the word "plan" rarely figures!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on May 01, 2012, 07:57:28 PM
Really nice Patio Tony, shame about the weather for your anniversary but now that its done you can enjoy many a nice evening.

Like what you have done with your ton bags

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Luc Gilgemyn on May 02, 2012, 07:35:05 AM

Update on two troughs planted last summer.  The birthday trough has very mixed results, some losses,including the campanula Luc thought would be a thug! 

Oops... I wouldn't call C. choruhensis a "thug", Tony - but if it thrives, it takes quite some space in a little trough like yours.  It is a real gem to my eyes, too bad you lost it... (I lost one as well this winter).

Congrats on the plan, coming together !  ;)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 10, 2012, 09:11:00 PM
Gentian time.  Making me long for the mountains.

Gentiana acaulis has been in grand from for a couple of weeks, just going over now.  Gentiana angustifolia has produced four times as many buds than it has ever managed before.  Last weeks rain saw them determinedly closed.  My frustration was ended when the temperatures rose this week, even if the rain continues to fall.

I am planning a short break to Switzerland at the end of June/early July.  Anyone fancy a couple of days hiking high in the mountains?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Lesley Cox on May 12, 2012, 11:26:46 PM
Lovely gentians Tony. The mountain ones won't be much better except maybe for the background scenery. ;D
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 30, 2012, 09:57:49 PM
Summer returns.  We eat outside on the new dining area - pictures to follow!

In the garden Arnica montana blooms.  I raised it once before years ago and thought "Oh a yellow daisy" ... then I saw it in the mountains and vowed to grow it again.  It hates being in a pot but after planting a seedling out very small last year I now have another flower at home. :)

Here it is at home ... and away!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Diane Clement on May 30, 2012, 10:41:03 PM
Beautiful view, Tony, taken from just above Wengen? or the slopes of the Männlichen?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 30, 2012, 11:07:42 PM
Yes, Mannlichen
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Tim Ingram on May 31, 2012, 10:57:37 PM
I wish I could get so many flowers on Gentiana acaulis as that angustifolia. It's a mystery to me why some plants flower so well in one garden and not in another. And why does Globularia repens never produce more than a smattering of flowers? I do like the idea of traipsing in the Swiss hills - David Hoare has given us several memorable talks on his visits. This summer though we are working on taking cuttings and collecting seed ready for opening the nursery again next spring.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on May 31, 2012, 11:38:33 PM
I wish I could get so many flowers on Gentiana acaulis as that angustifolia. It's a mystery to me why some plants flower so well in one garden and not in another. And why does Globularia repens never produce more than a smattering of flowers? I do like the idea of traipsing in the Swiss hills - David Hoare has given us several memorable talks on his visits. This summer though we are working on taking cuttings and collecting seed ready for opening the nursery again next spring.
Gentiana acaulis not quite as prolific here ... yet.  Globularia repens flowers here only on those parts of the plant growing over rocks. 
Just booked flights for a short break in Switzerland 2nd-5th July .... surely you can spare 4 days?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on June 02, 2012, 05:14:29 PM
Some plants from the garden this week.  A good show of flowers at last!
Saxifraga cotyledon in two forms.  I like the charm of the smaller form which reminds me of plants I have seen in the mountains.
Androsace raised as cylindrica but perhaps a hybrid with A. hirtella.  Grown here in a piece of tufa.
Helianthemum bought at Wymondham show last year, from Aberconwy I think.  Cannot remember which one, perhaps H nummularium var tomentosum.
Hypericum cerastoides which i have had for many years, it always seems to leave a few seedlings when the old plant has passed on!
Verbascum species ex Mike Smith, Hythe Alpines as was.  Lost label.  Only about 12 inches high.
And finally Tulipa sprengeri, brilliant red and definitely the last of the 'Spring' bulbs!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on June 23, 2012, 10:05:10 PM
We have had our first outdoor concert on the new dining area.  Amy performed her Grade 2 pieces for her grandparents.  She positively bounced into the exam a few days later so she should have done well!  (No nerves!)

Still plenty of flowers in the garden despite the overall appearance of being a work in progress.  Sophora davidii, a small shrub, has produced masses of flowers, so many that the branches have drooped onto the plants below  :( , a problem made worse by the incessant rain and wind lately.  Dianthus aplenty including Dianthus arenarius with lovely fringed petals and Dianthus carthusianorum in the 'meadow' part of the front garden.  Also in the front is Paradisea liliastrum, a formidable clump now, which is always a challenge to photograph well.  It moves in the slightest breeze and the background is usually a wealth of distractions!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Tim Ingram on June 24, 2012, 07:35:05 PM
I am incredibly envious of that Sophora! I have a little seed grown plant so far yet to flower. A nursery near us has a much more upright and large plant with the flowers and blackish stems of davidii, but very different habit. A case for the likes of Roy Lancaster to look at... (I can find no reference in Bean to it unless davidii is much more variable than I suppose).
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on June 24, 2012, 08:00:27 PM
Tim, I think that I got the plant from you, a good few years ago.  It took a while to flower but in the last couple of years it has really come of age.  I still have the original label if you want to check the handwriting!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Tim Ingram on June 25, 2012, 01:32:07 PM
Tony - that's the trouble being a nurseryman, you end up selling all the plants and never planting any out (although it didn't help that the one I did was nibbled by rabbits!). I'm encouraged that our plant might start flowering before long - it is such a beautiful and ethereal blue.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on June 25, 2012, 07:44:55 PM
Tim I to think the Sophora davidii is lovely, something worth sourcing out I think. Might not grow up here in the cold north though. ::)

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Tim Ingram on June 26, 2012, 11:00:33 AM
Angie - cold is not a problem, it comes from Central China, but it might not get enough summer heat in the north. I wonder if it is grown at The Botanics?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on June 26, 2012, 11:05:05 AM
I have contacted the Curator of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden in Aberdeen to ask if it is grown there. (In case Roma's pc is still playing up!)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Brian Ellis on June 26, 2012, 12:01:01 PM
Very pretty Dianthus arenarius Tony, and I think the Sophora is a lot nicer than the normal yellow ones!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on June 26, 2012, 08:40:44 PM
Angie - cold is not a problem, it comes from Central China, but it might not get enough summer heat in the north. I wonder if it is grown at The Botanics?

Would be interested to find out if I could try it up here. Maggi it will be great to hear what the Curator of the Cruickshank gardens say.

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on June 27, 2012, 09:44:53 AM
Would be interested to find out if I could try it up here. Maggi it will be great to hear what the Curator of the Cruickshank gardens say.

Angie  :)
It seems to have flowered better after winters with real cold here but that maybe just a coincidence.  We were not blessed with a hot summer last year!
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on July 01, 2012, 02:12:23 PM
Would be interested to find out if I could try it up here. Maggi it will be great to hear what the Curator of the Cruickshank gardens say.

Angie  :)
I've heard from the Cruickshank: they don't grow that lovely Sophora davidii but they do have a yellow Sophora tetraptera.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on July 01, 2012, 11:37:06 PM
I've heard from the Cruickshank: they don't grow that lovely Sophora davidii but they do have a yellow Sophora tetraptera.

Might be still worth giving it a go, thats if I find a someone that stocks it.

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Roma on July 02, 2012, 12:35:24 PM
As far as I know the Sophora tetraptera is in a pot in the greenhouse.  I did root a cutting but did not get round to planting it outside.  I haven't seen it in the garden but there is still one in a pot in the greenhouse.  It's been cut back a few times so does not look very attractive now.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on July 02, 2012, 01:33:31 PM
As far as I know the Sophora tetraptera is in a pot in the greenhouse.  I did root a cutting but did not get round to planting it outside.  I haven't seen it in the garden but there is still one in a pot in the greenhouse.  It's been cut back a few times so does not look very attractive now.

Thanks Roma, I did wonder if it was the case that it was inside.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Tim Ingram on July 02, 2012, 06:31:06 PM
Sophora tetraptera is the New Zealand Kowhai. We grow it well down here and it flowers very freely - eventually quite a good size; 15 to 20 feet - we have two grown from seed about half that height. It has tolerated temperatures down to -14°C just for a short time last winter, so I imagine should grow in the more coastal parts of Scotland at least. Another NZ species (or hybrid) that I had as a little seedling years ago from Jack Elliott, however, was killed by last winter's cold, so this temperature must be close to the limit.

This is a fascinating genus - there are quite a few North American species from the hot and dry south and west with purple and blue flowers. Will be a challenge to grow! Maybe good for the 'desert garden' at East Ruston in Norfolk.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on August 13, 2012, 07:17:28 PM
A belated and brief update.

In the wet and recently warm summer the weeds grow apace.  I'll spare you the pictures! 

We are enjoying our outdoor dining area and I sit and dream after meals of how the area around it might be planted ..... when time allows!

The last of the spring bulbs to flower has delivered its seed.  Tulipa sprengeri, harvested recently.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 13, 2012, 11:07:14 PM
Progress!  Big Progress!  Thanks to a Time Team project to recover some of the lost garden of Hellesdon in three days after the Norfolk AGS Conference.  Thanks to Celai & Ian, visiting from the West, whose generosity (and muscle) enabled it to happen.

Mind you, there's plenty left to keep us busy but we have really turned a big corner this week.  More pictures as it develops.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 21, 2012, 09:52:03 PM
Very interesting, Cyclamen graecum in the old greenhouse raised bed is sending up lots of flower buds.  The glass was removed in the early Spring and after a cool wet summer I had not expected any flowers.  Indeed I have only once had a flower on Cyclamen graecum in the open garden in ten years.  So how come they are going to flower this year?  Perhaps the few days of extreme heat at the end of July was enough to initiate flower bud development?  Anyone got a better idea?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 21, 2012, 10:06:59 PM
Bulb repotting finally commenced here this week.  Delayed later than ever by holidays and the AGS conference.  No harm to the crocus in a late start and in the balmy South (well compared to Scotland anyway) the bulbs will do fine, especially now that some cool refreshing rain has watered them in.  Not too many weeds had invaded the covered frame this summer!  After clearing off the old growth, the pots when tipped out showed a good yield of healthy corms, very few losses.  I think the move to using a single pot size, a square long tom, has been good for the plants.  Where I don't have enough of an item to fill one pf these pots I put 2, 3 or 4 different taxa in each pot.  I am careful not to mix taxa with very similar corms.  Better still, in some pots I have iris or narcissus seedlings in with crocus.

When I tipped one pot out I found it had another resident under the corms.  This newt played dead for a few minutes before moving on to investigate Ruths hand.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on October 02, 2012, 11:23:16 PM
Two frames of repotted bulbs.  Cool, refreshing rain has penetrated the compost now so let rooting commence!

In the greenhouse the bed I planted up last year with various bulbs has been given its autumn storm.  First up are Scilla lingulata and Colchicum montanum.

In the crocus pots two forms of Crocus speciosus are first up including this one from Art (received as biflorus.)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on October 20, 2012, 11:26:03 PM
Cyclamen graecum has grown and flowered well here for many years inside an old greenhouse, planted in a raised bed.  The greenhouse was removed in January so the cyclamen have been exposed to the glorious summer weather  :P  Much to my surprise they are flowering quite well.  As I have mentioned earlier, I wonder if the short burst of extreme heat at the end of July was enough to trigger flowering.  Clearly they do not mind plenty water in summer!  There are half a dozen other plants flowering in the bed so it's not just a freak clone.

Two clumps of sternbergia are also now putting up flowers rather against the odds.  I'll try and get a decent shot of them soon.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Tim Ingram on October 21, 2012, 11:26:03 AM
Tony - we have also had unusually good flowering of Cyclamen graecum on a raised bed outside, but still nothing like what you can get under cover. The best flowering I remember was in plants grown in long tom pots in a greenhouse, on a standing area that was designed to be flooded intermittantly. This also worked well for plants like Eryngium bourgatii and others that can be a problem with overhead watering. I think you are probably right about the hot spell later in the summer. I know when it is too hot and dry they will often go completely dormant for a year and this must happen in the wild.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on October 21, 2012, 02:32:25 PM
Here is a shot from 2010 when the glasshouse was still covering the frame.  These kind of results year on year, the bed goes down to the natural so there is always some moisture at depth.  Still have to decide whether to cover this end of the bed next summer.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 09, 2012, 10:27:56 PM
Peak flowering for the autumn crocus here right now.  Late because I repotted and watered late.  I have posted a few other pics in the Crocus November thread.

Still new things appear in the garden.  Two clumps of sternbergia flowered while we were away for half term and a tiny colchicum, possible C. pusillum has reappeared in the slate bed out front.

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on November 09, 2012, 10:40:57 PM
This time last year I showed some tiny Sorbus hupehensis seedlings aflame with autumn colour.  Here is one a year on.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: angie on November 10, 2012, 08:09:49 AM
What a lovely display, they look really nice with the sun on them  8)

Angie   :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 03, 2013, 10:10:21 PM
Nothing to report in the dark winter months.  Progress has been negligible although several trays of seed pots planted late in the old year and more recently hold promise of some new plants for the garden later in the year.

Much snow in the January freeze, as the pictures below show.  We had it deep, we had it crisp and even.  The final shot was taken as I walked home from the city centre on the day of the greatest snowfall.  Behind me was the gridlocked traffic which made walking a better option than taking the bus!

Since the thaw some of the plants have rushed to flower.  I have shown a few crocus in the Crocus January thread, although the main flush of flowers is yet to come.  Also looking good now are reticulate iris.  Shown here is Iris hyrcana, an exchange with a kind forumist.  The winter hoop-petticoat narcissus are very late this year.  Narcissus romieuxii is looking bonny just now.

The forecast suggests a cold month ahead which is fine by me.  I'll be happy to wait for the main flush of flowers until March's longer days and stronger light.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 24, 2013, 11:01:12 PM
Still very cold here, just a few milder days with some sunshine before the arctic blast returned.

A few pics from this week, bulbs raise from seed that I am especially pleased with.

Narcissus cantabricus ssp cantabricus

Gymnospermium albertii

Lots of crocus to admire when (and its not been often) the sun does come out.  Just showing one here, a new baby from seed sown in 2009 of Crocus sieberi ssp sieberi.  It's probably got some genes from subspecies sublimis in it, a beauty whatever!

Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on February 28, 2013, 09:09:19 PM
Still cold, a bit brighter.  Spring creeps in.

Iris unguicularis is flowering better than ever.  These are seed raised, my own seed collected from the cultivar 'Mary Barnard'.

The spring crocus frame.  I popped home at lunchtime, expecting a grand display after some morning sunshine but it's still so cold that the flowers were already closing up  :(

Galanthus fosteri.  I am trying some spares of this in a sunny raised bed.  It's a good doer in pots in the frame but prone to split into smaller bulbs.  Coming from warmer, drier habitats than most snowdrops it may need that warm, dry rest.  We'll see.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 09, 2015, 07:47:11 PM
Time for a fresh start! 

In the two and a half years since I last posted here a lot has happened.  Most of it has not involved tidying the garden  :P

Family health problems have limited my gardening time ... and my forum time ... however I am entering a new era and have decided to make a fresh start.  So a new Blog will follow soon, shall I call it 'Making the Best of It' ?
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on September 09, 2015, 08:29:30 PM
Why not, Tony?  :)  Sounds much  more positive than my recent idea for a title - "Wading through the mire"  :-X
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: TheOnionMan on September 09, 2015, 09:23:14 PM
I'm still wading through my onion mire, in it's 3rd year of salvage operations. Tony, I'd like to hear about how you're making the best of it.

Photo showing a small portion of my allium garden (approx 60' x 60', or 20m x 20m), that had become swallowed up in aggressive field grasses and various other horrible weeds during a time of particular work craziness (illness included), where I gave up and "lost the garden".  I am still in process of spading through every inch of the garden in a major make-over, my goal is to finish it next year, this photo from mid August 2015.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 09, 2015, 09:42:38 PM
Why not, Tony?  :)  Sounds much  more positive than my recent idea for a title - "Wading through the mire"  :-X
Or should I carry on with this thread - maybe it could be re-named?
I was asked to give a talk based on the blog - the final title was 'Alpines for the Time Challenged' which would be another alternative re-name.
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: Maggi Young on September 09, 2015, 09:49:15 PM
Choice is yours, Tony - I can rename this thread  if you wish  when you've decided what to do.   :)
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 09, 2015, 10:46:01 PM
Choice is yours, Tony - I can rename this thread  if you wish  when you've decided what to do.   :)
OK - Can we rename it 'Making the Best of It.  (Was Blog from an Untidy Garden)'  and maybe we'll remove the bit in brackets later?
Title: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: Maggi Young on September 09, 2015, 11:10:02 PM
A new name for Tony's blog: Making the Best of It...  (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: Matt T on September 09, 2015, 11:59:18 PM
Looking forward to hearing more on this thread about how you've been making the best of it, Tony.
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: Tim Ingram on September 10, 2015, 10:02:42 AM
Actually Tony I don't know if I've ever seen a garden really worth its salt that wasn't 'untidy' - it seems the default situation! Of course it depends on how you define the word 'untidy'... parts of our garden are effectively reverting to wilderness! I would like to have them more under control but time will tell :-\
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 10, 2015, 10:16:54 AM
Over the last three years I have been keeping a daily photo diary, well almost daily!  One picture a day, some words and the chance to share comments with others.  One photo a day was about all I could manage, with very limited spare time.  It's been good therapy, I base the journal around the garden and it's plants but often stray far from my chosen subject!  I've made a few new friends, even stayed for a few days with one who lives on the edge of the Swiss Alps  :)  I've kept in touch with the forum and maybe now I can renew some friendships here.

The untidy garden is still untidy ... worse perhaps than it was.  :-\  I will try to show both the good and the bad bits but I suspect there will be plenty of macro shots with soft. out of focus background  :D

To start, as the autumn bulb season gets underway, here are two from the open garden.  Acis autumnale, been in flower for a few weeks now, and coming to the end of it;s display and Colchicum macrophyllum, just opening it's first flowers.

Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 10, 2015, 10:18:52 AM
Actually Tony I don't know if I've ever seen a garden really worth its salt that wasn't 'untidy' - it seems the default situation! Of course it depends on how you define the word 'untidy'... parts of our garden are effectively reverting to wilderness! I would like to have them more under control but time will tell :-\
Ah. I have seen your garden Tim ... but you have not seen mine.  There's no comparison  :)
I'm hoping to see things improve as I am likely to be out at work a lot less for the foreseeable future .... hoping!
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 10, 2015, 10:39:49 PM
A perfect late summer day with blue skies throughout.  Colour and interest in the garden comes in small packages right now but there's a fair bit of it.  Much of interest grows in the sunny raised bed pictured below. 

Scilla scilloides has been brightening it's corner for a while now - looks like I should get some seed off it later.
Sternbergia .... lutea? does well in this bed.  It's got a very sandy top layer as the 'fill' came from a sand bed I made when the children were small (Ruth now 18).
Pulsatilla caucasica is a tiny gem.  This flower, perhaps 3cm across, is smaller than those produced in spring but just as beautiful.  A small group of plants have settled into the bed nicely, sadly not producing any seed this year.
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: angie on September 10, 2015, 10:51:23 PM
Time for a fresh start! 

In the two and a half years since I last posted here a lot has happened.  Most of it has not involved tidying the garden  :P

Family health problems have limited my gardening time ... and my forum time ... however I am entering a new era and have decided to make a fresh start.  So a new Blog will follow soon, shall I call it 'Making the Best of It' ?

Two and a half years, can't believe that. Looking forward to reading the thread again, I too haven't had the same time to read all the goings on with the forum, I do try and catch up but its impossible. Glad you had a nice day mine wasn't so good, just so much cloud coming from the North Sea.

Angie  :)
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 11, 2015, 11:39:06 PM
First bulbs to flower in pots are Colchicum.
Colchicum montanum which will flower from bone dry conditions without roots, triggered by temperature drop or perhaps day length changes.  This dark pink form is from seed I collected in the Pyrenees narly 20 years ago.
Colchicum alpinum is equally small but in this case hails from the Alps.  I saw thousands in flower in meadows around Saas Fee at the start of August 2010. 
Title: Re: Blog from an Untidy Garden
Post by: tonyg on September 11, 2015, 11:42:48 PM
I'm still wading through my onion mire, in it's 3rd year of salvage operations. Tony, I'd like to hear about how you're making the best of it.

Photo showing a small portion of my allium garden (approx 60' x 60', or 20m x 20m), that had become swallowed up in aggressive field grasses and various other horrible weeds during a time of particular work craziness (illness included), where I gave up and "lost the garden".  I am still in process of spading through every inch of the garden in a major make-over, my goal is to finish it next year, this photo from mid August 2015.
Good luck Mark.. I have seen you at work elsewhere I think!  You have a lot more garden to sort .... hopefully you have a lot more time than I have  :)
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 12, 2015, 11:43:12 PM
Bulb repotting on the home straight now after many and lengthy interruptions.  While sitting on the patio bench with a barrow of compost and a tray of pots this afternoon, a shaft of sunlight from between the clouds lit up the often shady west facing side of the garden.  Cyclamen hederifolium, planted over 20 years ago and now rather overgrown, flowers resolutely nonetheless.  The sun also caught new growth on a grey-leaved form of Clematis orientalis that I raised from SRGC seed so long ago I cannot recall!  Sadly the old plant has died this year but this self sown seedling (in a trough  :() will ensure continuity.
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: ruben on September 13, 2015, 01:35:27 PM
Great to follow you're blog on here Tony! Looking forward to see some pictures of Crocus :-d
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 15, 2015, 11:45:19 PM
This Pulsatilla caucasica flower was almost stemless five days ago, such speedy growth.
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 19, 2015, 10:42:18 PM
Colchicum corsicum has flowers about the same size as a crocus - nothing wrong with that  :)

Today about 80 of us enjoyed an excellent set of lectures from Peter Korn, Kit Strange and Paul Cumbleton at the Norfolk AGS one day conference.  Here you see Peter and Kit studying a flora of Kyrgyzstan brought home by a local member who knows the author.  Peter must be the most laid back guy I have met.  When asked about the planning that went into his last trip to Kyrgyzstan he said "I just bought a ticket, hired a car when I got there.  Took a photo of a map in the first hostel we stayed in then just drove to likely looking places."  You couldn't make it up!
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 21, 2015, 12:01:54 AM
First crocus of the season here is Crocus kotschyanus - a garden 'escape' fighting it's way through the overgrowth and miraculously not found by a slug .... yet  :-\
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: Brian Ellis on September 21, 2015, 09:39:41 AM
Today about 80 of us enjoyed an excellent set of lectures from Peter Korn, Kit Strange and Paul Cumbleton at the Norfolk AGS one day conference.  Here you see Peter and Kit studying a flora of Kyrgyzstan brought home by a local member who knows the author.  Peter must be the most laid back guy I have met.  When asked about the planning that went into his last trip to Kyrgyzstan he said "I just bought a ticket, hired a car when I got there.  Took a photo of a map in the first hostel we stayed in then just drove to likely looking places."  You couldn't make it up!

It was, indeed, a wonderful day in a super conference centre and I did learn a lot...some of which I have retained ::)  Many thanks for all the organization that went into it and we are all hoping that it will become a biennial event!
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 21, 2015, 05:36:15 PM
Thanks Brian - A team effort as always with our group.  I just organised speakers and nurseries.  Yes, we are thinking 2017 (or 2018) for another go.  The venue was a great find  - down to Chairman Ian who knew of it's existence.

Now who shall we invite from overseas next time ......?
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 21, 2015, 09:42:20 PM
Todays little gems - Cyclamen intaminatum raised from Cyclamen Society seed sown two years ago and Scilla lingulata (should that be Hyacinthoides lingulata?) which has proved indestructible under glass here for the last twenty years or so!
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 22, 2015, 11:52:17 PM
Colchicum longifolium from SRGC seed exchange seed sown Jan 2007 ..... a long wait but worth it  :)
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 24, 2015, 12:05:52 AM
Crocus pulchellus - second species in flower here.
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on September 29, 2015, 10:14:11 PM
An Indian Summer here at present, showing Cyclamen graecum off to good effect in the sunshine.  These are the plants that were originally planted here under glass.  The greenhouse has been gone for a couple of years now but the cyclamen continue to thrive in a very gritty raised bed..
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on October 10, 2015, 09:46:22 PM
After a long weekend in Scotland (pictures in Events and Places to Visit threads) the crocus have begun to move.  Several new spacies in flower this week although the peak flowering is a week or two away.

Crocus goulimyi - seed raised two or three generations down from Mani White.  First generation gets no white flowers but later generations are mixed.

Crocus boryi x tournefortii - also doing well in a raised bed.

Colchicum speciosum atropurpureum is looking good now.  Before I went away I had a tidy up in this bed, removing some of the cover for slugs and snails.  Combined with some warm dry weather it seems to have limited the damage to these later flowering colchicum.

Autumn colour at it's height on parthenocissus - the best place for these is planted next door!  I can keep it in check easily enough with secateurs and as our side is the sunny side we get the best of the colours!
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: Maggi Young on October 11, 2015, 10:49:12 AM

Autumn colour at it's height on parthenocissus - the best place for these is planted next door!  I can keep it in check easily enough with secateurs and as our side is the sunny side we get the best of the colours!

 8) 8) A clever approach, Tony!

Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on October 12, 2015, 12:14:11 AM
After completing the re-potting of my collection mid-September the outstanding jobs were to inspect, clean and refresh the seed pots from 2013 and 2014 and to plant the 2015 seed.  Today I finished the clean-up of seed pots.  You can see the difference this makes in one pic below.  I remove the top half of the compost in these seed pots and replace it with fresh.  The seedling bulbs are always below this level but leaving it until they begin to grow means I can see the level they are at more easily.  Usually there are new shoots to guide me, sometimes roots exploring upwards are the sign.  Why not do it dry before they start to grow?  From past experience it is all to easy to throw out the small seedling bulbs with the old compost. 

Crocus serotinus salzmannii and Crocus tournefortii x boryi both caught my eye in flower today.
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on October 17, 2015, 07:57:44 PM
Autumn colours are good this year .... even in this garden!  Some years this Hamamelis colours like a traffic light, other years it just yellows and drops it's leaves.

Persistently dull here at present - no good for the crocuses  :(
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on October 19, 2015, 11:53:12 PM
Still mostly dull and cool here.  A few moments of brightness helped open the crocus flowers today.

Crocus cambessedesii - a tiny gem.

Crocus goulimyi leucanthus - seed raised from a Steve Keeble wild collection sown in 2000. 
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on October 25, 2015, 10:37:08 AM
Some nice crocus established in the garden for a few years now.

Crocus boryi x tourenfortii - vigorous form, as hybrids can be
Crocus goulimyi
Crocus goulimyi leucanthus
Crocus niveus

Sunny places and a free draining soil seem OK for these autumn beauties here.  Important not to let them become overgrown by other plants as slugs and snails often lurk beneath them.
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on November 07, 2015, 01:11:03 AM
After a couple of weeks mostly away from home it has been good to find crocus still flowering on our return.

Crocus sativus, Crocus cartwrigtianus and Crocus leavigatus all growing in raised beds in the garden,
Title: Re: Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')
Post by: tonyg on December 27, 2015, 12:19:02 AM
To close the year a very special Anemone coronaria - special to me as the plants were raised from seed sent a few years ago by  fellow forumist Oron Peri.
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