A New Bit of Garden

[Luc Gilgemyn]

wow.... these troughs..... I'm green with envy Lesley !   I wish you lots of fun planting them up !!!.... and don't forget to show pix of how they look when you're finished !

and... wow again... you look smashing in yellow Lesley !! 

[mark smyth]

I'm sure you're right Maggi. If the avatars showed fewer dogs, galanthus and assorted other pics, we'd perhaps learn something.

So true Lesley. Makes ya wonder what they are hiding

[Paul T]

Mark,

I am not hiding anything.... I've always maintained that Elfinraer is a much nicer thing to look at than a picture of me.  That isn't hiding, it is just straight out telling the truth with no sugar coating!!    Those who looked at my Movember posting will know that for a fact.    Actually, I must upload the last awful pic to the site to show how dreadful the final moustache looked.    All gone now, in fact went on the first of December.  I couldn't wait to get rid of it.

So.... MUCH better to be viewing my dog rather than me.  I notice that there is an increasing trend to show pretty things instead of pics of oneself.

[Lesley Cox]

My mother was very dark haired and my sister and brother the same but Dad was palest pale blond and I took after him. There was never a time with Dad when it could be said he was blond then silver, the transition was so slight and gradual and in fact - and I follow him here too -  when the sun shone on his hair it was palest gold right up to his death at 84 but on a dull day it was silver. I feel I'm quite fortunate actually.

Going to do a final weeding of the new soil today then put the troughs in place behind it.

[Paddy Tobin]

Lesley,

Great set of troughs which will look wonderful when you have planted them up. Also, you look very fetching in your yellow SRGC top. Re yours and Maggi's comment on hair - any colour would do me with the little I have quickly deserting me.

And finally, regarding hair colour:

A gorgeous young redhead goes into the doctor's office and said that her
body hurt wherever she touched it.

 
'Impossible!' says the doctor  'show me.'
The redhead took her finger, pushed on her left shoulder and screamed,
then she pushed her elbow and screamed even more. She pushed her knee
and screamed; likewise she pushed her ankle and screamed. Everywhere she
touched made her scream.

 
The doctor said, 'You're not really a redhead, are you?
'Well, no' she said, 'I'm actually a blonde.'

 
'I thought so,' the doctor said. ........  'Your finger is broken.'


Paddy

[Gerdk]

 

Much to learn from this Forum - until now I believed jokes about blondes were a German speciality

Gerd

[Lesley Cox]

Tut Tut! I'm no joke, believe me.

[Lesley Cox]

It has taken a very long time but at last I have the first of the above troughs planted. I did it yesterday after the weedeater I was using ran out of nylon cord. A new one today so no excuses.

This is the biggest trough. After I put in about one third depth drainage and filled with a really gritty, gravelly compost (which included about 20% loam), I placed the stones and thought about it overnight. In the morning I took them out again because after all, the point of a crevice garden is to make crevices for the roots, rather than the tops of plants - I think - so I decided I needed more rock under the surface. I placed some big pieces over a thin layer of the compost then covered them and finally set the slabs in place again. They're not buried deeply so the plants themselves as they grow will have to hold them in place. The drainage is excellent and until things are established and growing, I'll need to water every day it doesn't rain, maybe twice a day as the top crevices are filled with tiny seedlings of Dianthus glacialis, Degenia velbitica, Gentiana verna alba, Saxifraga frederici-augustii and Edraianthus pumilio. So small you can't see them yet!

Others include Campanula zoysii, C. waldsteinniana, Silene hookeri (already with a couple of seed pods), Myosotis capitata, M. 'Hokonui' (capitata x uniflora), Androsace barbatula, Vitaliana praetutiana, Saponaria pumilio, S. p. x lutea, Gentiana verna, and Daphne petraea 'Persebee.' I've also put in a couple of small bulbs, Fritillaria alburyana and Oxalis laciniata both of which don't mind summer moisture, and there's space for perhaps a small crocus and a couple of others seedling plants.

The more matting species such as the Vitaliana are near the edge where they may overflow it and the really tufty species are in the crevices and tight spots. Hopefully, the quite hard mixture will keep everything compact and tight growing.

So, a quick fingers crossed that all will be well.

[Lesley Cox]

After a week or two when everything has settled, I'll top up the compost a little then add a layer of crushed stone, in the same type as the slabs. They are Central Otago schist and can be broken up very easily with a hammer. In fact you can even take slivers off just with fingers.

[angie]

Professionally done Lesley. I think after seeing yours done I need to do some revamping of mine. Looking forward to seeing the others soon.
The troughs look really good quality, nice gift to yourself.

Thanks for the seeds
Angie

[WimB]

Lesley,

those troughs look very nice, it's always a lot of fun to plant them up.

[Ragged Robin]

Lesley, your new toughs are full of such wonderful plants which I'm sure will love their new home with such an excellent well made bed 

Alpines here definitely look for the cool root run under rocks where moisture hangs whilst enjoying the baking hot summer sun   

Will search for Vitaliana praetutiana on the Web today as I've not seen it before.  Looking forward to hearing more about your New Bit of Garden

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Looking very promising Lesley ! 
It will be interesting to see how the wee plants will get along !
Surely you will provide more pix next season.. 

[Maggi Young]

Robin, the Vitaliana is one of those plants which has
more names than hot dinners....

Androsace vitaliana (L.) Lapeyr.
Androsace praetutiana (Sünd.) Kress (ssp.)
Douglasia vitaliana (L.) Hook. f. ex Pax
Gregoria vitaliana (L.) Duby
Primula vitaliana L. (basionym)   

[Ragged Robin]

   Well those will take more than a coffee break to research, thanks for the list Maggi....imagine if Lesley is growing it it must be worth finding out about