Littlelarford's Outbox

What a wonderful spot to sit and contemplate!

Your log is a wonderful idea Lori, I think we should all do it. But, like Spritzhenry, I wouldn't recommend going past your old home. Our last front garden was really a showpiece for our nursery but now the house and garden are unrecognizable. The new owners are definitely not gardeners. All the beautiful climbers on the front of the house have been ripped off and the garden looks sad and neglected. It's so sad to see.

I think you would probably agree Fourseasons, to achieve a lovely garden you have to think really big and work really hard! We incorporate approximately 6 tons of soil improver every year, as we garden on almost pure sand. This quantity of bark may look mind blowing but I bet a beautiful garden like yours swallows it up!

Great to see the woodpeckers but it looks as though they're a mixed blessing! Didn't realise they could do this much damage.

We have green and great spotted woodpeckers in our woodland, but you are so lucky to have so many wonderful species so close by. Fabulous photos.

Ahhhhhhh, who could resist that little face?

What a great sign - very eyecatching!

Who needs to visit New England in the autumn when your garden provides such a magnificent display? Fantastic.

A well deserved winner Fourseasons - your garden is absolutely stunning - well done!

Thanks Joebell, what a lovely greeting pic. how did you do it? Hope you have a great easter too - don't eat too much chocolate! Then again, why not?

This is so strange, Talljim. We had a golden retreiver dog, Ben, who took a fancy to our neighbour's rottweiler bitch, Chanelle. Accidentally, between them they had a litter of pups which had the general appearance of a rottweiler but with softer retreiver-like facial characteristics.

This is so true Maple - and if you open your garden to the public it's even worse. We're always so busy adding and improving the look of the garden for our visitors that we hardly ever have time to sit in it ourselves!

What type of beetle is this? He looks enormous.

I've come across another tulip in our Taylors catalogue called Orange Nassau. It's clutching at straws I know, but it looks quite similar. Like Abba, this is a double early fragrant variety. It's so difficult isn't it when you inherit a garden and can't identify a specific plant - we have a beautiful pink old rose which no-one's been able to name as yet, it's so frustrating.

Buddy looks a real old faithfull. What breed is he - a retreiver?

Hi David, in our village we usually have a feast of events and sometimes there are so many organised it's difficult to know which to say 'no' to. As for juggling work with pleasure - I suppose we're fortunate as a lot of our community are retired and so find it easier to fit things in. Thanks for your comments on the magazine article, we've had a great response. The other day we received a phone call from someone who belongs to a classic/vintage car club who had also seen the mag. They asked if it would be possible to come along on one of our NGS days with a number of their cars, have a walk round the garden and have a cuppa. It'll be great to see what kind of cars they come in, they're bound to attract a lot of attention!

Dek is the newly elected chairman of our Horticultural Society, Andrew, which I'm glad to say thrives reasonably well. This may be something to do with the fact that we are a relatively small community, everyone is very friendly, and most folk support the numerous organised events. Everyone who moves into the area is immediately approached to join the various clubs and societies and seem more than willing to do so. I suppose our Horticultural Society is not only about gardening but it also has an active social side to it with a "Summer Social", "Harvest Supper", annual holiday, etc.etc. I think this social side is vital. By the way, you may be interested to know that our Society was started by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin who lived in our area.

Oh dear Majeek, my other half agrees with Sid I'm afraid. He says that the holes do indeed look as though they've been attacked by slugs and the stripey leaves come with the variety of tulip. We plant several varieties with striped leaves. Whoooops!!!

Hi Majeekahead, if this is in flower now it is so early isn't it? We have just one or two varieties breaking into flower too - they get earlier and earlier each year. Fortunately, the rest are a way off yet.

This particular variety is a puzzler - could it be Orange Princess which is classed as a late double and is quite a vivid orange when fully out? Your photo shows the tulip at quite a early stage and almost appears to be a pinky orange, has it developed into a brighter orange by now? If not, then another strong possibility is Peaches & Cream which in our catalogue is described as cream with a pink flush, fragrant, flowering April/May. We have planted a long bed of these for this year's display and from experience they have quite a delicate colour when fully out. Of the two I think your tulip looks more like Peaches & Cream.

What a cute photo, Jacque.

A stunning photo!

Would you like some real live moles? We have plenty to spare - it costs us a small fortune calling in the mole man every few weeks to get rid of them! They seem to be popping up everywhere in our area.

Run for your life - it's a giant aphid!

Fantastic set of Macro shots Simbird - I'm just learning and have got a long way to go to match these!

Love this little pot Jacque.

You certainly have some beautiful varieties of iris - I shall definitely be looking out for some of them over here.

How lovely to see all our old cottage garden plants growing in your beautiful Canadian garden. All your plants look so strong and healthy too.

This is such a lovely photo - fantastic clematis.

I'm probably on my own here, but wish we had snow like this in England from time to time.

There's a possibility it could be the fungal disease known as tulip fire (Botrytis Tulipae) If I were you I'd research it on the net and see if the symptoms are similar to yours. If they are then I'm afraid you will have to dig them out and destroy them as it will spread to your other tulips and certainly don't replant tulips in the same area for a few years as the disease can stay in the ground. Are these new bulbs or were they left in the ground from previous years? We always plant new bulbs every year to avoid the disease.