Littlelarford's Outbox

What a wonderful spot to sit and contemplate!

By all means go ahead Odianao, we've no objections - but of course we'd love to see the finished painting!

We haven't noticed any porridge going missing yet, Groeswenphil, despite the fact that our young granddaughter was convinced that our cottage belonged to the 3 bears the first time she saw it.

Thanks everyone for your good wishes - for the next 3 weeks I'm afraid it's "over and out" - we have 3 solid weeks of garden parties to arrange, so bye for now.

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.

Ah, thanks Spritz, that explains it. You can tell I'm still a relative beginner to IT!

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!

Only wish we could concentrate a little more on veggies Ickledigga - our veg patch is full of pots of lilies at the moment and likely to remain so for a while until we can plant them out when all the tulips have come and gone!! Thanks for your kind comments.

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!

Hi, Lil. This is our fifth year in the cottage and when we moved in it was 13 years old. So not as old as it looks, but it has loads of authentic features inside and out. We love it!

That does look a bit like a Ladybird, as we usually call them, but isn't it huge!
I don't think I'd like to come across him. Harmless I expect, but what a whopper! Not familiar with Canadian bugs so haven't a clue what it is.

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?

We're no spring chickens ourselves, Flcrazy. Just mad!

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!!!

Thanks Talljim, you live in a beautiful area too. I've been looking through your photos and particularly loved those of your four legged friends. We spotted a Muntjac deer last week in our woodland - the first we''ve seen since we moved in. He stood and looked at us for a few seconds and then took off into the distance. A lovely sight.

I hope you can too Nancym. Angelique are reasonably easy to get hold of over here but I don't know about Canada.
As for The English Garden mag, you should be able to get a copy over there - it's worth hunting for one, it's a great article with stunning photos. Good luck!

Thanks Harli, yes we are very fortunate. I suppose city life does have some advantages but we're definitely country folk at heart! So much so that my other half has started a nature centre in an outbuilding on the approach to our woodland. We have a camp for young city children not far away and he thought it would be interesting for them (and our other visitors) to see a collection of wildlife articles such as antlers, wasp nests, honey combs, etc. It is unlikely some of the children will have come across some of these in the city.

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.