Grows on You : Gardening blogs

The winter blues...

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:47:02 +0000

Hi everyone this is my first ever blog as I only discovered GOY a little while ago when my gardening year was already finished!!
I don’t really do winter gardening as whatever I do my 2 babies come too and although my 3 yr old son loves being outdoors in all weathers my 6 month old daughter is a bit too young! Also I live in a flat so I don’t have the option of waiting ‘til baby sleeps then nipping outside as outside is a fair way down!! Don’t get me wrong, when we have dry mild days I’m out there weeding and pottering about but how many of those days are we likely to get here in Essex?
So, I was just washing up the breakfast things looking down at my poor garden in the crisp sunshine, my 5 or 6 little Gazanias are open and bright yellow/orange but that’s it. I have a couple of beautiful big shrubs (I don’t know what they’re called as they were here when I moved in) but I’m a flower person, I love colour! My veggie patch is empty, aside from all the leaves, my tulip and daffodil bulbs are planted and hidden away under the soil and it kind of gave me the winter blues! (I know it’s not even winter yet!) I thought to myself “Get on GOY and look at everyone elses gardens to cheer yourself up” so I have done and it worked, those of you that are not fairweather gardeners like me are still doing a fabulous job and I want to say thanks for keep posting your photos, I am really enjoying them.
Sal xxx

An old Gingko at Kew.

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:44:56 +0000

The Gingko seems a popular tree so here’s a few more pics.It is frustrating taking pictures of trees with a small camera, I just can’t show the scale of them.The old Gingko is a magnificent beast, you can feel the history when you stand next it.
After the Gingko’s,the best tree for autumn colour at the moment is the Taxodiums.This deciduous conifer’s foliage (needles) turns a rusty red before they drop and it has attractive red/brown bark.They are native to the southeastern US were they grow huge.Worth looking out for.
I’ve added a couple of pics of Fatsia flowers: I like this plant and I think its flowers tend to get overlooked as its thought of only for its foliage.
Spritzhenry has demanded more orchids! so here a very special one, Coelogyne dayana – the necklace orchid- a native to Malaysia Borneo and Sumatra. The plant shown here has 11 flower spikes,the longest being 1m 27cm with 58 flowers on it. There is a better close up picture of the flower on Kew’s website-Kew.org.uk.-along with more imformation and a picture of my colleague who grew it-a brilliant teacher and a lovely lady.
Sorry about the irritating time/date printed on the pictures, I’m not sure how that happened-I’ve pressed the wrong button somewhere!

One of Kew’s ‘Old Lions’ , this Gingko biloba was planted in 1762.

Still looking good for his age

This young chap had his head snapped of in a storm.

The colour was just perfect on this one.

I know I have recently posted pictures of Callicarpa bodinieri,but it looking so good at the moment so here is a few more taken in the Japanese garden.

The flowers of Fatsia japonica.

Flowers, fruit and autumn colour of Poncirus trifoliata “Japanese Bitter Orange” I like this spiny shrub, I seem to remember this plant in flower last March and it has’nt stopped since.

The swamp cypress, Taxodium disticum.There is a few of these at Kew growing beside the lake and pond,wonderful rusty colour.

Pinus wallichiana; the Bhutan pine. Just a few of the cones that cover this large tree.

A welcome splash of late,yellow flowers that will go on until the first frost. ‘Smooth Senna’ Senna septemtrionalis.

A couple of Orchids; this is Phragmipedium sedenii….

..... and Brassia arcuigera.The flowers look like they are dancing!

Coelogyne dayana…a spectacular orchid, so many blooms. These pictures can’t do it justice.

Waiting to be taken for display in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.

...and finally an early Narcissus: N. papyraceus var.polyanthos in the Alpine House.

To Gilgandra

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:19:10 +0000

10/10
8 AM and we’re off again after breakfast in the morning sun on the veranda, warming ourselves, as did the dogs. It was 19C now and we were heading SE, through the Jacaranda lined streets of St.George. It was sunny, blue skies, but very windy.
We were heading for Hebel on the border with NSW. Wheatcrops on either side of the road, as far as the eye could see. Some yellow and ready for harvesting, others still green. Thousands of acres of wheat, all for our daily bread. Huge harvesters, all John Deere, green and gold, we met on the way, some escorted as they were all overwidth and overlength. I think these are contractors, who will do the harvesting for the farmers. Once it’s got to come off they are busy. It can only be done during the day, as the wheat has to be dry; at night it becomes wet from the dew.
Undulating grazing land varied the wheat fields. We saw many huge silo’s. Approaching Dirribandi we saw 3 emu’s and a little bit further a mother emu with two chicks. Country very dry, but the lush green wheat fields looked refreshing in between. In Hebel we wanted to get some coffee, and to our surprise right there in the middle of nowhere was a restaurant with table and chairs outside, where you could also get ice coffee. So here we had parked the car and sat there with the dogs. I took some pictures again, as this was really something outof a film, especially the rusted hotel across the road. After our rest we drove off again and crossed the NSW border. We passed the sign too quickly, so turned around and then took the picture.
I was driving and the first bit of road in NSW was great, but soon it was the same old story: wavy surface which bounced us around. Heading now for Lightning Ridge, a place famous for its black opals. It was actually 5 kms off the route 55 highway, so we did an extra 10 kms to get petrol. You have to get petrol when it’s possible, because next so many kms there is just nothing, as you have to be on the safe side.
After Lighting Ridge comes Walgett, which is more like a gohst town. Everything was closed, except for the swimming pool and the bowling greens, where the local elderly played, and of course the IGA supermarket. This was a great disappointment, they were obviously waiting for the next truck to arrive, as many shelves were empty. I got batteries for our torch, water and a drink of orange juice. We ate our “home”made sandwiches in the park under a pergola, where some green grass grew around the concrete pad with wooden table and benches.
Another 219 kms to drive to Gilgandra, where we had booked into a motel. It was 25C, which was the top of the day. We certainly noticed we were not in the tropics anymore! Same story here: wheat farms and cattle country. Not long after the signs Beware of cattle, no fences, we came across a whole heard in the middle of the road. These were being rounded up by a Jackeroo on horseback and a Jillaroo on foot. We just had to wait till they’d passed, so I took the opportunity to take some pics. It was partly clouded and in the distance we saw the Great Dividing Ranges. Lovely scenery.
Birdlife on the way so far has been: rainbow lorrekeets, pink and grey galah’s. golden crested cockatoes, kite hawks, crows, pi-wi’s. We’d seen lots of Cape lilac trees, patterson curse, all in NSW, prickly pears in both States. At 3.30 pm we drove into the Motor Inn at Gilgandra, where we had a room which also accommodates our wooffies. We ordered a chicken mango and salad dinner, as the restaurant was closed, but we could still have room service. We had ordered our meal for 6-6.30 so were surprised it rocked up at 5.15 pm. Paul was just having a nap on the bed. We had forgotten NSW was one hour ahead of QLD, as they had now their summertime. Oh, well, we had our beer with the dinner and skipped the pre-dinner drinks. The rooms are cottages, all free standing. It is bordered by State forest, but the pines are on sandy soil, so it was a dusty walk. So in the morning I had a walk on the track, a bit messy, but at least it wasn’t a busy street. We had another cold night and are now gearing up with warmer clothes.

Mystic attacks the water-bed!

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:00:31 +0000

This was just too funny!
I was leaving for work this morning and Mystic got into the master bed room and discovered the water-bed! He had been de-clawed 10 days ago and is fully healed and back to normal, attacking everything in sight. {chuckle}
He found out that water-beds generate “ripples” when there is movement and had a blast chasing his own ripples!
Here is the newly uploaded video!
LOL! It was SO funny to watch him play and yes, I was late for work because I just HAD to stop and shoot this video!
N2

PLEASE HELP!

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:40:43 +0000

As many of you know, the animal shelter where we adopted our two new cats had a horrific fire that killed over a hundred animals.
There is an online campaign for animal shelters that will grant the winner 100,000 dollars:
Vote here for the shelter that burned! This is the direct voting link to the “Second Chance Animal Shelter’s” entry..
These wonderful people suffered a tragic fire and this is a way to help them rebuild. You can vote only once per day, but if I get enough friends all over the net to cast those votes daily, the shelter where we adopted our little “babies”, Mystic and Smokey, could be granted enough money to rebuild and care for the precious animals in this area!
PLEASE send this link to everyone that you know, post it on E-mail, Twitter, myspace, facebook, newsgroups, message boards, anywhere that you can!
I do not have the financial resources to help the shelter, but I know the internet, and we CAN DO THIS!
Mystic and Smokey say “please help my friends that didn’t make it!”

N2

Gardener's World

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:14:37 +0000

Well, that certainly got a response!
I, like some of you, can remember the days of Geoff Hamilton. In fact, it was he that inspired me to garden. Sadly, he can’t be brought back to present Gardener’s World. Alan Titchmarsh did a good job stepping into his shoes and I thought his enthusiasm was infectious(sp?). Whether it is because that we, as gardening fanatics, are too clever for our own boots, or the BBC think that the public deserves less for their ever increasing licence, there is no doubt in my mind that the present format of Gardener’s World is just a grown-up version of Blue Peter.
I agree that Carol should have taken the job after Monty – but maybe she could see the way the BBC wanted to take programme.
Anyway, food for thought. Isn’t it good to have good, honest debate?

FOXHOLLOW - The Early Years (now and then)

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:03:38 +0000

Title for the blog is probably a misnomer, as the garden has only been in existence for 11 years. halfway through the blog decided to add a couple of recent photos for comparison and to try and make it a little more interesting. So here are a few pics including some pre – digital ones of how the place looked when we first moved here on the May bank holiday 1998.

This first photo was actually taken in February 1998 when we first viewed the house, and 3 months before we moved in.

This photo was taken in August 2000, and the majority of plants shown have since been replaced.

This photo was taken end October, 2009, from more or less the same position, just a little further forward I would guess.

Looking back down to the far end of the garden from where the first photo was taken, May 1998.

Trench digging the bed to remove the mass of roots from the old Copper Beech (out of picture) 20 metres away to the left, July 2002.

The same view and bed, slightly further back, in September 2009. Although this bed was originally planted up for the first time in spring/summer 2002, and has since been replanted between Autumn 2008 to summer 2009.

Yours truly digging the very first bed in June 1998.

Elevated view from the house back down into the far corner of the garden. June 1998.

More or less the same view, October 2009.

untidy greenhouse

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:01:53 +0000

Well it is that time of year when the greenhouse has done its job and it needs sorting out. It has been used to ‘dump’ all sorts of things in it. Straw/hay for the rabbits and sawdust for their cages too have found a resting place. What else do you do with the empty compost bags except put them aside for use later?

The tomatoes and peppers have all but finished so I removed what was left and took them into the house to ripen. Found a god sized cucumber that ended up as a treat for the bunnies as it had gone a little too far.

Then the removal of the weeds that have taken advantage of me not venturing into the greenhouse for 4 weeks or so. Dug out and composted in most cases. The satisfaction of freshly dug and [apparently] weed free soil.
There were some nice bistorts and that annoying little yellow oxalis as well as small sneaky nettle that caught me unawares.

It didnt take too long but I tried to be thorough but there were a lot of oxalis seed pods going off pop. Ah well more to do as the seasons progress. But for the moment it looks really good.

Then I started sorting out all the plant pots. I try to have them stacked nice and neatly in their various sizes. I find it makes chosing the right pot a quicker and easier task, but it rarely stays tidy for long. I have to sweep under the staging too.

After several hours I had to call it a day, as my youngest daughter wanted my help with the tidying of her bedroom. So as I turned my back on the tidy part I was left to face the remaining half.

Oh well perhaps tomorrow? I will have to find the power washer and give the glass a good cleaning too. I have noticed lots of moss growing in the gaps between the glass and the frames. Hopefully hubby will do that for me after I have sealed the electricity sockets with plastic to avoid water getting in. Safety first!

Thanks for the welcome

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:25:56 +0000

Just joined earlier in the week after coming accross the website by accident and I love it. You are a friendly bunch of people – most welcoming & your pictures are lovely. Makes all the hard work gardening worth it to be able to share pictures with similar folk who appreciate. Thanks to everyone who has left comments on our photos. I’ll get round to returning the hospitality.

Abbotsbury Tropical Gardens

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:34:27 +0000

Each year myself and The Husband visit Dorset in the first week of September, in my humble opinion the best time of the year for an English coastal holiday. In all that time we had never had time to visit Abbotsbury apart from the Swannery and that day there “wasn`t time” to go there. Husband likes, no loves to fish and in Dorset that`s what he has to do. This year however I decided that Abbotsbury Gardens was where I wanted to go and go WE shall. Husband agreed partly because he knew it would be very silly not too after all his fishing time…I am after all, very patient but even I have my limits…lol! I hope you like the photos, the gardens were everything I hoped and more. :o)

If you look through the trees you can see what I think is called St. Margarets Tower. The bench is situated so when you sit down you are looking straight at it.

I hope you enjoyed the walk around and that it wasn`t too warm for you…lol! Of course I couldn`t leave without visiting the plant centre there and I came away with a Musa Basjoo

I must be doing something right because it`s grown FIVE new leaves since I brought it home. At the moment its overwintering in a spare bedroom.
I also bought a Tulbaghia Violacea, Society Garlic I think the Americans call it. It does have a strong garlicky smell but is I think a type of Allium. I do know the tiny pink flowers are so pretty, I`ll take a photo when it flowers again next year.
Bye for now. :o)
Sandra x