Spritzhenry's Inbox

Ooooh you stole my sage!! Although yours looks fantastic and mine is in a sorry state this year!!

I love the way the light seems to be coming out of the centre of this flower

This is a fantastic photo - lovely colour!

A lovely photo with super light. Also you asked about the best time to prune Sambucus nigra. We pruned it after the first year to presuade it to take on an architectural shape, and this was done late September when the leaves had fallen.It gives a lovely contrast to the Acer palmatum standing very close to it.With best wishes and happy gardening.Grenville and Alan.

Your photos are superb, my camera isn't good enough to take pictures like yours, they look very professional.

This is gorgeous, the colour on the tips of the petals looks like it is dusted on!

There seem to be a lot of these flying ants around just now. The remedy I was taught way back by my parents is to find where they are emerging from, and pour boiling water over. A bit gruesome perhaps, but I suppose they die instantly. Only possible of course where there are no plants in the vicinity.

I have also used these Ant traps as I had ants all over the patio. I put down three traps and their all gone. Don't worry about your dogs, the traps are tiny round disc's with small holes for the ants to go into to take the bait, I have cats and not found them a problem.
You can buy it in powder form to sprinkle but this may not be wise if you have animals.

What a fantastic picture Spritz - just beautiful. Lovely flower too!

I use Ant traps that I buy from Asda ( im sure you get them anywhere though ) I find them very affective , the Ant takes the bait back to the nest and it wipes them all out .

It looks a stunning setting!

what a fantastic view ,
i would love this at the bottom of my garden .

Wow! I bet that cable car ride is amazing. On my list of places to visit now.

That is so beautiful!! Are orchids as difficult to look after as I've heard?

Bargain!

I hate to say it but my garden seems to be holding up allright. In fact in the sun today I managed to take some piccies. Only one container was literally washed away - not enough drainage holes to cope with the volume of water and it was filled with young beans.. all gone! Having grown up on a farm I can be certain that the crops are in a terrible state all over the country - not enough sun, not enough dry days to harvest, too much rain - it must be heart breaking.

Wow! that is fabulous!

Looks like an Abelmoschus (Hibiscus) we grow here in Queensland.

Hi Spritzhenry, we have realised the image insertion was a bit too techie. We are working on an easier way to include photos from your account in your blog entries. Watch this space :)

Aw Spritz....painful to see isn't it. All my outdoor tomatoes are succombing to blight, the ones in the greenhouse are fine, incessant rain is the culprit I think, but the runner beans and greens seem fine,
My friend and I went to the henry doubleday research garden the other day and even they had problems with blight.
Finally they seem to be admitting it is all due to global warming, I wonder how bad it will get before we all get our act together and take lowering our emissions seriously? The next problem will be rising food prices due to crop failures. Americas wheat crops are well down because of drought. Our farmers must be battling enormous problems.
I think I will invest in some more polytunnels for next year. It will get worse before it gets better and that is if everyone takes emissions seriously....not too hopeful about that!

Hi there Spritzhenry, I think it is an Hibiscus trionum or 'Flower-of-the-hour'. Very lovely.

Hello spritzhenry - lovely to meet you today at Hestercombe. I've been looking in my old RHS Plants and Flowers book and I reckon this could be Hibiscus trionum (p264 in my book).

Yes! had it for many years - does well from cuttings, keep frost free over winter, cut back in spring and keep out to flower all summer! Good to grow as a standard or bush - depending where you are you might get away with growing it as a wall shrub in a sheltered spot - I got away with it for a few years then lost it!

When taking cuttings of Aeoniums (or other succulents) leave the cutting to 'callus' - develop a skin over the cut end, this takes about a week or so, then put the cutting in sand & compost 50:50 water once and leave to root.

Ours is quite workable now, in drought it gets very hard as the soil base is clay and we live almost at the top of a hill so it drains quite well. I am trying to incorporate as much organic matter as I can to make it more workable.I have raised beds with bark paths between, so mud is only a problem in the chicken and duck pens.

Hi Spritz, grass cuttings can be used as a mulch to keep moisture in and roots cool, if you want to reduce the trips to the council tip.

Hi there Sprizthenry, my trusty set of plant tomes tell me that they come in shades of bluey-purple, pink, white and yellow. Osteospermum 'Whirlygig' is the most fantastic looking thing - the species name jucundum only appears next to a pink variety. Hope this helps.

There are a couple of much darker ones available try the plant finder,there are also more colours but they are not hardy.

Looks a nice relaxing area

Yep, I am allergic to mosquito bites, just had one on my leg , came up the size of a tea-plate red and angry.....scratch ....scratch!. They bypass others and make a beeline for me!