Blogs I'm following

Runner Beans

2012-05-26T16:30:00Z

I can really believe that Summer is on the way now, because I have planted out my Runner Beans.

You can see that I have erected a support structure made from 8-foot bamboo canes. In that one raised bed I have used 14 canes in 7 pairs, and one more along the top to keep the whole thing rigid. Runner Beans grow very tall and produce a lot of foliage, which can get extremely heavy, so it is worth preparing some substantial support for them before they get big. I prefer to use bamboo canes because they have a fair degree of elasticity and will bend rather than snap, when subject to a heavy load.

At the base of each cane I have planted one Runner Bean plant. Along one side there are 7 "Red Rum" and along the other there are 7 "Scarlet Empire". Both of these varieties have red flowers. This year I am being really restrained: usually I put two beans up each cane, but I think that sometimes "less is more" and a single bean with no competition may produce a better crop than two vying with each other for space, light and nutrients.

However... To make full use of the space I have put a couple of parsley plants in between each pair of canes. I now have 24 little clumps of Parsley, each with 2 or 3 plants. Maybe for once I'll have enough Parsley to keep our kitchen well supplied?

I know there is still a long way to go, but once I have got the beans in the ground I feel as if I have surmounted a significant psychological hurdle. I feel as if I've done my bit, and it's now up to Nature to do the rest!

***********************************************************************************

P.S. I found some containers for the "Maskotka" tomatoes:

In order to release these I turfed-out rather prematurely some Daffodil bulbs that are now drying out in the garage, hopefully to be re-planted in the Autumn. The pots are not as big as I would like - you can see that they are considerably smaller than the square container behind - but they will probably be OK since Maskotka is a low-growing, bushy type.

Spending like a Hortefeller

2012-05-26T14:47:00Z

Do you dread getting your credit card statements after the Christmas holidays? Ha! You should see my credit card statements after the month of May. By early June, those statements often look like a directory of nursery and garden centers around my side of town and beyond. Some garden centers are even listed more than once.

I have to give some credit or blame to my stylist, Gloriosa Vanderhort.

Shadow Shot Time !

2012-05-26T12:56:00Z

I have been away from this meme and my fellow shadow shooters due to my garden yelling for attention ..
It wants something of my every day and not just one thing ! hundreds of tasks!
I need to connect with my shadow world and shooters so this is a quick stop to do just that : )

Yes .. I am stretching it to find shadows from this tiny creature but you can see its legs and wings do cast some shadows on son's shirt.
This is a Black Swallowtail butterfly .. so totally special to me since I kept it as a caterpillar from last Autumn, watching it form its cocoon, and keeping it safe in a glass jar in our fridge all winter.
It was only a couple of weeks ago that I took it out to enjoy the warm weather .. it seemed to take a long time and I was almost ready to give up ... but Number One Son happened to be in the right place at the right time and alerted us to the tiny miracle that was happening ..
We were absolutely glued to it ... watching it dry its wings .. soaking in the sun for strength .. and then after a while, it flew off right to my lilac tree !
I had never seen this event happen before and I was totally blown away .. it was amazing ..
Life is amazing ... isn't it ?

Between Gardens

2012-05-26T09:50:43Z

I was contemplating claiming that I had fallen victim to an anti blogging attack – certainly it feels as if events have conspired against me, including losing a lot of photos I planned to use to a hard drive melt down. The truth is that a heady mix of depression, stress and “where on earth are we going to move to” left me without any energy or inclination to garden, let alone blog about it. Fortunately the garden just got on with it all without me.

The purple aquilegias I grew from seed make a vibrant contrast to the geums I grew or bought.

I got a red and an orange geum from the Malvern Spring Show last year, and I was beginning to think I had lost the red one, but it turns out it just comes to life later than the other. My other Malvern purchases are also putting on good growth, though no flowers yet on the Sanguisorba. One of the photos I lost was of a tray of seedlings from the Antrhiscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’, half a dozen of which have gone to Gardening Sil, who is currently unable to do much gardening thanks to a wriggling bundle of energy in the shape of a new son!

The purple aquilegias that I grew from seed are not the delicate type, though they have a beautiful shape.

I apologise for the lack of any “proper” plant names in this post – I have mislaid my notebook with all the details, it is probably sulking under a pile of property details! I don’t even know if I realised that the purple aquilegias would match the yellow spurred ones purchased at Malvern for shape, but I like the similar scale.

I don’t think I have ever been more grateful for the way gardens can just get on with it without us for a while, and still thrive – though the least said about the dock that it also thriving in the pond border the better, and as for the dandelions that have sneaked in…)

The great news is that not only have we worked out where we want to live, and not only have we had an offer accepted on a house there, but the new house has lots of garden with some promising plants, a shed and a (rather battered) timber greenhouse. Add to that the fact that in the end it is Mil and Fil who are buying our own house, and suddenly things seem to be coming together rather beautifully. We get to move in easy stages, leaving some stuff here with Mil and Fil while we get some work done on the new house. Even better, I know the current garden will be cared for and loved, and that I will be able to come back and divide plants to take with me at a time of my own choosing rather than in some mad rush.

The new house is on Anglesey, in Cemaes Bay, so I will be gardening in a maritime climate with lots of northerly exposure, but the house is set back and quite sheltered so hopefully the salt-laden winds won’t create too much havoc. It is an estate sale, and the vendors are anxious for a swift completion, so the next few weeks will be spent dismantling the greenhouse, rescuing belongings from the loft, and packing. Not much blogging. But, by July I hope I can start sharing my experiences settling in and getting to know a new garden. In the mean time, sincere apologies for the fact that I will not be reading and commenting on blogs, or being very responsive on my own, but here is a small taste of what I am moving too.

Within the space of a week I have been transformed from a bundle of stress and worry into someone who feels almost unbearably lucky. I didn’t dare hope that I would be able to move to a house with a good sized garden which has evidently been much loved and which I can leave to get on with it while we get to know one another. That this should be by the sea has me jumping for joy – or would if it were not for the fact that I am totally exhausted from what has to be one of the swiftest property hunts in history! I am really happy to be going back to Anglesey, and look forward to sharing something of the Island with you all, as well as the next phase in my adventures as a gardener.

Between Gardens was written by Janet Bruten for Plantaliscious

Det smukkeste syn og den lifligste duft

2012-05-26T06:51:00Z

Lige nu glæder jeg mig i den grad over de dejlige engletrompeter, som har plads i The Sunken Garden. De ikke alene ser smukke ud; de dufter også fuldstændig himmelsk. Især om aftenen, hvor disse billeder er taget, udsender de den lifligste duft.

We've come a long way in garden blogging

2012-05-26T03:00:00Z

We've come a long way in garden blogging.

I remember the early days, when we were careful to not reveal too much information about ourselves. After all, who were our readers? Who was really looking at our blogs?

Few of us posted pictures of ourselves, mentioned other family members by name, or even provided an email address. If you wanted to get in touch with any of us, you had to leave a

Erythronium Pagoda

2012-05-26T01:00:20Z

Erythronium Pagoda an extremely striking Spring flowering plant.

Erythronium Pagoda started flowering in the garden at the very beginning of April and was still hanging on to a number of blooms on the 22nd of May. Pagoda is a hybrid of the north American native species.

Plant this one in your garden and I guarantee you will not be disappointed. In our garden we have it in several areas. In the main part of the back garden it completely surrounds the trunk of a Rowan tree where it is extremely effective. More recently we have found a couple of positions in the round garden for it, however where Pagoda is most effective is in the woodland, where I find myself checking it out every day.

Do look out for Pagoda, its a very hardy and vigorous specimen with sulphur yellow lily like flowers and bronze mottled glossy deep green leaves. The picture above is the one which I have been most pleased of all with since using my new camera.

Erythroniums in the UK are commonly known as the dog tooth violets so called because of the shape of the bulbs/corms. The flowering habit is extremely graceful with blooms resembling small Turkscap Lilies held elegantly on fine yet sturdy stems.

The leaves of Erythronium die back completely in Summer, leaving the opportunity to place a container grown plant for the rest of the Summer period.

Hardiness – Fully hardy to minus 15 degrees

Height - 8/12 inches – 20/30 cm

Position – Plant bulbs 4 inches deep in fertile humus rich well drained soil that does not dry out in dappled or partial shade.

Flowering – Early/mid Spring, Does particularly well under a deciduous tree.

—Mail Order—

Another Erythronium in the woodland (Lilac Wonder)

The flower colour and the foliage is fine. This is only the second season Lilac Wonder has been in the woodland, however the blooms have not been as sturdy as Pagoda. For instance, the heavens can open, and Pagoda will remain totally unaffected whereas the one above will be splayed out on the ground.

Erythronium White Beauty

White beauty I don’t have at the moment, I will be on the lookout for it though. The one above I photographed whilst on a visit to Crathes Castle Gardens.

___________________________________________

Messing about on the computer I came across this website that allowed you to do something a little different with your photographs, Fotofuze wait a minute, now that I think about it that’s not quite the way it happened. In actual fact it was our daughter Lana who introduced me to this photo editing site. She makes individual pieces of very special jewellery using flowers, some of which are from her own garden and also from ours. Before taking a look at what I did with some of my pictures, do check out what Lana does I think you will be very impressed . —- (Wishes on the Wind) —

The pictures below show what can be done with the editing site. I am not so sure if it is of much use for those of us who have gardening blogs, but nevertheless interesting.

This is a link to the photo editing site. It was a hit or miss as to whether the background came out black or white, although I may have missed out on something. (Fotofuze)

And finally may I show you a few pictures of the back garden taken indoors looking through the kitchen window. The whole of April and the first three weeks of May were cold, grey and miserable with the temperature very seldom going above 10c/49f even when the sun shone. May the 12th was one such day. Looking out the window my spirits were lifted by the sight which confirmed that the garden wasn’t complaining. I decided to take a few pictures from this spot, would they be any good on such a very grey day, well anyway take a look and see what you think.

On May 22nd Summer temperatures of 21c/70f finally arrived after this long cold spell.

Find your—Wishes on the Wind—With a little help from Lana

Who's Watching the Goslings?

2012-05-25T20:09:00Z

While The Husband and I were out earlier today running errands, we had to stop the car so I could get a photo of this.

This photo has at least 28 babies and only two adult geese. There is more to the flock over a slight drop off behind these geese ... with two more adults and 25 or so additional babies ... for a total of four adults and 50+ goslings. (The goslings wouldn't stand still so I

Of Imperial tea and ruby grass

2012-05-25T18:11:00Z

Once upon a time, on the shores of a Northern lake, a wide-eyed South African girl found a tea shop. I grew up with a choice of Five Roses. In my lunch hour I would explore my way thru words and flavours. First flush Darjeeling – too fierce for me, passed it on to a colleague who had lived in Kashmir. Smoky Oolong – his favourite. Vanilla tea – with slivers of a vanilla orchid seed pod. Even our rooibos.

Teehaus Wuehre across from the Limmatquai in Zurich. When I bought this tea caddy, I was told it says – Guter Tee macht gute Laune (good tea puts you in a good mood, clumsier in English). Annie Yim found on G+ lives in Taiwan. She translated the Chinese characters for me. The Chinese equivalent of – by appointment to the Queen. Ming Emperor’s tea.

Tea caddy, Chinese cha

The bottom symbol is the one for tea.

葉 tea leaves, traditional,

茶 Cha tea, simplified or traditional.

Annie tells me that – ‘the little crosses on top mean grass,

while the 木 beneath symbolises wood’.
(PS If you use Windows XP there are 3 empty boxes
where the Chinese ideograms should be
Thanks to Richard Stark on G+
for providing a link to the ideogram for tea Cha)

Hausmischung Diana's tea
half Ceylon, a quarter rooibos and a quarter honeybush

We went to visit our friend Gayle who has a small farm outside Porterville. He proudly showed me Diana’s Plant, the Dusty Miller. And I came home inspired to do, what I say. Ripped out four sprawling lolling hedges.

Dietes and Agapanthus, yellow Oxalis
pink Oxalis, pots of bulbs

The dividing line between the Karoo Koppie and the Blue Border never was a Line. Now I have planted a row of spekboom cuttings. Which will lend themselves to trimming into the formal effect of a box hedge. While remaining green in summer. Tidying at the front door to reveal my alternating clumps of Dietes spears and Agapanthus bowing, I ripped out the Felicia by mistake. Those harvested cuttings are now a second blue line by the spekboom.

yellow Chrysanthemoides, purple Dimorphotheca jucunda
blue Plumbago, red Tecomaria

Common Hairtail butterfly on Chrysanthemoides monilifera

Behind the Blue border is our boma of vine chunks. Wildlife habitat, yesterday providing sanctuary for a torpid lizard we rescued from Chocolat. That undecided hedge is now, the only 2 rooted bits of my blue sage I could find. And four cuttings of wild rosemary from Gayle. Cutting back two clumps of Scabiosa in the white Winter Chill bed at Paradise and Roses, gave me frightening dozens of cuttings. Some went home with our cleaning lady, who gardens. And a row went behind the blue border, to add gentle purple depth.

Winter Chill, Spring Promise
Autumn Fire, Summer Gold
at Paradise and Roses

Paradise and Roses
with borrowed scenery
without the Hedge

The informal hedge dividing ‘meadow’ with plum trees from Paradise and Roses had also reached its sell by date. Standing almost waist high it was a barrier, not an invitation. Now I have a thickly planted row of hand-sized Dusty Miller cuttings, paired with a row of Scabiosa cuttings, across Winter Chill and Spring Promise. For now it is just promise, but a gardener’s eye sees far.

Our garden is dancing into the ball. Everything is either in flower or covered in buds. Colour every which way.

Ruby grass

Ruby grass, bud to seed

Beneath the orange trees in Gayle’s orchard the corps de ballet dances. Ruby grass Melinis nerviglumis opening with tightly held plum teardrops, stretching into feathered old rose flowers, then unfolding into ivory seedheads. The three colours dance in the breeze in perfect choreography.

Ruby grass, the cygnets dancing

Because the details of grass flowers are so complex, so beneath human vision, I have another macro in a Mason jar photo. Not yet in my garden but I will nurture those seeds and hope they will dance for me in Spring Promise with the pink roses. For Wildflower Wednesday.

Pictures and words by Diana of Elephant's Eye

- wildlife gardening in Porterville,
near Cape Town in South Africa

(If you mouse over brown text, it turns shriek pink.
Those are my links.)

RHS Chelsea ends tomorrow, but you can still catch Chelsea in Bloom

2012-05-25T17:50:00Z

The White Company Window, complete with floral wedding dress

If you're still feeling gloomy about all the happy horticultural punters who succeeded in getting into the Chelsea Flower Show this year, when you stayed home because you had no ticket to the ball, there are still numerous Fringe events on offer around London. One in particular will appeal to those in need of retail therapy this weekend - because 28 well-known shops in and around Sloane Square are offering window shopping treats to anybody who wants to pound the streets in SW3.

Hackett has rose-jacketed sentries

All are participating in Chelsea in Bloom - an annual event that coincides with RHS Chelsea - where local retailers compete for a coveted crown by producing wonderful floral window displays to complement the flower show. This year's theme is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, so you'll see plenty of regal displays and more than a few crowns as you mingle with the punters making their way to or from the Royal Hospital grounds, sporting their goody bags from the Show.

This is the seventh year that retailers have participated in this floral festival, and the event has now become so well established that the RHS judging team give their time and energy to choosing a winner and runner up, based on the floral displays.

Many of the big names are there and you can expect to see a spectacular floral wedding dress at the The White Company (above), two rose-jacketed sentries standing to attention outside Hackett (left) and a giant corgi outside Ted Baker, plus crowns and sceptres everywhere. Peter Jones has a huge floral stamp with the Queen's head in its window; Tiffany's has flowers spilling into the streets, and Smythson's has adopted a delicate pink rose theme (below). It's certainly good fun and well worth a look.

Smythson window with floral bunting

If the heat's too much for you (and they are forecasting record temperatures again tomorrow), you can take a bicycle rickshaw and catch all the windows. Or else join one of the walking tours, which run from the information point in Sloane Square every half hour. Certainly a great opportunity to window show in every sense of the word ... and no obligation to buy!

Video d. 25-5 2012

2012-05-25T17:45:00Z

Så er der levende billeder fra den hjemlige parcel.

The Tomatoes are planted out

2012-05-25T16:30:00Z

Hooray! The weather situation has finally allowed me to pot-up my long-suffering Tomato plants.

The plants recovered well from their Near-Death Experience (i.e. frost!) and had completely filled their little 5" pots. This is the 'A-team' before planting out:

Some of the plants already had flowers on them:

I put them all into the largest containers I have, including the 3 self-watering ones my MIL gave me for my birthday back in March.

Since I have six really good metal cane-supports I potted up six containers with tall "Cordon" varieties [that is, ones that grow tall and thin, kept slim by pinching-out their sideshoots], supported by 6-foot bamboo canes. This is what the cane-supports look like:

I also potted-up four shorter "Determinate" ones [bushy ones whose side-shoots you don't pinch out], each supported only by a 3-foot cane simply pushed into the compost.

This is what I have now:

Cordons
2 x Ferline
2 x Orkado
1 x Sungold
1 x Speckled Roman

Determinates
1 x San Marzano
1 x Losetto
1 x Lizzano
1 x Incas

If I can muster a couple more large containers I would like to have two "Maskotka" plants, because they have done well for me in the past - and furthermore they are Lara's favourite!

If you're wondering what growing medium I use for my tomatoes, it is simply Levington's multi-purpose compost, to which I add some pelleted chicken manure. This is what I normally use, and I seem to get good results. When the fruits start forming I will apply "Tomorite" liquid tomato-feed at approximately weekly intervals.

The last thing I want to show you today is a plant grown from seeds sent to me by the ever-generous Jo from The Good Life - it's the "Incas" one. It's looking good, Jo. Hope it gives me a good crop!

Now I just have to shuffle everything around to make space to put these Tomatoes somewhere more sensible! I like to have them close to the wall of the house, where they will be sheltered from wind and where they will benefit from the warmth retained in the bricks of the house itself. Hopefully it won't be very long now before I start harvesting new Potatoes, which will make a bit more space.

The Dream Sequence

2012-05-25T13:00:00Z

Every time I saw a picture of a rose covered arbor, I would stop. I would stare. I would dream.

I really, really wanted a rose covered arbor! Actually, I wanted an entire walkway of rose covered arbors! But an entire walkway seemed a bit unfeasible, even in my dreams.

Still, I was determined to have at least one rose covered arbor. Somewhere! Surely I could figure out where to put

Flower Flaunt Friday ... On This Strange Windy Raindy Day.

2012-05-25T12:02:00Z

We had a very strange day of weather today. There were gale force winds and rain all day. My suburb lost power for pretty much the entire day, as the almost cyclonic winds apparently caused some damage to the power lines on the flats. There wasn't much to do all day without power, and of course the rain prevented me from getting out into the garden.

The 65mm of rain that fell here today

Large Hostas Get the Spotlight

2012-05-25T11:50:26Z

Hosta ‘Blue Angel’ used as a shrub. After writing three posts on miniature and small hostas, I thought large hostas deserved their place in the sun (or shade). Although I love miniature hostas, large hostas are also dear to my heart and plentiful in my landscape. I use them both as specimen plants and also [...]

Photos from the Fling

2012-05-25T10:25:00Z

For several days last week I was in Asheville, North Carolina for the annual Garden Bloggers' Fling. It was a great opportunity to see old friends, meet new people, talk about the business of garden design and writing, and of course, tour gardens. This year's Fling gave me a lot to think about and no doubt much of that musing will be making its way into upcoming blog posts. In the meantime, here

Mere ’guf’ fra England

2012-05-25T08:21:00Z

Så er jeg hjemme igen, og haven her bugner. I skal nok få en video senere. Men først handler det igen om England – det skønne ’Petersham nurseries’, som jeg besøgte i går.

Chelsea Flower Show 2012: Sir Harry Veitch, the plantaholic's hero

2012-05-25T07:40:00Z

Can you imagine a time when no one grew Japanese maples? A time when no one had seen a begonia or many of the magnolias that now grow in our gardens? Not to mention many of the conifers, shrubs and climbers that we now take for granted?

For these, we have to thank Sir Harry Veitch, who ran the James Veitch and Sons nursery in Chelsea and who, with his father, was responsible for sending out plant hunters to bring back so many of the species that we now take for granted from around the world. Appropriately, he was born in 1840, the year that Veitch Nurseries sent out the first of their plant hunters, William Lobb, to South America. (Lobb brought back monkey puzzle (Auraucaria), fuchsias, escallonias, ceanothus, and many conifers including Wellingtonia.)

As the horticulturalist and Veitch expert Caradoc Doy points out: "You would be hard-pressed to find a garden in Britain which does not either contain a 'Veitch' plant, or one derived from one of their collectors or hybridists."

For the past few months, Caradoc has been putting together a Veitch exhibit for the charity Plant Heritage at the Chelsea Flower Show. It included a life-size portrait of Sir Harry, surrounded by many of the plants he had helped introduce: streptocarpus on the Dibleys Nurseries stand; orchids from the Orchid Society of Great Britain; maples from the Hippopotterings nursery, Enterprise Plants' begonias and so on.

It was awarded a silver-gilt medal after being formally opened by Roy Lancaster, who has followed in the footsteps of many of the plant-hunters. Roy described Veitch as a great Victorian - a man with heart and soul, who was as active in charitable work as he was in his nursery business.

Sir Harry also had a role to play in the Chelsea Flower Show, which celebrates its centenary next year. In 1912, he organised a one-off horticultural exhibition in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. It was so successful that the Chelsea Flower Show has been held there ever since.

Dispatching plant hunters all over the world may be a speculative venture, but Sir Harry knew that this was not a get-rich-quick enterprise. The fruits of an expedition might not arrive for years, and then the skills of the hybridists and propagators would determine whether any new species, or cultivar, was going to be popular and profitable.

Transporting the plants back from South America, or China, or wherever they had been collected, was also a complicated business. The plant material had to survive journeys of thousands of miles, and protecting them was made easier by the invention of the Wardian case, by Dr Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, a keen naturalist, in around 1829.

There's a reproduction in the picture above, and as you can see, it's a fairly utilitarian affair. The triangular shape, and broad base, meant it was more stable for sea voyages. Until the repeal of the window tax in 1851, however, glass was prohibitively expensive. The Veitch plant hunters needed hundreds of these cases, and they cost a fortune.

Plant-hunting was a dangerous activity too - still is, as Tom Hart Dyke can tell you. He was captured by FARC terrorists in South America while hunting for orchids in 2000. Men who gave their names to some of the best-known garden plants - David Douglas, Reginald Farrer, Henry Chesterton - all perished thousands of miles from home. As recently as 1901, seven out of a party of eight orchid hunters died on an expedition to the Philippines. One was eaten by a tiger.

Ernest Wilson, who was sent out to China for Veitch in 1899, is the subject of one of my favourite plant-hunting stories. Veitch was keen to acquire the handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata, which had been discovered by Pere David in 1868.

Wilson, who was only 22, and didn't speak a word of Chinese, got on the trail of a specimen that had been seen by the Irish plant hunter, Augustine Henry, 12 years earlier. He finally arrived in Yunnan, after surviving an attack by bandits, a serious illness and the capsizing of his boat in rapids, only to find that the tree had recently been cut down. I often wonder what he said - and whether it was spelt with a lot of asterisks...

Another Chelsea Flower No-Show

2012-05-25T05:43:49Z

OK, so the Chelsea Flower Show, the 2012 version, is on in London. It's seven years since I last 'didn't go' to Chelsea. How time flies, down here in the antipodean world, enjoying May's late autumn gardening. I've missed it again!

Chelsea Flower Show

2012-05-25T05:35:54Z

The Chelsea Flower Show is the Royal Horticultural Society's flagship annual event. Visitors come from far and wide to see the creme de la creme of garden design and horticulture on show, and to get ideas to take home to their own gardens.