Another New Start

I had great horticultural plans for this year; leaving off painting and writing a little to try and get the garden looking relatively respectable again.  Unfortunately everything did not go as planned for a number of reasons – although the garden did look great for a week or two!.

One of the reasons was that my wife and I found ourselves looking after two terminally ill cats, one passed away at the turn of the year and the other in June.  One was a rescue who we took on knowing she was poorly and actually gave her over two years she wouldn’t have had, although we desperately hoped she would have lasted longer, and the other was a young cat we had since a kitten and her illness (in fact she had two quite separate ones which seemed to us such bad luck) came as a complete shock.  To stretch coincidence even further just after the second cat died we discovered that our dog had a tumour on her leg: it was the worse kind but very low grade so it has been removed and we are hoping it doesn’t return.

The second drain on my time was that, quite out of the blue, I decided to invent a second artistic career independent of my main one.  In fact I started afresh as if I was a young man (I wish!) beginning his artistic journey and I am exploring radically new media, styles and themes.  This has meant two sets of blogs and two sets of paintings to upload to various online galleries which consequently left too little time for other blogs.

Anyway I have started to get back into the garden again now – a rather daunting task! – and I am also beginning to make a photographic record of my plants.  There have been quite a few changes predominantly in the greenhouses and hopefully I will begin to share the images and my gardening experiences soon.

The succulent house immediately after potting in May. Please not the ex hot water heating pipe plant stands.

The Garden Circa 1999

I fear I will have to redesign the garden yet again as I want to fit in the new greenhouse – I have lost count how many times I have changed it.  My real love is greenhouse plants and greenhouse management so the inevitable upheaval may be worth it.  If and when I get the greenhouse erected I may not heat it initially but rather use it for tomatoes et al in the summer, chrysanthemums in the autumn followed by lettuce through the winter and bulbs in the spring – this was the regime I adopted in my first greenhouse over forty years ago.

By coincidence my wife has just found out some old photographs of the garden at the end of the Century when we had the first avatar of the lawn and there was only one, admittedly large, greenhouse and a tiny lean-to.  All the shrubs had either not been planted or had not grown very big and there was actually flowers in the borders!!!!!

Two Surreal Images

As usual I am desperately late with my gardening jobs (partly blamed on the very hot summer but mainly because my default state is sat in front of an easel, painting!).  To illustrate here are two, I think rather surreal,  photographs: one taken from the kitchen window and one taken from the dining room. Both show a complete mess which I should really be ashamed about but probably aren’t!

The tubs are for mature Dioscorea caudiciforms which ideally should be potted every three of four years but I am not sure if I have actually potted them this century!  If I had they would have armchair sized caudexes by now, which admittedly would take up a lot of room.  I am potting the ones that grow in the winter and will now have to, reluctantly, leave the summer growing ones to the spring (or will I – I may chance it).  Interestingly whether they grow in winter or summer is almost dictated by chance, or more likely watering regimes when they are still seedlings.  They come from South Africa so would normally grow during our winter months.

Someone has given me an eight by six foot greenhouse but I am not sure where to put it; hence the bits propped up against the outhouse!  I already have four plus three ponds, not to mention a relatively newly planted lawn so flexibility is somewhat lacking.  Logically the best option would be to remove the six by four plastic lean-to and put it there but I am reluctant to throw away an old friend.  I will continue to muse!

Incidentally something I am ashamed about is not realising the lemon was not getting the rain during a wet spell last month.  It subsequently dried out and lost its leaves -very embarrassing that!

The Greenhouses Immediately After Potting In May

I am very sorry I haven’t posted anything recently – pressure of work I am afraid.  I have taken some photos during the interim so hope to resume posting on a regular basis in the near future.

Here are some greenhouse pictures taken immediately after a week of potting during the third week of May which I hope may be of interest.

Goldcrest In The Middle Of Town

I walked to and from town last week and on the return journey I was very surprised to see a Goldcrest in the bushes by the side of the road.  It was probably a female as males have a more orange crest.  This is the UK’s smallest bird and although not actually rare, in fact the native population is boosted in the winter months by birds from the continent, it is more often found in coniferous woodland than beside the busiest road in town.  She was busy searching for  small spiders and insects among the bare branches. This sighting really made my day and I wish I had managed to take better photos with my phone.

 

Writing About Brimstone Butterflies But Showing Forsythia (Well They Are Both Yellow!)

I was walking the dog along a sheltered path by the railway line on Sunday and saw quite  a few Brimstone butterflies.  I think this means Spring has finally arrived folks!  Having said that in a normal year you can often see an occasional Brimstone on the wing in late February or early March in Southern England – however this is not a normal year and the sight of so many on the wing cheered me up no end.  Typically I never had my smartphone with me – although I didn’t really feel energetic enough to run after them for a good shot anyway!  They appeared to be all males: the males have yellow wings, hence the name, while the females are off white.  It is believed, realistically I think, that the word butterfly is derived from the males of this species

Our Forsythia bush began to open its buds over a week ago and I notice plants all over town are well out now.  Although it is depressing in a way I quite like it when the flowers begin to fade as by then the leaves are showing and the combination of pale green and warm yellow is very attractive.

Forsythia on a bank

Incidentally, my wife’s front border which I photographed  a bit earlier is looking even prettier now after the rain at the weekend.  However in our large garden at the back of the house the weeds are growing alarmingly fast for the same reason.  I am not sure when I will get round to attending to them as I have to clean out the fish pond over the weekend and I really must start potting.  The turtles do eat the dandelions but unfortunately not in suitable quantities!  The rabbit only eats the flowers – we have the fussiest rabbit on the planet!

Plants In Flower In March And April

The greenhouses are looking a bit untidy at the moment as I am starting  to sort out some plants and repropagate those that need it.  I am hoping to start potting earlier this year.  The last few years I haven’t begun until May, which is far too late really (with the possible exception of mesembs which grow until late in the year).

A lot of plants are beginning to grow now and more are in flower.

Lampranthus

Forgotten what Genus this! It is Bergeranthus or similar

Crassula hybrid – probably Springtime

Crassula Anomala

Graptopetalum

Graptopetalum

Echeveria XDerenosa

Echeveria derenbergii – smaller form. In the old days I did have a larger form as well which I would like to get back

Aloe Variegata – I lost one last year so I have kept it drier this season. Indoors they are impossible to kill but in the greenhouse they suffer if too damp

Kalanchoe manginii

Crassula sp

Echeveria

June’s Garden

My wife June looks after the tiny front garden of our rented property.  It really is small with a large cherry laurel hedge at the front and our neighbour’s shrubs to the side.  The soil is extremely poor but we are doing our best to improve it.  The borders in front of the bay window and in front of the hedge tend to be a bit dry particularly in the summer months, however there is a nice show of spring flowers at the moment despite the bad weather – hopefully it will be even better next year.

Cherry Plums – This Year Not The Harbinger Of Spring!

Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera) is usually the first cherry to come into bloom in Southern England.  It starts flowering at the beginning of March and in a normal year indicates the imminent arrival of nicer weather.  Not this year however!  It is still desperately cold at the beginning of April with light snow again today and a bitter wind which would feel almost too chilly in January.  For two weeks running the UK met office has forecast milder weather for the approaching weekend and both times they have subsequently amended the information.  They are now saying it may get slightly milder during next week – the phrase believe it when you see it comes to mind!

Anyway the cherries remain in bloom. this one is just down the road.

Cherry Plum

One Last Photograph From Our Garden Centre Trip

There wasn’t a huge variety of plants at the garden centre we visited last week (still a bit early) but I was struck by these Acacia.  They were in large pots presumably ready to be planted but I suspect they would have survived only one of the last five winters even here in Southern England.

They also got me thinking about names.  The English call these plants Mimosa despite the fact that this is a totally separate genus.  We call Philadelphus (Mock Orange) by the name Syringa even though this is more correctly lilacs.  We also muddle up heather and heath with most heathland round here more correctly heatherland and all the heather in local gardens more correctly heaths.  I am sure there are many more examples.

I do like our capacity to invent evocative common names for native plants though.  Possibly my favourite is Hieracium aurantiacum which I think is called Foxes And Cubs down South and the marvellous Grim The Collier up North.  I must admit I also have a soft spot for the Animated Oat! (Avena sterilis).