-
Garden Diary – Looking back and planning on frosty days
The amazing thing about gardening is not only the joy from the here and now, but all the time spent looking back at what’s worked well this year and planning for next year. It’s good for occupying the mind especially at stressful times, which I’m experiencing at the moment with a loved one in hospital. And it’s not just your own garden that’s a useful tool, visiting beautiful gardens regularly is not only a joy at the time but you can spend time thinking about them afterwards. There’s one garden in particular that I use as a virtual place of refuge, Bodnant Gardens in North Wales. If I’m feeling very…
-
Garden Diary – The white borders turned into a white garden!
When I started Monday off with a photo from one of the white borders down in the white garden, little did I know just how white the whole garden would be by Tuesday morning! Yes I know the weather forecast said snow, but the last time I looked it had changed it’s mind to sleet. And when was the last time we had that much snow in November? Let’s face it, it’s been a very strange weather year all together! The garden has certainly had a good watering this year. I’m expecting great things from the trees and shrubs next year. I’ve always found they’ve been better after a wet…
-
Garden Diary – Beautiful sunsets & blue skies calling!
You know when you are driving, and the sky from a beautiful sunset is just too gorgeous! Of course you just have to pull over and take a photograph, or two or three! Well that’s what happened to me last Monday evening. I posted my sunset and someone commented that the sky looked like Mount Fuji, and guess what? It did. This is social media at its best, the sharing of ideas by like minded people. A very grey, typically November week, was only lifted by my rose bush ‘Mary Rose’ which honestly feels like she’s been flowering all year and is just refusing to accept that it’s now winter…
-
Garden Diary – A week of Remembrance & feeling grateful
In this week of remembrance of those brave soles that gave their lives for their country, and so that we could all live in freedom. Freedom to enjoy our gardens and any other hobbies we choose. I hope that Remembrance Sunday does make people stop for a moment and feel grateful. The garden is somewhere full of memories for me, whether it’s the now distant memories of my dad gardening. Getting as much pleasure from growing food and flowers as I now do. At this time of year he would have a big pile of steaming manure dropped off on the front drive. He would then barrow it around, to…
-
Garden Diary – Halloween spiders & goodbye Tomatoes
It’s funny how Halloween coincides with spider procreation. I wonder when spiders and webs became a sign of Halloween? Anyway my garden spiders are very obliging at making themselves visible at this time of year. It’s felt decidedly cooler this week as we pass into November – I’m sorry but how on earth is it November already, what happened to summer, did I blink and miss it? Despite the cold at least we’ve had very little rain – hurray for that! Some plants though have positively loved all the rain, including the ferns that have never grown so big and bushy. The cool weather has also brought some lovely colourful…
-
Garden Diary – Say goodbye to the lighter nights!
This is the week that really feels like Autumn is tipping towards winter, as the clocks fall back and we say goodbye to the lighter nights! Despite this we’ve had some gloriously sunny days with fabulous blue skies showing off the still dominating pink flowers in the garden, especially the extra late cosmos dazzler which was backlit on a few occasions. The pink shrub salvia is still covered, the dark pink dahlias are still sending up small blooms and a few Nerine bulbs have finally opened up like pink fireworks. I really thought they must have rotted as they were so late. The sun and skies have also been setting…
-
Garden Diary – Pink for Girls? Not for this little girl!
When I was a little girl everyone still thought, ‘pink was for girls’. Well not this little girl! Without really thinking about it I just always proclaimed that I hated pink and that blue was my favourite colour. It’s funny how often I was asked what my favourite colour was as a child, I don’t know if people still ask children things like that nowadays. Of course I only said blue because it was supposed to be for boys, but over the years blue is an absolute favourite of mine. In the garden I started off with mainly white flowers – which is why I’ve got a whole section of…
-
Garden Diary – Another bizarre weather week
Well, yet another bizarre weather week, starting with the most beautiful day on Monday, so nice that I sat with my elderly mother by a village duck pond. You almost needed sun-cream! This of course was followed shortly by, yet more rain. I’ve scarcely seen the pond so full of water. And when I opened a new bag of compost, that had stood outside for weeks, it was saturated. By Thursday it was rather chilly, but gloriously clear again, so clear in fact that most of the country were treated to an extraordinary view of the Northern lights (photo provided by my nephew), except for me! I was blissfully unaware…
-
Garden Diary – A Week of Highs and Lows
It’s been a week of highs and lows both for me and the garden. Those of you that have been following my garden journey over the last few years will know that “I hate autumn” at the best of times so this year was never going to be good. I started the week on such a high, nine weeks after falling and fracturing my back I was finally ready for physiotherapy. He was very pleased with my progress and made me feel like I should ‘go to the top of the class’. This gave me the green light to, get back to work, which always makes you feel normal again.…
-
Garden Diary – Rain, rain go away, we must be due a sunny day?
Well, and then they wonder why us Brit’s talk about the weather all of the time! I think we’d all like the rain to go away for at least a while now. It really does feel like it’s rained on and off all year. Luckily here, we are in no danger from flooding being on top of an ice-age sand and gravel deposit. All that cursing when we first moved in and we initially tried to dig the garden with a spade, then a fork, finally settling on a pick! Now feels like a worthwhile sacrifice for the excellent drainage. I have dashed out in between the showers to pick…
