Rhubarb Appreciation Society

[Blackpuddingbertha]

Going with Rhihaf's thread name suggestion, following on from the first rule of gardening club is thread.

Pull up your kneeling pads, crack open the elderberry wine and the blackberry gin and come and join us. No real experience or gardening know-how needed.

Sounds like bliss, Elvis. Make the most of the immobile stage - ds (10 months) ate a daffodil, a worm and had to have gravel repeatedly removed from his mouth this afternoon. He was thrilled to be outside.

Well done on your prize, Maud. What was it for?

Err, miniature narcissus in a pot.

I have a picture of DS age 4 months or so in the garden looking at a carpet of Tomasiniana crocuses which had naturalised in the old garden, and were all out, on a sunny day. He is smiling at them.

Well done on your prize Maud: well deserved as to have anything much in flower (hellebores and snowdrops apart) seems a triumph atm.

Munstead Wood had about 3 blooms on it last year in spite of the warmer weather in spring, perhaps because that was its first year, so thats why I plan on planting it near the West facing wall, perhaps then the blooms and scent will be as advertised. Those catalogues can be a bit misleading really.

I'm going to have to buy in some extra compost, as the leaf mould isn't rotted enough, and wondered what you all have found best online?

Congratulations Maud

It was a beautiful day - the wind dropped completely and the sun shone all day. All the alliums seem to be coming up, I had despaired as I thought they may have rotted in the ground due to all the rain. DH and I pondered over something that seemed to be sprouting in one corner, we couldn't tell if it was a weed or a plant. Eventually I looked at last year's photos and we concluded it was a weed

I wonder if I will ever remember latin names of things? I suspect not, as I can barely remember the generic name.

I buy all my compost from the society, so can't advise. I need to go and buy the manure for the mulching.

I will try this year to get back into the habit of photographing the garden once I've sorted the blardy path out.

But I quite like horticultural Latin.

I've got a bit better at the Latin since coming to Oz as for whatever reason, native plants are pretty often known as well by the Latin as the local.

Today's bargains were three huge pots of clivia to fill in under the yet-to-be-planted flowering gum corymbia ficilolia :o, and three westringia, a native bush that can be cut like box, have greyish leaves and blue flowers. They will replace the aspidistras which have not found full sun the slightest bit amusing. Also bought four native banksia blechnifolia^ for more underplanting, but in a dry sunny position.

A nice aspect of Australian gardening is that a number of native plants are cheap as chips, but sadly harder to find as they aren't as popular as Mediterranean/South African/South American plants. This means driving out miles to native nurseries in rural areas or, as we did, dropping in while driving between cities, in this case Adelaide to Melbourne.

I'm putting off planting the bulbs as it's way too warm, so they'll go in the salad crisper of the beer fridge until the Queen's birthday; the time-honoured marker for planting bulbs such as tulips.

For the rest it's planting time while the soil is still warm.

Good morning echt !
So what will you do with the aspidistras?

I looked up banksia and corymbia ( evocative names) and the plants look vertical, edgy, quite contained leaves, I suppose adapted for sun. The flowers look stunning and dramatic, is that right?

Here the birdsong is expanding this morning: the birds are happy as it is finally warmer (10 C) I hear blackbirds, robins, blue tits, bull finches and sky larks. It is the original classical music as they set each other off, and answer and harmonise and then sing different tunes only to come back and harmonise with each other again. Early in the year they always sound as though they are exchanging winter news from other climes, but about now, they seem to sing for the sheer pleasure of it.

Morning all.

Congratulations humph - great news!

maud well done on your prize.

Actually managed to get out in the garden yesterday and DH was out there all day. He was making the promised gate. The basic frame is there but needs sanding, fitting and hanging. I have been begging for this for years! Still a few things that need doing to childproof the garden for DS but it's a start!

I planted some seeds to start of indoors (chilli's and red peppers). We don't have a greenhouse and think the garage is still quite cold (we have window sills there so have some space for pots).

Have just finished watching the first half of GW (missed the beginning on Friday night - and the party by the sounds of it!).

Have been thinking about buying a book of plants (names in English and Latin, photos). Think the Latin will come in useful here too echt but only because otherwise I'm having to decipher Dutch names and work out their equivalent. Anyone recommend a good one?

funny I totally agree about the misleading nature of the magazines, the catalogues, he Joe Swift design interludes...

I want to know for a planting scheme how long it takes to reach maturity and that lovely 'fullness' that show gardens have. All the bare patches at this time of year get me down, although I don't claim to have designed it for winter interest. For my front garden full of cottage annuals/died-back-to-nothing perennials the sight of dandelions and plantain well established already is sad. It's difficult to get in there now to move things and weed out the broadleaved/taprooted monsters without disturbing the summer bulbs and other dormant things. I was happy to see my 'bleeding heart' starting to sprout amongst the scented bed though.

Another gorgeous day out here in the Land Of Essex... (here be dragons)... Bright sunshine but a bit of frost everywhere.

engelsemama you want RHS 'Latin for Gardeners'... I love it.

Morning, all, and congratulations to babyHumph, new gardeners and prize winners!

This week has been vair busy indeed, but I have the day off today so (after my umpteenth coffee) will finally get to spend some quality love time in the garden

As always, the necessary work can wait a little longer while I fanny about with the shiny new acquisitions . I have a spirea (may bride) and some dog roses I want to settle in, as well as some bulbs to pot - for anyone near a Morrisons, they're selling packets of gladiolus callianthus for £1. I bought 3 .

Then I have some serious greenhouse clearing to do - it's a disgrace at the minute...

Morning all. Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday morning.

funny I loved your description of the birdsong being the original classical music.

Lexy I absolutely agree regarding forlorn looking bare patches and weeding without disturbing bulbs etc. I also struggle with planting new things without constantly having to replace bulbs I've sliced through. I am very of your bleeding heart emerging although being in the North East I will be a good couple of weeks behind (assuming I am remembering correctly where I moved it to last year of course!)

At this rate, I reckon we will be into May before my tulips get round to flowering - very weird - although I am hanging on to Monty's words that when spring does arrive it will be an explosion. Here's hoping.

No frost here this morning so that's a good start.

Oh God, the spiders...

I have now ordered some nelumbo nucifera seeds.
Though I will not be swimming in a lotus pool every morning as my father did, nor be rowed across a Himalyan lake though a sea of lotus flowers in a shikara as I was 30 years ago, and though I may not grow enough to eat the dish of lotus roots which we enjoyed as children, neverthe less I am to have at least some plants in the patio.
It is my contribution to world heritage because the lotus lakes are sadly almost all gone.
I need advice as to how to grow in a temperate clime on the patio though.

Thanks for the welcome, everyone - and congratulations on your little beansprout, humphrey!

Wynken it's true that they like their pollarding here, but I've always assumed it's just habit, what a lot of people here think has to be done to trees (I can see my neighbours' pollarded trees from where I sit).

Beautiful day here. I've been out digging over my soon-to-be herb bed - so nice to do it with the sun on my back for a change. Went for a mooch around my local garden centre on Friday afternoon - it had a lovely just-waking-up-from-winter feel - and have been sowing the tomato and salad leaf seeds I bought.

Tea break finished...back to my digging!

So much for my constructive day - the veg beds are undug, the pots are not sorted, and the plant shelves not investigated.

However ...

... I have been sowing pumpkins, sweet peas, nasturtiums, larkspur, yellow tree peonies, hollyhocks, stocks, love in a mist, campanula hofmannii, albuca shawii, dill, stewartia pseudocamellia and clematis vernayi. And accidentally acquired another pulsatilla to replace my poor dead one.

Funny, your description of your father swimming in a lotus pool, and you eating lotus roots as a child, is beautiful! Are you from that part of the world? (long time lurker and follower here)

Morien it has inspired me to have a further hack of my chestnut tree that my neighbour moans at and to be a bit more brutal with my cornus.

Well done Maud on winning a prize.

Sounds like we have all had a productive weekend. I have been plant buying at the Blueberry farm. One decent size blueberry plant that will stay in a pot and two very decent sized Camellia's. Think one is Camellia Yuletide which would be great if it is as really wanted one and this is very decent sized for a tenner. They both had unknown on them so hard to tell at the moment.

Also bought a clematis and a couple of those perennial wallflowers. Replanted my perennial sweet pea, sowed some Cosmos and potted up some Oca plus Penstemon cuttings.

funny your lotus flower anecdotes do indeed sound enchanting.

I've had a most marvellous day. Was given bags full of plants from my next door neighbour who was digging up and dividing everything in his whole front garden when I went out this morning - lots of iris and crocosmia among others. Also gave the lawn it's first cut, weeded, and planted up pots and loads of other stuff in the borders.

I am amazed at how much is starting to germinate after just a small rise in temperature over the past 3 days and I am beyond excited as to the different things that should will be popping up in the next few weeks.

Need to go and lie down or perhaps have a and smile again at my seedlings.

Oh, and Maud please do tell us what the prize was for!

That sounds incredibly romantic, funnyperson. Hope you were being rowed by a Shahrukh Khan lookalike.

I just lost a very long post, but the gist was ... got lots done in the garden ... lots of signs of burgeoning life although also some evidence of winter fatalities (plants, pots and lanterns) ... feeling really encouraged and uplifted.

Albuca thingummybob looks lovely. Are all these for home use, Leucan, or for clients?

Gosh funnyperson, what lovely memories to have.

I had a fabulous time in the garden today as I was well enough to actually DO stuff. I realised why people say it is hard to get rid of oriental poppies as I had to dig up LOADS of teeny plants that had sprouted from some root left behind when I moved a plant last year. I also salvaged 47 foxglove seedlings that had emerged in the children's little garden in front of their playhouse. I spent a long time separating snowdrop bulbs from lumps of grass so DH could plant them in between the birches.

This week I need to sort out the herb beds. They look very empty. I am a little gutted that all my sages seem to have given up the ghost after this last spell of cold winds, as they will leave a gap and I failed to take any cuttings last year. I will not make that mistake again.

Still vacillating wildly between greenhouse/polytunnel. DH worried that a polytunnel will not wear as well as a greenhouse. What do you all think? If we get a polytunnel we can then get a digger in to get up the hardstanding so that we can have some raised beds...so the plan grows like Topsy..

I have just also realised how easy it would be to propagate the fabulous cerise pink poppy and thus replace all the salmon pink ones I don't like as much.

Dawny, it's wonderful when that happens . Last Summer was so dank and dark up here that my irises didn't bother flowering at all!

And yes/yes to the burgeoning life - the hawthorn suddenly put out about 3 billion leafy buds between Saturday morning and Saturday night.

Thingummybob is indeed lovely, Maud. And sort of half and half is your answer - every year I grow a set amount of frothy/spikey/ground covery annuals/perennials, plus set some shrub cuttings and tree pods/equivalent off (hence the stewartia). Most of my clients will need some of their frothy/spikey etc etc plants replacing or adding during the year and I only charge £1-£2 regardless of size because I sell enough to recoup the cost of seed/compost/time etc as well as make a small profit, so we're all happy because it means the spare plants are mine for free . That will also explain why the list is a bit eye-brow raising if they were all intended for the one area...

However, if anyone's coveting any lupins or sage plants, I still have far more of those than I will ever shift...