A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!

[MaudantWit]

Join us for ongoing gardening chat in the MN potting shed. Blow the cobwebs off a deckchair, help yourself to a glass of elderberry champagne and tell us about your garden.

oh, I do the 5 minutes (ahem) gardening thing.

rhubarb, that sounds stressfull and exciting at the same time. hopefully the plants will survive or recover.

hope funny is on the mend.

sorry about the plants and the rat Rhubarb

traviata that knoll gardens website you posted on the other thread is wonderful!
I would like to ask your advice as a grass expert:
Out the front I have a south facing tiny bank where grows already a large variegated cornus bush, a large dark purple buddleia shaped like a peacock and at its base dark pink valerian in quantity.
I would like to plant the following at the base of the peacock in addition to the valerian: sanguisorba, echinacea purpura magna, and a golden grass which rustles in the wind and isnt too droopy and catches the light and is less than a metre tall. Which grass would you recommend and are there any other plants (not too spreading) you think would go well in that space?
Any one else is also very welcome to suggest.

rhubarb I hate to say it but I am not at all sorry for that rat. The reason being it would have multiplied. Especially in compost heaps. I am more sorry for your plants! There is a mouse in my compost heap which came out this evening. I think it is a mouse and not a baby rat. I heard an owl hoot not long after, and am hopeful nature will take its jungly course without me having to risk going through your ordeal. Should I hear mice squeals at night my dark side will be very pleased.

I HATE having to kill things, even to put them out of their misery and I mostly make DH do it

I am wimping out of raising chickens for eating due to the fact I am just too pathetic to do the final deed. I think v poorly of myself for this, if I am going to eat chicken I think I should make sure it has a nice life and be prepared to kill them but I just can't bear it. The plan was to fatten up about twelve at once and then freeze, but I think it will just go by the by this year.

It's comforting to know I'm not the only complete softy when it comes to animals!

Yes humphrey I do agree with you, killing things is horrid. We always end up having to coax my ex DH out of exile if the situation arises, not that it does very often. Poor rhubarb, even though the outcome was a good one.
It must be common to have mice and rats in compost heaps. I'm getting rid of mine after the Autumn mulch. The garden isnt very big and I don't want a rodent home near the house and it doesn't seem right to put warfarin granules in the compost as that wouldn't be good for worms or birds.

rhubarb has your mm Alfred nearly finished first flowering? If so are you going to prune her gently or a lot? Mine has been covered in roses which are now early all over and I am wondering whether to cut back all the top of the rambler which is now covered in dead rose flowers, or whether, when I get better, to get up on a ladder and dead head each stem properly.

Lovely pictures Bertha and I hope you are well on the road to recovery FP.

I don't do finishing off animals a nd would have had to get DH to deal with the rat. Have to say, if I find rats in my compost that will be the end of my composting. We've got chicken wire under the heaps which allegedly stops them and I haven't seen them yet.

FP, are you trying to rub it in about my Mme Carriere ?! I guess 2 roses is an improvement on last year. I'm going to prune mine as it's shot up about 15 ft into next door's hawthorn and seeing as it doesn't really flower I figure I'm not losing anything.

The grasses place is down the road from me near the blueberry and camellia nursery and not far from the Acer one. I haven't been for ages, must go again.

Haven't done much gardening, just watering and deadheading. I did notice my perennial sweet pea has reappeared, thought it had died. And my Winchester Cathedrals have doing well considering they were bare root and went in pretty late.

Gosh too many posts to respond to... My Perennial sweet peas do seem to do a good job of looking dead then putting on a spurt too, Wynken. I now have the seeds for the 3 new and unusual types I mentioned upthread. I will have to research what I need to do to give them the best chances in life. In the meantime the edible peas are still fruiting their little socks off and giving BabyBearleigh (& me) plenty of vitamins.

Mmmmm, fresh peas! I had to move the sweet peas after their first year so last year they didn't do anything. Am hopeful they will flower this year.

ref. ALL wildlife i don't mind the odd mouse if it's in the compost heap (one of my friends said she had little mice looking up at her when she put stuff in the heap wondering what was for their next meal!) Our cats tend to deal with any excess i must say i 'd prefer owls to do it !

The house is a different but I've found a good way of preventing them; (and it works ) you just spray one of your least fave perfumes or ess. oils in the hole where you think they're coming in. They hate strong smells so go away. We had rats in London but not here interestingly or foxes! I'm of to London today and away from computers so see you all next week !

I meant communucate next week.

wynken when you go please do give me feedback on golden grasses which whisper in the wind

Funny I have given Mme Alfred a severe prune, but this is more for pointing purposes than horticultural. That said, she is very old and not very healthy, so I'm also hoping that a hard prune might give her a new lease of life. It's hard to advise on yours without seeing it. I don't suppose you could get one of your dcs to help you post a picture?

The contractor has dug out the massive stump of the old fig tree, as it was too close to the wall and was going to interfere with pointing. I shall keep it and move it round to the north facing side of the house where one day I hope to create a stumpery.

I have finished digging and turning the compost heap. No more rats. Just loads of mini beasts. The rats don't bother me because they keep themselves to themselves. They stay away from the house because of the cats, and are a food source for owls, foxes and badgers.

And they have little twitchy noses and furry tummies so I refuse to hate them.

Awww........ my mouse is lovable too, a little bit Beatrix Potter.
New Dawn has this week suddenly developed yellow leaves and I am worried I might have carried black spot on the secateurs, so I am washing all garden tools in domestos today.
I think I probably need sme sort of lead from the phone to the computer to upload: wll ask in a shop when well.
You are welcome to visit anytime Rhubarb, when I am not working, and I will ask Lexi round too if you come! Are you going to Hampton COurt?

Sadly no; I had tickets for a friend and myself for the preview evening, but it is clashing with the new parents meeting at the primary school (dd starts reception in September), so I can't go now. I can't afford to buy another ticket - renovating this damn money pit house is bankrupting us. But I would love to visit you some time. Am I right in thinking you are Hertfordshire-ish?

funnyperson I really don't think I could claim to be a grass expert, I am more of a bumbling and occasionally fortunate enthusiast whose random efforts work out OK sometimes.

but, if it helps...

Your bank sounds lovely, and I am amongst the many hoping to see a picture of the buddleia peacock. I am envisaging cloudy golden grass cushions for the peacock to luxuriate and spread his tail.

I imagine it is fairly dry on the bank (although most grass are pretty tolerant of most conditions).

Anemanthele lessonia could work for you there, it has a particularly beautiful curved, arched shape which trembles and quivers and rustles. The young leaves have a reddish tinge to a light green, and very quickly they develop a golden glow. The flowers appear from about June, and they are slender reddish-golden plumes which curve over in line with the whole clump, they don't stand proud. it is reasonably tall, but not over your 1m limit.

On the Knoll page you have probably seen Carex Testacea, I have not seen this for a while, but it may be more the fully golden colour that you may be thinking of.

otherwise some miscanthus would be very happy on a bank, they rustle and move happily, although many varieties are too tall for your limit. Perhaps Miscanthus Purpurascens?

I wish you luck with the sanguisorba, mine disappeared within a few months, never to return, and I did think it might be too dry for them, this article suggests they like a bit of early wet and humidity.

traviata thank you! Your vision is spot on. The Anamanthele looks perfect, more delicate than the Carex, though you are right about me wanting a lightish golden rather than a browny colour.

If not sanguisorba then what do you think I should plant with it? How far apart should I plant the grass plants do you think? When is the best time of year to plant them?

My sanguisorba are doing quite well this year but aren't quite in the right place in the bed so you have to look hard to see them.

We think we have an owl nest in the oak trees that overhang the children's play area in the garden as we have so many owl pellets we don't know what to do with them. We have dissected loads for miniature mouse/shrew bones, sent them to school for dissection, given them to other families for dissection... If anyone would like to borrow my owls to reduce your rodent problem let me know and I'll have a word with them and send them round.

Munched on the first of my peas today. Obviously they didn't get as far as the house, just eaten straight from the pods while I was doing a spot of weeding.

I'd love a mouse eating owl! (saw little mouse again today scurrying amongst the sweet peas)

Presumably sanguisorba would look good against a golden grass? Did you plant yours in the back of the bed bearleigh or at the front to create the 'see through' effect?

I'll have a word with family owl Funny and see if they'll pay you a visit.

Just caught up with last week's GW. I do like Monty's new choice of braces and green shirt combo. Loved the arts and craft garden. In my head mine looks like that.

I'vs always assumed there must be rats and mice everywhere, though little echtcat has yet to bring home the mouse trousers (half mice) that our old cat did.

However I have seen owls, barn owls to be specific. A few weeks ago as the light was falling, the dog growled and looked outside. We have a very dramatic tea tree in the front garden, that has a 15 foot, naked branch that curls like a roller coaster, and there in silhouette, but unmistakable was a barn owl.

Today was spent digging up agapanthus for re-siting. I soon gave up with the spade and got among them with a pruning saw. I now have ten big clumps to re-plant tomorrow.

I did turn the compost today no rats phew. rhubarb you are very Brave dispatching would have been a Dh job if it were me!

Geoff dog found a newly fledged Robin that couldn't fly, I rescued it held it for a few minutes to show dc's then placed it under a bush where mummy Robin could find it. 8 weeks on a very young Robin follows me round the garden and seems almost tame, same one?

Other wild life - a family of foxes broke into the bin bags and could be heard slathering over goodness knows what, the weird barking woke me up but I was too tired to go see. I suspect there were cubs though.

I've managed to collect quite a few Aquilegia seeds, the plant was dark purple and no others to cross breed with so hopefully that colour. If anyone would like some please pm me.

I only did the dispatching because dh was at work and I had no choice. It was horrible.