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.

For anyone still buying plants - I have resolved to stop, as I need to get everything planted before we go on holiday - Lidl have some very nice-looking clematis plants for 4, although they seem only to be labelled as blue and pink.

i'm not buying any more plants except grasses and bulbs in the autumn

Of course, my resolve will no doubt crumble at Hampton Court, especially at the sell-off!

Big rain here just now. :)

No planting. Just hacking back dead flowers 5 minutes at a time - hay fever ...

My Dad showed up this evening to make helpful comments like "You'll never get this garden under control" and "This house is a money pit". Then critiqued my hedge cutting.

My Dad is not a gardener and is of the opinion that everything should be 'low maintenance'. And the cats are a money pit too.

I'm sure your dad has many redeeming qualities, Rhubarb!

The only rain we've had here has been short and rather feeble showers, which have barely wetted the soil, so I have had to do some watering tonight.

Well, he bought me the hedge trimmer. And the children are unaccountably fond of him.

Same here regarding rain. I really need to do some watering, but haven't.

I bet your dad loves you and your children to bits and is feeling unreasonably guilty for giving you a culturally male present and thinks he ought to be doing your hedge cutting. I bet he wants you to live a gentle and easy life and you are his princess. Anyway my dad is like that and if he thinks I'm working too hard he gets all upset even though he is a very proud dad and totally supports women achievers and doers and totally doesn't think women should be limited by ideas about gender roles but nevertheless thinks they need looking after.

What nice dads. I love the bit about cats being money pits I don't know why I said that when it's the dog that's just cost us an arm and leg, his leg, actually.

Today has been a wonderful day, very sunny, though very windy. The new bed is dug, topped up with some organic soil, wetter, hose down, edging secured. That's it. The plants can wait until tomorrow.

The boring but essential pruning, etc. has produced 8 bags of garden waste, with the bin already full. Boo, too.

By way of a treat, I bought a wallflower today, seduced by its wonderful scent in the garden centre. I've resisted them until now because their scent has been unimpressive compared to the bare-rooted ones you get in the UK. The growers have got their act together together and come up with "Winter Passion", a brownish-maroon flowering plant. They're grown as perennials here, getting to nearly a metre in height and width. I think I'll keep mine in a container so I can hide it under the carport when not in flower as it's a bit boring then. Right now it's on the front doorstep, smelling the place out. What with that and the beauty of England when watching the Tour, I'm getting quite nostalgic.

rhubarb I'm actually envious that your work has started. Last night Dh and I got into an argument about what we would do with a hypothetical lottery win. 5 million he would want to stay and I would want to move .....for a bigger a garden!

echt I spent a year in Aus and was felling particularly home sick one day when walking along a beach in Queensland. Saw a sign for English cream teas, so went to buy one. I was given my tea and a stick it soon became apparent what the stick was for, lots of parrots descended, trying to nick my scone

I spend a few years in Australia and the thing I miss most is the smell of eucalyptus. That's the best thing about Australia.

Talking of Australia....www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/hampton-court-flower-show/10952064/Australian-garden-wins-best-in-show-at-Hampton-Court-Palace.html

Hmm. I'm not convinced by the red edging on the hard surfaces, but I will reserve judgement until I see it in the flesh. I like the planting.

Thanks for the link, and not to be picky, but is there a link to the actual garden ? Much of of the video was about other parts of Au.

Speaking of smells, for me the the quintessential Australian smells would be the lemon-scented gums and boronia. I'd not smelt either until I lived here, but it's boronia that would do it for me.

I've read but can't place the book, where Australian soldiers in 1WW got a tin and passed it round, saying: "Boronia." At the time it meant nothing to me, but now I've smelled it, and can see how haunting its aroma is. To compare it to the most intense violet/lilac only approaches its vivid smell.

Now I'll have to scrabbling through my bookshelves.

Is this any good? hampton Court award winners

www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/innovative-essence-of-australia-garden-wins-at-the-prestigious-royal-horticultural-society-hampton-court-flower-show-in-london/story-fneuz6rh-1226981094150 sorry it just came up on my news feed, this might be better.

Maybe maud can post some pictures after her visit?

Agree about the red edging, Maudant. What it implies is Australian plants aren't really green, so let's put them into relief. In a Christmas-stylee. Lots of Aussie plants are grey-green, but the apologetic mode is not needed.

Having said that, it took me years to "get" the way Australian vegetation looks, and not see it as a slightly shit version of the European model. It is beautifully itself.

< though I'll bet a pound to a penny that the garden blends plants from the entire continent rather than a state/zone>

I never post photos here ::technophobe:: but if I can get close enough to get a decent shot, I will put some on FB.

I think for me, echt, it was simply that the red (and orange) introduced a jarring note. I like a bit of red in the garden - I have some red lanterns - but I'm not yet convinced it works here, although obviously the judges saw merit in it.

I like the decking board walk thingy, bloody dog makes paw holes in the pea shingle walk. I have become obsessed with smoothing out the stones.

I'm sure he could, Geoff. His DIY skills seem boundless!

Bertha - thank you so much for the seeds.

The Australia garden looks nice - my BB is broken so I have to squint at it on my phone.

Today I nipped to homebase to get a gift voucher and pink rose bush for my neighbours, who have v kindly let us have access through their garden while we put in the foundations for our extension (as they are having building work done too).

While I was there, I accidentally bought x2 summer planted hanging baskets (geranium, petunia, verbena) and a pink hardy geranium. I also bought a leopard lily house plant, to cheer up my desk when I return to work. All from the shelf of doom, of course.

When i got home, the rose (harkness Gemma) looked so bright & lovely In my front garden that i forgot to give it away. It's probably for the best, it would only have got covered in cement dust while they finished building their conservatory...(guilt speaking!).

And thank you from me too, Bertha!

I'm shocked at the speed of the postman. Only posted them yesterday afternoon. But glad all received.

I'm back glad to hear your wedding went well nightshade it threw it down here and I wondered if you Brits were getting the same!

I tried with agapanthus Maudant but was told (after complete failure) that they need to be squashed together when in pots.

echt dsis bought me a tea tree (which is very apt for me because I use the ess, oil for almost every antiseptic purpose I LOVE it ) it's very happy indoors with plenty of feeding and watering IYWM would you put it in the garden?).

I bought 3 Alstroveria and they're lovely even after I've been away, it has rained here quite a bit luckily because I haven't planted them yet.