Tickle the earth with a hoe, and she will laugh with a harvest

[Rhubarbgarden]

Potting shed chat for all those interested in wittering on about gardens and sharing the love of plants. Plenty of dusty old deck chairs to sit on and sloe gin to warm the cockles; join us!

I don't want to be controversial here but IMHO grey is grey, even when called "french" !! you may regret it rhubarb sorry. It's when they call white 'apple white' or whatever and charge 3 times as much for it I get suspicious and think it's just a marketing ploy.

I like the sound of your Annabelle hyderangea funny. I want one.

And to offer yet another view ... I'm not sure how French Grey differs from standard grey - is it the one with bluish overtones? or the one with green - but whenever we visit houses where the exterior woodwork is grey (or that sludgy grey-green) I'm struck by how good it looks. It harmonises well with brickwork and on the sort of overcast day that is prevalent in the UK often looks better (and less jarring) than white.

Oh French Grey is fab! That lovely Cotswold blue-green shade that looks wonderful with natural stone or that lovely yellow hued Cotswold brick...

Didn't we discuss it at length an earlier thread?! Somebody eventually called at somebody's door to enquire what shade of paint it was!

We stuck with the white for the window frames and exterior paintwork but I do like the green/blue greys you get Rhubarb. We changed the front door colour, it was black, it's now a really deep blue-grey. We rather like it.

I admire anyone who goes camping. I was tricked into going last year and have sworn never again. The thought of camping and sickness fills me with horror!

Was hoping to get in the veg plot today but rain forced a lazy day inside. I did spot a stripped kale plant this morning though so went and picked off hoardes of caterpillars. Not sure how they got in through my defence netting but they made short work of one plant and were well on the way with a few others

Eek at the cabbage whites Bertha. They were sniffing around my fancy kale earlier today but it only seems to have been affected by flea beetle. I moved one of the kale plants yesterday and thought I'd killed at as it soon went floppy. A day of torrential rain later it's standing to attention. I feel embarrassed by my stupidity in not filling the hole with water first, but bless the water. I am sorry for anyone who's camping though. It was such wet rain today.

I love grey and the softer toned paints on woodwork too. Subtle and sophisticated. I am itching to reprint this house but am not sure I'll be able to persuade MrBearleigh of this point of view.

Yep. The rain was most definitely wet rain today.

I liberated the caterpillars into the nearest nettle patch in the hope that they'd be ok with a relocation. I welcome the butterflies everywhere else apart from the veg plot...

We need to replace the French doors and a window in the kitchen, so every time we see a house with grey/green paintwork it sets me pondering about whether we should follow suit with the new doors/windows.

Well, thanks to the blandishments of van Meuwen's offering a 20% discount, I have just ordered some tulip bulbs and hydrangea Vanilla Fraise. Time will tell whether that's the one I've seen on so any French verges. (If anyone else would like the discount code - which expires at midnight tonight - just PM me).

Maud - that hydrangea sounds gorgeous. There are literally hedges of hydrangea everywhere round here.

Callme - hope your poor DD is on the mend.

I've spent a lot of time and money in search of the perfect shade of dusky blue/green paint. I wonder if it's French grey? I would never have picked up a tin labelled grey...my front door is F&B Dix blue.

I miss my garden, how sad is that? I keep wondering how the foxglove seedlings are doing and of any of the dahlias have finally flowered.

We drove past a stone water feature place today. All I could do was stare wistfully as DH told me it would cost double again in petrol getting it home. Spoilsport.

You have just reminded me, NANN, of the time I went on holiday to the south of France with my parents. My mother bought a garden statue which we transported home, wrapped in a blanket on the back seat of the car and poking me constantly in the bum as it was slightly too long for the available space.

And I always pine for my garden when we're on holiday and fret about what might have gone over, wilted or died.

Ref grey I think that I don't like it because it looks as if it's dirty IFYSWIM. Like that certain shade of cream indoors that looks like it's had years of nicotine stain on it! My ILS smoked like chimneys and had that shade of cream !!

Maud I hanker after a statue of some sort maybe a sweet faced buddha!

Ha! Several years ago, I bought a Buddha for my dad because he had long wanted one and then, on my mooch around the French garden centre, I saw one that I thought was much nicer!

Because we have stone lying about I made a sort of 'artistic' pile of them and it looked ok for one season but was soon overtaken by creepers and disappeared!

How much was that Buddha ? I'm a bit of the statue sellers here, worried about falling for one and discovering it costs hundreds and hundreds of euros!

I didn't look that closely because I had no intention of buying a second Buddha, but as he was only about a foot tall and as this was Leclerc Jardi, I don't expect he cost a very great deal. Some of the (admittedly much bigger and not mass-produced) sculpture I have admired at garden shows has cost thousands.

I sometimes go to this garden: www.hannahpescharsculpture.com/current_exhibition.html

it's spoiled me for most sculptures you can get - the garden is very beautiful, as are the scupltures but oh my! the prices!

That looks lovely - and quite accessible from here. I will add it to my list of places to visit. One of these days, I hope to get to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Hope vomiting child is better Geoff. I'd like a sculpture to put on conifer trunk.

Noticed a lot of VB around and thought this was an unusual idea for a window, somple but worked well.Think it might look more effective in RL rather than a photo.

We've decided to come back and spend the last few days at home , pretending to still be away so we get some peace. Sick FIL and family row rather dominated last week and now we have a 15 year old with PM who is moaning the lack of Internet connection, missing her friends and dreading year 11. We are having a good time and have had some really lovely days but decided we'd prefer to take advantage of dog being away and do a couple of day trips coming home to our own bed.

Looking forward to seeing my garden again and want to see what's going on. Hoping nothing has died and I don't have marrows.

Today we made it to visit the mad old lady who sells stone carvings by the side of the road. After she'd locked away her massive Alsatian (I am not a dog lover), she took me on a tour of her works in her garden. They were all religious in theme so it was like wandering round a deserted graveyard. I thought we'd buy a little angel to be polite, even though DH said it reminded him of a v scary episode of dr who, but when she went to look up the price... it was 3k :!!! Apparently they are solid granite. We took a card and scarpered.

Garden sculpture:
I have:
-Venus de milo, originally concrete, painted 'Chartwell Green' every spring, looks ethereal at the bottom of the garden, she is like Athena under the oak.
-plastic 'stone' heron beside the topiary, structural carex and irises. Feet not visible. Obviously brought the children.
-plastic Roman boy, fully clothed in mini toga hidden beside hellebores. Friends think he is bronze.

• 1 inch happy tin gnome in sweet pea pot.

This makes me very common and not poncey.

Arty friends handcraft expensive frogs and so forth but they are not for me. A Henry Moore or nothing in my book, and so the tat will have to do.

I forgot the terracotta buddha's head where the keys are kept.

I rather like the greyhounds and griffins and indeed Buddha's sold by this company
www.englishgardenstatuary.co.uk/Traditional%20statuary.htm

They do look rather good. We went to a plant auction on Saturday where they were selling pairs of rather naff-looking concrete lions (poor copies of a no doubt far nicer original) which could adorn one's front gate, if one had the right sort of gate.

If any of you are out my way then this park is worth a visit if you want to look at sculptures. Two hours of sculpture overkill but brilliant and fantastic setting.

I have a very small stone owl which props up the veg plot door.

I'd like a Henry Moore

That looks good, too. I have created a folder to save all these suggestions!