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!

It's well worth a visit. We took the dog and then remembered when we got there that she's scared of statues... Phobia treatment by total immersion. She was cured by the end of the visit

I'm afraid I'm a philistine when it comes to most statuary and garden art. I always end up thinking that a nice tree or plant would have made a better focal point. I quite like urns though, or large rocks if they are appropriate for the setting.

Henry Moores I do like; I'm from Yorkshire so I have to. They are very nice to wander round and stroke and climb on at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. But in a garden, hmm, I can't help but think of Audrey Forbes Hamilton's reaction in To The Manor Born.

All that said, I do have a hankering for a pair of stone lions on our gate posts, which are empty and crying out for something atop them. We have an original lion door knocker on the front door and cast iron lions adorning the guttering. So there is a bit of a lion thing going on with our house. Of course dh nearly fainted at the very suggestion; he is from a country which laughs heartily at such poncetastic English notions.

Oh yes. A classical urn - planted or not - makes a marvellous focal point. And you should get your lions, Rhubarb!

Thanks for all your good wishes, dd is fine but loosing a day and the amount of rainy days has meant I must forfeit my garden visit :(

3k for an angel statue

I'm currently reading The tent, the bucket and me, by Emma Kennedy about her families disastrous camping trips in the 70s. Extremely funny.

It's nice to have my worries confirmed ref. statue sellers NotAnother . dh went a bit strange and bought a just larger than lifesize metal hare, for his own birthday present which is now on the terrace (I managed to put it there after I got fed up of it looking at me in the sitting room (also taking up far too much space in my indoor plant area by the french windows) Oh we also have a 'hedgehog' boot scraper that fools a lot of people.

Yes buy your lions rhubarb they sound just right , have you looked in junk shops and recycling areas?Your place sounds very grand btw.

Shame about your garden visit, Geoff. Where would you have gone?

I love hates. We have (a concrete) one in the garden. It's my FB profile picture.

Err. I love hares. Drat that autocorrect.

I thought you meant you'd got a nice statue of a hat . I don't mind them but would've liked to've been consulted ! DD2 bought a stuffed red squirrel in Immaus which I have to 'hide' because it 'looks' at me and makes me feel it's not a lovely living creature ( I love the red squirrels here).

Reminds me of the time we went unawares into a friends living room to find a very expensive stuffed hare by that terrible modern artist who costs a lot and dd was really upset as her rabbit had just died. Philistines us.

Anyway yes to lions, I saw a pair of lying lions on ebay they looked good and a pair of westcott stone lions I imagine they are repro but they look nice

www.antiques-atlas.com/antique/pair_of_stone_westcott_lions/as135a1420

I have a modern house and am the wrong ethnicity entirely for stone lions.

Ppeat - But just who does drive up to the side of the road and buy a 3k angel from a disheveled old lady doing crosswords with only a massive Alsatian, a goat and some chickens for company??? That's what I want to know... It wax about 18inches high. She had masses of them,

I think you should get these ones Rhubarb.

There's a house near us which has a Henry Moore in the front garden or a very close copy of the style It's a very ordinary house and the sculpture is squeezed into such a small space that it's practically on the street.

NotAnother Maybe that's why she asked soo much for it because she never gets a buyer and she was cashing in , or hoping to! You meanies!!!!

Arf at £1.4K for stone effect stone lions. If I had that kind of money I'd have a pair of Niwaki cloud pruned Ilex flanking my drive.

One day I'll have my lions though. I quite like the ones funny linked to but I'd prefer them without shields. This house isn't all that grand really; it's just a Georgian village house, possibly once a farm house. It is without doubt a money pit though.

I like the sound of ppeat's hares. I love hares. I could definitely live with a pair of those gambolling on my lawn.

Is anyone going to the Wisley flower show next week?

Mmmm. I might be tempted by Wisley as I'm off work for the start of next week. Would need to sort dog care though and convince the DDs that it would be fun...

If anyone still awake please tell me where I can go tomorrow with DDs, DH and dog for the day. It's my birthday and I get to choose the outing but I'm stumped. Need help!

Very about Wisley.

Thinking of garden art, I've just counted and we've got 14 arty things in the garden. They're all made from recycled industrial/agricultural machinery so are abstract rather than representational. Apart from the Ned Kelly in the front bed. They were made by a Victorian enthusiast in his spare time; not schooled formally but a genuine artist and we snapped up the goodies.

I'll see if I can put up some pics.

Unfortunately he appears to have changed his style to the cut-out sheets of rusted metal you can buy all over the shop now.

It may be ubiquitous, but I rather like the stuff made out of rusted sheet metal. I have a little robin, made in Zimbabwe, which I bought at the RHS.

I'd love to see pics of your artworks, echt.

Oh and I may try to persuade DH that an outing to Wisley is in order for next Sunday (ie 7th, as I'm assuming the show is on both days at the weekend).

Which National Trust properties are near you, Bertha? They're always our fallback for days out. I'm itching to go back to Standen.

Here are two. The light is strong today, and I'm not sure I've been able to convey their scale.

Don't know what happened there.

Hello, may I join in?
We moved about 6 weeks ago into a house with a big (about half an acre) and very overgrown garden.
My gardening record is somewhat mixed.
We have a gardener for 4 hours once a fortnight who is turning out to be excellent at clearing shrubs. I've made friends with the massive old petrol mower my parents gave me. Other than that, I just have a LOT to learn....

Hello, Tunip, and welcome to the gardenfest.

at Echt's garden and at Turnip having half an acre, welcome Turnip

Happy Birthday Bertha, hope you have a lovely day

FP I hope you are on the mind

Geoff I've read that book, very funny !

Just been out to inspect my back garden. Did we have lots of rain the last couple of weeks, it's grown loads ? One of my lupins from earlier this year has flowered, though a small spike plus my Dahlia's look better.

Thank you

We're nibbling away at the garden. The lawns are back under control after being meadows when we moved in, and yesterday I blitzed the brambles.

The plan is to live with most things for a year before we do anything drastic, but there's a huge amount of weeding and pruning to do just to get it back to normal.

There are some long beds of peonies which I suspect are going to be spectacular.

Wow Echt !!!!