Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

[SugarPlumTree]

Potting shed thread for those who enjoy talking about gardens and plants. Plenty of garden chairs and the wood burner lit now there is a chill in the air, please join us !

Bertha Nice idea about mixing, the only drawback is you have to let the bulbs' leaves die down don't you? So you either have to live with them or remove them

OOH it's a shame I couldn't get hold of your helianthus Bear They'd be brilliant in my garden .

Believe me ppeat you only need a small one - they grow very quickly, and leave lots of bit behind. I can post you a bit if you pm me. (any other takers?)

love the pot.
was thinking of doing one as well after seeing what monty did, but then I let the children lose digging the bulbs in. well the crocus and alliums. the daffs and tulips will come later when it's cooler.

Thanks a lot Bear I'll pm you

That was pleasant Googling pictures of roses. My Crocus rose has done very well and has a flower at the moment. Winchester Cathedral has done very well considering it was a bare root in rather late this year.

Like the bulb bowl Bertha. Can I just say I really enjoy this thread. Not only lovely pics to look at and plants to look up but there are interesting things like FP's Aunt, Echt ' s gardening exploits from down under plus reports on the Aldi roses which were pruned by a horse !

Sorry you have illness in your house Rhubarb, DS is off today too.

I imagine the bulbs won't stay in the pot after the first year ppeat so if it starts to look messy I'll just trim the dying leaves back. Bulbs only cost around £8 in total.

Ppeat I have replied!

The Crocus rose is lovely.

Thanks SugarPlum. Dd was actually fine, but I couldn't send her in with the 24hr rule. So we went to the garden centre and I let her choose some bulbs (the most garish imaginable) and we layered them in pots. She was meticulous about stirring in horti grit, and positioned each bulb only after a huge amount of thought. It was pretty sweet really.

I love this thread too. Terrific story about Funny's Aunt.

Sugarplum I also love this thread!
And I've learned so much incidentally!

ppeat the pumpkin festivals sound amazing! Wow!

Rhubarb DH has been laying down the law regarding cats in the new house - he says they will not be coming in. I have been trying to explain that they will just have to at first for a short while until I have them settled to the idea that we live there and not at the other house.

The house budget is getting tighter here, and funds for my future garden are looking increasingly sparse ! I was sure I'd be planting bulbs with you all this autumn, but my garden is still a building site.

Funny I enjoyed the story about your aunt. I hadn't realised there were bones in 'bone china'!!!

Bertha I LOVE the sound of your fairy ring by the way!

Why won't he allow the cats in your new house, Castle? Do they go inside in your current house? It will be very difficult for them to understand why they are suddenly not allowed to, if so. I think they will inevitably go back to the old house if they aren't locked in for a spell. Could you try some pregnant lady emotional blackmail on him?

I find that hard when they are well but not allowed back, we have a 48 hour rule. So so like a gardener in the making though !

That sounds very tricky with the cats Castle. I agree with Rhubarb, mine have always stayed in for 2 weeks when we've moved and it will be very hard for thrm if they are used to being in the house now. Is it because he is worried about cats and baby ?

Children get a lot from growing up with cats. Both of mine ' s first words were attempts to say 'cat'.

Very very windy here today, everything taking a hammering.

There are bones in bone china I never knew that either.

I've learnt loads from this thread too.

On the subject of cats I hate to say that one of my new new to the area, neighbours has had hers go missing. Hopefully not road traffic but gone off in a huff to someone else's. in fact there is a face book page devoted to lost pets on the IOW, 98% are cats.

Good luck with the move castle

Very windy here too. I'm Just back from Aldi, no roses on sale, lots of pansies and bulbs. I didn't get anything for once!

Fairies very much alive in this house (& garden) Castle. We have fairy doors and everything. In fact DD1 got a letter from them just today (in response to one she left by one of the doors).

Windy here too. It should be noted that fairies find it a little tricky to fly in strong winds.

Bearleigh thats a nice pot. I hope the weather is good enough to garden this weekend coming up. Three more parcels labelled 'live plants' have arrived, presumably from orders earlier on in the year, and I haven't had time to open them and in the meantime it has got all cold and windy here.
castlelough good luck with your move I do hope you manage to get most of your pots through.
I'm pleased you liked hearing about my aged aunt. She is a legend in the family. The story I told you was true.
I like the variety on this thread, and the plants, and also get inspiration to garden even as an amateur with a day job if you see what I mean.
Monty's new programme on Mondays isn't at all what I thought it was going to be. The narrator is a bit too childish for me. Monty himself is more energetic than I thought. I felt sorry for him with those impossible garden projects but he seemed to like it. I could never make a garden designer thats for sure.

These have been lovely threads. Long may they continue.

I had some surgery yesterday, so can't do anything strenuous, but I did just pot on my free for postage clematis. There is a second flush of flowers on the brugmansia I brought home from the Hampton Court show, which is rather wonderful, but I notice that the plant is being eaten. Presumably there will be a lot of hallucinating slugs and snails dying somewhere in the garden.

Love the idea of hallucinating slugs. Just hope it doesn't have some sort of Quatermass effect so you get Super Slugs...

Ppeatfruit I have just sent you a pm: I can't make a plant drop tomorrow after all I am very sorry.

Super Slugs? Oh nooooooo!

Arf at hallucinating slugs!

My Nerines are finally flowering! This is all very lovely, except that they are not the bright pink to be expected. They are white with a hint of pink. I have emailed Hayloft but I'm not optimistic - I no longer have my order number or confirmation email or anything.

I reckon they sent Stefanie or Nikita by mistake.

I think those almost white nerines are gorgeous, but very frustrating if they are not what you ordered. Fingers crossed Hayloft still have the record of your order.

Hayloft replaced my dead Geraneum, I didn't have the order number either, they just needed my address from what I remember. Lovely Nerine though.

I've been watching Monty's gardening thing as well funny agree about the narration. You could tell he didn't like the Portuguese garden. I quite like yhe series in that the timescale fits in with Dh and I tackling ours although we haven't finished

They emailed straight back agreeing to replace them, so that's good. I must admit I do rather like these pale ones. If they send me some bright pink ones now they'll look rather nice all blended together.

Good customer service from Hayloft, nice to hear it. That will look lovely together next year. Thought it was me with the narrator on Monty's program, she is very grating.

Been to a flower farm in Devon today which was interesting. I am rather shattered as it was a full on day but also officially employed again, we'll self employed

Have put up a picture of my lovely pink nerine, not to rub it in but because it's the first flower I have had in the three years they have been in. Must have read my mind as I was thinking of getting rid.

I have managed to weed some borders including the one full of self sown calendula which is full of seed now but will probably pull most of it up next year as it all flowered at the same time and then spent ages looking crap as I have no time for dead heading.

I have also replanted my hanging baskets and hung them on the only sliver of garden I can see from the lounge due to the camper being parked outside it. Hopefully the garage base is getting finished next week and then it's is moving (thud) puts foot down hard!

Oh and I got some elderberries but not enough for wine so going to make elderberry vodka, cheers!

I have some nerine bowdeni potted up but they are not flowering, I suspect because I haven't put them in full sun and may have buried the bulbs too deeply, though the foliage is looking healthy. I'm impressed with your white nerines and hayloft customer service rhubarb and really like your pink nerine squeaky.
Round here dahlias and asters are still going strong and chrysanthemums are reflowering. Mahonias are coming into flower. Primroses are flowering too!
The new Gardener's World magazine has photographs of the most gorgeous border in an article by Joe Swift with stipa giganteum and maroon sedums and phlomis. The thing is that I think these autumnal transparent grass /maroon perennial based borders need full sun and a large scale to be effective. I cant quite see how to re create the effect in the shade on a small scale, so I might have to give the whole grasses/Oudolph idea up. Though I did plant some Eupatropium today! Because the colours are quite understated (one of the things I really like about this genre) they won't really go in mum and dad's garden as dad cant see well enough.

I have to get on with labelling as perennial foliage is beginning to die down here! All the autumnal colours are so nice.