When the hounds of spring are on winter's traces…...

[echt]

I realise it's later in the UK, but couldn't wait to start a new thread. If another title had been agreed, just tell me and I'll have this removed.

Other than that, seek out those deckchairs from the shed, check them for spiders and get nattering about the spring's promise.

sorry to hear about your friend Chouette. Snowdrops sound like a lovely idea.

My dc have their own beds but last year I wouldn't let them plant them, I did it or rather I dictated what they planted, it was because of the open garden. They were not amused. I will give them their heads this year!

You can never have too many wheelbarrows. I wish I had an orange one like that though, I remember those!

Very sorry to be about your friend Chouette, agree snowdrops would be lovely.

Trip down memory lane for those of you old enough to remember !

Wheelbarrows! We still use a toy plastic green one. It is our only one. It isnt even orange with a bright blue ball. .
I think snowdrops are a lovely thing to plant : quiet but hopeful.

Yes ppeatfruit do resurrect the pond.

I'm a bit excited as there was another parcel in the porch, this time from David Austin, when I came home today, looking very much like a bare root rose. I would like to think I have a secret admirer, but I suspect the DC, which is just as nice in a way. I'm opening both tomorrow!

Sorry for your friend's loss Chouette, snowdrops sound like a lovely gesture.

I would love a pond, a stream or a moat round the lawn

Love the sound of running water outdoors

I'm making do with a decrepit solar cascade.

I'm off to Benington Lordship Gardens in Herts this week. Home of a great many snowdrops and hellebores

I gave our wheelbarrow away. I thought it would be good for trundling stuff up to the allotment, but it took up so much space in the car that DH never used it.

I'm off now to buy compost. Very romantic!

I would agree Haveyouseenher and funny but there's no running water, are the solar powered fountains better now? It needs to be running because dh and I are not keen on mossies!

I love snowdrops but none grow here , hellebores yes. I'm pleased to say

I only discovered hellebores last year, ppeatfruit. I'm fairly new to gardening but have absorbed a lot in the last year

What colours do you have?

I have a blue glazed solar cascade but I'm not that impressed with it. I set it up meticulously but the lip of the uppermost vase isn't defined enough. This causes water to trickle onto the ground instead of the pot below, about 50/50. The cascade runs dry in 30mins so I have to top it up. Love the sound of the water while it's working though!

I complained to the manufacturer but their response was dismissive.

By co-incidence DS put up a solar powered fountain and birdbath thingy today for my dad to look at out of his bed through the window (a birthday present). It needs 6 hours of sunlight apparently before the fountain starts up on its own. I will let you know tomorrow if it works, as there weren't 6 hours of sunlight left today after DS got up.

I opened the parcel from j Parkers this morning- it turned out to be a forgotten order I had made previously of an Edgeworthia and an American winter flowering honeysuckle!
The David Austin rose was Paul's Himalayan musk. Mum got one too but from Peter Beales. The DC deny all knowledge.

Yes funny that's a nice idea for your DD, I was soooo delighted when they first invented them. I hated and still hate the idea of plugging in and all the leads etc. but we bought one 15 years ago and it wasn't much good sadly. The little lights are quite good when there's been sun of course.If we had the money we could have a waterfall put in but we don't. I don't know if they make solar powered waterfalls!!

Haveyouseenher Ref. hellebores dh bought me a whitey greeney one as a Christmas rose from a florist and I straight away planted it in dry shade under our pines outside the front door thinking it would die immediately, but no, Iam watering it with rain water and it's flourishing!! (I've never grown them before ).

I like hellebores because they are hardy, cope in shade, flower early in the year, and profusely. Their flowers last for ages, they go well with snowdrops, have wonderful foliage and pretty flowers. I like the white ones and the witey greeny ones and green ones best but am also very fond of the pink ones and maroon ones. I'm not so keen on the yellow ones.
I think they look best with other plants and don't go for the 'bare soil' look between flowers. Great Dixter plants them with cyclamen as fillers and I have snowdrops and ferns and amemones. Snowdrops are to hellebores as forgetmenots are to tulips.
Above them I like japonica and winter jasmine and I have high hopes of the edgeworthia and think it will go well in the canopy over the hellebores.
They are more hardy than hepaticas.
What do you plant with your hellebores?

My hellebore was a division from a friend last year. I thought I'd lost it but it's popped up and flowered

It's a dark purple, almost black flower which I love! I might have to get a pale green one too as they're equally stunning.

Do hellebores multiply? The garden it came from has a large patch of the same variety. I was hoping mine might develop into the same over time

Great tip for the snowdrops, will remember that this autumn. Is there any knack to planting snowdrops? I thought I'd heard that they can be a bit tricky.

Oh and forget-me-nots/ tulips:

I planted my tulips in pots and bare earth. Could I sow forget-me-nots on the bare earth around March in the hope that they might flower?

My tulips went in end of Nov and said April/May flowering on the packs.

I've put them in a bed that has been left to itself really funny because the Johnson's Blue geraniums I tried died after 2 years , I hope my deciduous bastard balm (which was new last autumn) comes up this year next to it , and the new white hydrangeas are still alive after looking very sad through the winter,ivy is happy there! self seeded bay (that I will add to the new hedge).

I don't 'do' bare earth .

I've decided to plant 2 quince trees and maybe a medlar in my 'new' garden with climbing roses on the south and west walls and honeysuckle on the north (which is just a wire fence). Maybe some stipa gigantea round the S\W edges and plant my rudbeckias which have been in pots since I bought them, also sunflowers and marigolds. It needs colour ! .

We're still thinking about the pond (what type of liner do you think will work?).

haveyouseenher I think it's too late to sow for-get-me-not seeds for this year, but why not get some small plants? Mine have bushed out nicely but the Tulips didn't make it into the ground with them as I don't trust the drainage in my garden, and are in pots instead.

funny have you got an admirer?

Ppeat I like the sound of your plans. The headmaster at dds school used old carpet to line the school pond, it stops sharp stones piercing the plastic lining.

I've had a lovely afternoon in the back garden, just tidying,weeding, feeding the roses and stirring the compost

Impulse purchased a tree today. Managed to fold a 12 foot specimen into my fiesta. Got a lot of looks in the car park but I'm a woman on a mission when I spot a bargain.

Me too with the bargain mission, didireallysaythat.

For me yesterday it was a lot of dianthus and cowslips that were half price on the shelf of doom when I went to buy compost. The dianthus are a lovely deep red colour and I have just had a enjoyable couple of hours revamping the planters in the front garden. which has a lot of red and purple. I also bought a bedding tray of forget-me-nots from the shelf, because for the last couple of years I haven't had any self-seeded ones.

I had thought I'd have a big planting session today, but I held back because of a fear that some of the 'empty' spaces I was going to fill might be where late-starting herbaceous perennials might be about to pop up. I always aim to have no bare soil.

I have, though, planted the astelia in its big pot and underplanted it with snowdrops, which have just arrived from the suppliers 'in the green'. I wasn't sure how best to plant them, either. Planting them individually (which I did in the end) was a bit of a faff, but I was worried that if I planted them in clumps, the clumps might get too congested too quickly.

::happy sigh from me too::

Thanks Geoff, you and Maudant have inspired me to buy some forget-me-nots.

The majority of my tulips went in pots but the remainder have gone in the flowerbed nearest the patio (currently bare earth and small shrubs!)

Great work on the tree didIreally
What sort is it?

Those pots sound great.
I seem to have a acquired 20 or so acidanthera (gladiolus callianthus/peacock orchid) bulbs and they will flower in the autumn.
What would you all advise to plant with them as companions? I was thinking ammi major perhaps pennesetum hamelin and white gaura perhaps cosmos but I'm not sure whether in fact to pick up the maroon centre with pennesetum rubrum and dark maroon poppies. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Its an amelanchier - could do with some better pruning but hopefully let it out of the pot into a good hole and it will respond. For 12.50 it seemed like worth the risk.

Ooh, amelanchiers are beautiful. What a fabulous bargain!

I have never got Acidanthera to flower - perhaps they need more sun than my garden to provide - so I'm not the best person to advise, funnyperson. But I do love poppies, so I'd probably go with the maroon poppies and ammi majus. The pennisetum is probably a good idea too, but I'm still prejudiced against grasses!

OOOh amelanchier! That is a bargain esp. if it's over 6ft. I love the way that lancastrian? lady gardener on't telly says the word she loves them! Maybe I'll add one of those to my new garden!

I tried to grow Acidanthera last year but they didn't flower, the bulbs were from poundland and I was quite late getting them in. I've just read to start them off under glass. I'm not very good at combos funny your musings sound good to me.