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.

I lost my last post which was saying thanks for the idea of old carpet as a liner Geoff Unfortunately i don't have any ATM! BUT There's loads that I hate stuck down on the stairs and landing so when we eventually remove it it'd be great in the pond!

Wilkinson's 4 tier mini greenhouses (incl. cover) are now £10 (saving £3) if anyone needs one

Remember to weight the bottom tier!

My Acidanthera were just dotted in amongst things last year such as roses, antirhinum, Penstemon, cosmos, aster. They did have a fair bit of sun and have a lovely scent.

Like this.

A four tier mini greenhouse for a tenner? I woz ripped off (but I love mine, so it's been worth it).

My latest discovery is wax flower, which I hadn't seen before I received it in a bouquet at the weekend. I'm going to try to take a cutting from it.

Oh, that's lovely, SugarPlumTree. And I like the lattice at the back of the bed.

Thank you Maud. The hurdle thing hides the bare conifer stems on our side of the hedge after the very big conifer was removed.

I haven't actually seen wax flower before, though have heard of it. Does it grow happily over here ?

Forgot to say, today is daffodil day finally

Thanks for posting your wheelbarrow photo SugarPlum! That is indeed the one we had. In fact, I dug out this photo of yours truly together with beloved orange wheelbarrow, summer 1975.

Lovely photo of your border, SugarPlum.

That Amelanchier does indeed sound like a marvellous bargain. It's amazing how you can cram trees into small cars - I remember driving to London with a monkey puzzle crammed into a little Peugeot 106 many years ago - it was a prickly business!

Oh, Rhubarb, what a sweet photo (and I can see that your dc look like you as a child).

I'm not sure how happy wax flower would be here. I have gleaned that it is a tender shrub and the Interflora site says it can be propagated from cuttings, so I'll try. As I'm not very good with cuttings I'm certainly not banking on ending up with a viable plant!

There was a thread about wax flowers quite recently - someone looking for something similar that would grow here. I wonder if Echt has one, as they are Australian natives.

Yes, I'm not kidding myself that I can create Australian conditions in cold, wet, shady London clay!

Oh what a lovely photo Rhubarb, how very cute you were ! I told my Brother his wheelbarrow had been on the Internet and he asked for the picture to be forwarded. The wheelbarrow will be going to Asia next year apparently for his son to play with.

Good luck with the cuttings Maud, will be interesting to see if you do get a plant from it. Flipping heck, looked at Burmcoose site, have you seen the price of them ?!

I've just been looking at the Burncoose site, but I think they're selling a different sort of wax flower. What I've got in my bouquet is chamelaucium, which nobody seems to sell here (from which I am also drawing conclusions about its viability as a plant outside in the UK).

Just Googled, it is lovely. Agree it doesn't sound hopeful but a challenge to see if you can get cuttings to take. Maybe as Rhubarb said, Echt has one and could post us some pictures of it in its natural habitat.

I need to pot up last year's foxglove seedlings. They are tiny though, will they have any chance of flowering this year ?

Oh what lovely photos

sugarplum that is such a pretty flower the acidanthera -more statuesque and taller than I was thinking! Your border looks nice, your roses look nice too.

rhubarb you looked scrumptious like your children! I think you look less mischievous than them!

I like monkey puzzle trees a lot. Them and tulip trees and magnolias and willows and birch and oaks of course. And banyan trees of course. And mango trees. I would like an arboretum.

maud I have lost where the wax flower has come from and what you plan for it. Isn't it a greenhouse plant?

I can't wait to hang up my hat. I am counting the days.

I know little about foxgloves (when DD was little I didn't plant them or other toxic plants). I planted a few seedling plants a couple of years ago and they disappeared completely. I'm used to things being demolished by molluscs but would have expected foxgloves to be immune. In my recent attempts to sort out all the plants still waiting to be planted, I found some foxgloves that I bought last year. They look a bit cramped from being in small pots for so long but I hope they'll flower for me this year.

funnyperson - It came from a bouquet. I thought it was very pretty so I want to have a go, although as most of my cuttings fail I'm not banking on it!

That is the border I planted up last year FP . The Acidanthera I grabbed at the same time as Dahlias in Wilkinsons. I hasn't realised they got that tall either to be honest and suspect I was lucky they flowered after casually being chucked in. So more gardening time for you on the cards then ?! How lovely

I didn't plant foxgloves either Maud until last year on the same grounds as you. If the slugs are likely to get them they can stay where they are for a bit then, I would take it very personally if they munched them. There is one decent sized one already in the ground from last year which I think will flower. The rest are really small.i had hoped to get some from my friend's driveway last year (the one with the secret garden which is massively different now) but she got trigger happy with weedkiller before I had a chance to ask.

There are some Knautia seedlings needing attention from the seed Bertha kindly sent last year.

Foxgloves are biannuals arent they, so if sowed last year they will flower this year

The wax flowers look attractive, hard to know if its a bushy plant or single stems but definitely worth a try

Echt was on the veg thread talking about satsumas in pots

Everyone seems to want to grow veg, flowers appear passe!

I was wondering if they needed to have reached a certain size in Year 1 to flower in Year 2 ? I'm really over thinking this I feel so will shut up now !

Satsumas

There isnt a lot of point me going big on veg as even if plants did bear fruit in the shade of the oak, the squirrels and birds would eat it all!

Satsumas? I have just composted the little citrus plant I was given for Christmas and almost immediately killed.

satsumas