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.

Hello fellow gardeners. I was on this thread a couple of years back under a different user name but injury and a break up meant I didn't have the time to devote to my garden last year. So sad because it doesn't take long for weeds to take over. I have something I think called red valerien which is a nightmare.

Anyway, I guess we are all on the countdown to see Monty tonight. Can't wait. I've been watching gardeners world since I was a nipper. Sometimes it's a bit repetitive but I still watch it anyway because of Monty you can always learn something new.

My back garden is quite traditional lawn and borders but my front garden is my focus because I'm set back a lot from the road so it's quite big. I have a gorgeous old stone birdbath and beehive (my dad is a beekeeper) and people used to stop an admire it when it was at its best a couple of years ago. I want to make it even better because so many people are block paving the whole lot round here.. :-( I want flowers, bees and butterflies! Anyway, I'm waffling. Enjoy Monty Gardeners World everyone!

Welcome back Donkey (love the name btw). Your front garden sounds lovely - do you still have bees? I would love (som) red valerian to grow in my garden - I love the soft colour. I know it can dominate but I can't seem to find any.

A friend lives in Iffley near Oxford, and every years in early June a lot of the gardens are open under NGS. It's worth going to, as there are so many different types of lovely gardens and some fabulous houses with gardens going down to the river - lots of bog gardens, as the river floods so often. And lots of red valerian. In fact it's so common they didn't bother to do any for the plant stall because they all see it as a weed.

Eh up Rogan Josh. Your plant list sounds very interesting. I didn't know Erigeron karvinskianus can grow in dry shade. I must give it a go - I do love it. This is such a useful, as well as friendly thread.

I'll be watching GW on catch up so I can FFW over Joe Swift, as I am ashamed to say he really annoys me.

Thanks for the hollyhock advice ppeatfruit . I'm planning to grow them up though my hedge in troughs. I may stick some in the actual soil too though and see how they go bearing in mind what you've said.
My fleabane is going in the sun, the list is for the whole garden, hope that makes sense bearleigh and I havent confused people.

Pleasantly happy this evening. GW back on (I shall be cutting back my pelargoniums & may even try cuttings, thank you Monty); sunshine forecast; seeds to sow; replacement herbs purchased from the garden centre; and more potting shed babies. If I wasn't stuffed full of cold I may be doing a little dance in the lounge .

Red valerian grows like a weed in MIL's village but it's really pretty. I have some in the long bed as it adds colour for ages, it does self-seed a bit but I just pull up any if it pops up where I don't want it. I'm trying to get it to take along our access track, along with poppies, fennel & wild flowers. It's a slow process but I am determined that the track will be colourful (without maintenance) eventually.

Happy happy evening as I managed to get home in time to put my feet up with a cup of hot chocolate and watch Gardeners World on the TV and don't have to settle for the tiny computer screen. Bizarrely Joe Swift's urban garden feature was really good though why the editors think it is fun for us to watch him make irrelevant black marks on a computer screen is beyond me.
Then I had the pleasure of reading all your posts!
I have no Yorkshire connection.

I could pot up loads of red valerian for anyone who wants any.

Ooh yes please, funny!

I missed GW but am looking forward to watching it tomorrow when I have the house to myself.

Valerian has never taken off in this garden. I noticed it everywhere in Cornwall, growing out of rocky crevices, so I'm guessing the cold wet clay here is the opposite of what it needs. I read some time ago that it is Prince Charles' favourite plant.

::gardening trivia::

White valerian grows very prettily in Monet' garden in Giverney.
However in my garden out front, the pink variety is rampant, seeds profusely, takes perennial root very firmly and if I let it would replace the driveway. It is a lovely longlasting flower however it smells of cats piss and is said to be attractive to rats. I read somewhere that the pied piper of Hamelin used it to entice the rats away. As a consequence, and being of a gullible nature, I do not let it grow near the house and have not planted it out the back.

Good morning all. Do you have gardening plans for today?

I have to go into my clinic this morning but hope to spend a merry afternoon seed sowing. The wind here has been horrendous lately and it does not make for happy outdoors experience. I'm a mile away from the south Northumberland coastline so it's always a battle. Desperate to get out there and tackle some jobs including the dreaded red valerian. It grows here exactly as funny describes and I've come to loathe it with a passion. Sigh.

Have a great day all.

Hmm...

Thinking about it, there are areas where you see valerian a lot (Cornwall, Iffley) but I almost never see it around here. It sounds a nightmare for Funny & Donkey, though my Iffley friend doesn't seem to suffer from it - she just sees it as ordinary.

It sounds from googling just now that it self seeds if it likes the conditions, so maybe it won't that much here. So I think I will go for it, and would still like a bit Funny.

I have however learned by googling 'Valerian Weed' that cannabis and valerian smoked together make a more powerful drug. Not useful to a GW watching middle aged woman, but Quite Interesting.

Meant to say Bearleigh there aren't any bees in the front garden hive. It's just a decorative old fashioned one. We do have about 50 working hives dotted about the Northumberland countryside though.

Here are some -

Very behind with thread so will have s catch up read later. But can I just say what a lovely start to the day, breakfast in bed and GW.

Lol at cannabis and valerian
It is a pretty flower which is why I have kept it. I will save you some bearleigh
I replayed Joe Swifts clip and looked up Joanne Bernstein because it is one of the few small gardens with a long grass contemporary planting. It turns out the garden featured is Joanne's own garden and on her website are more pictures and details of the planting. Its the miscanthus/helenium/verbena bonariensis/achillea combo which intrigues and I might see if I can grow that in a sunny strip. I liked the concept of seeing plants rather than lawn from the house and love the way sunlight plays on the tall grasses.
However as to the very neat rectangles and beautifully washed slightly golden stone: my edges are always softened by overspilling plants and the stone always goes a bit grey

I am laughing out loud at the thought of us predominantly (I think, if I've interpreted this thread correctly) middle aged women smoking the contents of our gardens and tottering about in a plant-fuelled haze!

Errands for me this morning and then gardening for most of the rest of the weekend, especially if this lovely weather holds.

LOL at the cannabis.
My mother once discovered some cannabinoid plants growing in her garden where she was absolutely certain she hadn't planted them, and accused my brother of growing dope. She later realised it was hemp seed from the birdfeeder that had self-seeded.

oops, didn't mean to make it sound like she was in the habit of planting cannabis in other bits of the garden!

Years ago, I bought a hellebore foetidus at a school fete and immediately forgot what it was. I then tried to identify it from books based on the leaf shape (pre-internet) and managed to convince myself it was cannabis.

Ref. Valerian I have come to love mine because it's 2 tone red and darkish pink and I actually put some in my new front bed ( I bet id doesn't respond to my ministrations) because it just arrived at the front of my under acacia tree cyclamen bed!

I've been catching up and delighted to see we have more potting shed babies welcome to all newcomers and returners.

Red Valerian is the plant that I see everywhere and spent ages trying to work out what it is, finally managed last year. The idea of rats has put me off though. I had a similar moment with a self seeded hellebore F Maud !

Gorgeous day today. Enhanced by going to a garden centre closing down sale and a haul of Daphne mezereum rubra, hellebores and numerous roses - including Simply Peach that I thought was pretty at Chelsea last year (a very reasonable £3.50 this morning).

I'm going to plant the Daphne by my office so it hopefully wafts scent at me in the winter. I'm looking at a very pretty jug full of anemones on the window sill so must get mine in the ground and my sweet peas planted.

I'm a Donkey I'm thinking seriously about keeping bees maybe 2 hives. Do they need to be put away from places like houses for safety?

I wouldn't make honey though. Do they need much maintenance? (in other words can we go away for a week or so and not worry about them?).

My friend keeps bees on a small back garden Ppeatfruit and does get honey
Only thing is they swarm sometimes snd o know she finds that stressful.

I've sown sweet peas, bought and planted a Eucalyptus as I want foliage for cutting plus stuck in some of the roses. Also topped up the pond which was looking quite sad.

DH mended the greenhouse auto vent and helped dig holes for roses. The Eucalyptus abs roses have all gone by the neighbour's new fence and in the new raised bed that resulted from it. I'm experimenting with the roses as want lo ger stems so they have been planted closer together and not a lot if direct sun. Theory is they will grow taller to get light and as no under planted there is no competition from weeds.

Good day in the garden here too. And I know you're all going to be relieved to know that my tomato seeds germinated after 3 weeks sitting above a radiator. The cosmos I planted in the greenhouse last weekend look better already though !

And thanks for reminding me about sweet peas. I'm going to soak mine - I've never bothered before but I thought I'd try something new this year.

Does anyone know when I should prune my one year old hornbeam whips ?

evening all
I've had a brilliant day in the garden. Absolutely lovely weather here. I have hacked down an old semi dead huge scraggly untidy shrub(cant recall what it was) from the front garden and it has made a big difference. You can really see the lovely bottom border now with the crocuses which were looking so pretty today in the sun.
My in the green snow drops arrived today as well so I've made a start getting them in.
I am hoping to spend a bit more time on the back tomorrow. It is shadier and damper than the front so everything is a bit behind in the back!

Hello all, can I join in? I've been on various long-running garden threads intermittently (possibly under another name, can't remember!). I felt extremely guilty today as dh and I were out shopping, and the weather was so lovely I KNEW I should really have been spending the whole day in the garden.

Made up for it very slightly later by sowing some sweet peas in deep-root pots (naughty me, didn't get them started over winter). Haven't attempted tomatoes yet, I'm often a bit later with them and they're always fine somehow. I'm forcing myself not to bother with potatoes this year because we've both stopped eating them!

As you can probably tell, I tend to get more interested in growing things I can eat......