Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May: Alternative potting shed thread

[funnyperson]

On the grounds that potting sheds should admit those of all cultures here is an alternative potting shed thread. Probably makeshift and not as posh as the other one. Definitely subversive and open to gardeners of all capabilities.

Yes, I have very rarely met a gardener I didn't like.

::reconvenes the group hug::

I love swapping plants with other gardeners. All being well, I should have some salvia Hot Lips and osteospermum Tresco Purple cuttings in a few weeks, if anyone would like one of those. I love delphiniums but will pass, as I can't defend them well enough against the molluscy onslaught.

I am in fact in Surrey Bearleigh. I have my own excess of cosmos but could be up for some dahlias!

Struggling to get my other pond photos from my phone onto the iPad but the dragonfly pics came across quite happily so I'll share one of those with you all.

How wonderful to be attracting dragonflies so soon!

Yes, there were pairs flying around too. I'm hoping they'll be laying their eggs on my nice expensive pond plants.

There were loads of dragonflies near Cookham at the river Thames last weekend.
Rhodedendrons are in bloom in my garden, so pretty. Also irises, geraniums, and clematis and the roses are just beginning! Broughton star, Montana Elizabeth and Marjorie are all in flower along the fences and trellis, very pretty indeed. The 'cloud pruned' ceanothus is coming into flower, a lovely sight.
I really liked the lines and block planting in the Mondrian garden at Chelsea but my garden would never accept such discipline! Everything is curved and rounded.
Yesterday if I looked up I could see the blue of the Ceanothus then the green of the oak then the blue of the English summer sky. Heaven!

Welcome Lost. Nice rose selection. I put in a pair of climbing Wollerton Old Halls in the autumn (after much discussion on here about which to choose!) and they are going great guns, albeit covered in aphids. I'm also intending to plant a climbing Claire Austin on the other side of the house.

My favourite roses in this garden are the Crocus rose and Savoy Hotel, as they flower their socks off, although the Savoys have no scent.

Lovely dragonfly Bertha.

Is it possible to have too many Echium pininana, Geoff?! I love them. I'm hoping the ones you gave me seed themselves prolifically!

I am fretting about my client not watering her new plants sufficiently. I am going on hols soon so I won't be able to keep an eye on things, and the forecast is for warm, dry weather.

Your garden sounds wonderful, FP.

Ppeat - where in France are you? I will give you a wave while we are over there.

Funny how wonderful - I love ceanothus. We had a spectacular one in our tiny London garden but it was far too big to even try and take with us when we moved

I'm excited to report, however, that the wisteria grown from seed from my mum's (amazing) specimen has finally flowered this year. Only 2 flowers but it's a start! One day it might look like this wisteria at Chenies Manor (I'm joking, obvs)

Hello,
I'm off to the garden centre in a sec but I've a couple of questions!

1. is the small thing that looks like it's dying worth keeping/moving, it's looked like that since we've lived here 3.5years. Currently n/w facing next to the house.

2. is this a weed? It currently wraps around a lot of the house.

3. this has fallen over and looks a mess, how can I make it look better, shall I dig it up and throw it ?

Thank you!

It's hard to see clearly on my phone, but I would say

1. Variegated hebe. Could be lovely, but is clearly unhappy if it hadn't shifted in three years. Try watering it and mulching/feeding it in the hope it perks up.

1. Corydalis something or another. Some people like it but others (including me) regard it as a weed, which is, after all, only a plant growing in the wrong place. It's very vigorous - several neglected front gardens near here are full of it.

1. Poor eyesight means I'm least sure of this one, but I think it's a winter jasmine that's keeled over. It needs to be grown up a wall or fence, so (if you can) fix some wires or trellis for it and tie it in.

Rhubarb We are 2 hrs inland from La Rochelle between Poitiers and Tours. Quite near the amazing town of Richelieu. Not too far from the Loire. Have a lovely holiday . Will you be coming our way?

I love ceanothus too but it doesn't like our garden (I've tried twice) and given up Halsall Like you FP I much prefer the rounded look for a garden, I like Dan Pearson's garden best at Chelsea ,and the french stylee one 2nd!

Bertha fab. dragonfly, your pond is amazing considering it's not very old! Ref ponds; I've put down the newspapers as an under liner , liner . This morning I raided the grange and hauled out 2 more underliners (I'm going to recycle if it kills me). An old boot liner of a (large convertible car) and double polythene. I've got a load of slates that might be okay for the base I'm not sure though, they might be too sharp, there are plenty of rounded stones if not

karbea It would help to see the leaves a bit better but I agree with maud the last pic could be winter jasmine and this does very well when pruned right back after flowering (though do not prune into the wood) Round here the winter jasmine is pruned into all sorts of shapes: topiary, framing a doorway, hedges, spirals, all sorts, and this gives it structural interest when it is not flowering. The closer it is pruned the more it flowers when spring comes. It is easily propagated by bending down a stem and pinning it to the ground and then it will root and the rooted section can be potted up or planted up as another plant. I love it as it is often flowering in December.

The yellow corydalis is used by one of my neighbours to provide contrast to purple in their front garden. In mine it grows everywhere, like the Valerian, and contributes to the wild untamed neglected look but as I quite like the foliage and flowers I wait till the flowers are over and then I pull it up.

Yes, sorry Karbea The first is either hebe as Maud says or daphne. I would take a couple of those pieces and replant in full sun with feed, it can be quite fussy though.

That winter jasmine is growing well, just thin and trim it back as Funny says. I wish mine was so prolific .

I put some suncream on this morning and got the bloody stuff in my eyes, and I am STILL streaming and looking rather like I have been punched in the face. So this might be me... but I think that might be a broom (cistus) and not a winter jasmine? I think I see little pods? Would also make sense with flowering now...

Oh and I have that hebe too! Mine has gone a bit leggy. Any suggestions how I prune it to get it to bush up again?

holly I don't know about that variety of hebe as it's variagated and therefore may be more sensitive, but I cut a hebe back hard by half (ie cut half; left other shaggy half) and it's sprouting well.

Thanks bearleigh I might give that a try! It seems like a good, cautious strategy for solving the problem!

The variegated hebe in the photo is unhappy. It is also in a not very good place because too near the wall, which is drying it out and as it is a low grower, could do better at the front of a bed. My hebe died. The cutting I gave next door survived. Therefore I suggest dig it up, put it in a well drained pot with compost, water twice weekly and place in the sun for at least till the autumn before replanting. In fact you could replant it next spring. It is an evergreen. It doesn't do in shade, and if left too dry doesn't flower very well. It is good to cut out dead stuff but it doesn't like being pruned when young. Cuttings from softwood are easily rooted in the usual way.

The pruning strategy is a bit like lavender imo, ie don't cut too hard into wood.

Broom was the other thing I wondered about, ShoveTheHolly. It would be pretty late for winter jasmine still to be flowering, and the flowers do look broom-y but the ::squints:: long, spindly growth made me think it wasn't broom. What does it smell like, Karbea? Is there a whiff of pineapple?

It does look very like a hebe to me, I must say. But yes, as funny says, it's not happy. Worth a shot at rescuing, though?

We also have corydalis every-flipping-where - I tend to let it do its thing because it is rather pretty. It seems to love gravel and, again like funny, I grub it up when I've had enough of it. You can get a cultivated blue variety which looks really lovely, but typically, the one I bought promptly keeled over, while the yellow weedy variety remains invincible.

Sorry, just realised it was the winter jasmine/ broom you meant, Maud. Our neighbour has a pineapple broom and the flowers are much bigger and form a distinct spray at the ends of stems. Karbea, yours looks more like a normal broom to me from that photo. I've just nipped put to check our winter jasmine and as Maud suggested, there are no flowers at the moment, just lots of new leafage.