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.

Broom tends to be slightly stiffer though doesnt it, thats what swayed me to winter jasmine. Wild gorse or broom has been flowering really well in the country side this year. Broom does well with quite gentle pruning just to give it a bit of shape , it is a shrub rather than a climber such as jasmine. It woul be possible to prune broom so that there is a central trunk like structure which you can support with a stick for a year or two and raise the canopy of the flowering umberella and then you get to plant plants underneath!

I just spent an hour raking up the winged seeds off the lawn from next door's maple tree. The lawn had got very speckled looking. However the bees are having a good time with the blossom and there are definitely more of them than last year. So I took the opportunity to have a little break and a sit down and watch them!

Here are a couple more pictures.

I've been busy this afternoon, planted 4 aquilegias in the back garden. A clematis alpina on a north facing wall at the side of the house.
In the front I've planted 3 japenese ferns, a Japanese anemone and a alchemilla.

I also planted a geranium Rosanne in the planter, they only had one and the spiral boxes were huge and £££ so I need to look elsewhere for one of those.

I was looking at viburnum tinus eve price for next to the front door, to replace the hebe (the other side to the yellow dangly thing that might be a broom).

Do you think this is a good idea?

Having now looked on the big screen, I'm switching my vote to broom!

Viburnum tinus is lovely - it has something to commend it (flowers, scent, berries) at every time of year, although it is prone to being munched by a beetle. Where exactly would it be? My only note of caution would be that it gets very big (mine is now a small tree, and my mother's, of which it was once a seedling, is a huge tree) so you'd need to place it where it won't obscure the window (or be ruthless about pruning). But, apart from that, go for it!

Broom. A nice variety.

If it ends up like a tree do I need to be careful about roots and the house?
It would be exactly where the Broom is, but on the other side of the front door, next to a window but I'm happy to prune as long as I won't kill it ?

I'd quite like the broom to be about half it's height and not so gangly... Can I attack it tomorrow without killing it?

It is better to wait till the flowers are over. Then prune a third back, you could always prune back more in the autumn. I'm not a ruthless pruner. Ever since mother's gardener killed off her beautiful lavender border by cutting back into the wood.

Yes true about the "yellow jasmine" it's too late for it and mine doesn't bloom like that It's broom or some such. (I thought that broom doesn't droop, it blooms upwards, but it may be a different variety or I may thinking about gorse!) I try to educate dh about the different types of yellow flowering shrubs along the motorways and end up getting confused myself !!

You poor mum and her gardener FP !

Sarah Raven has a £5 off code today which basically covers postage and it works against sale items.

I have a hebe just like that one Karbea. Mine too is very unhappy and requires moving. I have persevered in its current location as everything I plant there struggles (dry shade) so I give them the benefit of the doubt for a while before giving up. I have now tucked the baby pheasant berry plants there and so far they seem ok so I may now move the hebe into a pot to recover for a while in the hospital corner.

Planted out the seedlings into the cutting patch yesterday; they have survived the night.

Went to watch 'A Little Chaos' with a friend last night at a village hall cinema showing. We were the youngest ones there by some distance, however, I feel it's good to feel young on a Friday night and have signed us up for next week's bingo night. Twas a nice, charming film.

Halsall - when did you plant your blue corydalis? They do disappear like magic after flowering, a bit like Dicentra, but will reappear the following spring if you don't accidentally dig them out in the meantime . Very beautiful plants.

Ppeat we are driving down from Calais to a village near Le Luc in Provence, so sadly nowhere near you. I was hoping to visit Vaux de Vicomte en route but we are having to arrange our route via a visit to BIL, so my little Vaux plan got bypassed.

i had a very similar variegated hebe too, which i managed to kill. it wasn't happy at all, so i moved it and it was even less happy. oops

i saw a little chaos too. i enjoyed it for the most part, but i was rather disappointed with the reveal of the garden at the end. a feat of engineering yes and very impressive work, but where were all the plants?

No true, Rhubarb you'll probably turn left at the motorway past Tours, (that's the nearest to us) it's a beautiful drive through the Auvergne. I think?

Just spent a delightful morning at Chelsea. My favourites were Ishihara's artisan garden (as ever) with his enchanting moss balls, and the Pure Land Foundation garden which I thought was mesmerising in the flesh - telly did it a huge disservice - with its sinuous white walls setting off stunning bronze toned planting. Dainty and perfect.

I also loved Adam Frost's Bauhaus garden. I wanted to be in that one, walking barefoot on its immaculate lawn and chilling out in the beautiful polished wooden seating area with its exquisite framed view of shady ferns behind.

I had a lovely but too short catch up with funnyperson and an inadequate scoot round the pavilion before I had to leave - sadly I wasn't able to stay for the sell off as I had to get home for various annoying reasons. But I did buy a little punnet of Auricula plugs from Drointon's.

I like the idea of a hospital corner. I think I'll institute one instead of the compost heap.

I'm glad you liked A Little Chaos, Bertha. Matthias Thingummy who played le Notre also plays Gabriel Oak in Far From The Madding Crowd, which I saw earlier this week at the oldies' screening. It was lovely. I may have had to wipe my eyes at the end (I gave up reading the book at the point where Gabriel has to pierce the sheep's stomachs and have never seen the Julie Christie film all the way through, so had no idea how it ended). We have a new cinema near here which was formerly (I think) a church hall and I'm looking forward to visiting it.

(and yes i know that's what the ballroom grove actually looks like, but it did seem rather anticlimactic after all the lovely plants earlier in the film)

Hmm no Ppeat, not the Auvergne. Looping round Paris then down through Champagne, stopping off at Troyes over night.

Oooh, cross posts with Rhubarb's woman on the spot report from Chelsea. I didn't much like Adam Frost's garden on the telly because the wood looked a bit too strident, so it's good to hear it was better in the flesh. The Ishihara garden is indeed lovely, a beautiful aesthetic.

All the bronze this year made me want to replace my verbascums that perished ages ago.

I kept meaning to post that the Chelsea people were moaning that there were not enough women competitors this year, and I was thinking that there are only women on this thread, anyone up for it?

Oh the peripherique, good luck Rhubarb Are you going soon?

I was hoping that Rhubarb would design the Osteospermumsnet garden for 2016.

That's clever Maud Osteospermumsnet garden, I thought of our professional too.

I bought a lovely hardy geranium to go under the new hedge, in the market today and another comfrey plant they love shade ,so ideal for under my pines.

Thank you for the tip about the Sarah Raven £5 off. I have ordered Acanthus Mollis Rue Ledan on (I think) funny's recommendation). It looks such a lovely plant. It's for autumn delivery, so it'll be a nice surprise later in the year. Nicotiana mutabilis and the Trombone courgette also found their way into my basket, but it wasn't a big enough order for me to justify paying £4.95 Postage IYSWIM. Effectively free postage was a big incentive.

My irises are coming into flower in my soft purple/blue/pink bed, and some are bright golden yellow. Some are blue. I can't remember buying and planting them but am pretty sure I would have bought a packet of all blue. They stick out like a sore thumb! That is the advantage of buying online - you have a record of what you bought, only I must have bought them in person, and didn't make a note. I can move them and put a dahlia in their place, but they do look quite hilariously bad.

I hope that everyone has enjoyed some good gardening today! I've been planting some bargains that I've managed to get in Morrisons over the last couple of weeks - some Achillea, perenial cornflowers, Alchamilla Alba, Verbena Bonariensis and Agastache that I got for between £1 and £1.50 each. Thery're really decent sized plants aswell.
Rhubarb - I absolutely loved the Japanese garden too. In the flesh, it is truly beautiful and sooo calming isn't it? I also adored the perfumer's garden and Jo Thompson's gorgeous planting in her retreat garden. And, I thought that the Auricula stand was amazing - I now want an Auricula theatre!

I have had some productive gardening today, mostly emptying pots of bulbs I don't want to keep and planting some more window boxes and a tub of sweet peas. The cosmos I planted last week have been badly nibbled by molluscs. Grr.

Those are amazing bargains, LostInMusic. I must stop buying plants - I am getting tantalisingly close to the point where I might get everything planted and not have stuff cluttering up the patio!

I agree, Bearleigh, that it's irritating when things don't match their description. I was all set to complain about being sent the wrong collection of tulips until I checked my online order and realised it was my fault for having clicked on the wrong box!

Oh and Osteospermumsnet is a brilliant joke but I didn't coin it - that was Lexi.