"in the midst of winter, I found there was within me, an invincible summer" Potting shed chat continues here

[funnyperson]

So as agreed (by 2 other people!) I have started this thread for spring gardeners follwing on from the previous thread : Welcome one and all. experts and novices alike and draw up your chairs and join in discussion on all things garden related (and even not garden related)

That's sweet of you, Humph, but sadly all my thalictrum delavayi disappeared a year ago. All I'm left with is that thing that looks a bit like maidenhair fern but is actually (my gardening pal says) s variety of thalictrum. And all my aquilegia Black Barlow seem to have perished too. Drat.

Mine has disappeared from the original spot though. We have killed another lilac this year. time to give up I think.

It's lovely reading about all your gardens. I've been away all weekend, at work yesterday and now it's my day off it's pouring with rain so not much gardening done except for a bit of weeding and dead heading last night.
It's starting to look nice though. The purple tulips are still hanging on and the very dark red, almost black ones are out. Heuchera have flowered and my beetroot and potatoes are poking through.
My clematis has died though.

That thalictrum was wonderful in your garden, Humphrey clouds of tall creamy frothy see-through flowers!

Did I tell you I lost all the wonderful photos of your garden when I lost my last phone? Now I put everything into drop box

maud maybe the aquilegia is just a bit late?

I need to take my lawn more seriously and treat the grass with the respect it deserves: aerating, feeding etc as this combination of sun and rain could lead to regeneration!

The Wisteria on houses round here is in bloom, so lovely!

We should do that with the grass at ours funny person, but I bet we never get round to it.

What a shame about the photos. One of my mother's friends presented us with a photo book she had done after the event, it is really nice to look back on as our garden will probably never be so tidy again! Also we were so lucky with the weather in the preceding weeks that every single thing came out on the day, that it too much luck to ever happen again.

I adore wisteria. The in-laws have a stunning one that entirely covers the front of their house. People come and take photos, it is so impressive. We have killed off a couple of those too..

Oh dear Humphrey! Our neighbours moved in only recently- clearly not keen on gardening, so they do the minimum; whereas their predecessors were meticulous. Last weekend though they got cracking on cutting back the wisteria just as it was about to flower

Argh. Our neighbours are just the same. They spend no time in the garden, but every so often go the most expensive of the local garden centres and buy something stonkingly expensive, which they then neglect until it dies. They too hack bits off the wisteria at the wrong time and then moan to me that it never flowers.

who wants to,see my Acers?

beautiful!

How lovely!

Thirded - they are lovely - very healthy-looking.

My rambling rose (Albéric Barbier) has two flowers out - yippee.

The acers are lovely ! Just cut the grass and am feeling a tad stiff. One of my Queen Elazabeth roses are out and Mme Carriere will be very soon.

The slugs have eaten a fair bit of my sweet peas annoyingly.

It never ceases to amaze me how many birds we have bad how tame they are given we have cats. There is rarely a cat/bird incident either. I was just sitting for a moment listening to the Blackbird singing on next door's roof and a blue tit was flying around a few feet away. It thought about having a go at the string on my sweet pea canes but thought the better of it.

Things have really taken off with the sun, rain and warmer weather. Think it's time to pull some rhubarb soon. The house 82 metres away who has just objected to our plans for an extension is disappearing nicely behind the huge oak tree in someone's garden.

I especially like the pale leafed acer

I love the birdsong too sugarplum less fortunate people I now only have magpies and crows and I think its because they put the remains of dead animals in their compost which encourages the bigger more aggressive birds and scares away the blue tits and robins. I dont put any kitchen waste in the compost as I dont want to encourage rats and am =vegetarian anyway so the magpies dont spend time in this garden and the robins and blue tits are happy to eat slugs and aphids etc

Well rose Mme Alfred Carriere is out! Though sadly suffering from blackspot so no jam this year.

So is, to my very great delight, Astrantia Shaggy
This Astrantia has always been on my wish list and I havent succeeded in growing it until this year when it appears to have survived the winter!

Clematis Avalanche, Montana, Broughton star, Integrifolia and Marjorie are also all flowering !
They are nothing like the nursery grown wonders which are covered in blooms at shows, more like 3-4 blooms per plant, (except for Montana of course) but still!
In years to come I can see this little garden will be a mass of bloom in May! The little clematis flowers are quite understated and go well with the geranium phaeums.

I am getting much better at recognising weeds and no longer leave them to grow in case they are some unusual and enhancing plant. Today I was rather chuffed as not only did I dig out the weeds but had some self-grown-from -seed Cosmos Purity plants to put in the gaps! They will probably get eaten by slugs, but still the sense of accomplishment and being-on-top-of-things was very wonderful!

I wish I had that sense of accomplishment about my home admin. However much I do it is a mere drop in the ocean and there is always more to be done. At work one has a hard working team of admin people and one merely has to read, give an expert opinion, and sign off but at home there is no such luck.

My Clematis Montana Rubens, was really disappointing this year. As is my Banksaei Lutea Which has never flowered since I bought it in 2014. I have written to the grower for advice.

I bought a lilac 3 years ago which has never flowered. I have never pruned it, and dont know whether to dig it up, or prune it and see what happens.

On a brighter note this is Princess Anne which is really striking in the evening light.

Well done on the Cosmos FP, mine un't at the planting out stage. I'm not sure I've seen my Astrantia which I think is shaggy, must check. The seedlings in the pot where I planted Astrantia seeds are probably hawthorn I think but will leave for a bit just in case.

I'm smiling about the weed thing as was just about to pull up a clump by a rose then left just in case they were geum. Just in case they are geum is a thing in my garden . Next year everything will be pulled up, possible geum or not.

Really don't like the idea of putting dead animals on the compost heap. We don't tend to get crows or magpies though did have one year where there were some aggressive pigeons.

Clematis Early Sensation is flowering its socks off but is on a light coloured wall so not making as much impact as it could . 2 clematis I thought were dead have reappeared which was a nice surprise.

Earlier I had a moment of weakness where I nearly bought a ticket to Chelsea but I regained control. Feel the pain on admin front. I was very pleased to get car insurance down then realised yesterday i'd failed to cancel the old policy and at one point thought I'd have to pay the first month plus £54 cancellation fee. Luckily they let me off.

Hope GW back tonight so I can have my leisurely start to the weekend watching it on iplayer .

That is absolutely lovely Kwirrell. I have a Banksaei which went in the same time as yours and hasn't flowered either. I'm putts g it down to the fact they grow to such a big size they take a few years to establish their roots. My Mme Cariere did nothing years 1 and 2, 3 flowers year 3 and then about 35 flowers last year which was year 4. No idea on lilac, sorry.

SPT that is really heartening about the Lutea.

My Mme Alfred C was the first rose I planted when I moved in 20 years ago. I feed it in March with manure and early May with a liquid feed and water it if the weather is too dry but otherwise it is largely ignored.

Be warned Monty has a bump on his forehead, probably from his latest mound project.
Monty remains unable to adequately describe a garden full of blossom but I don't really mind at all.
Monty certainely isn't as bad as the Sissinghurst gardener equating almond blossom with quince blossom. I can quite see how heartbreaking it would be for Sarah Raven to have to deal with Troy Scott Smith.

I have a ticket to Chelsea flower show to go with a friend. I suspect it will be my last year of going and I may not really be up to it this year so am pleased I've been before as one needs to be quite fit to get up early to brave the crowds. We are going to have lots of breaks and we are not buying any plants. Oddly I seem to have got to a point when I have most of the plants I wish for (I even have clematis lunar lass!) and it is more about nurturing them and increasing them by propagation and disposing them about the garden in the right way.

That Princess Anne is lovely!

Hurrah for roses in bloom! None of mine are yet but looking forward to it.

Went to a small cafe garden designed by Sarah Price. It was stunning, very naturalistic planting like a woodland glade. There were also lots of grasses mixed with a salvia type plant in copper pots. I am inspired to create a pot like that rather than my usual thing of filling it with just one item. It will be the first time I have bought a grass, I have never really known what to do with it before.

The bit of our garden that is really not working at the moment is the round veg patch. We lost some of the box hedging a couple of years ago and haven't got round to replanting, although we do have plants ready to go. There is a hose there now so no excuse for not watering. The paths are so silted up with earth they are full of weeds and are a nightmare to maintain. The plan is to get them dug out and refilled with clean gravel. Two of the beds are ok, one with asparagus and one with rhubarb, but the third is empty as the globe artichokes keep dying! Any ideas about permanent veg planting would be gratefully received, it needs to be low growing ideally.

What about going for more fruit Humph - strawberries and gooseberries if you haven't already got them? Edged with step over frit trees. The cafe sounds lovely as do the mix of grasses and salvia .

FP I hope you enjoy Chelsea . Hopefully the weather will be kind so you can have lots of rests enjoying the atmosphere as well as the plants. I liked the look of lunar lass bad was thinking I'd like that ! I'm completely unable to propagate clematis annoyingly.

Really I haven't got any more space. I might have as have a couple of little strips that need planting but do have various plants saved from the new drive area and others I can propagate so probably have enough. I want to get out and split a clump of geranium rozanne and the asters a bit more . I do need a few annuals for the deck though as inherited a hanging basket stand thing from Mum and I found a trough so want to fill that.

Another thought for veg Humph. Not permanent but does sort of go for a couple of years and quick plus easy from seed - rainbow chard. Oca is low growing and any tubers you kiss sprout again like volunteer potatoes do and you can just replant a few quickly fir the next year.

I visited a local ngs garden and like it so much I try and go there every year

They have stepover apples and cabbage and purple sprouting broccoli which always looks lovely- I think the cabbage is kale

I originally wanted stepover apples but when I ordered I ordered the wrong sort of apple tree so now it is espaliered rather than stepover and in a way I'm glad as it makes it slightly less likely the squirrels will eat them

I know what you mean about grasses: I have a large mound of Carex which I like very much though rhubarb says it is common sedge grass and I should take it out but it is evergreen and provides winter structure. I tentatively planted some miscanthus and some deschampsia in the white bed : they both faded in the winter to almost nothing and have yet to grow up this year so I'm not sure if they are good value plants. The Brizia (quaking grass) which I bought from a Chelsea flower show sell off from one of the artisan gardens was a waste of money as it hasnt developed the quaking seed heads since I bought it 2 years ago so it is being moved. I really like grasses in the large prairie gardens but in my little garden I'm still not sure if they have a place and would probably rather have flowers and fruit.

Love those acers. Mine is looking good too.
Just been out weeding and dead heading. Tulips are still hanging on! Going to plant my strawberries and tomatoes in hanging baskets later.
I feel like a total novice next to you lot!