"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)

I have this problem with peonies. 20years without a flower. I got one as free gift 2 years ago. No flowers on that either.

I have this with peonies as well - got my first flower last year after many years of trying. I should give up gardening really !

It must be the variety of peony I think. I have a red one that previous owners of the house planted years ago that absolutely refuses to die. I have rooted it up twice and binned it, on the assumption that they hate disturbance and movement and that it therefore would just die if I tried to save it. Yet I must be leaving small pieces of root in the ground because it keeps resprouting with a tenacity I normally associate with weeds.

So at the moment, I have a small peony growing on the edge of a massive 30-40 centimetre deep hole in the worst possible position and soil, with no sun (the hole is there because of exploratory stuff preparatory to building work - the top of my garden is a right state at the moment!). And it's about to flower. Bonkers!

I'm going to put it in a pot, since anything that persistent should have a second chance! Bet it dies as soon as I try to care for it properly...

oh , you give me hope on moving a peony there. I have a few basic red ones, which have flowered for years. And my favourite is a pink one which is now in totally the wrong place due to getting a greenhouse a couple of years ago. I haven't had the nerve to dig it up, in case it took offence!
I dug up the fuchsia next to it - also hidden by the greenhouse - the new moved plant doing nicely, and the original one as well.. :)

Ah peonies... I have Molly the Witch who has been in for 5 years and gives me one, quite beautiful flower a year. However the peony that was here when we moved in and has given 2 flowers a year since has 10 buds this year. Come on Molly! Sometimes you just want a wand, don't you?

Mind the white fuchsia that had grown too big for its space, and I thought had died when I moved it has put on some green at last.

hello everyone

we have some primroses that originally came from DH's grandmother's garden. I like this thought.

I have been helping a friend plant up her new garden, it is amazing what you can glean from your own garden when you put your mind to it! It has been great fun.

Hello, Humph!

I have quite a few things that came from my parents' garden, and have just planted a few more things that I uprooted from the patio, where they were growing like weeds! My dad introduced me to several things, like francoa sonchifolia that I probably never have heard of otherwise. It's also thanks to him that I have tellima self-seeding all over the garden. I used to think it was a pest, but I saw whole beds of it at Standen and came to appreciate it more.

I still have crates of my own gleanings for which I need to find a home. Sigh.

Ooh, Maud, francoa sonchifolia is so pretty, and one I had never heard of before. It's been added to my list of garden ideas.

It's useful to hear tales of peonies surviving being disturbed. I am in two minds about keeping ours. It's taking up a biggish space in a small garden, and it's in flower for such a short time. I dream of replacing it with rosa munstead wood, which in my imaginary garden would flower profusely all summer. The reality may be slightly more tricky of course!

It's delightful, isn't it? My first one perished but I've just planted another one I got from an open garden and am keeping my fingers crossed.

Funnyperson has an absolutely gorgeous Munstead Wood. I too hanker after one.

Well, Maud - another one thinking I have to buy a francoa sonchifolia - looks like a winner :) thank you!

I've just come in from cutting the hedge. Possibly my least favourite gardening task. I wouldn't mind if it was something classy like hornbeam, but we have privet. It is my ambition to replace this one day, but for the time being, I am stuck with it. I think I need to invest some money in a proper hedge trimmer, as the electric cheapy Bosch thing I'm using is heavy after a while.

I'm quite inspired by the copper-coloured plants at Chelsea this year and thinking seriously about including more of these in the garden. I've disliked orangey colours for ever, but all of a sudden, I find the browner ones quite beguiling (still not a fan of the neons!) Currently, I have purple, mauve and white and it feels like there is too much of a 'leap' from those darker richer colours to the white. So I think some reds and oranges may really help. Any recommendations of bronze/coppery flowers for shade very greatly appreciated!!

I didn't get round to our privet last year till the Autumn, found to my surprise that it flowers and they smell gorgeous, so I've decided to leave it again < lazy>

Have you been to Chelsea Holly ? I've only watched a bit on catch up. Dh has promised to take me there next year for my birthday.

Heuchera I think are ok in the shade.

privet flowers are a good for bees, good excuse not to cut as well!
Hedge cutting is a chore. Luckily DH does ours - an horrendous job he does in stages now, due to a muscular problem - yes the hedge trimmers are heavy, even more so when a petrol one.
We did get a gardener to cut it a couple of years ago, as DH wasn't well enough to do it. They made a poor job of it, so he won't let anyone else do it now , just toddles on during the year on a rota .

Look what just landed in the orchard

It made a HUGE noise as it flew over, it was amazingly loud. Thing someone is going to try and collect them tomorrow if they hang around!

It was a lovely evening wasn't it? But the rabbits seem to be eating the cosmos seedlings.

Oh wow, I've never seen a swarm before.

I've not planted out my Cosmos yet but as they are coming up in the compost it must be warm enough.

I've never seen a swarm either!

Must got to bed, but my immediate offerings are:

heucheras pretty good in shade. I have one called creme brulee which I think would look rather alarming en masse, but in a swathe of geranium phaeum and other things under the shade of the apple tree it looks good.

had feeble germination from the GW free cosmos seeds and now they're being eaten by slugs anyway. Boo hoo.

Nooo, I have never been to Chelsea geoff - I would dearly love to go! I think I'm torn, though. Should I try to go early and appreciate the design, or should I go on Saturday when it looks a bit tired but I can buy loads of plants to bring back in the sell-off. NB The second option might cause my DH a nervous breakdown as he is already fretting that we can't fit any more things in the garden. He is clearly wrong, however.

I struggle a bit with heucheras - it's not the shade but the rainfall. They grow really well in my front garden which is a tiny, fiercely drained south-facing postage stamp, but not at all well in my north-facing back garden, where the soil is not at all well drained - it's very heavy and wet, despite much investment in grit and compost! The difference between the two sides is because the site used to be a quarry and we are on a slope. The bedrock is only a foot or so down in the front, but well over 2 metres down by the back.

Just popping in to raise the question of hedge trimmers .

I too have a long privet hedge and another of lonicera ,both of which I cut with shears .Consequently I'm exhausted and my housework waaay out of hand . ( but I just realised ,being a very new gardener ,that the garden repays any attention you give it whereas the house just gets dusty and messy again ) .

Anyone recommend any good powered shears ? Or at least advise me on sharpening hand held ones ?

And I so want that Francoa sonchifolia .

I've never seen a swarm either - we have a local beekeeper who asks every year at this time for them.
I have been promising myself I will get to Chelsea one year. My fear is that it will actually depress me a bit - all those lovely gardens, and then my higgledy piggledy one. And how on earth do you manage to get all the things you buy house
Are there any hellebore in those shades shove ?

Yes I've had the same dilemma holly but I'm being swayed by going earlier because it would be a faff to carry everything I bought and I don't think the plants are that cheap anyway. The Rhs members day is meant to be the quietest.

Got woken early today by the postie and a secret gardener delivery of Angellica Gigas and Euphorbia Robbiae. Happy days.

geoff - I'm thinking of asking for RHS membership for my birthday just to go next year! Am jealous of your angelica - magnificent thing! I had one a couple of years back that sent to about 10 ft.

ginger - oh my Lord, a hedgetrimmer will massively reduce your workload! Cutting with shears takes forever. I have one of the standard Bosch ones, the precursor to the AHS 70-34, which is the Which? best buy.

Good points about it - it is inexpensive, it isn't ridiculously heavy, and it's really robust - it has lasted cut after cut after cut with no issues.

Bad points: it has a cord and I am always in danger of cutting through it (multiple rejoins testify to this), and it feels pretty heavy after a while - there is no strap that you can use to take some of the weight off.

I am wondering whether to invest in a more expensive machine. I have a lot of privet - probably just under 300ft of the stuff in total to cut and it is a complete pain.

Thanks Holly .
Workload - that's the least of it . Yesterday ,after a go at the privet ,I was mowing my lawn which involved several areas where I was lifting my cheap/light flymo lawn mower up so that it only just cut the top of my resseded patches .
I do think I go about things the wrong way...

Apologies to everyone else if I posted on the wrong thread .

ginger - shears ?? you must be exhausted!
shove - just asking DH about hedgetrimmers. We have a Husqvarna petrol one, years old. We have about 300 foot too -some beech, mostly cupressus. Pros - longer blade, so more is cut in one sweep. More power, so you don't need to go over it again.
Cons - petrol ones tend to be heavier, (though there may be a lightweight one available now)

right thread

copper flowers: heucherella , iris kent pride, variou roses, lupins, geums

only look good with another colour to balance eg blue

scary swarm

Chelsea wonderful place. The TV doesnt do it justice. Very careful planning is needed to enjoy it

-go early in the day
-take lots of breaks
-take a trolly to wheel purchases and freebies
-see the sell off at least one year
-go on a members day at least one year