The new hour-long GW.

[shovetheholly]

What are your thoughts?

I am really loving the new format. I like the way they are focusing not just on huge, uber-wealthy properties but on some small back gardens. I like the mix of stunningly beautiful, expertly-achieved gardens and amateur eccentricity. And I particularly like the focus back on technique, and doing things. It's lovely to see Carol Klein treated by the camera like the expert she is, instead of a gurning idiot pointing out that the top of the plant is called the "leaves" and the bottom is called the "root". I also find myself really warming to Adam Frost.

Yes -1987 :) - you are amongst a different generation on here Lorelei !
re bulbs in pots - I suspect its the nutrients after flowering that gets neglected, rather than watering per se.
And oh yes about crossing fingers and hoping with pnew plants- though some of the attrition in my garden is caused by -hmmm DH ...., though come pruning he is pretty good, but he is a trampler , sometimes leaving a trail of battered leaves behind him. I seem to have lost 2 new Japanese anemones I bought from a plant sale this year - (he had to cut the inside of the hedge .)- but I wouldn't change him really !

Bookbook, I have to get rid of my Japanese Anenomes. I can send some to you if you want. There are some pale pink and a white. Email me if you want them.

lorelei - I think it's both over and underwatering. The thing about a pot (compared to soil) is that the plants in it rely much more on the grower for the things they need - the right amount of water, nutrients etc. So too much kindness or too little are both more of a problem. People overwater and underwater things in the ground too, of course. But you can walk down a street and see a lot of neglected gardens where things are still growing reasonably healthily, whereas plants in neglected pots tend to be in trouble a bit earlier. This doesn't mean that you can't grow brilliantly in pots - in fact, I suspect some of the best gardens use pots extensively and just pop things in and out of borders (Helen Dillon must do this, I think, for her fabulous borders) - but I sometimes think they are less tolerant of mistakes and neglect, requiring a bit more care and attention from the gardener (daily watering in hot weather, for instance).

book - my DH is also a trampler. Cutting the hedge is like this:

Me (putting down trimmer 1): You are STANDING on my rudbeckia!
DH: (putting down trimmer 2) Oh, sorry!

Me: Now you are standing on my verbena!
DH: It is not my fault, I need a path to stand on!
Me: NO PATHS! The garden is too narrow as it is!
DH:
Me: YOU JUST CLIPPED A LOAD OF PRIVET ON TOP OF MY BLOOD GRASS!
DH:
Me: SERIOUSLY how - just HOW - is it possible to have so many degrees in spatial matters, yet not know where your feet are?

etc. etc. etc. for TWO HOURS.

I think I might have to consider putting some stepping stones at the back of the border.

Great Dixter........................But that couldn't dampen my enthusiasm for the garden itself which I have never visited. I think the main take-home message from the programme was that I can definitely cram in loads more plants and DH is plain wrong to say we are full

This made me laugh, I visited Great Dixter for the first time this year and that was EXACTLY my take home message.

I was on the tube once coming home from my one and only visit to the Chelsea Flower Show. I was carrying one of the bags and a very young, man asked me about the show and we fell into a gardening conversation. We both agreed on Great Dixter being our favourite, talked about gardens we had visited, our own gardens, Lutyens, the Arts and Craft movement, Art Deco and Hercule Poirot.

Next thing was an announcement that the train was terminating. I had gone 5 stops beyond where I was supposed to get off.

And sosidges that made me laugh - gardening does have a way of making the time fly!!

I often think that, since my mega grumpy cat won't tolerate any other pet, thus precluding my having a dog that people would stop and pet, I could maybe carry a pot plant around the streets as a talking point to get to know my neighbours. They could stroke my stipa grass instead.

DH has pointed out that this would probably have the opposite effect of making them back off slowly then run very fast.

I now need to see a pic of said grumpy cat shove Mine loves to trundle about the garden with me a la Monty and his dog/s. Does yours countenance that?

I'm dissolving at the thought of the stipa grass 'pet' I fear my neighbours think I'm eccentric enough.
Although I swear an element of 'keeping up' has evolved since I started adding baskets and planters to the front. The previously grey street is now sporting a selection of awesome planters and people are actually watering and replanting them seasonally hurrah takes all credit

Loved the description of your clumsy DH. My Dad (gardening partner-in-crime) is exactly the same. The neighbours are probably used to my shrieks of dismay

Aw, that is so lovely that people are imitating your planters. I bet it makes such a difference down the street! I do think that your creating a lovely front garden has probably just made them realise that they, too, have a space with which they could be creative! (I basically get all my gardening ideas this way, by stealing them off other people).

When I am home, I will try to capture Mr Grewellypoo in all his grumpiness. And no, he doesn't deign to grace me with his presence in the garden. He looks on haughtily from an upstairs window (his whiskers fanned gently by the updraft from the radiator) saying "Ah, the serfs are busy at work creating me a new bed for my toilet. All is right in the world".

I will stick eyes in the Stipa to make it clear that it is friendly and does not bite. Like this.

Holly, I think it needs a smiley face too!

Have, that's great that you've inspired people to do that.

Snort!

That's just brilliant. Googly eyes are the best.

I've half a mind to start a hybrid gardening-pets photo thread

Thanks for the complements everyone. It's definitely a phenomenon.

I have one big statementy hanging basket and I replanted a 55cm planter that had outgrown its welcome on the rear patio, that's all. The rest is neat topiary and gravel installed by the previous owners, I love the view from the kerb

Now there are about ten of us involved so the street looks a bit more uniformly green (and loved) to balance the monotony of block paved driveways.

Sosidges - thank you so much for your kind offer. I will be honest - DH has taken total responsibility for the decimation trampling of said plants ( I did rather make him feel a bit of a bull in a china shop) so I have the offer of replacements. ( I would have bought them anyway, but I won't get the -'what, more plants? :) ) I have white and the pink one survived - it was the double ones that have disappeared , of course!
I am a terrible person for walking and peering into other peoples gardens... and also , being totally unrepentant at talking to total strangers about them!
I also think when someone makes an effort, then other people realise how much nicer life can be to see a bit of joy around you, and how little you need to lift the spirits..
shove - just

I do like the idea of planters + topiary for the front. I love me a nice topiaried shape. I had some lovely box balls in my garden but they have ALL got blight, every bleedin' one. So I need to start some new ones - I might get some cheap small yew and just grow them from little as they are way out of my budget otherwise.

Here is a picture of the grumpiest cat in the world, doing his daily routine of dragging himself along my lovely cream carpet getting mud everywhere. He might look cute, but actually he is saying "Take another picture and I will scratch you". He is nearly 17 now and I have had him since he turned up in a student house, aged 4, looking very thin. He has made up for it ever since by eating his body weight in crunchies every day.

Kitty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry, that's my auto response when I see a cute cat.

shove - could you use Lonicera Nitida for topiary balls?- somewhat cheaper too ( but maybe not as quick growing as yew)
Are not all cats programmed to do the most annoying things? I had one years ago that thought he was still a kitten. He would run across the room to jump onto my shoulder, but age was a factor... he was a huge tom cat, and he used to drag himself up my back and then liked to pretend he was a fur collar while I stood in the kitchen. He was gorgeous , but my neck took the brunt...

No problem Bookbook. I might try find a space in my garden for the white anemone and possibly try and plant the pink ones outside on some rough ground. They grow like weeds in my garden. Probably because OH hates them. They are in a conspiracy with lanium, which he also hates. As we have been digging up plants and, either giving away or recycling, them, there is completely bare ground. Then within a week anything he hates has regrown to taunt him.

They grow like weeds in my garden - :) you must have just the right conditions. I can sympathise with things that partners don't like. My DH is gradually trying to reduce the spotted dead nettle - is that the same as yours? (Have you thought of potting them up and giving them to a charity plant sale, or charity shop?) But DH is just trying to replace with other ground cover plants -but ones he likes , and why not - I did give him (sort of) free rein. I think he is just staring to realise that it is a bit harder than he expected- deciding on plants, and realising that we are on chalk, it is too dry, that one grows too big, or worst of all, perfect, but no-one seems to sell it....!

Oh isn't he handsome So the belleh is a trap!
Arf @ Lorelei.

Surely he's just doing you a favour bringing the garden indoors to you?

The ginger menace upped sticks from a neighbour's the moment I moved in sans pets and started tarting up the garden. Apparently to his satisfaction.

Here he is destroying something no doubt important. And snoozing.

Cats and gardens seem to go hand in hand, as well as our 4 house cats we have an alley cat who adopted us from the last house and moved with us (possibly because I stuffed him in a cat basket and drove 2 hours away...) but he adores sitting watching me in the garden and chases apples if you throw them for him. As much as I love Montys dogs and when they come on telly it's the only time my husband pays attention to GW, I figure having a puss cat follow me round is just as good.
The 4 indoor cats have a catio and their own outside play area. Due to all the climbing logs in there we often don't strim the grass so they can have a wild meadow and imagine they are in the jungle (Yes I am a crazy cat lady) Unfortunately the wild jungle had too much real prey in the form of mice, voles and frogs which they like to bring half eaten inside.
In the new house their catio will be over a patio in the hope we get less gifts...

Most of my garden has gone on the Freely Wheelie site. Not just the plants, But also the pots, walls for raised beds, the stumpery, the cobbles, bricks and some big lumps of rock. It has made me feel so much better knowing it is All growing in other gardens and allotments. The various people that came to collect were all absolutely lovely.

All of the huge pots from the front garden have gone and about 70% of the back garden. The make over starts next month, so all that Iis left is what I would like to keep. I know that I won't be able to keep it all but i am hoping that once the garden is ready for planting i can find my rational head and wear that for a while.

Another kitty!!!! So lovely.

Sosidges, also lovely that you have the spread the joy to other gardeners.
Need to repot a Heuchera this weekend, do they grow really fast? Also the lady on GW pronounced it differently than I thought, I'm prob pronouncing loads of these names wrong.

Awww haveyouseenher, your marmelade monster is absolutely gorgeous. What a lovely soft coat he has. He looks absolutely in his prime, and full of that utter content that only warm, well-fed cats can radiate!

book - your living fur collar made me smile. But oof, yes, that's quite a weight on your back and neck!! Good idea about lonicera - I think I need to give my topiary some more careful braintime. I was rather hoping I might use chilean guava and get some fruits and flowers as well, but I think they like more sun than I can give them. I have a trial plant, which is thriving, but I've only had it 6 months so will wait to see how it does next year! I suspect that it may flower rather less profusely in the shade.

clark - I LOVE the word catio! They do really love long grass as well - my Dad used to leave an area of lawn uncut at home, and our old cat loved to stalk through it.

sosidges - oh well done you! Seriously, that is a huge job of work, both practically and emotionally. I am sure all of your lovely plants will be delighting people in your community, giving so many people years of pleasure to come. And I think you are wise for giving yourself options when it comes to your new space, with a selection of plants to choose from. Sometimes amazing combinations just appear that way.

Thank you Shove. The first, huge amount went to a two ladies who were renovating a neglected bit of land behind the church. They were planning a community garden and community allotment. The phoned the Vicar and he turned up with a battered old van and they loaded it in. Then another lady came with her two teenage daughters. She had just moved from a flat. She asked me how to look after the Plants and made her daughter right it down on a pad.

The hardware from the back went to man who wanted to build a raised bed and bug hotel for his disabled wife. They have an allotment just across the road from me.

Oh sosidges - how brilliant that you will be able to see your plants in the community garden! And have everyone admire and enjoy them as well.

I do like the idea of the vicar trundling your shrubs around. There is something both amusing and lovely about that image!

That is lovely to hear Sosidges - you know they have gone to a loving home, and people will appreciate them.
shove - i think we have just acquired a chilean guava. too . In my ignorance DH chose it and I looked at the label - I didn't recognise the name - it was marked up as myrtus ugni - when I got home and googled, that seems to be the same thing. It has just been dug in, so will watch with interest.
ClarkL - catio - mine also liked to drag in stuff for me through the cat flap. Worst one was a still alive baby starling, trying to fly and escape my kitchen . But he was a sweetie - he used to come on our walks with us, but would suddenly stop at some (to us ) unknown boundary. We always had to walk back past that spot, as he would be hiding under a hedge waiting for us...

book - I don't think you will regret that! It is a fabulous plant, and I can't understand why everyone doesn't have one! It has everything. Lovely evergreen, glossy foliage. Beautiful white flowers with a nice perfume. Followed by fruits of the most gorgeous maroon that you can EAT and that are delicious!

When I was little, my cat used to follow me to school! He would go through people's front gardens, leaping over the low walls between the terraces, just out of reach, with me hopping from one foot to the other on the pavement futilely yelling "Go home! Go home! You will make me late again!"