What have you done in the garden today? Part 2

[ThreeRingCircus]

A continuation of the last thread.

@BestIsWest Outdoor volunteering: National Trust - seems to be roving groups and assuming no knowledge (I may be being unfair). Natural England National Nature Reserves - attached to one reserve, the Warden gets to know you and your skills. Training may be available (eg power tools, driving an all-terrain vehicle). Wildlife Trusts similar. Stately homes with gardens, RHS gardens. LAs have often handed over parks maintenance to volunteers. Canals and Rivers Trust

Best way to get in seems to be to approach your target garden/nature reserve/park and sell yourself to them, rather than go through the official channel where you’re just an unknown name.

I clearly need to buy Bobbie James, after those rave reviews!

I love the facts about Impatiens. I only know the classic 'busy lizzie' type, and only because I use them at work. Such a fascinating insight into the worldview of whoever named 'noli me tangere'. They must have been steeped in Christian tradition to the point where it felt normal, not a bit weird, to nick that line.

(Oh, oh, and ... I am boasting but I'm excited ... AFAIK a tiny bit of planting I did made it to Tatton Park. I don't know for sure, as the place where I work provided various things and we never know what'll go forward and what won't. But it's a fun thought.)

https://historicroses.org/repeat-flowering-old-roses-part-ii-peter-harkness/

Explain! As someone not steeped in the Christian tradition

Oh, sorry, I wasn't being purposely obscure. 'Noli me tangere' is the Latin for what Christ said (presumably not in Latin!) to Mary Magdalene, when she met him in the garden of Gethsemane, after the Resurrection, when she took him for the gardener. These days it would generally sound slightly blasphemous to adapt that phrase as a name for a weed, but my hunch is it just didn't register with whoever named the balsam.

I'd also love to know if they had in mind the connection between balsam as in resinous sap, and Christ as the balm for the Christian soul/the dead body anointed with myrrh, which are both important ideas jostling around the imagery of the Resurrection.

Why is Himalayan Balsam called that, anyway? To me it smells clean and soapy (I bet there are saponins in the seeds), rather than resinous.

Thanks @MereDintofPandiculation. I’ve just been looking up the local wetlands and wildfowl trust and NT but they’re not looking for any volunteers at the moment! There’s a trust that looks after a local woodlands and the remains of a historic garden and it looks like they always want volunteers so might try them this week.

@MereDintofPandiculation, I'm exaggerating, it was the last of the ripe mulberries, not the last of them!

Although we have had them ripening for a few weeks now, we are in the south west.

Also have loads of hazelnuts on the trees this year, last year we had hardly any, although the squirrels have already been eating them.

And one single pear so far, loads of apples though and the one I think is Laxtons Superb has a few that look nearly ripe

I’ve just been looking up the local wetlands and wildfowl trust and NT but they’re not looking for any volunteers at the moment!

I think those two are probably the biggest and most obvious orgs and liable to get waiting lists, DH looked at the WWT near us and there was an application process I think. Whereas the wildlife trust was much simpler with a few different sites and times. They work in conjunction with the local councils, I think, so it's not necessarily just at their main reserves.

@SarahAndQuack I had high hopes of Impatiens balsamifera, but it seems to be balm in the “soothing application” sense not in the “resinous substance” sense. Wiki is interesting. I like the concept of Go Away Itch Day.

Smell is such a personal thing, isn’t it? I hate the smell of Himalayan balsam and certainly can’t detect “clean and soapy”. I’m increasingly of the opinion that different tastes are in a good part due to different people being more or less sensitive to different smells.

@Defiantlynot41 Ah, that explains it, I’m in Yorkshire. I read a book on English weather written in the 50s which had figures for early and late frosts, and the difference in growing season between the S and Yorkshire was well over a month, may even have been more. Even with climate change, I don’t expect that has changed much.

We feel it, not just in the earlier close down of the season, but in the fact that we can’t sow thing indoors as early, because they’ll outgrow pots before its warm enough for them to go in the ground.

My mulberry is so late to come into leaf , much later than all the other trees.

Himalayan balsam has a sort of musty smell to me. The sense of smell (and therefore taste) is definitely variable - I think mine has changed somewhat post menopause, more aware of some gorgeous smells like sweet box, but honeysuckle doesn't seem as fragrant as it used to. (The same plants in my garden, I know they vary between species).

In the last few years, we're starting to get patches of orange balsam (Impatiens capensis) along the local canal. It's smaller than the Himalayan, hope it doesn't have the same propensity for taking over! In moderation it's a pretty addition to the varied flora.

It’s very worth talking to the local manager of the reserve about any possible skills you can offer. A big organisation will have a separate team to deal with volunteers across the country, and will say “sorry, no vacancies” whereas the local chap may say “we need this person” and get you signed up.

the difference in growing season between the S and Yorkshire was well over a month, may even have been more.

I used to live in north yorks, one of the good things about moving t'other side of the Pennines is that it's not as bad for frost, especially at the back end. I was expecting various tender plants to keel over in September when we first moved here, but they usually lasted into November. The rain otoh is a mixed blessing!

Yesterday I repotted three massively overgrown cymbidium orchids, only one of which has ever flowered, so nothing to lose. They're very tough outdoor orchids so just need moving into more shade when the clocks go forward in early October then back into the sun last day of summer - February 28th.

Where are you @echt? You couldn't leave cymbidiums out of doors here.

I bought the easy pruner mentioned up thread. Been merrily deadheading and chopping bits back.

Sorry, should have said I live in Melbourne, I usually remember to say it as you're right, it makes a difference. A nippy 6 degrees this morning, but OK for orchids. Being near the sea means no frost.

How are you feeling now ?

I didn’t go over to new garden for a few days. I had 3 dahlias and a delphinium waiting to go in that fell over in the wind and were completely stripped by slugs and snails.

Little Miss Figgy on order to go in pot against garage wall and will buy some kind of fruit tree to join it later this year.

Today we set up my pond. I have wanted one for ages. It’s just a large bowl really ( think it’s intended for a fountain) sitting on the slate patio. We bought a bag of beach cobbles and four plants, including a waterlily. Very pleased with our efforts; I will take a photo when it stops raining!

That sounds delightful! Which waterlily did you get (and where from)? I’ve avoided them so far as I thought they’d be unsuitable for my tin bath pond, but Adam (I think) mentioned on GW that there are some which would work.

I've got 3 barrel bonds on my patio (two fair size one tiny) - I've got a small waterlily in one of the larger ones, I've had a flower or two some years, no sign of any this year.

I’d love to see pictures. DH is trying to plan a water feature at the moment. He has been testing out a solar fountain thing today (it’s pathetic tbh).

It kept raining, so photo from bedroom window

i might add another plant when I see how it all settles in . It has been raining all night so the level is higher moe.