What have you done in the garden today? Part 3

[ThreeRingCircus]

The old thread was filling up so I've created a new one!

Link to old thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/gardening/4823202-what-have-you-done-in-the-garden-today-part-2?reply=128367673

As I am by nature a pedant, I always call them Queen of Night and Prinses Irene because that’s how I first encountered them, but I notice many sellers now add a “the” and call her Princess.

I have never got the hang of planting pots so that everything flowers at once. I suppose I could pretend it’s deliberate successional planting. I bought a “day and night” tulip mix from Farmer Gracy last year and didn’t much care for the day (an insipid peach) but the night was a decent black (QON, I guess) and they had the virtue of flowering together.

MrJekyll takes no interest in what I plant in the garden, so I have a free hand in choosing tulips (or anything else) but I do occasionally buy red things in deference to his beloved team. That said, I’ve decided that rose ‘William Shakespeare’ has to go because the bed’s getting too crowded and he’s not, despite his name, a good performer. I now crave a ‘Lichfield Angel’ but I have nowhere to put it.

I initially bought it because it's very tough and mice don't seem to like it as much as some, but I slightly wish I'd been purist and got tomasinianus. You need both. Tomasianus is very early, you need something to keep the season going. There’s different varieties of tomasianus, one with lavender petals throughout, one with even paler silvery purple outer petals. It’s nice to have a mixture. I have them growing in grass, followed by a random selection of species Crocus, followed again by miniature species of tulip.

I'm in the early stages of splitting up with my partner, who hates the smell of them, and I'm hoping it'll be a little tiny marker of new starts. Very healing repurposing the remnants of a failed relationship. I split from an emotional abuser, and it was a great healer to visit our “special places” with new DH and make them ours. I hope your narcissi give you a joyous new beginning.

I am feeling very smug, today I weeded my helleborder, it had got very entangled with violets, which I like, but these were taking over. The hellebores now have some room to stretch, I gave them a quick feed but will give them a really good mulch in the autumn. It also meant I could plant a new one, though I didn’t have the energy to transplant another but which now has a space allocated . I seem to have more than I thought I had, must be nearly 15 or 20 and some seedlings , which if they ever flower will probably be wish washy but might be gorgeous!

yesterday I picked a bucket of apples, not quite good enough to store as eaters because they are a bit wormy, so some have been stewed and frozen and the rest will be apple chutney.As usual the best looking ones were out of reach, it has been a good year, I have had more than I can possibly deal with so the wasps and birds will have a good feast with windfalls.

I think this is the best way to enjoy hellebores.

@viques So beautiful 😍

@MereDintofPandiculation, you are a very welcome bad influence! I shall go ahead and buy some toms as well as the firefly. Do you have particular tips for growing crocus in grass? I am just slightly nervous, because I've heard of big posh gardens where they plant their crocuses by taking up the turf, scattering the bulbs, and re-laying. That suggests to me some rather lovely manicured turf - and what I have is a wasteland! The grass is pretty thuggish (a lot of the 'lawn' is couch grass, dandelions and plantain), and it's all grown over builders' rubble that a previous owner laid down as hardstanding. (And thank you for those good wishes. It's lovely to know it can be healing in the end.)

@viques - I love that! My mother has a beautiful Edwardian hellebore bowl and in season she always has it full of flowers on a table in the hallway. I never knew anyone else who did that!

Is a hellebore bowl a thing, like a tulip vase, or is it a bowl that has been co-opted into the role? I think I want one! I know (some) people scoff at Sarah Raven, but IIRC she’s another advocate of floating hellebores.

@SarahAndQuack I have a burgeoning crocus patch under an acer crowded by ferns on pretty much rubble, I think you'll be fine.
Plants want to grow (unless they're Diva Plants, in which case I don't grow them).
I think I started with 5, I never lift them, and this year there were hundreds, a carpet of Crocosity about a metre square.

I leave my hellebores to seed, which they obligingly do. The one that came with the house is now ten, all doing well.

Hope it's ok to join in?
Inspired by the discussions about gardening books recently, I ordered a used copy of Gardening in Pyjamas and also Christine Walkden's book as I had enjoyed her TV series. They arrived today and I was thrilled to discover they were both signed copies! I shall be changing my name to Marion Frances and claiming they were signed for me:)
I did also do some weeding but the books kept calling so the rest can wait until tomorrow.

Now I wish I could grow crocus, but it's no good, I can't. If the voles and mice don't get them the pheasants do. I've got a hellebore border too. They give me great joy after Christmas when the year seems at its darkest and most depressing. I have 'Early Purple' which even here flowers in early January and often is in bloom at Christmas. Which is more than Christmas roses ever are.
I need more crown imperials and other frits even though they do smell of tomcat.
Hello Hedera aka Marion Frances. That was a result with the books.

It's very much a thing. It was extremely fashionable in the 1920s. You can often buy hellebore bowls in antique shops (not always labelled as such!) - they are usually quite heavy, shallow, but with upright sides rather than tapering ones. Often they are either heavily bubbled glass or shades of green.

Ooh, that is hopeful! Thank you. .

I spent some time in my garden trying to get rid of the ants in my lawn. It's mostly the golden ants that build mounds of soil. They are ruining my lawn 😭😭😭
Any suggestions as to how I can get rid of them? Thank you

🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜

I didn’t know there was such a thing as a hellebore bowl, I will be googling, because I think they deserve more than a pasta bowl.

My sweet peas do better, I have discovered the best thing to put a little posy of them in is a champagne flute, plenty of room for the long stemmed ones without falling over and the cheeky little stumpy stemmed ones can be hooked over the rim.

I love oak leaf, it's such a pretty leaf with its subtle trusty red and little wavy edges, and delicious with the rocket. I found a packet of them in amongst my seed stash, so I'm going to plant some tomorrow. My seeds that I mentioned upthread have already germinated after only 3 days.

I was so happy because everything else seems to have tanked this year, so at least we can fill our faces with lettuce!

I have some (what I think is) American cress, but I'm now doubting myself because I also planted. Viola and the leaves look extremely Viola-like even though the label says American cress. I hope I don't give us stomach ache 😣 maybe I'd better look it up online!

trusty = rusty red

@SarahAndQuack my 'lawn' is not manicured. It looks like this most of the year (it gets an autumn strim, then 1 mow in late winter just before the first bulbs come through). I planted crocuses by ramming holes with a dibber and stuffing the bulbs in. I think squirrels got some of them, but plenty came up.

I have a lovely Victorian vase which rather resembles a giant champagne flute. I am constantly buying old tat quirky decorative objects in charity shops and will look out for a hellebore bowl! Thank you for the tip!

I did battle with the dreaded nasturtiums. They are taking over, all self seeded. I suppose they'll be quite nice and peppery with the salad leaves in a couple of weeks

Dug a new bed alongside the patio. Planted a nepeta, verbena, nemesia & lemon verbena.

@BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn your wild meadow is charming, you've taken 'wilding' to a new level. I bet the pollinators love it round your place. Have you had loads of butterflies? I've seen a greater diversity of butterflies that in previous years - there's apparently a wealth of Red Admirals this year in the UK. I've also seen cabbage whites, blues and varieties of moths that I haven't spotted before.

Back from holiday and a lovely day sorting things out, watering etc. (apart from picking up fox crap and - weirdly - a large cutlet that the aforementioned fox had dragged in from somewhere).

Tidied up the dahlias with longer stakes. This year they are noticeably taller because I was much more diligent than usual in reducing the number of stems that develop. I did it because I've had problems with mildew before and thought fewer stems would increase airflow - but it also added about a foot of height!!

Planted out some nicotania seedlings that I'd dug up from between our paving and potted upI suspect they are a bit late to flower but worth a shot!

I spent about an hour picking out bits of uncomposted white plastic/paper from an otherwise finished load of compost. Not as frustrating as it sounds (thanks to a podcast), though wish I could work out what they were from so I could not put them in in the first place. It was the first lot of compost from a tumbler compost bin I bought after a disastrous experience with a Hotbin!!

Thank you, @daisychain01 . We converted it from standard lawn in spring 2020, and it's really evened out this year after a rather patchy start.

It's always full of insects Some butterflies (mainly speckled wood and some small blue ones I've not identified yet, but also red admirals and small tortoiseshells; the whites prefer to hang out round the veg beds in the back), loads of moths, and a good selection of bees and hoverflies,. And this week, a bat in the evenings enjoying the moth buffet. There's a bed at the end with flowering currant, heather and a few other bits to make sure there's some nectar through winter and early spring before the bulbs get going.

The trees are dwarf fruit trees - 3 pears, 2 cherries and an apple - and are just starting to crop this year.

I also got back from holiday today at about midday. Very glad of the rain that was evidently plaguing some of you a few days ago as nothing looks dried out and this afternoon was gloriously sunny. Deadheading, a bit of weeding and edging the lawn...that sounds too neat, I mostly do this by tearing it out by the handful where it's trying to invade the borders.

Am I the only person who doesn't much like hellebores? Apart from some of the white ones, I find the colours a bit too murky. I'm also not a fan of black tulips or black anything else. I'd rather pair my Thalia narcissi with blue grape hyacinths.

Re planting crocuses, I know someone who planted up some grass verges in the town, he used a drill with some sort of large bit to make the holes.

I agree with you, Errol, about murky hellebores. On the whole, I love hellebores - dare I say it, especially the black ones - but it’s disappointing that self-seeded ones tend to revert to a muddy pinky-beige.

I like your idea of pairing Thalia with grape hyacinths. My Thalia fared badly last winter but, if they’re still in good condition, I’ll replant with some of the grape hyacinth I’ve got knocking around.