Feeling glum about my garden

[Bigearringsbigsmile]

None of my daffodils have flowered for the 2nd year in a row. My camellia hasn't flowered. The dahlias I planted in pots last summer have died.
The patio is in a terrible state and really needs replacing but it's not going to happen this year.

I've got some nice stuff. Very successful lavender, a nice hydrangea, a big rhododendron that gives a couple weeks of incredible colour every may.
But I just feel like it needs more.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Have the squirrels snaffled your daffodils?

Dahlias really need to be dug out at end of each year - frost knackers them.

Thjnk I'd scrub the patio (you can get cleaner to make it look brighter). Get Your pots looking pretty. Rake over bare soil/weed.

If budget tight check out any plant sales in your area or get cuttings from friends. If hot spare money - garden centre trip out !

Last year was a disaster in my garden so hoping for a better year.

My helleboras are gorgeous this year. I think they are always worth buying - make me feel like spring really is here

Have you get walls/fence for climbers?

I've just sown lots of seeds this week to hope for marigolds, sweetpeas, lobelia, sunflowers, herbs, peas etc.

Dog the daffodils up and either split the clumps or replace in the Autumn. Is the Camellias in a pit or in the ground? Camellias form flower buds in late summer so it's important they don't dry out then. Buy some ericaceous controlled release feed and feed and mulch it now. Give it a good soak once or twice a week from mid July to mid September.
Are you certain the Dahlias are dead? If they are outside they won't be sprouting just yet.
Patios are harder to sort out. Can you sweep it? Would it take a jet wash? Does it need weeding?

Or your daffodils might be a bit crowded if they;ve been in for a few years? Or hungry, try not to cut back the leaves until June if you can manage it. Camellia needs to be well watered in August to flower the following spring and they can be a bit temperamental.

The shrubby salvias are pretty robust - they come in a gazillion colours, the red and white Hotlips is just one of a huge family.

A riot of cheap bedding plants in pots always looks wonderful, especially if you can restrain yourself and do a bit of repetition.

It's a bit early for dahlias, isn't it? I grow mine in pots and overwinter them - they do take their time to re-appear.

The daffodils have only been in 3 years . I've had one flowering year.
I'm really lucky and have a gardener come in once a fortnight to cut the grass and keep everything tidy. They come while I'm at work so I just got yhe message saying dahlias were dead and they'd disposed of them.
I've jet t washed the patio and it's weed free just broken stones, uneven, cement grout has gone and it's just rubbish.

I thought I'd kept the camellia watered well so...who knows.

Would putting lots of pots on your patio or obe of those rugs (I don't know how they weather) help ?

I think I need to just get a grip! I'm so lucky really.

I AM going to paint the fences a nice light green I've decided which will make everything look brighter. And I need to gussy up my pots and get them looking bright and colourful. It's very early in the season- just need to keep reminding myself.

I think this is it. It's been so sunny lately that we're forgetting it's still only March, and anything is doing well to be flowering or doing much at all yet! I planted some daffs last winter which have reluctantly poked some leaves up and I'm still hoping for some flowers. I have a small garden and swear by loads of pots and this year I'm filling some gro bags with tomato and lettuce plants because I want my garden to be productive - I'm itching to get them in but it's still going to be frosty overnight up here, so I can't!

Maybe you could buy some ready-planted pots from a garden centre? They are almost guaranteed to flower and give you some ready colour and then you can always plant out the contents in the garden and use the pots for something else.

My camellia hasn’t flowered yet so there is still time. I have clay soil and where it’s very wet daffodils don’t do well. Maybe try some in a pot next year? I’ve just potted up dahlia tubers, they’ll stay in my growhouse for a few months I expect.

Feed the daffodils now and they’ll most likely flower next year.
Dahlias can be tricky - I just leave mine in the ground and they take their chances, I’ve lost more digging them up and storing them overwinter than I lose in the ground.
Plant a ribes if you want something easy going and looking good this time of year.

Yes, I agree with feeding the daffodils now.

I think I need to dig up the daffodils and try again for next tear with fresh bulbs. 2 years of them coming up blind doesn't bode well I don't think

That's interesting that your camellia hasn't flowered yet either. Next door's is smothered in flowers.

Are the daffodils being cut back after they flower? They need the leaves left for a good while to feed the bulb. I think you are supposed to leave them for 6 weeks or so, so don't cut them back even though they haven't flowered. Wait for them to go yellow.

Dahlias don't like a frost so may die if left out over the winter, I wouldn't bother with them. Camelias like it wet but not soggy - to me that means they're too much hassle to bother with as well.

Right now I've got primroses and pulmonaria everywhere, pulmonaria doesn't like too much sun but apart from that both are really easy and loads of flowers. I need flowers that look after themselves and come back every year.

@Primrose579 no- I leave them for absolutely ages and then tie them loosely rather than cut them.
Anyway, I've just comforted myself by splurging on bulbs on farmer gracy😳

My camellia started flowering much later than usual this year. Most years the first flowers appear in January, sometimes as early as Christmas, and it is normally covered in flowers by the end of February. This year it only had a few flowers in February, and I thought it must have had problems building the buds because of the miserable weather last year. Today it is completely smothered with flowers, it just took a couple of months longer than usual to get going this year for some unknown reason.

Also I'm in Wales, not all that far from Tenby, but I can't keep daffodils alive in my garden, they flower the first year and then come up blind if they come up at all. I think they do it to annoy, because they know it teases.

I think as you said, managing your expectations so early in the year is the key! I have a little woodland garden around a tree by my patio with loads of spring bulbs, snowdrops and hellebore. That's the bit I look at in March, and I sow lots of seeds indoors which gets me all excited about the coming year. The rest of the garden is in the 'prep now, rewarding later' phase!

My south facing camellias are in full flower. My north facing ones haven't started yet.

I'd be a little worried that your dahlias were disposed of when they weren't dead but hopefully your gardener knows the difference..

A garden is a journey not a destination! Corny I know but it helps me to think of it that way. There will alway be some things thriving and other things dying that need to be removed. It's great that you've got some plants doing well. Camellia's need acid soil could that be it? Also: right plant right place, so understanding the soil/sun/exposure/temperature/pH/etc situation of different parts of the garden and choosing plants accordingly.

I'm shocked your gardener disposed of your dahlias. It's far too early to give up on them.

It’s possible they were a squishy rotten mess (but personally I’d still have repotted and waited to see).

I have painted the fence light green ( dulux dewy lawn) and it has really perked things up!
Feeling better about it all now. Eagerly awaiting my farmer gracy delivery!