Episode 34 - The Tearoom moves to New England

[beanandspud]

At this time of year New England is famous for its glorious foliage as billions of leaves change from green to a kaleidoscope of colours. The air is crisp and cool ? perfect for hiking, biking or a drive along back roads, where farm stands are piled high with crunchy apples and orange pumpkins.

Everyone is welcome. There are tea, cakes and wine aplenty so pull up a comfortable chair and join us.

The usual rule applies - no fisticuffs please!

Oh and what direction do the planters face and how much sun do they get?

Are they rendered and painted? If so, what colour?

Nothing else in planters, though might put some bedding plants in in the summer.
I'd like funky, but bold or cottage garden would be ok too. Bright colours, and no definate nos.
Roughly east/west, lots of sun apart from right at one end which gets less.
They are not painted, just natural oiled light wood.

Scout, I'd just go with the tack that you need to understand what has changed that it can be put off so far as no one has told you the clinical picture.

West-facing front bit.

Okay. Bulbs.

For Cmot's gorgeous-sounding planters, I would suggest any of these:

1. Cheerful, tasteful combo: lots of different narcissus - start with early varieties such as January or February Gold and then add other, later varieties to extend the flowering season. Smaller, daintier varieties like Minnow and Pipit are lovely, too - browse one of the bulb websites like van Meuwen or J Parker. Underplant the narcissus with forget-me-nots and something line green - euphorbia Polychroma or any of the lime green heucheras (Stoplight is a nice one, as is Key Lime Pie). All very low maintenance. Other bulbs that will flower at about the same time are anemone (blue would be best but also available in white) and muscari. The pale blue muscari is rather bleurgh but muscari latifolium is deep purple and truly gorgeous. Pushkinia and triteleia are both very pale blue and very pretty.

1. Bold and funky - purple tulips (Ronaldo and Couleur Cardinal are lovely) underplanted with wallflowers (best colour combination is Persian Carpet).

1. Bold and beautiful - orange tulips (Prinses Irene or Ballerina) under planted with lime green heucheras. Dark purple violas to fill the gaps.

1. Fresh and pretty - Any yellow tulip, forget me nots, blue geranium (Johnson's Blue or similar) for ground cover.

1. Art deco - black tulips (Negrita or Queen of Night) and white forget me nots or geranium or white tulips and geranium phaeum Mourning Widow, which is black. Fill spaces with Alchemilla mollis and small white bulbs (eg anemone blanda).

1. For later in the year - various varieties of allium and gladiolus Byzantinus (magenta). Lots of lilies - Lilium regale is gorgeous - and gladioli if you want to channel Dame Edna. Much later in the year, cyclamen coum - very bold in shocking pink or delicate in white.

I'm suggesting all these things for ground cover because it'll be hard to get the planters to look full with nothing but bulbs - at somd times of year there'll be nothing to look at - and empty soil will invite weeds. Everything I'm suggesting is very low maintenance. Low-growing grasses would also plug gaps - carex buchananii (bronze) would work with the b&w plantings and Elijah Blue with any of the others.

I can't do links because I'm on my phone but you can probably see everything I've named on www.rhs.org.uk.

I am a bit obsessed with tulips. Other lovely varieties are

Spring Green
White Triumphator
Abu Hassan
Gavota
Carnaval de Nice

Another summer bulb (very hip, very designer) is nectaroscordum.

I love the parrot tulips....

Ah, you see, I don't, which is why they're not on my list ....

Thank you, thank you, thank you Maud . I will be on the bulb websites shortly

You're right - its something else that I like.... not the big fat ones - much less blousey.....

My pleasure, Cmot. I love to talk plants. Let me know what you choose!

I should also have suggested heucheras in other colours - Palace Purple or Obsidian (nearly black) as ground cover. The little white flowers on heucheras are pretty but unspectacular - it's their coloured leaves that make them so interesting.

I am in awe of Maud.

If its in the front of the house - and you want something that's good in the summer, and around which some bulbs would be fine in the spring, something like catmint might be rather nice - good for the bees and butterflies and flowers from spring right through (and likes relatively dry conditions). I love agapanthus - but I understand that its best to grow them in a pot and raise it in the winter and put them somewhere dry (eg a garage) so that they don't get wet and cold at the same time until they're well established - when they can be planted out and left with more sucess.

Yes, agapanthus like root congestion so flower better in pots. There are some nearly-black varieties which, with their white counterparts,would also suit an art deco planting.

thank you all for cheering me up yesterday, lovely just to drop in and have supportive words of advice - and then brilliant bulb tips! I think I shall have to channel my inner Maud to try and find a couple of corners in our teeny tiny garden for a bulb and heucheras session
good luck Scout you are nervous because it matters to you. Glad Toddler having great dreams he sounds a sweetie
love idea of tea room siblings
I had given up red book and forgot to measure Oxboy on 3rd birthday but I suspect he'll be a tall bean pole like OxBloke

Love the nectaroscordum. May be looking for some.

::Clasps Oxeye .... etc etc::

How are you feeling today, my lovely?

I was thinking today that I should dig out The Girl's red book and see if I can calculate her eventual height. She seems to be going from quite tall to smaller than her peers, but maybe that's because they've had growth spurts.

Maud, Toddler does that too. He started out more on the average side then crept up in the percentiles where he hovered for a while and then, apparently, at his 2 yr check (which was closer to 2.4) he was creeping back to average but seeing as she couldn't get TS to stand on the measurer thing I didn't believe her (especially since I had measured him taller three months before). Toddler is definitely having a spurt, though.

MrScout is 6'5", I'm about 5'5"/5'6" (depends on how bad my scoliosis is acting up when I'm measured), one of my SsiL is 6', the twins are 5'10", so I anticipate Toddler will be at least 6'.

Oxeye, you wouldn't have thought Toddler was sweet if you witnessed his way out of character tantrum he had this afternoon at the toddler group. To be fair all of the kids seemed off kilter today but he just had an almighty meltdown to the point where I took him out and we left.

Nectaroscordum is indeed les genoux de l'abeille. I saw a garden on Gardeners' World where they were complaining about how easily it self-seeds and having to grub up the seedlings, but it doesn't do that (sadly) in my garden, probably because of the heavy clay.

Scout - I think we've all had those days when the only thing to do with a stroppy toddler is beat a more or less dignified retreat!

Plant porn

Yes, there were a few of us at various points who just said "forget it, let's go home." Shame, really, because today's group is Toddler's favorite group and he looks forward to it all day/week.

At breakfast I was told "Red balloon so sad. It blowed away. Toddler cried red balloon got away. Go Pizza Hut lunch new red balloon?"

I don't whether to laugh or cry at this point!

Oh, Maud, GREAT new badge! Thank you!!!

He's a smart boy! What a cunning plan!

I'm so glad you like the badge - it was designed by one of the girls (not one of mine, though)!

It is, indeed, a cunning plan. But the closest ones are in YOUT and I am carless today. The bus, surprisingly, is stupidly expensive and can take up to two hours to go 17.7 miles. I told him that we couldn't go today but maybe another day.

I think girl designed badges are some of the best.

Well, it'd be a great plan for another day when you have the car. Are you likely to be in the big bad capital city any time before your trip home? I'm hoping I might get to YOUT soon.