What's your garden like at this time of year?

[rebornfree]

I still do! I'm going to look it up now.

Thank you!!! That video is funny.

Thanks for finding that Phoebe Ann. I think most of them got it right in the end.

 

[joyshirley]

I'm visiting my father at the moment and Dad pruned all his roses yesterday. In the meantime, I was looking for something to read and found a book my mother bought some time ago. It's called A Year in my Garden by Jonathan Spade. It's good - written like a diary, with stuff about his work in his garden, info about his many and varied plants and woven through with his sense of humour and tendency to personify his plants.

 

[musicalpilgrim]

I'm visiting my father at the moment and Dad pruned all his roses yesterday. In the meantime, I was looking for something to read and found a book my mother bought some time ago. It's called A Year in my Garden by Jonathan Spade. It's good - written like a diary, with stuff about his work in his garden, info about his many and varied plants and woven through with his sense of humour and tendency to personify his plants.

...I looked on Amazon uk for the book, but couldn't find it... sounds very good

 

[rebornfree]

I'm visiting my father at the moment and Dad pruned all his roses yesterday. In the meantime, I was looking for something to read and found a book my mother bought some time ago. It's called A Year in my Garden by Jonathan Spade. It's good - written like a diary, with stuff about his work in his garden, info about his many and varied plants and woven through with his sense of humour and tendency to personify his plants.

Sounds like an interesting and informative book js, and I love books with some humour in them.

This week I bought some herbs and have planted mint and basil mint (I'm not quite sure what that is) in a hanging basket and thyme and sorrel in a planter. My hollyhock has flowered with red and cream petals, and other plants are coming into bloom. Again I marvel at the beauty of the Lord's creation.

 

[musicalpilgrim]

Our garden is dry, and we water every day, the lawn is yellow but will recover when it rains. It is so hot and sunny every day and we are not used to it....

 

[rebornfree]

I've been watering diligently too, and hoping that we don't have a hosepipe ban (I think NI has).

 

[joyshirley]

The trees are bare now and we did not have to deal with too many leaves blowing round our section this time. A rhodendron nearby is bursting into flower and will be absolutely covered in beautiful red flowers soon. Very cheering in mid-winter.

 

[rebornfree]

The trees are bare now and we did not have to deal with too many leaves blowing round our section this time. A rhodendron nearby is bursting into flower and will be absolutely covered in beautiful red flowers soon. Very cheering in mid-winter.

I think it must be lovely to have such blooms mid-winter and I'm glad you didn't have too many leaves to clear up, js.

I'm really happy with the garden this year. The hollyhock is producing beautiful red and yellow flowers and the petunias are flowering nearby. The pot plants are doing well, and I'm really pleased with the herbs. It's so lovely just picking some to use in cooking or salads - I haven't done that for over 25 years.

 

[joyshirley]

I think it must be lovely to have such blooms mid-winter and I'm glad you didn't have too many leaves to clear up, js.

I'm really happy with the garden this year. The hollyhock is producing beautiful red and yellow flowers and the petunias are flowering nearby. The pot plants are doing well, and I'm really pleased with the herbs. It's so lovely just picking some to use in cooking or salads - I haven't done that for over 25 years.

That sounds so lovely, Sue! I love flowers, but haven't really grown any for years now. I do enjoy those that are already growing wherever we are living, though. I'm not adventurous with food and have never really used herbs in food, apart from parsley. I know - missing out big-time, I expect.
My father always has stuff like parsley, tomatoes and chives growing in pots near the door.

 

[rebornfree]

That sounds so lovely, Sue! I love flowers, but haven't really grown any for years now. I do enjoy those that are already growing wherever we are living, though. I'm not adventurous with food and have never really used herbs in food, apart from parsley. I know - missing out big-time, I expect.
My father always has stuff like parsley, tomatoes and chives growing in pots near the door.

I like seeing what's in the garden each time I move. The last house had beautiful roses, but unfortunately they got black spot.

It's great to have the herbs. My mint is in a hanging basket by the back door, so I just have to open it and pick! I'd love to grow tomatoes too - maybe next year!

 

[rebornfree]

This year my rose had black spot so that had to go too! The mint didn't survive very well, so thyme is the only one of my herbs left. However the fuchsia is still blooming and the daisy is producing its second growth of flowers. Otherwise the garden is looking a bit empty, with plants pruned and trees bare, but I quite like the contrast to the other seasons and it makes looking forward to the spring bulbs extra special; the crocus are already poking their heads above the soil. Also the cobbles I put down this year are looking beautiful in all the rain we've had!

How is every else's? Those of you in the Southern Hemisphere are you having a good show of flowers?

 

[Rescued One]

Well, the weather outside is FRIGHTFUL! But I have these pictures I took in 2009.

This was taken by our back door looking towards the neighbors' house.


December 20, 2009.

But let me contemplate spring!!




I ordered a new weather proof 18" flower pot and my plants to go in it.


This is the photo from the garden catalog; I order these every year.

THINK SPRING! At my age that's about the extent of my gardening.

 

[Rescued One]

In the end I changed my mind about the rockery so I've just put a pot plant on the bit where nothing will grow. (I think it is due to the foundations of a brick pillar which supports the fence.) However I've planted a few things including a cosmos, which I hadn't heard of before, and a hollyhock, which I'd mistaken for a peony. They were next to each other in the garden centre and I think I just picked up the wrong pot and planted it before I'd realised my mistake. I'm happy with it but it is a taller plant than I wanted. However the slugs and snails are keeping it in check - it must be a delicacy in their cuisine the way they are attacking it.

Are slugs just snails that have gone through a divorce?

“Yep, she got the house”

 

[rebornfree]

Lovely pictures Phoebe Ann , and I hope you're surviving the Arctic Blast.

Here the snow has nearly gone, so the garden is looking wintry bare, but I like the seasonal variations. One daisy is flowering though and a neighbour still has a hanging basket displaying blooms. In due course the bulbs will start to flower and pots and troughs be placed on the walls and the cobbles.

 

[joyshirley]

Things are holding their own here, given the on and on heat lately. It's trees and shrubs where we are, but Dad tells me all his flowers are going for it. I hope to visit him soon, so will see his garden for myself.

 

[rebornfree]

Things are holding their own here, given the on and on heat lately. It's trees and shrubs where we are, but Dad tells me all his flowers are going for it. I hope to visit him soon, so will see his garden for myself.

I hope you have a good visit js. I imagine NZ must look particularly beautiful at this time of year. Are any of your shrubs flowering?

 

[joyshirley]

I hope you have a good visit js. I imagine NZ must look particularly beautiful at this time of year. Are any of your shrubs flowering?

It will be some time before the camellias burst into flower, Sue. But the flax bush has just flowered and agapanthus are producing drifts of blue flowers at present.

In actuality, NZ can look rather brown at this time of year, Sue. It can be a shock to go out into the country and see dry, brown paddocks and hills everywhere. Drought is an ever-present threat in many parts of NZ round this time.

 

[rebornfree]

It will be some time before the camellias burst into flower, Sue. But the flax bush has just flowered and agapanthus are producing drifts of blue flowers at present.

Sounds lovely. Is it agapanthus in your avatar js?

In actuality, NZ can look rather brown at this time of year, Sue. It can be a shock to go out into the country and see dry, brown paddocks and hills everywhere. Drought is an ever-present threat in many parts of NZ round this time.

I never knew that about NZ. For some reason I'd thought you had sufficient rainfall all year around. I hope you get rain soon if it's needed.

 

[rebornfree]

This week I displayed the crocus bulbs, which are just showing the very beginnings of blooms, where all can see them and today took them down due to the wind. We've had pots and troughs blown over in the past.

We have a communal area behind our houses, so things placed on the walls and hanging baskets are visible to all. One of my neighbours has a beautiful display of snowdrops.

 

[joyshirley]

Sounds lovely. Is it agapanthus in your avatar js?

I never knew that about NZ. For some reason I'd thought you had sufficient rainfall all year around. I hope you get rain soon if it's needed.

No, not agapanthus, Sue. I believe it's an artist's impression of wild chicory. I just found the image on Google and thought it was beautiful.

They say we may get rain next week, if a certain cyclone above NZ gets its way. I could see the extent of the dryness affecting the countryside when I drove to Dad's place. We do need rain desperately in most of the country at present. Fortunately, most of NZ responds very quickly to rainfall, greening up again pretty quickly.