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[CLKD]

Is that outdoors?  I tried many years ago but they didn't like our plot.  We had over 20 indoor plants which have whittled down to 5 over the years.  As we are running out of space it's probably for the best 

[CLKD]

I am sitting by our ponds and a frog is muttering ...... lots of spawn, birds are singing,  is burning my ear so I have to move.  Washing blowing on the line ...... bumble bees, flies, one lady bird, Devon violets 

[Elizabethrose]

Oh now that sounds wonderful CLKD.

Clearing out a big shed yesterday one that contains our bird foods etc and found a suet cake in a tough plastic outer. A mouse had clearly managed to bite into it, climb into it, then eat the whole thing from the inside so that it was too fat to get out. We found the dead mouse flat out inside the wrapper! 

The garden looks a little bald today after a weekend of heavy pruning and tidying. We have a few gaps too as we've lost some shrubs: I fear we have a soil baddy killing plants off. It's such a pain because what the heck do you plant in the infected soil? Going to do a Wisley trip and speak to a specialist.

[CLKD]

Our raspberries have something that kills them  .  Is the ground sodden at all?  Some plants get to the end of their natural life, I am replanting areas with mallow as the oldest one: which was a stem stuck into the ground 9 years ago on the off-chance that it would grow; it did: finally broke away.  Again I have taken some stems and stuck in.  I have also bought 2 new plants for other spots in the garden.

Camellia has buds on 

Clouding up now.  I saw a comma butterfly earlier warming itself on the fence 

[Elizabethrose]

We're on London clay but don't usually have a problem, we have a very well established garden. We've lost too much CLKD; a Schizophragma, two Viburnum davidiis, a Caryopteris, a Clematis armandii, two Clematis Fujimusume, two Rosa golden showers and now two Trachelospermum. Majorly naffed off!!

Trouble is if it is a soil baddy and I suspect it is, we can't dig out the soil because we have huge shrubs in the beds. Hubby is suggesting we surround new plants with some sort of barrier but some of these viruses or bacterium are carried by water. I'll see what the experts say. A neighbour lost a tree a few years ago to Honeyfungus so it could be that.

Such a shame, the garden was utterly glorious last year, so so pretty. x

[CLKD]

AAHH - honey fungus!  How about raised beds, at least 4/5 feet with lots of new compost in?  Viburnum and clematis are well known for keeling over without warning  .  It is so disappointing when they have appeared OK then gone!

[Taz2]

Giggle of the day - I've spent the last two days fruitlessly trying to locate a Bullfinch I could hear tweeting around the garden. Today I discovered it's one of the starlings giving a brilliant impression of one!

Taz x 

[CLKD]

We have starlings that mimic buzzards  ! 

[Elizabethrose]

We had starlings descending around us on Saturday as we were gardening. Some of the noises they were making stopped us in our tracks. At one point we both in unison said 'well, I've never heard that noise before!' It was the weirdest bird noise ever!

[Taz2]

They are brilliant mimics, especially this time of year, from ringtones to pneumatic drills and so many other bird's calls.

Taz x

[CLKD]

Years++ ago : a starling mimicked a trim-phone which made the parrot at that particular house mimic the door-bell 

[Hurdity]

Is that outdoors?  I tried many years ago but they didn't like our plot.  We had over 20 indoor plants which have whittled down to 5 over the years.  As we are running out of space it's probably for the best 

Now CLKD - would I talk about gardening (or even house-plants) on a Wild Birds and Nature thread?! These are native wild orchids I am talking about - early purples - which thrive on a piece of old grassland (with some trees) we have at the back of our garden. My husband as been judiciously nurturing them ( by removing invasive weeds from around them) so they have gradually spread each year. That's why I am excited about them - because they are increasing 

We also have dog's mercury, ladies smock, wild garlic and other woodland/hedgerow plants on this ground - not to mention a huge mass of mistletoe on one of the trees!

Starlings never make it to the gardens round here or our feeders - not sure about elsewhere in the village - but we see them flying about the fields and trees. Our front garden is perhaps too small and they are maybe too many buildings close by  and not enough trees? I'm trying to think what birds we used to have sitting on the wire just outside mimicking phones?

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

 

..... you'll never guess what I found this morning ...... 

[Elizabethrose]

AAHH - honey fungus!  How about raised beds, at least 4/5 feet with lots of new compost in?  Viburnum and clematis are well known for keeling over without warning  .  It is so disappointing when they have appeared OK then gone!

Visited Wisley today CLKD, to see one of their plant specialists taking leaf and root samples which they will analyse. They are brilliant there as they always report back and make recommendations etc. Their gardens were looking wonderful with everything bursting into life. Good girly gossipy day walking and wandering. So therapeutic!

Oh as far as I was aware this thread is for Wild birds and all things to do with nature, I rather assumed that that therefore included gardens, plants and anything relevant to nature.

[Elizabethrose]

Oh following my gardening discussion with CLKD there was a cryptic comment from Hurdity saying, 'would I talk about gardening (or even house-plants) on a Wild Birds and Nature thread?!'

Thought it was a wild birds and all things to do with nature thread not a 'you may only discuss wild nature nothing that is cultivated in any way' thread.