Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Elizabethrose]

Leylandia aren't trees Evelyn, they're a blot on the landscape!! 

Yep, the butchery inflicted is a crying shame. When hubby returned on Friday night he noticed that a beautiful twisted fig had also been chain sawed as well as a gorgeous rose that we'd admired for years and tried to find out the variety. It's like the chain saw massacre! Still onwards and upwards, it takes all sorts.

Tell me how deep and long is the bed you'd like to plant. Are you looking for shrubs, perennials, annuals, climbers? Evergreen or deciduous? What is the aspect, which way is it facing, is it sunny, shady etc? How tall would you like the plants to grow to? Oh I sound like Percy Thrower?
x

[Hurdity]

My new roses have grown since I've been away (despite lack of rain)!! None of the shoots are more than 2 ins though... hopefully they will shoot away soon as I was assured they would flower in the first year.

Tomato plants are enormous in the greenhouse, but the onion sets outside have barely grown. Broad bean plants also suffering from drought but we had a welcome shower tonight . All too brief though...

Hurdity x

[CLKD]

Glad that your plants survived whilst you were away!

Moved tender plants inside due to cold weather forecast.  My roses are slowing up but should give a good show eventually.

[Elizabethrose]

Typical, no rain forecast this week again and as everything is so dry outside, this morning I sprinkled the lawn which is looking quite sad and fertilised my pots. The heavens have just opened!

I have an utterly gorgeous azalea that's just about to bloom. We inherited it many years ago and have never been able to discover what it is. I've bought others in the hope that we can replicate it somewhere else in the garden but the varieties are always wrong. It is a stunning orange flower and the leaves turn green bronze as the summer progresses. Nearest to it I've found colour wise is Gibraltar but that's not what it is. Anyway hubby will arrive home just as it bursts!

[Jenna]

I have an utterly gorgeous azalea that's just about to bloom. We inherited it many years ago and have never been able to discover what it is. I've bought others in the hope that we can replicate it somewhere else in the garden but the varieties are always wrong. It is a stunning orange flower and the leaves turn green bronze as the summer progresses. Nearest to it I've found colour wise is Gibraltar but that's not what it is. Anyway hubby will arrive home just as it bursts!

Hi Elizabethrose - that sounds like 'Glowing Embers' to me. See what you think!

[CLKD]

If it's an old variety the name may well be lost.  I remember going to Kelling Aviaries as a child and the azaleas along by the path were stunning!

[Elizabethrose]

Jenna, thank you for your PM, you are a star, that may well be it. Blimey I've searched for years and bought a number. I'm going to buy another and find a spot for it. Thank you Miss Marple!! xx

[Mbrown001]

Going to get my seed potatoes in later today. We are late this year but they are main crop so should still be fine.
My greenhouse is packed with things that really need hardening off but it's just too cold.

I bought a climbing jasmine the other day. Can anyone give a bit of advice on whether I can grow this in a huge pot. I want to train it along a sheltered west facing fence but I don't have room to put it in the ground.

Mrs Brown.

[Elizabethrose]

Is it a summer or winter jasmine Mrs B or a star jasmine (Trachelospermum)?

[Mbrown001]

It's a Trachelospermum (jasminoides)

That's a summer flowering one I think...hope lol.



Mrs Brown

[Elizabethrose]

Oh they are fabulous. We have loads of them, though we lost two really mature ones this winter, I suspect to honey fungus but awaiting the results form Wisley.

They grow beautifully in pots, just as long as they are big enough, well watered and fed regularly. We've planted them in all aspects, against fences, up walls, over pergolas and they thrive. They can be big beasts but will be contained if in a pot. We have had a problem occasionally with sooty mildew but if sprayed in July it normally sorts it for the following year.

I love them, they are such good value plants and smell wonderful! x

[Elizabethrose]

Really dull day here today with the most pathetic half hearted attempt at rain, so I saturated the lawn and beds. Tied in clematises and golden hops which were reaching for the heavens. Pruned back Akebia quinata which was also making a dash for it. Love that plant, love the foliage especially in a light breeze, though it is vigorous!

There's a real chill in the air here today though we haven't had the frosts experienced elsewhere. It's been so dry that lots of the shrubs have halted themselves. I think all it needs is a decent amount of rain and a sunny spell and all will take off again. The lawn is looking particularly sad thus my intense watering. After a light cut this weekend I'm going to fertilise it and see if it picks up. Anyone else noticed that turfs now seem to come growing through some sort of plastic chicken wire. We repaired some edges last year that overhanging perennials kill off each summer and the edges are bald again but have tufts of plastic sticking up through the still growing bits. (if you can understand what I mean!) It is ridiculous! x

[ariadne]

Elizabethrose I have akebia quinata too but it has been disappointing. I've had it for at least 5 years and although it has grown vigorously, it never produces many flowers. It is planted in shade. Could that be the reason? Any advice?

Ariadne xx

[Elizabethrose]

Hi ariadne,

Ours is placed along a south west facing fence and gets full sun for much of the day. We have clay soil but I dig in lots of compost (homemade) and also liquid feed throughout the growing seasons. This year it was smothered in flowers, quite wonderful but we've never had any fruit. We planted about three years ago (I think) so maybe it needs to settle before it fruits.

Does yours get any sun on it? I don't think they mind semi-shade. Why don't you try a liquid feed this year, I think it's recommended that it should be trimmed after flowering in the spring rather than later in the year so maybe it sets it's flower buds early. Feed it all summer and wait and see come spring. At least you have the lovely vigourous foliage. xx

[ariadne]

 It does get some sun but not all day. I have never fed it so I will try that. it has had a few flowers this spring but I had to look hard to find them. Until last year I had never even trimmed it so it was quite rampant but I had to trim it because hubby needed to repaint the fencing.

Thank you for your advice, I will feed it and mulch it with some leaf mould I've got.

Ariadne xx