ruminate vb. to chew (the cud)
I lay awake on Wednesday evening listening to two hedgehogs mating just outside. Yes, I'm happy to have hedgehogs and very glad they are breeding. I wish I knew where she was going to have her babies so I could keep well clear. They were at it for at least 45 minutes. Shameless. One. Primula…
On Wednesday we had a decent drop of rain, the first useful amount for a while, and when I pulled the curtains in the morning it was as if the windows had been cleaned for the first time in years. I stood there for a while, taking it in, and started noticing things. Come Saturday, said I,…
With a bit of luck the short return of winter forecast for this weekend will spare the far southwest; frost at this stage of the great unfurling can do untold damage. Just now it's raining, but just a passing shower methinks. One large oak tree at the southwest corner and a few overgrown shrubs are what…
I'm off to another show at RHS Rosemoor today, the RCM Group Main Rhododendron and SW Branch Competitions. As usual, my main focus is the Camellias, which a month or so ago seemed likely to be all over by now. However, when I did my volunteer day at Mt Edgcumbe on Tuesday I was pleasantly…
Oh my, what perfect gardening weather, I'm knackered. Finding six things wasn't a problem though, it's all happening. One. With a strong sense of not having a clue what I was doing, I pruned my 'Victoria' plum tree. Shortened all of last year's shoots to a couple of sideshoots and thinned it out some. There…
I'm away gallivanting. Judging Camellias at the RHS show at Savil Garden. Which means I'm away from my computer and confined to an iPad. If I can pull this off it'll be a miracle. One. The blue riband class in camellias is the twelve. Twelve perfect blooms. Tragically the competitors who had staged their exhibits…
I spent a good deal of yesterday on the showground at Wadebridge, helping set up a stand for the International Camellia Society at the Cornwall Garden Society Spring Show. I'll be back there tomorrow on the stand. My plan for today's six was to take some pictures up there yesterday, but it didn't work out that way,…
Immediately following last week's post I got stuck in and did quite a lot of planting out, of things I'd bought or grown last year but kept under cover for the winter. It seems too long ago to include them in this weeks six and besides, there are too many things flowering and clamouring for attention.…
I suppose it had to happen. I've included a camellia in quite a few sixes and on a couple of occasions have indulged myself and gone with two. I wouldn't say it's the best year I've ever had for them but I do have several particularly good ones flowering just now so I'm going to…
It hasn't been a good week for gardening. Let's just leave it at that and move on. I'm off to Rosemoor today for the RHS Early Camellia Show. Glad I'm not competing, it's going to be very hard to find undamaged blooms. Bit like that finding six things for this, for starters I didn't really…
garden ruminations 