Blechnum chilensis is a large and handsome fern. For all the many years that I didn't possess it, I wanted it very much. Eventually a friend dug a piece from her garden and gave it to me. It took a year or two to settle down and start producing its large, handsome leaves, then it…
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Gardening and getting older.
As gardeners we are very conscious of the life span allotted to the various plants we grow in our gardens. Some may be annuals, some perennials, some biennials. All of us will have had things die prematurely, sometimes for no apparent reason. Equally, most of us will have had the odd annual that manages two…
Heaven Scent sent to heaven.
White and pale pink Magnolias need a dark background to be seen at their best. On flat ground those of tree habit need a backdrop of other trees or else you are looking at their flowers against the sky, which in the early months of the year is more likely to be cloudy than clear. Magnolia ‘Heaven…
This little patch of mine.
Somewhere on this site is a map of my garden, carefully measured and drawn to scale by me a year or two back. Only there is no scale marked on it, so you don’t know how big it is and nor did I. Well, I revisited it and worked out that my back garden is…
Euphorbia mellifera
There are one or two spots in the garden where it's a struggle to get anything to grow. One such place is behind a brick retaining wall where I suspect the builders back filled with a load of rubble. Somewhere down the line we planted a Euphorbia mellifera there and it has loved it, growing…
The modern world.
On 14 June I was down at Glendurgan Garden and saw a plant which I didn’t recognise and which didn’t have a label. I photographed it and posted a tweet asking Glendurgan what it was. They came back with Aristea major as a name. I Googled that, found a seed supplier who had it and…
Not the Chelsea Flower Show
I've been to the CFS a couple of times, exhibited there just once. I enjoyed it, from both perspectives. The older I get though, the less it moves me. I'm happy pootling away in my own garden and on the allotment. I'm interested in what other people like me are up to, somehow Chelsea is…
What I think I know about soil.
Soil is the stuff I grow most of my plants in, the ones I don’t grow in pots. It is derived from the local rock, soft slatey stuff, small bits of which are visible and sometimes abundant in the soil. Everybody describes it as “shilletty”. If I analysed the distribution of article sizes I would…
End of month view – February 2017
I do like a different viewpoint. You get very familiar with your own garden and it can get difficult "to see oursels as ithers see us". I know the top viewpoint very well, but the bottom one I find much more engaging as it's unfamiliar. I find myself looking closely at it, noticing patterns and…
End of month view – October 2016
It's interesting to compare photos taken on the same date in consecutive years. Last year the Acer had shed its leaves, the orange dahlia had stopped flowering and the Amaryllis which this year have been finished a week or more, were still performing. Other differences, like the shrub that is no longer in front of…
garden ruminations 