From time to time we have grown the odd lily, with mixed results but at the lower end of the achievement spectrum. Mostly they have gone in pots, the only ones in the ground were martagon types and they haven't done especially well. Slugs have been a big problem but I also think our soil…
Six on Saturday – 27/7/2024
It's all just ticking over in the garden now. Nothing more will be planted until autumn; it's just weeding and dead heading and if it stops raining, watering; a bit of tying in and up. Our thoughts are tentatively turning to next year, what do we want more of, what has been a failure that…
Begonia U614
The American Begonia Society maintains a list of unidentified species of Begonias in cultivation, allocating each a number consisting of the letter U followed by three digits. The whole number should be italicized, turning Begonia U614 into Begonia U614. U614 was originally introduced to cultivation by the late Michael Wickenden, then proprietor of Cally Gardens…
Six on Saturday – 20/7/2024
We have just had a lovely sunny day with the garden open and it has now clouded over, is drizzling and the forecast for tomorrow, when we are also open, is for rain all day.On a much more positive note, at the beginning of the week we were getting very worried about opening because the…
Six on Saturday – 13/7/2024
Mid July and still the weather persists with being cool and wet. Looking at pictures from the same time last year I see there is a lot less in flower, in particular Cosmos and Cleome, which are way behind where they were then. We also lost several plants over the winter, like Salvia nemorosa and…
Six on Saturday – 6/7/2024
I'm getting a bit ahead of myself in that I'm writing this on Thursday, mainly because we have visitors coming tomorrow for the weekend. Barring disasters, what is happening on Thursday should still be happening two days later.It's high summer, though it scarcely seems like it, but the flowers know and the build-up continues. Here's…
Begonias in the garden – 7
Nine months on from my last posting on Begonias and it seems a good time to put some notes together by way of an update. My collection has come through another winter and has been added to both by plant purchases and with seed raised plants. Begonia pedatifida ‘Apalala’It is clear that this is a…
Six on Saturday – 29/6/2024
Summertime, and the livin' is easy. Which it is, if you're talking about the garden and comparing it to a couple of months ago. The work has been done and now we reap the rewards. Pull a few weeds, water a few pots. Take half a dozen pictures and post them in a blog and…
The garden in June 2024
We had our first two NGS open days for 2024 a week ago and the next two are at the end of this week. It's a while since I did a video of it and I'm a little out of practice but it will give you a good idea of how it's looking. I didn't…
Six on Saturday – 22/6/2024
Well, that's it, the longest day has passed. The druids will all have gone home. Summer, on the other hand, hasn't arrived here yet. As I write, it's raining, and the forecast for next week is pretty mixed. I don't really mind; it's good growing weather which isn't stressing the plants or burning my head.…
garden ruminations 