Three months ago we arrived back from seven weeks in Australia thinking that in large measure we'd put winter behind us while we were away. It seems to have been an exceptionally long haul into better weather and though the days are longer and the light brighter, the temperatures are no higher than they've been…
Wordless Wednesday 27-04-2016
Mid month muse
Years ago, there was an Astelia at RHS Rosemoor called 'Alpine Ruby'. It was very nice, I wanted one. At the time I worked on a nursery and looking for sources of supply, there was one, in Northern Ireland. There still is. Around the same time a new variety called 'Red Devil' was launched and…
End of month view, March 2016
There's actually quite a lot going on in the garden now, but almost all of it is only visible close up. Shoots are pushing up, buds are swelling, flowers are emerging. From any distance though, it looks the same as it did in January. What I need to do is focus on individuals, not the…
Camellia flower variation
I was asked a question the other day about Camellia ‘Satan’s Robe’. The flowers had white stamens instead of the yellow ones they should have had. On closer inspection it turned out that the anthers had not developed and each stamen ended in a small white club. Looking at photographs I have taken of the…
Allotment update.
Another year, another back ache. But I'm warming to the no-dig theme and apart from endless shredding and humping compost about, not digging is easier. Before the winter last year I had covered most of my plot with vegetable matter of some description. I am very pleased to say that most of it has rotted away…
End of month view, February 2016
It's not fair to expect much to change in February and while I haven't compared the pictures, I imagine they look much the same. Things are changing though. A few dry days have allowed me to catch up on tidying up. The grass in the foreground, Hakonechloa macra 'Mediovariegata', has been chopped right down, a…
End of month view, January 2016
I missed last month and am late this because I've been on holiday in Australia. The main impression on arriving home is that it looks pretty much the same as it did when I left. The Hakonechloas are deader and brighter, that's the orangey blobs; there's an Azalea flowering. I've just been out clearing up…
End of month view, November 2015
The wind is howling, the clouds racing across the sky. Every now and then the wind comes loaded with rain. There's a trellis panel down and for now it's going to stay down. My end of month view is the view from indoors. Earlier this year I paved the various gravel paths we had in the…
Autumn flowering Camellias
I paid a visit yesterday to the Camellia National Collection at Mount Edgcumbe in the hope that their autumn flowering camellias would be putting on a show. I was not disappointed. The autumn flowering camellias are often referred to as "the sasanquas" though some are forms of the species C. hiemalis, others hybrids. Many originate from…
garden ruminations 