Garden Report 2007 - 9

LB1LB2
I finished clearing the nettles and moss from the high bank yesterday - until I noticed a couple of small patches I had missed. Ho hum...

The dog rose that was up there got the chop. I was fed up with getting scratched and snagged by it, and it was also harboring nettles and docks around its base. I cut it back to the ground, throwing the stems onto the path below, but the stump is still in there - the root was too strong for me to dig/pull out.

When I got back down to cut it up into a rubbish sack I realised I no longer had my secateurs. I must have left them up there, so back up I climbed. Absolutely no sign of them. I poked around with the fork I had left up there but to no avail. Now I understand why I have dug up a couple of old hand trowels up there...

I came back down and decided to end the day weeding the very small patch on the lawn side of the rose bed - there are some bulbs and a few self seeded plants in there amongst the weeds.

I got back out today after lunch. A note had been put through the door that I had missed a delivery - the package was in the shed. My first installment from J Parker had arrived...

The aquilegias, first sets of mixed perennials and lupins, dwarf rhododendrons, free gift azalea number one and free gift 10 white dwarf Asiatic lily bulbs number one were inside.

I set about potting on the aquilegias, perennials and lupins.

One of the lupins is not a lupin - I don't know what it is but it looks very similar to some weeds I have...but I have potted it on just in case it is actually a garden worthy plant...




The perennials consisted of a eucomis bulb, a liatris corm, a delphinium, a hollyhock root and six plug plants. I recognised two of the plugs without resorting to the list... Can you do better???

I planted up the lily bulbs in my large turquoise pot.

I then decided to have another attempt at finding my secateurs, and succeeded. They were buried at the edge of some marguerites that acted as a barrier to the soil rolling down the bank when I had been digging the day before.

After a short break I decided to plant up the willow 'Kilmarnock' I had bought in Morrisons a few weeks ago into another large pot. It needed to be soaked for an hour before replanting so I stood it in a bucket of water. This was a good opportunity to photograph the new entries in the 'what's in flower'...

I have two chaenomeles in flower, one near the pampas grass in the high bank and this one at the trellis near the sheds. Last year it was hidden by nettles...


I bought three pulsatillas last year from Homebase when they had been reduced to half price because they had finished flowering. The red and white ones are now in flower - still waiting for the mauve one...













I brought some Labrador violets up with me from Sandhurst. These self-seed prolifically which is okay by me, I think they are pretty.

The primroses and cowslips around and about have been flowering for a few weeks. My garden is now catching up...


The hyacinths have coloured up in the last couple of days.

The ipheions at the top of LB6 have started to flower.

And finally the kerria is now looking quite good - especially since I cut out the dead stems earlier in the week. I have thrown this photo in to see if Lillian spots/recognises the toad...