Bulbs - What Worked

The tulips! Loved the tulips. Should have put more bulbs in the pot. Replanted them to the left of the hebe. They were "Queen of the Night".

And the onions. Picked them late May by which time they were fat, delicious spring onions. They were "Senshyu Yellow". This October I am planting them in every available space. They were too good.

Alas...

* Hyacinths - fail. Barely made it above the soil. Did I plant them too far down?

* Crocus - fail. Got leaves but no flowers.

* Snake's Head Fritillaria Meleagris - semi-fail. A couple came through but didn't look great.

In other news: the replanted daffs appeared but weren't anything of note. The replanted pansies didn't take. Neither did the propagated clematis, but I think I tried it at totally the wrong time of year.

Back in the Garden

It's been a while since I did much in the garden - or blogged - but today I spent a whole glorious afternoon pottering away. The recent varied weather (28C and not a cloud one day, overcast downpours the next) has made everything go nuts. My fairy-gardenmother visited to give me some much needed advice about when to give things the chop. So onto my to do list goes:

- Cistus - trim back after flowering. It's grown big as the photo shows!

- Lavender - cut the old stems back to a few inches in August.

- Convolvulus Cneorum - cut back soon as it's overtaking the Heuchera.

- Hebe - chop back low around August.

- Salvia greggii "Icing Sugar" - trim over after flowering.

- Sedum "Herbstfreude" - cut back to the base in August.

- Honeysuckle - cut right back after flowering.

A Most Mild January

The daffodil bulbs that I replanted in August have begun to sprout with the mild January climate (took this photo 3 weeks ago). There hasn't been much to do in the garden lately, just a bit of weeding and tidying. It's a good time of year to trim back unruly Passion Flowers so that's next on the list... there's a spot of snow in the way at the moment!

If I had a Garden in China...

A couple of floral photos from our holiday in China:

Brilliantly bright pink flowers on The Bund in Shanghai.

At the Yuzi Paradise sculpture park near Yangshuo.

Getting Ready for Winter

Did some winter prep today:
* Cut the Crocosmia back to ground level.
* Cut back the flower spikes on the eryngium.
* Trimmed the Icing Sugar where it was obscuring other plants.
* Chopped the penstemons to about 20cm above ground level.
* Cut back the lavender.

Bought Too Many Bulbs

Back from holiday, back in the garden. In September I read an article that advised to buy bulbs early to get the best ones, then store them until ready for planting. I'm not sure why early = best but I had a chance to buy some a month ago so I did. I really did.

I've just planted:

* Hyacinths - 3 in a terracotta pot in the back garden. Should flower Feb/March.

* Crocus - 15 large flowering, white. Planted half in the front borders.

* Snake's Head Fritillaria Meleagris - 24. Just over half have gone in the iron stand (I picked the baby spinach out, it was bug eaten) and the rest are in the side border at the front.

* Tulips - 5 planted in a pot at the front.

* Onions - an impulse buy. Have planted 8 in the tin tub, along with a handful of crocuses.

Have 15 crocus, 5 tulips and, oh, about 40 onions left over and nowhere to put them. My eyes were bigger than my garden. Need to go pot shopping.

Propagating (AKA running before I can walk)

I want to grow something to climb up the fence in the back garden. A friend has a lovely clematis and suggested I take a cutting and have a go at propagating. This sounded far beyond my current abilities, and I think it's the wrong time of year, but as I'm tying to learn I thought why the hell not? I followed the instructions here. This photo was taken a week after I planted the cuttings; it's now 3-weeks since and they are looking a bit sorry for themselves - but not dead! I've had the pot covered with a small, clear plastic bag and positioned by the back door which gets the sun.  

Purple Petunias

Planted these burgundy trailing petunias in the hip bath in July, they're a great colour (more pink to the naked eye). I need to find something to replace them with over winter. There's a rosemary bush behind them, ready and waiting for any time we cook lamb!

Home Grown Rocket... and Moss

This was the first of the rocket I grew this year, picked in July (it's a really peppery one, tastes great)! I've been sowing seeds in an old Belfast sink in the back garden - which also has a Wisteria in it - and it's grown well... but so has quite a lot of moss. I think the moss must have been present in some recycled earth I used to fill the sink originally because the drainage seems ok and it gets the sun. So I just picked the last growing rocket leaves and plants and removed the moss and a layer of soil. Topped it up with a soil and compost mix. Will see if that does the trick.

Beaucoup de Bacopa

I planted this mixed Bacopa into an old chimney pot in the spring because I wanted foliage and flowers that would fall down over the sides. I've found that it needs a lot of water and that if I gently shake off the dead flowers it will keep flowering - although I am not a fan of the smell that emits from a shake! I think it's an annual but will probably leave it and see what happens.