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!