THE GARDEN IN JANUARY

 

Some days ago I walked round the garden looking to see what signs of renewal there were. I found a few including clumps of primroses in flower. The odd looking item on the right hand side of this clump is one of those solar lights and this is the light collecting cell on the top.

 

 

This clump is at the bottom of the garden with dead leaves and what looks like some couch grass, too...

I love catmint and so do local cats. It's just beginning here but it's a bit early for it to start growing.

 

Gillian  brought me a planted planter as one part of my Christmas present - an innovative use of a a brass magazine rack  which has a row of pansies in the nearest compartment and primulas in the back compartment. It makes a bright spot of colour.

My next door neighbour's fence - again. After any particularly strong winds I walk the garden to see what's been done to the plants and/or hard structures. He doesn't and also isn't particularly prompt about repairing or moving the panels. Luckily this is behind the shed in the 'utility' area so there's nothing to ruin. Even so I hope it's not there for too long.

 I asked Gillian to come yesterday, a bright blue, sunny and 'warm' day, just to clear the sunflower husks from the path (she collected a barrow load) and cut the leaves from the hellebores. So far it's just the white/cream/greeny flowers coming through. The purple ones are usually a bit later in the year.

 

I blogged this sheep which lives on the surround of the pond a couple of years ago but it didn't have such a lovely green mossy overcoat at that time. It'll keep it warm when the snow comes....

I took some more photos, too - lilac is just coming into bud, globe thistle is sprouting well, about 12" high, lots of daffs poking through, several inches tall plus clumps of self sown snowdrops showing through. The Comtesse de Bouchard clematis had several tufts of leaves, too, but that's been cut back so all gone for now.

 

 

There are lots of long tailed tits this year and though they are usually in bunches of noisy chatterers it's a case of get them while you can, they don't hang about! Tiny little birds with much longer tails than the other tit family members.

 

I'm having yet another unexplained problem this time with Browsing for photos - where has it gone to??? Will it return lo its own??? Don't be silly!!!

JUST A COUPLE OF BITS

I thought the beech hedge was getting out of hand, much too exuberant, a bit like a 'bad hair day'. It had got too much for Gillian to reach so I asked one of the tree fellers if he'd come and cut it for me.

He brought the tools he needed to do the job and it now looks neat and ready to sprout red shoots again. He also took away all the cuttings which filled, I think, three of those builders' merchant's bags - a cubic metre in each?

I had a hedgehog holly which had been in a pot for 15 years - another thing we couldn't manage on our own - so that was extracted, a spot chosen, the hole layered with goodies - fertilisers etc - and this poor spindly shrub has been planted, giving it a second chance. Another job done which would have taken us forever. And it's more or less rained every day since...

Remember the Crazy Circles Quilt I blogged two or three blogs ago? I went to Cuddington Fete on Saturday (sat under brollies in the rain before it opened) then laid out our wares once the sun came out - and sold that quilt. I'd made mini knitted teddies, too, just 4 of them, but they all sold, pocket money toys. Brenda sold a rag rug, too, much to her delight as she wouldn't have to take it home and look after it!

MISH MASH

 Just a few photos from,mostly, recent days. The tree surgeon came for a quick chat the other Saturday and was surprised to see bullfinches flitting about, but I was more pleased with seeing a pair of great spotted woodpeckers coming to the open topped peanut holder, taking a peanut and then flying into the oak tree. Not once, but many times in three or four days. He said that bullfinches are becoming rare but to me they're just those pinky red breasted males with paler wives which visit the garden on numerous occasions.

 

Plants this summer either seem to be going crazy or have totally disappeared - here's a delphinium thats, at themoment, about 7' tall, I reckon.

 This contraption formed out of wire netting, an old piece of trellis, pieces of 2" metal mesh and rolls of pea netting pegged to the anti-heron wire are what has been keeping next door's bloomin' cat from fishing out the goldfish - this was taken in April, but at long last Stuart has found time and enough plastic posts to come and replace it all.

 The fish think they're in an open-air swimming pool now that the 'roof' has gone, as well as a lot of weed, replaced by this.

 It's an electric fence, run off a battery, which will, I hope discourage That Cat from fishing in my pond. I'll just have to remember to turn it off before we start gardening...No,not Stuart.

 The honeysuckle has done well-hanging down from the (reclaimed) trellis over the path.

 I don't know what variety it is but it has a scent though not very strong.

 Gilluan brought a couple of handsful of these ages ago and they've all taken - it's polemium, aka Jacob's Ladder. They're all blue though I had some a few decades ago which were peachy coloured so these rather surprised me.The bees like them,

Here's a closeup of the flower, quite a dainty thing.

Do you know what this is? I'll show you later on ...

Sunset at the end of May, just before the sun finally disappeared behind the trees on the Waddesdon ridge.
That's all folks...

THE GARDEN, LATE JUNE

Down at the bottom of the garden is this swathe of what I always used to call Agrostemma aka as Corn Cockle, then it was improved to be a garden plant and renamed as something  which I can't remember - that's a good start! It also comes in a white version as well as this bright pink and self seeds itself without any trouble.

The jasmine on the bottom shed has grown so much this winter, not just the leaves and flowers but the stems, too.

Back in 'April Garden Pt 2'  I posted a photo of what I thought were going to be cones on the Norway Spruce which has gone berserk in this part of the garden. Well, the red thingys did turn into cones after all and very pleasing it is, too, to know that at last it's doing something other than just growing!

Opium poppies have popped up everywhere this year, pink doubles and red singles like these below.

There are a lot of green pinheads showing through the soil all round the garden so I reckon these are what I'd thrown around where ever there was a space and now they're all emerging at once. Since they're annuals, unlike the other poppies which I've posted in other Garden months (which are perennials) these should flower later in the year.

This is the main flower head of the sea holly Eryngium giganteum aka as 'Miss Willmott's Ghost'. It's a striking plant with stiff strongly veined leaves, the flower being a steely blue, when it arrives.It's surrounded by other, less pronounced flowers on stiff stems. It's a biennial but seeds fairly easily and the 'Mum' of this plant was bought about 15 years ago...
Miss Willmott lived from 1858 - 1934 and apparently scattered the seeds in gardens she visited, which is how it got its name!  She was a strong character (with money and influence, which helped) who spent her whole life advancing the cause of horticulture. When she inherited the family home it's said she employed 104 uniformed gardeners - a bit like mine. I jest!
When she died the garden was neglected, the house was demolished so that smaller houses could be built on the site but, because of Green Belt policy, these were never built and now the Essex Naturalists' Trust run it as a nature reserve. Just as well it's in Essex or HS2 would probably carve its way through it, Green Belt, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or whatever. Sorry if I sound bitter. Information from the book I've mentioned previously.

Coming back up towards the house there's this feathery fennel, well, two of them, also self seeded from plants which I bought years ago. They can be a bit of a problem as they're not easy to get out unless you catch them as small plants. The eryngium is on the left hand side, copper beech hedge in the background, cedar, trellis which has fallen apart and the huge walnut tree which is three gardens away. The 'tree-man' came to trim my lilac a few days ago and says you should prune walnut trees now. I wouldn't have so many little walnut trees popping up everywhere if it was cut down a little bit! Planted by the other gardeners, the squirrels.

A little while ago I posted about the mullein but well before it got to this size - it's still got time to grow some more. The flowers are quite small but they are a nice plant to have in the garden. And no mullein moth this year, either.
Just as a PS I have no end of trouble with the new editor - it won't behave as it should and even Sarah, who's my Blog expert, can't find out why it behaves as it does so has concluded my PC is running a system which is too old. It's almost as bad as the original system I began with - it's one reason why I haven't posted recently. I have a long post about a day out when Gillian and I went to Elton Hall in Northants but it took over a week to do and it's still not finished - I'm bored with the hassle so won't go back to it.

BACK TO THE GARDEN Part 2

Hooray! The Add Icon button is working today though I've gone back to the 'old editor' as I can't understand the new Post panel that's come up...

Do you recognise the plant above?- it has furry leaves and a tall spike of tiny yellow flowers which sometimes gets a kink in it! Below is a photo from a few feet away. Yes, it's a mullein and it self seeds around the garden. You can see another one in the background. The one above just happens to be right under the bird feeder so is also decorated with sunflower seed husks...

I have to keep an eye on them as these plants can have mullein caterpillars on them happily munching their way through the leaves - so they have to be sprayed to get rid of them since I can't pick them off and squash them...!

I've had to cut down and burn my clematis Polish Spirit as I discovered what I thought were small brown ladybirds on the dead stems. There were dozens of them, not moving. I emailed the picture to Gillian to see if she could identify these creatures; she came back later with the information that they are scale insects...

The control seems to be spraying but - safety first - since the plant is dying, has wilted leaves all over it and not just a few, we decided the best thing to do would be to cut it down and hope that, being clematis, it'll shoot again from the base in due course. I haven't had a bonfire for decades and nowhere safe to burn anything now so we decided the wheelbarrow would do. Scrunched up paper went in first then all the clematis - and a cloud of burnt paper scraps floated up, up and away...no one's complained, yet! I've since discovered some more scale insects on my decorative vine which has had tiny leaves and no flowers to speak of this year, so that'll probably be added to the list of things for the tree-man to do. Too big a job for us.I took this photo a couple of weeks ago though the plant is in too much shade and needs to be moved - it's a 'Nora Barlow' aquilegia. She was the granddaughter of Charles Darwin, studied genetics at Cambridge as well as raising a family of 6 children. She experimented with hybridising flowers, including aquilegia and this double flower has become known as 'Nora Barlow' though it's probably not bred by her. My book says a similar form was known in the 16th century. (The book's called, 'Who does your Garden grow?' by Alex Pankhurst.)
I first got interested in the idea of flowers being named after people as - long ago - I had a Dianthus 'Mrs. Sinkins'. Her husband was the Master of Slough Workhouse and she was Matron and it was he who developed this scented pink. Slough's town arms has a Bucks swan holding a Mrs.Sinkins flower in its beak.
I realise that I haven't posted any foxgloves and there are enough (self-seeded again) round the garden and there's a cone, one at least, on the Christmas tree at the bottom of the garden, which a knowledgeable friend has identified as a Norway spruce.
I'll post some more pics later.
I have a bit of Stone parish family history research to do for a lady in the south of England now. Must put my thinking cap on...

YESTERDAY'S MISSING PHOTOS

Hooray! The Add Image icon is working this morning!
This photo is of the 'tea-cosy' aquilegias which disappeared from yesterday's post while I was trying to close up the gaps which mysteriously appear just as you think you've finished.And here's Ashley, Kath, pretending he can't be seen. He chooses half-hidden places to sleep away the day. When I had a greenhouse he would make a nest in the long grass between the greenhouse and the wire fence - in full view of the neighbours. Last year I posted a photo of him under the conifer.
I've just seen the date - it's VE Day.

FLOWERS - AND A CAT

I've been wandering up and down the garden taking photos of flowers which have arrived in the last week or so, so here goes.
I must be forgetting how to crop photos as I'm certain I deleted the bird feeder on the left hand side - but what the heck! These are the first of the large poppies to emerge with plenty of buds still to pop open. Some of the alliums have self seeded into the path too.

Here's a closeup of an allium head.

Aquilegias of all colours seem to have sprung up from nowhere - white, pale pink, dark red and these two-coloured flowers which have self seeded into the edge of the pond. They always remind me of those pleated knitted tea cosies which were so fashionable many years ago. The word 'aquilegia' is from Latin 'aquila', an eagle, as the spurs on the flowers were thought to resemble an eagle's talons. (This photo is another casualty of Add Photo not working.)

Another name is columbine, which means a dove. The flower is mentioned in Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. The beech hedge was very slow in unfurling its leaves then, suddenly, it was there in all its lovely summer colour. The poppies are just in front of this and there's a clematis growing through the beech though not flowering yet. One derivation is that Buckinghamshire is named from the Anglo-Saxon word Bucceen meaning beech trees.

This is a clematis montana, Broughton Star, which I bought the year before last - I think. I hope it'll spread itself into the rowan on the right hand side of the photo.

These are quite dainty flowers compared with the clematis montana grandiflora below...

This is about two years old as well, growing up one end of the clothes line, if you see what I mean. The twiggy trellis has worked quite well and isn't as heavy-looking as the basic trellis so I bought another piece which son Stuart has laid from the top of the post across to the shed in the background and I'm hoping it'll grow across to the roof where it'll join the jasmine and Chilean glory vine. I think I'll need the walking stick to persuade it to do what's wanted, though, as it's already leaning towards the sun, ie, over the fence!
Another clematis, this one is Multi Blue, an inspiring name...It's in a large pot and trails across a Cornus. I need to cut back the greenery to show how many buds there are this year. It's amazing what a handful of fertiliser does! Do you get the idea that I like clematis? I tend to buy a new plant then have to find it a home... These lily-of-the-valley plants were given to me years ago and because they never did anything I dug them all out, well, thought I had! They're round the bottom of the rowan tree.

Cotton grass growing in a container in the pond - its name is really Eriophorum angustifolium - a bit of a mouthful. It's like little tufts of cotton wool just popped on top of the stems. Gillian calls it bog grass, as she lived in Ireland for many years where it was common. The netting is to stop next door's pedigree kitten from falling into the pond as he doesn't seem to have any fear but is fascinated by the goldfish, naturally. There's a black cat with white socks, who visits from time to time, who liked fishing last year so it stops him, too. The pump in the background was waiting to be picked up by Stuart as it's no good in the pond now - it picks up too much silt and I can't cope with cleaning the filter every week so it's gone. Another job I've relinquished...

Weigela 'Victoria' is a small plant compared to the one that was here when I came to this house. It's only 4' tall and won't grow any larger. Weigela is named after a German botanist from the 18th/19th century whose name is Christian Ehrenfried von Weigel...

I've done it again - well, done something - and can't get the very last photo downloaded. I seem to have locked the Add Image icon so no cat after all... Perhaps it'll right itself after it's had a rest. Ho hum. (I don't know about posted at 12 o'clock, it's now 20 to 2.)

MID APRIL GARDEN

When a new crop of flowers are out I like to take reference photos so here are some which I took a few days ago. I'm working from nearest to the house down to the shed-at-the-bottom.

The marsh marigolds are a bright, strong yellow and that's not a surprise when you know they're related to the buttercup family. The botanical name is Caltha palustris, which means it grows in a bog.

Gillian brought me these cowslips a couple of weeks ago and, despite not being watered, they

have grown remarkably well. Under the green plastic cover on the right are some very tiny ones, protected against Ashley looking for a loo.... Cowslips were known as 'cowslops' (from Old English) because they grew in fields where there were cowslops, ie, cow pats... do you wish you didn't know that? Somehow, this year, I have lots of different tulips so I must have bought packets of mixed bulbs and left them to Gillian to plant or else they are bulbs from a few years ago which were turned out of their original pots and put in to 'see what will happen' to them. Whatever, they look bright and cheerful; the orangey flowers look like a Parrot or Fringed variety. Something - pigeons after fallen sunflower seeds or the badger trekking across the garden - have trampled the daffodil leaves in the background. More tulips with some of the last daffodils still remaining while in the foreground those little knobbly buds are alliums. I bought several varieties from a grower a few years ago and they obviously like my sandy soil as they've self-seeded into the path as well.

Purple honesty pops up without any need to sow seeds, they are so plentiful. The correct name is Lunaria because the seed pods look like a full moon, flat and silvery. They're not usually under the correct name in garden centres! The sort of tasselly growth at the bottom of the picture is Aconitum, or Wolfsbane, and it's poisonous. It has purple flowers which are said to resemble a monk's hood, which is another common name for this plant. At the top right hand corner is my Philadelphus, a double flowered variety, which smells strongly when it's in flower.

Some years ago I fancied growing white honesty - in the days when I actually sowed seed, transplanted etc - but the seed had to be ordered from a family-run garden centre. The leaves were once 2 colours of green but have reverted to plain green but I'm pleased it's still around. It's not a prolific scatterer of seeds but it makes a large plant at this time of year. Behind the weeping birch trunk (cut down as it got too vigorous but sprouting again) is a Weigela 'Victoria' which doesn't grow any bigger than this, between 3 and 4 feet, and has a dark red flower. The Boy, my bird bath with Pan playing his pipes, needs filling again. Pigeons like to bathe in here, perhaps because it's deeper than the bowls on what's laughingly known as 'the lawn'. Forgetmenots are everywhere at the moment despite 'all' the plants being pulled up each year just as they begin seeding. Too late, obviously. But they make a nice blue carpet covering a multitude of things Gillian and I haven't been able to do yet. The tulips are in a blue pot for their second year, just ignored all winter; the pale ones are Holland Chic and the darker, central ones are called Burgundy.

If I remember I'll put some fertiliser on them...

The primroses are still very much in evidence, tucked in with the forgetmenots.

Don't look at the weed in there! These dainty little flowers are epimediums, or Bishops Hat, or even Bishop's Mitre, from the shape of the pointed leaves. They're unobtrusive plants but in the autumn the leaves turn a reddish brown so they have quite a long season of interest.

I wonder what I'll find to write next year.....