Blogs

I'm not sure what happened to this. I thought it was really interesting but when I looked for it this morning it was difficult to find.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/10785393/Germaine-Greer-stop-weeding-and-let-nature-take-over.html

Our weeds are wildflowers. We just need to pick and choose those we like best.  As she says "Yarrow, tansy, ragwort, toadflax, mulleins, mallows, clovers, willow-herbs, dead nettles, comfreys, speedwells – all are wild flowers. "

I certainly love some plants that are considered weeds but I don't think anything is going to induce me to leave the dandelions, herb robert and bluebells in my garden. My garden just isn't big enough to have thugs takeover - and I don't like them! We need to grow what we like, keeping an open mind - and thinking about the bees!

green alkanet - flowers early before other flowers get going and the bees love it

This is one of my versions of the Great Piece of Turf (I have so many - almost any pot or patch of ground). I see Nigella but not sure what else, esp the large one in the middle. Will leave them all until they are recognisable.

I am struggling to get the red poppies to grow yet I have other wild flower poppies self-seeding like mad. (There's one of those pesky bluebells!)

The lily-of-the-valley seem to be a law unto themselves. I tried to plant these within the brick circle around the tree trunk (the inner brick circle with moss) but  these have decided to spread into the path (just to the right of Socks) rather than around the tree. No idea why. And why don't they grow from corms? No idea. I could only get these from the growing plants sold at Christmas, and a generous neighbour who had them growing like weeds.

I was in the garden trying to take some detailed pics of forget-me-nots, camera still in my hand, when the fox jumped over the fence and onto the wall to make his escape as I disturbed him so I just pointed the camera and snapped.

I love foxes. I hear about urban foxes getting very bold but the ones in my garden aren't. They run away whenever people are about. Luckily they never seem to bother the cats.

forget-me-nots

These are the auriculas a week later. They are changing so quickly. They are mostly in bloom now. Only the one on the bottom shelf, on the far right has no blooms and no buds, out of the 17 I bought.

I didn't buy any specific varieties (what do you want for 1.99 from the garden centre!) so when they turn out to be nice colours, it's a bonus. A number seem to have quite a lot of meal or farina on them (not sure the best term as I'm quite new to auriculas). I'm watering them by placing them in a tray with water. That's causing the tidemarks on the pots. I must brush them off.

Some of the plants came with more than one in the pot. I'm wondering if these are two different colours or if the one on the left will look the same when it blooms.

I bought the plants, I had the terracotta pots, I had the shelves, now I need to sort out some sort of roof or cover to keep the rain off them to make this display into a real "theatre".

Red Poppies

I'm still waiting for red poppies. I planted loads for the centenary but haven't seen a single seedling yet. These orange ones self-seeded.

The vinca has been fantastic this year - more flowers than ever. Showing if off with Socks is a bonus.

The green alkanet is beautiful right now (I took these photos this morning). Unfortuantlely someone recently wrote in a major UK newspaper about its summer flowers. I wouldn't take advice from them - it flowers in the spring! It's great because it flowers before other flowers and it's wilted by the time other flowers are blooming so it's perfectly timed. Also the bees love them - and there's not much in bloom right now.

While I'm talking about misinformation, green alkanet is often misnamed as borage. I hate blog writers who do that  and then have no mechanism to be contacted to let them know, ie no email address.

I'm happy to hear from readers at julie at gardenwithindoors.org.uk. You don't need to register or fill out a contact form.

I'm learning a lot about auriculas! When I checked these today, there was at least one snail on every pot. I moved the shelves away from the ivy a bit to make it more difficult for them to make their way onto the auriculas. If I am going to display them in an auricula theatre they need to be in bloom at the same time. They aren't! but a number of them don't look like they are far behind.

My bargain purchases here can't hold a candle to the images I see online. I'm just taking a chance with colours and quality by buying £1.99 plants from the garden centre. Some look better than others.

I bought another vintage ladder last year and had been thinking of painting it black to display the auriculas but then I thought, not necessary! The dark brown I painted this one would be just fine.

Neither of these possible options for displaying the auriculas in a "theatre" has a roof/cover to protect the auriculas from the rain. The ladder has the added problem of how to secure the pots on each rung.

These muscari have been great this year. There's this large trough with quite a few and a few small pots by the front door (next photo below).

I did have some larger, very heavy stone pots here but they were too heavy and I was advised to move them. I just spontaneously put some of the small pots that had flowers blooming in them here. When these finish I can put some others in their place. The hyacinths are leftovers of ones I bought for forcing (I'm always buying too many - but I can't resist them). The pansies/violas on the left just appeared in that pot. The others on the right I bought on impulse at the garden centre. The muscari I planted last year or the year before and they've come back well.

I checked the auriculas again today (March 23rd) and I have 7 in bud, 5 no signs yet (I bought one on Saturday at the garden centre, making 12 in total).