More Cast Iron

Found at the Spring Garden Show...

...a new addition for the shady side of Chris's wall. A bit of cherub-like rusting cast iron ornamentation found at the Garden Show.  It's  rather small to plant up and then there's always the responsibility of remembering to water something that's likely to dry out every 5 seconds so, we'll probably leave it as it is.

Homeless Hostas on the Move - Again!

It's been a couple of weeks since Chris rounded up all our Hostas, divided them (and brought 3 of his own) and planted up a dedicated Hosta bed.  What happened on Saturday?  I spotted a couple more that had popped up in the Woodland Border.  I bought one from the Spring Garden Show and had popped that one in. Yet another was awaiting planting with 4 bags of bark chip all bought using nectar points at Homebase.  The trouble began when Chris spotted Bindweed roots whilst digging a planting hole for the very last one - the Homebase Hosta.  That meant he lifting out 8 more of the newly planted ones and then digging a massive hole 2 feet deep (and about 8 miles across!) to access and remove all the Bindweed roots.  The lovely settled bed looked like a bomb crater with Hostas scattered around!  Chaos! Eventually after ages of careful digging and sifting, we removed half a bucket of healthy, stealthy Bindweed roots and then couldn't remember where all the removed Hostas had been planted in the first place! All had to be laid out again (sigh!) along with the 2 new ones, replanted and then the bark chip carefully mulched around each plant.   If I see any trace of Bindweed in the Hostas this summer, you may hear screams!  As for slugs..........!

Trough Work

After Chris Genever single handedly lugged this massively heavy stone trough from the well up on to the terrace (patio to him!) I thought it was about time I got some plants in.  Having ensured maximum drainage and put in a layer of grit, I made up a fairly gritty mix, placed in a few pieces of stone and put in  a few Alpines - all purchases from Malvern Spring Garden Show.

Bees in Trees - in Plague Proportions!

A sunny and much warmer day and jobs included lawn edging and planting out Pinks, Petunias and Aeoniums and moving other plants from the greenhouse and into the cold frames for hardening off.

Bees in the apple trees

Whilst lawn edging, I heard a loud droning - rather like machinery.  Wondering what it was, I looked up into the Prunus Serrula above and saw that the entire tree was alive with bees.  I have never seen or heard so many bees at one time.  The noise was astonishing.  They were definitely not swarming and all were busy going about their business. On many of them, I could see the pockets on their hind legs bulging with pollen.  This is a big mature tree and it was literally full of bees!  The funny thing is that this tree is grown for its shiny peeling bark which is a real feature in winter.  The flowers are small, pale and insignificant. It is covered in blossom all of which appeared to be moving with the vast numbers of bees moving around the blooms.  We hear nothing but doom and gloom about the ever decreasing numbers of bees, their decline due to Verroa and sudden hive collapse which made this all the more amazing!  It was like a plague of bees infesting a single tree.  It's not as if there weren't huge numbers in the apple trees 'cos there were - just nothing like the prunus!  Absolutely no shortage of pollinators here!

A whole tree of bees!

Winter in May

The spring flowers are blooming and the trees heavy with blossom.  Queue strong winds and lashing rain and glacial temperatures - a drop from 20 to 8 degrees C. in just a few days - winter is back in town and the lawns are strewn in petals and tender young leaves which have been just whipped off the trees in the vicious gusts of winds.  These 2 photos disguise the cold temperatures and the fact that 2" of snow fell in Shropshire - our neighbouring county!

Towards the Hennery

Towards the Pear Arch

We are back to one Chris on Saturdays and we started by moving the urns to their summer places and carrying some of the tender plants out of the greenhouse.  It was just too cold and too wild to bring out Pelargoniums and standard Fuschias but we did make sufficient room for a few tomato plants.  Having done that, we set about laying out the very, very last of the York flag stone remains between the Pear Arch and the Hennery.  When the trees are in full leaf, the grass there is quite shaded and in winter, it is wet and is prone to excessive erosion from trips to the compost heap.  I cut round each stepping stone and Chris dug out sections of turf and set each stone in its place - carefully and patiently cutting out strips of turf to fill in around and between them.  I busied myself re-defining all the edges in that area - weeding and tidying as I went.  The last job of the day was to spend 20 minutes dead-heading the dandelions whilst waiting for our selective dandelion killer to arrive.  We picked half a bucketful each and with a whole bucket last week that zillions and zillions of seeds that won't be blowing around and seeding everywhere!

Coop Commentary

Wild Winifred 

It's 10 days since the arrival of our new flock and, I have to report that our egg total is actually 10! 8 brown (Marigold) eggs and 2 cream (Partridge Star) eggs. They continue to settle in and don't fly off to the furthest corners when I enter the Hen Pen. They won't take corn from my hand yet but are happy pecking around close by. Winifred alias Miss Flighty Whitey seems to be top of the pecking order despite being the smallest.  She's the least friendly and always wildly chasing - something!  Bumblebees, sparrows, blackbirds - anything will do.  She really isn't fussy. By comparison, Persephone is very timid and gentle and the remaining 2 are somewhere in between.  All girls seem very happy in their new home and are very happy to explore inside the Hennery and even stay in there for shelter from the rain and winds - which makes them rather more sensible than their predecessors.

Persephone

A day at Malvern Spring Garden Show

Lovely but is it really a garden?

............TV Made it look better than reality

Head Gardener and Chief Blogger took a day off from gardening and did battle with plummeting temperatures, slashing rain, and gusting winds to visit the Malvern Spring Garden Show.  I'd been working in The tickets were a whoppingly scandalous £38 on the gate - GULP.  Luckily I'd booked ahead and paid £29 - still very expensive.  One had to feel sorry for stall holders who wares were being blown over with violently flapping canvas and poor plants and trees lying flat in rows under the slashing rain.  We found some sunshine in which to quaff a jug of Pimms before the weather deteriorated and even managed to time lunch before the queues hit.  I didn't find the gardens particularly good but I did like the old boat shed. It displayed such a really convincing theme of dereliction, it was difficult to even class it as a garden! We saw the beeb and their camera team with Jo Swift bustling with importance - even though last week's episode of their nationwide ever popular Gardener's World was ditched for the minority sport of snooker.  Typical!  A few more photos taken with my camera can be seen at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100788191989823327785/SpringGardenShow2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCML6o9XExaLatAE

Things are waking up in The Fernery

Most of the ferns had already had last year's fronds removed a few weeks ago but the Aspleniums were left until this afternoon.  It was a bit like opening Christmas presents.  As the old dead and crisp brown fronds were gently cut away, new fronds could be seen unfurling beneath.  It was pleasant work on a warm and sunny May afternoon with the scent of cherry and pear blossom hanging heavy in the air and a robin singing competitively in an Acer above me with a thrush on the highest bough of a conifer and to complete the trio, a distant cuckoo in the valley woodland.  As I worked, I pondered how nice it might be if I didn't know anything about gardening as if I knew nothing at all, I wouldn't worry about all the things that desperately needed doing! Mmm?

New stepping stones in the Fernery Path

Sunset Sundial

Another Pugh eBay find and a day out in York

End of another busy Saturday in the garden as usual - 'nuff said!

Spring at last!

The Woodland Border

Magnolia

How could I resist posting a few spring shots after such a long and vicious winter?  Never has blossom been quite so welcome!  Pity I can't photograph the fragrance.

Elsie surveying the Rock Culvert

New Hosta emerging

Cherry blossom

The Annual Tree Fern Move

We were very honoured to have 'Young' Ian's help again with the traditional tree fern move this year as he was on weekend leave from The Commando Training Centre at Lympstone where he's training to be a Royal Marine.  (Chris always refers to him as Young Ian and they were the pair who built a near perfect igloo in all the snow!)  He didn't even have time to stay for any refreshments! We did suggest that if his own folks couldn't attend the next family day, we'd stand in for them! (hint!)

I've had the fern for about 14 years now and each year it gets heavier and heavier and HEAVIER!  It spends the winters on a specially designed and built plant stand which is elevated.  That way, we can walk underneath it and it doesn't totally fill the conservatory.

Chris and Ian lift it off its stand..

... and carry it outside..

For now, it remains growing in one of Al's specially built containers which was copied from a Victorian original.  To carry it, they used a couple of broom sticks and we kept our fingers crossed they didn't break under the strain!

..to its home ...

...for the summer

Day & Night in the Herb Garden

For about 5 years, I've had this big old mirror sitting in the studio catching dust and then I came up with an idea.  A day and night symmetry theme in the Herb Garden..... and some help from a certain Chris Genever!  Blog followers will know that the stained glass was an original feature in the Herb Garden - as was the niche.  Anyway, this is what we came up with!  A frame to match the stained glass and, with a bit of fiddling, some matching stick on lead work.  Hey presto - a day and night theme!

'Mirror, mirror on the wall...'

The Androlia window illuminated by night

Night & Day!!

New Flock of Four

On Thursday evening, we took delivery of a new flock of four

Marigold, Persephone, Winifred & Sophia

All are different hybrids and from the left, we have a Marigold, a Partridge Star, a White Star and a Speckledy.  They are 17 weeks old and, as you can see, only have baby combs.  Their names are Marigold (not very original, I know) Persephone (Percy for short) Winifred and Sophia.  All have quite different characters and as wild as a hawk, we have Winifred.  She's very flighty and always chasing bumble bees and sparrows - half running and half flying at top speed!  All girls lay eggs of differing colours: cream, speckled, china white and brown.  This way, we'll know exactly who's doing what!  Already we have collected 3 perfectly formed small brown eggs.  There's been a little  little disorderly behaviour as they're still sorting out the pecking order but nothing too serious.  All have taken to their pole house immediately and found their roosting places on the very first night without the need for any help or guidance.  It just proves that, in nature, their instinct is to roost up and off the ground.

Percy

Sophia

In readiness for their arrival all houses, feeders and troughs were all painted, disinfected, creosoted and cleaned inside and out with new wood chip in the Hennery so it was a busy few days.  Of course, we went back to Sarah of Newland Poultry.  Sarah has a fabulous set up with all types of birds and housing in wonderful surroundings.  Her husband designs and builds the most practical and prettiest hen houses (as well as shepherds' huts!) - it's well worth dropping in to see her Poultry Palaces or even just to buy eggs!  Check out her brilliant website: http://www.newlandpoultry.com/