Gran/Grandads Gardening Corner

Well that's it then - we haven't had anything like a hard winter here in South Yorkshire. It has been positively balmy for most of it!

I think you may be right about the colour of 'Heidi'. I thought I was looking at a pale pink one. As I already have eight rozannes I think I will look for something different.

Message to shysal....... our moss has gone yellow but not vanished.How about yours?

No plums here ( they attract wasps!) but our apple trees are loaded with blossom, which is a good sign.

Ditto, Roses. It think the moss takes several weeks to digest and disappear.

Liaise, have you seen 'Splish Splash'? They are quite striking, but have a shorter flowering season than Rozanne if I remember rightly.

Just Googled Splish Splash, it flowers May - September according to Thompson and Morgan - not bad!

Had Splish Splash a few years ago as they are good for the shady part of the garden,
But they have vanished now! Mystery.
Don't mention Thompson and Morgan as the plants they supplied us with arrived ten days later wilted and diseased!! After ringing them yesterday, they say we can send them back ( they won't collect them) but we have to pay for it, and they will then 'take a look at them' and decide what to do.They had obviously sat around in a depot as they were supposed to arrive within three days.DH has emailed their HQ to complain at this treatment of customers.Won't be using them ever again.

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I bought about half a dozen gazania plants last year and the flowers were beautiful. I took off the dead flower heads, put them in an envelope for the winter and planted them in compost a couple of weeks ago. They have started to come through so I am stupidly pleased and hope they are as beautiful this year.

My dentist was telling me that he bought some saffron crocuses on line last year, at great cost, hoping to create wonderful culinary delights. He nurtured them, forbade his family to go anywhere near them, and harvested the stamens, only to receive an email recently apologizing for sending bog standard crocus bulbs. They are fortunately not poisonous!

I bought a splash aplastic last year, I hope it flowers as well this season!
Liz46 what a great idea, I'll try it!

!! Don't know what the I pad is doing! Spilsh Splash, of course!

Rosesarered, I mentioned Aston Pottery/Café to DD and family today. They live very close but have never been, so we are all going on Thursday. Looking forward to it. Thanks for the recommendation.

I like the look of 'splash splash' it would be look nice in my shady borders.

Amanagowa in full bloom today.

And Kanzan, planted just four years ago.

Beautiful trees! Pity the blossom is so short lived.

Hope you enjoy the Aston Pottery on Thursday shysal ( I bought a butter dish with a rabbit on there once.)

Thank you Roses, I am looking forward to it, and yes we are going to eat something sinful! I saw on line that they do a geranium design which looks similar to the Rozanne which we all love. Thought I might buy the kitchen utensil pot for my neighbour who is mad about them until I saw the price - £44.99! I might run to a spoon rest, the cheapest item they do.

Great place!. The only thing I bought was a chocolate brownie. . The tulips were a picture.

yes, it's pricey alright, but all the pottery is handmade and handpainted, they do sell some lovely things.
Go in Summer and then in Autumn to see the flowers at their best.

Went to a garden centre yesterday and bought two spireas 'Magic Carpet' very pretty, also a rock rose ( Cistus, Sunset) to replace an old one and some new catmint ( Nepeta Six Hills Giant) for our DD as her cat loves ours so much.

I have to do a spot of bricklaying over Easter. A small retaining wall has collapsed. Probably weakened by me and GCs sliding down the lawn on a 10 metre sheet of parachute silk and landing with a jolt (not good for my knees or the wall!)
I wish you would all stop buying plants that I think I need!

I bought a few odds and ends in a sale at a well known garden centre chain. Hugely reduced as they had gone over but they will be good next year. Fritillaries, small pink geranium, allysum, erysimum. As I'm always doing this I never know what is growing in the garden. Later on at the end of July there will be reduced tatty looking shrubs and standards like pyracantha, photinia and olives greatly reduced. This garden was empty 5 years ago so everything helps. Occasionally something grows from the previous garden here (an old bungalow knocked down). I have a beautiful standard wisteria that couldn't be sold because it had a tiny birds nest in the middle. By the time the birds had flown the nest the season was over and I bought it cheaply. Its all good fun but addictive.