Gran/Grandads Gardening Corner

I'm dying to get my lemons, limes and yuzu out of the greenhouses and onto the patio again. The camellia is in full bloom and lots of buds on the pinks and hydrangeas. When the rambling rector and pinks are in flower together, you could get intoxicated on the combination of the perfume and the drone of the bees.

roses that hydrangea looks wonderful. I'll hunt one down for a pot. At the house end of the garden we have a large patio. The aim for that is a courtyard feel.
We downsized house and upside garden! Not deliberate, but it came with the house!

I had to trawl the garden centre to find one, but you can buy online.

If anyone is thinking of planting a hydrangea, either in a pot or the ground, take a look at Vanille-Fraise a paniculata form of hydrangea.I planted one in a large pot 2 years ago, and it looks marvellous now in Summer, the blooms are like large lilacs but white at first then turning pale pink, then deep pink.

Thanks Jane I will do them at the weekend.
Also thanks Shysal that acer does look lovely, and I think would look really good in a large blue pot.
J52 your plan for the garden sounds great!

I've just done mine roses
They're in a greenhouse heated to 5 deg and I usually start moving them
outside in the middle of April, but keep them near the house at first in case of the odd frosty night.

Luckygirl, I chopped back my dead-looking hardy fuschias today . I would say if yours come back they are hardy, if not they were annuals!

I gave my lawn its first cut today, it consists almost entirely of moss, the worst I have seen it. It has the indentations of my feet, like a cushion. I have re-seeded it so many times in the past after raking out the moss, I don't feel that I can be bothered to do it again at the moment. Situated on a steep hill I have to wear crampons for mowing, and I find it exhausting.

rosesarered, my next door neighbour has one of these. It is unusual and has beautiful red stems which keep interest through the winter. Hers has a short trunk and branches out about 9 inches from the ground. Would be ideal for a pot.
www.ornamental-trees.co.uk/acer-palmatum-winter-flame-tree-pp841

I have done a bit of a chop to tidy up and I will wait and see what happens. How do you tell a hardy fuschia from an annual? Sorry to be ignorant on all this, but I am enjoying getting to know about it all.

annie
the sun rises in the east and sets in the west; face the setting sun and put your arms out, right is north, left is south.

My crocus are standing up quite well and some have been flowering for quite a while - I think they have perked up today because it's sunny

A friend had wonderful hardy fuschias in her garden and said she cut them back very hard in March to ground level. I have trimmed mine well most years and they do come back from looking dead - if they are hardy ones. They will sprout from existing twiggy branches and also throw up new shoots.

roses I intend to put the viburnum at the very back of the deep bed, although I don't want it that high so I'll be pruning it!
The deep bed is across the whole end of the garden, about 30ft by 10 ft. The pond cuts into the middle, making a crescent shape.
There used to be 12ft old Leylandi as a hedge against the neighbours garden. To everyone relief we cleared them, the Russian vine and sackfuls of weeds. We all have long gardens and it overlooks the neighbours lovely kitchen garden.
I intend to have a lower mixed planting with some climbers along the border with the neighbour, graduating to smaller herbaceous planting with rockery plants around the pond.

Some of my fuscias are already showing leaf growth. Wouldn't do any harm to cut them back now, mine are hardiest and get bigger each year. if they are annuals they won't come back anyway.

Depends if they are hardy fuscias or annual type?

We have the spirea ( Fire something!) also a very large viburnum Eve Price ( about 12 feet high) also a viburnum bodnatense Dawn and a new viburnum Spirit.They are all in flower just now.I love rambling roses j52 must look up what you bought.

Novice here in new garden. There were fuscias here which flowered prolifically and well into the autumn.They now look totally dead - should I cut them back and wait and see; or just wait and see?

Thanks

Lovely day here, a little cold wind though. I've just returned from a garden nursery with City of York rambling rose, a little Spira, Fire something and a Virbina Eve Price.
After lunch I'll get them into the garden. I've almost finished the structure for the large bed at the end of the garden.
janea those geraniums look gorgeous, a beautiful display of pots. Roll on summer!

Wouldn't!

We have a BIG patch of daffodils in flower. Last year, by way of experiment, I dead-headed one side of the patch and left the others to die back naturally. Can't remember which side was which, but there is no difference to be seen anyway. I'm just going to leave them all this year.

I love my crocus, lots of flower and colour for very little foliage, but just wish they would flop over after a few days.

Greyduster, what's sun ? I am in Mid Wales ?. Yes my knowledge goes as far far as sun rising in the east setting in west, I am concerned that at about 9am the sun is full front on the house, this means my garden at the back will get full north wind hitting it from one side, if I am making sense which I doubt. The north side is not sheltered

It has been a glorious morning here, windows and doors flung open and a couple of hours spent in the garden, bliss. Spent ages digging up a cordyline which seemed a good idea at the time. Don't know if I will ever stand again but a good bath will sort that hopefully. Even have some reading to do as I noticed there is strawberry growing advice on the GN front page! Happy gardening folks.

Annie, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west; watch where the sun goes down unless you're an early riser, then watch where it comes up! That should help you get a bearing (unless there's no sun, that is! !).

I had two acers in large pots in my other garden - they did very well for some years, but eventually I had to move them into the ground and they rather took off. One, a dark purple one with dissected leaves, looked particularly well near the water feature, along with a compact bamboo. The other was a sort of orangey yellow one, but I can't remember the names of either I'm afraid, roses.

Anyone able to work out NESW, I have lost my compass