Annuals as cut flowers, and update on gardening jobs!

Oh right, I see now gillybob … there is quite a difference isn't there?
I don't know if the RHS website might give more info that could help?
Living by the coast is lovely, but it can be hard on the plants some years I agree.

Grandmafrench …. Oooo now your really making me jealous

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Looking at all my Rhododendrons from last year I doubt any of them will be quite so good this year .

Wwmk2 … I'm wondering if the heavy storms will knock the beetles off, and save me a job?
But I'm sure they will just climb back up the stems the next day. The grubs are on the underside of the leaves (as I'm sure you know!) so they will be snug away from the storms.

And this weather will bring out all the slugs and snails, but I'm not going out in it to collect them up. Too wet for me!

That's a beautiful shot of your garden gillybob! So well laid out, and the plants do look very healthy and at home.
Such a lot of colour too.
Lovely!

Thanks for letting us enjoy it with you

The blue of the Hydrangea is so strong isn't it? A real eye catcher!

That was last year Namsnanny sadly because of the adverse weather it’s not so colourful this year ...... yet . Although I still live in hope for some sunshine soon .

I honestly haven’t got a clue about gardening . I just make it up as I go along really . If I see a gap I fill it . I would love to have a huge garden that I could lose myself in, instead of the postage stamp that I have, although I appreciate how lucky I am to have any outside space at all compared with some people. My little patch is keeping me sane right now .

Lilies just coming out here

gilly your garden is so tidy! Mine is always untidy, and likely to get more so.

We have seagulls nesting on our chimney. Two chicks have fallen off. One is on the shed roof and one somehow managed to fall onto next doors flat kitchen roof. Now if we go into the garden we are attacked by the worried parents and the noise! It is ridiculous. We are sat in the conservatory and every time we poke our heads out the parents immediately start.

We will have to do something to prevent them nesting in the chimney. People across the road put up spikes, but they just rearrange themselves around them.

Wwmk2 … Lisagran has started a thread about her Blackbirds, why don't you get a photo of your seagull chicks and add to it?

It would be so lovely to follow everyone's chicks progressing.

Two Thyme plants! A bit small aren't they? But they seem to be picking up a little so..

It would be so lovely to follow everyone's chicks progressing. Sadly, Namsnanny, our baby blackbird seems to have disappeared

A house opposite us has seagulls nesting On their chimney and the noise is deafening!

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Oh Dear! ... How are the parents behaving? Noisy, fluttering around searching for him?
Blackbird didnt look old enough to fledge did he?

I bet something got at it in the night!

Yesterday I saw a Sparrow Hawk catch one of the Blue tits as it left the feeding station .
She (because I believe the females catch most of the prey for their young) visits our garden every spring/summer for that reason I think.

Red in tooth and claw, but I cant help but find the Sparrow Hawk swooping down at speed quite thrilling.

The other day two seagulls landed on the car roof, fighting over something as I sat inside. The noise they made scared the life out of me until I realised what it was.

Martigon/Turks head Lily, which is a beautiful shade of dusky pink. I cant remember it's name though.

Gorgeous lily, Namsnanny

Isnt it Lisagran!
It looks as if the others in the pot are a different colour, maybe yellow. I shall have to wait and see.
I should have labelled them!

Our chick on the shed roof disappeared over night? it is all too traumatic, as despite his parents I had grown quite fond of his little character. He spent time just sat in the water bowl I had put out for him. There is no clue what happened to him, perhaps it is just as well.

The little one who injured his leg is still there but I suppose if it was a cat that got our little one I don’t hold out much hope.

No wonder they are on the danger list!

Still I can now go into the garden but today it’s a bit hot.

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My Goodness WWmk2 the young 'un's aren't fairing very well are they? I hope GN hasn't jinxed them?!

Tis hot, too hot to do much. I should have got up earlier, and gone out to the garden when it was cooler. Had a cuppa and went back to sleep

Grass needs cutting, well thatching first as it's now full of dead bits.
Lots of tiding up to do first though, and I don't mean the garden.

A paint tin fell over in the shed so everything has been pulled out to sort out the mess.
It's all over the lawn. It's been rained on a few times and now has to stay a bit longer to dry off.
Rusty old tools, broken stuff. You name it whatever has been shoved into the shed over the years, is now gracing our lawn!
The spilt paint started with looking for a misplaced screwdriver. H still cant find it .

Mid summer has come and gone, and the garden is still a 'work in progress'!

I've taken a few cuttings of this Golden Marjoram.
Planted out BLizzies. I think they've recovered quite well, considering they were bashed to oblivion in the heavy storms a week or so back.

Happy gardening everyone!

We treated ourselves to a herb trug thing. DH put it together today, so all I need now is the compost and herbs, which means a visit to the garden centre.

That sounds a nice day out Wwmk2 I haven't been to a garden centre since they've re opened. Just bought a few plants from the supermarkets, Aldi and Lidl to be exact.
I noticed Waitrose had quite a number of plants for sale the last time I was there.

Well, you can have some of my Golden m. cuttings if they take

I really wanted a certain Thyme so I sent away for it in lockdown. They were quite healthy when the arrived, but went down hill quickly.
I didn't plant out straight away, but they still suffered.
I think you will be able to find better quality plants on sale now.
Happy shopping.

A bit too hot outside, so I've cut some flowers and brought them in.
The last of my lovely rose, the first of the sweet peas and some unusual orangy brown speckled Lilies.

Took a few cuttings from a friend’s scented pelargoniums and they seem to have taken

Ooo well done Lisagran I'm a bit hit and miss with cuttings. I'm not consistent enough with the care!

Hoping to get out in the garden today as not so hot. No doubt will be running in and out of the showers that are expected. Some lettuces have gone to seed, too many have survived due tot he beautiful weather we couldnt eat fast enough and due to SD have only just started seeing family who i normally gave them too. My opium poppies have finished so i will pull most of them up as they produce so many seeds in the pods i dont need them all, a couple will surffice. I need to feed tom plants and really need to cut the lawns but that wont be happening. I have some wonderful clover growing in the lawn and a small purple flower, not sure wheere they came from but the bees like them. My Lupins are past their best, now nearly 5 years old so they need to be pulled up as i have new ones growing in pots and redy to go into the ground. Soft fruit to pick as well i have been freezing them as super crops this years, especially raspberries. Already have runner beans which are to be picked as dont like them tooo big, like them small and tender. Busy weekend ahead.

Rain!! First real rain for I can’t remember how long.

The ground has been like concrete so hopefully will have softened up and I can plant some lupins I’ve had in pots for ages trying to decide where they can go.

Im on chalk so will have to put in loads of garden compost into the planting holes and mulch well every year to keep the ph levels up or it could be down? anyway more acid.

Baby chicks still surviving. Little hoppity seems to be walking better. He is sat in a puddle at the moment. They are funny little things.

I am also pruning the rambler which has finished flowering. It is really rampant and I have learned to my cost that I must keep it under control. Really it is in a site that doesn’t do it justice, but is a lovely thing when in full flower.

Heavy rain too Wwmk2!! Off to the tip with some very soggy garden waste. That'll teach me not to get better organised and keep up with the tidying!
Let me know how you get on with the ramblers Wwmk2. I have to get help from H to cut ours and no matter what I say he always cuts the wrong bit, I think he's hoping I wont ask him to do it anymore!

travelsafar ... what will you do with the lettuce, put them in the compost bin?

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You sound very busy travelsafare with all that fruit and veg.

I've picked the first of the dwarf beans. But there aren't that many yet so It's not a lot of work!

Wwmk2 ...you wont have to shower Hoppity now in this weather!

Gosh the wind has picked up. I nipped out between showers, gusty winds to take this photo. Heuchera and yellow climber.
Its quite a lot colder as well though, which the cuttings don't like.
The ceanothus cuttings are a bit weedy, I might have to take some more if these don't buck up!