Everything is growing rampantly…

Yes - I've noticed rampant growth this year too - much earlier than usual. Nettles taller than me, brambles like triffids! Ground is now very dry but I wonder was it very wet weather in April that encouraged this growth when days got longer?

But I’m pleased that verges have been left for wildflowers to grow and as for buttercup meadows - has there ever been such a year?

We have spent days over the last three weeks digging up oak trees from the front garden where the acorns dropped last year. Hundreds of them where normally there are four of five. So we've ignored the back garden during that time and I was staggered when I went out the back last night and saw about twenty oak trees nearly a foot tall in the lawn. I dread to think how many more are in the borders. In the thirty years we have lived here that has never happened before.

We've had to weed out literally hundreds of sycamore seedlings from the lawn, beds and paving this year. Normally it takes a week or so to gather them all up but this year we had to carry on for weeks and weeks. There are still some rogue ones that I spotted today hidden amongst the shrubs, nearly a foot tall!!!

We can't keep on top of sycamore tree seedlings even on gravel. Under one drain cover, it was like a nursery. The tree is next door itself, unfortunately, it leans our way so we get all the seeds. Their Lime is also dropping loads of the sticky stuff just where we park the cars.
Another bush in our garden with an awful smell like foisty clothes is about two months ahead of itself. We live in the cold Noth west.

It’s not impacting so much where I am in mid Wales, if anything I’d say the season is late because we had a cold winter and a wet and miserable spring, it only got better in the last few weeks. My roses are just beginning to bloom, and the peony is still in tight bud. Weeds are always a problem, I’ve got lots of tiny oak saplings here but fortunately no sycamore.

Bella23

We can't keep on top of sycamore tree seedlings even on gravel. Under one drain cover, it was like a nursery. The tree is next door itself, unfortunately, it leans our way so we get all the seeds. Their Lime is also dropping loads of the sticky stuff just where we park the cars.
Another bush in our garden with an awful smell like foisty clothes is about two months ahead of itself. We live in the cold Noth west.

The sticky stuff used to cover my car and if it hardened was difficult to remove. And the seeds are poisonous to dogs. Our local farmer used to encourage them and they overhung my garden. Thankfully he did cut the biggest one down albeit asking me to pay towards it even though he’s a millionaire and I’m a pensioner! I just dug out an evergreen Burberis (sp) which has been in the garden for years but this year has grown up and around a lilac tree. Its thorns are awful and I was worried about the dog walking on one. I’m quite happy to leave the nettles for the butterflies.

All lush here too and wow the poppies. Bit miffed that my non gardening neighbour now has the most stunning front garden!

AreWeThereYet

We have spent days over the last three weeks digging up oak trees from the front garden where the acorns dropped last year. Hundreds of them where normally there are four of five. So we've ignored the back garden during that time and I was staggered when I went out the back last night and saw about twenty oak trees nearly a foot tall in the lawn. I dread to think how many more are in the borders. In the thirty years we have lived here that has never happened before.

Have you got squirrels?

We have and find little trees growing everywhere and see him/her burying nuts in the autumn including in my pots.

I came home after a weeks holiday to find massive nettles nearly as tall as me in the garden, I donned gloves and pulled them out but still managed to sting my wrists badly. I seem to have foxgloves & poppies sprouting everywhere this year too, I don’t really mind them but they do seem to be growing much more rampantly this year.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202306/medium-374746-img-20230606-145121066.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202306/medium-955305-img-20230606-145050632.jpg

On the contrary, I've been watering every evening as things are drying up.
A little rowan tree I had in a pot has died.
My meadow is doing well and the roses.

I have never seen the roses with so much flower, I think it is going to be one of the best years.

We were commenting how lush everything is only yesterday.

The plant I have noticed as being in excess, is goosegrass. It is trying to take over our garden in Oxfordshire - and also our garden in Normandy.

The verges in our Cornish town are phenomenally pretty with masses of valerian, Spanish daisies and foxgloves. We also have wild echium that grow like huge triffids, 15' tall and more, on the stone walls of car parks and this year there are masses of them. My allotment has hundreds of sycamore seedlings and I've been pulling them up for weeks now, never seen anything like it. My herbs are the best ever though with this hot weather.

I bet there will be a bumper crop of blackberries this year. When I moved to Cornwall in my late teens I lived on blackberry crumble!

I am out everyday weeding my raised veg beds they are over taken by the weeds. I am happy my fruit bushes are doing very well this year. But a lot of my young trees and shrubs have perished even though I have been watering them. We go away for a week I know it won’t be a pretty sight when we return if it stays this dry.

Have you got squirrels?

Callistemon21 Yes we have, but we've always had squirrels 😄
In fact since some of our new neighbours got rid of their huge fir trees we've had less than we used to. Over the years the little blighters have eaten all the bulbs we've planted and planted lots of acorns in their place. But this year seems to be phenomenal - I've never had to dig out so many saplings before. And we've certainly never had oak trees growing all over the back lawn. I can't get over how fast they are growing too. It may just be that lat year was a mast year, with more acorns being produced than normal.

We don't have an oak tree but our neighbours do.
We've all kinds of saplings growing here, not easy to remove if they're in the middle of a fuchsia bush or something similar.

Squirrels find tulip shoots very tasty
Unfortunately these are grey squirrels

Unfortunately these are grey squirrels

Ours are too. Sadly they got in the attic a couple of years ago and we had to have the pest people in to get rid of them - I don't think the pest people are allowed to release them though 🙁

We have a peony that is 20 years old. We moved it about five years ago and it appears that it has found it's happy place and is blooming beautifully. But deep inside there are 3 oak trees growing, so it will have to be dug up later this year and replanted so we can get the saplings out, Could be years before it flowers again 😥

We have one cerise peony (or its offspring) which we found in our first garden 54 years ago - the only thing the previous householders left! - gave some to a relative, she split it and gave us some back and they have moved to various locations over the years. It has just finished flowering.
Another, paler pink peony, is from MIL's garden.

I think they're quite amenable to being dug up and replanted or moved.

I have a lot of perennial geranium and it’s gone absolutely bonkers this year. I’m sick of cutting it back. The grass is knee high in our little park that I keep expecting Humphrey Bogart to appear towing the African Queen!! Not cutting grass verges is a mixed blessing though - at the moment there are places where you have to creep out further than usual from junctions into the road to see what’s coming.

Our weed-like perennial geranium is usually covered in bees but I only counted about 3 bees today.
There may have been more when we were out but I haven't noticed many.

I tried to remake my border this year by removing or thinning the thugs and after soil improver (layer of compost) planted more tender plants .
It isn't looking too good. The new plants are struggling, the thugs are making a comeback and there is more bare earth than I would like.

This rose always does well, but seems to be particularly prolific this year.

I wish I knew what it was - didn’t make a note when I bought it some years ago. I’d like another! Any ideas?