Everything is growing rampantly…

Prolific growth in Devon, too. Privet hedge is getting too large so need to find someone to cut it, for me nowadays,

On this day last year I counted 70 Northern Marsh Orchids dotted about our garden. Bits of it are marshy and we mow 'discriminately' to avoid the orchids. I leave the seed heads until autumn and then bring some of them inside to dry out properly. Then we sprinkle the tiny dry seeds around indiscriminately.

Today I counted 208 NMOs, as we call them, including nine in the grassy centre of the lane that leads to our gate. I think that counts as properly established.

There are also half a dozen or so common spotted orchids but they aren't flowering yet

We had, until very recently, a magnificent hazel tree in our garden. In 25 years we never had a single nut from it. The squirrels had them all. This now applies to the walnut tree that has sprung up in an odd corner. as well.

The last thing i want in my garden is squirrels.

Callistemon21

J52

Ahh that’s where the squirrels took them! One of my Agapanthus died as well, the other two less hardy survived in the greenhouse. Only one flower though.

I had one which a friend had split which looked healthy last year; it has a wonderful root but not one shoot this year. We repotted it in a slighty larger pot plus a little fresh compost but nothing.

Yes I tried that, the roots looked healthy, but no green shoots. On the other hand, my Cotinus is covered in flowers. So much so, that you can’t see the leaves. I’ve never seen it so floriferous.
The joys of gardening.

April did provide a lot of lush growth but May has been so dry it has evened out, that ended yesterday in a massive thunderstorm. Now expecting the remaining flowers to burst out along with more lawn mowing.

J52

Ahh that’s where the squirrels took them! One of my Agapanthus died as well, the other two less hardy survived in the greenhouse. Only one flower though.

I had one which a friend had split which looked healthy last year; it has a wonderful root but not one shoot this year. We repotted it in a slighty larger pot plus a little fresh compost but nothing.

Ahh that’s where the squirrels took them! One of my Agapanthus died as well, the other two less hardy survived in the greenhouse. Only one flower though.

Casdon

J52

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.

Encourage some friendly squirrels. We lived with a very old listed oak tree in our garden for 30 years and never saw an acorn. Quite a few squirrels lived in it.

Oh gosh no, don’t do that! I’m nowhere near an oak tree, and the squirrels bring their acorns to my garden to bury them - then forget where they are. I must have pulled up at least 30 oak seedlings in the last few weeks.
My roses are fabulous this year too, here’s one of my favourites, even though it has a touch of the dreaded aphids. It’s callled William and Catherine. I love white and cream roses.

Oh gosh no, don’t do that!
I agree!

The neighbour's oak tree is far enough away across the road for acorns not to drop in our garden but I find little oak trees in our back garden, in my pots. I see Sebastian Squirrel burying them then he must forget where they are.

Our roses are good too, some plants are doing very well, others not.

What has happened to our Agapanthus - do they dislike very cold weather?

J52

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.

Encourage some friendly squirrels. We lived with a very old listed oak tree in our garden for 30 years and never saw an acorn. Quite a few squirrels lived in it.

Oh gosh no, don’t do that! I’m nowhere near an oak tree, and the squirrels bring their acorns to my garden to bury them - then forget where they are. I must have pulled up at least 30 oak seedlings in the last few weeks.
My roses are fabulous this year too, here’s one of my favourites, even though it has a touch of the dreaded aphids. It’s callled William and Catherine. I love white and cream roses.

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.

Encourage some friendly squirrels. We lived with a very old listed oak tree in our garden for 30 years and never saw an acorn. Quite a few squirrels lived in it.

Kew Gardens have said it’s the best year ever for roses.

Could it be masquerade? Witzend It begins pink and changes to yellow as it opens.

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?

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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