Saturday 31 December 2011

END OF YEAR REPORT!


I have been very neglectful of my garden blog this last year due to various things not least my involvement in advocacy of Lyme Disease not just through my Looking at Lyme Disease blog but in helping support other sufferers and campaigning through my Member of Parliament, who is being very supportive. The replies however from our Department of Health would be laughable if it wasn't for so many people's suffering, they trip themselves up frequently and show how ignorant they are of the developing research.

The garden continues to be enjoyed and there have been various changes. Due to having some lovely new hardwood windows and Mike decorating the house, we decided to cut the Wisteria hard back. I did check on Google and found re assurance from Arabella Sock who I know of through the blogasphere but can't now find the link. So with fingers crossed we cut back the Wisteria to about knee high and at the end of the Autumn we were rewarded in seeing one new shoot reach about 3 feet before the Winter.
The Fuschia bushes have been flowering well into December as we still have not had much in the way of frost yet.
I took the opportunity to get Mike to relocate the water barrel which was always an eyesore next to the garage. So painted black and at last connected to a down pipe it already is proving to be less of an eyesore and very useful.
The Wallflower are looking good this year and again were grown from seed in the greenhouse to start then into pots and planted out in the vegetable patch after  we had harvested early crops.
My daughter Rachel took me to a lovely pub/eating place The Churchill Arms not far from Notting Hill, the eating area was in a conservatory and the ceiling was covered in hanging plants it was absolutely amazing, so I decided to have a go at making our lean to a bit more interesting. The roof height is a little low but already it is looking rather nice.  
The yellow flower on the bottom right is a Coronilla Glauca Citrina. It was a present from my daughter Rebecca two years ago. It has not stopped flowering since she gave it to me, but in Winter it flowers the most and the perfume is so delicate and welcome at this time of year. It says it is fully hardy but I bring it into the lean to during the Winter months because I am not altogether convinced of that.
Still interesting colours along the back terrace
Although the climbers were very hard pruned for the decorating and new windows they are recovering well. I love the new door which is a stable door something I have always wanted.
In March my 90 year old Dad came to live with us, he is still able to get about slowly but decided he couldn't manage his house and garden alone.
 Leah at the well came with him.

The Hydrangeas are looking particularly colourful this Autumn.
There are still a number of roses flowering and the box comes into it's own dressing the vegetable garden in the Winter.
This was another big change to the garden. Thirty years ago when we moved  here we planted a hedge of Leylandii. It made a good hedge between us and the neighbours at the bottom and although Mike pruned it hard it was a mammoth task. About 10 years ago the fence behind the Leylandii came down and with agreement of the neighbour we decided we didn't want another fence but in order to disguise the brown Leylandii which loses it's green against a fence and does not re grow, we planted Laurel in between the Leylandii. All the best advice said not to do this as they would not survive. They were small plants and needed watering during the Summer months but had grown well if a little sideways. So we decided the time had come to get rid of the Leylandii and hopefully in the next year or two the Laurel will shape up to become a more manageable hedge.
With the removal of the Leylandii we gained 3/4 feet across the bottom of the garden so scope for other things which is always fun for a gardener. Mike did the spade work in digging up the no mans land in this bottom corner much of which is riddled with Ground Elder and Bindweed. We will never get rid of it but every now and then we have a purge in one part of the garden or another. This has all been replanted now with plants from my nursery so looking forward to seeing how it progresses. I had grown lots of plants over the last couple of years because Rebecca and husband moved house and so lots of nursery plants have helped furnish their new garden.
The greenhouses are tucked up for the Winter, those plants on the left were grown from seed and in true Joanne fashion I lost the label and name. I do know what they are not and am hoping they are Dierama pulcherrimum or Angel's Fishing rods but maybe that is wishfull thinking because I lost the original plant and had tried seeding them. 
Of course I am as usual slow to get my head around blogger changes but seem to be coping after having initially tried adding this to my wrong blog!

So all in all it has been an interesting year but the best news was becoming a Grandma to a lovely little Graddaughter.

Wishing all my blogging friends a Happy and Healthy 2012.

Sunday 12 June 2011

CLEMATIS

Belle of Woking looking lovely here, it has a slight grey mauve tinge which does not weather well and looks like a mop on a stick as it dies off.

I have been so busy gardening and enjoying the Clematis that I forgot to take photos when they were at their best how remiss of me. Above is Mrs N Thompson loving a dark corner near the arch and gate.

Rebecca was given to me by it's namesake my daughter and only added to my collection early this spring it has been a magnificent specimen flowering profusely in it's first season one very well worth adding to a collection and again seems to be happy in a shady spot.

Sorry about the bedraggled Josephine but it has flowered profusely and desrves a better photo but there are many posted on earlier blogs of clematis.

Sunset looking the best ever this year with quite a number of blooms, but I planted it some ten years ago and it has really struggled even though it gets fed and watered in the same way as other plants.




This is a real treasure William Kennett, I lost the original plant possibly too hot and dry where I planted it but this was a successful cutting which is coming into it's own.

I think this is Vit. Etoille Violette under the front window.

Mamori an unusual name and one I often forget but isn't the internet clever and here was a link I found from spelling it incorrectly

Thursday 2 June 2011

A STROLL AROUND MY JUNE GARDEN

Welcome to my June garden. Although I haven't been posting for such a long time I have been busy in the garden and taking time to enjoy the lovely sunny weather we have been having this year. Watering copiously as there has been no rainfall since the end of February until a small shower or two this last week not enough to dampen the leaves.



Cornus Kousa looking lovely but it needs a more shady spot than I chose to plant.

Greenfinch rambler always looks lovely but is difficult to photograph to do it justice.

Albertine every wall needs an Albertine.



Vielchenbleu just beginning to flower and should be a wonderful show judging from the number of buds.



Prince Charles an excellent clematis.



Pink Fantasy



Rambling Rector what a picture.

Lots going on in the working area.

Even after off loading plants to my daughters and the occasional visitor there's lots left. Note to self stop potting things on when you haven't room for what you have already got.

Sweet peas for cutting seem to do well in these pots.





Thank you Mike for doing an excellent job of cutting the Box.

Don't these trees make such a wonderful backdrop to that side of the garden.

This is actually the vegetable garden but is the prettiest part of the garden and the most interesting as well as the most fragrant.


How lucky I am to have a garden and the good health once again to enjoy it.


After struggling to find time to post I found I was unable to publish through blogger help I discovered the message Javascript void when trying to press the publish button was connected to a download I did recently of Internet Explorer 9 I have removed this download so fingers crossed looking good so far as other changes have resolved.

Friday 11 February 2011

SAVE ENGLANDS ANCIENT FORESTS



The Tabbush Sister's are back in action to save our forests. Please steal this song, sing it, re-write it, arrange it or just send this youtube clip to everyone you know. Pass it on to stop the government selling our forests! x

ACT NOW Save Englands Ancient Forests

Sign the petition here

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Forest sell off abandoned as Cameron makes U turn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/16/forests-sell-off-cameron-uturn
People power do count!!

Now if only people power could make such a difference over Lyme Borreliosis and co infections we might actually save a few thousand people from suffering chronic Lyme Disease un necessarily. See my other blog for more information.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

BATTLESTONE HILL RHS WISLEY

I couldn't have chosen a nicer day, the weather was perfect for a walk up Battlestone Hill. January is probably the only month I hadn't visited RHS Wisley so it was a treat to see what was on display.

Delightful Hellebores.

The Hamamelis were in full bloom, I am so pleased I was able to enjoy them.

The views were lovely with the low sun highlighting the Hamemelis amongst the mature trees.





Lots of buds on the Rhododendrons and Camellias so must be sure to return in February and March to see them at their best.


This was definitely the right day to enjoy the Daphne, the perfume pervaded the air as I walked around the hill.


Even the remains of Autumn foliage was interesting, these strange leaves of Magnolia Macrophylla like dirty handkerchiefs hung up to dry, behind the Hydrangea heads.

And these little treasures Aconites, not yet open.


I met the Galloping Gardener for a visit to the RHS Wisley Glass house to see the butterflies but as she had to gallop off, I stayed on and enjoyed a walk around the garden.


Do pop over to The Galloping Gardener blog and you can enjoy the Butterflies.