Making the Best of It... (Was 'Blog from an Untidy Garden')

[angie]

Really lovely Pulsatilla .
Nice to hear that you had a nice week in Wales and it was warm and sunny, its freezing up here, back to winter temperatures .
Was looking up Malvern Spring show I think I need a wee break away from here. Sun and plants perfect.
Angie

[tonyg]

A visit to a tidy garden today!
After an excellent lecture by Ian Young at Norfolk AGS we spent a day at Wisley.  .... Well actually we spent more of the day in the car but Wisley was still good Excellent in fact, under Paul C's expert care.  A few flower photos later but here proof that Ian was there! 

Also a special guest on the Cyclamen bench in the behind-the-scenes polytunnel.

[angie]

Sunglasses and t.shirt , its woolly hats and fleeces here.
Looking forward to seeing more when you have the time to post them.

Angie

[Ragged Robin]

Lucky you, Tony, to be so close and enjoy an excellent lecture given by the BD and then to follow it with a trip to Wisley - too much of a good time but looking forward to sharing it through your photos. Great shot of the BD in front of the pansy tower wearing the Forum Polo shirt no less the whole scene is very Spiring-like - was the Duck nesting or laying eggs? 

[Maggi Young]

I've just been outside to check the temperature here in damp Aberdeen.... it's just about 4 degrees C
Is it any wonder the BD looks so pleased ?

[tonyg]

I've just been outside to check the temperature here in damp Aberdeen.... it's just about 4 degrees C
Is it any wonder the BD looks so pleased ?

That'll wipe the smile off his face

Even hotter here today although the breeze is refreshing.  Too hot for a forum fleecie and for many bulbs which are yellowing despite the shading.  Seed pods galore appear on the crocuses

Angie more pics tonight hopefully.  Maggi did not send an empty cake-tin down with Ian ... but if you pop round later there might be a few crumbs left from the cup-cakes

Robin, yes indeed!  Paul told us there were 10 eggs under Mrs Daffy.  It's her 3rd year in the same spot!

[Maggi Young]

Bother! I knew we'd forgotten something! It was the cake tin.  

As if that wasn't enough to depress us... it's raining now, too.  

[angie]

Bother! I knew we'd forgotten something! It was the cake tin.   

As if that wasn't enough to depress us... it's raining now, too.   

Maggi if we had remembered that cake tin we could have had a great BIG slice of cake, it could have been snowing or gale force winds out there and even if it was -50  I would have been so happy eating that cake . 
Never mind I am sure I have a BIG cake of chocolate hidden somewhere

Angie

[Maggi Young]

Angie: Ian is home... he's brought chocolate buns with him!! There's two for you.... if you're quick !!(VERY quick!)
Baked by Tony..... yummy!!

[tonyg]

We had ours with cream

A few pics from Wisley.  The season has moved on apace since Erics' thread from earlier this month.

I love the patterns made by the emerging ferns.
Leucojum aestivum luxuriates by the waters edge. ... as does Fritillaria meleagris.
Erythroniums aplenty ... although the massed Pagoda were quite a formal planting.  I prefer the informal, natural look but these were stunning.
I also prefer the pinks of Erythronium revolutum, this one certainly caught the eye (and the sun

[Ragged Robin]

Wonderful to have caught those fern fronds just before unfurling - I love them too 

Beautiful natural scenes at Wisley by the waterside, Spring in essence 

[angie]

Lovely Erythroniums. I love Wisley, just wish I lived closer.
Robin said what I was thinking those ferns are so lovely at that stage.
Angie

[tonyg]

Three pics of seed from Corydalis malkensis.  It appeared close to ripe when we left for a week in Wales after Easter.  I collected some green pods, wrapped one stem in a plastic food bag and placed another inside a jam-jar.  These latter two were left in-situ.  The results:  harvested green, lots of healthy seed; jam jar, some ripe seed; plastic bag, some ripe seed but deterioration suggesting rot would soon set in if I had left it too long.  So green, almost ripe pods is the best approach.

As it happens the pods 'left to nature' had not quite fully ripened, so I was able to collect from them when I got back anyway!

[tonyg]

Very busy with work the last two weeks plus AGS show last weekend.  I got a few plants ready for planting out a while back, put them by the raised bed .... and went to work.  Despite the cool weather it has been dry until today.  You can see how disaster overtakes the careless gardener.  The limp campanula has recovered as I write this, after a soaking this morning.  The ptilotrichium may not grow on .... time will tell.

The raised bed at the sunny, back of the house has been colourful for a while now.  Spring bulbs are giving way to other alpines.  Pulsatilla albana, here in its yellow form, is a cute, small flowered species.  As all the pulsatillas I grow, seed raised.

[Lesley Cox]

Oh Tony, I do this all the time, put plants by to plant at the weekend and suddenly they're limp and dying because we had a warm wind for a couple of days. Most recover when well watered but some don't and yet again I curse my stupidity. I have had to accept that not only am I an untidy and lazy gardener, but also a BAD gardener, which is shameful.