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

[Anthony Darby]

I wonder if the gatekeeper will ever spread into Scotland?

[Lesley Cox]

I wish it had spread into New Zealand. He could keep my gate any time.

[Anthony Darby]

I released some in my garden in Dunblane back in the late 70s. One or two appeared the next year and this was recorded in George Thomson's book "The Butterflies of Scotland".

[tonyg]

The previous post was just before the school holidays .... I return at the end of the first week of the autumn term.  Gardening takes a back seat in August as the day job has to be fitted in around family holidays.  We enjoyed another trip to Wales, via our friendly Shropshire windmill.  The weather turned autumnal, no mists but some mellow fruitfulness!

Returning home the autumn bulbs are well advanced in the garden, Sternbergia and now also crocus in variety.  The repot of the bulbs is being compromised by a sickness problem at work which has cancelled my planned week off for that job.      I have to it it in when I can.  There are far too many small pots with just a few bulbs in them, as a solution I am planting these in small mesh pots (thanks to Celia at the windmill who gifted me a starter pack!)  I can see several advantages to this approach.  Space saving, better root run, easier to maintain adequate moisture in compost and insulation (ie small pots freeze quick!)  I'll report on this project again.

[tonyg]

Almost completed the repotting marathon.  A report will follow soon.  Some lovely summery weather now that Autumn has officially started!  So here are a few pictures of plants in flower in the garden now.

A single Crocus pulchellus white form has appeared in the lawn by the childrens swing.  It must have been there for at least 12 years, likely longer.  There was once a flower bed in this area and this bulb must have escaped the clearance all those years ago.  I think this is the first time it has flowered since .... a comment on how rarely I  have cut the grass in the last few years!  

Anemone coronaria has produced a flower for the second time this year.  We had a nice display in the spring, don't know if this is a one off or the start of another flush.  Close by a potful of cyclamen cilicium seedlings have been planted out.  Many more buds to open yet

In the front garden various autumn bulbs have been adding colour and interest.  Perhaps the best so far is Colchicum cupanii var bertolinii which seems to have come through the harsh winter and wet summer quite unharmed.  This is very good news as the big potful in the greenhouse fared much less well.  Another example of how we do not always need to fuss over our 'pets in pots!'

[tonyg]

Some of the hottest weather of the year, recently.  Some spring flowers have had a second outing, Gentiana angustifolia catching my eye each morning as I open the curtains    Not far beyond are the last flowers of Crocus niveus, hurried away by the extreme heat.  Crocus tournefortii has come after the niveus this year, a new one seems to pop up every day just now.  Great photo opportunities for early risers catching the dew on the flowers.  And, enjoying the sunshine, a final flower on Campanula cochlearifolia, one of the big success stories of the slate dressed bed.

[tonyg]

At last, time to report on the repot!  More good news than bad, a pleasant surprise after the extreme cold last winter.  Losses in the bulbs were mostly confined to those from South Africa and a few others of known vulnerability.  Many of these I have grown for 20 years before disaster struck.  I did lose a few crocuses, those from the Levant seem less hardy.  Losses otherwise were in pots at the edge of frames where pots were wetter and froze harder.  Some bulbs split into many smaller ones but this did not happen often, indeed in the access frame with glass all round and overhead, most things did just as well as normal.

I have switched almost all bulbs into a standard deep pot.  In many cases there were not enough bulbs to fill such a pot.  These were paired up with suitably different pot-mates or planted in the new mesh pot bed shown earlier.  The net result is a considerable reduction in the number of pots and the space they take up.  .....Lots of space for new things, I am already sowing seed

As I came to sow seed I discovered a few packets of 'spare' bulbs from last autumn which I had neglected to plant.  Amazingly all seem to have survived.  Tropaeolum tricolorum was making new shoots, Calochortus uniflorus ready to root.  Oxalis versicolor yielded just a few small bulbs but enough to restart after the rest were killed in the frost.

Finally for tonight, I have removed the huge Grevillea 'Canberra Gem' which was obstructing paths and being a general nusiance.  As the roots came out, up came two tubers of Tropaeolum tricolorum, a plant killed outright in the greenhouse last winter.  Proof yet again  that we can kill a plant by potting it.  Here, under a shrub, against a south wall it had survived.

[angie]

All nice and tidy. You need to change your subject heading    Will be really interesting to see how the tiny mesh pots work out. I fancy trying those. I have so many tiny bulbs.

Angie 

[David Nicholson]

Tony, when you get a minute would you please give us the dimentions and depth of your new pot. Supplier would be useful too please.

[tonyg]

All nice and tidy. You need to change your subject heading    Will be really interesting to see how the tiny mesh pots work out. I fancy trying those. I have so many tiny bulbs.

Angie 

Ha Ha Ha - remember how the camera can lie.  I am only showing you the good bits, the nettles and brambles have done VERY well this year!
I can recommend a supplier for the mesh post when you want one.

Tony, when you get a minute would you please give us the dimentions and depth of your new pot. Supplier would be useful too please.

Away right now, I'll let you know dimensions later.  I was alerted to the 'end of line' sale of these pots and bought a lifetime supply with the intention of passing some on to other growers.  They sit in my shed awaiting some action ... so I may be able to help!

[tonyg]

Here's a few more good bits - Crocus laevigatus in the garden, at least one is a self sown seedling.

[tonyg]

Life continues to get in the way of gardening!  However, I will continue with the Blog .... and keep its current title!

In the garden here autumn progresses.  Seedlings of Sorbus hupehensis have surprised and delighted me with their autumn colour.  I was inspired to order seed from the exchange last year after seeing Ian's pics of this in the Bulb Log.  A couple of weeks ago Hamamelis mollis had it's moment of glory, providing some fantastic autumn colour.

Meanwhile in the frames the last of the autumn crocus are just about finished as the first of the winter narcissus start to bloom.  Here an early, tall form of Narcissus cantabricus.

Out and about with my camera, having joined the Blipfoto community, I have encountered my first hyacinths of spring    and made what I hope will be the first of regular visits to our nearest nature reserve, Buxton Heath.  This ancient valley mire is being managed back to health by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.  It has been a great autumn for fungi, here is a milk-cap, Lactarius ?chrysorrhoeus and a Russula ?fragilis.

You can follow the Daily Photo Journal using the link in my signature.

[tonyg]

One for Angie - Epilobium fleischeri - Thanks Angie.
Seed received late last year, sown this spring, flowered this autumn .... now going to seed nicely   

I was trying for an arty shot of this narcissus seedling, took five shots, in the course of which an incy wincy travelled from the back of the corona, round to the front and ..... well, see for yourself!

[razvan chisu]

that's a lovely epilobium. how do you grow it? any special conditions?

[angie]

Tony glad to hear that you are keeping on with your blog, thought for one minute you were going to say that you were stopping. I enjoy seeing what you are doing and seeing your lovely pictures.

Well done with the Epilobium fleischeri. I tried with my seed but had no success. But like I have said many times before not that good with seed yet. Its a really nice flower so I will try again.

Angie