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

[tonyg]

Another month, another update!

We did get the patio laid before our Wedding Anniversary ... just!   But then it was cold, windy and wet on the day so the planned barbecue was postponed.  Now we have to  do some temporary landscaping around the stones.  More hard landscaping will follow when we have time to plan it properly!  The builders bags with some of the 'surplus' soil have mostly been planted up.  Strawberries, peas and annual flowers, all chosen by the girls.

Update on two troughs planted last summer.  The birthday trough has very mixed results, some losses,including the campanula Luc thought would be a thug!  Androsace cylindrica has survived a slugging ... no sign of flowers though
The lightweight trough planted for a temporary display at the Norfolk Show is thriving.  Only shallow soil depth over plastic packing but all the plants are looking good!

[David Nicholson]

Coming on well Tony- I do like a plan to come together. Perhaps in my case  the word "plan" rarely figures!

[angie]

Really nice Patio Tony, shame about the weather for your anniversary but now that its done you can enjoy many a nice evening.

Like what you have done with your ton bags

Angie 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Update on two troughs planted last summer.  The birthday trough has very mixed results, some losses,including the campanula Luc thought would be a thug! 

Oops... I wouldn't call C. choruhensis a "thug", Tony - but if it thrives, it takes quite some space in a little trough like yours.  It is a real gem to my eyes, too bad you lost it... (I lost one as well this winter).

Congrats on the plan, coming together ! 

[tonyg]

Gentian time.  Making me long for the mountains.

Gentiana acaulis has been in grand from for a couple of weeks, just going over now.  Gentiana angustifolia has produced four times as many buds than it has ever managed before.  Last weeks rain saw them determinedly closed.  My frustration was ended when the temperatures rose this week, even if the rain continues to fall.

I am planning a short break to Switzerland at the end of June/early July.  Anyone fancy a couple of days hiking high in the mountains?

[Lesley Cox]

Lovely gentians Tony. The mountain ones won't be much better except maybe for the background scenery.

[tonyg]

Summer returns.  We eat outside on the new dining area - pictures to follow!

In the garden Arnica montana blooms.  I raised it once before years ago and thought "Oh a yellow daisy" ... then I saw it in the mountains and vowed to grow it again.  It hates being in a pot but after planting a seedling out very small last year I now have another flower at home.

Here it is at home ... and away!

[Diane Clement]

Beautiful view, Tony, taken from just above Wengen? or the slopes of the Männlichen?

[tonyg]

Yes, Mannlichen

[Tim Ingram]

I wish I could get so many flowers on Gentiana acaulis as that angustifolia. It's a mystery to me why some plants flower so well in one garden and not in another. And why does Globularia repens never produce more than a smattering of flowers? I do like the idea of traipsing in the Swiss hills - David Hoare has given us several memorable talks on his visits. This summer though we are working on taking cuttings and collecting seed ready for opening the nursery again next spring.

[tonyg]

I wish I could get so many flowers on Gentiana acaulis as that angustifolia. It's a mystery to me why some plants flower so well in one garden and not in another. And why does Globularia repens never produce more than a smattering of flowers? I do like the idea of traipsing in the Swiss hills - David Hoare has given us several memorable talks on his visits. This summer though we are working on taking cuttings and collecting seed ready for opening the nursery again next spring.

Gentiana acaulis not quite as prolific here ... yet.  Globularia repens flowers here only on those parts of the plant growing over rocks. 
Just booked flights for a short break in Switzerland 2nd-5th July .... surely you can spare 4 days?

[tonyg]

Some plants from the garden this week.  A good show of flowers at last!
Saxifraga cotyledon in two forms.  I like the charm of the smaller form which reminds me of plants I have seen in the mountains.
Androsace raised as cylindrica but perhaps a hybrid with A. hirtella.  Grown here in a piece of tufa.
Helianthemum bought at Wymondham show last year, from Aberconwy I think.  Cannot remember which one, perhaps H nummularium var tomentosum.
Hypericum cerastoides which i have had for many years, it always seems to leave a few seedlings when the old plant has passed on!
Verbascum species ex Mike Smith, Hythe Alpines as was.  Lost label.  Only about 12 inches high.
And finally Tulipa sprengeri, brilliant red and definitely the last of the 'Spring' bulbs!

[tonyg]

We have had our first outdoor concert on the new dining area.  Amy performed her Grade 2 pieces for her grandparents.  She positively bounced into the exam a few days later so she should have done well!  (No nerves!)

Still plenty of flowers in the garden despite the overall appearance of being a work in progress.  Sophora davidii, a small shrub, has produced masses of flowers, so many that the branches have drooped onto the plants below  , a problem made worse by the incessant rain and wind lately.  Dianthus aplenty including Dianthus arenarius with lovely fringed petals and Dianthus carthusianorum in the 'meadow' part of the front garden.  Also in the front is Paradisea liliastrum, a formidable clump now, which is always a challenge to photograph well.  It moves in the slightest breeze and the background is usually a wealth of distractions!

[Tim Ingram]

I am incredibly envious of that Sophora! I have a little seed grown plant so far yet to flower. A nursery near us has a much more upright and large plant with the flowers and blackish stems of davidii, but very different habit. A case for the likes of Roy Lancaster to look at... (I can find no reference in Bean to it unless davidii is much more variable than I suppose).

[tonyg]

Tim, I think that I got the plant from you, a good few years ago.  It took a while to flower but in the last couple of years it has really come of age.  I still have the original label if you want to check the handwriting!