Nice to get out in the garden!

[Billy Bob]

I like the raised pond.
I feel a water feature coming on!

I've had the pond for years only 2 large koi left in there now

 

[Billy Bob]

Gorgeous and all flowering already?! 🙂

Quite lucky as my wife and I are only novice gardeners

 

[Ditto]

Mine won't be out for ages! You must have green fingers the pair of yous. I have a black thumb.

I wish Begonias would overwinter outside. I would like to have kept these.

 

[Billy Bob]

Mine won't be out for ages! You must have green fingers the pair of yous. I have a black thumb.

I wish Begonias would overwinter outside. I would like to have kept these.
View attachment 17103

they look beautiful

 

[trophywench]

Love your white clematis Montana at either end, is the purple one actually a Nelly Moser or something different? (not a close up so can't tell)

 

[Billy Bob]

Love your white clematis Montana at either end, is the purple one actually a Nelly Moser or something different? (not a close up so can't tell)

 

[Billy Bob]

These are the clementis plant labels

 

[trophywench]

Frillier petals than montana alba, and doesn't climb like montana. Wasn't aware of the ?Russian or ?Baltic States General (thought 'Sikorskis' were some sort of planes or helicopters or something like that?) until now either! Live and learn.

 

[NotPink]

Most of our garden is wild flowers, roses and herbs. I gave up fiddling about continually planting etc. I love it when the bees hover over the massive rosemary and lavender that grew from a tiny plant. I just weed mainly in autumn and spring and cut back anything that gets toooo big. We do change some things around but mainly it is manageable now.

 

[Ditto]

Nice clems @Billy Bob I must get some early flowering ones, mind all flower at the same time when they survive that is.

I like the sound of that kind of gardening @NotPink 🙂 I'm not doing any bedding this year, just gonna tidy when it stops being so wet, try and keep on top of it. Looks a proper mess at the minute.

Lost two Lavenders this winter that I've had for years and quite a few other plants and this Million Bells has survived! You just never know...

 

[trophywench]

Lavenders do tend to lose their plot suddenly unfortunately. They get more than a bit 'woody' at the base and shuffle off their mortal coil.

 

[NotPink]

I have lost a lavender this year and a couple of other long serving plants. I think the frost we had was quite hard and unexpected. But as trophywench says lavenders do go off after a while.

 

[Leadinglights]

Plants are fickle just like diabetes, often they will tolerate wet or cold but not wet and cold. One year Ryton Organic Gardens lost 50% of their plants as it was such a cold wet winter.
We visited a lavender farm in Yorkshire a few years ago and they are really brutal with cutting back the plants after flowering but it means you are never cutting into old wood. Afternoon tea with lavender scones was good and lavender ice cream yummy.
Everything seems at least 3 weeks behind where we should be, today it is more like February in Coventry.

 

[Billy Bob]

@trophywench
Do I need to dehead the dead flowers and prune the plants in the autumn ?

 

[Ditto]

Toby Buckland says 8th of the 8th by an 8th. So on 8th August get out there with the secateurs, I hates that job! Never cut into old wood. I lost my Eidelweiss (my white lavender) and my French lavender and now only have the one in a container which I've had years and has come through some very harsh conditions, I forgot about it stuck up on a wall once all year when there was a heatwave and it survived, goodness knows how. I've tons outside the fence, Hidcotes, they're nice, but almost horizontal now, the bees go mad for it. 🙂

Have lost one rose but luckily not this one. 🙂

 

[Billy Bob]

Toby Buckland says 8th of the 8th by an 8th. So on 8th August get out there with the secateurs, I hates that job! Never cut into old wood. I lost my Eidelweiss (my white lavender) and my French lavender and now only have the one in a container which I've had years and has come through some very harsh conditions, I forgot about it stuck up on a wall once all year when there was a heatwave and it survived, goodness knows how. I've tons outside the fence, Hidcotes, they're nice, but almost horizontal now, the bees go mad for it. 🙂

Have lost one rose but luckily not this one. 🙂
View attachment 17163

Thanks the rose looks lovely there is a rose plant we put into the centre of the planter flanked either side by clementis .
Hoping it will flower this year but who knows ?

 

[NotPink]

Lots of aquilegia in bloom as well as many self seeded wild flowers...I love Spring...hope you are all well. I am tackling the hedges out front today but I do it in baby steps. I love hedges for privacy and the birds. do you like hedges.

 

[trophywench]

Hedges are fine in the countryside, but far too often in suburbia are targetted as toilets and killing zones by passing (supposedly tame) pet cats.

 

[NotPink]

We cleared out part of our garden this year to make way for a planter bench and moved some plants around. Some we have had for years like the centurea Montana pictured. They used to get trampled on a bit where they were but are now on the edge. I thought I would lose them but here they are, so much happier in their new place. I have other plants that have been moved and they are finally showing recovery. Best pleased. Don't like losing plants.

 

[Ditto]

I had some of those, @NotPink They remind me of my Dad, he always had them. Not got any now, must get some.

My fave Aquilegia at the minute... it self-seeded last year into the apple tree tub, can't move it now, don't want to do it in! Luv it. These are glorious free plants. In fact, I think I'm going to go that way now due to my black thumb, stop buying stuff that doesn't like me and just tidy what's already there and self-seeds. 🙂 Save myself a lot of angst, time and money.