Saturday, January 18, 2014

Just another frosty morning...

 The view from the window that had me grabbing my camera and out into the frosty morning . My favorite part of the winter garden. All it needs is for the tall grasses planted at the back to fill in .

No…not confetti, but my poor Accacia pravissima having a serious leaf drop…we'll see if it is  root hardy after all .  I   'm resigned to it needing replacement. I've got a short list at the moment , something hardy perhaps ….


Wednesday, January 15, 2014

January Gardeners Bloomday 2014...

Plenty of almost blooms like this Helleborus  Wester Flisk group 'bears foot' or the stinking Hellebore . I can't smell it yet . I do love the red stems and Foliage .

Good old reliable Arctostphylos 'Austin Griffiths' starting to bloom away and now after four years looking  like an established tree.

And A. 'St Helens' also blooming , or  are you 'Austin Grithiths ', I can't remember ...

Many nearly blooms like this Sareocoocca living in a pot, because I can't decide where to plant you.

And my sweet Cyclemen coum still blooming . Surely next month will be a better month for blooms and everything else  . Anyway for many more beautiful blooms visit  May Dreams Gardens

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

A key ring and a hole punch ….

I  have had enough of rummaging through my plastic bags of plant tags . I've tried putting them in a sort of order , with a bag for each year. A bag for grasses , a bag for  spikes  and succulents . A bag for perennials , a bag for  odds and ends .Enough of this , I say.  So, I  did several different searches on line for " How to organize plant tags" Several gardeners used photo albums with sleeves to store everything ...nice and neat, but I'm not keen on a big fat photo album, I 'd end up with soil and  gritty bits all in the sleeves . so , no good . Many had my sandwich bag system. They seemed just as fed up as I am, At last Someone had a simple idea . Perfect…only to punch a hole and through a keyring you go.
                                                      



Sunday, January 5, 2014

Plant shopping 2014...

My first nursery visit this year .  Well … it was a beautiful frosty, dry, sunny Sunday morning .   Perfect for a drive to Sauvie island and Cistus nursery. Of course I didn't bring my camera along or the dogs . Just my 20i4 plant wish list. which I duly handed to first person(staff)  I came upon  This is a list of plants I'd made while reading  my new Margery Fish  book' Carefree gardening ' a christmas present.
Though there wasn't  much out on display, most things neatly tucked  snuggly undercover . I did get two things from my list: Lithocarpus edulis , which I love , but didn't take note that it is actually a TREE , a small one at 10 ft or so it says. An adorable Camellia forestii with tiny pink buds already looking to open.
When I got home , I realized these two plants were not from  Margery Fish's book at all.  I don't know how they came to be on my list !

Frosty this morning