moonsi til
worked it out now!
I am so very happy due to making lots of lovely compost.
The gardening thread
- Thread starter ringo
- Start date
I ordered three bags of fancy tulips and irises last year from an eBay seller at roughly £20/bag (of 8 to 12 bulbs.) Of course by the time they'd flowered the return window was well closed, so when they turned out to be flag irises and pretty bog-standard tulips I wasn't expecting any mileage from contacting the seller. However they apologied and said that when the bulb season is open again, I should contact them to arrange replacements. The months passed and I checked their eBay shop again recently (where their prices have almost trebled) and this morning a box of bulbs arrived true to their word. So I'm marginally less cynical than I was yesterday.
Massive fan of anemones de Caen here. I love the way they spread. I have a swathe of blue ones that dominate a bed in my front garden with such a strong colour and for so long...
What tulips, contadino? I am a shameless tulipomaniac...but only species. If it has some unpronounceable and unspellable name (VVedenskyii), I am all in. By far and away (imo), the very best of them all happens to be an easy garden bulb - soundly perennial, gently increasing by seed and offsets and late to bloom - the luminously elegant tulipa sprengeri. Although they take a few years, I find a lot of geophytes are easy to grow from seed.
I have resisted the galanthophile mania (although 'Mr.Snowdrop', Joe Sharman is a mate). I did spend £25 for a single bulb of 'Primrose Wartburg', forgot which pot it was in and threw it away by mistake. Have done this more times than I can count,
I buy bulbs from a wholesaler so have to buy 250 anemones. I normally shun mixed colours but i want blue (Mr.Fokker) and white (The Bride) but 500!.
I have resisted the galanthophile mania (although 'Mr.Snowdrop', Joe Sharman is a mate). I did spend £25 for a single bulb of 'Primrose Wartburg', forgot which pot it was in and threw it away by mistake. Have done this more times than I can count,
I buy bulbs from a wholesaler so have to buy 250 anemones. I normally shun mixed colours but i want blue (Mr.Fokker) and white (The Bride) but 500!.
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Royal Sovereign tulips, flambe and midnight masterpiece irises.
This evening I've been reading up about posh narcissii thanks to you. One of the plants I definitely have too many of is daffodils but somehow I've accumulated £50 more of them on a wishlist.
My anemones came from Wilko's. I think they were £2 for 10 corms and I got two packs. Every morning when they're out I stop on my way up the driveway. Love their shade of blue.
This evening I've been reading up about posh narcissii thanks to you. One of the plants I definitely have too many of is daffodils but somehow I've accumulated £50 more of them on a wishlist.
My anemones came from Wilko's. I think they were £2 for 10 corms and I got two packs. Every morning when they're out I stop on my way up the driveway. Love their shade of blue.
Oh yes, posh narcissii for sure - have been down that road. So help me...I am now dithering over 3 tiny triandrus 'Angel's Tears'or the Moroccan n.rupicola ssp watieri. So many plants, so little time.
Would you display your tulips in a brown beer bottle?
Each year I grow more flowers, each year with the intention of having more cut flowers in the house, but when it comes to it I think they look better attached to their plant. The wife's getting more interested in filling vases but it's also a challenge for her.
Also, other than when working, I don't spend much time indoors in summer.
The obvious exception being sweet peas of which we always have at least one vase in each room.
I've just been offered the half plot adjoining my allotment so no excuse for empty vases next summer.
On the subject of those daffs...if you'd asked me at teatime I'd have opted for the Moroccan but those swept back petals have grown on me. I had some with red cones and swept back petals in my basket earlier (but ended up buying Red Devon instead).
Absolutely the right time to get some hardy annuals in the ground. I sow cornflowers, larkspur, calendula, gypsophila, ammi majus, euphorbia oblongata, clary sage, tall candytuft and, of course, sweet peas. California poppies, cerinthe, limnanthes and Love-in-the -Mist appear every year with no input from me. I was at my plot doing exactly that, this afternoon, (also sowing pulsatilla and yellow rattle in the 'meadow'). My favourite spring bouquet lasts 2 weeks in a vase - cornflowers and ox-eye daisies. And sometimes including anthemis. The difference between autumn sown annuals vs spring sown is truly extraordinary. Cornflowers will put out hundreds of flowers, in a 4ft tall, multi-branched plant. I sow a purple larkspur which is quite outstanding (I have saved seeds for over a decade) - would you like some?
I always have some filler plants for vases and have no qualms about using cow-parsley, floweriing parsley, fennel, parsnips, horseradish and asparagus foliage in with flowers.You might want to check out my wholesalers - Gedneys. Tulips, for example, can be had for around £9 per 100. I bloody love a huge armful (30) tulips in a massive vase and I like to give away bunches of flowers too. The same bulb merchants will be selling anemones at £75 for 1000 (but you can buy in amounts of 250) Alliums, such as the ubiquitous but useful Purple Sensation are also relatively cheap. These are allotment bulbs, for picking at will. I go to different nurseries for the plants I keep in small pots, for close-up delectation...and could not be without auriculas
Calamity1971
If Mr Peanut says It's okay, then it is.
Anybody ever had lavender meerlo.
Seen some today and the scent is amazing.
I'm well documented on here as a killer of lavender, and was wondering if even I couldn't send them to their death.
Seen some today and the scent is amazing.
I'm well documented on here as a killer of lavender, and was wondering if even I couldn't send them to their death.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
Mine are just starting to flower under natural daylength.
These are the two that I have been training under my bedroom window ... they took months to get that high and I've been tying them down so they cross over.
Hopefully they are now branching and flowering lower down too ...
Apologies for my failure at getting a decent close-up of the spooky-looking flower buds ...
I also have a mahoosive 8 foot wigwam in a container in the back garden ...
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Fairweather
Well-Known Member
TopCat
Putin fanboy
The great tulip bubble?
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Your not supposed to but I just grew some spare supermarket spuds last time
Onions I think your supposed to be able to plant the bottom of it and you’ll get onion flowers and seeds for year after.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
More by luck than judgement, the front garden has been quite a success.
The hot dry weather was a challenge, but it kept the downy mildew off the nicotianas and the mildew has ultimately not overly affected the three surviving cleomes. The brugmansias have quite a heavy spider mite infestation but are hanging in there.
Dead heading the climbers has been a bit of a challenge ... the porch nasturtiums didn't do very well due to my delay in getting the drip irrigation sorted, but the thunbergias that replaced them have thrived up there.
Things have stalled a bit because of cold evenings so I'm hoping it warms up a bit ...
The hot dry weather was a challenge, but it kept the downy mildew off the nicotianas and the mildew has ultimately not overly affected the three surviving cleomes. The brugmansias have quite a heavy spider mite infestation but are hanging in there.
Dead heading the climbers has been a bit of a challenge ... the porch nasturtiums didn't do very well due to my delay in getting the drip irrigation sorted, but the thunbergias that replaced them have thrived up there.
Things have stalled a bit because of cold evenings so I'm hoping it warms up a bit ...
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gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
Two weeks further on and there are the first signs of flowers slowly emerging from the buds...
I suppose in a way, with so few buds so far, I will want the flowers to earn their keep but in terms of vigour, the contrast with the other MG species I have grown is stark ...
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
My black bamboo has produced thousands of seeds, and I'd love to have a go at germinating a few. Any advice, wise gardeners of urban?
Are they ready? Leave them on the plant a bit longer? Sow straight away?
Are they ready? Leave them on the plant a bit longer? Sow straight away?
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BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
And obviously, PM me if you want some of the seeds!
Fairweather
Well-Known Member
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
My brugs have gone nuts 
story
Changing the facts
So I have a tiny patch of mind-your-own-business Soleirolia soleirolii soleirolio soleirolias soleiroliat soleiroliamamus soleiroliamatus soleiroliamant
It has survived and then escaped a dry-ish pot and landed in the lawn. Now, I like this plant and I’m minded to leave it to do it’s own thing, but I’m aware that it is considered an invasive weed by many. I’m happy to let it romp through the lawn so long as it’s not going to kill the dandelions, daisies, and all the other lawn flowers I’m cultivating. (So it’s not really a lawn at all, more a kind of urban meadow.)
And once I build my brick patio, I want to have creeping herbs like thyme, mint, chamomile etc in the cracks, will MYOB dominate there and take over these others?
It’s pretty easy to dig up and remove or pull off logs and rocks etc (I know that won’t eradicate it, but it will allow for other planting etc).
But am I creating a huge future problem? Would it be better to get rid of it before it sets off across the open space of the lawn?
What are the main complaints about MYOB that I’m overlooking?
It has survived and then escaped a dry-ish pot and landed in the lawn. Now, I like this plant and I’m minded to leave it to do it’s own thing, but I’m aware that it is considered an invasive weed by many. I’m happy to let it romp through the lawn so long as it’s not going to kill the dandelions, daisies, and all the other lawn flowers I’m cultivating. (So it’s not really a lawn at all, more a kind of urban meadow.)
And once I build my brick patio, I want to have creeping herbs like thyme, mint, chamomile etc in the cracks, will MYOB dominate there and take over these others?
It’s pretty easy to dig up and remove or pull off logs and rocks etc (I know that won’t eradicate it, but it will allow for other planting etc).
But am I creating a huge future problem? Would it be better to get rid of it before it sets off across the open space of the lawn?
What are the main complaints about MYOB that I’m overlooking?
Leafster
.
I've been really lazy in the garden this year. It's very free draining so with the heat wave and lack of rain, the vegetables didn't grow particularly well. I should have watered them more but I didn't. Although the dry spell meant there weren't as many slugs I did seem to have more feathered and furry visitors which have either eaten plants or dug them up. 
I've had an afternoon of clearing up and planting out some seedlings I've grown which have been sulking as I haven't dealt with them sooner. The chard and the spring cabbages have finally got in the ground. Some late pak choi and the two remaining lettuce seedlings which hadn't been eaten have been put under cover in one of the raised beds.
I really shouldn't have let the poppies go to seed in one of the veg beds....
On a more positive note the cyclamens have come into their own.
This one is my original corm - it came from my grandparents garden and is decades old and at least 20cm across. It sets seed and the ants do their thing and spread it around the garden so it pops up everywhere.
I've had an afternoon of clearing up and planting out some seedlings I've grown which have been sulking as I haven't dealt with them sooner. The chard and the spring cabbages have finally got in the ground. Some late pak choi and the two remaining lettuce seedlings which hadn't been eaten have been put under cover in one of the raised beds.
I really shouldn't have let the poppies go to seed in one of the veg beds....
On a more positive note the cyclamens have come into their own.
This one is my original corm - it came from my grandparents garden and is decades old and at least 20cm across. It sets seed and the ants do their thing and spread it around the garden so it pops up everywhere.
RubyToogood
RubyTwobikes
I have tons of cyclamen also. I bagged a couple of corms off a client when I was a gardener and now it's everywhere (in a good way). I've dug up massive plate-sized corms.
RubyToogood
RubyTwobikes
Some of them of course are more delicate pot plants and won't really thrive in the ground I don't think. They're designed to look nice when sold and meet the compost heap a few months later.
Calamity1971
If Mr Peanut says It's okay, then it is.
I've been doing work on a garden and it's everywhere! She's happy for me to spread the cyclamen love. My other customers are well pleased, along with some Japanese anemone and rose bushes.
Leafster
.
I think it's only c. hederifolium, c. cuom and c. purpurascens which are properly hardy in the UK. It's hederifolium that's flowering now.
It annoys me that the colourful ones sold about now for winter bedding are just labelled 'cyclamen' when I suspect they're c. persicum which aren't properly hardy.
People buy them and then they die all too quickly and think that's what happens to them all.
Leafster
.
I think they're pretty tough but keep them out of any particularly wet areas.
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