General Chat

My snowdrops have just started to show their heads,so the crocus won't be far behind. I was beggining to wonder because my mate and his lad were back and forward over the borders putting the new fwnce up ,but they look fine.next month i am really looking forward to ,seed planting time in the greenhouse,lots of flower seeds to go in,onions ,tomatoes,,not forgetting some sweetpea. Spring ,just round the corner Yeeeeh.Fred.ptfg.

My garden is an absolute disaster after the recent storms here. The winds tore down fencies etc. I am going to get something done today as it is dry. Wish me luck!!!

I've done it!!!! I took Tracy's advice and done my weeding!! Thanks Tracy it was alot easier than I thought it was going to be........they soon came up! Now Im off and I may even buy some bulbs!! Is it too late to plant them? What else can be planted at this time of year? Bev

Marly did you have a lot of damage to your house? we were lucky - only the garden was damaged. Like you I am going to clear broken pots and tidy up. Anne xx

Hi Anne and Marly, good luck with the tidying. Bev, the garden centres sell bulbs growing in pots so you could still have some snowdrops or crocus. Fred, we've been growing the old-fashioned scented sweetpeas in recent years, the flowers are smaller and there aren't as many on the stem as modern varieties but they smell wonderful. Heather

My witchhazel is looking good at the moment. I've got the red variety. The red-hot pokers, kniphofia are looking a decidedly tatty. Does anyone know if if its OK to cut them down with the shears? Len

I had a new bed (about 10 x 3 metres) abou Nov/Dec. 2003, where I had some cupressus trees removed, and planted it up with shrubs. I bought quite a few pots of bulbs in pots (not yet in flower). They are selling them off cheap at garden centre about now. I planted them out in clumps between the shrubs and they made a fine display. They are all coming again this year and seem to have mutiplied.. Len

Hi Len Is the witch hazel in flower now? It's perfumed isn't it......I love plants with a nice smell, lol. I don't know about the pokers, I generally try to remove the dead bits from the perennials in Feb/March time when I can see the young growth starting. They look dreadfully untidy but the dead stuff protects the roots, I think.......that's my excuse for leaving it.

I planted some cyclamen corms in a shady spot last year and squirrels kept digging them up (they do it with my hyacinth bulbs too). I thought I'd lost them all, but last week then the three scarlet ones flowered. I wonder if they taste different to squirrels, according to the flower colour? CB >|<

Good morning Marly and CB I haven't noticed the squirrels digging up the bulbs here, they usually grab something from the bird table and run back into the wood. I put a large slice of cake on the table one day thinking the birds would peck at it and the squirrel pinched the whole thing and couldn't get it through the gate at the top of the garden, lol. CB I didn't know that cyclamen would flower in the garden at this time of the year, I have those little pink ones that flower in the autumn before the leaves appear, the seed pods look as if they are on coiled springs. Heather

If sqirrels dig up your bulbs, next time you replace them, plant as usual but cover them with chicken wire, small aperture, about half an inch above the tips of the bulbs. len

Heather, At present, we have all sorts flowering out of season - honeysuckle, Bowles Mauve wallflowers, kerria japonica, roses, vinca major and the cyclamen. We still had fuschias flowering until Christmas week, too. I think they're all making up for being baked to a crisp during the summer, when most of them were meant to flower, and the grass is ridiculously long. I do feed the squirrels, so I get really annoyed when they dig up the bulbs - ungrateful little tykes! - but they are cute and we love to watch them, and I'm glad they can outrun the neighbours' cats. I'm trying the citrus peel cat-deterrent at the moment. Seems it might have worked on all except one cat - a very determined character, who has just discovered how to jump up and get into the house via the utility room window! I leave that open when the drier is on, and I now find the cat in there, miaowing at the door to get into the kitchen It's a pest, but just very friendly. It jumped up on my husband's lap this afternoon while he was asleep in his recliner chair, and frightened the life out of him! Perhaps I should also sprinkle him with orange peel? Len, Thank you for your suggestion. Anything's worth a try. I put some stiff plastic netting over the wall-mounted planters last year after planting the young petunias, and that stopped the blackbirds turfing the plants out onto the ground. They've done that every year recently. They get food as well, but they still like nothing better than to root around in pots and planters. No seed or seedling is safe from them or the ringed doves. CB >|<

CB Our Kerria was flowering late last year, I think it stopped just before Christmas though and I'm sure the Mahonia Charity flowered earlier this time, it has almost finished now and the berries are forming, the blackbirds love those! Are the Bowles Mauve wallflowers short lived? I had one that flowered well the first year and then died in the second year, perhaps I should have taken cuttings? I've been watching that cat thread too because my son is having a problem with a neighbours cat using his garden as a loo. He has a little 4 year old who likes to dig the garden so we need to find a solution. Heather

For anyone having trouble with mice or squirrels digging up peas, seeds, or bulbs,dip them in paraffin first ,it does put the little furry theives off ,but won't harm them ,or the bulbs ,i used to treat my pea seeds [ both sweet ,and garden] and my bulbs up the allotment and it worked a treat. It looks like my garden will have to wait on the weather this coming week,as we have blizzards forcast and much as i like pottering in the greenhouse and garden at this time of year i ain't going out in that .lol.Fred.ptfg.

Heather, Our Garden's not got a lot going on at the mo,but ..... the heather is starting to flower, some white and pink, it looks good. Suex

Anybody got any advice on how to take care of a Cyclamen?

Hi Fred, thanks for the paraffin tip, I hadn't heard of that before. It's colder today isn't it so staying indoors and keeping warm sounds good to me, lol. Veronica, I hope you will let us know when your bulbs appear, it'll be interesting to know if they are earlier or later than ours. My daffs have buds now but they have to grow quite a bit before they flower. Sue, I haven't any heathers in the garden.......yet, lol. Helen, is this an indoor plant in a pot? Heather

HI After saying on an earlier message that I have no snowdrops in flower I found two yesterday in the back garden The primroses are out in next door's garden Bren

I looked out of my window today, through the sleet, and saw that I have an osteospernum in bloom (the sort that usual only opens in the summer sun). I think the poor thing has gone mad. Its the weather, you know. Heather Yes, the witch hazel has a delicious scent which is detectable some distance away. It has a cousin whose name I cannot recall at the moment. My son has one in his garden and I smelled it before I saw it. Len

Glad to hear you found your snowdrops Brenda and Marly, mine seemed to appear overnight too. Len, I've recently planted a shrub called Sarcococca which should have scented flowers in winter but it hasn't flowered yet. It's good to see something flowering in the winter and even better with perfume. Heather