March in your Garden - Page 3

hollie hock wrote (see)

 Saw some sort of bee at the GC on the weekend...

For me it's always about next year... 

I saw my first solitary bee last week buzzing around my Thyme. Some species do start early in the year I've read. Also discovered two bright orange butterflies in my garden this weekend if anyone can tell me what they might be. Sadly, didn't get a pic but they were a good size with orange and brown wings and furry bodies. Would they more likely be moths?

I have two halves of a garden, one part is well established and requires just a little tweaking, but the remainder is not very mature at all and I have already resigned myself to the work that next year will require to bring the two gardens closer in age. I'm a perfectionist, so I think impatience and never being satisfied are my state of being.  

Bunny.. wrote (see)

Just looked them up, they're lovely . Are they fussy on soil ? I have heavy clay .

Same here Bunny and my tree peony, which I took from my Dad's garden 28 years ago is still going strong. Just love it when it blooms.  Only problem I find is that it is too short lived.

Just saw a ladybird on the patio rose; Shining Light

Morning folks,  I've finally got the rest of my seeds done as follows

Sunflower....................................Teddy Bear

...................................................Red Sun

..................................................Mixed

..................................................Italian White

..................................................Colour Fashion

.................................................Russian Giant

.................................................Toy Shop

..................................................Black Magic

Cornflour

Nigella 

Rudbeckia.................................Rustic Dwarf

Aubrieta....................................Large Flower Mixed

Pansy........................................Swiss Giant Mixed

Hellebore.....................................Red Forms

..................................................Black Beauty

..................................................Viridis

Osteospermum............................Mixed

Tagettes......................................Orange/Yellow

Sweet Peas..................................Giant Waved

....................................................Singing the Blues

.....................................................Royal Mixed

I think that lot will keep me going for the whole year,  I have just done 1/2 of the Sweet Peas I shall do the rest in the Autumn and grow through the winter  as I have done the last few years.

Lovely sunny day, really enjoyed the garden at lunchtime so thought I'd share some pics I took....

Crocus smiling in the sunshine! This is the bed the mother-in-law dug over to get rid of the ground elder so it's still in it's very early stages.  Planning a lot more bulbs for next year, when the pennies allow! 

This GG is the biggest of my tree peonies It's about 5'5" or thereabouts.  Like I said, I haven't see the flowers yet but the foilage is long-lived and absolutely lovely. Everyone who came into the garden after we bought the house in June last year remarked on it and asked what it was.  

My two other tree peonies in the main bed.  It's a bit bare at the moment but is slowly coming back to life! Hopefully you can see them okay.  They're both about 4' high.  Roots aren't huge and they seem to get on fine with the other plants, including when they were smothered in ground elder.  They seem quite hardy.  

And just because it makes me smile every time I come up the driveway, here is my mini bed in front of the old sheds.  A few crocus, lots of primulas and pansies, a rose and honeysuckle in the background.  This was entirely covered in a huge jasmine bush when we bought the place but that was quickly dispatched.  

There's been a butterfly hanging round this patch for the last couple of days, can anyone spot him in the pic?!! 

What lovely pics ShropshireLass. Thank you for sharing them

Great garden, love the dogs too!

You've been busy Rain, be interested how your Aubretia do. Sowed some very early this year, no joy, but have seeds left over so might try again.

Great pictures ShropshireLass, Spring is a great time of year, lots of colour. Crocus are one my favourite flowers. They multiple on their own and don't cost much to add too. Love the dogs. Did look but couldn't see the butterfly

Glad others have been seeing the first insects/pollinators out and about in the sun

You like your sunflowers Rain. I grew them last year for their seeds to feed birds over Winter. I've a mix of different heights this year from dwarf to 16ft plus. Haven't sown mine.

Nice pics. I've little dafs in flower at present with tulips putting out lots of leaves but no buds.     

I must admit to having a soft spot for Sunflowers Zoomer especially the Black Magic and Teddy Bear,  my Russian Giants in 2011 were about 10 ft tall thankfully not the 16ft that they can get too,  I'm dreading having to prick this lot out though will take me few days I would think, I just hope that I get a good turn out of seeds as last year was a complete wash out but then the year was literally 

I have some daffodils in bud, but no flowers yet. Snowdrops are still all out, lasted well this year. Had a couple of sunny days so made a new strawberry bed and sowed some seeds in the GH, tomatoes, penstemon, ageratum, French marigolds in electric propagaters. Weeded, manured and rotovated onion patch - was going to plant it today but the wind was too strong. A big tree blew down on our track and local farmer had to chop some away so we could get home after shopping. Professional will have to come to finish it, and it's on the phone line. March has come in like a lion lets hope it goes out like a lamb.

Same here Bunny.. & ShropshireLass, my lab is super nosey, she will even dip her nose into my coffee to see if its tea or coffee, if its coffee she just jumps up on my knee & curls up for a snooze, but if its tea, she just sits there perfectly erect like a show dog, waiting for a drink. I mostly have to show her what something is before I can get on with said something or its nose in pushing me out of the way. Im not moaning, she is adorable, I love her personality. 

On a gardening note, I would have liked to have mowed the lawn this morning, but, I bought a new mower (my old one got stolen), but my new one is petrol. well I dont have a car, so I had to walk all the way into town to pick it up (taxi back, it was 30kg). 
I'm not so idiotic as to think that the mower would come with petrol, (thats just stupid & dangerous). So yesterday I walked into town again to buy a petrol carry can, then walked all the way back home & to the nearest petrol station (But what luck - no oil). Even went to several nearby garages, "oh no we dont do that oil", to then get home again and find out, its basically high performance motorbike oil. So now I have to walk into another town today to a halfords to get some oil.