ChapelGirl2

Bees

We have been having some landscaping work done in the garden and they had to pull out some overgrown heathers under a golden Leylandii-style cypress. They disturbed what the thought at first was a wasps' nest but fotunately for them it turned out to be 'bourdons', which my dictionary translates as bumble bees.  These bees are about honey-bee size, but shorter and fatter, and they seem to be sociable, whereas most bumble bees I am used to are solitary.

best flavoured tomatoes

When Hugh-Fearnley Whittingstall did his taste test the winners were Sungold, Santa, Brandywine, Nectar and Odoriko.

Sungold, Brandywine and Santa are available from Thompson and Morgan. Simpsons sell Nectar.

I'm not sure about Odoriko. If anyone comes across it, I'd be grateful to know where I can get seed. I DL'd the RHS veg. seed suppliers' list and they DO list it, and say there is one UK seed supplier in 2012, but for some reason that's all the information you get!  Further Google searches have been fruitless - literally!

I've grown Sungold and Brandywine in previous years and can definitely recommend them for flavour.

This year I'm growing red, yellow and black cherry tomatoes only. I can't tell you what variety they are because I sowed them from seed I saved from a supermarket punnet!

drunken Blue Atlas Cedar

 Thanks sotongeoff. I've had another go and it is working now. It wasn't working for me a couple of days ago.

Dovefromabove, the trunk is 45cm in circumference, not diameter. If I dried it out it  might be useful as firewood in the wood burner, but being cedar it probably wouldn't produce much heat.

drunken Blue Atlas Cedar

I would have uploaded a picture but I don't think that feature is working here yet.  

I am sure that these plants can be very elegant, but I'd describe mine as more of a 'Slouching Atlas Cedar', and the rickety crutches holding its arms up don't help with the aesthetic appeal either.  

drunken Blue Atlas Cedar

The tree trunk is about 2 metres high and 45cm circumference at the moment, and the branches arch out to the left and right of it, parallel with the base of the slope.  The branches are longer than the tree is tall.

I suppose the reason I started this thread is that I am in two minds myself whether to keep it or chop it down.  I think I will probably try cutting it back this year, and if I'm still not happy with it next year (and I haven't killed it) I can always take it out then. 

Does Anyone Know What This Mauve Flowered Plant Is Please?

Yes, I did that once.  Then the next year, in an area I thought I would NOT like them to grow, there they were... and so on.  

Beech Hedge

Good luck with your beech hedge!  When we were in Norfolk I planted a mixed deciduous 'Tapestry' hedge from bare-rooted stock from Buckingham nurseries.  The proportions were 5 Green Beech, 2 Golden Privet, 5 Hornbeam, 2 Purple Beech, 5 Field Maple and 1 Cotoneaster.  For some reason, possibly connected to our local soil conditions, everything else thrived apart from the beeches.  We had several 'spare' plants, which I heeled in at the bottom of the garden.  I had to replace quite a few of the hedgerow beeches over the next 2 years, and even the 'spare' plants did not survive or did not flourish once placed in the hedge.

Here in the Savoie we have very alkaline soil and we have a variety of hazel nut with purple bronze foliage which grows like a weed here.

hydrangeas

We have some fabulous hydrangeas which are overcrowded, and against the north-facing wall of our house, which is in the shade of the sun most of the day.

The soil here is alkaline and full of limestone pebbles & cobbles.  Our hydrangeas vary in colour between purple, violet and pink.  They are flowering well. They may have been treated or fed before we moved here, but not for the last 15 months or so.  Our garden is free-draining, but being on the side of a hill, in times of heavy rain we get the occasional lake quite close to the house!

We are intending to have some steps built, which probably means we will have to move the hydrangeas this autumn/winter.  I have read that they don't like full sun, so I will probably put them lower down in the garden, in the shade of a high laurel hedge (but not too close to it).

drunken Blue Atlas Cedar

Thanks, Dovefromabove.  I have learned that I should remove no more than 1/3 of the tree at a time, and should do it in winter. (But I think I won't wait until it is snowing, though!)

We also have a very nice twisted willow, but the previous owner planted it in the corner of our plot and on the boundary with next door, and it is now a mature tree.  Fortunately we have good neighbours who don't mind it over-hanging the fence, but to all intents and purposes it is 'wasted' in our garden, because it doesn't get to show off its full glory, being right next to the other neighbour's overgrown laurel hedge, and it can't be seen from any of the windows in our house.  Location, location, location, as they say in the house-buying programmes.

conifer

You don't say what type of conifer it was, how big it was or how long you have had it for.  As trees go, some conifers are relatively short-lived.  Alternatively, it may have died through disease, or through drought.  It's hard to say without more information.

If it was a Leylandii, personally I'd throw a party!  

If the needles are on a lawn or something like that, I'd definitely rake them up or hoover them up with a blower.  I might put them down elsewhere in the garden as a weed suppressant mulch though, especially if I had very alkaline soil (which I do).

christopher2 suggests growing a clematis Montana through the dead branches rather than cutting down & digging out the dead tree.  That's a good idea and would work well, if the shape is good, but thinking about some of the dead and dying conifers I've seen in my lifetime, personally I remain to be convinced.  Do you know of one you can show us in a photo, christopher2?

drunken Blue Atlas Cedar

I-Spy Carol Klein

Roses on my driveway

Something is eating my lavender