happymarion

Bamboo Dying

Some ten years ago my spread of bamboo all flowered at once and I thought that was that as I knew they then died but not at all. I now have a thicket again eevery bit as lovely as the original.  You just need to wait.

Lemon Tree

Citrus trees are very spiky, Astrid.  If the leaves re bigger than those of your original plant perhaps it was a grafted tree and you have now got the root stock it was grafted on to,  You will find out if it fruits.  Perhaps the fruit will be more like agrapefruit.  Sounds exciting, but do watch out for those spikes.  Wear stout gloves if you have to weed it.

Talkback: Flowering in time for Chelsea

Oh, I know so well how you are feeling, Andy. I am opening my garden for the first time to the Friends of Bristol University Bot, Garden on May13th this year and I have been going round my garden daring buds to swell or open too soon. Then I remember giving them a good talking to is giving them extra carbon dioxide and encouraging them to bloom so i shut up. I am sure all my wonderful tulips and even Narcissus poeticus will be over but I am trusting that other things will be early too ,although the sharp frost we had in Bristol last night may have scuppered that. It is never boring being a gardener.

Talkback: Overwintering pests and diseases

But the ladybirds are coming to our rescue, Pippa, at least mine. They are there in an instant when I take anything outside from the conservatory that has aphids on like the odd aonium. I do hope some of the early buds are not going to be destroyed by the sudden change in the weather

Plant name !!!!

Cia, the common name for verbascm is mullein and you should not have to hunt far as they seed everywhere!

Talkback: Grow something different

I would grow your celeriac in a bed of the richest compost you have - JI no3 with equal oart of horse manure was my recipe for large ones like big nobbly swedes. The yellow pelargoniums came from Spalding Plant and Bulb co though they got them from Bakker in Holland. I am sure the BBC do not mind us passing on such information as they do so themselves when it is something out of the ordinary. We'll see.

Talkback: Grow something different

I have grown celeriac, Susie Fox, and they need lots of rich compost or manure. They are gross feeders. But well worth the effort as it is a delicious vegetable.

Talkback: Grow something different

I've bought three yellow pelargomium plants, Adam. The leaves are lime green and no markings on although they are zonal pelargoniums but I shall be watching with interest to see if they can earn a place in my yellow Olympic Ring.

double-headed tulips

Here are my tulips from above when the sun comes out_

double-headed tulips

Do you all re

mber when Adam blogged about double-headed tulips? Here are mine in flower in their pots though the ones in the garden proper are going to flower later,  Thank you, Adam.  They are lovely and have two or three heads each.

picture difficulties

SOS 

Talkback: Gardening in Russia

Awww, it was the same for my sister gardening in Edmonton in Canada, James. It was amazing how much they could grow in their very short thr... 

Spring sweethearts

The sun shone brightly enough for my tulips to open up,something that thrills me every spring. 

Spring Spectacular

The Garden Sculpture Exhibition at the Bristol Botanic Garden  

Talkback: House sparrows

In the eighties I used to stop counting at 20 when the sparrows descended on my garden. The wild patch og groud at the back of my garden wa... 

Gardeners World new season

How was it for you 

Talkback: Blind daffodils

You would not think from seeing the wonderful display our hellebores are putting on in the Bristol Botanic Garden that they once had the dre... 

Talkback: Good things about February

Oh, and Iris unguilaris is at its height though it can flower for ten months of the year. Pancake day has just been and I made 32 of them. ... 

Talkback: Waiting for the snow to thaw

Ah. James. I already have a duck pond at the kitchen door and loads of birdseed and crumbled fat balls on the paths. lots of eucalyptus bar... 

Talkback: Learning from 2012

I have vowed only to grow early potatoes anf harvest them before the dreaded blight, and only Gardeners; Delight or similar tomatoes and yel... 

Winter wonders

What is beautiful in the winter garden 

Talkback: 2013 in the garden

Happy New Year to you too, James and my resolution is the same as it has been for as many years as I can remember for just that - to make it... 

Talkback: Winkworth Arboretum

So with you there, Pippa, as long as it is not too cold. Stretching my legs at the Brisol Bot. Garden on Thursday in between cleaning seed ... 

Grow it and eat it

A combination of gardening and cooking is long overdue. 

Talkback: December gardening jobs

I have to go up to my spinney and cut cornus sticks which are now bright red to stick into my spreads of white heather at the front gate whi...