jo4eyes

What's the weather like in your area?

19C+ at the mo, W of Manchester. Warm, humid & mainly cloudy.

Busy morning, lunch out, some shopping & am about to go & cut the lawn.

Tomorrow a trip to Bodnant garden. J.

What's the weather like in your area?

That sounds fun Zoomer.

Today, WManchester is sunshine & showers. Lots of black clouds around. The heavy rain yesterday will have helped to top up my water butt, I hope. J.

Hellebores still flowering away

Mine are the same, but I have removed the flower spikes as I dont want any more self-seeding this time- I have rather a lot of small pots of last yrs seedlings growing away happily.

So it depends on what you want. If the plants are fairly new/small then I'd be inclined to not let the seed heads form this time so that the plant builds up without needing to expend energy on seed formation. J.

What's the weather like in your area?

It was dryish when I walked down to the hospital this morning. Light rain when I returned, but difficult to hold the umbrella with the wind.

We've just had several thunder claps & very heavy rain. It's going ominously dark again as I type. J.

What's the weather like in your area?

It was actually sunny first thing today & quite breezy, but humid. Hadnt been a cool night, it was still 17C out there at 11pm last night.

Now it's steady rain, which we do need. Patio pots all on 'saucers', expect will need to remove those tomorrow sometime. J.

What's the weather like in your area?

NEast Derbyshire was grey & a bit nippy first thing this morning. Lovely drive back over to sunny WManchester.

It's actually been dry here for several days, so tomorrow's expected rain is needed. J.

Any idea what's happening to my hebe?

As it's in an East facing border, then frost is probably the culprit.

I'd cut back the affected stems pretty hard to good wood. A bit of tlc ie some plant food & water, if it's dry, & it should reshoot from lower down. J.

Dead Head Alliums?

I agree with Dove, just leave them be. If you're lucky & live in a drier part of the country, or we get a really dry summer, the skeletal seed heads do look wonderful.

Living in the NWest, not known for being dry, although we've have 2 weeks without rain...., I pick them & use as a dried flower arrangement. Sometimes I spray them with gold/silver paint for using as a Christmas decoration, but only if I have a really good dried seed head. J.

What's the weather like in your area?

Another good day here in WManchester. Ok it clouded over late afternoon, but was still comfortable to sit & watch the birds at the feeders.

My gooseberries have already got a nice lot of fruit & the sawfly grubs have struck!! Have had a good couple of sessions of grub collection & stamping/sqishing this w/end & today. J.

Hello I'm a Lily Beetle, come and get me!

I've only stamped on 4 this year so far! They go for my frittilaries! 2 were on adjacent Aquillegas & the latest 2 on Japanese Anemone stems- I never actually saw/found any on my poor frittillaries this year.

I keep an old jam jar outside ready to catch them. Then they get tipped onto the slabs...... J.

Care & maintenance of elderly Bramley apple trees.

Suggestions for planting in a sunny, boggy site.