obelixx

EVIL Japanese Anemone

It's funny isn't it.  I like the plant but have a well bahevd clump of the pink stuff that isn't invasive at all.   I would dearly love to have some of the white but it just won't grow.   I have deeply fertile akaline loam which varies from well drained to boggy and the stuf fthat grows for me isin a shady, dampish bed that only gets full sun from 3pm between the equinoxes. 

Good luck with getting rid.  I can sympathise having my own problems with the usual suspects - creeping buttercup, nettles, thistles, couch grass and mare's tail which all love my soil and grow with gay abandon no matter how much I weed them out or paint with glyphosate.

Dragon claw willow

Gardening here was fairly normal till 2009 and the bad winters started.   We'd have about 3 weeks of -15C to -20C in January or February when it did little harm and winter was always a little longer than when we were in Harrow but I find increasingly that winters have more extreme dips and highs and the poor old plants don't know whether they're coming or going with a warm spell in Jan followed by deep misery in Feb or this year where we had a balmy start to March and then 6' drifts of snow.   Last year I lost most plants to hard frosts in late March after a couple of weeks of warmth conned them into opening up their leaf buds and blossom.   Wipe out for many.

I increasingly plant short daffs to avoid the broken stems problem but do have lovely drifts of Ice Follies out the front which I really love and which flower late enough to miss a lot of teh worst winds.   I've even managed to get some species tulips to grow in two well drained beds but never yet a long stemmed one.  I planted 300 the first year and only 5 came up.   I reckon rodents got most and the rest must have frozen.

Last year was hard -too dull and cool and wet like yours.  Still, I shall be out there  sowing seeds and pricking on and planting out and lifting and dividing with the usual optimism just as soon as I can get about on one crutch.

I hope we all have a better gardening year.

EVIL Japanese Anemone

Do you really mean Japanese anemone which most people find attractive and easy enough to dig up if it gets too exhuberant or Japanese knotweed which is ramapntn hard to destroy and can lift tarmac and concrete and invade drains and foundations and is a notifiable weed?

Bought 2 more fuchsias today

Thanks Goldilocks.   I'll look out for Claudia.   My hanging baskets are by the front door and the French windows so easy to remember to water them.

I had a hardy form of variegated magellanica that has survived several bad winters in its corner but not this one it seems.   

Bought 2 more fuchsias today

I should like some for 2 hanging baskets on the north side of the house.   I should find some at a good plant fair I'm going to this weekend.  Any recommendations?    Not fussed about colour but do want good doers.

Christmas tree needles turning brown

I think it's too late too but you could try reviving it with one soluble aspirin dissolved per pint of water.  It contains salicylic acid which is a natural growth hormone found in willow plants and can help sickly plants.

Dragon claw willow

Snow certainly helps.  I've lost less when we've had the blanket than when we have weeks of bitter east winds and -15C or below and no snow.   Jan6 2009 we had a -32C out the back which was -26C at the front and nearly saw off my Kiftsgate.   It did see off several roses, several clematis and a dozen or more hitherto hardy and evergreen shrubs like viburnums, eleagnus, choisya and mahonia plus some conifers and a fancy hibiscus.

I now concentrate on sturdy plants that will survive and don't spend money on fancy versions and new varieties.     Looks like I've lost my Geoff Hamilton and William Shakespeare roses this year and my Orange Peel Hamamelis but I'll wait and see till June.

Where have all the hostas gone?

I do get serious frosts down and -25C is not unsuual in recent winters.    +38C happens for at least a week most summers.

All my pots for show are either thick, frost proof ceramic or terracotta look plastic.  Real terracotta isn't frost proof enough and flakes.  It also absorbs too much moisture in summer and can leave roots dry.   To save on weight and give some winter insulation, I use corks as ballast and crocks in the bottom.   They allow drainage but also absorb some water so roots don't dry out too quickly.    Works for my hostas, lillies, shrubs, herbs, dahlias, acers and veggies.

Dragon claw willow

I certainly hope so.   I once hosted an East Midlans nurseryman from near Loughborough who came over to give a talk to the Brussels Gardeners Club one March about 10 years ago.  We had -6C by day -15C at night and no signs of green shoots anywhere and iron hard ground.  He was horrified as he thought -6C was a hard frost in his garden.    He had kindly borught me cuttings of some exciting new introductions of evergreen shrubs from Oz and NZ but not one survived.

environmental responsiblity

I'm not so sure.  Unless you read gardening mags regularly, or chat with up-to-date gardeners, it's not exactly widely publicised that certain prodcuts are no longer legal to use.    I meet all sorts of gardeners who don't know stuff has been banned and that old products have to be disposed of properly and not just poured away or dumped in the bin.

Unless relationships with this neighbour are bad, or he/she is know to be an idiot, a quiet word might go a long way and failingthat, a word with the environment office at the local council.

Encouraging bats in our gardens

Beechgrove this weekend

Weekend 22 March

Good Morning - 21 March

Choosing chillies

Hanging baskets and window boxes

New shed - any tips?