Gardens, Gardening, Plants, etc 2019

Well, well, well. I was out in the garden today with the puppy. She likes and needs to be outside but stays out only if I do. It’s been great for getting me off my backside. I was gently raking some leaves from under a bush when I unearthed a beautiful plant with variegated leaves that I don’t recall planting and hadn’t noticed before. I just read your post, Tessa, and spotted a similarity so I looked it up. Bingo! Arum Italicum. What a lovely piece of serendipity. Thank you.

It really has been nice to be out today. The sun was shining, although it was cold, I have been doing a daily short spell of leaf raking so I’m on top of the job and I can see what’s there. There are shoots breaking the surface of the pots of tulips I planted in October and in the flower beds. There are little patches of cyclamen leaves too. There’s a single dark red rose bud on one plant and a coral coloured rose has just shed its petals. The dogwoods (red and yellow/orange) are bringing splashes of colour and a patch of ajuga has turned a lovely crimson. The tiny wallflower plugs are bulking up and best of all, a friend gave me an early Christmas present of a large tub that she’s planted with lots of bulbs that will flower successively over several months, topped with maroon violas. They were crumpled up from the frost first thing this morning but they soon warmed up. The sun coming through the petals looked just lovely. 

I hope it’s a beautiful day again tomorrow. It’s really lifted my spirits being out in the sun today 

xxx

Sounds idyllic, , the way you paint a picture of your garden brings it to life.

I didn't get my raised bed made yesterday. had to go to see the nurse to have blood taken for my appointment on Friday to see the latest blood picture. It was low last time (haemaglobin), the same as the time before. Unusual. My hands appear whiter than they have ever been, my fingers have been white for years and now the line marking the boundary is further down the back of my hands towards the wrists. 

I don't know if I'll get it done today because I'll be at the MacMillan exercise class at 12.45 in Newtownards leisure centre and after that, in the canteen, we'll be having our Christmas dinner in the leisure centre café. Yay! 

I'll be getting stuck into it tomorrow though, as stuck into it as anyone in a wheelchair can get!

I'll have to start describing my garden in your descriptive, Daloni

Tvman xx

Cornus bushes are best kept under control by every winter or late spring take out a third of the oldest stems nearly to the ground. The oldest stems loose their colour any way. This will give you more coloured stems than trying to cut it like a hedge. 

At Hilliers Arboretum which is near me, they are even more ruthless. They cut the whole lot to the ground but that gives a very bare look until they recover. 

Beware that some cornus varieties tend to send out suckers underground. They still come up coloured but that is when they get very large bushes. I bought a beautiful one called Midwinter Fire but it invaded my neighbours garden and came up between my paving stones. I had to kill the main plant but have put some of the suckers in a large pot near the house.

Varieties that dont seem to sucker are siberica and variegated Elegantisima though they may layer.

The cutting out a third method of pruning also works on philadelphus and I'm told pittosporum though I havent tried it on that yet.

Tessa

Tessa and Daloni

Arum Italicum, whoopy do. I recognise the first word as in Arum Lily or Peace Lily as it's known. That flower will be forever in my mind because when I worked for a local charity that gave "Chernobyl children" a holiday in Northern Ireland, staying with some of us from the charity, 4 of us went one Easter to the Gomel region of Belarus, and the principal of the local primary school presented us with Arum Lily flowers which was most relavent as our members were drawn from the congregation of two churches, one Catholic and one Protestant.

The leaves of the Arum family are very distinctive with the twist, don't you agree? So when I googled arum italicum, there on my screen were picures of what I know as Lords and Ladies and are prolific in the hedgerows around my house and scattered in the darker corners of my garden. 

Thank you ladies for bringing that knowledge to me, what is it that they say? Every day is a school day, yes?

Tvman xx

Hi

Are we secretly gardening the same garden? I’ve had exactly that problem with Midwinter Fire. It’s suckering all over the shop. I think I’ll ask the guy who cuts the grass to dig it out. I have another, which is red but I don’t know the name, and it’s well behaved. 

I cut the dogwoods back quite radically in February each year. I always intend to use the cuttings to prop up the peonies. In 13 years I’ve failed every time and every summer the peonies flop. Maybe this year....

tvman it sounds like you have a fun day ahead of you. Enjoy! I’m sure you’ll get round to raising those beds soon 

xxx

Got the date wrong, the Christmas dinner is next week! I showed everyone that I had brought a Christmas party hat, put it on and everyone laughed and cheered and clapped. Well, that's a memory that'll stick in their minds for a long time, mine too.

The good thing is that if anyone else brings a Christmas hat next week, they'll know they won't be the only one. Mine is tucked into the pocket in the back of my chair, ready for next week.

Take care everyone

Tvman