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HAND TOOLS

This lovely, very feminine Spear & Jackson hand tool set was given to me from two friends at work, along with lots of other gardening goodies, as a leaving present. I am not kidding the bag they gave me was just like a lucky dip, I kept putting my hand in and pulling out more!

Helene and Jackie, you are too kind!

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AUBRIETA

Sheila from Greenridge Chronicles wants to know what the little mauve plant is, which crept into my shot of the celandine, well it is Aubrieta. Even though I loathe to call any garden plant common, this little rock plant is readily available in our garden centres, although sometimes difficult to find in any colour other than this shade of mauve. My neighbour has it in cerise, which is gorgeous.

These plants thrive in both fairly rich soil and to be quite honest fairly dry soil, I have them planted in both, and they both seem to do equally as well.

They are named after M Aubriet who was a French botanical artist.

DOORS

Jo from Higglety Pigglety reminded me that today was the day when bloggers from all over the world posted pictures of a door. Well the door above is my dream door, this is my fantasy hideaway, right by the sea. This door belongs to Prospect Cottage, which sits along a stretch of shingle beach in Dungeness, Kent. It is famous as being the garden of Derek Jarman, a painter, theatre designer and film-maker.

One of my ambitions in life is to have a seaside garden, I hope this becomes a reality?

'Charmed by the landscape, we decided to visit the old lighthouse. There's a beautiful fisherman's cottage there, and if ever it was for sale, I think I'd buy it. As we neared the cottage, black varnished with bright yellow window frames, we saw the green and white 'for sale' sign, the improbability of it made the purchase inescapable' - Derek Jarman.



This has to be one of my favourite books. Derek Jarman's Garden is the last book he ever wrote. It is his own record of how the garden evolved and life in Dungeness. Against all odds, Jarman made a breathtakingly beautiful garden in the most inhospitable of places.

I really love the photography in this book taken by Howard Sooley, he captures every season of the year from all angles.

Jo has asked if I have visited. Yes I have seen Prospect Cottage, J drove me down a year or so back and we drove past in the car. Properties down there are few and far between and I must say some look in disrepair. Some may say the area is pretty bleak, maybe so, but I definitely feel I have some connection to the place.

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SCILLA

Along with Spring comes blue, and I would say the colour blue in flowers is probably my favourite. Along with green, blue is the most agreeable of colours in the garden. It is always fascinating to watch these little scilla poking their heads through the soil all at different intervals, first the strappy leaves, and then the tiny blue heads appear, in my eyes a truly remarkable little bulb, which every years seems so full of energy. Of course these can be planted straight into the soil, but I keep mine in little pots, storing them away in the shed, with their pot, after flowering, and then introducing them back outside in time to flower again late winter, early spring.



Scillas were regarded by William Robinson as indispensable garden flowers. They bloomed in winter and on into the spring.

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CELANDINE - Future joy

To the Small Celandine
William Wordsworth

Pansies, lilies, kingcups, daisies
Let them live upon their praises
Long as there’s sun that sets
Primroses will have their glory
Long as there are violets
They will have a place in story
There’s a flower that shall be mine
‘Tis the little Celandine

'Ere a leaf is on a bush
In the time before the thrush
Has a thought about her nest
Thou wilt come with half a call
Spreading out thy glossy breast
Like a careless Prodigal
Telling tales about the sun
When we’ve little warmth, or none

I am sure in a book, I have seen this beautiful little plant classed as a weed?

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WINTER-FLOWERING CLEMATIS

For interest in the garden during the winter season, I would definitely recommend planting winter-flowering Clematis. They are ideal for climbing up and over any structure, and do seem very reliable. These photos were taken about a week or so ago of two of the four varieties I have, cirrhosa Jingle Bells, Wada's Primrose, cirrhosa Balearica (I chose this one as it reminds me of my grandpa, who lives in Mallorca) and Early Sensation.



I wouldn’t say a record fast grower, but after a few years you may find it starts to thicken up, but don’t worry, we gave ours a quite severe haircut in the summer and afterwards it was looking pretty sorry for itself, but now, well it has grown back beautifully and has flowers in abundance.

LONG-TAILED TIT

Today on Mothers Day, whilst visiting my very much missed mum's plot at the crematorium, I was lucky enough to see long-tailed tits, not unusual for some of you, but for me as far as I can remember, this is only the second time I have ever seen them, as much as I would love them to, they don't frequent my garden.

I was so excited about this experience that I needed to know more about these endearing little birds, so when back home I had a quick look on a couple of websites. Before I knew nothing, I now know that the long-tailed tit is the only insect eating bird to overwinter here, other species would sooner migrate thousands of miles down to places like South Africa. During the winter they hang around in social groups and around February time will separate into pairs, competing for their favourite mate. The pair will then build an elaborate nest made out of lichen, stuck together with spiders webs, and line the nest with down from their own chests, how sweet is that! Next the eggs are laid, and any pairs from the social group who fail to breed themselves, come along and will help find food for the young and even feed the exhausted mum herself, acting as aunties and uncles. By staying in this group is essential for their survival, a lesson we could learn from?

Well after reading this, how can you fail to love them. Long-tailed tits have shot up to the top of my list of favourite birds!

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SNOWDROPS - Hope

Do you step out into your garden, full of good intentions of getting lots done, but instead spend more time taking photos than you do getting your hands dirty? Well since starting my garden blog, this is definitely the case for me. It suddenly came to me, as today is the 1st of March, that my Jan/Feb poll would have closed. I asked everyone, which was their favourite spring bulb, well the little beauties above are the winner.

Yes, the snowdrop received 51% of the votes, daffodil came in second with 25%, third bluebell with 16%, and last and definitely not least, the crocus with 6%.

There are approximately 100 different species and cultivars of snowdrop, the two most common being galanthus nivalis which flowers from January to March, and galanthus nivalis floro pleno, a double variety which easily naturalises.

I only have two clumps of snowdrop in my garden, I lost one clump last year. This year I am going to divide the clumps into small sections, and replant. My longterm plan is to have drifts, may have to wait though! This is best done immediately after the plant has flowered and while 'in the green'. Snowdrop bulbs are fiddly and unreliable, so division is the way forward. To increase my stocks I may be lucky enough to get a few clumps off my Dad, he has lots coming up through the lawn, they look beautiful.

Do you know that snowdrop enthusiasts are known as galanthropiles!

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HELLEBORE - Scandal

What is it about hellebores that all of us seem to love? If you are not sure, just look at the picture above to see. These beautiful plants will bring colour into a very dull winter picture. My step-mum bought me the above plant for my birthday in 2006, helleborus 'Red Lady'. I remember a nice healthy looking plant but with only a couple of insignificant buds, so I planted it and pretty soon it disappeared from above, only to be forgotten. Have any of you planted a plant half expecting to never see it again? At the time this is what I thought, so imagine my surprise when I came back from being away to find this little beauty, looking not only healthy, but flowering so well too.



The hellebore above is the first I ever bought. I chose this particular plant because the flower was a beautiful yellow colour, which over the years, seems to have faded to more cream.



Above is a Corsican hellebore. This variety has become quite large in my garden, so remember to plant in a large space. The flowers last for months, infact I end up cutting the plant back when it starts to look bedraggled, as it tends to swamp other plants growing alongside it which appear later in the year.

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DIVIDING PLANTS

Sweet sentiment from one of my favourite children's illustrator, Mabel Lucie Attwell. Hope you likes!

Today I have been dividing perennials and have made new plants from eryngium, achillea and coreopsis, and dug up three clumps of tradescanthia, moved one of them and giving the other two away. You can really save money by doing this, as these plants can cost a fortune to buy at this size from the garden centre, and at the same time you are able to swap your plants with others.

I seem to be forever turfing out plants and moving them, every year, never being quite satisfied where I have put them.

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TETE-A-TETE - Regard, Unrequited love, Respect

How I like to get head to head with these little beauties, they are a ray of sunshine, especially after a long winter. A lovely dwarf daffodil, so ideal for all those narrow bare strips of soil around the place. Everyone loves big old blousy daffodils, including me, but I just haven't got the sort of garden where I can fit any in, or where I am not going to keep digging up the bulbs by mistake. I hate to be one to miss out, so these are perfect.

Notice that piece of old terracotta in the picture, well my soil is full of it, and shards of glass. For decades, dating back to the early 1900s, the area was the home of a thriving greenhouse and nursery trade, mainly chrysanthemums but also vineries, being demolished to make way for the building of homes in the late sixties, that very site being where I live.

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LEEKS

If you want fresh vegetables in the winter, leeks (Musselburgh) are so easy to grow and for a novice vegetable gardener like me, this is good news. My method of growing is to start seed off in a litre pot and when the seedlings are competing against each other (about 8 inches long), that is when I transplant them to the bed. I use the method my Dad uses, which is to simply make a hole in the soil, place the seedling in, and then just fill the hole up with water. Works every time, and this is the result, picked quite young, but of course you can leave until they become fatter, in fact I always leave a few in the ground to go to seed, as the heads are so ornamental and can give any variety of allium a run for their money.

Click on British Leeks for everything you need to know about leeks, including recipes. I love leek and potato soup, but quite often I just saute some in a little butter, add to mashed potato and top with cheese, delicious.

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CROCUS - Youthful gladness, Cheerfulness

Thanks so much to everyone who has so far voted in my January/February poll, but don't stop now, we have a few days to go yet! I know it is a tough decision to vote for a favourite spring bulb, as in my eyes, every single one of them deserves poll position, but so far crocus hasn't received a single vote. I hope the photos that I took yesterday of crocus in my garden, will sway someone into casting a vote, crocus really are beautiful.

As some of you may be aware I have spent a whole month away and left my garden, well in its winter state. I couldn't believe on my return how much it has changed, you don't tend to notice this so much when you are living with it day to day. The crocus have not only sprung through but are in flower, as are the snowdrops and leucojum, and the narcissi and jonquils which I have in pots, are well on their way too!

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EUCALYPTUS

I must confess that I wasn't really prised to my garden bench for a whole month, I was on an unforgettable trip to Australia. The photo above was taken from a distance and you can just make out the little fellow sitting up high in the tree. We were very fortunate to have seen this lovely koala and more of his friends and family, in their wild habitat on Kangaroo Island, which lies south of Adelaide. A lifetime ambition has now been fulfilled.

Eucalyptus, or gum trees, are the most characteristic feature of the Australian flora. It grows to 115 metres (375 feet) and has a smooth blue-grey trunk, and long, narrow leathery leaves with a bluish-green hue and many oil glands. Flowering during late summer, it also produces fruit shaped like spinning tops and coated with powdery wax.

Yorkshireman and Australian emigrant, Joseph Bosito, first discovered the volatile oils in Eucalyptus in 1848, and began distilling them. Commercial production started in Victoria in 1860 and, since then, out of the 300 species discovered, 30 have found medicinal use.

The tree's amazing ability to dry out marshy soil also led to its use in eradicating the malaria mosquito in Africa, southern Europe, and India.

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TAKING A BREAK

I am taking a short break from the blog, but in the meantime I shall leave you with this photo. This bench is placed in a shady part of the garden; I do like sitting in this spot with a nice cup of tea, for a deserved rest, after working up a hard slog in the garden.

Please remember to look in again, as I shall be back, once I can prise myself off this bench!

I have many places where I can sit with a nice cuppa around the garden, in both sunny and shady spots, which include steps and tree stumps. Have you got an unusual place where you like to sit in your garden?

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PARSNIPS

Well I think it's good news and bad news. How pleased I was when I dug up my first parsnip of the season, the lovely specimen in the centre of the photo. Anxious to dig up another beauty, I quickly located the next one, oh not so good, so I thought let's try another one, oh no another disaster. You see, us gardeners do have some failures you know. I am my no means an expert on vegetable gardening, so I shall have to look this one up, unless any of you out there in blogland could tell me where I have gone wrong?



I did laugh, as I thought how my disasters of a parsnip seemed to resemble something I'd seen on Dr Who. When I came back indoors I looked up the official website, and yes there it was, the very thing right in front of me. I wonder whether the makers modelled The Ood on a mutant parsnip!

Veg Plotting has sent me some good advice, and saying I can still eat them, so right Michelle, this afternoon I made parsnip chips out of them, sprinkled with a small amount of ground rock salt. Tell your nephew that eating them like this is yummy!

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INSECT HOUSE

This is a photo which I took on our visit to Durrell formerly Jersey Zoo back in September 2007, I believe it to be an insect house?

An insect house is a great addition to any garden, maybe on a smaller scale than the one above, as they provide shelter for many insects which include non-aggressive mason and leafcutter bees who are known to help with pollination around the garden and are also thought to help increase fruit yield? Also an ideal place for ladybirds and lacewings to overwinter too.

I haven't got one yet, but hope to get one up this year.

AWARD NUMBER ONE

Daffy, this ones for you ... having recently discovered your love of elephants, this award could only be for you!

AURICULA THEATRE

As you have read in my previous post, I do like auriculas in old pots! I only have several plants of the same two varieties, but these are better than having none. The auricula plant is as tough as old boots, mine stay outside in their pots, come rain, shine, frost and snow, and they still come back to life, showing themselves in their full glory in the Spring.

Another one of my plans for the future is to have an auricula theatre, and to build up a collection of some of the more unusual varieties. There is a plethora of beautiful specimens out there to be had.


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The picture above is of an auricula theatre we saw when we visited the National Botanic Garden of Wales, although we visited in the summer, so the theatre was showcasing a marvellous display of geraniums! If any of you are lucky enough to be in the Carmarthenshire area of Wales, this is definitely a place to visit.

The gardens stretch over 500 acres of beautiful countryside, in the site of the old Middleton Estate, a Regency parkland whose gardens, lakes, woodlands, undulating hills and wildflower meadows provide a variety of habitats and microclimates for plant and animal life to thrive.

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FLOWERPOTS

I spent most of the weekend out in the garden. Whilst going round having a general winter tidy, I was noticing how many flowerpots have cracked and broken, most unusual as I don't usually lose any? Quite a few of my lovely old antique pots have succumbed this year, and these are practically irreplacable, as quite scarce and usually expensive.

I have been lucky in the past, acquiring some from carboots and a bargain job lot for a fiver at Ardingly antiques fair, but these are only small ones, and the ones I have lost are larger, and these are the pots I use for my auriculas, and auriculas do look so much nicer planted in antique pots, don't you think?

Judith from Everything In The Garden's Rosy, I am in agreement with you, I was thinking the very same.

Michele from Cowboys & Custard made a good point about using the breakages for crocks. Yes, at least this is another use for them!

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WINTER JASMINE - Modesty, Grace, Elegance

What a relief, Winter Jasmine has won my December poll receiving seven votes, equating to 50%! I am only relieved because I have this in my garden and I don't have Daphne which came a very close second, sorry Daphne, maybe one for the future?

Introduced from China in 1844, Winter Jasmine bears sunshine yellow flowers on bare stems.

Nearby neighbours have got the most marvellous display of this at the front of their home, theirs facing west, my dad (his facing south) and stepdad (his facing north) also have lovely specimens, so you can see will tolerate any aspect you may have. A few years back my dad gave me some good size rooted cuttings of his, two of which have taken around my garden, one of which needs a really good prune for next year, some of you may already know that me and pruning just don't go together!

I always go into raptures when people talk of Winter Jasmine, I just think it is so lovely, I suppose because it always adds such welcome colour to a garden, which at this time of year is sometimes shrouded in such dreary cloud, like today for instance.

In second place came Daphne with six votes, Clematis Cirrhosa with one vote, and Sarcacocca with no votes (is this because not many of us really know what this winter beauty is?). Judith from Everything in the Garden's Rosy reminded me of the beauty of Witch Hazel (Hamamelis), certainly another welcome addition to any garden at this time of year.

Michelle from Veg Plotting has also reminded me of Viburnum Bodnatense Dawn, which I do know of and love, and Winter Honeysuckle, which I have definitely got on my shopping list for Winter 2008!

WISHING YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Let's hope 2008 is a great gardening year for us all, I know it is going to be busy!

Spot that cracked flowerpot. I have got many of these around the garden at the moment, I can see some repotting coming on in January!

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CAMPANULA CARPATICA

Also known as Bellflower, this really is the all round star of the garden. Look at how it has recovered from many bouts of frost! Although don't introduce it to you garden if you don't want a lot of it, as it does enjoy self seeding in all little nooks and crannies. Growing tips, well you don't need any, it just about grows anywhere!

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JACK FROST

Air below 0°C is defined as Air frost, measured at a height of 2m (6ft). Ground Frost occurs when the air at ground level is chilled below freezing point. Ground frost is measured at 5cm (2in) above the ground. Hoar Frost the fluffy deposit of minute ice crystals on grass and brickwork, occurs on calm, clear nights when condensation takes place after freezing. Black frost, as the name suggests, is a thin sheet of frost without the white colour usually associated with frost.



Sedum covered in frost - this plant is as tough as old boots!



Frozen Bird Bath - don't forget to make sure you leave unfrozen water for the birds!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ... WINTER WISHES ... HAPPY NEW YEAR

It is a special time for mistletoe and holly, it is an excellent time for laughter, a great time to be jolly!

Cheers everyone for taking time to read my blog, and for all the great comments left. I still can't believe how many great people I have met in such a short space of time!

Judith of Everything In The Garden's Rosy left the very first comment on my blog, which really set the wheels in motion, many thanks Judith.

Please keep in touch in 2008.

Louise x

CRINKLY THE SWAN

Love is in the air for Crinkly the Swan, whos patch is at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Gloucestershire. Apparently he appears to be 'loosely' associating with another Slimbridge Bewicks swan called Taciturn, which is great news. Up until now, with his crooked neck and ungraceful flying, no other female has showed any remote interest in him, aah. Despite his disability, which makes him less aerodynamic, Crinkly has managed to survive seven migrations from breeding grounds on the Russian Arctic tundra which means that he has flown over 21,000 kilometres which in my book makes him the superhero of the swan world.

Swans fly back to Britain at this time of year because conditions in the tundra make feeding impossible.

Let's hope we can hear the 'flipper flapper' of tiny cygnets in 2008, with proud parents Crinkly and Taciturn looking on!

SONG THRUSH

Today I saw my very first Song Thrush of the winter in the garden. I only just saw it, as it had been startled, making it quickly scurry under a bush. The Song Thrush has such beautiful spotty markings and colouring, I always think their paleness blends so well with the winter scenery, athough perhaps their brightness makes them easy prey to larger birds, would they be attacked by magpies or sparrowhawks? Song thrushes are sensitive to hard winter weather and winter territories are often abandoned during periods of severe weather, when many birds move southwards, even as far as north-west France and northern Spain. At present the Song Thrush is in decline, and is red listed as a bird of serious conservation concern. The cause appears to be a combination of lack of food and lack of nesting sites, brought about by intensive farming methods?

Like as the thrush in winter, when the skies
Are drear and dark, and all the woods are bare
Sings undismayed, till from his melodies
Odours of spring float through the frozen air
So in my heart when sorrows icy breath
Is bleak and bitter and its frost is strong
Leaps up, defiant of despair and death
A sunlit fountain of triumphant song
Sing on sweet singer until the violets come
And south winds blow, sing on prophetic bird
O if my lips, which are for ever dumb
Could sing to men what my sad heart has heard
Lifes darkest hour with songs of joy would ring
Lifes blackest frost would blossom into Spring
Edmond Holmes

VIOLENT VEG

All I want for Christmas is this calendar! Did you know there is a website dedicated to this? Click on this link to take you to their somewhat politically incorrect allotment!



This could be J, he enjoys very few vegetables, me I could eat the lot!

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PINE CONES

I love to have a few pine cones, they remind me of time spent with my family growing up on a farm in rural West Sussex. I remember on the cold wintry days going out with mum to collect these from the hundreds of pine trees that surrounded the land my dad farmed on. I regret to say that a great majority of these trees were felled a few years back, no not to make room for housing but for a golf course of all things! We had an open coal fire in our sitting room and these cones really spat when we threw them onto the burning coals, not too good for Mum's carpet, although the rug in front of it took the full extent of the scorching and of course when out of the room we would always put the fireguard up.

A pine cone is a seed that comes from a pine tree. Pine trees are tall and straight. Pine trees don't lose their leaves in autumn and winter. They belong to a group of trees called evergreens.



I always love the opportunity to mention squirrels, I know they can be pests, but who could hate these lovely cute 'n furry creatures? My 'Secret' grey squirrel is still reeking havoc around the garden, he has knocked down a bird feeder yet again, with his acrobatic antics!

Squirrels are seed eaters. They favour pine cones, but also eat larch and spruce. Their diet also includes fungi, shoots and fruits of shrubs and trees, and sometimes birds' eggs. They can choose between good and bad nuts by holding them in their paws. Reds do not hibernate and store fungi in trees to eat over the winter months. When food is plentiful, they put on weight in the autumn to help them through the winter. This is important for breeding females, so that they are in good condition for producing young.

DECEMBER POLL

For winter scent or colour which would you choose?

These are the entrants, place your vote on the poll aside.

top left Clematis cirrhosa
top right Daphne
bottom left Sarcococca
bottom right Winter Jasmine