Magazine style - all inclusive

[alp]

Make sure you wait till you watch the week ahead forecast. It's April and it can be very dodgy. My heater is still on!

 

[alp]

It was incredibly cold yesterday. Only got a tad warmer near 5 to 6 in the evening when the sun was stronger. Bolted the greenhouse frame its own base and next step is to secure the base to the ground.

Got my plants from my friend yesterday and found out that one plant without any bud or flower - another one of guess what this plant is and wait till next year to find out. We split the postage as it was very expensive - £10

Supposed to be Eschman primela auricula - but no bud or flower! It's supposed to be a star-shaped a llower. £5 not exactly cheap.

Salvia macrophylla upright was already dead. All 3 stalks were dead brown/yellow in colour and a fourth one by the side is without back and dry yellow too. There is absolutely no new growth in this pot, apart from the green algae like moss and the roots are all matted, brown and lifeless.

The green bit are growths in moist pots in shaded area! Some primitive green leaves with holes in them. Nothing to do with this dead plant,

A very striking red parrot tulip!

Normally, the seeds were spilling onto the ground. But the cold meant more flowering and no seeds yet.

 

[alp]

This is a brilliant video. Please don't look at his shirt!

This is what I want. Just CONCENTRATE on the dainties!

 

[alp]

A mother's love

Enough to make you cry!

 

[alp]

2 more days of frost! 2 more days too long!

Weeded the hellebore patch and planted out some echinacea Kismet. One bearded iris stem has swollen because of the formation of a bud. Very pleased. Submerged all the big pots into water added with seaweed extract. Watered quite a few areas to give the plants a good start and hopefully the hellebores some good seeds.

Dicentras are doing very well

Most of the camellias have been frosted in some petals, apart from these few.

Today, the greenhouse continues, hopefully!

 

[Perki]

Its been fine the last few days but frost in the morning . My two protea arrived yesterday .

A sheep has been eating my tulips as well thought I'd and knocked the flower heads off untill i noticed they'd been munched .

 

[DrCase]

My temperature is holding good

It

 

[alp]

Its been fine the last few days but frost in the morning . My two protea arrived yesterday .
View attachment 78392View attachment 78393

A sheep has been eating my tulips as well thought I'd and knocked the flower heads off untill i noticed they'd been munched .

Wow! They are so pretty, unique and exotic. You're very lucky to have FLOWERS in them. I'm surprised you can buy anything online. All the primula auriculas were gone, triilums gone. A trillium chloropetalum giganteum rubra which won't flower this year asked for £12.

A rare beauty. I remember I bought the seeds, smoked them in my garage when the car was not there. A lot of smoke and then all the critters in the ceiling scampered everywhere. I never knew the garage ceiling was alive with critters! The seeds actually germinated, but the soil was very demanding: lots of sterilisation and different ingredients and in the end, they died, which was a shame.

I might find out your damage, apart from munching from a sheep. But it's worth it.

 

[alp]

DrCase: Never knew pansies can be so beautiful! You're going to have a lot of beautiful and healthy lilies. Your plants always look so verdant, healthy and beautiful! Where you live must enjoy reasonable humidity or you water your garden well. Nice to see your photos. especially when I have no rhodo or azalea flowers at all.

 

[Zenj]

Slight frost this morning but a lovely sunny day, kept the fuchias

in the garage over winter but flowering all ready April ?a few from the garden today.

 

[alp]

Zenj:

A good idea to have a garage. We had had so many things in the garage that helper had to tidy them up for us. Helper is a nice man and he got me into scavenging and and hence the mess. Hehe if you believe so! He even encouraged me to get pranks of wood. I do need wood, but the thought of scavenging is not that inviting. Who knows who p****d on the mess?

The clump of fritillaries is amazing and I think it's quite a record. Worth memorising. You and DrCase can compare your handiwork with your lilies. I was so tempted when a nursery had sales, but the thought of having lily beetles put me off.

Lost the camera and hence no photos. Went out and couldn't find it. Only find out how cold it was. Need to see if I can buy some proteas to compare notes with Perki!

Just had a look and I need to mitigate the shock by having a cup of tea! Perki: You've been naughty!

Tornado in Edinburgh Park

Amazing!

Photoshop has a lot to answer for this. This is such a wishy washy P auricula

I need to hand pollinate this with my existing ones, but couldn't find Carol Klein's video clip!

This clematis macropetala has been in a pot since last year and I just planted it into the border last month. A lot of flowers. Very impressed.

 

[alp]

Took me 30 minutes to figure out how to transfer files to laptop. Perhaps it's time to invest in a camera. What a waste of time!

Went to the allotment early and wanted to buy some mesh to cover the greenhouse. Saw a lovely polytunnel and two Eden project like domes. Very impressive. The lady who ran the shop gave me a tour of them. It was neat, clean and impressive. In one of the Eden domes, Savoy cabbages are already for harvesting. Amazing stuff. They were a very young couple and it's so nice to see young people who obviously brought out the best in each other and they were on the same page. She said that one year ago, the plot was full of grass her height. I was very impressed.

Saw some P auricula and was very disappointed as they were rather boring red ones with yellow centre. This was a tad different, but I wish I could see some different colour.

I looked at the flowers and wonder if there was a mistake as the buds looked green. I didn't think the buds would metamorphose into lilac! So I took a plunge

I told myself that I would never buy another daff and there I was, bought one for 99p!

Got this compost reduced because of leakage. If you see this name, don't buy it. Look at the lumps ... and the sieve wasn't even full to the beam. The allotment was very dry. Mary next door had given up her plot and there was an Indian couple who viewed the plot yesterday. Mary had a full time job and found it hard to keep the plot as her vine stand collapsed because of the weight of the grape vine. She was the one who told me a young girl 24 died of covid and a man who cleaned his dead brother's house died because he caught covid from the house.

Yesterday, I had a fit of sneezing at a car park and after sieving the compost at home, my nose started to run and I literally stood there and it would leak. I quickly took 2 paracetamols and blew my nose as hard as I could and I thought I had managed to stop the cold. It was very uncomfortable. Took 2 more tablets before going to bed and will do so until I am 100% OK.

 

[alp]

Apart from the edges of the greenhouse and some 5 pieces of glass, the 2nd greenhouse is more or less finished.

A bag of comfrey roots - very short 2inches and only 5 of them.

I think my acer is going to have flowers and seeds.

Found the camera and can upload some old photos

 

[alp]

Strange weather it was yesterday. In the morning, cold, in the afternoon, warmish and in the evening, it got cold very quickly.

2c tomorrow morning. It has been a cold April

Really striking yellow and red - strong and impressive!

Love the articulation of the petals!

Bought these when they were reduced in sales!

Tulips have adopted me - they really like the heat / warmth of the soil here!

One potting table is already full!

 

[alp]

Living by the seaside is no longer that romantic

Crumbling cliffs everywhere, Cornwall, North Wales, and Norfolk coasts! Very sad indeed!

I think we are all going to have a glorious day today! Just wish the morning temperatures were a bit higher. The heating is still on.

These unwelcome intruders were what we got yesterday morning

I bagged 30 to 40 of them, smashed them in a crisp bag and dumped the bag across the road in a public bin.

This year's camellias have mostly been damaged by morning frost, except this one and a very few others!

a glorious but crazily fimbriated tulip

I was doing a bit of hand pollination yesterday of my primula auriculas. You can see how deep the stigma is buried.

This is where the stigma is.

This stigma is taller and easier to mess about.

This one is called Anna!

I layered this Josephine last year and there was another plant with one flower, but I broke the stem.

G

Glorious Josephine which will flower till November here in the East London

Still sowing. Next year, I wouldn't bother about annuals. So pleased I actually got a bag of seed compost in B&Q reduced to £1. Going to shift the Borda??? and use the lumps to mulch the plant areas. Rain, where are you!? Even Scotland is short of it!