[Tuppence2]

You sound busy, Tom. Raining, and has been all day. I don't mind at all. Was reading a message from someone in Australia on holiday and she said the ground is like concrete, you couldn't try gardening on it at present. No rain in the area for three years! We really don't know how lucky we are.

My seeds arrived this morning so will be going out in the garden soon - night-scented stock, calendula and sunflowers. I see my one and only hosta hasn't shoots yet - it's outside. I'm not in the mood for struggling with assembling the greenhouse today. I painted a wall in the dining recess, instead.

I've just taken photos of cowslips in flower in my garden and will post one if it turns out well. Thanks for the link to the jasmine information.

[Tuppence2]

Hello Farmgirl.

Here's a link to US plant hardiness zones. I take it your are in America.

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html.

You do have to be careful of the timing for pruning things. Different plants are pruned at different times. Yes, forsythia can be pruned hard, or selected pieces removed as in the article.

I'll look out for a lilac. I love the scent, too.

[Farmgirl22]

Originally Posted by Tuppence2

Hello Farmgirl.

Here's a link to US plant hardiness zones. I take it your are in America.

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html.

You do have to be careful of the timing for pruning things. Different plants are pruned at different times. Yes, forsythia can be pruned hard, or selected pieces removed as in the article.

I'll look out for a lilac. I love the scent, too.

Thanks for the link! Yes, I am in America....smack dab in the middle of it unfortunately. Looks like my zone is 6a...not that I'm positive what that means yet, but it seems that as far as climate goes pretty much anything will grow here. Main problem is, I don't see how anyone pays for plants!! YIKES!! I was looking at the site www.naturehills.com yesterday, and I couldn't afford to buy hardly any of their plants. I've never seen seed packets for shrub-type plants, so I'm not even sure how else you would plant them [besides buying the tubs]. I'd like to put in a border of THESE but I simply couldn't afford enough of them to make a decent one!!

[telecom69]

I took a look at that site that Farmgirl posted and have to agree that their prices are exhorbitant, they must cater for the rich even allowing for the time taken to grow plants to a saleable size they are very expensive ...this site sells seeds for shrubs etc at very reasonable prices,but you have to remember some can take quite a while to grow to size ...

http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/bonsai1.htm

Another one here

http://www.raybrowns.co.uk/shrub-seeds.htm

[telecom69]

Not that busy Penny,its mainly just pottering as the saying goes not able to do much arduous work nowadays,my internal batteries run down very quickly I started with just 6 Hostas in a collection and lost 2 in the first year for some reason but I know divide them as soon as they start shooting by slicing through the roots with a knife and pot them on into large pots,they dont mind this one bit and grow away quite happily,they are of course grown for their foliage as you know and look great in their buckets,in the garden they get decimated by slugs quick time

We have the rain now up here it started yesterday and its still raining but as you say we do very well really with our climate,taken overall its very good for gardening,I see a lot of YM Yvonne complaining of the baking heat sometimes and water restrictions which are not very helpful when you are trying to manage a garden...

walking round the garden its great to see everything starting to shoot again after its Winter rest, best time of the year really apart from harvest time of course.Im always on the lookout for tiny seedlings appearing for the first time that were not there the year before ...courtesy of the birds and the winds I suppose, natures free plants ....I have 3 ferns now in pots that appeared from nowhere last year growing them on till they are a big bigger then will plant them out,
...never bought any ferns or grown them before so where they came from I do not know,truly gifts from Mother Nature ...how did she know that I just love Ferns ?

[Tuppence2]

Farmgirl - You don't have to buy shrubs if you take cuttings, or are given them by fellow gardeners, and grow your own. There are lots of articles on the internet about growing plants from green and woody cuttings. Good luck!

http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Cuttings...blished-Plants

http://www.focusdiy.co.uk/page/g07

Tom - I like ferns, too. In fact, I was looking at some today at the garden centre. The hardty ones. I hadn't thought to divide my one and only hosta. What a good idea. I was looking for a bee box but they're expensive to buy. I could make one but cutting canes and fitting them into a box.

I know what you mean about runlning out of energy! We have to take it easy and steady at our age.

Went to Quaker meeting this morning and the centerpiece on the tabel was a sprig of forsythia. I'm opening up next week and have to take a flower or twig of something. Lots to choose from without buying anything.

I've puddles on the little piece of grass I have left. It's only just stopping raining, after starting yesterday afternoon. I'd much rather have it wet than a drought.

[Bush Lady]

Originally Posted by Tuppence2

We have to take it easy and steady at our age.

When we see all those weeds in the garden that have to be pulled. We need someone that will give us a hand. When we are pulling weeds all day, and when it is time to straighten are backs. We can't straighten out properly.

I found that grass clippings from the lawn mower help to keep the weeds down.

[telecom69]

Nothing new to report, just to say that we too up here got partially flooded in the garden but it will soon drain I hope,none more forecast till the end of the week,its a beautiful morning,clear blue sky and very bright sunshine ....dont know how big your Hosta is but if its in the garden and established it would benefit from being divided,once the shoots start to show just dig it up and slice vertically down through the roots,you can easily make 6/8 from an established one and the Hosta doesnt mind one bit it suffers no check and will shoot away as the weather warms up a bit Flowers just starting to open on my Forsythia an indication of how much in front of us up here you are .... Got visited by a Goldfinch in the garden trying to feed with the sparrows,had never seen one before and had to look up what it was,what a rare treat that was for me tried to get pics but not enough zoom on my camera to get anything any good ....

Terrible photo I know but it was through the window,you can just about make out the bird top right .....better if you click on pic to enlarge it ...it is a Golfinch is it not ??

[Tuppence2]

Yes, Tom. definitely a goldfinch. They will come to the garden if you put out black niger seeds. Once they know they're there, they return regularly. They like the seedheads of weeds and flowers, that's why it's a good idea to have a wild patch if you want finches to come into the garden. I had two thrushes in the back garden the other day but they were gone before I could get the camera.

I've just been out on my muddy clay soil and dug up a couple of plants in a border where the dogs trample around, moved them elsewhere. One's an aquilegea and I think the other is a Michaelmass daisy.

We do seem to be a couple of weeks ahead of you!

The local rivers have swollen after the rain of the past couple of days but it's bright this morning, without the low cloud cover. We had to detour last evening on the way to collect Cecil the Labrador because of flooding.

The people I worked voluntarily for at the nursery have moved to a premises of their own just outside Bradford-on-Avon. It's an established nursery specializing in various plants, including fuschias. They aim to open a business there in May and might not specialise in the same things as the previous owners. It's a little out of the way, outside the town on a narrow road, and I wanted to check there was pavement to the nursery - there didn't used to be as it stopped a couple of hundred of yards from the entrance. There is, so if I get round to volunteering there I can catch a bus toBradford-on-Avon and walk safely to the nursery. I'll continue volunteering at Palmer Gardens, though, as it's so close to me.

[Tuppence2]

Hello Bushlady. Mulching with rass cuttings and bark, etc., is a good way of keeping down weeds, and keeping in moisture.

Penny

[franca]

Originally Posted by Tuppence2

Hello Bushlady. Mulching with rass cuttings and bark, etc., is a good way of keeping down weeds, and keeping in moisture.

Penny

Just make sure the grass cuttings are dry first.......:

[eggplant43]

I'm actually seeing signs of spring here. Greening at the base of plants that were dry, just one week ago I went several hundred miles south last week, and was surprised to see everything still brown there, while we'd already begun to see grasses coming on here. So perhaps it will always be a little earlier here in this micro climate. I can live with that

Goldfinches are among my favorites, especially the males. The first time I saw one, I thought it to be an escaped canary. I especially like watching them eat sunflower seeds from the heads, upside down. That's always an August treat for me.

[Tuppence2]

Pleased to hear you are seeing signs of Spring, Eggy. It's so advanced here, it's incredible. I have wallflowers in bloom now. I planted an achillea this morning and a verbascum, and yesterday two digitalis, one an "Excelsior, the other of the "Foxy" group, which is smaller in height.

It's cold today with a bitter wind, though dry.

[Tuppence2]

Here are the cowslips. One of my favourite wild flowers. These are growing in the garden

[telecom69]

Hi all, Its that quiet time again on the garden scene,waiting for the weather to pick up a bit,the next few days we are going back to Winter it seems according to the Met Office with temperatures at night below zero and not going above 6 deg in the daytime got several sorts of seeds sown now in the back bedroom which I use as my nursery if you like where the seeds can germinate and grow on a bit till they can be pricked out into trays ...the only problem with that is they have to be watched all the time because of the light source...its adequate but not brilliant,and the plants can get drawn up and "leggy" if not turned constantly etc ...I would love to be able to put them in the greenhouse once they have germinated but the cost of heating it is out of the question,so we have to compromise a bit ......So far I have got Cineraria,Violas and Tomatoes that have germinated and doing well.

Thanks for posting the pics of the Cowslips Penny your lucky to have them in your garden,cant remenber the last time I saw some of those,certainly not in recent years ...I can see all sorts of things in the photos including a Leek I think ? but I may be wrong ....

Hoping to go up the garden center over the holiday and get some plug plants of Begonias and Pelargoniums to grow on to planting out size ...I plant these out to about 20 in a standard seed tray and these do go into the greenhouse with domed covers over the top of the trays for extra protection for a week or so ....The next thing that will be happening of course is that we will be putting the clocks forward at the end of the month and that makes a big difference to plant growth I find ...