General Chat

Evening All,

Thanks for the pic of the garden you want to do a similar one of Gill and it does look very nice as you say. I must say though that I agree with Mel. My first thought too was that many of the red plants are Acers which will shed their leaves and be bare twigs in the winter and which also must have acid soil. At my previous house I tried a few dwarf conifers, but just as Mel says, I found that after 3-4 years they were far bigger than it suggested they should grow and some dwarf ones were 5 foot tall by the time I moved house from there!

I completely redesigned our garden with the emphasis on planting evergreens as I also wanted a garden that was nice to look at all year round. As the soil here is very good and everything grows far bigger than it should anyway, I didn't plant any conifers that would get huge this time. However, I did plant small leafed Hebes like the whiptail varieties and 'Green Globe' which make lovely bright green, compact cushions. The first year everything did well, but beware of these varieties if there are cats about! Up to now I think they have killed over £200 worth of my plants with their territorial spraying. :-S Even established 10 year old shrubs in the front garden need digging up as half the plant is brown and shrivelled up as is the neighbour opposite's clipped conifer hedge that they have sprayed. I know that's what it is as I've caught them at it!!

What has been successful and can be clipped to shape are dwarf leafed Hollies and the smaller variegated Euonymous shrubs. I also have evergreen Azaleas, Camelias and Rhododendrons but they must have acid soil. The cats have left all of those alone up to now.

You may not have any problem with cats and you have the scope to plant things that grow much bigger in your garden and shrubs like the evergreen Photinia Red Robin will give you bright red leaf tips in the spring.

We also made sitting places in several spots and it is a good idea as you see different things like sitting in a different garden. Also a shady spot is good when the sun beats down as is a spot that catches the early morning sun in Spring.

I'll see if I can find some of my garden photos to send you!

Have EM you Gill.

Thanks Ann, you have been so helpful and most of the shrubs you mentioned I already have in pots. I have three red robins, two of them are around 7 foot high. I also have Azaleas and Rhododendrons, again two of the Rhododendrons are about 5 foot high, the Azalea is slightly smaller. I have over 200 plants in pots so plenty to plant, but will have to check the soil type. There are three 9 foot tall camellias already in the garden so I should imagine the soil is an acid type, but will do a test just to check before planting anymore. I also have lots of smaller camellias in pots So I have plenty of plants but most of them are green and I'd like to plant some evergreens with a different colour leaf which is why I thought about conifers.

My OH's great granddad worked for the Duke of Westminster in his garden doing all the topiary which thankfully my husband is very good at so clipping the conifers wouldn't be a problem, which should keep them under control and with already having quite a few conifers as a back drop we wouldn't need to many more to have a nice effect like the picture I emailed everyone.

I think the best starting point would be to do some research and then make a plan to scale incorporating some of our own plants and take it from there. It's all very exciting and I can't wait for the nice weather so I can start preparing the ground and checking what soil type we've got all around the garden as I don't want to assume it's acid soil everywhere. I've had roses growing in our garden which I know don't like acid soil so it looks like soil has been added over the years to different parts of the garden.

I bought an evergreen tree last year, it's quite small at the moment and the leaves are red, but I don't know what it's called. The leaves look as if they are starting to change to green now, it looks a bit like an Acer but can't be as it didn't lose it's leaves. It's a lovely little tree but I don't know how big it would grow if it was planted in the ground with not knowing what it's called, it's still in it's pot from when I bought it. I can't seem to find it on the internet or in any of my books, which is a pity as I would of liked to have bought a couple more. It didn't have a label on it when I bought it and I can't remember where I bought it from to go back and ask, which is a pity.

I'd love to see some of your photo's thank you <3

Thanks for sending the photo's, your garden is lovely and well designed.

You mentioned your Choisya, I forgot I have a yellow one in a pot I could plant in the ground. I have that many pots plants I can't remember them all, but only have one conifer in a pot which my sister gave me last year, it's about 4 foot tall, she did say that it grows about a foot a year so that would have to be kept under control.

OH laughs at me and says we could open a garden centre with all the plants I have accumulated over the years and left in pots and he's probably right LOL :-D :-D

Signing out now, I've just noticed OH has fallen asleep on the sofa and will end up with a stiff neck if he doesn't go to bed. Thanks for all your help I really appreciate it Ann.

See you tomorrow
Night NIght

The pics of Ann's garden are really lovely Gill. The Red Robin in our garden grew into a tree and then in a bad gale we had half of it blew down and oh had to cut it off. It had had two trunks and grew on happily for a while till we had another gale. This blew the rest of it down to the ground but oh left it and cut all the top off and last year it all sprouted again and still gives us colour in the garden during the winter but when you get up to it its a mess as the trunk is laying on the ground. You can cut Red Robin shrubs down and they will reshoot so it is one to think of for being clipped.

There are some nice coloured Berberis but they also lose their leaves in the winter. There are yellows of different colours in conifers and also a nice lot of blue ones. Boulevard is a good one. If you put in the search box Images for dwarf conifers you can look at lots of different ones.

Mandy a big brown envelope arrived yesterday and it has a big hole in the side of it. Oh would'nt let me see it and put it on the pile of cards I have waiting for tomorrow. He has also told me not to go shopping tomorrow.

Gill if you dig a big hole to put an acid loving plant in and add lots of Ericasious compost it should be ok and you feed it with the same kind of feed for acid loving plants.

Good Morning All

Just popped in to say

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEL <3 <3 <3 <3 <3.

Hope you have a lovely day

xxx

<3 <3 <3 <3 Happy Birthday Mel <3 <3 <3 <3

Have a lovely day ,i hope the little thing in the envelope hasn't come out ,the card should be in there too.

Off shopping later just trying to do a list which i mustn't forget to take with me .

Morning all

<3 <3 <3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEL <3 <3 <3

Have a lovely birthday, do you have anything planned for your special day? What ever you do, have a great time :-) :-)

Thanks for the advice on acid loving plants. OH said if we don't want the conifers to grow to big, we could put them in large pots and plant the pot in the ground to contain it, would this work??? We can buy the conifers the size we want then and if possible already clipped to the right shape as this would be easy for my OH to sort out for me if it got a bit untidy. I need to take up some of the grass and make the borders first which I can't do until all the frost has gone as I'd like to re-use the grass elsewhere in the garden. We like to recycle as much as we can and to be honest turf can be quite expensive to buy, so moving it from one place to another will be cost effective.

Nothing much planned for today. OH is in work and Sandra is still in bed, so I might try and see if I can find out what this red leafed tree is called again. I really hope I can find it as it's beautiful. I didn't know you could shape Red Robins so that's food for thought ;-) :-)

Morning all,

Thanks to you all for my lovely cards. They are all lined up on the windowsill and are looking very cheerfull.

Mandy you put a lot of work in my pincushion and I love it. xx

It has been raining here this morning but it is warmer which I suppose is a good thing although I like the cold dry frosty mornings. At least then I don't get stuck in the mud!!


Gill if you buy ready clipped conifers they will be VERY expensive and are easy to do yourself. By putting pots in the ground they don't get a good root run and may die back a bit on the bottom branches plus they may not get enough water when they need it in the summer and if the pot drys out its hard to get the water to soak in properly.

Oh I see Mel, so leaving them in the pots isn't such a good idea then. I need to look into how much conifers cost. We have found a few cheap garden centres over the years including one that is run in someone's garden where all the shrubs and trees are only £3.50 each no matter what they are, plus smaller plants from as little as 50p or £1 each, all good quality. It's a bit of a drive to get to as it's down a country lane near Chester, but well worth the visit. I bought 48 winter Primula's and 16 trailing ivy for about £30 and they are all flowering now. I put them in large pots and they are in the greenhouse to protect them from the cold weather. Sandra is pleased as punch with them and videoed them the other day. There are still more to flower so will give us plenty of colour for a while yet and we can see them from the living room. When the weather improves we will move them into the garden properly.

You mentioned cats spraying Hebe's Ann, I now know why the Hebe I moved last year died off down one side and another one, we had to take out, died altogether. We have a male cat that comes into our garden so it must of been him. I've seen him spray but didn't put two and two together. I now know not to plant anymore Hebe's down there. I've been looking online this morning for plants that deter cats and found that Rosemary plants do the trick. I have two Rosemary plants in pots so will plant them by what's left of the Hebe I replanted last year and see what happens. Also Curry herb and Lemon Balm plants work too. I don't have any of those so will have to buy some, then hopefully the rest of the plants will survive and look lovely for years to come. I was going to plant another Hebe I've got in a pot down there but will pop it in my front garden now as the cat doesn't go there just incase the Rosemary, Curry and Lemon don't work.

There's an awful lot to gardening isn't there? I will have to plan very carefully I think :-S :-S

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY" TO OUR AUNTIE MEL xxxx

Good Morning everyone, Evening Kim.

Not poked my head out yet, but it looks a fair sort of morning. No sun but no wind either. so that must be good. The say the wind is turning to the south then westerly, so it will warm up later in the week.

I walked to the pub last night, there were TWO cars parked almost across the whole pavement, getting round them was very difficult. I twisted my ankle on the edging of the path, which made it sore to walk on. WHY do people do this ?? I would have thought is was against the LAW.

I saw TONY my neighbour to speak to. The first time since before Christmas. !!! He only asked how I was and never got into a conversation.

Well I had better get showered as we are going to get to the Garden Centre by 12.00 so we can get a good choice of the lunch menu. So no Breakfast for me this morning. just a couple of biscuits with my three COT.

See you later.

Sorry to hear you twisted your ankle Frank, some people are silly aren't they parking in the wrong places. I think you might be right on where and how people park, there must be some sort of law against it. Pathways are for pedestrians not vehicles.

Have a nice time out, you'll enjoy the meal with only having a few biscuits for breakfast.

No luck so far on trying to find the name of the red tree, but I think I remembered where I bought it now, so will go back and take another look. I doubt I'll buy it from there though as it was quite expensive, so once I know what it's called I'll look elsewhere for it so I can buy a couple more. I need to know how big it grows and what type of soil it likes, although the soil type shouldn't be to much of a problem as I can test the soil it's already in as it's in a pot, that should give me a clue.

The wind has picked up here and it's very dull, think we might be in for a bit of rain by the looks of the clouds. I've just finished watering all the plants in the greenhouse, there must be almost 100 small ones in there now. Then I watered the cuttings on the kitchen windowsill and the houseplants I have dotted about the bungalow, so that's another job out of the way.

Going to get a cuppa and something to eat now.

Just nipping in now to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MELLIE
HAPPY BIRTHDAYTO YOU <3 <3 <3.....Hope you are enjoying your day.

Can't stop now but will BBL

Well Lunch was a disaster for me. I had Scampi, chips and mussy peas. When I started to eat it it was JUST LUKE WARM. I picked over it and left more than I ate. No one came to enquire is everything was O.K. will my meal. I have been on trip Advisor and gave them a right slagging off. Dos on the other hand was completely satisfied with her meal and hot Chocolate. My COFFEE was almost black even with the milk in it. It could keep you awake for a WEEK. !!! So I for one will not be eating there again.

We then went to a new Llidli that has recently opened. Dos bought her weeks supply of Grapefruit. 10 Pence cheaper than Tesco and much larger. I bought her a nice ORCHID. to go with her collection on the kitchen window sill.

Quite comfortable out this afternoon, almost too warm for a coat as well as a jumper.

We are both glad to be home. I will settle down for forty winks. I hope Ros doesn't start the sewing machine up :-( :-( :-(

Sorry to hear your lunch was a disappointment Frank, nothing worse than luke warm food, maybe you should have sent it back at least Ros enjoyed hers.

Went down to Aldi as Richard wanted an industrial tape measure they had for sale this week, I bought some dry cat food for Toby & Shadow as they prefer that to some of the others, they always have wet food as well. They had some lovely potted spring flowers already planted into pots but with no car I couldn't have carried them home.

That was a pretty garden you posted the photo of Gill, I have some small Acers I purchased in Aldi last year. A few years ago we planted a lot of different coloured heathers in among the rose bushes and they did look very pretty but after. quite a while went a bit leggy so we pulled them up. You said you have an azalea maybe you plant a few more of them in different colours

Afternoon All,

<3 <3 :-D :-D <3 <3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEL <3 <3 :-D :-D <3 <3

Hope you have some nice pressies and cards! :-D

This is a nice red leafed shrub that I have tried growing, but without any success Gill. I love it too. ( Loropetalum chinense var rubrum 'Fire Dance') I have some Hebes that the cats have left alone, but I'm not sure if it's because it's where they are planted so not in the line of fire so to speak! it seems to be the tiny leafed ones they go for mostly.

I have put ericaceous compost in the pots with Rhododendrons or Acers in and put it in the holes in the garden where I have planted the acid loving things. You can grow them but if they don't seem to be thriving well at any time I top them up with an ericaceous feed in water.

Frank, that happens a lot in our village as the roads are so narrow and no car park except the Co-op one. People struggle to get by with scooters and pushchairs. I hope your ankle soon improves as you don't need anything else slowing your progress down. We get those Wyevale offers too and their meals are usually quite good so I hope you enjoy yours. Edit....just saw your post.....not nice if it was luke warm!

Well at last the turntable has been collected!! The Tesco man even rang me this morning to make sure it had!! lol.

Heathers do make a good show in the winter and some are acid lovers and some are not. The trick with heathers is to cut them back with a pair of shears after flowering but only into somewhere with a bit of green on.

Gill don't buy lemon balm as once you've got it it is easy to take cuttings from and will also seed itself about. I'll send you a root or two so like I said don't buy it. It is also nice to use in cooking and cold drinks. The leaves and if you rub them in your hands they give a lovely lemony smell. As to the cat that spray in your garden i'd get one of those mighty water pistols and every time you see it in the garden give it a good squirt. It won't hurt the cat but will deter it.

Well I have had 24 red roses and a valentine card from oh. The card has a piture I took of our koi on it. Another box arrived with his roses and it was from my SIL Heather and family. Its a white metal jug with indoor pink roses in it so the kitchen is full of flowers.

I am now going to make us a drink and have buttered heart shaped crumpets with it. He dos'nt know yet. I also have a little string of red heart lights along under the windsill and my 13 cards on the sill.

I bet you're glad to see the back of that turntable Ann. Loved your card by the way.

Jane sent me one with a chicken on it and its just like Tattiana same colour. :-D

I meant to say with SIL's flowers there was a box of milk choc truffles which I have given to oh as I am not keen on truffles or milk choc. I did get another three boxes of Ferrero Rocher and a bigger box too. Should keep me quiet till Easter!!!!!!!! Thats the only milk choc I eat really.

Emm also called this morning with a card and a lovely wire basket with a heart on the front and filled with pink primroses in a terracotta pot.

I have been a very lucky girl this year.

Mel you old Romantic you :-D :-D (I don't mean old old LOL ).Your kitchen must be looking so colourful with all your lovely flowers. I bought your birthday card when I was in Wales.I just knew that was the one for you :-D

Frank I would have sent that lunch back and asked for it to either be heated up or a fresh dish.There is nothing worse than luke warm food. How is your ankle? Which foot was it ?

My cyst on my finger finally popped yesterday ,just as i was getting dinner :-S.(Gross)
I hope it doesn't fill up again .I just put some Savlon on and covered it again with a plaster.I don't know if i said but I found some great finger plasters.They wrap around the finger a couple of times so stay on really well until they get wet.

Thomas still seems a bit out of sorts since he came home .Just seems really unsettled.,and no doubt has the hump with me lol
Anne I have never thought of trying the dried cat food from Aldi. I usually just get the Whiskas.Thomas only eats the dried food at night for some reason.

The wedding venue for Matthew and Kelsey is at a place called Oak Grove,Upchurch ,Kent. Have a look on google.It is going to be a very different kind of wedding :-D

I had a lovely bouquet of flowers today and some chocolates :-D...Valentines day is always a bit of a bitter sweet day for me as this is the day my Mum passed away 12 years ago. :-(

So the Turntable has finally left the building then Ann :-D :-D..How many weeks was that you have been waiting? That was so bad.

Beef Stroganoff tonight for us.I think I will do some Tarragon Carrots and Asparagus.