Winter Blooms

Good Afternoon!

Well after a sunny start the weather has turned and it is now chucking it down outside, so I thought I'd share with you some photo's of what's currently flowering in the garden.

To start off with is something a little bit out of season, however it's protected in the Greenhouse which is what has encouraged it to flower ... 

Fuchsia 'Dark Eyes'

Outside the Hellebores are putting on a delightful show, here's just a few of the lovely colours that can be seen on the plants right now ... there's still some more varieties waiting for their buds to burst!

 Hellebore hybridus 'Pretty Ellen Purple'

 Hellebore hybridus 'Harvington Lime'

 Hellebore hybridus 'Pretty Ellen Red'

 Hellebore hybridus 'Pretty Ellen White'

 Hellebore hybridus 'Double White Speckled'

A self seeded Hellebore.

This next Hellebore is slightly different to the ones shown above, the foliage has slightly jagged edges and the flowers are a subtle green, I have it planted in a large container on the driveway mixed in with other plants but it's currently the star of the show!

Helleborus argutifolius 

Next up are some plants that everyone knows, even if you're not a Gardener, Primroses! Simple yet still beautiful I have a small selection in a little container at the front of the house.

Meanwhile indoors I have two small pots of Dwarf Daffodils in the Living Room, one of which started blooming a couple of days ago. At least I have some sunshine indoors!

Narcissus 'Tete - a - Tete'

Lastly I just thought I'd share a photo of a little Ladybird I spotted earlier on in the week, it was climbing up this blade of grass in the front border.

Thanks for popping by, enjoy what is left of the weekend!

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

A Spare Half Hour ...

Good Morning!

I hope you have all been enjoying the sunny weather we've been having recently. Typically I have spent it at work and now it's my day off it's decided to cloud over!

Today I just thought I'd share with you what I did when I had a spare half hour with all of those Pelargonium plants I bought a couple of weeks ago.

I bought some 25cm pots that were on offer for them and filled with some John Inees No.2 Compost.

All of the plants had developed a good root system already which was why I was able to pot them on. However if you also have some and you can't see the roots peeking through the bottom just yet I'd hold off on potting them on until you can.

I teased the roots out gently and placed in the centre of each pot, firming in.

They were then given a top dressing of Horticultural Grit, this helps keeps moisture in along with giving a neater finish.

Here you can also see the cuttings from last years Pelargoniums sitting on the top shelf.

Before I go you can see that the Fuchsia 'Black Prince' and Pleione Formosana have bloomed in the Greenhouse.

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Absolutely No Willpower ...

Good Morning!

I took a trip to a couple of Garden Centre's on Friday and surprise surprise I couldn't walk away empty handed! So today I thought I'd share with you what I bought.

First up are the Primula's, at 60p a pot they were more than tempting. As you can see I bought 2 Primula Denticulata in White & Pale Lilac, along with 2 Cowslips in a Red /Yellow and 

Lime / Yellow colouring.

I've been tempted to buy a Ribes for a while now, another Plant that was just on the Wishlist, until now. All I need to do is find a home for it! You can also spot the Orange Dahlia I picked up at the same time sitting alongside it.

The Tomatoes for this year have been bought and paid for, along with a Cucumber & Chilli plant. I also need to sow the Tomato 'Golden Sunrise' which is a lovely yellow one that I grew last year. I've left it rather late though!

Here are the Begonia's, Fuchsia's and Diascia plants I bought to go in some Hanging Baskets along with Nepeta, Surfinia's and Trailing Fuchsia's.

Finally temptation got the better of me and I decided to build up my Pelargonium collection!

Which should go nicely in the following pots ...

As you can see I am going to be rather busy!
HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Under Glass ...

Good Morning!

There's still a few things in the Greenhouse so today I thought I would share with you exactly what they are!

Yes there is in fact still some seedlings in there, not many though. Just a few Calendula, Diascia & Coleus waiting to be planted up into pots when they're a bit bigger. The Cucamelon seeds have also germinated.

There are some 'Sweet Sultans' seedlings which will be be planted in pots where the Alliums around the Raised Bed currently are. Of course they won't be as tall but at 60cm with powdery puff blooms they will still make a nice feature.

I also have a few Marigolds which will be dotted around the Greenhouse and in the Raised Bed to help deter pests. Along with this tub of Nasturtiums which is trailing down some staging next to my TomTato's.

Of which you can see are coming along nicely here.

The other Tomato plants are coming on well too. Sungold are still ahead needing regular pinching out of the side shoots along with the Alicante & Golden Sunrise. The plants are showing lots of flowers which is a good sign!

 Note - You only need to pinch out side shoots on cordon Tomatoes.

One of the Sungold plants is even showing some fruits so it's time to start giving that plant a feed!

TIP - Start feeding your Tomato plants regularly once the first set of fruits are showing.

The Cucumber - Gherkin & Red Pepper plants are coming along nicely although even though I have Marigolds and Yellow sticky Traps hung up they seem to attracting whitefly. Spraying a soap solution is another way I am trying to deter them with.

Finally I have a shelf of Fuchsia cuttings with potted Marigolds surrounding them along with an Orchid, an Amaryllis bulb and a potted Calendula.

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

New Additions ...

Good Morning!

Last weekend I went out and I couldn't help but buy some more plants for the garden. I know what you are all thinking, where on earth are you going to put them?! Well this is where the saying 'Where there's a will there's a way' comes into play ...

I bought a selection of Bedding plants along with a Perennial Viola for one of my planted up tubs.

Which as you can see fits in with the Conifer and Lilli of the Valley perfectly.

I also bought this Callie Petunia - Peach which I had last year in one of my baskets. I had been looking for it everywhere the past month but didn't have any luck finding it until I saw one solitary pot amongst other colours on Saturday! I decided to give it it's own  little pot this year.

I also couldn't resist this Bedding Dahlia which was also amongst a mix of other Dahlia's just named as 'Mixed'. I love the mottled effect on the petals.

There was also this Gerbera which caught my eye, it doesn't photograph too well but it's a lovely mix of Pink & Creams.

The other 2 plants were a Red & Salmon Bullseye Geranium which you can see on the top shelf on each side.

Last but not least I brought home some Bush Fuschia's from work on Friday to add to my staging display. Madeleine Sweeney, Mieke Meursing, Carmel Blue & Patio Princess. These will be joined by three more varieties once the cuttings have become more established.

Here's a close-up of what is on the other piece of staging next to the new purchases. The bottom shelf is holding 2 of the Dianthus 'Crimson Rim' plants and a Lisianthus.

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Bit's & Bob's ...

Good Morning!

Today's post is a collection of photographs that I have taken over the past week that I wanted to share with you. There isn't a particular theme, they are just random snaps that I wanted to share with you all.

First up the Saxifraga 'Red' which has produced one beautiful little bloom.

Remember the Fuchsia cuttings that I took a few weeks ago? Well they all successfully rooted and it was time to pot them up into their own individual pots!

I also had 6 Lewisia plants that I couldn't decide what to do with so I potted them up and displayed them outside the GH.

Some seeds I sowed a fortnight ago (including some 'Cucamelon' last week) have all started germinating.

The Tomatoes are coming on leaps & bounds ...

The Sweet Pea's are getting stronger too, you can tell which are the Autumn ones compared to the Spring and I even have the first Sweet Pea bloom of 2014!

Finally the Amaryllis I bought back in the Autumn of last year decided to bloom for the second time last week and it was a joy to see!

Thanks for stopping by, I shall be back later in the week with how I have updated the front garden for Summer!

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX