Succumbing to the urge to move unusually lanky aster Symphyotrichum‘Little Carlow’ today instead of waiting till it was dormant, I also moved the sanguisorba I featured in a vase a few weeks ago, and again today, a little nearer the fence. Whilst doing so, I realised the label read Sanguisorba dodecandra and not S canadensis as I had thought. Googling doesn’t tell me a lot about the former, and illustrations suggest it looks more like the latter, so it remains a bit of a puzzle. The aster looks all the better with something behind it and, having dug it out with a large rootball, doesn’t look any the worse for its experience; the sanguisorba, however, is now glowering at me and I cut a few flowering stems for today’s vase rather than leave them to a potentially slow demise on the plant.
I had already envisaged using sprays of wood aster Eurybia divaricata alongside the sanguisorba and wondered if there might be enough material to create a wholly white vase on Monday. That turned out to be the case, and joining the first two are Cosmos ‘Double Click Snow Puff’, Scabious ‘ Snowmaiden’, Dahlia ‘Twynings Afer Eight’ and useful white limonium from the cutting beds, astonishingly pure white Busy Lizzies from pots, still-flowering super-fragrant Phlox ‘Rembrandt’, a couple of creamy white blooms of Rosa ‘Claire Austin’ and reliable foliage from Arum italicum ‘Marmoratum’.
Today’s prop is the current ‘What’s On’ brochure for one of Birmingham’s theatres. We may live in a semi-rural location, but Birmingham is still less than 20 miles away, so a theatre trip is only a 20 minute train journey away. I would have liked to have seen the featured ‘Calendar Girls’ musical, but it was only on for a week and I couldn’t fit it in. Shows at
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I seem to have been a little lax in the garden of late, the result of weather or other commitments rather than general sloth, but seem to have made up for it this week by ticking off many and varied jobs on my mental ‘to do’ list. Ridding the garden of excess ivy is not one of those and is unlikely ever to be so, but I was pleased to remove this admittedly very attractive arrangement of ivy from the wall near the bottom of the garden. It began as a single stem snaking its way vertically upwards before branching out over the years into this neat fan shape – a very satisfactory result if this was a fruit tree or other decorative shrub. Sadly, it isn’t, but I was pleasantly surprised that with a chisel and wooden mallet it came off the wall quite quickly in large pieces of matted root; even digging the main root out of the cutting bed wasn’t as onerous as it might have been, although there may still be small sections of root making their way across the bed out of sight.
Garden for long enough and you eventually come to the inevitable realisation that for several perfectly good reasons it’s not that easy to create a memorably good winter pot display. Why not? First and foremost is the fact that unlike its summer equivalent (a completely different creature) you can’t simply stuff a winter container full of lots of frothy annuals, heat-loving, dramatic foliage plants, gauzy grasses, and showy, frost-tender perennials and then hope for the best. Instead the planting must be chosen to be resilient in the face of cold winter winds, heavy rain and frost, as well as tolerant of short days and low light levels, while somehow still being decorative enough to justify its prime position for up to six months. It’s quite the ask.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore Black and White Feather Meaning. From spirituality to art, uncover their rich significance in various cultures and learn about the hidden messages they carry.
Halloween is just around the corner, and it's the perfect time to get crafty with some ghoulishly delightful DIY projects. This year, TikTok has been buzzing with creative ideas, from eco-friendly hanging ghosts to illuminating mini pumpkin string lights. Here are a few of our favorites that you can try yourself.
Why do plants get sick? The simple answer is for lots of reasons, many of them similar to the reasons why we humans do. Take, for example, poor diet. Just as it’s one of the root causes of disease, poor growth and reduced life expectancy in humans, so it is with plants.
I have no doubt mentioned a number of times that I have been very lax in supporting my dahlias this year, inevitably resulting in a number of casualties. By way of excuse, I have been awaiting a supply of stakes from a friend whose husband coppices for a local farmer, stakes cut a number of months ago apparently, waiting in their garage and on the point of being dropped off here any time now – or at least that was my friend’s intention! At least if I receive them soon they will be ready for next year and I can have them in place when the tubers are first planted out again, as is probably recommended by professional growers!
I first learned the fundamentals of kitchen gardening from my mother, who learned it from her father, a passing-on of traditional skills repeated down through countless generations.
IT’S HARD TO THINK of another place so rich with major gardens as the Brandywine Valley in Chester County, Pa., and an adjacent portion of Delaware. Five of those gardens have a historic connection—a family connection—as they were all by members of the du Pont family.
The light-colored discoloration on these zucchini plant leaves is known as Squash Silverleaf Disorder (SSL) and is the result of immature whiteflies feeding on the squash leaves. SSL reduces the plant’s ability to photosynthesize, leading to stunting and reduced yields.