What have you done today in the Garden?

Weeding in the front garden and cut back some more verbena bonariences.

 

I've not done anything, but some elements are doing their best.

 

Tried out the new troughs in-situ, to make sure I was happy with the location. They can either be there or I could alternatively, put them either side of the French windows. Just need some hebes now.






They are of course lighter at the moment and glossier than the summer house, despite it being the same paint. The latter will get "tarted up" in a few months time.
I'll check all the woodwork in the garden, for any sign of deterioration, particularly the pergola posts outside the French windows, as they have to be strong as there's a lot of weight above them, including of course occasionally.... me.

But all this will have to wait until I jet-wash and re-point the patio and paths Some areas of the path and the small patio will only need a go over with "Wet n' Forget." That got delivered today.

 

Seperated the plants in the hanging baskets that were in the greenhouse into their own pots. Gave them a high nitrogen liquid feed to make them grow, the fuchsias were already growing.

 

Busy day today.

My "drain man" came this morning to sort out the drain under the kitchen window, which was slow to clear.

He came a couple of years ago to sort out a blocked sewer pipe from the toilet. Turned out there was a big lump of concrete stuck in the pipe under the drive. It must have been there since the house was built and the pipe had also settled a bit. The pipe needed replacing and to get at it, he needed a concrete disc cutter to get through the drive. Then dig down three feet.

He's got all the gear, a big van with a compressor and pump, including a camera on a cable winder, which he could push up the pipe from the inspection hatch half-way down the drive. Turned out there was something blocking a lot of wisteria leaves. Err... a bit of strong garden wire!
Anyway, all done in less than an hour and he only charged me £80.

Mowed the lawn and collected a lot of leaves and debris. Gave the moss on the lawn a dose of iron sulphate and the roses some sulphur rose, particularly the surface of the soil in the pots. I want to get ahead of any black spot infection.

Our oldest bird bath has given up the ghost. It got attacked by the frost a few years ago and I mended it. Same thing has happened again and the bowl fell to pieces when I took it off the stand to clean it.

Went to Dobbies to see if I could get some sort of concrete bowl I could adapt, but they had nothing. Didn't fancy paying £60 for another fountain which, effectively, would only be, "second lobster." ("Love Actually," analogy).

I could probably adapt a green plastic saucer. I don't like seeing plastic in the garden, but it'll be right down the bottom of the garden and it's just for the birds.

Whilst I was at the garden centre, I found some hebes!
They must have just come in. At £12.99, a lot cheaper than those I tried to buy at Waitrose, so I bought six. When I got to the check-out, I only got charged £9.99 each.

For now as they're small, I'll put three in each trough, reducing them to two once they grow.

As it looks as if 'arry hasn't been in his house for some time, (I had a sneaky peek), I'm assuming he's under the tea-house. The foxes would have left bedding under there a few years ago. He may have decided it would be warmer under there, with the heaters in the jukeboxes above his head.
At least I'm hoping he's survived. He was under there before I bought him a house, which he soon found, two years ago and moved in.

I've put some dry food and water under there. Cats can't get under the building's side skirts, but he can.
I've re--positioned one of the trail cameras on the side of the building, so we'll know if he comes in or out.

 

Those look very handsome. Perfect.

 

Today I had a scan in Longview, 45 miles North of here. It was either that or Portland, which is closer but has become a traffic nightmare and the drive is much more stressful. I've learned that the situation can become something to look forward to, because Tsugawa Nursery, my favorite, is just off the interstate on the trip back. There are lots of "trip to Longview with stopover at Tsugawa" plants in my garden.

I looked all over the place for a red flowered dogwood. I had help. Were they this way?



Were they that way?



Were they straight ahead?



Apparently none of the above. I found white ones, but it's red that beckons, so I gave up.

What they did have, was a nice fragrant yellow David Austin rose, and some Canadian bush cherry hybrids.





I'm confident the Vanessa Bell rose will be rewarding. It will be planted in the vegetable garden.

I'm not sure about the cherry. These have a reputation for being highly productive and flavorful. They are hybrids created by the University of Saskatchewan in a 50-year program, for hardiness, flavor and productivity. But my wet winter climate can be an issue for some stone fruits, and a related bush cherry (Romeo) succumbed to stone fruit canker, a number of years ago. So have a peach and another cherry tree, but so e do very well. I'll give it a try.

The nursery gives a veterans discount, and I appreciate the idea. The founder and his family were interned in Idaho during WWII, and he enlisted in the Army during the war, in military intelligence. This story gives me pause.

https://www.columbian.com/news/2015/feb/22/tsugawa-brings-history-life-woodland-internment/

Not one to pass by a bulb rack, I also bought these.



Crocosmia "Lucifer" is an amazing performer in my garden, and a hummingbird magnet. Sunglow will be much smaller, so we'll see what happens.

(Correction - it was Tsugawa's brother who enlisted)

 

Mate, you had quite a day at the garden centre didn’t you. Of course you could not’ve had such success without your trusty pathfinder.
BTW— what did you have to show to get your veterans’ discount?

Those red C. ‘Lucifer’ are some of my favs in the flower garden. Great choice.

 

I used to show my wallet card, showing my service info and honorable discharge date. That's been in my wallet for 47 years. Now, the state Drivers' License displays veteran status.

I feel touched that they do that. I don't expect it, but it's nice gesture.

Crocosmia Lucifer grows like crazy here. I've divided my clumps many times, replanting them in various places. They need no care at all, no watering, no fertilizing, although I do cut them down each fall.

 

It is a nice gesture for stores to allow veterans discounts. My DH served in Nam as a Helicopter pilot.Army -1st Black Horse armored division.

Daniel ..What was yours?
All DH had to do is wear a veteran hat or tee for army veterans support for complementary veterans discount. He was in 12 years and discharge ID Honorable of course. I hate to tell you how many states we lived in or how many times we moved.

I pulled all my Lucifer out , it easily took over a large space in the garden in short time. It has…No critters or bug issues.
Daniel nice haul.. encouraging to see stores stalking plants. I’ll wait a few more weeks , too cold now to haul plants. When it’s warmer I’ll hook the horse trailer to the truck and off we go… if a get a burst of energy. Other wise …. Just start a few seeds next month.

 

@Pacnorwest I was a medic. My enlistment started about 5 months before the fall of Saigon. I spent most of my enlistment in Turkey.

I don't mean to derail the garden thread. Sorry about that. Next post will be back with the pepper plants

 

The hebe saga is drawing to a close.

I've put them in the troughs in their original pots. I'll leave them for now and decide which pair will get re-potted in larger ones, in a couple of weeks.

 

Nice job on the tea house planters hebe’s r a fav in my garden
I need to power wash have green growing on hard scapes too.

 

I'm leaving mine until it gets a bit warmer. I then need to let it dry and start on the repointing where required. That could be an all day job, well..10.00am to 4.00pm in my case.

 

Plan on starting eggplant seeds this weekend.