Myssterry Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Pleased to see a male bullfinch in the garden yesterday. Time was the bullfinch was a pest of fruit orchards, but it is now relatively scarce. A very handsome bird and the male is colourful, with a bright pinky red breast and a black head. 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Just seen a starling with its beak full of nesting material. And, shock, a real live sparrow, for the first time in ages 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catsaregood Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Miss Terry, what wonderful descriptions of plants and birds! And Lone - such lovely pictures! Just stunning, both of you! Sunrise is very partial to columbines, MT, and we have planted many :) They are self-seeding all over the place, so the number is rapidly increasing! :D @ Sky - I'd forgotten sparrows were disappearing over there. :( We still have them in plentiful supply here. Sad, they are such lovely little birds, beautiful markings, and very British, in my mind. (I always want to buy lots of plants when I'm at the nursery - I have to be stern with myself, and decide where I am going to plant things before I buy them :D ) Decide where we're going to put them? That would be a great idea! :D We both get carried away, and often the decision is that we'll find a place once we've bought it! 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
the bumbling rotifer Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Thanks! I think I've seen Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall foraging for wild garlic (and lots of other things :D ) Your new plants sound lovely, and you're right - lots of plants will spread, if you give them half a chance. Sometimes they spread more than you intended: I had to dig out a huge clump of violets the other day, because that one plant was demolishing three hellebores. I bought a couple of new hellebores (you might guess I have a bit of a passion for them :lol: ) According to the labels, one has bright yellow flowers and the other a deep plum colour, both with a lighter fringe around the edge. I'm looking forward to seeing the flowers IRL. Hellebores . Be careful with them though, Autumn Sunrise - if I recall correctly, one of my father's colleagues nearly died once from getting hellebore sap on her skin. Dangerous stuff! Ransoms is the wild garlic, and foragers use it in cooking. It has lovely spheres of white flowers. My purchases were a purple campanula that doesn't become a pest - I have a blue one that seeds everywhere on the block paving round the house - and a light blue/mauve scabious. Both attract bees. Also a double purple columbine. The border in question was cleared recently for new fencing, so has needed new planting. Some I have moved from elsewhere, and some has been a good excuse for new plants. The rule of planting perennials in threes has been ignored. Too expensive, and if the plants like where you put them they soon spread. Oooh Aquilegias <3. I believe there's a blue native one, but I've never seen it. And scabious <3... I love the devil's bit scabious that you get in sheep-grazed hill pasture, although field scabious is lovely too. And Campanulas <3... especially hair-bells. We have a national holiday today, so I have been on a little photo tour nearby the village I live in. The trees again, and landscape from flat Denmark :) Now my next thing on the list for today, is baking a cake :D Wow Lone Ranger, that is stunning! And that yellow... Wow! 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Autumn Sunrise Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Thanks, Bumbles - I'll "handle with care". I googled hellebore poisoning, and found the following (among a whole lot of other stuff)": In the ancient times hellebore was an appreciated medicinal plant with miraculous curative effects especially on mental disorders. External treatment of lice is among the ancient uses. It also shares the reputation as a classic poison with hemlock, nightshade and aconite. In Africa it has been used as an arrow poison. For medicinal applications only rhizome is used as a source (Rhizoma Hellebori There was also a reference to dermatitis caused by contact with hellebore, but nothing more serious. I've not had any problems of that kind so far, but maybe I'd better wear gloves when I'm handling them, just to be on the safe side :D A few years ago, I bought a whole lot of plants by mail order, including an Aconite, which looked very pretty in the catalogue but which I subsequently realised was Monkshood, and very poisonous. Maybe it's just as well it died, but I'm surprised that mail-order suppliers could sell something like that! 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
the bumbling rotifer Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 That's interesting, Sunrise. I'll have to ask my Dad what the situation was, and get back to you. Perhaps she was allergic to it. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 memo to self, don't keep putting off mowing the lawn until it gets that high. The mower has the sulks now 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Myssterry Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Exhausting but good weekend clearing and planting in the garden. I have diddly-squat in the way of veg compared to Captain and others, but do have herbs growing well in a herb planter, a couple of courgette plants, a few strawberry plants and some runner beans. I doubt I shall be self-sufficient in veg any time soon. Oh, and there are some tomato seedlings growing in the greenhouse to go out later. I saw somewhere, probably Grumps, that Captain has had some veg plants eaten - maybe by the T Wells were rabbit? :( After the visits by Mr Bullfinch I wonder if my crop of apples will be somewhat reduced. Bumbles and Autumn Sunrise - I didn't know hellebores were toxic. I believe it is monkshood that can poison through the skin contact, even fatally if the skin is abraded. Dogs that have chewed the root have died, and it is a plant I won't grow. So many plants are toxic I do wear gloves for gardening although I don't like to. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 My garden is actually small, 33'*15', but I have variety in it rather than quantity. But, by the same token I only have a limited amount of time to put to gardening (sadface) 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
the bumbling rotifer Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 My garden is actually small, 33'*15', but I have variety in it rather than quantity. But, by the same token I only have a limited amount of time to put to gardening (sadface) Garden, or internet... garden or internet... hmmm... INTERNET! :D :p 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mole Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 My garden is actually small, 33'*15', but I have variety in it rather than quantity. But, by the same token I only have a limited amount of time to put to gardening (sadface) Garden, or internet... garden or internet... hmmm... INTERNET! :D :P Another vote for garden. :) 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Autumn Sunrise Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Do you have a garden, Mole? if you do, I'm sure we'd love to hear about it :) 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 This the weather we had last winter, it is also a trial to see that I can download pictures after a tutorial from my brother in law 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catsaregood Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 ^ You did a picture! YAY! (I can't do pictures yet. ) Another vote for garden, with a sprinkling of internet :D 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Myssterry Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 The last bluebell picture - they really are going over here. This patch were late to bloom, and I was pleased to catch them in their full beauty. Garden v. internet - well the internet is very useful for finding and researching plants and gardens, so I have to vote for both. :) 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mole Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Do you have a garden, Mole? if you do, I'm sure we'd love to hear about it :) Yes I do. It's a small garden at the back of my terraced house so it's thin and long(ish). The planting is all decorative with no veg plots (although I sometimes grow veg in grow bags but not this year). With an east west orientation I get one side in shade and the other gets a good dollop of sunshine, in theory. I like shade plants like ferns, hostas and rodgersias. Following on from the toxic plant line in the thread I confess to having three hellebores and a ewe hedge. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
the bumbling rotifer Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Mole, I think perhaps you should share your last post here :p Mole's hedge ;) 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Mole, unless your hedge is made out of sheep :o is that not a yew hedge? :P 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Autumn Sunrise Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Miss Terry, I'm with you - I think I need to vote for both. It slightly shames me to admit it, but I don't think I could manage without the internet now . . . and, of course, I love my garden :) Thanks for the lovely picture! Mole, I like the sound of your garden :) I don't have anywhere much (yet) where I can grow shade-loving plants, and there are so many lovely ones! I'm trying to create some shady environments, but trees take such a long time to grow I have two little yews in large pots, one on either side of the front door. They look very nice there, but I'm not sure how long I can keep them dwarfed - I guess it's a bit of an experiment. PS Ewe/yew . . I knew what you meant :D 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Sniggering at the last sentence above 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mole Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Humm... Ooops. :redface: :redface: :redface: :redface: :redface: I wonder if that will be picked up by any of the news media, "Growers hedge their bets in toxic mutton shocker!". 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catsaregood Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 Oh, hostas Rodgersias I have never heard of, although I've seen advertised plants in the saxifrage family which looked very similar...maybe it's not a name we use here - Sunrise, do you know? @ Bumbles - because of the trees behind the sheep, it looks like some of them are horned! :O You grow they sheep right braw there in Scotland! :D 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Yesterday was a nice country hike, lots of butterflies, and I almost stood on a pheasant. Then i built a load of new shelving for the downstairs toilet, painting coming up 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Autumn Sunrise Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 How exciting - did you get a good look at the pheasant? (I can't quite imagine such an experience- - the only wildlife I ever almost stood on was a snake - more scary than exciting, and the only good thing was that it made off as fast as it could ). You seem to be very good at building shelves (it's a great skill, and one that's "missing in action" at our house :( ) - your house must be very well furnished! 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 this is where I was yesterday 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mole Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Oh, summer. The south is a week or so ahead of sunny Coventry. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Monadnock Posted May 26, 2015 Share Posted May 26, 2015 My spring garden has lettuce, radishes, beets, and kohlrabi. It's been pretty much a bust because of the weather. I planned for a cool and rainy spring, but we went straight from winter to hot temperatures and a dry wind. Some of the lettuce made it, but I think most of the rest will get pulled so that I can use the space for summer plants. I've got several zucchini, cucumber, and tomato plants on the porch ready to be transplanted, and also a fresh envelope of bush beans. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Myssterry Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 The weather here keeps turning warm and going back to decidedly cold. I have put out tender plants and veg and am hoping for the best. The roses are just starting to come out. Plants of the moment are all purple - a huge flowered clematis, alliums and French lavender. The lavender attracts many bees as do the foxgloves. Will try to put some photos in later. 7 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 First radishes from the garden, nomnom. Finally signs of life from the beans, but no peas, yet :( 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Autumn Sunrise Posted May 28, 2015 Share Posted May 28, 2015 Sounding good, Sky! Were your radishes nice? I've not had much success with them, for some unknown reason :( 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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