GBBD: November 2014

The front gate is swathed in ivy (must remember to hack it back tomorrow!) that forms a tunnel as it intertwines with the holly tree.  The ivy is smothered in flowers and my flower arranging neighbour is eyeing up the holly berries.  We have a wall covered in Cotoneaster berries at the back and Pyracantha at the front so the birds, bees and wasps are colourfully catered for at the moment.

It is a grey, damp day today: the garden is looking rather dismal so I was surprised at how many blooms I found.  The Fuchsias have to be the star of the show.  I got a number of free fuchsias from Gardens' World last year and they are all still flowering and we have a bush growing next to the French door: it manages to flower for weeks and weeks every year. I have taken cuttings that are now flowering in different parts of the garden and plan to cultivate some for growing along the side of the lane.  The branches bend so beautifully and any vehicles brushing against them won't be scratched (I had thought of hydrangea bushes but ....)

As I wandered round I found lots of buds preparing to open.  My carnations are smothered in them. While other plants have given up for the year.  The Peony trees are covered in soggy brown leaves.  A monster of a Nasturtium (that appeared in the middle of a border after I scattered some home made compost about) has succumbed to the frost.  On the other hand two Delphiniums have decided to flower.  The garden seems completely confused ... "Am I coming or going?"

She's not confused.  She's still here!








My son moves into a new apartment this weekend so I was helping by taking some stuff up to the tip.  Whenever I go there I always come back with "somebody else's rubbish" according to my husband ... but he had to agree that this pot was worth salvaging. I thought it was a 'blooming' bargain.   Not sure Jack and his girlfriend were impressed with me scurrying round the tip rescuing junk though!

I have linked with May Dreams Gardens for the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

A Welcome Visitor

For weeks now I have been chasing the neighbour's chicken out of the garden.  I don't mind it coming in to hoover up the dropped seeds below the feeders but I object to it scratching up the Saxifrage and digging up the lawn and I hate the piles of poo on the doorstep.  She spends hours in our garden but Heidi gets the eggs!  When she arrived for the first time I thought she was lovely ("How quaint to have a chicken in the borders ...").  When she disappeared for a few days then reappeared with three cute chicks in tow I was over the moon.  The novelty wore off though. Now when she appears I have to chase her round the lawn for a few minutes before she lets me pick her up and take her home.  She no longer struggles or complains, she goes quietly ... I just wish she would remember not to come back!

Well, this visitor was in the chicken's usual spot today.  He has been around for about three years now.  I call him The Beautiful One.  This year I have seen four different males in the field but this is the only one with white stripes on his head.  Like the chicken he too was feasting on the dropped grain and, no doubt, he also defecated somewhere but I bear him no ill will.  Last winter we had seventeen pheasants in the garden one morning ... I was very happy to see them.  So what is it about that poor chicken? Why do I accept one visitor but not the other?  It doesn't make sense.  Perhaps it is because the Pheasants are wild birds.  There is no one managing them; no one is breeding these birds to shoot them; they look after themselves. The chicken, on the other hand, has its own garden to go to; it gets fed every day; it has no reason to be in my garden. I sound like a candidate for Chicken UKIP!!  I really do have a serious problem don't I?  SO....

.....  I WILL BE MORE TOLERANT OF CHICKENS.  I WILL BE MORE TOLERANT OF CHICKENS. I WILL ....

Bingham Garden Club: November 2014

Last night we met Pam Tatam from Hall Farm Garden.  Her talk was entitled 'Combinations, Underwear and Suspenders'.  She married a Lincolnshire farmer some thirty five years ago and they inherited the family farm.

She set about building a successful nursery (which closed in 2011), developing a garden covering three acres of land and bringing up her kids.  The slides showed how much work had gone into her plot.  The plant combinations were beautiful ... shame I don't have access to her slides.  I was particularly taken by a border filled with Calendula, Dahlia David Howard (orange with dark leaves)and Salvia Lady in Red.  She had placed a blue Salvia near by to complement the warm colours. It really worked well.

Another one was bright pink Cleome, against the dark red leaves of Ricinus and Geranium Ann Folkard. The pink was a great match for the red leaves but the purple near the ground set it off.

She had lots of Fuchsias and roses, honeysuckle twisting round clematis, Golden Rod mixed with Crocosmia Lucifer and Red Hot Pokers and masses of Nasturtiums. I envied her the three acres of stunning gardens ...but not the hard work!  Altogether an inspiring evening.

The Bingham Garden Club chairwoman and the committee do an excellent job when it comes to getting interesting speakers.  They have a special evening with Pippa Greenwood planned for next March. We had Martin Fish last month.  I read his column in Garden News every week but it came as a surprise when he started talking about growing up in Blidworth near Mansfield ..... that's where I taught for over twenty years.  Sure enough he was an ex-pupil of my old school and had fond memories of a number of my old colleagues. 

Garden Club meetings are held September through to May when the summer garden visits are organised.  There are seven meetings with speakers; the AGM takes up one meeting and the Christmas social the other. We get all this for a mere £10 per annum! A real bargain by anyone's account BUT it also entitles us to cut price seeds!  The committee organises orders from Thompson & Morgan at a 50% discount.  I put an order in for £70 worth this month and paid £35.  So I have met some lovely people, I have been inspired and educated and I've saved money! Brilliant!

November

Elaine has posted about her Bonfire Night memories at Ramblings from Rosebank and took me back to mine.  Proper Yorkshire Parkin (ginger cake to you!) and Toffee Apples; the fire on the green that had to be protected over Mischief Night or neighbouring kids would make off with the wood; boys throwing bangers about and making the Guy a week before so you could ask strangers for money for fireworks.

I have some really quite scary memories of Bonfire Night.  As a little girl (under 7) I was given a firework to hold! It had a plastic handle for the purpose and I remember I was wearing blue woollen gloves.  I held it well away from me but the flames were still hot and seemed to last for ages.  It obviously frightened me because I remember it so well.  How dangerous was that!  Fancy handing a child a firework to hold! It was all part of the fun back then.  Boys threw bangers about the playground and Jumping Jacks were designed to jump about at your feet!

Another memory was building the fire in a neighbour's garden using her metal washing pole as the central support.  It seemed like a great idea until ten minutes in when the pole started to vibrate.  The rain water inside began to boil and suddenly spurted into the air like a volcano and put the fire out!  Thankfully no one was hurt and we all had a good laugh and went to a different house to continue the celebration.

As a teenager I attended school in Huddersfield.  One dark afternoon we had a brilliant spectacle as a fire destroyed the Standard Fireworks factory across the valley. Rockets shot into the air; multi coloured lights covered the grey sky; it kept us amused all afternoon. It was wonderful from our view point ... not so wonderful for the workers!

We are far more safety conscious these days thankfully!


Well, Bonfire Night here began last Saturday - 1st November - obviously there were some celebrations on the actual night but the main event is tonight.  Fire, food and fireworks at the local sports ground.  Hopefully it will have stopped raining by then!

Grey Partridges

The flock of partridges in the field this morning had orange heads.  Andy spotted it at first glance.  We usually have eight Red Legged Partridges but these were Grey.  They were a fair distance away and only really noticeable when they moved but we counted a group of eight and another group of six.  A new species for the field list.

The resident Pheasants didn't seem pleased with the new arrivals, nor did the Magpies.  They flew closer and eventually the flock took refuge in the hedge but they stayed around.  Hope they stay all winter.  They are on the RED conservation list so it would be nice to think we can help them through the cold weather.

These are not the only new species I have seen over the last few weeks .... we have been visiting Cornwall and the Scillies.

We stayed on St Agnes at Lower Farm.  This was my fourth holiday there .... friends lived there so we were luck enough to spend a couple of Christmas/New Year breaks on Agnes when the kids were younger.  Fancy dress is the norm in the Turk's Head pub at New Year so I have lovely memories of my lads dressed as the Blues Brothers one year and decked out in blankets as Peruvian Pipe Players the next.  The bar was packed out with men tied together with red ribbon on one of the nights: a couple were dressed as Black Friars; another as James Bond etc as they had come as a group representing the London Underground!

Birding was the first priority but I got the chance to visit Carreg Dhu Gardens on St Marys and the Abbey Gardens on Tresco.

The Shell House is gorgeous!  How long did it take them to collect all those shells and glue them in place? However long it was worth it!

I saw the Golden Pheasant and the Red Squirrels ... not sure about them introducing the latter as there is no natural food source for them.  They have to be fed by humans all year round so they may have a safe environment but they can never live naturally. 

There were plants EVERYWHERE!  Even the walls were beautiful!  Obviously I came home with a few Agapanthus bulbs and a couple of succulents ... well it seemed rude not to!

60

It's my birthday tomorrow.  The big 60. I suppose it is a milestone in life ... step over the line and you enter old age ... they used to give you a bus pass (as compensation perhaps?). Well to me it is just a number. It won't make any difference.  I'm not going to suddenly need a walking frame: I already walk upstairs and forget what I wanted up there! You can't fight age but you can enjoy it. Today was lovely.  We visited Buxton for The Great Peak District Fair. 

It is an annual Real Ale festival and Craft Fair held in the grounds of the Buxton Pavillion Gardens ... so that's where we started.  The Gardens were designed by Joseph Paxton (of Chatsworth fame) and opened in 1871.  The glass house was beautiful ... packed with flowers and texture and foliage.  I would love to have just one part of the display in my greenhouse! Spider plants tumbling over walls; banana plants reaching for the ceiling; maidenhead ferns waving in the slightest breeze .... everything so lush and healthy. 

There was a large exhibition of work from local artists on display.  Paintings, textiles, multi media and pottery. I was particularly taken by the linocut work of Jill Kerr.  So detailed.  Another favourite was Pauline Townsend, silk painter, I have come across her work before.  She produces beautiful flower images.  Oh to be that talented!

Well, hopefully, I will have plenty of time in my old age to develop new skills and collect houseplants!

The Last of Summer

Nearly time to dig up the Dahlias.

 

Originally there were only 30 different types of Dahlia but that was back in 1615 when  Francisco Hernández de Torres first found them in Mexico.  Now there are thought to be over 57,000!

According to the experts you should dig up Dahlia tubers after they have been blackened by frost or by the end of October if the weather stays mild.  The soil should be carefully cleaned away and the tubers placed upside down to let moisture drain away. Store them in a dry, frost-free place. 

Next year I want a "hot" border with dark Dahlias, Cannas and Lucifer Crocosmia mingled with tall grasses. I have to move a couple of roses and a few lupins but the only other plants in the chosen spot are a dark red tree peony and a yucca so they can stay. I found these inspiration shots on Pinterest:

I think I will aim for the orange/yellow combination.

My 92 year old mum is staying with us for a few days.  We visited Felley Priory yesterday where the Plant Heritage Rare Plant Fair was taking place.  Loved it!  Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so you have to imagine the beautiful gardens with the plant stalls covering the front lawn; the gorgeous tea and cakes; the late summer sunshine and the cars full of colourful purchases.  
Mum bought a chrysanthemum the same colour as her outfit here.  I bought a bamboo - she wasn't impressed as it didn't have any flowers on it!

Felley Priory Garden