Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - November 2012

This Fuschia is still enjoying its glory days.  It has been flowering since July.  This one is Doctor Foster: Dollar Princess has the same colours but it is a double bloom: Swingtime (red and white) and Shrimp Cocktail (red and pink) are all still blooming.  I moved and divided a very old one this spring - it is now thriving in three different positions.  The ones in pots will have to go into the greenhouse soon.

Sticking with the colour scheme these Cyclamen are doing well - every year I have them in pots then transplant them to a border in Spring - they never reappear.  I don't know what I do wrong.

Carrying on the pink theme:

 My roses are nowhere near as good as Christina's at Organic Garden Dreams.  My mother used to grow beautiful roses when she was younger - I remember dying of shame as she ran into the street with a bucket to collect the horse manure when the local riding school trotted by and left a present!

Now moving onto some of the yellows:

I have Primroses in bloom and Blackeyed Susan; red, yellow and orange Chrysanthemums; a Toad Lily; a couple of Gaillardia and the Ivy. So with all this going on why does it look such a mess??!

This is the 'Before' shot - it took me two hours and all my body heat to pick up those leaves by which time it was too dark to take another picture! 

Instead I will leave you with the same scene in its Glory Days!

July 2012:

... and April 2012!

Glory days well they'll pass you by

Glory days, in the wink of a young girl's eye,

Glory days, glory days ....

Visit May Dreams Gardens for more GBBD views.

I can't resist a bargain!

My Red Banana plant is 4 feet high and it was reduced in price from £9.98 to £1.   Apparently it will need a bit of mollycoddling over winter then I can plant it in a sheltered but sunny spot in Spring.  It needs to be kept inside if the temperature drops below 14 degrees and given 8 hours of light each day.  Once it has been planted out it will need to be wrapped up warm to survive next winter.  After 9 to 15 months it MIGHT flower and produce fruit but the bananas will most probably be inedible! 

I was beginning to think I should have saved the pound ... then I read about Mike Hillard.  He bought three plants; he wasn't expecting them to bear fruit; he wanted something to provide shade in his solar room.  It was a pleasant surprise when they grew to 16 feet and gave him 70 bananas!  So there may be hope yet!

102 banana cake recipes ... click here

 *  Alexander the Great tasted a banana in 327 BC whilst in India.  He is credited with bringing the fruit to the Western world.

*  The first recorded sale of bananas in England was in 1633.

*  In 1829 a plant collector from Maurtius, Charles Telfair, sent two banana plants to a friend in England.  They were sold to the Duke of Devonshire who grew them in his famous heated greenhouse at Chatsworth.

*  The name 'banana' is Arabic for 'finger'.

 In 2007 we visited Shimbwe in the foothills of Kilimanjaro.  The village is surrounded by coffee and banana plantations.  I had never seen such poverty!

We worked in the local school for a week.  The pupils arrived at 7.30am and spent an hour cleaning the building and tending the kitchen garden before lessons.  The garden provided crops for the school dinners - they didn't grow the crops, they didn't eat.

I met one child who had to leave home at 5am every morning in order to walk to school barefoot and in the dark ... the register showed he was never late and he had not missed a day in seven years!

They were taught in English - their native language is Swahili.

They didn't beg for money - they asked for a pen for school.

An adult's wage is 30p a day.

 

These Christmas cards cost £2 for 10 from Street Child Africa.



16 weeks to Spring!

Isn't this beautiful?

Cleve West is an inspiration!  I can't afford the £250,000 he spent on the winning Chelsea garden but I can afford some of these plants ... I've even GOT a few of these plants!  When it is cold and wet outside it is lovely to browse the internet and plan for Spring.  (Elaine at A Woman of the Soil tells me it is only16 weeks away ... I'm already counting too!) My Mailbox is full of cheap bulb offers this week and I was tempted but I had to visit B&Q and found their bulbs on offer.  I came back with loads of tulips, alliums and daffodils ... and yes, I chose the orange, purple and white ones ... I can dream!

I also purchased two large Chrysanthemums for £1 each ...they are brightening up the front door at the moment .... and a Red Banana plant!  It was a bargain (£1) but I have never grown anything quite so delicate before!  No idea where I am going to put it or how to care for it but I have the internet!  I'll get back to you on that one.

The weekend weather was glorious but it didn't manage to dry up the puddles on our lane!  At least someone likes the pot-holes! 

                                             

The Poppy Lady

I always thought the Poppy Appeal was started by the British Legion.  I was wrong.

On Saturday 9th November 1918, two days before the Armistice was declared, Moina Belle Michael was in New York browsing through a magazine when she came across this poem by Lieutenant Colonel John Mc Crae, a Canadian doctor:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Later she was describe reading it as a spiritual experience.  She made a personal pledge to always wear a poppy to keep faith with the men who died.  She scribbled a quick response to Mc Crae's poem:

                            Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
                            Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
                            We caught the torch you threw
                            And holding high, we keep the Faith
                            With All who died.

She scoured the shops and purchased 25 red silk poppies.  Wearing one herself she distributed the others amongst delegates attending a conference at the YMCA Overseas War Secretaries' headquarters in New York where she worked. She realised the importance of getting the symbol adopted nationally and spent the next two years campaigning.  In September 1920 the National American Legion (an organisation set up by veterans to help man who served in the First World War) convened in Cleveland. The Convention agreed to use the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy as the United States' national emblem of Remembrance.

A French woman, Anna Guérin, was present at the Convention and inspired by Moina Belle Michael's idea she returned to Europe and set about making artificial poppies to sell.  The profits would be used to help orphaned French children and to rebuild the devastated areas of the country.




By 11th November 1921 the first British Legion Poppy Day Appeal was launched.

It's beginning to feel alot like ....

I know I should have gone to the allotment!  I know I have to dig it over before the ground freezes.  I know I told Rooko at Don't Lose the Plot that I would go today!  Well, I didn't! I did this instead:



It looks like all I did was sweep the path but it took me all day!  I dug out every weed and unwanted holly shoot; cut back the fir tree; dug up and relaid some of the paving stones and planted tulip and daffodil bulbs ... then I swept the path!  I'm going to plant Lupins in the middle.  My youngest son was throwing away an old tent which I rescued to see if I can use it to create a 'Living Wall' structure to cover that fence.
                      

                             

 While I was busy the Sparrowhawk made a brief appearance before being seen off by a Magpie and the Robin kept me entertained by singing between mouthfuls of grubs. 

 Seeing him sitting in the Holly tree obviously made me start to think about Christmas in six weeks time.  When I came inside I spent some time visiting craft sites and picking out some nice ideas.  Now I hope you are sitting comfortably because this is going to take up your time!! 



These great little finger puppets are wonderful to make with/for young kids.  I think they would be a lovely surprise for inside a home-made Christmas cracker on the table too. The instructions can be found on Urban Comfort - I spent ages on this site as it is full of beautiful ideas for the home.   The author, Suzonne Stirling, is a professional crafter whose work is featured in top magazines.

Another interesting site was Fave Crafts. These felt hearts are in the Valentine Day section - there isn't a Christmas section - there is a Jewish holiday section though. They look easy to make and I thought they could be used as gift tags on presents or sent instead of Christmas cards or, obviously, used to hang on the tree.  I liked the country kitchen look of them!

This site doesn't look very inspiring but it's author is Robert Sabuda - he is a brilliant Pop- Up Book artist.  A couple of years ago I spent hours cutting out body parts so a turkey popped out of the Xmas card.  He had posted it in the Thanksgiving section.  This one looks classy and pretty straight forward compared to the turkey.  There's a snowman, a Santa and a snowflake too. 

You may need to translate the text on Craft and Creativity - Google   will do it for you at the push of a button!                                   Would you prefer to get a present in a shop carrier bag or one that is beautifully wrapped?  The delight of opening a huge bow and removing the coloured paper is part of pleasure.  These covered gift boxes will turn the simplest trinket into a real treat.  You can get quite cheap wooden boxes of all shapes and sizes from Boxy Lady.

'Peas' should be pronounced 'Peace' as these little pods are made from felted wool and designed for the front of a Christmas card with the message 'Peas on Earth.  Good wool to all men!'.  You can find the instructions at Betz White.                                                         

All Free Sewing has a wealth of ideas including an free ebook explaining how to make Christmas Ornaments.

As you would expect Martha Stewart has masses of ideas for Chritmas.

If you want ideas for hand-made gifts you will be spoilt for choice at Purl Bee

 I have some rather clever friends and relatives who make Christmas cards every year:



Now should I tackle that allotment or get the water colours out tomorrow?

What a difference a day makes ...

I started to write a new post last night:



This young hedghog was born near us earlier this year and she (or he!) has been a regular visitor each evening.  We leave the uneaten catfood out for her and the plate is always licked clean. 

I am hoping she moves into my hedghog house to hibernate in the next few weeks.  It is in a quiet place tucked away under a bush, there are plenty of dry, dead leaves for bedding and I've placed food near it to help her locate it. 



That's as far as I got before I was called away.





In my imagination this little hedghog grew to maturity, found a mate and produced a healthy brood of happy piglets (?) while I watched and provided the catfood!

Well, it is not to be.

I went out this morning and returned to the sight of a dead body in the middle of the lane. 

A road accident then. 

It is a very common cause of death for hedghogs .... our lane is a dead end with only a dozen properties yet two young hedghogs have died here in a matter of weeks.  Surveys reveal that approximately 15,000 hedghogs are killed on our roads each year .... how do they know that??  Who do they ask?? I have an image of a geek scientist in a white coat, carrying a clipboard, knocking on doors.  Obviously that's not what they do!

What they actually do is quite paradoxical.  By going for a 20 mile drive and counting the number of dead hedghogs they measure not, as you would expect, how many hedghogs have been killed by cars but how many hedghogs there are for cars to kill!  The more dead hedghogs the better as that indicates a healthy number of live hedghogs apparently!

According to the British Hedghog Preservation Society numbers are declining rapidly ... 25% in 10 years and no one seems to be certain of the causes.  Increased use of pesticides is the most favoured theory, but we have known that for years.  Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published in 1962 (named as one of the top 25 greatest science books of all time); it led to the ban on DDT.  Pesticides are now tested, regulated and labelled.  We have 'hedghog friendly' slug pellets ... a healthy hedghog can eat masses of the blue crunchy stuff, or about 5,000 poisoned slugs, before it proves fatal. They make it sound quite innocent!  It is still killing the slugs ... reducing the hedghogs' food supply. 

A better way to get rid of slugs is caffeine.  Slug Snub Caffeine Spray repels slugs and snails and is safe to use on plants. Alternatively you can collect the slimy creatures and rub them all over your face ... apparently the slime is the latest cure for wrinkles!


If you are interested in providing a hedghog shelter for your garden click here.

End of Month - October 2012

Sedum, Cyclamen and Fuschia are the main features of the garden now but there are still some Sunflowers, Dahlias and Marigolds adding to the colour.  The Hydrangea was covered in yellow, dying leaves yesterday ... today it is bare branched. It's like someone pressed a button and the leaves dropped off.

 I have taken some hardwood cuttings and planted a few spring bulbs but I'm more inclined to be indoors now the weather is turning.  I'm enjoying snuggling up in a warm armchair with a good book ( 'Bring Up The Bodies' by Hilary Mantel if you're interested ... thoroughly entertaining!) and a cup of tea! I know I should be digging the allotment over .....


A Sparrowhawk visited us today.  I glanced out of the kitchen window and there it was in the middle of the lawn eyeing up the bird feeders.  It stayed until Andy was just seconds away from seeing it before it flew off!

Twelve pheasants troop across the field each morning now.  Such beautiful colours.  This one looks like he has a stiff evening collar on.

... and here's a Collared Dove.

Visit the Patient Gardener for more End of the Month views.