ajm200 Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 This morning, we were amazed at how many crocuses were flowering in the garden. Let the chickens out when we got home at 3 and by the time out to call the children in at 4 every crocus flower had been pecked off and left 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick Chick Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Oh no ajm that’s such a shame your poor flowers. My girls pulled off all the flowers from my small potted rose I saw them getting the last couple they seemed to be having a great time. I’ve got them in an area away from my plants at the moment so hoping for less carnage this year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajm200 Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 @Chick Chick Havung has chickens for a decade I shouldn’t be surprised. I just hoped that Pekins were less destructive. When I was upset yesterday I went to the end of the garden to talk on the phone so my kids wouldn’t see me. I started to cry and all 6 chickens flapped over to peck round my feet. When i stopped down they all wandered off. Later they played up and wouldn't come near me when I wanted them too. They are good company in an otherwise empty garden. Just wish they weren’t so mischievous 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Chick Chick, I'm not sure about cut flower collections, perhaps the others can help you. However, from what I remember at Sarah Raven, she would talk about filler flowers and then the main stars, not forgetting to have some green. The only things I can remember where ammi major for the filler, some of the huge alliums as the stars, and then there is an oblong spurge, I can't remember its proper name, for the green! My own preference has always been for lots of greenery/branches/blossom, some cheap and cheerful flowers to bulk it out, and then a few beautiful specimens. I do it from reasons of economy and because I always have done; I am a rather lazy gardener and a very casual flower arranger but I love having blooms on the table. To start with I couldn't bear to cut flowers in the borders but I have to say the SR experience allowed me to have a cutting bed and never be troubled by my conscience again! Basically I use whatever I have in the garden for the greenery, in the UK I had plenty of shrubs, some with varigated foliage and I'd cut whatever was looking good. My cheap and cheerful flowers would be anything which happened to be in bloom but which wasn't particularly large or showy like penstemon flowers, cosmos, snapdragons, and then I'd put a few larger flowers in as well, often roses, peony in season, lilies, day lilies, alliums, whatever you like. MH - I can grow zinnia here but even they aren't superkeen on my very very hot summers and they don't flower till Sept, they kind of sulk in the extreme summer heat. My sense is that they prefer a dry atmosphere, sun and good drainage. Give them a whirl, cheap as chips, you may find they work for you, they aren't difficult. Surprisingly I can grow cosmos really well, although again they don't flower till Sept, but I get excellent flowers, nearly as good as in the UK, where I had them in the veggie patch with plenty of compost and goodness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick Chick Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 @ajm200 they sound like lovely hens. I've not had chickens a full year yet, but I am loving their different personalities and spend too much time watching their antics. @Daphne thank you, that is very helpful! this will be my first bed for cut flowers Im looking for cheap and cheerful as I am also doing it for reasons of economy 😁 I will be delighted if I can have some flowers, in a vase, grown in my own garden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted February 14, 2019 Author Share Posted February 14, 2019 8 hours ago, Daphne said: sense is that they prefer a dry atmosphere, sun and good drainage The article I read (I think it was Sarah Raven) said they do really well in humid heat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Well, see how you go, it'll be an interesting experiment, we can compare notes! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Some stuff in the garden. The shoots are Daylilies. I always forget the name of the pink flower but it's beautiful year after year. I like it best when it's icy and the petals look sugar frosted. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 That's a camellia - beautiful. I have one as well here. Your daylilies are a bigger patch than mine, I brought some back from the UK and planted them last week, to go with another patch I already had. Mine struggle a bit, given the extreme summer heat, but they are stunning and I have planted them in as much shade as I can. Mine are a deep sort of mahogany/brown/purple with a yellow throat - what colour are yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Lovely camelia - mine are in bud but not near flowering yet. I don't think there are day lilies here - perhaps the deer ate them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 30 minutes ago, Daphne said: That's a camellia - beautiful. I have one as well here. Your daylilies are a bigger patch than mine, I brought some back from the UK and planted them last week, to go with another patch I already had. Mine struggle a bit, given the extreme summer heat, but they are stunning and I have planted them in as much shade as I can. Mine are a deep sort of mahogany/brown/purple with a yellow throat - what colour are yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 We built an extension over a patch of day lilies. Obviously some tubers (?) survived because we have a patch just by a wall as if they are coming up from the foundations. Which I think they are! These are a beautiful orange Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 PL - Snap! Your daylilies are very similar to mine, but mine are a bit darker. I'm not sure what they grow from, I have only ever bought them in a pot and then divided them up before planting to build up more clumps for my money as they split quite easily! Its really encouraging seeing the new growth poking through the ground, there is something quite pristine about the foliage. My camellia is a similar colour to yours as well, I think most of them seem to be a variation on pink, shading from white through to red, but yours has a single flower, meaning it is easy for bees to get in and harvest the pollen, which is really important this early in the season. Mine is in bloom but the blossom is a double, so access isn't so easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 20, 2019 Share Posted February 20, 2019 Such pretties! I'm hardening off the garlic as they neeeeeed more ground to root in! And the pesky wabbits are making a mess around the outside of the greenhouse at night. We now have 2 scrabbled bits of grass and lots of poo. On the other hand maybe I should sweep the poo up and pop it onto the veg patch too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted February 20, 2019 Author Share Posted February 20, 2019 My mesembryanthemum, nicotiana and dahlia seeds have all hatched 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted February 21, 2019 Share Posted February 21, 2019 Well done! Have you got those nicotiana which bloom at night or the ones which bloom in the day? They are lovely, whichever you have. I should have thought of trying them, I think they would do well here, as part of the tobacco family. I have tried growing mesembryanthemum from seed but gave up, as they are so cheap to buy here as small plants. They flower their socks off for a few years, spread and grow, but mine then succumb to something, I'm not sure if its ants or if they are just short lived. I have some which are what I'd call a 'dirty pink' which I am trying to kill off, to replace them with something which is a sort of neon bright purple, to go with my orange and yellow pot marigolds which are now hybridising to their hearts' content! Its clear that the more highly bred ones like 'porcupine' don't survive well though, its the basic flower forms which dominate. I just love the marigold's intense pop of colour so early in the seaon (they are out now) and they are good for the bees, as well as being good companion planting in the veg bed, although I can't remember what you are supposed to match them up with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajm200 Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Hubby bought 4 packs of narcissus in flower that were reduced to £2 per pack of 8. Not sure they will price to be the bargain he hoped for as the growth is spindly at best so not sure they’ll have what it takes to set store for next winter. Is there anything I can do to improve their chances? I’d normally plant decent size bulbs in autumn to give things like daffodils a chance of taking well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 I just bung them in and hope for the best! Deeper is better, I think, but all our bulbs in the garden have been from 'spent' bulbs that we have bought in pots form supermarkets etc and then popped into the soil when they have finished so around Feb/Mar/April time. Touch wood, they seem to do OK the following year and even multiply! Having done this over the last 3/4 years I now have enough to cut and bring in to the house. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Can always dig a hole where you want to put them, pop them and the pot in the hole and just leave the plants to die down naturally then remove them from the pot, plant in the ground - can always put them in deeper and cover up. They just need to get as much light to the leaves so they can store energy in the bulbs ready for next year. I've had many a bargain daffy that way - and never been disappointed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajm200 Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 My garden is finally catching up with some of your after being knocked back by the snow. Spring flowers appearing. Some big established clumps of bluebells and day lilies appearing too. Last year I sent my then 9 year old out with spring bulbs and told her to plant them nicely spaced groups of at least 3. The flowers bed has little clumps of mixed tulip and daft bulbs. Did one up as the emerging leaves are very close together. She’d Stacked the bulbs on top of each other. Job for later in the spring 😂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Ooooo, have just seen that my wild garlic is coming up; I doubt that I'll have enough for cooking or salads yet this year, but it has survived and seems to like it there. Most importantly, the chickens haven't eaten it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 Quote Have you got those nicotiana which bloom at night or the ones which bloom in the day? I assume they’re daytime ones but I don’t actually know! I’ll tell you in a few months! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 22 hours ago, The Dogmother said: Ooooo, have just seen that my wild garlic is coming up; I doubt that I'll have enough for cooking or salads yet this year, but it has survived and seems to like it there. Most importantly, the chickens haven't eaten it! Well you are stuck with it now! We brought some back from Wales about 10 years ago and it's taken over the garden! I supply the local pub every March! Our girls wouldn't go near it......about the only thing in the garden that they didn't decimate! Possibly too rendolent of stuffing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajm200 Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Dig it up And move it into a buried pot like you should do with mint and chives. Stops the takeover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 I had wild garlic but the munchkins dug them up! I left what I thought might have been the leaves - only for it to turn into cuckoo pint! ARGHHH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
