GBBD in London, February -16

Last time I wrote a post was 2 weeks ago, I wrote about the stormy season here in Britain and that we are not really that affected here in the south east. Looks like I spoke too soon....every now and then we get a storm that hits us right in the face, and Imogene was a storm like that. Last Saturday I had water streaming in through the ceiling light in my living room from water coming in through the roof and loft. Water and electricity doesn’t really go well together....and there were too high winds for the council to get a man on the roof to fix the leak so it was Wednesday morning before my roof was fixed. Oh well, at least my garden is fine, never mind my living room floor!! The only problem I had in my garden was that my solar light tree tried to take off like a rocket a couple of times because the soil is so wet and loose so the short anchor stakes provided was not enough to keep it in place. In the end I had to find some longer stakes to anchor the light with and now it will take a triple hurricane for the solar light to launch should it want to emigrate somewhere else.

I filmed the short movie below in the evening on Saturday the 6th February when the storm had just started. Little did I know how much more I had to come....later in the evening and night I was too busy mopping up water from my laminate living room floor in an attempt to save it so more filming was not exactly on my mind!

But now all that is over and forgotten, we have calm and stable weather and what we here in London call COLD weather, which is almost freezing - it still hasn’t dipped below zero C but it might for a few hours tonight according to the forecast. My lemon tree has gone back into the shed but will be let out again by the end of the week when we will be back to normal 10-12 C during the day and 5-8 C at night. No snow on the horizon though and I guess we won’t see snow this year either. This is how February goes here!

The first bumblebee queens have been foraging in my garden for weeks, it is so nice to see them and it makes the long spring seem shorter when nature is awake around me.

The aphids never really went to bed properly, but started to get more numbered about a month ago. The ladybirds made their presence a few weeks ago, knowing there would be food. Funny how everything is so well timed!

As for my timing – I am afraid I am sorely behind with my original plan of getting everything planted before end of April. That’s not going to happen. But I have finally made a garden plan which is helping with the work. I must admit it was MUCH easier to make the plan in my previous garden – which was just a rectangular shape. Here in my new garden the wraparound shape has proved a headache to draw – but it is quite accurate now. I don’t use any design program, I haven’t found any that I like and I have downloaded and tested a few including Shoot which gets good review. But I get so frustrated with all the limitations with gardening design programs so I am still looking for a program that can design any shape and feature I want where I want them, plus add plants and keep lists of what I have in my garden. A tall order I know – and if it is free too I would be very happy! In the mean time I use my trusty Adobe Fireworks and draw everything freehand, or as boxes or shapes I can then change or manipulate. That’s how I made my previous garden drawing and it worked fine – but it is quite slow and perhaps not as elegant as many of the design programs can do. But I get to keep my hair and nails intact whilst working – some of the ‘user-friendly’ design programs are nail-biting, hair pulling frustrating!! Or should that have been nail-bitingly, hair pullingly frustrating....?? There are times when the English grammar is way over my head (and Word grammar checker is frustratingly quiet!!) - and I just choose to write something easier....like ‘too difficult’. But I must admit I liked the phrase nail-bitingly, hair pullingly frustrating. I am sure someone with English as their native language will be able to correct me! Anyway, some of the beds have got a name so it’s easier to refer to and all the main parts of the hard landscaping is in place. The garden is almost level, just a slight slope that you hardly notice.

I have added my drawing to my GARDEN DESIGN Tab and there is also a separate drawing which shows the sun aspects in the garden. In my previous garden that bit was also very straight forward, my garden was west-facing. Here in my new garden the house and garden is on an angle making it more awkward and I have to get used to where I have more or less shade. I have one complete shade area and one complete sunny area, but all the other bits are more difficult still. I have also updated MY GARDEN tab, but the plant list and wish list will have to wait for now.

OK, on to today’s photos. They were taken in cold, overcast weather so I hope all the flowers will brighten up for the lack of sun.

I am still cutting the Virginia creeper off the wall, soon I hope to get some more roses in the ground here.

I am playing around with what to plant where.

My Alstroemeria 'Dandy Candy' is flowering again, despite the chilly weather. Soon this one will get some siblings, I have ordered some beautiful new alstroemerias and can’t wait to get them!

My new Rhodonedrom ‘Bo Peep’ is flowering for the first time. I had to leave my two big, mature rhododendrons in my previous garden, they were too old and big to take with me and I didn’t have anywhere to put them. And after having been here for a while I am glad I didn’t take them with me as I don’t think I can grow rhodos in the ground here for now, all acid loving plants will need to be in containers for now with the clay soil I have.

Out in the front I have an area that strictly speaking isn’t mine, it is tended to by the council, they cut the ‘grass’ once a month, but most of the grass are bulbs that smell like garlic when walked on. I don’t think they will flower at any point since they are so often mowed but they spread into my front garden too even though I haven’t seen them in flower. I was thinking of making a little bed along the fence and plant 2 autumn flowering raspberry plants there. I don’t think I will ask for permission, I would probably get a no – better just do it and tend to the raspberries and offer to dig them up afterwards if anyone makes too much of a fuss! Not exactly my way of doing things but in this instance I will stretch the rules a bit, this little area is not really anyone’s land and I am adding value to it :-)

But back to the garlic smelling weeds, I assume they are Allium triquetrum, or three-cornered leek, if anyone has a better suggestion please let me know. More importantly, how do I get rid of them apart from digging them up? I did dig up several clumps in my own front garden last summer, but they are back stronger and bigger again, in the same place! According to Wikipedia, “All parts of the plant, from the bulb to the flowers, are edible fresh, for example in pesto or cooked, with a subtle flavour like leek or spring onion.” Considering how many of the cats in the area that use that little grass area as their toilet I don’t think I will be eating any of the plants! I can’t see me sitting on the ground digging up all of them so perhaps I will need to just live with them, but they are a bit too close to my own garden!

I have finally cleared the area next to my back gate, the 5 roots of the shrubs that were here are still left in the ground but here I am planning for the magnolia to eventually be planted. A bit small space but that’s all there is on offer I am afraid!

Let’s dive into today’s flowers. The cyclamens are at their best right now and thrive in the cold weather. Red tones....

....and pink and white tones.

I have daffodils in flower that I have inherited, but all the the new daffodils are rather late. That’s my fault I am afraid – for not getting them planted until late December! Better late than never, they are emerging now :-)

I might have overfilled some of the containers slightly, can’t wait to see them all in flower soon :-)

I am playing around with the pots in the Woodland Area, almost there now. Can you see the faint blue tint on the two majestic Ceanothus trees? They look really nice now that I have cut and pruned and tided them up over the winter.

The blue tint is because the first flowers have already opened, a beautiful display that will continue to end of May.

And under the ceanothus’ there are lots of plants in flower – you just have to come a bit closer.

Helleborus hybridus 'Picotee' to the left, Helleborus hybridus 'White Lady' top and Helleborus niger bottom.

Helleborus hybridus – not sure if it is a named variety.

The primulas are flowering after a severe slug attack, all these are Primula vulgaris of various type.

This is from the Lilac Bed, filled with spring bulbs now starting to flower.

Crocus Tomasinianus, lovely colours but a squirrel delicatessen....

This is the Rose Bed, where various types of snowdrops have been flowering for weeks.

Galanthus nivalis and Galanthus woronowii.

I started pruning my roses in late December and did most of them during January. The new growth has come quite far on most of the bushes so it was not a day to soon. This is Rosa 'Scepter'd Isle'. Can’t wait for the roses to appear again, this period from cutting down the roses till they flower again in early May is always a long wait

While waiting for the flowers to appear there’s always camellias, ‘Takanini’ has this amazing flowering habit where it throws out one, two or three flowers at the time from late October to late May – and amazingly long flowering season!

And soon I will get to see the first flowers on one of my new camellias, Camellia japonica 'Amabel Lansdell'. Exciting!

Some inherited daffodils, soon they will be joined by lots and lots more – possibly more interesting too :-)

A plant that I still find interesting and fascinating is the mouse plant - Arisarum proboscideum. The little flowers with the very long tails looking like mice are normally covered by the foliage. I have uncovered them here to show you. This plant is best in pots and containers a bit off the ground so people can dive in and look for the mice – on the ground you just don’t see them very well.

I wish I could post some smell to go with this photo, the scent of Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna is absolutely heavenly! I brought two large pots with me from my old garden and I will plant one next to my backdoor.

Final photo is of Chaenomeles ‘Crimson and Gold’, this amazing plant has lived all its life in a smallish container and yet flowers 2-3 times a year.

That was some of the plants I have in flower right now, I can’t show you all of them or else you would be sitting here until tomorrow! It is busy times in my garden, next update will be at the end of the month with End of Month View where I will have another garden movie for you.

I am linking today’s post to Carol at May Dreams Gardens, please visit her for many more Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day posts.

Until next time, take care.