The Good Life (gardening chat)

[Mayday]

Gorgeous gardens!

I love the clematis and the peony, and the roses too.

[Cerise]

All looks fabulous! I’m thinking of going to Homebase because I could do Sainsbury’s too. I need canes for my sunflowers and tomatoes but I’ll probably come back with more! Actually I have questions but I need to take photos first.

[smalex]

You all made me do it:

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David Austin roses and a verbascum

[smalex]

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First strawberry! Irises and foxgloves and finally, my accidental bed of poppies, iris, foxgloves and alliums (all lobbed together to make way for the extension, but realised it accidentally came together really nicely so they were allowed to move there permanently!

[Mountain Goat]

Rebs and smal, they look gorgeous. I'm envious because I am working like mad on my garden but it's at that stage where things have been mostly tidied but the new things haven't established yet so it looks scrubby. It was better with mad lush overgrowth. But! If the cats and squirrels don't destroy all that is precious to me, it will eventually be better than it was when I started.

[Mayday]

Beautiful!

I love your roses, Smal.

[Rebel Pebble]

I get it. So yours slopes down from the house? I'm always interested to see how other people have dealt with the slope!

It does both. There's one level at the back which is above the house. Here is a shit side elevation scribble to illustrate. I will not expect a job as an architectural draftsperson on the back of this.

Where N is neighbour above and behind us on the next level up.

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The slopey bit going towards the road is fairly wild, nettley and unusable. Some neighbours have more structure and levels in theirs.

[Rebel Pebble]

Oh yours is looking fabulous smal. That orange /peach rose is a lot like mine. It's such a beautiful shade.

[H1ppychick]

Here’s my front garden, which I’m about to weed

[Rebel Pebble]

All looks fabulous! I’m thinking of going to Homebase because I could do Sainsbury’s too. I need canes for my sunflowers and tomatoes but I’ll probably come back with more! Actually I have questions but I need to take photos first.

There was a big queue the first week they opened, before the bank holiday weekend, but when we did C&C last week at around 10am on Thursday it looked much quieter.

[H1ppychick]

And my black elder, with roses growing up through it

[Rebel Pebble]

And my black elder, with roses growing up through it

Oh I love that.

[smalex]

Goat- mine is going through a bit of a scrubby stage on the other side, where we rebuilt/made new beds and moved a load of things, so I know what you mean. I just didn't photograph though

Rebs yours is so like mine! All of us around here have done really different things with the slope. My next door neighbour moans endlessly about it, I do moan occasionally but I sort of like the terraces really.

I love that black elder with a rose. Roses growing into trees are so romantic and lovely

[H1ppychick]

There’s a clematis in it too but it’s not done much this year yet.

[Mountain Goat]

I have the same black elder, but I have nasturtiums growing into mine (at least they do once its own flowers are done, they are lingering around the bottom still right now, sizing it up). I like the gentle pink and black at this time of year, followed by theatrical orange and black in the dog days.

[emma_p]

Black elder twins!

I am pondering making cordial. Anyone tried it, does it keep the pink colour?

[smalex]

I've only ever tried it with the normal stuff (it was a crashing disappointment! I think it went moudly). If it kept the pink it would be lovely.

Mine is just coming out, I hadn't thought of growing something through it.

[ParisGal]

If anyone is interested, Gardening Express have an offer via MSE whereby you can buy either 100 gladiolus bulbs or 25 oriental lily bulbs for £10 including postage - use the code MSEFLOWER at checkout to get the free postage. (Not suitable if you have pets which might eat them!)

Link: https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/excl ... n=campaign

Thank you for this - I passed it on to Mum and she has bought the lilies plus some other stuff. She was very frustrated not to be able to go to a garden centre as we all (inc. her partner who would have to drive her) told her she wasn't allowed

[Mayday]

I have a black elder tree. It has peonies growing underneath it, I'd definitely grow a rose up it if they weren't there, what a lovely idea.

I have a dead tree that roses have grown up, and have taken over the canopy of the tree. It's quite impressive when it is in flower.

[Disco]

I have a black elder also with clematis growing up it and I have a mock orange blossom with a different clematis growing up that also.

Everyone's gardens look lovely. Mine is still a new garden so I need a lot more plants for borders but it has filled out a lot considering it was ground elder and ivy only when I first moved here.