Colour in the garden late May 2025

21/05/2025garden, stumpery, wildlifeJackie

Goodness – where did April go? I was so busy getting the seedlings and plants ready for the Duddingston Kirk Garden Sale and keeping everything watered that I forgot to blog! It has been a mixed bag of weather but we had a little bit of rain – enough to get the vine weevil nematodes over the whole garden, patio and conservatory (and out the front too). However Scotland has seen the driest start to the year since 1964! I have been watering things like mad and soon there may be a hosepipe ban so that will not be great. The front garden just has to fend for itself but I have planted a few small plug plants and seedlings out the back so they need to be kept moist. The poor rhododendron doesn’t like this dry weather. Some plants have been early yet others have been a bit late but on the whole most things have come up that should have with the exception again the Gaura and a few of the Erigeron. I took cuttings of one potted Gaura that was on the patio so I can dot them about the garden in the summer. I sowed a few trays of seeds in the conservatory and on a windowsill but with mixed results. Some came through brilliantly, some just two seeds germinated from a whole packet, some didn’t germinate at all. The compost wasn’t great as it had lumps and sticks in it that I picked through to get most of it out but I really should have had seeding mix but everywhere was sold out.

I have noticed that all the plants that are usually covered in bees at this time of year just aren’t. There are a few bee out there but not nearly as many as there should be. I also noticed that there are more scarlet lily beetles about and they are now going for the fritillaries.

This year the Narcissi Segovia came up fine and was not eaten by slugs and snails as soon as they emerged from the soil. I had potted them up on the patio instead of in the stumpery. On the whole the very dry start to the year has meant far fewer slugs about – woohoo!

narcissi segovia small pale yellow centres — Narcissi segovia

Some of the flowers that have gone over are: the pink corydalis, most of the narscissi, Erica ‘Westwood yellow’, tulips, fritillaries, berberis, erythronium and cherry blossom, pasque flower.

There is loads of colour in the garden with the new foliage of the astilbes, acers, veronica, , aquilegia, tree heath, honeysuckle leaves, ferns emerging, the blues and pinks of the pulmonaria and forget-me-nots, bright purple viola with green/purple leaves. Bright yellow alpine cinquefoil in one of the troughs along with a stonecrop. Bright yellow and green of a couple of the grasses. The periwinkles are still flowering (white, purple and mauve varieties). The epimedium sulfurum is just going over in the front garden as is the pink epimedium grandiflorum ‘Rose Queen’ in the raised bed in the back garden. I only have one wood anemone left (I think one of them was dug up along with a chunk of fern that we were cutting back). ( I did try growing more from corns but they drowned.) There is white saxifrage on one side of the stumpery and red saxifrage on the other. We are trying to make carpets of saxifrage but something keeps digging it up! Also flowering in the stumpery is the clematis montana growing up the garage wall. The aquilegia pop up all over the garden and they are looking great just now. The rowan has plenty flowers again this year. We took out most of the honesty as it was taking over the stumpery.

red saxifrage, semperivivum in pot, and deep purple acer in background — Red saxifrage with purple sempervivum and acer.

We have had to put a cage around the choisya as something keeps eating it and I think it might be pigeons. We have put a bit of a cage over the brunnera too for the same reason. If they still get nibbled then we will know that it either slugs/snails or some other beastie that can get through the holes.

choisya plant surrounded by netting to keep birds off — Caged Choisya

3 scarlet lily beetles on fritillary plant — Scarlet lily beetles on fritillaries.

I also found some type of oak gall on my little oak seedlings. They are actually very pretty and although they don’t usually cause much harm to the plants I took them off as the plant was so small.

oak galls caused by oak gall wasp — Oak galls on oak seedling

The clay soil area just under the patio wall is looking ok and the astilbes will be in flower soon as will the rest of theses plants.

plants under the patio wall area — Perennials in the clay soil under the patio wall

view of garden from patio — View of garden from patio

planting in the stumpery — Stumpery one side

more planting in the stumpery — Stumpery other side

The weather is going to get cooler soon and we might even get some rain so I will have a bit more time on my hands instead of the constant watering.

Child-proof cap hack to help arthritic fingers.

17/04/2025wheelchair gardening tipsJackie

I was going crazy trying to open the child-proof caps on these bottles of plant food (due to my arthritic fingers) that I was thinking of decanting them into another container once someone had opened them for me. However, I found this easy hack to help open child-proof cap son YouTube the other day. There are probably a few more hacks out there but this one worked for these type of caps. The caps have two parts to them so this hack joins the two together using thumb tacs. When I used only one tac the twisting motion to remove the cap just pushed the tac out. This was solved once a piece of black tape was put over the top of it. Or you can put in two tacs – one opposite the other – and this works without the use of the tape. On larger caps you can try and lever off the top part of the cap from the lower one and just keep the one part on the bottle or jar. I couldn’t lever these ones off. But this hack works!

thumb tacs pushed into child-proof caps to make it easier to open the caps. — Tacs in child-proof caps

Mid March waiting for spring proper.

12/03/2025frog, plants, pondJackie

It is still very chilly out there with threats of frost. We did have a couple of lovely mild, sunny days and it was so good to get back out in the garden. We chopped the pond lily in half as it was taking over the pond and we dug out half of the rush too as it was getting too big. Just in time too as the frogs started to arrive – this year 8/3/25 I have been keeping a not over the last few years of when the first spawn appears in the pond:

22/3/18

27/2/19

05/2/20

15/3/21

18/3/22

13/3/23

19/3/24

08/3/25

The photo isn’t great but I counted about 20 frogs and can see about 8 or 9 dollops of frogspawn so am happy with that. I haven’t spotted any newts this year yet.

frogs collecting in a small garden pond — Frogs in March

There are a few splashes of colour now mainly with the hellebores, some narcissi, crocuses and viburnum. There are a few low branches of the viburnum with lovely scented flowers that are within my reach so I can really get a nice whiff going past. There are big yellow daffodils out the front but tiny yellow narcissi out the back. The tiny ones are the Tete-a-tetes and the clump in the raised bed are doing well, whereas the clump just a metre or so away in the border has had the flower heads eaten.

Low branch of pink viburnum flowers over a wall. — Viburnum flowers on low branch.

small narcissi Tete-a-tete in a raised bed — Tete-a-tete in the raised bed.

small narcissi Tete-a-tete flower heads eaten. — Tete-a-tete flower heads eaten.

I am blaming the wood pigeons but it may actually be mice or slugs too.

The same goes for some of the crocuses flower heads The ones in the garden are doing well, but the ones planted int the small trough on the patio have been eaten.

Crocus bulbs just about to flower in a small trough. — Crocus just about to flower in the small trough.

Crocus flower heads eaten. — Crocus flower heads eaten in the small trough.

At least the crocus indoors came up without being eaten by anything giving some colour indoors. I did order some ‘Gypsy girl’ and was given ‘Cream beauty’ instead which was rather annoying but they are pretty.

Crocuses indoors in pots on a table. — Crocuses in the conservatory.

Pale yellow crocus Cream beauty in a pot. — Crocus Cream beauty.

Pale yellow crocus Cream beauty. — Crocus Cream beauty – very nice but just not as nice as Gypsy girl.

I had also planted some in the garden in front of my favourite stone which is covered in blotchy lichen.

Crocus Cream beauty in front of a tall stone covered in pale grey lichen. — Crocus Cream beauty in front of lichen covered stone.

Although the sun is out just now it is still bitterly cold so spring proper will be a few more weeks yet so still in my thermals for the time being.

End of January Beginning of sunny February after storm Eowyn.

29/01/2025UncategorizedJackie

January was a very mixed bag but mostly cold and wet with brief glimpses of sunshine. We had to cope with storm Eowyn by bringing in some of the patio pots and hiding the little ones in amongst the larger ones in case they blew away. The only damage as far as we could see was the spinning chimney cowl from the sitting room chimney came off and bounced to just behind the car so we were pretty lucky. The rear of the house backs onto the golf course and we have been identifying the trees likely to get damaged and informing the green keepers. Basically they did nothing and a couple of ash trees have had very large branches breaking off over the years so we paid for some work to remove the worst of the large branches that were overhanging our garden.

A very tall beech tree had some damage in 2022 when it broke by about 1/3, then storm Eowyn broke it again and the large bits of trunk fell right up to our back fence along with loads of large broken branches.

tall bare beech tree in winter — Beech tree before 2022

Broken beech tree in winter 2022 — Broken beech tree 2022

Like I said we were lucky but many places were not that lucky and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh did not fare well. Storm Éowyn: Gardens staff ‘devastated’ at loss of Edinburgh’s tallest tree – BBC News (If you visit the RBGE website there is a donation page).

The garden is still looking a bit dull just now, however, the crocuses and cyclamen are bringing some much need colour indoors.

Selection of succulents and crocuses inside a conservatory. — Succulents and crocuses

red cyclamen and a few crocuses with white fleece ready to pull over — Cyclamen and crocuses

Red cyclamen and crocuses and succulents with white fleece ready to cover — Cyclamen and crocuses

I have the fleece ready to pull over the plants when the temperature outside falls, and there is a small portable oil radiator we can put on at a low peep to keep the temperature from falling bellow 5⁰C. It will be a few more weeks yet before things start to warm up.

A dreich New Year – 2025

01/01/2025house plants, winterJackie

It has been a pretty wet year in 2024 and not all the plants enjoyed it. Towards the end of the year it was also very wet and it has been a struggle to keep my potted plants happy. I have to hide them from the worst of the weather under the table on the patio and bench, or bring them indoors for a short spell. My health hasn’t been great for the last few months so I haven’t been able to enjoy gardening much. Sjogren’s, arthritis and Raynaud’s do not appreciate the cold damp weather and on top of that I have been having bowel pain issues so have been resting up. We did get a short cold snap but it has actually been a very mild December. The tulips are coming up along-side the snowdrops – which I don’t think I have seen before.

tulips just coming through the ground beside snowdrops in December — Tulips appear among the snowdrops

The crocuses outside in pots are coming through but not quite in bud, and the ones indoors are a mixed bag. I have one about to open and others are through but not open, and others that are only just visible. Only one small narcissus Julia Jane is in flower but the rest just have leaves. My amaryllis from last year is only leaves and no buds so I will have to wait till next year. The indoor cyclamen are looking great.

single pale yellow narcissi Julia Jane — Single Julia Jane

Single crocus Firefly purple top with orange bellow. — Single crocus Firefly

table with lots of plants on it with red cyclamen in flower — Conservatory table with cyclamen (bit of a jaunty angle)

There are still pretty things to see in the garden with lots of different evergreens, catkins, witch-hazel flowers, viburnum flowers, and some hellebores popping their flower buds up.

corkscrew hazel catkins — Corkscrew hazel catkins

orangey/red witch-hazel flowers that have thin spidery petals. — Witch-hazel flowers

Even though we have had a very windy and dreich end to 2024 (even the Edinburgh Hogmanay Celebrations have been cancelled) we have had a few lovely sunrises so I will leave you with this sunrise from December 2024 and wish you all the very best for 2025.

blue pink and orange sunrise — Sunrise from the front window.

Houseplants in November 2024.

12/11/2024house plants, UncategorizedJackie

It has been a bit wet and windy and loads of fireworks going off (despite the ban in this area) but now things are starting to turn colder and sunnier. We did manage to get the harling fixed on the patio walls and a few other patches here and there. The harler also put some extra cement at the top of my ramp as the ramp itself had sunk an inch or so from the flat slabs at the top. I now don’t have to bunny-hop over the edge of the slabs with tools or plants on my knee.

new harling on the patio wall — New harling on the patio wall.

A lot of leaves have fallen now but there are still some falling into the pond so I have to keep on top of that. There are a few flowers out still but I will be concentrating on house plants just now. I have had to move some of the more delicate ones from the cold conservatory so I now have plants in almost every room. There are still loads of plants in the conservatory that can handle the cold and I try to keep it above 5 °C.

Back in June I chopped the head off the aeonium ‘Voodoo’ to see if I could get the head to root and the cuttings to root and branch. There was mixed success: the head did root but some of the new leaves were a very strange shape, but these have now fallen off and it is looking good. The larger of the cuttings rooted and started branching, the smaller cutting just rotted, and the bit that already had roots that the head came from has done nothing. I have been spraying the stem where the buds should branch from but nothing so far.

Succulent aeonium voodoo large leaves with the cutting bellow with small branches forming — Aeonium ‘Voodoo’ rooted head plus rooted stem with tiny branches.

Succulent Aeonium 'Voodoo' cutting with branches forming. — Aeonium ‘Voodoo’ cutting with branches.

The crocus are now coming up, just slightly ahead of the ones outside on the patio. In the background is the pot with the Oxalis palmifrons which I am glad to say are coming on well. Although I am sure they were in flower this time last year.

Tiny tips of crocus bulbs just showing through the topping of moss in a pot inside ac fancy cup and saucer. — Crocus popping up.

On the lefthand side of the conservatory is a collection of plants. Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail plant or elephant’s foot) which really aught to be re-potted but I don’t have a big enough pot and I know it will be a real struggle to do so I haven’t done anything about it. Davallia canariensis (hare’s foot fern) which in hindsight is in the wrong kind of pot: it is clay and I have to spray the plant regularly as the fern likes moisture but the the clay pot is now disintegrating. I do love the hairy rhizomes of the fern and I have another one else where in the conservatory. The only streptocarpus I have left is the small succulent leaved one called Streptocarpus saxorum and it still has loads of flowers. I gave it quite a ‘hair cut’ a few months ago and it is looking better now. The Selaginella Kraussiana is a type of clubmoss and although it is looking ok just now I did take a few cuttings and potted one up in a small pot and and put the others in a bottle. It was looking rather bedraggled before. The mice have been having a good chew at the bottle cork!

Four plants in a corner of the conservatory. — Left corner of conservatory.

Furry rhizomes of Davallia canariensis (hare's foot fern) — Davallia canariensis furry rhizomes.

Selaginella Kraussiana clubmoss in a bottle. — Selaginella Kraussiana (clubmoss).

I still have sempervivums and a few echivera hybrids and cacti in the conservatory along with a couple of herbs and cuttings I am trying to root. The cyclamen have buds ready to open.

A selection of plants on the conservatory table. — Left hand side of the conservatory table.

A collection of succulent sempervivums on a table. — Sempervivums

There is also a large tree fern and a few other miscellaneous plants in the conservatory.

The sitting room isn’t all that warm but some plants don’t mind too much. The Pilea peperomoides does well so I have taken a few cuttings to sell at the plants sale. The Sansevieria trifasciata (snake plant) likes it there and I have another couple of cuttings of it elsewhere around the house. The Rhipsalideae gaertneri (Easter cactus) is still quite small but has a few new leaves on it. I have a large Crassula ovata here and a cutting in the craft room. The other plant that does well in here is the Spathiphyllium (peace lily). There are a few of theses dotted around the house as they appear to do do well just about anywhere.

Pilea peperomioides green plant. — Pilea peperomioides

Sansevieria trifasciata and Rhipsalideae gaertneri plants. — Sansevieria trifasciata and Rhipsalideae gaertneri.

Spathiphyllum (peace lily) plant. — Spathiphyllum (peace lily).

The craft room doesn’t always have room for plants but I have squeezed a few in.

There is a pink flowered Schlumbergera (Christmas cactus) with a Sansevieria trifasciata cutting, Crassula ovata cutting, and a Chlorophytum comosum (spider plant) in the background.

In the room with very low light levels I have large dark green foliage plants that can deal with the light levels. I like to keep the room fairly humid by spraying them every day.

Unknown palm, Dracaena fragrans 'Janet Craig' and variegated Monstera deliciosa plants. — Unknown palm, Dracaena fragrans ‘Janet Craig’ and variegated Monstera deliciosa.

The palms tend to take up a lot of space as the foliage ‘fountain’ out and droop down so I think they are better on a small table. I adore my Dypsis lutescens (Areca palm) and I am eyeing up a few other types to add to my collection.

Dypsisi lutescens (Areca palm). — Dypsisi lutescens (Areca palm) on a small table).

The Areca palm has never flowered but the unknown palm, left to me by a friend who has sadly passed, has produced very strange looking flowers. I think they are male but not quite sure.

Unknown pal tiny flowers. — Flowers of the unknown palm.

The pinky/purple colour on the wall behind is the grow light for my air plants. I have not managed to get them to flower but at least they have survived. Maybe next year. The Stephanotis doesn’t like the cold or draughts so I had to bring it in from the conservatory but it didn’t like it much and a lot of it’s leaves have gone pale, some have gone yellow and dropped., so I am hoping I can keep it alive until the spring when I can put it back in the warm sunny conservatory. Orchids are not plants that I would ever buy for myself as I tend to kill them but I do have a couple kindly given to me which I have kept alive so far – a white one and a purple one which are in the dinning room. Another plant just moved into the dinning room is the Amaryllis which was one bulb when I potted it up this year but I have two distinct sprouting areas each with 2 leaves. I just left it so shall see what happens. As I have loads of houseplants I am always afraid to get ill as they all have different watering and feeding requirements. Some you have to spray/mist regularly and others that should not get water on their leaves and although it is great to have friends and a husband who can help out it would take forever to tell them which ones get what treatment. It also takes a some time each day to check each plant and tend to their needs. So long may I stay well enough to look after all my green pals.

Autumn colours early October 2024

01/10/2024flowers, plantsJackie

Late September and the beginning of October signifies the start of the autumnal, foliage colour changes that I adore. The weather is chilly and damp with a few sporadic sunny spells. This is when some of the greens of summer change into gorgeous russets, bright reds and oranges, deep purples and buttery yellows. Last month the enkianthus foliage went from green to bronzy purple, but this month they have gone bright red just before they fall.

Enkianthus foliage change from purple to bright red. — Enkianthus bright red foliage

The golden foliage of the Acer shirasawanum aureum take on red tinges especially if the leave are in the sunshine. In autumn the develop red stems and veins before they go brown and fall.

Sunshine on the golden leaves of an acer. Leaves tinged with red. — Acer shirasawanum aureum in the sunshine.

Golden acer leaves up close showing the red veins and tips. — Acer shirasawanum aureum red veins, stems and tips.

Another tree/shrub that gets red stems is the viburnum and the darkish green leaves take on a purply colour. It sporadically flowers all year round.

Red stems on Viburnum shrub. — Red stems and leaf colour of Viburnum X Bodnantense Dawn

The fuchsia is still flowering away and there are still a few flowers appearing on the honey suckle nearby. Once the flowers go on the honeysuckle they develop bright red berries much loved by the birds. The leaves on the honeysuckle in the raised bed are still green whereas the leaves on the honeysuckle on the patio have taken on purple tones. It looks good next to the purple flowered hellebore (the only one flowering at the moment) and the bright yellowy green of the Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ grass.

Small red and purple flowers on a fuchsia shrub. — The dainty red and purple flowers of the fuchsia growing across the pathway.

White honeysuckle flowers with pink tinges on the end of the buds. — White honeysuckle flowers.

A cluster of bright red honeysuckle berries. — Bright red honeysuckle berries next to red unopen flowers of the fuchsia.

Honeysuckle purple leaves next to hellebore with purple flowers. — Honey suckle with purple leaves next to a hellebore with purple flowers.

Soon the purple leaves on this acer will change to a bright red red colour but for now it goes well with the purple of the sempervivum ‘chocolate kiss’

Purple sempervivum 'Chocolate kiss' in front of the purple leaved acer palmatum dissectum 'garnet'. — Sempervivum ‘chocolate kiss’ in front of Acer palmatum dissectum ‘garnet’

On the patio, in a half barrel, is a small cherry tree, Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji that has lovely green leaves during summer until they take on a peachy yellow colouration before turning bright orange just before drop.

Small cherry tree with peachy orange leaves in autumn. — Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji autumn colouration beginning.

Autumnal colours in cherry tree. — Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji foliage colours of orange, peach, yellow and green..

Cherry tree autumn colours darken just before the leaves fall. — The cherry tree foliage colours darken just before they fall.

The witch hazel (Hamamelis inter Diane) leaves also go from green through bright yellows and oranges and the bright reds.

Hamamelis inter Diane witch hazel bright orangey red autumn foliage. — Hamamelis inter Diane bright orangey red autumn foliage.

The persicarias are still flowering away, as are the astrantias, gaura and a few roses, even this little foxglove. It may look a bit odd but it is kind of resting on it’s shoulder.

Purple/pink foxglove flowering in October. — Foxglove flowering in October.

As much as I am loving these autumnal colours I am already looking forward to the spring colours so I have been planting a few more bulbs. There will be some in the garden, some on the patio and a few in the conservatory. The recently revived indoor cyclamen have lovely fresh foliage and I expect to see flowers fairly soon.

End of August 2024 in the garden.

30/08/2024flowers, garden, plants, stumperyJackie

Well it hasn’t been very warm this August and we have had quite a bit of rain. There is even more slug damage – the echinacea have all suffered. I just have little spikes instead of leaves, and any leaves that did manage to grow got snail damage! I caught the culprits in action so no question of who did what. I did think that the hairy leaves might just put the critters off eating them – oh how wrong I was. I tried them in the garden, then in pots on the patio, then in pots on the patio table.

There is still plenty of colour about, still in flower are: roses, Japanese anemones, verbena, selinum wallichinum, nepeta, erigeron, fuchsia, persicaria, gaura, astrantia, cyclamen, agastache, viburnum, water lilies, and even some foxgloves are still flowering. Going over now are the purple loosestrife, oregano and lavender. There are little carpets of purple flowers of cyclamen in various places in the garden.

Large white flowerheads of selinum wallichinum.

White flowers of persicaria alba. — Tall white persicaria.

Red flowers of persicaria. — Tall red persicaria.

Tall pike persicaria flowers. — Tall pink persicaria flowers.

White with pink coloured astrantia flowers in autumn. — Pretty astrantia flowers

Dainty white, butterfly-like flowers of the Gaura.

carpet of purple cyclamen — Cyclamen flowers.

view of the garden from the patio end of August 2024. — From the patio, end of August 2024

As autumn approaches (rather quickly) there is colour in the berries of the rowan, holly, enkianthus and honeysuckle. The foliage of the enkianthus is turning a lovely purply/bronze colour that looks great with the heuchera solar eclipse.

Autumnal bronze foliage of enkianthus with green berries. — Bronze coloured foliage of enkianthus and it’s green berries.

Bronze/purple centre with green edge of Heuchera solar eclipse foliage. — Heuchera solar eclipse bronze and lime green foliage.

Fern with purple ribs and purple tinged frond ends.

The fern here has purple ribs and purple tinges on the frond ends that go well with the deep purple foliage of the heuchera next to it. There are still young bronze coloured fronds popping up in some ferns in the stumpery.

Bronze coloured fronds of the rosy buckler fern.

It is almost time to plant the narcissi and crocus so I did a quick check on the stored ones and found that some of the narcissi had some mold on them so they had to be chucked. The little oxalis palmifrons bulbs had very long shoots already and were becoming a bit soft so I chucked most of them out and planted the few best looking ones (ever hopeful). The cactus in the conservatory had another gorgeous flower on it just for one day – the fragrance was fabulous! Also in the conservatory I started to water the indoor cyclamen after their summer rest and the leaves are coming through now. There is moss growing at the base of the tree fern in the conservatory and as I was spraying the fern I thought the droplets looked good on the moss sporophytes.

Water droplets on sporophytes of moss. — Sprayed water droplets on the sporophytes.

I have made a few decisions about the ground cover plants in the stumpery: the sweet woodruff is rather rampant and is covering up other plants so that will be coming out (perhaps I can leave some behind a large log and just keep it in check), the violets are getting every where so some of them will just get ripped out, the same goes for the bugle. The lovely little creeping fern. Blechnum penna-marina, is becoming a bit of a thug and it’s rhizomes are intermingling with other plant roots so I will keep some in a large pot. It has got all tangled up in amongst the saxifrage and it has taken a while to untangle it all.

Small ground cover fern coming up through saxifrage. — Blechnum penna-marina coming up through the saxifrage.

The dogwood that has been struggling in the damp corner beside the ramp has been moved to the stumpery where it should have more space. The large fern just kept flattening it where it was. The jobs for the weekend are putting some Blanket Answer in the pond as for the fist time ever we have blanket weed. Horrid stuff! Plus the usual cutting back, dead-heading and keeping up with the weeding. I suppose I ought to do some work in the front garden too.

Beginning of August 2024

01/08/2024flowers, slugs, snails, wildlifeJackie

We have had a mixed bag of weather over July – some rain, some sun and some overcast days but over all not too bad. I have found more plants decimated by Spanish slugs; two artemesias in separate troughs with not a bit of greenery left, one nepeta and they are still having a go at a mint plant in a pot (they are not supposed to like these plants according to the internet). I have put a clear plastic cloche over one artemesia to see if I can keep it alive at least. Slugs have never gone for these in the past! And talking about slugs (as I often do) I have been watching them by the pond and found them wandering around the water lily pads. One Spanish slug stretched itself from a pad over the moss covered stone half submerging itself in the process. A leopard slug spent the afternoon just lying around in a little puddle on a pad like it was at a spa. On the patio I have found the Spanish slugs like to drink from the birdbath. I haven’t found any other slug do that.

Spanish slug half submerged between water lily pad and moss covered stone — Slug going from lily pad to moss covered stone

leopard slug on water lily pad — Leopard slug on water lily pad

Spanish slug taking a drink from the bird's water bath. — Spanish slug having a drink from bird’s water dish.

We were so pleased when we got a large jar and did a spot of pond dipping and found a tiny eft (baby newt). Great news so we know that we at least have a male and female about and that eggs were produced and hatched.

Eft (baby newt) in a jar when pond dipping. — Eft (baby newt)

On the wall of the raised bed I found a very pretty pinkish-brown snail. Probably a Cepaea nemoralis and they are plymorphic so you can see different colours of these.

In the conservatory I came across a pretty little daisy miner fly, and a frog-hopper on the basil. The fly had gorgeous green eyes. My photos don’t do any of the creatures justice.

Small fly with green eyes and mottled wings — Daisy miner fly (Tripeta Zoe).

common frog hopper sitting on a basil plant stalk — Common frog-hopper

I have noticed this summer that there are not as many butterflies around. I have spotted a few holy blues, meadow browns and orange tips but not many others. Lots of small bumble bees around but fewer big bumble bees. There are also fewer wasps and flies around. Some of the plants are taking ages to get going and some are just not reaching their full potential. Even the stephanotis in the conservatory hasn’t flowered yet – not even a bud so far. The purple loose-strife by the pond edge is not looking quite as dense as it used to and the rogersia hasn’t flowered this year. However there is still plenty floral colour about. In flower now: hardy geraniums – especially Rozanne, some roses, Japanese anemones just coming into flower now, heuchera, various persicarias, geums, golden spirea, fuchsia, some meadowsweet, oregano, erigeron, cyclamen, honey-suckle, purple loose-strife, pickerelweed, water lilies, astrantia, achilea, potentilla, lavender, woolly rock jasmine and gaura.

Hardy blue geranium Rozzane — Hardy geranium Rozzane

garden view from the patio end of July 2024 — View from the patio

In the conservatory the only things in flower right now are the basil and a couple of sempervivums. The sempervivums usually have clusters of flowers but this one has had them in a V shape.

sempervivum flowers forming a V shape — sempervivum flowers

Darlac swivel shears

18/07/2024Tools, wheelchair gardening toolsJackie

Recently I wanted to be able to cut back my hardy geraniums which I usually used my secateurs and scissors for. This year I decided to get myself some shears that I could use single handedly as I don’t have core muscles and tend to fall over trying to use the heavier, doubled handed shears with both hands. The Darlac swivel shears, as the name suggests, can rotate. The small version’s blades can rotate 360° with 12 cutting angles. I am right handed but tried using my left hand and found it just as good with my left hand. They really worked cutting back my hardy geraniums in the raised bed. For growth that was not the soft green growth I still had to use the secateurs as the blades just couldn’t handle it. The long handled version’s blades can not only rotate 360° but you can also adjust the angle of the cutting head so you can use it as edging shears for grass. I managed to cut the hardy geraniums in the flower beds well enough but the stems were a bit too tough for them. They are great for leafy growth and are light weight but they are not suitable for tougher growth. The long ones have a small front support which I initially thought I wouldn’t make use off, but actually once I got the hang of it I found it quite useful. So I a glad I bought them and I will also be able to edge the small bit of grass we have and cut back leafy vegetation with them but need to remember they are not sturdy enough for anything other than lightweight annual growth. They both have a locking mechanisms to keep the blades together for safety.

small single handed light weight shears with long-handled version with swivel cutting head — Darlac swivel shears

Cardesque Garden

Gardening from an ageing, paraplegic perspective.