New plants…

14/07/2019flowers, plants, stumpery, wildlifeJackie Elwin

for the widened border. I have been shopping at MacPlants again to fill in some gaps in the border. For a nice soft purple and yellow combination there is Nepets junior Walker and Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’. Along side some Cosmos Xanthos (which I had in pots on the patio). A couple of Leptinella squalida ‘Platt’s Black’ for a couple of corner areas. I had planted some Ammi visnagi but the massive slugs got them (one seedling survives). These massive slugs are such a pain and even all the wool pellets I put down are no deterrent what so ever. These slugs have destroyed half a dozen honesty, all my blue poppies, primula vialii, the ammi, knapweed and loads more besides. I do a slug patrol every morning and pick loads. They curl up into a ball to prevent being eaten, and I have found some almost the same size as a golf ball!
The milk churn was moved to a corner in the bed to make a focal point and I didn’t have a pot the correct size but ended up putting a bronze grass on a plastic saucer inside the churn, which is held up by a wooded support underneath. It looks great just now.
We moved the bench that was sitting under the tree canopy (overhanging from the golf course), which was collecting loads of bird droppings so was rather dangerous for anyone sitting there. It is still in the stumpery area but under clear skies so much nicer for resting on.
There is still more planting to be done, and moving plants about – which probably shouldn’t really be done just now but some are now in the wrong place. They used to edge the border but now that the borders are wider they need to be moved to the new edge.

Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’, Nepeta Junior Walker

Cosmos bipinnatus Xanthos

huge slug curled into a ball

huge slugs

slug on the wool pellets

Carex commons bronze in milk churn

Carex commons bronze (diff view)

bench in the stumpery

Woohoo… Fab new path…

05/07/2019new slabsJackie Elwin

means easier access, wider borders, more plants, and less messy wheels when I do come in from the garden. Easier on the shoulders and arthritic hands too.

The lovely landscapers from Gardens by Water Gems did a terrific job of the paving around the main garden. I was having a lot of trouble pushing my wheelchair over the thick, usually soggy, grass, which was very uneven with dips and bumps all over the place. The existing paving had only been put on sand and had subsequently sunk over the years. When stretching sideways to weed or dead-head, I was in danger of tipping out of my chair. Many thanks to Michael, Heath and Karolina for their jolly hard work in getting it level, pointed and very neat. They had to work with old slabs and new slabs, partly in the scorching heat along with a few ninja showers, and managed to make it all work out. Come the autumn we will be following Heath’s advice about re-locating the Rhododendron in to the corner, and planting an Enkianthus where the Rhododendron was, and chop the top off the Pieris and see if we can make it bush out a bit. Now that I have wider borders I can move the Irises a little closer to the slabs. They flowered last year in June but so far I don’t see any flowering stems on them this year. I have a few plants that have been sitting waiting in pots on the patio that can fill in a few gaps, but I can’t wait to get to my favourite nurseries to buy some new ones too. The slabs just now make the garden much brighter and somehow more open. Most of the planting in the borders are bulbs and perennials which will die down during the winter but at least we will still have the green ivy up the walls and a few evergreen shrubs and ferns to enjoy. I do need to find something nicer for the milk churn. The pigeons keep landing on the grass and squashing it. Possibly a variegated ivy to tumble down the sides for all year round, or I could plant it up with different plants each season? I will now bore you with lots of photos of slabs!

This area is behind the raised bed and the grass was particularly bad here due to the overhanging trees casting a lot of shade. It only gets a bit of sunshine in the mornings in summer. There was a dip (almost a step) going from the slabs down to the grass. The shrubs are overhanging the single line of paving on the left. The new slabbing is all level and brightens the whole area. The shrubs now have more room to grow and I have access to the back of the raised bed too.

Behind raised bed before

Behind raised bed after

Between the arch is exactly the same distance but with the new paving looks so much wider. The plants at the edge of the raised probably make a difference too.

Between arch before

Between arch after

View from the arch is an uneven lawn with a narrow border on the left. I could only get my left hand wheel on the single path while the right hand ones had to cope with the thick, often soggy grass. There was a lot of moss in the lawn. Harry just could not get his head around a garden with no grass what-so-ever so I had to compromise and keep a tiny bit of grass. (Glorified dog toilet basically). I was hoping for a massive area for new planting. Hey ho.

View from arch before

View from arch after

From where the Rowan is: this was quite uneven although you can’t really see it. The Hebe now has more room to spread a little more, and I am sure I can squeeze in a few more plants.

From Rowan before

From Rowan after

Some of the biggest differences in levels was in this area and up to the left beside the patio. Now it is all level and much easier to get round. I can weed that area more easily, and again a wider area for some of the bigger plants to spread I need to have a good think of what to do with the area under the bird feeder. The pigeons just flatten everything and have made a little path to get to the fallen seeds.

In front of pond before

In front of pond after

It is amazing the difference this path has made to this area. I need to sort out the Heucheras and maybe move the Hellebore more to the front (it is getting too much overhang from the Tree heath. I love how it looks now. There was a huge dip here that always caught me out and gave me a fright.

Side of ramp before

Side of ramp after

This area here was where I had to go from existing big slabs down onto the grassy area and although the picture doesn’t show it that well, it was almost a step down with a dip one side and a bump the other side. Not very easy to negotiate back onto the slabs, with either tools or hose in one hand and maybe plants or a trug on my knees. Now there is a very slight, gentle, easy to negotiate slope. Nice big flat turning area too.

Between beds before

Between beds after

Now I know it looks like a huge expanse of slabs now compared to before, but it will soon be softened by some new planting. I find it hard to imaging just now what it is all going to look like in wither when the perennials die back for their winter sleep. The bright newness of the slabs will mute over time to a softer hue. The evergreens will then be the focal points along with the naked tree of the golf course behind.

View from patio before

View from patio after

Sunshine and slabs… Yay!

20/06/2019butterfly, wildlifeJackie Elwin

There is a bit of warm sunshine about with a few showers. The slabbing is now under way so I cannot get access to the garden for the time being. All very frustrating as I was ill last week and had neither the time nor the energy to get on top of the weeding and dead-heading before the landscapers started. I am itching to get back out there as some of the plants in need of a bit of TLC. I haven’t been able to do my slug patrols either, but, maybe all the upheaval has meant they are less active. I can but hope. I will have to just potter about on the patio for the time being, which means a lot of scraping between the slabs to get the weeds out, and scrubbing the wall near the bird feeder (mostly pigeon poo). There are plenty of butterflies about now and I did get a nice photo of a Red admiral but just missed my chance to get a snap of a Speckled wood. Too slow getting my camera out.

Vanessa atalanta (Red admiral)

Finally a little bit of sunshine…

11/06/2019bee, flowers, plants, wildlifeJackie Elwin

in amongst the rain showers. The lawn is like a huge sponge, full of water, and every time my wheels go over it, it gets churned up so is like a quagmire now. The sooner I get more paving the better. When the sun does come out, it brings the bees out with it. They are everywhere. Here is a list of plants in flower now that they visit: deutzia, heuchera, syringia, foxgloves, aquilegia, centaura, rhododendron, geraniums, daisies, thyme, hebe, saxifrages, cirsium, erigeron, geum, clematis and philadelphus. The garden is literally humming with them. I have been playing with my macro lens again trying to learn how to use my mirrorless camera.

Cactus buds

Aquilegia seed head

Honesty seed head

Sepervivum arachnoideum

Bee on deutzia

2 bees on Centaura

2 bees on Cirsium

Sunshine and ninja showers…

24/05/2019flowers, plants, raised bed, stumperyJackie Elwin

are more usual for April not May. However, it does make everything grow pretty fast. Keeping on top of the slug population by doing a morning and evening slug patrol has helped enormously, especially with the problem of the huge, so called Spanish slugs. They did get my Primula vialii so I have covered what is left of the plants with a 1/2 plastic bottle as a cloche so we shall see if they can still come through. The Aquilegias are fab at the moment, flowering away, but some of them keeled over in the ninja showers. I found bright orange aphids on the Mahonia out in the front garden, so hubby gave it a prune and that got rid of some of them. Aphids are everywhere just now and most of the time I jet them off with a water hose, or squish them as I check the plants (if I can reach them). The cactus in the conservatory have nice magenta flowers out now. I love the mahogany of the sempervivum , also in the conservatory. There are a few nice plant combinations that I have quickly taken a few snaps of (bit windy out there). Some I like for the flower colours together, and others have the same colours but different foliage forms. I have taken a few snaps of the raised bed from different angles as it is a kind of triangular shape. The Erica tree heath is covered in flowers, but just now it is a strange shape due to the pruning it had last year, so this year I won’t prune the spent flower heads off at all so that all of the branches will flower next year.

Selection of Aquilegias


Orange aphids on Mahonia leaf

Phlox and chives

Erigeron (and peony in background)

Cactus in flower

Sempervivum Reginald Malby

Raised bed end on

Raised bed curved side

Raised bed back end on

white Aquilegia and Primula snowflake

Stumpery (part of)

Veronica and Tierella

Osmunda regalis purpurascens

Rodgesrsia leaf

Rodgersia, fern and Polygonatom

Hebe and Heuchera

Erica tree heath (part of)

And, back to being cold again…

04/05/2019birds, fungi, garden, wildlifeJackie Elwin

oh this fickle weather. You just never know when you can put the thermals away.
I spotted the common morels again this year but a metre or so over from where they last appeared. It is always lovely to see fungi in the garden. I often go around the garden looking for slugs and it is a great opportunity to find unexpected things popping up in the garden. I noticed also that the ragged robin hasn’t appeared yet so I don’t know if it has died, along with the blue poppies and the bronze fennel.
While I was on the patio I spotted a pigeon, just sitting having a wee soak in the pond, he then started splashing about having a real bath. I took a pic from upstairs of some of the back garden. I am finding it more difficult as the years go by to push over the grass, especially when it has been raining, so we will be getting more slabbing put down in June sometime. I don’t want to have a lot of slabbing but it will make gardening easier and a lot less messy. At the moment, every time I come in from the garden, I have to get a stiff scrubbing brush on my wheelchair tyres, and also an old towel, to get most of the dirt from my tyre treads before going into the house proper. The new slabs won’t prevent me getting pigeon poo in my tyre treads though, and it can be very tricky trying to dodge them. The grass is also very uneven and some of the slabs we put down years ago have actually sunk as they were only put down onto sand.

Morchella esculenta (common morel)

Pigeon in the pond

May 2019

Hot, hot, hot…

20/04/2019UncategorizedJackie Elwin

21° C today! You just don’t know what to expect, weather wise, these days in Scotland. I have been working hard the last couple of days to get all the plants watered and fed. Some of the hellebores are past their best and I have been dead-heading them regularly in the hope of more flowers. I have trays of plants to get ready for sale (at the Duddingston Kirk garden club plant sale on May 4th) getting hardened off. A lot of taking the trays out during the day, then bringing them back in at night, just in case of frost. Lots of weeding and moving pots around. The pots with bulbs, that have gone over, are now on the back steps until their foliage dies back. After that, the bulbs will get dried and stored. I am being ruthless, and anything that didn’t do well in the last couple of years is for the heave-ho. On my rounds around the garden I took a few snaps of some of the plants in flower at the moment. I am pleased to say, that after watching Gardeners’ world last night, that I have many of the shade loving plants that Carol Klein was enthusing about so I must be doing something right.

Fritillaria meleagris

Cymbalaria muralis (ivy leaved toadflax)

snails on the wall looking like a caterpillar

Oxalis acetosella (wood sorrel)

Dicentra formosa Bacchanal (bleeding heart)

Polemonium reptans (Jacob’s ladder)

Violet riviana (dog-violet)

apple blossom (forget which type)

And in the conservatory: the cyclamen will soon be over, but the cacti, ferns, and sempervivums will take over from them, as will the herbs. Meanwhile in the corner, the streptocarpus has started flowering, and different forms of foliage placed next to each other adds interest and texture.

Pellaea rotundifolia (button fern)

Streptocarpus saxorum

Streptocarpus with button fern and Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail plant)

Still cold…

14/04/2019crow, flowers, foliage, plantsJackie Elwin

but the weather is supposed to warm up starting from Wednesday. I went into the garden this morning with great intentions of feeding and mulching the roses but I was just feeling too cold so I just took a few quick snaps. A couple I took a few days go when the sun came out. A few plants are going over now like the cherry and the pink corydalis. Even some of the hellebores are looking a bit ropey. Some of the narcissi are flowering away, like Cheerfulness, whilst others are not up yet, like Erlicheer and Pipit. Some of the brunnera and forget-me-nots are flowering but the brunnera ‘Jack frost’ is very nearly in flower, (the foliage look fabulous though). The cowslips are looking cheery but I had thought they would have self-seeded a bit but looks like I will have to divide it to get another clump.
My friendly crow followed me round the garden again so I blathered to him while he was pecking away at the old log.

Crow

Astilbe leaves

Brunnera ‘Jack frost’

Prunus Shirota Mount Fuji

Corydalis solida pink

Primula veris (cowslip)

Corylus avellana Contorta

Narcissus Cheerfulness

Dreaming of summer….

03/04/2019gardenJackie Elwin

on this – yet another dreich, Scottish day. Here is one of my favourite photos taken from the patio. It was a lovely warm sunny day in August 2005 and it was all looking splendid. Lush foliage of greens, purples, and reds. Smelling the scent from the roses wafting by, and watching the birds going about their day. Sadly the ivy got too heavy for the arches so they had to get chopped back. The photinia Red robin died, and the weeping tree got waterlogged and also died. The flowering currant got the chop, as did the cotinus. The clematis just disappeared! I had 3 different colours at the side wall but they gradually just went over to next door. I can’t even find their original plant stems. So today I will close my eyes and pretend I am back in summer 2005 enjoying the warmth and the garden as it used to be.

August 2005

Still chilly out there…

17/03/2019birds, flowers, plantsJackie Elwin

yesterday saw snow, sleet and rain. Today, so far, a bit of sunshine and a chilly wind. Out in the front garden, the daffodils got a bit flattened by the snow and rain, but they have perked up again. The mahonia is looking a lot better this year, compared to the same time last year, and is flowering quite happily and smelly lovely. A brave hoverfly landed just as I was taking the photo. The tiny sulphur yellow flowers of the epimedium and looking good and so are the white vincas. I found loads of snails camped out behind the epimedium. There are a few little grape hyacinths coming through but not flowering yet. Out in the back garden the hellebores are all flowering (some better than others), some primula are flowering, pulmonaria is up and has started flowering, the snowdrops have all gone over, the iris reticulata haven’t flowered yet (although they were out this last year), a few pink corydalis are flowering, and a few chinadoxa too. It is a bit windy to get good crisp photos. The crow swooped down just above my head and landed next to me, and proceeded to follow me around the garden like the robins do. He didn’t mind me blathering to him either. The magpie was trying to get to the fatcake and not managing very well. Funny how we always think of them being black and white birds. I caught the blue colour of the wings but not the iridescent green of the tail. Still looking forward to some warmth of spring proper.