gessa wrote: ↑Tue Jun 02, 2020 1:12 pm
Love the shepherds hut Swannie
Thanks ges. I fell in love with one a few years ago and kept being told by Mr Swan that we didnt have room for one. Anyway, he must have been mulling it over so he decided to build up the bank of the stream with oak sleepers and hardcore creating our little quayside for the hut to sit on. As it's a shepherd hut, we named it Jacob after the Jacob sheep that sometimes graze on our heathland, so, we have Jacob, Jacob's Quay, and......the stream....Jacob's Creek
whiteswan wrote: ↑Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:22 pm
Flippin' 'eck ges you've got your work cut out. Will be looking forward to seeing the finished article though
No idea how to post photos but well over a 1000 blooms on our Rhodey...In the front garden the Glaucus Rose is stunning at the moment as are all the roses to be fair including the Blue Moon...The other half has been complaining again as we have a massive hydrangea in full sun when it used to be in the shade of a stunning copper beech, clematis, spirea, rambling roses hedgerow that our neighbours cut down to put up a small fence instead. We've had to rig up a tent like structure using poles and net curtains to shade it on hot days. The hedgerow coming down was also tough on the clematis' and especially the rambling rose (the deep red Sympathy) which was left on the ground. We had to figure out a way to get it back it's height as it likes to grow to 10 feet at least with a 15 foot spread..that still doesn't look right but it'll do.
So we have to go out every sunny day to "shade" the plant with net curtains. Otherwise the flowers will go brown and look ugly till October..
We do have the only proper garden left in the road as everyone else seems to like overly managed and manicured gardens with lovely perfect hardscaping..We use and re-use everything to hold plants including an old claw foot cast iron bath for flag irises and water hawthorn. We leave in dead trees to sprout bracket fungus while we grow climbers up them, we re-use rotten trellis, keep wood piles for insects and newt/frog cover. The foxes have a den at the bottom of our garden...There's a spring and culvert at the bottom of our garden which raises the last five yards of land about 10 feet higher than the rest of the garden. Squirrels build drays in our two massive oaks (70 yrs old now and the curse of the neighbourhood , they've tried to get us to cut at least one down several times, they've even offered to pay but they ain't going anywhere.) We have nuthatches, wrens, blackbirds, sparrows and long tail tits nesting...The 60 yr old Willow is stunning (also draws comments.) The flowering cherry is nearing the end of it's life, a lot of dead hollow wood but the sap still rises. There's a large area of nettles (great for wildlife and for making tomato feed, cut it put it in muslin bags and leave to soak in buckets of water for a few weeks ...) The Viburnum Davidii put on it's usual show, that went over a couple of weeks back. Well over 10 feet high now and spans around 15. Philadelphus is coming out, the vigorous Campanula is going nuts again beginning to grow through a box hedge and is halfway up an aging potentilla, a stunning blue flower. Climbing peach roses are happily climbing through and above an old conifer hedge, not Leylandii but a much slower growing lovely shade of green hedge.. The Peony Festiva Maxima (for my money the queen of Peonies, a white double with a raspberry ripple centre,) has finally dropped it's last flower, flowering very early this year. The very small lawn takes about 5 minutes to mow front and back..grass won't grow under the rhodeys or oaks except a few tufts we let grow for insects...Tree peonies, Forsythia, about 15 species of clematis, rhus, a big sambucca, A bank of big leafed weeds that has a hosta like flower and similar sized leaves but rough not shiny, we've never worked out what they are. Bluebells, Forget me Nots and Foxglove grow where they seed (The foxgloves get to 8-10 foot.) Lots of woodland ferns, 4 large Azaleas. Lilacs, Leycestria, a few of those, Glaucous rose cuttings are getting established The paths are made from bark we make ourselves from fallen branches, no edges
The pond alas has had to be drained as the liner went after 30 years (big pond. ten yards long and 5 wide tapering to about 2..The guy that put it in before we moved in bodged it so taking the chance to get it level and deeper than the 2 foot he dug down. Had to build a makeshift pond within the pond to accommodate the breeding season of our many newts..We have peat soil here (Frimley marshes) so the high water table makes it difficult and after last years and this years rains the "hole" is still too full of water to work in. 1 greenhouse (under the oaks so not much use as a hot house but great for hardening off and over wintering,) 3 sheds plus a small shed like store cupboard. a big home made double compost heap for that autumnal mulch. A Hazel hedge from which we take branches for canes..A laurel tree and a climbing hydrangea plus a Pyracantha hedge protects the back property line from the lane that runs behind. (The original London to Portsmouth road complete with a 16th century coaching inn (the Drum and Monkey) now a domestic dwelling)
There's very little room to move in this 130 foot long very high maintenance garden including the small patio which has a table two chairs and now 40 pots of annuals that madam has been busy doing last few weeks
It's not everyones cup of tea as it looks like nature run riot but we love it..Very cool in the summer
Last edited by The Subhuman on Wed Jun 03, 2020 1:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"A mind is like a parachute, it doesn't work if it's not open"
Right, after reading Faaip's post, you won't be getting any pictures of our 25ft eyesore, especially as the Clematis has stopped flowering. It would seem puny in comparison.
Gandalf wrote: ↑Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:07 pm
Right, after reading Faaip's post, you won't be getting any pictures of our 25ft eyesore, especially as the Clematis has stopped flowering. It would seem puny in comparison.
I don't know how he has time to post on here.
Easy I'm not allowed to work in the garden ...unless it's the pond (which is on hold til after lockdown as we need new liners etc) or to move pots from one end of the garden to the other or other heavy lifting. The other half spends most of the day out there on nice days..Was still out there at 9pm last night.
Last edited by The Subhuman on Wed Jun 03, 2020 1:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"A mind is like a parachute, it doesn't work if it's not open"
Gandalf wrote: ↑Tue Jun 02, 2020 10:07 pm
Right, after reading Faaip's post, you won't be getting any pictures of our 25ft eyesore, especially as the Clematis has stopped flowering. It would seem puny in comparison.
I don't know how he has time to post on here.
I haven't read faaip post yet, haven't had time but will read and digest later
So, I've been getting a large hole appearing under one of my bushes for a while now. I keep filling it in and it keeps appearing again. I suspected what was causing it so I moved my camera to see if I could catch it. And I did.
I had a real Warner Brothers moment in my back garden this afternoon. Starring my dog as 'Wiley Coyote' and a roadrunner as "the Roadrunner".
I saw the roadrunner walking across the grass from right to left. A few moments later the roadrunner was running full speed from left to right (minus any beep-beeps) with my dog chasing after. Fortunately (for the roadrunner) it took flight and landed on top of the fence and ran off along the fence top.
When I bought this plant for a £1 at a car boot a couple of years ago it can only have been 6” high. But since then it’s grown hugely and has really nice bright orange flowers. People often ask what is and I have no idea. I thought some of you green fingered dab hands might know
you've got your work cut out. Will be looking forward to seeing the finished article though 
