New Year’s Day 2018 Flower Count in papi Jo’s garden. periwinkle Vinca major alpine heath Erica carnea sweet box Sarcococca confusa (buds) Darley Dale heath Erica x darleyensis ‘Silberschmelze’. In flower from October to April! Erica lusitanica ‘Le Vasterival’. In flower from November to March. Schizostylis coccinea Pink Princess (?)…
Organic fruit are not always as good-looking as pesticide-grown ones. Sometimes they can be plain ugly. I buy and store my apples for the winter from an organic apple grower near to where I live. Most apples are OK-looking, some look terrible (but still quite tasty—fortunately).
This year I purchased a huge carton of suet balls, at bargain price. I hang them in my little crab apple tree ‘Evereste’, much to the delight of all the little garden birdies. However I’m somewhat fed up (pun intended) with the behaviour of the sparrows who come in their…
Many perennials maintain a visible presence in the border in winter (some asters, heucheras, etc.) but others die back and leave no trace (e.g. delphiniums and some hardy geraniums such as ‘Rozanne’, shown in photo). In case of memory lapses regarding my border layout, I regularly put in short bamboo…
For the 3rd year running we visited the nearby Salon Délices de Plantes in Cesson-Sévigné. The weather was changeable, with a few showers which forced us to take shelter under the exhibitors’ tents… and of course encouraged us to succumb to temptation. Eventually we were quite reasonable and only bought…