WHEN IS A WEED NOT A WEED?

If, like me, you follow the "MORE IS LESS"* philosophy you probably don't have too many weeds in your borders.... (*the MORE plants the LESS room for weeds to grow)...and if, like me, you have gravel paths and/or paving slabs that's the place the weeds put their roots down. As we in the Northern Hemisphere head towards Winter the time for the Grand Autumn Clear-up is here. Time to tackle those neglected weeds before they take a foothold! A really bad winter can be assured to kill off your favourite hardy shrub but those dandelions will sail through unscathed! But before you rush out with kneeling mat, blow torch or weedkiller.....BE WARNED...you may be killing off FREE PLANTS!!! Earlier this year I wrote a post about Spring Freebies, well there are plenty to be found in Autumn too.

Hmmmm....this area of gravel needs weeding...

but look closer....

Foxglove.....

Quaking grass....

and Fescue.....
and as this college shows that's not all I found...from left to right...stipa, cerinthe, campanula, heuchara, trailing nepeta, carex, welsh poppy, nigella and feverfew......It doesn't take long to lift them and pop them into a space that's been cleared of annuals. Of course you can make a mistake and end up nurturing a Dandelion instead of a Gallardia (yes I've done that!) but if in doubt pop it in a pot and see what you get!

If anyone would like to read the latest update on Helen of Helen's Haven.....please visit Patra's blog........Gina hopes to be visiting Helen soon and if you would like to leave a get well wish in her comment box she will pass it on to Helen and her family. Gina has her own health problems and I'm sure we all wish her well too.

While you are bloghopping...it's Claire's (A Little Piece Of Me) Birthday today

I wasn't sure what to get her for her birthday..........she has lots of homework to do so I'd better not send alcohol or she'll never get anything done.......maybe something nice to look at while she's studying.....................NAKED MAN IN BATH ALERT!!!!!!!

AFTER THE STORM

What a storm we had yesterday evening; thunder, lightning and really heavy rain. I was even off the Internet for a while; thank goodness the TV didn't go off...I would have missed the final of The Apprentice! It was really humid though and I left the kitchen door open to let in some fresh air as the heavy rain meant I had to shut every window in the house. It was quite a shock when I went to make myself a coffee....some of our frog population had come in to keep dry!!! I spent about an hour trying to shoo the frogs out of the kitchen...of course they all tried to hide behind the washing machine and fridge...I thought I'd have to search in the Yellow Pages for a Frog Herding company! This little fellow decided to have a stand off with the brass frog doorstop..... The garden was full of snails this morning...speaking of which.....one of my Canna leaves look like it has bullet holes in it.....no doubt a slug or snail had a nibble when the leaf was still in bud...those little nibbles turn into whacking great holes as the leaf grows..........
I was pleased to see our Oriental Poppy is blooming...the flowers are so big......
and I love the chocolate brown splodges in the centre.
This Oxalis has started flowering too......such a pretty colour.....we've had this for years now and the clump is expanding nicely without becoming a nuisance......
the new Oxalis Triangularis I planted a last week are starting to come through now...I love the colour of the leaves................I have quite a few small pots of them growing so shall be able to try them in various areas of the garden to see where they do best.Couldn't resist snapping another picture of this Geranium......
the Candytuft is really blooming well.....this year most of them seem to be lilac.......

this Bidens is a different flower form to the usual one I have....I like the little tufts of petal in the centre...it was a "freebie" gift ....I like "freebies"...
The first of the Callas is starting to come into flower......I like the speckled leaves....
the Campanula at the back of the rockery is romping away......I cut this back hard after the first mass of flowers or it swamps everything else out....it soon comes back again.....

The Blogger's Paradise Blogalong theme for this month is My Favourite Recipe.......I've decided to opt for a cake...but we have so many favourites it's hard to choose...some I've already printed before on my Please Read blog so I don't want to do them again.....I've decided go with my Strawberry Crunch Cake....I'll print it up tomorrow so "Dieter's Beware!"

TIME FOR A LINGER?

It's been a little while since I had the time to invite you in for a sit down and a beverage and as the weather is so pleasant we may as well make the most of it and sit in the garden;

That's it...make yourself comfy.... and I'll tell you what's been going on in the seedling department.

The "Poor Man's Orchids" (Schizanthus) are really doing well
and so are the Alpine Strawberries.And talking of strawberries; the Strawberry Spinach seeds are already germinating....I only sowed them on 8th March.
The Great Pip Challenge pots are doing quite well

the Lychee has now sent up a shoot
all the orange pips have germinated
and the Avocado looks like it's going to be an attractive plant.
I'm not sure about the ginger though....Libby's is really shooting well but mine just seems to be sitting there and not moving at all.
I've got to repot the Bishop of Llandaff and Fascination Dahlias so while I'm doing that help yourself to an ice-cream

The Bishop hasn't been repotted for two years now; I've just been top dressing it so I reckon it deserves some fresh compost.

As my hands are dirty anyway I'm lifting these Carnations that have got quite woody. I could take cuttings but I think I'll just "drop" them; I'll dig a deeper hole and plant them deeper so that all those woody stems are beneath the soil; the stems will start to send out shoots and the whole plant will look far bushier...I've done this before with heathers too and it always seems to work.

If you look very closely this frog is eating a worm; would rather he had eaten a slug!
Some poor frog must have "missed" and has laid its spawn on top of this rock; I'll quickly turn it on its side so that the spawn is underwater.

I love the way that this daffodil holds it's petals so far back.

The hanging basket begonias are shooting well; I'll start topping the compost up soon.
Even the bedding Begonias are starting to shoot.
The freebie grasses I found in the paving cracks are looking happy
and quite a few of that VERY OLD packet of Sweet Peas have grown...they were well past their sow by date.
I'm glad I cut the Epymidium leaves off as the flowers have started to open. They are like miniature Daffodils.The Senetti are growing on well; I'll start sorting out some proper large pots for them next week. I don't want them becoming root bound in these modules.
Well I bet you're all itching to get back to your own gardens; see you again soon!

JUST A QUICKIE

Bit busy today getting the house in order for this weekend's visitors so no cuppa I'm afraid.







Just time to show you the two different coloured Irises we have









and, at last, the flowers have started to open on my Hellebore seedling that I've been growing for two years. So pleased; don't have the space to keep every seedling so I'm happy that I made a good choice here.







Have a great weekend all....in case I don't do another post before Monday!

ORANGE.COME

It was an exceptionally clear night last night and very cold.

By this morning that lovely chocolate covered cocoa shell was covered with a sheet of white frost.

Excitement on the Pip Challenge front;....they say patience is a virtue and look what I've spotted today........

Now I very much doubt if I'll ever get a tree like this; but it's going to be interesting to see if I do mange to get a decent sized plant over the course of time.

And maybe one day................

The freebie grass seedlings I found the other day and potted up have really taken off. Two are Stipas and one I think could be Fescue. I've got them inside at the moment to give them a head start but will have to harden them off and get them outside once they've filled the pots with a little more root.

FREEBIE HUNTING

When I was having a Blogaround yesterday I saw a photos of Amaryllis in flower; it reminded me that I'd had one last year and when it had finished flowering I'd stuck it up in the box room. I knew I'd given it a drop of water just before Christmas when I'd had to move all the house plants up there but had thought no more about it.

Imagine my surprise when I went to look at it...it's got a flower bud on it!! Isn't nature wonderful....I've now moved it downstairs and look forward to seeing the bloom open









As Mick was snoozing peacefully in his armchair I thought I have a little walk round the garden to see what was happening out there. Our garden's only 21ft x 17ft so it doesn't take long to get around....not sure what that is in metric?....6.5m x 5.5m approx I suppose?

A few of the pots looked quite dry and this Lamium had really suffered in the strong winds of the other week. I tidied it up and gave it some water. It'll soon perk up.






I also kept an eye out for "freebies"...some of our pathway is gravel and it's surprising the number of self seedlings you can find.


These are baby Hellebores..I'll let them get a bit bigger and then choose a few strong plants to pot up and grow on.











This is Campanula; I've wanted to put out some out the front so once the Spring comes I'll lift this and replant it,







I'm pretty sure this is an annual Candytuft...it does look a little like an Osteospurnum but I don't think that it would be looking this robust if it was; I found it in a very cold, shady area and can't imagine an Osteo seed being happy enough there to grow.




This is a Lamium, like the one in the basket I mentioned early. It'll be a handy plant to have for the Summer hanging baskets.







In the cracks between the slabs I laid for wheelchair access I found these Stipa seedlings...if they do as well as the one I found last year then I've no complaints. Will lift these now and pot them up so that I don't run over them with the wheelchair.






I think this may be Nectaroscordum; it is in the right area of the garden for our ones to have dropped seed there. I'll grow it on and see...................let's hope I'm not going to be growing a weed...I remember once growing on and nurturing a Gallardia seedling.....only to find out it was a Dandelion!!!!




These I am sure about...they are Quaking Grass seedlings.






I'm really pleased with my "freebie" hunt...it's only January so to find so many already is quite exciting.


One other thing I spotted was that our Helichrysum Ruby Cluster has a flower bud on it and is looking a lot healthier since I moved it to the front garden where it gets some winter sun.