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A Mixed Bag
I am already dead-heading the buddleja on a regular basis but so far have seen just two butterflies. I am sure that the weather is to blame as calm, warm days are hard to come by. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the situation will change before the food they need disappears for the…
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Repair or Replace
This a picture of a corner of the garden that I created shortly after I moved here twelve years ago. I was particularly pleased with the mix of formal planting and wildflowers which were allowed to seed themselves at will. Sadly, the last two winters have taken their toll and the corner is a sad…
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Waiting Impatiently for Spring
30 January 2023 I am not usually envious of other people, but recent visits to my local village have been turning me green. Here on the coast the winds are rarely benevolent and we are still having frosts and days when the wind chill can reduce the temperature dramatically. My camellias continue to hang back…
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From Furry Slippers to a Bad Hair Day
My Mount Aso willow is still providing me with a lot of cheer on these windy days. The furry slipper catkin changed to a very dignified deep wine/pink and then it opened up to this grey, orange and yellow creation. However, it remains a furry slipper at heart and in its last throes looked like…
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December Blossoms
I always think that it is a minor miracle that I can find enough flowers in the garden to decorate the house for Christmas. I divide the sources into three categories – those shrubs that usually flower during the winter such as Camellia, Correa and Viburnum, those summer plants that keep producing one or two…
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Bugged and Baffled
26 April 2021 I have always had a fondness for clematis especially as it flowers so early in the year, but never had a hope of growing one upright in my exposed garden. However, I thought myself very clever when I hit on the plan to use the tops of all the dry-stone walls around…
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Hedgerow treats
2 October 2020 Fruit cordials Five varieties of crab apples growing well in the garden I am still suffering from the loss of my entire season of soft fruits which were destroyed when the freezer cut out in a recent thunderstorm. I rely on the cordials made from blackcurrants, red/white currants and rhubarb for my…