On 2010-01-02 16:33:12 +0000, K said:

Sacha writes

I think it's so interesting to see what's going on all over the place,
really. This is a 3 acre garden which to some is large and to others is
merely a starter plot!

It all depends where you're looking at things from, doesn't it! Most
urban gardeners think I have a huge garden, but it's not even a quarter
of yours!

Exactly. Yet again, let us remember Mrs Jekyll "No matter how small
your garden, you should set aside two acres as woodland". ;-) You
saw the garden where I lived before and that was probably the smallest
garden I've ever had but as I lived alone then, it suited me perfectly.
I think it was you who once made the very perceptive remark that one
has to be a LOT more careful about gardening in small gardens.
Mistakes - and weeds - are more noticeable than they are in big gardens.

But what we have in flower in the garden now are not 'plantsman's'
plants, I think.

No indeed - think that's a bit what I'm getting at. My winter plants
are bog standard reliable winter flowerers, planted because we always
have a cold, damp, dark winter, and they are doing their normal stuff.
Other years, people have commented on all sorts of things which have
been in flower, and have produced long lists of things. This year, have
you been cut back to the basics? What are the things you would have
hoped would be in flower and which are not?

I'd have expected the Chaenomeles to be in flower - the one on the
house wall. It was a week or so ago but now now. I'd have thought
more Fuchsias would have held on but am not at all sure all have
survived, even those down by the cedar tree, which are really fairly
sheltered as to canopy. Some of the Rhodies are usually in flower
about now and there isn't one showing at present. Even our Hamamelis
on the area where we park our cars is sulking, the Euryops look unhappy
(and they flower around 8 months in the year here) and even the Welsh
poppies bucked Ray's usual confidence in there being at least one in
flower in the garden every day of the year.

Maybe the fishtail Camellia is unusual but it's still a Camellia.
Everything else is pretty standard fare, I think.

There's degrees of standard! Rosemarinus marenca, Mahonia bealei,
Correa backhousiana, Cestrum parquii,Fuchsia excorticata are not quite
as standard as winter jasmine, Viburnum bodnantense, Prunus subhirtella.

Okay - standard down here, if you like. Plenty of people grow these
plants with the possible exception of that Fuchsia because it's not a
showy one. IOW, there's nothing in flower that would make
Devon-dwellers say "How unusual", if they know the plants at all.

I think that could well be the case. It's been a lot colder a lot earlier here.

We've had more snow than is usual this side of Christmas, but we have
certainly had December snow in several of the last 10 years. Frosts
have been getting later and later, but we still have seen the first
frost before Christmas each year. Although we have been going down to
about -6, that is not at all unusual, nor is it unusual for the ponds
to be frozen. What has been unusual is that the ponds have now been
frozen continuously for almost 3 weeks.

We rarely get snow right here anyway but frosts are more usual after
Christmas, so heaven knows what to expect, frankly! The ponds have ice
on them but usually, it melts during the day. The front of the house
has a bed borderinig the big lawn and the left hand corner of that is
the one that seems to get the most frost and again, today, it was
white. No wonder we lost the mimosas there last year!

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon