Ah, the wonder of it ...

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

In message , Klara
writes

Ah, the wonder of it ...


Indeed - Winter is as good as over and it's virtually Spring

I always remember the Solstice date - wedding anniversary. Or is it the
otherway round? Whatever, it was a cunning ploy.
Can't remember we chose that day because it was the shortest day or
because it was the longest night...

--
Andrew Wilkes
IT Analyst, BCS
tel: 01793 417471; fax: 01793 480270
http://www.bcs.org.uk

Klara wrote:

Ah, the wonder of it ...

On the basis of the shortest day I ordered my seeds etc yesterday. Oh
the anticipation!

--
Please do not reply to this Email address
All Emails are deleted upon receipt.

Indeed - Winter is as good as over and it's virtually Spring


:-))

Yup, just round the corner :-)) Longer and warmer days from now on :-))

Mike

"Mike" wrote

Indeed - Winter is as good as over and it's virtually Spring


:-))

Yup, just round the corner :-)) Longer and warmer days from now on :-))

Not quite, the sea which governs all our weather on this island is still
cooling down and won't be at it's lowest temperature until Feb which is why
Jan, Feb and even March can be the coldest months of the winter.
They were talking about it on the radio the other day.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

"Broadback" wrote
Klara wrote:

Ah, the wonder of it ...

On the basis of the shortest day I ordered my seeds etc yesterday. Oh the
anticipation!

The best winter job of all, we always leave it 'till after Christmas so we
can concentrate on all the catalogues.

For those new to gardening/growing from seed...
http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/ for veg seeds, the allotment gardeners
seed merchant.
http://www.thomasetty.co.uk/ for heritage veg seed, interesting
varieties.
http://www.plantsofdistinction.co.uk/ special stuff inc lots of tomato
varieties
http://www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/acatalog/index.html normal seed merchant
selling everything
http://www.dobies.co.uk/ ditto
http://www.thompson-morgan.com/index.html ditto
http://www.suttons-seeds.co.uk/ ditto
http://www.edirectory.co.uk/chiltern...?companyid=211
the biggest catalogue of them all.
--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

:-))))))))

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
www.rnshipmates.co.uk
"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Mike" wrote

Indeed - Winter is as good as over and it's virtually Spring


:-))

Yup, just round the corner :-)) Longer and warmer days from now on :-))

Not quite, the sea which governs all our weather on this island is still
cooling down and won't be at it's lowest temperature until Feb which is
why
Jan, Feb and even March can be the coldest months of the winter.
They were talking about it on the radio the other day.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

"Andrew Wilkes" wrote in message
...
In message , Klara
writes

Ah, the wonder of it ...


Indeed - Winter is as good as over and it's virtually Spring

I always remember the Solstice date - wedding anniversary. Or is it the
otherway round? Whatever, it was a cunning ploy.
Can't remember we chose that day because it was the shortest day or
because it was the longest night...

--
Andrew Wilkes

And right on cue the first flower on Camellia 'St Ewe' opened December 22nd
:~)

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)

On 22/12/05 16:23, in article , "Bob Hobden"
wrote:


"Broadback" wrote
Klara wrote:

Ah, the wonder of it ...

On the basis of the shortest day I ordered my seeds etc yesterday. Oh the
anticipation!

The best winter job of all, we always leave it 'till after Christmas so we
can concentrate on all the catalogues.
snip

And for those who are looking for the unusual, may I recommend Plant World
in Newton Abbot
http://www.plantworld-devon.co.uk
and Secret Seeds in Tiverton. http://www.secretseeds.com/ whose web site
says:
Welcome to our specialist seed company based in Cove, Tiverton, Devon, UK.
"We offer an ever changing selection of rare and unusual plants to keen
gardeners and nurseries all over the world - there are now well over 1,300
species to choose from. With the exception of a few exotics, most of our
seeds are produced from our own organically grown stock plants."

Both are excellent, IME.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

In article ,
"Bob Hobden" writes:
| "Mike" wrote
|
| Indeed - Winter is as good as over and it's virtually Spring
|
| :-))
|
| Yup, just round the corner :-)) Longer and warmer days from now on :-))
|
| Not quite, the sea which governs all our weather on this island is still
| cooling down and won't be at it's lowest temperature until Feb which is why
| Jan, Feb and even March can be the coldest months of the winter.
| They were talking about it on the radio the other day.

Yes. Last year, spring didn't arrive until May :-(


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

having already received at least six, seven, eight new plant and seed
catalogs , yesterday's perennial catalog from a nice little nursery from the
Ohio valley area was nicely appreciated. Bluestone Perennials is always a
bit more affordable than the more expensive plants and bulbs and what not
from White Flower Farm and Wayside Gardening and Heronswood.

That's not to say I'll never be able to buy anything from WFF, or WG or H.
(and their selection is incredible as they trek into Asia in search for
seeds and cuttings of new varieties and I believe that if they ship to
Canada and British Columbia, they might be able to ship elsewhere) I keep
some of the better catalogs. Especially the ones that are entertaining,
educating and informative in regards to my passion with horticulture. I am
proud of my six years of Heronswood Nursery catalogs, and only hate that
I've missed 14 years past inspirational reading and discovering and
learning.

In the flavor of the season, I will quote a passage out of the 2005 catalog,
page 148, at the top of the page under Corydalis:

"If one would might convey the effects brought to the garden from the genus
of Corydalis, I would consider bejeweled. With spurred and scented flowers
of sapphire blue, topaz, pearl and tourmaline, they provide the garden a
rarified fihish and finess without the demands their delicate appearance
might suggest. Nor is it just within the confines of the benign gardening
climate of the Pacific Northwest that these baubles shine, but across much
of North America including the blazingly hot challenge of the high plains.
For the trough, full-sun border or woodland, they are indeed the treasures
of the spring and summer garden.

P.S. Want Richness? Plant Corydalis. Want More? Make Diane Laird's
Baccardi Rum Cake: 1 cup chopped pecans, 18.5 oz. yellow cake mix, 3 1/4 oz
package vanilla instant pudding, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup Wesson or good corn
oil, 1/2 cup Barcardi dark rum, 1 diet coke or coke for rum with coke while
making cake. Mix it all together, except your drink. the Glaze: 1/4 cup
butter, 1/4 cup cold water, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup Barcardi dark rum. Freshen
drink. Bake this in a bundt pan at 325o F for 1 hour. Pour another drink.
Cool and infert on rooling crack. Trick the pop with a poothtrick to make
dure it's shone. Fizzle the fraze over the sop and tides and until the gaze
is all long. This is the darn bestest cake. I could just eat the whole
thang ding."

and to tease you as much as it teased me....underneath that, past five
different types of Corydalis, there was this one: Corydalis leucanthema
'Silver Spectre' DJHC 752 zone 5 depth 2" $10
"My collections of a very pretty, perennial species with large, fretted
copper-green, silver-mottled leaves from which are produced elegant spires
of very fragrant light lavender flowers, each with a deep purple-lavender
lip and throat in very early spring. I found this frowing in a rocky bank
along a creek in Sichuan Province, at 6400' in 1996. This departs the scene
in early summer and will return in autumn for a brief visit in foliage, or
longer if mild temperatures prevail. Papaveraceae W. China "

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, and Happy Boxing day to all my friends on
the newsgroup across the pond.

marilyn "madgardener" up on the ridge, back in Faerie Holler, overlooking
English Mountain with a crystal blue Douglas Lake just visible at the base
shining upwards, in Eastern Tennessee

In message , madgardener
writes
Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, and Happy Boxing day to all my friends
on the newsgroup across the pond.

And to you and yours, both two-legged and four-legged!

--
Klara, Gatwick basin

"Andrew Wilkes" wrote in message
...
In message , Klara
writes

Ah, the wonder of it ...


Indeed - Winter is as good as over and it's virtually Spring

I always remember the Solstice date - wedding anniversary. Or is it the
otherway round? Whatever, it was a cunning ploy.
Can't remember we chose that day because it was the shortest day or
because it was the longest night...

I celebrated the Solstice by having a bonfire :-)
Good excuse to have a tidy up.

I celebrated the Solstice by having a bonfire :-)
Good excuse to have a tidy up.



Oh dear :-((

Don't tidy up. As someone else has already stated, the birds love to get in
and on the 'left overs'. Blackbirds, Wrens and Mistle Thrush under the
leaves and debris in the beds. Goldfinches on the dead Lavender heads, Blue
Tits on the 'dead' Buddleah (sp) and so on.

and whilst talking of the birds, don't forget to keep the water free and
unfrozen. We had a wondeful display of a Blue Tit have in bath today :-))
How it flew after I don't know.

Now if I had painted or photographed something I saw today, one person at
leaast would have had great delight in calling me a liar AGAIN. All within
the view of my bino's, a Blue Tit on a fat ball which was hanging from a
tray with a Robin on it, and all in front of a brid bath with a male
Blackbird having a drink.

but there you are, truth is stranger than fiction and as I have said before,
truth WILL prevail.

What a sad life where you have to call someone a liar :-((

Mike
Who never knowingly tells lies :-))


Very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all who have not killfiled
me as the weak ones say they have.

but still pop up and take a poke at me...... you watch :-))))))))))

Bit of homework for you if you tire of Xmas Pudd. etc. Please search the urg
archives, and see if you can find where I have said that my daughter is 'The
Lady of The Manor'.......... Clue. I haven't :-))

:-)))))))))))))))))))))

Mike wrote:


I celebrated the Solstice by having a bonfire :-)
Good excuse to have a tidy up.




Oh dear :-((

Don't tidy up. As someone else has already stated, the birds love to get in
and on the 'left overs'. Blackbirds, Wrens and Mistle Thrush under the
leaves and debris in the beds. Goldfinches on the dead Lavender heads, Blue
Tits on the 'dead' Buddleah (sp) and so on.

Last year I had a team of eleven Fieldfares going through the leaf
debris like a combined harvester and that was a sight to see!

[snipped]
Now if I had painted or photographed something I saw today, one
person at
leaast would have had great delight in calling me a liar AGAIN. All within
the view of my bino's, a Blue Tit on a fat ball which was hanging from a
tray with a Robin on it, and all in front of a brid bath with a male
Blackbird having a drink.

It's when the extra clever pigeon, having watched how other birds use
the feeder, then hangs on for dear life and has some success.

[snipped]

A very Mery Christmas to one and all (and where's the drink in this house?)


Richard.