Wheelchair gardening tips – cleaning your dirty tyres

Even with all the new paving slabs in the back garden I still manage to come in with manky tyres. We get an lot of wildlife in the garden and therefore a lot of poo. The crows, magpies and jackdaws all sit on the various surrounding trees dropping the inevitable all in the same space, whereas the wood pigeons and pheasants wander all around dropping as they go. I can’t go around the entire garden hosing it all off every day, and I can’t always dodge in between the poops, so I will end up running through it now and again.  Wheelchair tyres pick up all manor of garden debris and you don’t want to be wheeling it through the house.   Even when I am in the garage potting up seedlings etc I end up with compost in various nooks and crannies of the wheelchair.  

 At the top of the ramp to the conservatory I keep a small wooden plant-pot stand with a collection of old, folded up towels ready to wipe down my tyres.  I also keep two brushes to remove ‘stuff’ from the tyre treads and from the brakes (wheel-locks).  The tough, green floor scrubbing brush gets into the treads and the narrow grouting brush can be used for the brakes and other harder to access areas of the wheelchair.

dirty wheelchair tyre with bird poo in the treads and dirty brakes
Manky wheelchair tyre and brakes (wheel-locks)

scrubbing brushes for cleaning wheelchair tyres
Scrubbing brushes

In the past people have suggested to me that coir mats (coconut mats) would help but I actually find them very difficult to push the chair over as they have a deep pile and you cannot drive in a straight line over them.  These mats would need to be cleaned quite often too.  We have carpets throughout our house which are either multi patterned or brown and these don’t show the dirt as much as other plain colours would.  

If you have a small area at your entrance that can get wet then you could try using a Muddaddy.  This is a tool that is used to wash down dirty dogs before they get in the car but can be used on your wheelchair and tyres.  However you may have a job getting your wheelchair tyres dry enough to enter your home without dripping on your flooring.  As I am often in a hurry to answer a call of nature or the door bell, then a quick scrub with the brush, or rub with an old towel is usually all that is required.

Wheelchair gardening tip – cleaning your dirty tyres:

  • keep old, small towels at the door
  • use a tough scrubbing brush for getting debris out of the tyre treads
  • use a grouting brush for reaching harder to access areas like brakes, crossbars, foot-plates etc

Mid April 2022 has been a mixed bag.

 It has been pretty cold and wet for the first half of April but has now started to dry out and get a little warmer.  Some of the plants are earlier, some are later, and some haven’t come back at all!

I planted smallish yellow tulips Budlight a few years ago, and as they are a species tulip I thought that they would come back each year, but there is  no sign of them at all this year.  There are two larger yellow tulips which were planted as a clump of about 7 years ago (can’t remember what they are called) and only two have come back this year. All very disappointing. 

The tulips Mystic Van Eijk are a little early this year but are looking good in the raised bed.

tulips mystic van eijk with purple heliobore behind it
Tulips Mystic Van Eijk

Most of the narcissi have come up, all except the 10 Segovia that I planted a few years ago in the stumpery.  Only three came up this year, and two of them have been eaten so that only a few inches of stem are left. Tete-aTete came up earliest, Pontresina are looking good right now, and Pipit are just coming out now.  There was a nice display of narcissi Ataea pontifica in the right hand border but now they are getting decimated by snails or slugs.  The white spirea Bridal wreath is looking good just now, as is the
foliage of the pieris Japonica Forest flame in the right hand corner of
the garden.  The berberis is flowering away merrily.  The hellebore
below it however looks rather tatty.  Going over now is the pink Corydalis, in the middle bed, which is spreading like mad.  I keep taking clumps out and giving them away.  The yellow marsh marigolds in the pond really brighten up that area.  The purple hellebores are still doing well, whereas the white ones and paler ones have gone over sooner.

Narcissi Actaea Poeticus flowers eaten
Narcissi Actaea Poeticus eaten by snails/slugs
the back right hand corner of the garden with flowering spirea and foliage of pieris
Back right hand corner
the right hand border of the garden with berberis and narcissi
Right hand border

the garden and pond in April 2022
 Right hand side of garden and pond April 2022

pink corydalis solida
Corydalis solida

 

Debs brought round lots of yellow erythroniums and planted them in a few areas of the stumpery (which is on the left side of the garden) and they are doing well despite being nibbled.

yellow Erythronium in the stumpery
Erythronium yellow

the stumpery in April 2022
Stumpery April 2022

The smaller white erythronium Snowflake have gone over now but the marble foliage still looks good. Also in the stumpery is the pasque flower which  is very pretty, and I love it’s fluffy foliage.  It is very slowly making a couple of clumps.  In flower at the back of the stumpery is purple honesty, brunnera and pulmonaria.  There are a few catkins on the tortured witchhazel,  and some tiny perfumed white flowers on the osmanthus right up in the back corner of the stumpery which you can’t see here.  I had planted a winter flowering honeysuckle beside the osmanthus and although it did flower a little, I thought it might have put on a better show.

pale purple pasque flower with furry foliage
Pale purple Pasque flower

On the patio there are narcissi Pontressina in flower and in a blue pot there is a lovely pink heather: erica Westwood with a small struggling hellebore in a pot beside it.

Erica westwood in a blue pot next to struggling hellebore
Erica Westwood

What I would like to do, within the next week, with the area in front of the patio, is to dig up a clump of the red astilbe  and maybe put in the red rose that was actually dug out because it had such large prickles, and also to move the cornus a little to make room for the lovely rose Gertrude Jekyll.  We were afraid that our new dog would come a cropper to the huge rose prickles but I am sure we can make sure he doesn’t go near it now that he has been with us for a couple of years and is now used to the garden.    The conservatory is still to be fixed so we are still waiting for the builders to come up with a date for that work.  Otherwise it is mostly watering any newly planted seedlings, putting in plant supports,  dead-heading spent flowers, and disposing of slugs.

March 2022 on a cold but sunny Edinburgh day.

 We have had some wet, windy, gloriously sunny and warm days in March, but are now back to very chilly weather and it is trying to snow/hail/sleat in between sunny spells.  No wonder the frogs left it a little later this year to spawn.  In 2019 and 2020 the first spawn in our pond was spotted  in February (in 2020 it was as early as the 5th) but this year the first spawn was on the 18th March.  We can now count about 7 clumps of spawn which means there are at least 7 female frogs around the pond.  We haven’t seen any newt spawn yet.

7 clumps of frog spawn 18th March 2022
Frog spawn 18/03/22

Some areas of the garden are looking better than others right now.  The stumpery is looking fine as some the spring bulbs are coming through such as the narcissi and chinadoxa,  some of the primroses, anemones, pulmonaria, hellebores, vinca and erythroniums are in flower now.  Although some of the narcissi have gone over, there are others still to come out.  Some of the tulips are just ready to open.  A couple of shrubs that have scented flowers: the mahonia out the front, and the lonicera fragrantisima and osmanthus burkwoodii out the back are flowering well.  There have been quite a few bees and butterflies out in the warmer days taking advantage of these flowers.

I found this dark edged bee fly ( Bombylius major) sitting on a tulip leaf as it was watching a wasp very closely.  I have just read about it, and have found out that the bee fly will follow wasps and single bees to their nest, they will then gather some sandy soil with their feet, and flick this, along with their eggs, near the entrance to the wasp/bee nest.  The larva will attach itself to a wasp/bee and it will be taken into the nest where it will then find a wasp/bee larva to feed on.  After which it will turn into a pupa, hatch and fly away undetected.

wasp and bee fly on a tulip leave
Bombylius major (dark edged bee fly)

I will need to put the pot of Iris Katharine’s gold in a better place for next year.  It is one of the earliest flowering plants in the garden and I had the pot under the garden bench just to protect it from some of the heavy rain.  By the time I remembered it was there it was almost finished flowering.

Iris Katharine's gold in a pot
Iris Katharine’s gold

 There are lots of jobs still to do:  over the wall is now rather overgown and needs a good sorting out.  The vinca major is now acting like a climber and is growing up the fence and smothering the hydrangea petiolaris.  It actually looks ok but it needs cutting back.  There are ferns and lots of few-flowered-leek popping up everywhere so they will need to come out.  The ivy needs to be kept in check.  I am going to be quite ruthless now and any plant not earning it’s keep must go.  I have started getting rid of some of the plain brunnera in the stumpery.  It does look ok when it is in flower but it is rather plain and I wish I had planted the Jack frost version instead.  I had let a few hellebore seedlings grow a few years ago but I don’t actually like the colour of the flower so it has gone now to another home.  I don’t bin these but they go to other peoples gardens, or the local park takes any plants that would do well in the park.  I also put them in the plant sale at the Duddingston Kirk Garden Club plant sale (which this year will be held on Saturday 30 April 10:30 – 12:00).

CVinca major growing up and over hydrange petiolaris
Overgrown vinca major all over hydrangea petiolaris

Here is the view from the patio.  You can just see in the background one of the large ash trees has had a huge bough snap off during the strong winds.  The entire tree is pretty dead and I think most of the ash trees in that golf course are going to have to come out.  That is good news for us as we may get more sunshine into the garden.  What with all the shade from the trees and all the recent rain, the ‘sunny’ border hasn’t been able to dry off very well.  I have lost the nepeta again this year which were in the ‘sunny’ border.  I will just hae to keep taking cuttings each year.

view of the garden from the patio
View from the patio

This is how the stumpery is looking right now.  I love the dappled shade in this woodland area, and spring and early summer is the best time of year here before the tree canopy develops allowing less sunshine to get through. The whole garden will soon have plenty of colour.

The stumpery in March 2022
Stumpery in March 2022

January garden to do list.

January has been a pretty quiet month in the garden.  It has been cold and wet so far with a touch
of frost.  There a few things to be
sorted out before spring though, such as, moving the Rodgersia and the Royal
fern, as they are far too close to the walls now.  This isn’t good for the walls and it also means
that the plants are forced forward and tend to collapse on the plants in front
of them.

the corner by the ramp with rodgersia and royal fern
Ramp corner Rodgersia and Royal fern

 

 I would really like
the large Polygonatum multiflorum to be completely dug out.  It used to be on one side of the chimney by
the ramp, but it has spread to behind and around the other side of the chimney
and is now coming up in front of it too.
Also I have found the very beautiful, but very destructive Liliocerus
lilii (scarlet lily beetle) on it.  It
has had it’s leaves stripped by slugs, snails, saw flies and now this so I have
had enough.

scarlet lily beetle
Lilioceris lilii (scarlet lily beetle)

The front hedge has been rather poorly cut last year (sorry
Harry) and it is really needing a proper cut.
This will have to be done before the birds start nesting, although if I
was a bird I wouldn’t nest in it looking like that!

front hedge (privet) cut badly
Front privet hedge with bad cut.

Behind the garage we used to have 2 apple trees which have
now been re-homed to our good pals shared tenement garden.  The apples were tasty but were not keepers
and I am the only one who eats apples here.
Now I can choose what to do with that area.  That small border only has a few cyclamen in
it, but it only gets sunshine from the one side.  Maybe a clematis or honeysuckle would cope
with that area?

bed behind the garage
Behind the garage.

There are a few bulbs just popping up here and there, mostly
snowdrops, and some of the hellebores are flowering a bit.  There is still plenty of greenery in the
garden due to the many evergreen plants and shrubs so it doesn’t look
completely barren just now.  Roll on
spring for a bit more colour.

Easy spray bottles for use with arthritic hands.

I have found that over the years that spraying my plants makes my hands very sore.  The spray action of many spray bottles is exasperating.  Sometimes, just to get them going,you have do the spraying action over and over again and you only get a tiny squirt out if you are lucky.  Some bug sprays are just useless and won’t spray at all.  The tiny glass pump action spray bottle (at the front of the photo)  looks great but because of my swollen, sore, arthritic fingers I find that these can be a bit fiddly.  They are ok if you can stand, and have them at hip height, but when spraying from the seated position I find that I have to get my elbows really high which then  makes the pressing action difficult.   I do have an absolute favourite spray bottle make and that is the Hozelock  pump action type.

You just need to pump a little pressure into the bottle, then press the button (with thumb) when you want to spray.  If you want to keep on spraying, over a large plant say, there is another button to press just above it for continuous spraying. You can also adjust the spray by twisting the nozzle.  I have decanted some organic bug spray into a Hozelock bottle  as the original spray bottle was useless, but you do have to remember to label the bottle if doing that.  One gripe with the Hozelock ones are that there isn’t much grip on the side of the bottle so when it comes time to refill with water trying to twist the top off can be difficult if you have problems with your fingers.  Also, the level indicators could be a little more visible but at least they do have some.

I did buy an inferior type from Amazon (the bright green one at the front right of the photo) and it broke within a couple of months so,it really is worth getting a good make.   I have a couple of very large plants and a collection of air plants which I keep in the bedroom and they require a lot of spraying so I really do need an easy spray bottle for using with my arthritic hands.

selection of spray bottles
A selection of spray bottles for plants

Autumn colour

 Let’s start off with the weather again!  October had lots of rain, and so has the beginning of November.  I have had to move a lot of the cuttings, that were on the patio table, indoors to the conservatory as they were water-logged and had no chance of getting drier.  Other plants are sheltering under the table and under the bench (with a cover over the bench seat).

The Japanese anemones are still looking good, and so is the salvia Amastad.  A couple of the hellebores are doing well while other hellebores are struggling to get going.  The cyclamen flowers are over but their foliage  looks amazing and creates a lovely patterned carpet along the garage border.

purple salvia amistad, pink rowan berries
Salvia Amistad and Rowan Pink pagoda

 

Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’ is putting on a fabulous show by changing it’s deep purpley/green foliage into bright red before losing it all.  I tried to get a photo from inside the dome of the small tree.

under the acer showing red leaves
Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’

 

 The view from the top of the ramp shows the continuation of the red theme in autumn, going from the persicaria amplex ‘Blackfield’ down to the acer then across to the deep pink berries of the rowan.  If I had taken the photo from inside the conservatory I may have also got the indoor red cyclamen and a  few of the red weigela ‘Bristol Ruby’ flowers too.

dark red colours in the garden flowers and foliage
view from the top of the ramp

 

The earth-star fungi apparently pops up anywhere in the garden.  It starts off looking like a bulb that someone has forgotten to plant, then it opens up to form a star shape with a little puffy ball in the centre.  When it rains, the rain drops are heavy enough to dent the ball sending the spores out to start the cycle again.  This looks like the collared earth star Geastrum triplex.

collared earthsar fungi
Earth star fungi (Geastrum triplex)

 

I am attempting to plant the awkward area at the far corner behind the garage.  The ivy was a mess there so now there is a Hydrangea anomala  petiolaris in it’s place, and in front of that, a Farfugium
japonicum ‘wavy gravy’.  In amongst them Debs planted some yellow erythronium that she brought round.   We also spotted some pink flowered persicaria that had popped up beside the deep red one, so we removed that and planted it next to the periwinkle.  That should all fill that corner nicely.

corner with tatty old ivy
corner with tatty old ivy

corner with farfugium and hydrangea
corner with farfugium and climbing hydrangea

 I will finish with a gloriously coloured, fallen leaf from the witch hazel, Hamamelis
inter Diane.

colourful leaf from Hamamelis inter Diane
Hamamelis inter Diane leaf


 

To chop, or not to chop?

 Yes that really is the question.  I have debated for a while whether or not to give the tree heath (Erica arborea estrella gold) a good chop.  It has been getting rather too big for the bed and the Japanese anemones are struggling to get past it now.  As far as I know, you only really prune the spent flowers off straight after flowering and you get lovely new bright lime green foliage.  They should respond well if they are cut back into the old wood but I just couldn’t decide how much I wanted to remove, so for the first chop (after discussing with Debs – our new garden help) she chopped some of the underskirt off first to see if any new growth would appear.  Later I just decided that we should just go for the big chop now so that it had a chance to put on some new growth this year.  So we chopped a bit more off but left a few woody stems at each trunk.  We still can’t decide if we should go even lower than that.  So maybe next week we will have made a final decision.  It certainly lets a lot more light to the plants on other side of the bed.

tree heath before the chop
Erica arborea estrella gold

tree heath after the 1st chop view from upstairs
Erica arborea estrella gold after 1st chop
tree heath after the 2nd chop view from upstairs
Erica arborea estrella gold after 2nd chop

tree heath after 2nd chop view straight on
Erica arborea estrella gold after 2nd chop

This week when Debs came round it was peeing down so we decided to stay indoors.  Time for that big cactus to be re-potted I think.  It has been one of those jobs that I have been putting off because I knew it would be a bit tricky.  As the plastic pot it was in was rather old, it pretty much fell apart which gave Debs a half pot to use to hold the prickly cactus with.  It definitely looks much nicer in this pot.

cactus repotted
Cactus variety unknown

Another job I had been putting off was to sort out the tree fern.  I still don’t know if it is a Dicksonia antarctica or squarrosa.  As the label said antarctica I will go with that, but did have someone round a few years back, who was from New Zealand, and they thought it was a squarrosa as it had a few ‘trunks’ and not just a single trunk.  It has been in the same pot for years now and has grown 6 trunks and is very congested.  I know that only the top parts will grow back so I asked Debs to cut 3 of the smaller trunks off to leave the 3 larger ones.  Debs needed a bit of help from Harry as it was pretty hard work.  She then cut the ends of the old stipes back to neaten it all up, and it now looks great, and instead of being a bit jaggy looking is now looks ever so hairy.  Of the 3 bits that she cut off, only 2 might grow again as the growing tip of the 3rd one just came off.  So we are experimenting with the other 2 to see if we can get them to grow.  The first photo is a few years old but you can see the new trunks growing up and the jaggy ends where I had cut off the old fronds.

tree fern congested before being chopped
Dicksonia antarctica (or squarrosa)

tree fern after being chopped
Dicksonia after being chopped

tree fern close-up of hairy trunks
Dicksonia close-up of hairy ‘trunks’

July: the good, the bad and the strange.

As always we must start by mentioning the weather.  We started with the sunshine and warmth, then the torrential rain and thunder, and now back to sunshine and warmth.  These photographs were taken before the rain except the philadlephus, it was looking fabulous, as were the roses, until the rain pelted down taking most of the petals with it.  Some of the roses were just a soggy mess and had to chopped as they would have just rotted instead of opening.  Some of the old trellis was still up, but Harry has taken it all down now and it make s a big difference.  The neighbours’ and golf course’ trees all blend into our ivy clad walls now.

By the pond I spotted a couple of damselflies and the blue tailed one came into the conservatory.  I am afraid the photos are not great (taken at speed with my phone camera).

blue tailed damselfly on the conservatory wall
Ischnura elegans (blue tailed damselfly)

The large red damselfly was just flitting about on the leaves of the marsh marigold.

large red damselfly sitting on a marsh marigold leaf
Pyrrhosoma nymphula (large red damselfly)

The surface of the pond is mostly covered with floating duckweed and pond pants but I try to keep an area clear so the sun can get through to the oxygenating plants below.  The area covered by floating plants has also been covered by hundreds of semaphore flies.  The males flash their wings, which have a white tips, to entice a female and this resembles semaphore signals.  They have gorgeous bronze and mellatic green colourations.

semaphore fly on garden pond
Poecilobothrus nobiltatus (semaphore fly)

Also in the pond are some very fast water crickets.  I think these are the nymphs as the adults have red line down the abdomen.  They have white markings that to me look like a face.  They flit about on the water surface of the pond.

water cricket nymph skitting about the surface of the pond
Velia caprai (water cricket)

A new fungus has appeared this year.  At first I though it was another puff ball or earth ball but as it grew – it changed shape.  I think this is a stinkhorn.  The cap is covered in something called a gleba which contains the spores.  It emits a smell that attracts flies which then get covered in the spores.It disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

stinkhorn mushroom, fungi,
Phallus impudicus (stinkhorn mushroom)

Now just a few snapshots of the garden before the rain just taken at different angles.

foxgloves by the curling stone
beds in July 2021
beds in July 2021
beds in July 2021
beds in July 2021

The yellow irises did well out in the front garden.  I don’t actually know the name of them, mum was splitting hers so she gave me some.

tall yellow iris in the front garden
Yellow iris front garden

And after the rain I am afraid the nepeta was flattened, the roses all drooped and lost a lot of petals, lots of the foxgloves keeled over with the weight of the rain, and the poor philadelphus that was just looking and smelling gorgeous lost lots of petals too.

philadelphus loosing it's petals after the rain
Philadelphus losing it’s petals after the rain

Once the rest of the foxgloves go over I will have some bare areas to put some new plants in.  They are waiting in their pots on the patio until then.

Our dog had his first dip in the pond this week (by accident) and he didn’t think much of it, so he then had a zoomie around the garden then dug 3 holes!  Also, a neighbours cat fell into the pond this morning.  I was watering the plants on the patio when I hear a big plop and splash.  I looked up and saw  a very wet, bedraggled, black and white cat slinking off down the garden.

The forecast for the next few days is lots of sunshine a high temperatures so that will mean I have lots more watering to do.

Colour in the garden in early June

Now that we have had a bout of rain, we are now getting some lush new growth – not just the plants but also the weeds. June has started with loads of welcome sunshine and in the stumpery area the golden coloured plants are absolutely glowing. I have lots of different ferns all around the garden but the Dryopteris crispa congesta in the stumpery are sporting the their bright green, upright fronds. The ivy along the stumpery side wall, Hedera helix Goldheart has mainly reverted back to dark green as it is pretty shady over there, but when the sun does fall on the Acer Shirawanum Aureum, it picks out the gold hearts in the ivy leaves in the background. Just in front of the Corylus avellana contorta is the very bright Oregano vulgare Auereum. The oregano makes pretty good ground cover which can brighten up the somewhat shady stumpery.

bright green new fronds on Dryopteris crispa congesta
Dryopteris crispa congesta
bright golden leaves on Acer Shirawanum Aureum
Acer Shirawanum Aureum
golden foliage of origano aureum
Oregano vulgare Auereum

Newly planted in the stumpery is the very pretty Primula Japonica Apple Blossom.  I usually like to plant in groups of 3 or 5 but I had also bought the primulas for pond side so just bought this one and hope I can divide it soon to get a nice clump.  I like it beside the old log (there are pink aquilegia to the left and blue ajuga to the right top).

Primula Japonica Apple Blossom beside old log
Primula Japonica Apple Blossom

The other acer in the garden (in the raised bed) is looking fabulous right now, flowing over the side walls down to the ground.  I will need to pull out a few of the London’s pride as it is getting pretty over grown now, and give the acer a wee trim later in the year.

Acer palmatum Dissectum Garnet in the raised bed
Acer palmatum Dissectum Garnet
 Acer palmatum Dissectum Garnet in the raised bed, end on.
Raised bed

The pond area is taking a while to get going this year.  The marsh marigolds have gone over but the cotton grass ( Eriophorum angustifolium) looking nice.  I am still waiting for the newly planted primulas to flower.

Just now we are getting lots of sunshine and very little rain so my main jobs just now are keeping things watered, pond topped up and staking some of the tall flowers.

Eriphorum angustifolium in the pond
Eriphorum angustifolium

May – out with some old, and in with some new plants.

What is going on in the garden early May 2021?  Well I have to begin with the weird weather over the last month – According to the met office April 2021 had the lowest average minimun temperature for April in the UK since 1922, and the UK has seen it’s highest levels of air frost in 60 years.  BUT we had the sunniest April on record!  It was certainly a very dry month here in Edinburgh so I was constantly out with the hose.  I had bought biological controls called Nematodes to control levels of vine weevils and slugs in certain areas of the garden and these must be used within a certain time.  Ideally you wait until the soil temperature is consistentky up to 5 C and apply during rainfall.  Well that wasn’t possible but I had to use them up.  It is hard work using large watering cans and holding them out at arm’s length to apply the solutions so I ended up with a very sore back and shoulders for the next few days.  Being paraplegic means that I have very little in the way of core muscles so all the strain is taken by the shoulders and I can’t use both hands at once otherwise I will fall over.  Shame you can’t just sprinkle them on and hose them in.  I will ask for help the next time and I won’t be ordering them until May next year!

In the front garden the daffs have all gone over, as have the epimediums, mahonia, and the white periwinkle.  Disappointingly, only 3 of the tulips have flowered and 3 small irises.  My mum gave me a selection of irises from her garden and I have no idea what kind they are so I just lobed some of them in the diamond shaped bed out the front where they should get plenty of sunshine.

Out in the back garden, Harry dug out the Golden Japanese rush that was taking over the run-off area at the corner of the pond.  We planted some Primula beesiana and bulleyana in it’s place. In the pond we added some Typha minima (dwarf bulrush) and one yellow variegated iris.  He also planted 3 dogwoods in the clay area that the pigeons trample to death so hopefully these are sturdy enough to cope.  They look tiny just now though.  I will take a pic when they are looking bigger and better.

Golden varigated grass
Golden Japanese rush

I took out all of the Tierella from the stumpery as it wasn’t looking great.  It had gone all knobbly and hardly had any roots.  Perhaps vine weevil damage.  I replaced it with a Geranium pratense
‘Midnight Reiter’ as it has lovely dark purple foliage and should stay quite low as ground cover (but it is tiny just now).

The primula denticulata are going over now, as are the tulips and most of the narcissi.  Things doing well are the cowslips, forget-me-nots, brunnera, dicentra, pulmonaria, epimedium Rose queen, vinca, marsh marigolds, spirea, and the mossy saxifrage.  I do need to take out some of the moss by the curling stone to give the mossy saxifrage more room though.

border with narcissi
Narcissi going over
carpet of dicentra around rhododendron
Dicentra around the rhododendron
carpet of dicentra
Dicentra formosa bacchanal red
purple vinca in the stumpery
Vinca minor
stumpery in early May
Narcissi and cowslips in the stumpery
brunnera in the stumpery
Brunnera and mossy logs in the stumpery
mossy saxifrage next to curling stone
Mossy saxifrage and moss next to the curling stone

Mum was getting rid of her 2 troughs due to work getting done to her house so they have a new home here at the corner of the patio.  I am looking forward to seeing them in full bloom.  I do need to get some new pots for the patio too though.

alpine troughs from mum
Two alpine troughs from my mum’s garden.
trough with alpines
Left trough with alpines
trough with alpines
Right trough with alpines.

 

The Duddingston Kirk Garden Club held their first event since lockdown – The May plant sale!  It all went well and we followed the rules of being outdoors, one-way system, had contact-less payment (cash too) and it was just as popular as usual.  The weather was not pleasant as it was very cold. windy and wet but we were prepared with some gazebos over the tables.   I had a rubber mat for beneath my wheelchair so I didn’t churn up the soft ground which was a good idea..

Right now though, the weather has changed again – this time a little warmer with showers.  That should cheer the garden up and promote some lush growth (and weeds).