Gardening

[Hugo]

Rarest plant flowers at secret nursery refuge

One of the world's rarest plants - with just four known examples left in the wild - has flowered at a nursery set up to try to prevent the decline of Wales' Arctic alpine species.

Snowdonia hawkweed - nicknamed "the Welsh dodo" - was thought to be extinct until a plant was found in 2002 in Eryri National Park


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjdzvdgn87mo

[Hugo]

I do like to see a nice garden but to be honest I don't know that much about plants and shrubs and have made many mistakes over the years and this year is no exception
I had some nice Campanula in my front border, a lovely lavender blue colour and a cream coloured variety.    When they are growing and before they flower they just look like long grasses and that is what I thought they were when I pulled them out!    Not wanting to make the same mistake in the middle border I let the "grasses" grow and they turned ou to be grasses so I pulled them out too
Hopefully I'll learn by my mistakes in the future

[Hugo]

It has been a busy week in the garden for me as I have had to remove a number of mature shrubs from a border and digging the roots out has been hard work.     It's partly my own fault for planting the shrubs too close and they all looked lanky and untidy so it was time for them to go
I was also going to trim the hedges but the wind up on the Heights this week has been relentless with metal furniture and heavy pots getting blown over so I opted to mow the lawn instead
Whenever I go in the garden now I always use factor 50 Sun creme and a hat with a very wide brim for protection and it nearly blew off a few times

[Hugo]

Earlier in the season I was complaining about the amount of Dandelions I had in the garden this year and that they had such a short stem that the mower blades often missed them but today I noticed something different.        I still have a lot of them but they all have long stems, ideal for the mower but not today as it's far too hot to go outside.
When I do mow the grass I'm careful not to mow the Common Spotted Orchid that has grown in the lawn.      A few years ago I did move one Orchid to the relative safety of a border at the back of the garden and it has been doing well but yesterday I saw that it had been trampled on by our dog Teddy but it will survive

[Hugo]

The Hydrangea and Agapanthus will have done  well if they survive this Storm today

[Hugo]

I was tidying up some ornamental Poppies in my window box when I discovered a small Oak Tree  that had been growing amongst them.    For a moment I wondered how it had got there but remembered something from a few years back
I went to Sycharth, the home of Owain Glyndwr the last Welsh Prince of Wales  and collected a few acorns from the Oak Trees that were growing there.
I put them in my shed for storage but when I went to look for them most of them had gone so I expect that the Squirrels had come in and pinched them and buried them in various places in the garden
The little Oak Tree will have to stay there for a while until I am able to move it elsewhere

[Hugo]

Coronilla citrina, or Coronilla valentina subsp. glauca 'Citrina', is a fragrant, evergreen shrub with lemon-yellow, pea-like flowers that bloom from winter into mhttp://www.threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=post;topic=148.1395;last_msg=133292#id-spring. It features bluish-grey foliage, making it a versatile plant for sheltered, sunny spots in gardens, containers, or trained against walls. This Mediterranean native is pollinator-friendly and can reach about 90cm in height as a shrub, or up to 180cm when trained against a wall.
I saw an advert in the Daily Mirror about 6 weeks ago advertising the above shrub and it sounded really attractive so I phoned Thompson & Morgan and orded 2 plants for a total of £22.98 including P & P and had been looking forward very much for their arrival

Yesterday, they came and this is what I received and paid for!      The old saying "if it looks too good to be true then it usually isn't" immediately came to mind
I don't know whether to plant those shrubs and hope for the best or just give them the last rights now

I haven't contacted the supplier or trip advisor yet but will do it soom

[Hugo]

I have repotted those "shrubs " I received but they don't look healthy and have a poor root system so I gave them a liquid feed and the Last Rites and will keep my fingers crossed on their survival
It's many many years since I bought anything from Thompson & Morgan and I can remember why now  " if something looks too good to be true then it probably is"   
I've moved the firm to Spam on my laptop  as I won't be fealing with them again

[Hugo]

The Giant Begonias are easy to grow and are covered in a mass of flowers.    The only trouble is that they are susceptible to heavy rain and high winds and unfortunately we have had both this last week

[Hugo]

Storm Benjamin finished off the last of my Giant Begonias.   the rain was torrential and after a short break the Hailstones came and the garden and driveway turned white. but soon melted
Today I cleaned the pots out and replanted them with a variety of Daffodils ready for the Spring