I can’t believe that January has all but gone and this is my first post of the year. With the garden thoroughly soaked and virtually impossible to walk on there won’t be any proper gardening posts for a while. But my short forays to feed the birds has given me lots of opportunity to take pictures of the early emerging flowers. Hellebore and the Iris Reticulata seem to have been my stalwarts so far.
As with many of us, this winter has been quite unusual, mostly for the unprecedented amount of rain that the UK has had to put up with. Strong winds have removed lots of dead bits from my trees so doing the job for me, warm weather is keeping me on my toes where the greenhouse is concerned and I have had to spray for fungus and mould several times in order to help the Auricula and Pelargonium survive, so far so good.
Soon I will be getting the heated propagators out. I do seem to have an inordinate amount of seed packets this year. Well variety is the spice of life, so I’ve heard. So apart from all the exotics that I am going to try to grow this year, I’ve opted for an unusual colour for sweetpeas, orange, ‘Henry Eckford’ named after a Scots horticulturist and a famous breeder of sweetpeas. Looking in the greenhouse today and the seed, which I only sown 10 days ago, is up and showing little noses.
What are you going to sow this year ? Anything unusual ? ….can’t wait to see the outcome……
from sewing room to potting shed 
The Iris are beautiful. I can fully appreciate the value of a greenhouse today. We have rain and no clear weather is forecast for the week. I’m not very good at amusing myself inside. Amelia
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I’ve filled my greenhouse properly for the first time in ages, this is the first time I have put all of the Auricula in there. I was fed up of having so many cracked and broken clay pots. The plants survive but the pots don’t. I can certainly find lots of indoor ‘stuff ‘ to do as I have my work room and lots of inspiration the vast collection of ‘rubbish’ I have. As they say ‘One mans rubbish is an other mans treasure’…..Sue
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Beautiful photos. One thing I’m going to try are dahlias. I’m still working on some showy annuals that will continue to flower but don’t need constant deadheading. If you have any suggestions, I’d sure appreciate them. đŸ™‚
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Thank you.I love some of the Dahlia and try to keep them year to year, it’s a bit hit and miss with me and here they are cheap to buy as tubers. I don’t use many annuals I tend to go for bi-annuals, many of which are tall and showy. Once finished I discard, I grow them constantly so there is a continuity each season. Things like Foxgloves, sweet rocket (my favorite), wallflowers,pansys and viola to name a few. I hope you find something soon. Sue
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Lovely little irises. Oh my goodness, you are trying some exotic seeds this year. Looking forward to hearing how you get on with them.
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Thanks I love a challenge, I know there will be a lot of failures but it makes me appreciate the successes. A couple from the past few years are the Gloriosa Lily and Maurandya . The lily is a good sized tuber now and the maurandya seeds for me. I will post all of my successes and failures later in the year. Sue.
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Gosh, planting already! And it is February today – time seems to pass faster and faster
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I know, and I don’t like looking in the mirror any more…. ah well… Sue
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That deep purple iris is stunning, I demand to know its name!
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Hi, if I knew, you would have it, it’s some bulbs I got from the market last year, unnamed. I will see how they do after flowering. Sue
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It’s strange how you have had it that much wetter than we have and we are barely 30 miles apart. Good to hear what is going on. Here I lost early sown viola to aphids but have several other autumn sown things including sweet peas. Now need to go through the rest of my seeds for Feb sowings!
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These are indeed exciting times, I just love sowing seeds. I think I must have been a nursery ‘man’ in a previous life or working in the Nottingham lace factories what with my other obsession ‘read’ passion.
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Very nice reticulatas! I will miss mine, since I couldn’t take all the bulbs when we moved.
Happy sowing, there is always something new and exciting!
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