Cookies Corner!

I was certain it said Chinese Fan Palm on the label when I got it all those years ago - but the label is long gone so I can't check! I bow to your greater knowledge there Pete.

I'm not very genned up on proper names of things!

 

Very nice photos and what a lovely garden you must have Cookie Monster ... I felt like I had a tour around it!

I also have a Bleeding Heart set at the back of a border just creeping above the conifer. They are so pretty ... I love them!
In-fact I also have a couple of others plants that you have in my garden.

 

Lovely C M but bite the bullet and get rid of those sumach suckers or you will regret it.

 

Lovely pics cookie

Love all the exotics and the eucalyptus really has taken off hasn`t it? :eek:

The buzzard is a fantastic bird and we have them regularly flying around here. Mrs Pip and I were out on a train ride to Chester yesterday and we saw three buzzards two of which were disturbed by the train as it trundled through Delamere forest and took flight from very close range, aren`t they a big bird?

 

Thanks Nutty - I know your advice about the suckers is right - I just hate doing it! The only reason I have sumachs is because I took pity on the suckers my mum was digging up in her own garden from her tree and took them back to Devon and gave them a home with me! I'm a hopeless softie!

Ta Pip! The Eucalyptus...aherm... yep, it needed cutting down about 4 years ago really! - Still it is good for privacy!!!! Although the branches keep tapping on the bedroom window in the wind, scaring the pants off any guests we have - it is worth keeping for that alone!

Good grief - it must be years since I heard Delamere Forest mentioned last! I grew up in Liverpool and remember very fondly, a few trips out for the day there. It is a lovely part of the world. Great to hear the buzzards are doing as well up your way as they are down here. They are big birds!



I also have very lovely memories of the Martin Mere Wildfowl Trust near Ormskirk. Not sure if you are near here? A wonderful place to visit. I remember being very young when I first went there and there was a lady offering the children bread rolls as they went in. I politely refused, even after much persuasion, thinking they were meant for me! Nobody told me they were for feeding the birds!

 

Thanks Passion Flower! Another West Country Lass I see. Thanks to WOO I am now going to call the garden 'Informal' from now on rather than a complete mess!
Bleeding hearts are beauties aren't they. I was tempted to buy a white one recently but thought they were having a laugh with the price so didn't. Sorry now. I wonder if they are as hardy as the more common pink version?

Lets see a pic of your garden PF!

 

Keep the pics coming CM, nice one of the Buzzards.
BTW there were Cattle Egrets sighted at Tamerton Foliot other side of Plymouth today, just thought you might like to know, no Spoonbills though, nearest one was on the exe estuary.

 

Morning Cookie!

An absolutely gorgeous garden! So much character, beautiful kitty and i love your little feeding station! Like a sparra cafe :D

I lurrve ornamental blossom trees! Your plums are right down and street, and saying such things i wander if you and James would fancy a day with lunch and an easy wander around when we're both feeling strong enough for a meet up? Seems criminal not to when we're so close :D

 

Well the red hot pokers that mum gave me have flowered .... but sadly the last 2 days of heavy rain brought disaster in the night - this is what greeted me this morning... :(

Other parts are doing ok though....



The Hawthorn Paul's Scarlett has survived last years uprooting and has blossomed..



My Acer is shining in full leaf



The shady corner is looking lush - it is a great year for my ferns and I love Ajuga (Bugle) when it is in flower.



The Alchemilla Mollis is springing up and looking beautiful with the water droplets it makes look like diamonds in the sunlight

 

Our House Martin's have moved back in to their nest. As you can see, they are very security conscious!

However, they flit in and out far too quickly for my reflexes to catch them!

 

I love your garden cookie! I far prefer interesting and informal to neat and tidy (though admire such work!). My own garden comes in the first category too! :D

You are so much further ahead than us - noticed a fushia in flower in one of your first pics. mine is only just poking through the ground! Does that mean everything finnishes before us too - or do you just have a longer season?!?

Fabulous nesting spot for your housemartins! More pics please!

 

Why thanks Jarbax - that is kind of you to say!

Yes my fuchsia bush started very early this year with having had such a mild winter down here. I think our season is quite long but blossom time can be very short as we get strong winds which can bring a loose blossom down in a day! - or in my case last year, ... the whole tree!

We are mild down here but did get frosted last month - my hydrangeas got scalded by the frost but they are starting to show little flower heads appearing ok. I am thrilled to have a self seeded foxglove growing in the garden too - I love them and saw that they were £5.99 for scrawny examples at the local garden centre this week - all windbourne freebies very welcome!

As you can see from the red hot pokers - slugs are my main concern at the mo, but having cats makes me loathe to put the pellets down. I may try the Tesco value lager trap route though!

I'd love to see your garden Jarb - why not start a running thread on yours too?!

I'm going to take some more pics tomorrow if it doesn't rain - my snowball bush is in full flower and the ceanothus is look nice too. It's all getting a bit out of hand outside though, so I'll have to do some cutting back as it is overhanging the pavement. Don't want to be sued by a pedestrian that my honeysuckle tries to strangle!

More photos soon then !

 

I bought three fair perennial foxglove specimins in Tesco for £1.79 each last week - definitely worth a look!

I feel your pain re the slugs! Last year they demolished my first ever lillies, before the buds had opened! If you have a pond (frogs?) and are keen on wildlife, it is a good idea to steer clear of slug pellets anyway (I know some say they are safe for wildlife, but if a songthroush eats enough poisoned slugs.feeds them to it's young - it is bound to suffer.

I do go round on night patrols, picking them off, then 're-locating' them. It is a good excuse to have a wander in the garden at night - it is a different, and often sweetly scented place!

I have been meaning to ever since I joined! I think I am put off by the dauning task of locating all the 'before' pics! It is quite a different place now. Maybe this is the push I need! Thanks!



Look forward to seeing pics of your snowball bush and ceanothus, so long as you get to your honeysuckle, before it gets to a pedestrian!!!

P.S. Hope you don't mind me practicing my 'quoting' techniques!

 

My Azalea and alchemilla mollis by the doorstep. Does anyone know which azalea variety this is? It is one of the long term residents planted here before I came.





The driveway trees have bushed out since the photos in March....



I know they are going to get too big for this spot but I will just stop parking the car here rather than interfere with the trees!


This is ACER DRUMMUNDII


and this is my laburnum....

now in lovely blossom...


Here is my self-sown foxglove - looks like it isn't a native pink variety but a light cream flower!