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I rarely buy plants let alone spend twenty quid on a plant but this Cymbidium 'Ice Cascade' was reduced from £42 and it has plenty of new growth coming through for next winter as well as a couple of emerging flower stems.............

 

Pushkin, just googled Astilbe and planning to order a few for myself. Love learning about something new. Sounds as though they need a lot of watering in summer though - how do you find that, if you have grown before?

 

I currently only own one Astilbe in a large self watering container.
It has a reservoir at the bottom to store some of the water when watered.

The two new ones are going in the ground under my pergola where it's always damp.
My ferns are thriving under there so hopefully they will be OK there too.

 

Ate asparagus for the first time in my life last week.

Went out and bought four asparagus roots from Wilko at £2 for 2 roots.
Potted them up and they are in my greenhouse.
Needless to say I liked the taste of them.

 

Astilbes are a favourite here cassie
Have several and all now are large plants.
They are best in the ground though......in heavy moisture retentive soil. Despite that they thrive in my sandy loam but plenty of organic matter goes into and around the planting hole. Plus a thick mulch in spring. In dry times some extra water will help them enjoy life. They will wither away in dry soils.
Fanal is an excellent variety......superb copper coloured foliage in spring and then dark red flowers later
Pushkin, yep, where ferns grow so will astilbes and they look good together too

 

Popped into our local Emporium on the way back from the local nature reserve we were visiting and spotted this lovely cyclamen and pot on their cheap shelf so for £3 for plant and pot I thought it was a good bargain and Mr Kandy agreed.When we got round to the till the young girl queried with her boss as to whether £3 was just for the plant and then extra (£6.99) for the pot.I turned round and said if I was going to be expected to pay extra for the pot then I didn’t want it because as far as I was concerned the pot sticker on the side said £3 so that was what I intended to pay for it

The boss and young girl on the till said that sometimes the plants and pots were sold separately and sometimes they were sold together,but when Mr Kandy said that both were one inside the other on the cheap shelf,so with that the young girl said take it and charged us £3 I should think so as the chap who owns this place is making a fantastic profit with the plants,restaurant,fruit and veg,ice rink at Xmas and all the tat he sells so it isn’t that he is short of a few bob

PS,I have already pollinated the cyclamen flowers so looking forward to collecting some seeds hopefully to sow and grow on although it is an indoor one

 

Tescos are selling two fruit trees for £10. (or £6 each). Tempted to get a pear tree as I do like pears.

 

@Verdun Do you reckon it's possible to pleach conference pears?

 

Hiya Snorky
Do you mean pleached? If so, not really. As I understand it, branches are twisted to grow into one another. Fruiting and pruning would be quite a test.
Trained as espaliers or cordons they are excellent...provided they are spur bearers and Conference is a spur bearer. Good pollinator too

 

Ha ha I mean espalier actually. I thought it was one in the same thing but now I know it's not. ha ha

Might treat myself to some for the front garden.

 

Iris Sibirica " Lavendelwein "


£1 from Poundland. Good plant with 5 shoots on it ☺

 

Snorky, if you have the patience and enjoy the process go for maiden trees at a specialist nursery....Deacons on the Isle of Wight for example have a huge range of fruif trees online.
They are far better than trees already fashioned on a bamboo framework and considerably cheaper. Then you can train a set of tiered branches one a year to fit your location
Pollination note: although Conference will fruit on its own a pollinator will make a huge difference

 

Well I thought I'd give these a go purely as they were so cheap...2 for £10. And if I am rubbish at doing them then it's no major loss. Worth a go on the cheap eh?

 

Do it Snorky! At that price you have nothing to lose How big/developed are the trees? I think the young 'whip' trees (just a stick with roots) are easiest to start an espalier with.

 

Not really plant related unless you count the flax but I love my linen bedding.
Thomas Ferguson and McCaw and Allan linen from Ireland. Ive a flat sheet turning up this week from McCaw to complete my recent orders.