GARDENER'S WORD

I love value for money, like most people, and when I bought a couple of trays of the fibrous begonia 'Heaven White' in early spring, I was not expecting to be enjoying two of the plants right into December.  As mentioned in an earlier post , I brought them indoors when the frost started to nip at them.  At first they were not happy at being dug out of the ground, cut back, stuffed into pots, then put in a far warmer environment in what I call my breakfast room.  I thought for a while they might not survive, but they have.  My kitchen window bottom and the breakfast bar that face East are the only places that my cat doesn't tread and that get enough, barely enough, sunlight to keep plants over winter.  Fortunately, begonias do not demand a lot of sunlight. The two Heaven White begonias, of course, aren't quite as splendid as they were in the garden as they are having to deal with quite a big change of environment as well as a bit of ...

I cannot make out what is going on with the weather today.   Is it freezing or is it not?  Early this morning, all was icy outdoors.  Grass was white, my car was frozen solid.  The strong winds that have been promised by the weather-forecasters have not yet arrived but the rain has and there is a southerly breeze.  It's a drizzly kind of rain right now and, at this point, instead of the ice just disappearing, I discovered that black ice is turning my patio into a skating rink, and that some of the climbing plants that are exposed to the wind and rain at the top of the fence are turning white and very pretty as if they have an edging of lace.   I think it must be thawing a little but all the grass is still white.  How odd. 

I am always so pleased when I see that people from different places, different countries, have taken the time to visit my website and read my posts, and look at the images I provide.  It often makes me wonder who you are and where you are living, and what your life is like.  Gardeners all seem to have one thing in common - complaints about the weather.  When I lived in the Caribbean, it was virtually impossible to grow some plants because of the heat and I have found that I can grow a much wider range of plants high on the Pennine Mountains of West Yorkshire, England.  It can be so windy here, so cold in winter, that it is surprising that anything survives.  But this isn't the Antarctica, nor is it the Arctic, and plants do.   Take the viola for example... Large patch of white on the violas is snow that has not yet thawed.  Violas are survivors It's incredible to think that I was growing violas throughout summer too.  Am...

I cut some roses a few days ago that were suffering from the winter chill in my garden.  It's amazing that, although they can look so miserable outside, as if the flowers are almost hugging themselves against the sub-zero temperatures, they soon open out beautifully in a warm room.  Of course, some are beyond saving but others, well, they can look just perfect.  Below is a photo of one of the yellow Arthur Bell roses that I picked several days ago and mentioned in an earlier post .  So lovely and fresh; a touch of summer in winter.  Just look at the gold stamens at the centre of the roses.  How wasted it would have been outside where I could not appreciate it.  Arthur Bell - 02 December 2012     Today is beautifully sunny with a blue, clear sky but the garden remains frozen despite the sun.  There is a warning of snow here on the Pennines of Yorkshire.  Already a friend in the not-so-distant north-east has told ...