GARDENER'S WORD

Last year I decided that the beautiful Japanese maple, Acer palmatum 'Katsura', growing in my garden was causing a lot of shade underneath and was stopping other plants from growing there. Further, it was encroaching on the dwarf apple tree in front of it.  I contacted a friend who has a large and beautiful estate in the south of England with many Japanese maples and was encouraged to 'go at it!' with shears or whatever and turn it into a tree rather than a large shrub.  It was August 2024 and I decided to 'go at it' with pruners and a Japanese Niwaki saw. Now it is a fabulous multi-stemmed tree which forms a canopy and allows underplanting.  You can see where most of the pruning has been done in the below image. April 2025 May 2025 To make the most out of limited space, growing multi-stemmed trees is a perfect solution if you want to have trees in your small garden. I have two dwarf apple trees, two Japanese maples (the other is Jordan), as well as a hydrangea ...

For a number of years I used a tall bird feeding station for hanging bird feeders but I've moved them elsewhere as I wanted to use the station for hanging plants. I shortened the station and have only hung four lightweight plastic pots containing trailing pelargoniums/geraniums which can stand dry conditions and therefore don't need to be heavy with moisture (like hostas, for example); the bird feeding station would not stand seriously heavy weight. The station is set into a circular base which keeps it stable.  The pots (and the dustbin ) are painted with chalk paint, decorated with rub-on transfers, and protected against sunshine and rain with UV protective lacquer.  I got the trailing pelargoniums/geraniums through the post and they were a little slow to get growing but they are doing well now with flower buds forming. The bird feeding station is by Tom Chambers, as is the base I chose which is suitable for patios. 

Nothing like decorating things to cheer up winter months indoors. I decided to chalk paint the pots and stick some rub-on transfers on them to make them cheery. For this one I used  Annie Sloan chalk paint and 'Flamingo Pink Small Transfer' ReDesign by Prima. The pot was protected both inside and out with Annie Sloan lacquer , two coats of gloss lacquer and a final coat of matt lacquer. 

One of my most recent garden projects was the dustbin. After painting every pot and tub that I wanted to paint, I ran out of ideas - until my eyes caught sight of the dustbin. It certainly does cheer up that little corner of no plants.  It's painted with custom colours of Annie Sloan chalk paint and coated with Annie Sloan lacquer (matt on top of gloss). The 'Lavender Bush' rub-on transfers are by Re-Design by Prima, as are 'Dreamy Florals' on the dustbin lid.