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Category Archives: Our Garden@19

Spring (ing) into action!

26 Friday Mar 2021

Posted by Brian Skeys in Gardening, General Interest, Our Garden@19, Plantlife, The Life of Brian., Wildlife

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

Bees, Cherry blossom, Daffodils, Narcissus, Primrose, spring

This winter in Our Garden@19 has been busy with ‘Estate Maintenance’. I previously posted about replacing the trellis and fence in the white and green garden, then as now my brother Derek has been my right hand man.

Replacing the entrance to the propagation area was the simplest of our recent efforts. We gave it an oriental look.

Continuing with the oriental theme, our neighbour’s fence at the back of the oriental garden started to fall over with the weight of the ivy and snow. I decided to cut back the ivy and erect a new fence on my side.

Note the badger path underneath the fence.

Then painted it black to tie in with the rest of this area.

A moon window was added to look into the room.

Next on the list was rebuilding the raised beds.

The old obelisks I built when we came here were dismantled and rebuilt, hopefully with more style, to a design by Geoff Hamilton.

Broad Bean Scarlet Flower and Sweet Peas started in pots now planted out.

These early spring bulbs and flowers have been cheering me up on sunny days. Please click on gallery pictures to enlarge.

Back to the oriental garden.

  • Black Bamboo

In the rest of the garden…

  • Discovered in woods at Great Dixter.

The pollinators have also been taking advantage of the sunshine.

What is springing you into action this spring?

A seasonal delight – in winter.

23 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by Brian Skeys in Gardening, Guest publisher, Our Garden@19, Plantlife, The Life of Brian.

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

iris, Winter

Guest Publisher Leonie Creighton.

Leonie is a knowledgeable and enthusiastic gardener she is the minutes secretary to the Black Pear Gardening Club. I have invited her as guest publisher for this seasonally appropriate article she wrote for the club newsletter.

IRIS UNGUICULARIS.

One of my favourite plants at this time of year is IRIS UNGUICULARIS (I.stylosa) Algerian Iris.

This lovely flower is native to Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey , Greece and Syria where it grows in light scrub,open pine woods and rocky places.

It flowers from late autumn to early spring when so few plants are in flower. The flowers are beautifully scented, in shades of lavender to deep violet with a yellow throat.

This winter flowering Iris is easy to grow in well drained soil in full sun. Plant near a wall to help maintain the soils heat. I grow it in a raised bed that’s in full sunlight for most of the day, but that said I also grow it in a woodland area in partial sunlight and it is still happy but doesn’t flower quite so well. It is also useful to grow at the base of clematis as they like their heads in the sun and their roots in shade and it helps to hide the bare base of the clematis and keep its roots cool.

Plant it so that the rhizomes are just below the surface of the soil and 10cm (4in) apart.

It produces an evergreen mound of narrow, arching grass like foliage. This foliage does become brown and bit untidy but can easily be trimmed back to keep it looking good.

A top dressing of bone meal or potash in either autumn or spring is beneficial but look out for snails hiding among the leaves.

It dislikes being moved, but if you have to disturb it do it in spring after flowering. It may sulk for a while before it starts to flower again.

This is a long lived plant. I grow the species variety from divisions taken off my mother’s plant that has been growing in her garden for probably fifty years.

Two other very nice named varieties are ‘Mary Barnard’ which has a lovely velvety blue-purple flower, a much more intense colour than the species.

‘Mary Barnard’

Also, ‘Walter Butt’ a ghostly pale grey-blue , but with a heavenly scent.

‘Walter Butt’

Flowering: November-March

Hardiness: Fully hardy

Height: 30-45cm

Did you Know : Iris was a Greek goddess, the personification of the rainbow, which she used as her pathway though the sky.   

Leonie Creighton.

Happy New Year.

01 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by Brian Skeys in Gardening, General Interest, Our Garden@19, Photography, Plantlife, The Life of Brian.

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

New Year, Snow, Videos

Winter visited Our Garden@19 towards the end of 2020.

Flowering in the house and keeping warm is the Christmas Cactus.

Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera)

From the bathroom window we can see the snow-capped Malvern Hills.

Snow boot painted by the Grandchildren as a Christmas present.

A snowy video tour of the garden wishing you a Happy New Year please turn your sound on and select full screen.

Thaw.

Over the land freckled with snow half-thawed

The speculating rooks at their nests cawed

And saw from elm-tops, delicate as flower of grass,

What we below could not see, Winter pass.

EDWARD THOMAS (1878-1917)

Thank you for visiting Brimfields.com during 2020, hopefully, some of you may be able to visit the garden in person later this year if we are able to open for the village church funds in May.

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