Here we are in December and another GBBD post.  Whilst there is interst in the garden it is generally from foilage, coloured bark or the shapes left my the dying perennials.

The only flowering plant I could find was this Mahonia xMedia Charity.  Its a lovely plant that just gets on with things but comes into its own at this time of year.  Its an excellent plant to have if you are concerned with providing food for the insect population.  Being heavily scented it soon attracts any insects which are out and about at moment.  The Mahonia also will do well in the shade and in my case is happy growing in the lee of my neighbour’s sycamore tree which is a plus.

So thats my GBBD post for December 09.  Last December there was more colour and I even had a Hydrangea still in flower!

For more GBBD posts visit Carol at May Dreams

Back in August I joined in VP’s regular series of posts about public planting.  I wrote a post about the planting at my local library which I was very impressed with.  Of course being August the planting was looking especially good but I have continued to be impressed as the seasons have changed and we have now reached winter.

The border along the right of the path has been planted with Echinacea, Guara, grasses and other pairie type planting.  Whilst the perennials have died down the grasses are still looking good even in December.

You can see from this photo that the garden designer has used some good structural plants which are really coming into their own at the moment.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the spring – I do hope that there are some bulbs hidden away which will take the planting to another level.

I found this planting quite restful which is very appropriate, given that the town’s war memorial is the central focus. If only more authorities could be abit more open minded with their public planting!

In my one before last  post I moaned about this time of year and not getting a gardening fix and how I was feeling depressed.  Well I have taken quite a leap forward from that position thanks to Fergus Garrett, of Great Dixter fame. 

On Monday of this week I went, with some other gardening friends, to a local horticultural society where Fergus was going to be speaking.  I hadn’t realised that it was their AGM so we had to sit through a review of their finances and justification of buying new tables etc, election of officers and information about their programme for next year (Bob Brown & Ursula Buchan were mentioned so may be going back!).  All abit tideous but amusing when its not your club!

However, the evening improved once Fergus took over.  He speaks so well conveying his passion and enthusiasm for the planting style that has been developed at Great Dixter.  His talk started with a bit of history on Great Dixter and some wonderful black and white photos of the house when it was first bought and how it was developed.  We then moved onto the actual planting looking how different communities of plants worked together in different locations and more importantly, and what I was waiting for, how to use different plants together to create successional planting but also structural interest. 

Whilst I have quite a few of Christopher Lloyd’s books listening to Fergus talk about the subject with photos to demonstrate what he meant, and there were alot of photos, was truely inspirational.  I came home with lots of ideas buzzing around in my head so much so that unusually for me I had to sit down and write them out before they were forgotten.  To give you some hints  there was a magical sweep of Ammi majus which I have grown in the past but not planted in such a big clump; a lovely little area where snowdrops were planted under ferns so the snowdrops flowered first and then the ferns grew up and disquised the dying foilage of the snowdrops; fantastic use of pots in displays which are refreshed every 2 weeks; and a lovely combination of planting growing out of a dry stone wall.  All of these I can immediately see that I can incorporate, albeit on a very small scale, into my garden.  But more importantly it was the attitude to how plants could be used and how to look to see what would work with what that really triggered something in my brain, quite an achievement given how slow it has been recently. 

So I am feeling very inspired and positive.  So this Sunday, the first opportunity I will have had, I will be looking round the garden to see how I can put some of the lessons I learnt into practice, even if it means staring out of the window through the rain.   If you get a chance to hear Fergus talk I would really recommend it.

The photo is of Dahlia Blaisdon Red taken at The Tynings, Stoulton, Worcestershire - an NGS garden

I do find this time of year challenging in terms of gardening and in turn my sanity. Whilst obviously there is plenty of tidying up to do in the garden the weather this past month in Worcestershire has been so wet that it has been impossible to do any tidying up. Even when it wasn’t raining the ground is so sodden that you really don’t want to work outside and as for the chilly wind that really puts me off. I am one of those people that really needs a fix of the garden to help with stress relief especially with the shorter days which seem to find me going to work and coming home in the dark.

How to get my fix?  I have a ridiculous pile of gardening magazines tittering on the edge of my coffee table some of them dating back to August.  This either demonstrates that I subscribe to too many magazines or/and that I just never have time to read them.  In theory if I can’t get out into the garden I should have plenty of time to read gardening magazines but for some reason I have this in built guilt trip that sitting reading a magazine is lazy and I should be doing something more pro-active such as painting the kitchen! 

Then of course there are the seed catalogues which I drool over when they first arrive.  After a first perusal I put them to one side, along with the magazines, with the intention of considering them unmass and making a strategic plan as to what I actually want to grow and having a planting plan for the front garden etc.  Instead what usually happens is I end up panicing in January/February and ordering things on a whim so have a chaos of plants with no idea of what will go where and with what.  So really I should be using my spare time to consider this now and to dream of the halcyon days of summer when I can admire the success of my plans but we all know that just won’t happen.

I could also catch up on my garden blog reading, maybe I could get inspiration from one of my fellow bloggers, get a bright idea to put into action for next year or find a post that amuses and diverts me.  Unfortunately, being less than a month to Christmas and because many others are fustrated at the lack of gardening there is little variety out there.

There seems to be no substitute for getting out in the garden and getting my hands dirty so I will just have to grit my teeth and try to look ahead to the spring when I can start to feel optimistic and positive. Maybe I should draw up a list of projects for the spring and maybe this winter I could actually get my act together and do a sensible seed buying list – I will have to dig deep and find a positive viewpoint otherwise this blog is going to sink to new time low!

The picture at the top is a Helianthus – a nice cheery yellow one.

I’m listening to Top Gear with one ear (the boys are watching it) – Guy Ritchie has just done a pretty slow lap

I have mentioned my diddy greenhouse in passing several times and sometimes I have shown a photo of the interior but I thought today I would give you the extensive tour!!

These photos are taken from the doorway.  To your left you have the Dahlia tubers drying out, below are some Lobelia Tupa which I havent planted out yet and panicked I would lose over the winter

Looking to the right (above), this is my work area.  As you can see there is nowhere to work! The pots with gravel on top are full of Iris reticulata bulbs which I am trying to bring on to sell at the garden club’s plant sale in the New Year.  My Pineapple Lilies are looking rather sad and I really need to tidy them up.

Second shelf of the workbench and more chaos.  I think I need to do some potting up, at least it will be warmer in the greenhouse.  There is only one problem though…..

  there is nowhere to stand! 

I really must have a proper sort out and tidy up but even when I have done that I don’t think there will be much space.  A friend of mine was telling me how he had cleaned his greenhouse out for the winter and it was empty, I just can’t understand that approach – can you?!!!

It is time to starting thinking about decorating the house for the festive season. Those nice people at Dobies have very kindly sent me an artifical Christmas tree to try out.

The box arrived about a week ago and this weekend the boys and I decided to have a look and see what it was like.  It was very simple to assemble, my son reckoned that a 5 year old could put it up.  The tree is 5ft and was in two sections which simply slotted together.  The tree comes with ‘rice lights’ which are abit like LED lights I suppose, so there is no hassle with putting lights on the tree which came as a wonderful relief as this is, in my opinion, the worst bit of putting up a Christmas tree real or artificial.

This tree comes in two different sizes – 5ft and 7ft.  Dobies have a wide range of artificial trees available as well as real ones. They also have a wide range of lights and other accessories and guarantee delivery within 3-5 days or, of course, you can go direct to one of their stores.

We now just have to get the rest of the Christmas decorations out of the loft so we can finish decorating the tree and making the rest of the house festive.

Yet another month is over and I dont  seem to have made any progress in tidying up the garden since my last month’s end post. Its either been too wet or I haven’t been here or been poorly! Oh well never mind at least at this time of year plants aren’t growing out of hand and its only really a case of me not liking to see it untidy.

The new border is looking abit bare at the moment. There are still some Agastache which probably need removing.  I haven’t decided yet whether I should pull them up or cut them down to see if they come back next year.  I have collected some seed from them so should be covered either way.

A view I dont normally show across the back of the garden. I couldn’t take any other photos of the back garden as the ground was just so sodden.

The patio (which I hate) is looking abit sad now.  I have been rushing around for the last half hour bringing in the tender plants as they ar forecasting the first real hard frost of the year.

My dinky greenhouse before the rest of the tender plants were put in.  I can’t now get in the greenhouse.

Last month’s ‘End of Month’ view is here and previous month’s here

Here is my second watercolour attempt – a pear! Its abit ragged round the edges but I am quite pleased with it. I did it using the wet on wet technique which is fun.  Next week I have to take some open mushrooms to the class so the tutor can show me some other technique.

Feeling miserable today as have fluey cold so tucked up on the so with my youngest’s laptop catching up on blogs.

Anyone who regularly stops by this blog will know that I have an addiction to packets of seeds.  I just can’t resist them in the garden centre, have to buy the magazine if there is a free packet with it and am always on the look out for a new supplier.  My favourite supplier at the moment is Jungle Seeds but I also really like Plants of Disctinction and Special Plants.  Despite my weakness I can be quite restrained when confronted with their brochures – setting myself a budget and scanning the photos and description with care. I ponder will this grow in my garden, would it sell well at the plant sale, does it need any special attention for germination.  All very laudable and sensible.

However, we are now entering a dangerous period of the year.  It is now that the Cottage Garden Society and Hardy Plant Society send our their seed distribution lists.  I also know that the RHS does one but I have deliberately not joined the RHS as I think the seed list would be the final undoing of me. 

I don’t know what it is about these lists but I loose all sense of reason.  Maybe its the way they are presented.  A booklet with a list of plant names all in alphebetical order but with no descriptions, no photos – just the name. Ranging from Abutilon to Zinnia, passing by Embothrium, Onobrychis and Telekia on the way. I scan the lists quickly ignoring those plants I have grown in the past.  I am attracted to those I have never heard of.  Out come the books which I scan feverishly.  I start marking up the lists with ticks and asterisks, my selection grows and grows.  There is a flat rate for the seeds – in the case of the CGS £4 for 15 packets of seeds and if you have donated seeds (which I have done) an additional 8 packets.  Now my sensible head tells me that not all of the seed will germinate, some will be complete failures and some won’t even be what they are labelled to be but this doesn’t stop me filling in the form with my short list and my alternatives.  I rush to do it as the orders are filled on a first come first served basis and I don’t want to end up with the left overs as happened a couple of years ago.  

My order is completed for the Cottage Garden Society and has been dispatched, no doubt the Hardy Plant Society one will arrive shortly and I will go through the whole process again but trying not to request the same seeds twice.

Now there is a long wait until mid January when one day a lovely jiffy bag will flop through the letter box and I get to see what seeds I have been allocated – its like a gorgeous lucky dip!