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Hi Feverfew, I've started to hoe around the flowerbeds as the soil is compacted after all the rain, but I am being careful where the bulbs are coming through now.

Yes Karen, and we are supposed to have a cold snap at the end of February.

That’s a very pretty Hebe Shirley.

Josie, I'm looking forward to the survey findings. I miss the Blackbirds we used to have in our garden. As I've often said over the past two years, since the new neighbours hacked so much down we don't see the Blackbirds very often now ... :o((

Oh that's a real shame Karen. I just viewed it on-line, a beauty. Still, the D. Bholua is thriving.

Did I? That must have been a while ago! Just think of all the lovely new plants, trees and shrubs you now have though Karen ... :o)

Thanks both ... I love it!

Thank you HB..Tom Thumb looks very moody!

Thank you Bernie, I enjoyed the saunter around those beautiful gardens with you. Roll on summer here. It’s been awfully cold.

How lovely these look. We have magpies that visit our ground level birdbaths and purposefully put bread in them to soak. They leave it about 1/2 hour and come back, fish it out to eat.!!

The colours are really singing out though..lovely to see

Well it’s Feb now & I hope things get better for you, especially your tendon. These things take time. As for the scaffolding, it always stays up far longer than you want. I hope the Daffs etc recover too, when they eventually see the light

Lovely crisp winters day!

Well well…look at that. It’s loving being outside!

Wow! That’s incredible! Well done keeping it through all weather challenges!

Oh Eileen…I am the same. Feeling so sorry for myself. I’ve been ill for 6 of the last 8 weeks and here I am yet again…the Third virus of this winter, going into the second week of this one. Laid up and fully medicated yet again. How I wish Little Niamh didn’t go to Nursery sometimes! She brings a new bug home every month! Sometimes more! I hope your leg heals up well. Honestly! If it’s not one thing, it’s another! Spring will soon be here…….x

It’s a beauty!

Aw…you sent me a seedling of this Shirley. It’s lovely. Aw…all those gorgeous plants I had to leave in Scotland.

I love Daphnes. Not so keen on. Ezereum though as It never came through the winter for me. But my D. Bholua is a joy.

I find the purple ones aren’t as tough as the green ones. Some of the larger leaved ones are actually tough as old boots. It’s a case of trial and error I think. This one is pretty. My glaucous ones have actually been flowering a little.

I did the bird survey. No finches though. I don’t know what’s happened to them. We used to have lots of green finches & the odd group of gold finches, but haven’t seen any for a long time, no chaffinches either. Lots of sunflower hearts there, mostly eaten by tits. Robins, black birds & dunnock eat the bits that drop. The G S Woodpecker comes every day though which is nice.

A lovely double one, & it seems to be looking up too.

That’s a pretty one Shirley. I haven’t been lucky with nice Vars. of Euphorbias, always lost them in the winter. I didn’t know about the smaller leaved one’s being hardier.

Ty all for your comments. Not much doing the garden at present though it looks fairly tidy. I haven’t cut down the herbaceous plants yet, nor the shrub type Salvias.

The river is on the other side Rose. The geese enjoy eating the grass.

That's lovely to hear Balcony. We usually take some mixed seeds for them to eat.

It still can bloom. Remember bird of paradise is a short day (photoperiodism) blooming plant. This is why it starts blooming in mid-to-late September here and blooms through April or May.

Stan,

I think my white, fragrant orchid is a hybrid of Dendrobium speciosum. I’m not sure, though.

When I lived in Hayward I remember my neighbors growing many Phaelanopsis orchids in their patios. A lot of people grew many Cymbidiums, also.

I’ve noticed it’s been very mild to warm up in most of Northern California this winter. You’re lucky you are getting rain. We literally just had rain last weekend for the first time this rainy season (it was dry for 10 months). It wasn’t much officially only a quarter of an inch. We need 5 inches of rain to catch up to normal. We’re in extreme drought conditions here. Ugh 😩!

Thank you all for reading about my vegetables :D Good luck with yours whatever ones you'll be growing !
I don't stress over them.

Delonix i'm only familiar with Comet type and D. kingianum. But seems to me that family can be counted on to take Med climate winters. My Comet is thriving on the trunk of the Trachycarpus As it grows longer and longer and trailing i wonder if stems will snap? It's happy and blooms every year.
Bernie I had the mildest winter in at least 60 years. 38f was the highest low temperature in that time. Right now as i type the first of three storms has started. A good winter for the San Francisco Bay Area.

So sorry to hear about your troubles, SBG! :( I hope you get over the torn muscle quickly!

We can all appreciate a moan from time to time &, as Hywel says, it helps a little to get it off your chest. Hoping February & the lengthening days will buck you up. The warmer weather is on its way, even if it doesn't much feel that way yet. Just try to keep your leg in a comfortable position to aid the healing.

Well done to you, Hywel! I miss the allotment but we don't eat much in the way of veg which is one of the reasons for giving my allotment back to the council many years ago. It could only be used for about 6 or 7 months a year as both of us dislike 'greens'!

I will be growing a few tomato plants again this year as I do every year but that will be all!

Thanks, Shirley! I'll have to have a look online to see how much they cost, their size, s you say, to see if they are suitable to grow on the balcony. Are they easy to propagate? I think I tried to root some cutting of a different Hebe some years ago without success. :(

As there will be a new garden centre opening here in a few months time I may ask my son to take me there in his car to see if they have any in stock. It's a 'Blue Diamond' centre that is taking over the Dobbies' centre that closed down just before Christmas last year. Do you know the chain? I did a search online this morning & saw they have lots of centres in the SW & W, surrounding Wales but none actually in Wales itself but all on the border! They looked like an army besieging Wales! :D

That's good! On the river that runs through here we get to see lots of Canada Geese, Swans, Mallard ducks as well as Coots. There may be others as well but I can't remember at this moment.

As I expected my plant to take perhaps several more years, if ever, to flower I treated it like a foliage plant that you don't expect to flower. So I was very happy & excited to see the first flower developing in December 2023! I was looking forward to seeing it produce at least 2 flowers this past December but none have appeared!:(

I used to write down in a notebook what and when i bought plants. I did that for a couple of years then stopped. So what i wrote then stuck for some reason. In 1978 i bought that Staghorn as a single small leaf. Those Podocarpus trees from Western Garden nursery in metal one gallon cans. My Monstera I bought as a small heart shaped leaf plant in a wooden shingle pot from Kmart. Kmart and that Nursery are gone from this city-long gone-lol
One last,i bought a Schefflera arboricola in a 2" pot also. I still have it trained as a Bonsai Banyan tree. In 1990,all the branches were killed almost to the trunk,but it survived. I think in 1978,they were sort of new to the trade.
The Monstera's thickest stem survived the 24f 1990 freeze. Almost lost it. In 1998 another very cold winter to 28f mushed the leaves but did not kill the stems. Since then its been free of any setbacks.

I say similar every year too :) and then do the opposite.

I have onion sets started off and potatoes chitting. I will be sowing broad beans next week and then later runners and French dwarf beans, cabbages, leeks, carrots and parsnips. Both Elizabeth and Victoria have asked for some too. Carrot & parsnip seed will be given to them but the rest I will start off in pots for them.
Greenhouse will grow toms, cucs and peppers.

I did point out the plants to avoid. they actually took out the wire plant supports so they didnt get damaged!
they have to have scaffolding poles at set distances which I get but.......
no roofers today either grrr.
but i did get taken out to lunch which was lovely.

your support means such a lot thank you so much.

Oh Eileen, that's a rotten start to the year for you. As the song goes: 'Things can only get better!'

I hope things get sorted, sooner rather than later, for you.

Well done Hywel, this is where I miss the allotment for the fruit and veg., especially the Blackcurrants, Gooseberries and Sweetcorn. Good luck with your vegetables.

They are so useful too,Rose.

Thanks for your advice Julia. I will try again.

Klahanie, the smaller the leaves the hardier the Hebe is apparently.The larger leaved ones are quite tender.

Thanks Rose, I must check them over at the weekend just in case any are not looking good. We are forecast a dry week from tomorrow ... I really hope so.

Thanks Rose, these are pretty much out of sight unless I go to the bird feeders! I should move the clump really, never remember though.

Rose, I wonder why that is ... do you put Sunflower hearts out for them? Ever since we have done that they are in daily ... :o)

David, check the size it may reach before buying one!

Oh dear Eileen what bad luck ,the flu and a torn tendon..and on top of that the builders !!
Like Hywel I always ask them to respect the plants if they can but sometimes they are in a rush catching up.I do get odd looks though!
What a horrid start to 2025...I do hope your tendon heals fairly quickly so you can get back to the garden.

I'm going to grow some flowers for cutting in my raised bed Rose ... if there's room between the peas and parsnips :D but I'm hoping to squeeze a few in.

I have 4 raised beds on legs and after 2 years of everything getting eaten by slugs and snails, didn't bother last year. Like you, I am on my own now so not sure what to use them for this year!