North Durham Garden May 17 Update

Looking good.... thanks for sharing your pics.
just a thought ... Laburnum is on lists of poisonous plants... such as The Dogs Trust compilation.

Its all coming along nicely by the looks of it I shall look forward to seeing it all in bloom. Your Lilly s look healthy.

Gosh - you've been busy! I've been at work all week and had my Saturday all planned out in the garden but heavy rain has forced me indoors doing the housework! Grr... would much rather be outside pottering in garden. Your Laburnum looks a lot healthier than mine! (see my post under Gardening questions)

I look at your old blog of I think 2014, boy, what a difference, you both have been hard at work and I'm sure with the help of the dogs. :-).

All pats of the laburnum are poisonous I have been told. Shouldn't think the dogs would try and eat it, though.

Amazing how many plants we grow that are dangerous. G

Thats very true Eirlys I ve grown Monkshood for years to find reading a grandfather got his two grand children to hold the roots while digging a hole to plant them the two children died with in 24 hours.

Thank you all for your comments, I know the Laburnum, like many of our garden plants are poisonous, but we haven't had a problem so far, there are lots of them in our garden, the dogs don't bother with them and we have no young children to worry about.

I did read an article about them and the last UK recorded poisoning with them was in Victorian times when a woman tried to poison her husband but they made his cup of tea taste funny so she was caught!

I do need to keep them trimmed so the seeds don't drop into the pond and kill the fish though.

Amsterdam they do occasionally have a reduced show of flowers this may be because they were stressed by drought the previous summer, or they are in need of a feed, most of ours have had no feed or watering. I do trim the dead branches off only and the ones in the long border had six inches of well rotted horse manure for the last two years and watering as they are in a border with lots of plants that need more tlc but I can't say they do any better than those left to nature.

wow you have been busy. it will look reallly amazing when everything is in place. But in a few years you will be re-digging if you are anything like me. :o)

Yes Seaburngirl, I'm always digging somewhere and usually dig over earlier work, the borders seem to get at least in part dug over annually the best way I've found for removing perennial weeds that mysteriously get established!