Droopydraws's Profile

After a brief appearance 7 months ago I am back again and determined to stay, having made a little more time for myself. Apart from gardening which I love, I also like painting and am trying to make an effort to get back to producing pictures again. I also love tracing my family history and have found close relatives living in California through the Ancestry site. We are going there this year to visit them. I also have 4 children who between them have given me 7 grandchildren between the ages of 5 and 15, and they too are a large part of my life. Another huge part of mine and my husband's life is racing our dingy at weekends at our sailing club on a disused quarry. We are quite competitive and won the shield this year.
My step-dad was a very keen gardener and was president of his village gardening club. Sadly I was too busy occupied elsewhere to learn much from him and consequently have had to learn by trial and error. If you read my first intro below you will see how useless I am!

Having stumbled across this site today looking for info about my streptocarpus, I am truely astounded at the info there is to be found here I still have a lot to learn. I keep digging up plants that I think are dead only to find that they are very much alive! two clematis have been replanted after showing signs of life after wilting, my fuchsias I was over-wintering, I chopped right down thinking the stems were dead. good news is, the plants are all still very much alive if somewhat stunted. My bargain (£2.50) bag of 50 daffodils that I did not have time to plant in the autumn was thrown away, all but a dozen I planted at the beginning of March To my surprise they were supurb and have just finished flowering. The picture of my streptocarpus tells a similar story. Once not long ago I had 6 beautiful new plants all different varieties that one by one died on me! I thought they were too delicate for me to handle but my uncle gave me two unrooted cuttings from his magnificent specimen, and two pieces of valuable advice a) water from below, b) use a gritty, sandy soil mixture. I am so thrilled to see these thriving that I want more now. My favourite flowers at the moment, after roses sweetpeas and clematis are the Jamaican Primroses. These yellow daisies are so easy, and flower all summer and look great anywhere. They are also very easy to propergate from cuttings, downside is quite tender. I made the mistake of putting them out early March, forgot to take them in and frost got them.. Luckily uncle came to the rescue and gave me two cutting of a plant I gave to him! Like I said I still have a lot to learn but with you to guide me I can see I will have an absolutely stunning garden this year!