Spirea 1

Blooming late. Pretty colour too.

it had bloomed earlier, and the flwoers turned a dirty brown by the time I found some "how to" and read that they should be deadheaded as soon as the blooms fade! Then I gave it a severe haircut, down to bare stem, and was mightily relieved to see foliage reappear, and the flowers tell me that I didn't do anything much to the plant and that it's forgiven me!

Forgiving plants are invaluable in the garden Fran.

lol Scottish, and the only way to find out which ones they are are to shave 'em and see which come back! wish I knew how old this one was, though - as i've been digging up dead roots, I've found a lot of plant labels in teh soil - this one had its label right at the base, where the first stems branch off, but that don't say how old it is.

I'll have to start making lists for the next tenant! though anything I do now will probably be changed later.

You're not thinking of moving again are you?

not in the least!! the only "up" from here would be to move into Buck House. Unless I win the lottery, of course, which would be very hard to do as I don't buy tickets..

But I'd have had a lot more of a head start if I'd had some notes from the previous tenant, at least naming the shrubs.

By the time I "move on" from here, which I hope will be decades in the future, eerything that's here now will probably not be there, or at least in its present location, so the notes should be upgraded every now and then.

Very thoughtful of you Fran. I'm lucky in the respect that every plant left here is now gone except 2 Azaleas but it would have been nice to have a list. I moved in in winter time and with too much time on my hands got rid of everything. If only I'd had patience!

lol Scottish, know what you mean! the books say "do nothing at all for 12 months, what looks dead in one season might be bursting with colour in another" but how could any gardener sit on their hands for a whole year?

Our garden was not 'gardened' when we moved in like your garden was cared for well by someone who knew about plants Fran. I read an article about someone my age thinking about destroying a garden because the National Trust are snooty about taking it over. Roy Strong may be his name. Very posh, very thin and rather angry too. Some big gardens don't survive because no one to take them on and they go down hill so fast when neglected, as could be seen in your garden.

yes, big gardens must be a headache for new owners - I do'nt just mean big normal grdens, but "stately home" size gardnes - don't know how small a "big" garden the National Trust would be bothered with - and they had a whole staff of gardners and under-gardenrs in the dyas when some gardens were first established.