September in the garden...

Sorry to hear things have been so difficult for you, but glad to hear help is finally being given, Lincs.
I agree about the weather's effect on our gardens. Mine has been a shocker through lack of moisture and hardly worth going out into. I, too, lost a large number of plants. I did notice, staring out through the kitchen window this morning (after a thunderstorm), that it's all looking much greener - all a bit late in the day! I've switched off from the garden this year..

Looking lovely lots of nice colour, sorry to hear of your health problems hope you feel better :-))

So sorry to hear about all the pain you've experienced and I do hope you start to feel the benefit of the medication and exercise very soon. It's great to hear you can still get out into the garden, even if it's at a slower pace.

There's lots of lovely colour and interest in your garden. The roses are beautiful.

I am so sorry Sue about your health problems.
It comes as a shock, doesn't it when we can't do as much as we used to.
It must be harder now you are on your own like me.
But having the garden must help in so many ways even if you can only do a bit at a time.
I do hope you are not in too much pain and at least you can slowly get out into your garden, which looks great from all the pictures you sent.
I hope this medication will help you.
My roses had black spot too this year and had cut quite a few of my perennials back as they were not doing so well.
Take care and let us know how you are getting on.
Sending lots of hugs for you.

Love to see your garden again Lincslass. Hope your new pills will ameliorate your pain and you will be able fully enjoy your garden.

So sorry to hear you have Arthritis and Osteopenia Lincs ..it seems to affect many of us,especially gardeners...I'm sure you will take care with bending and (no lifting!!) Sorry,always a physio...good to hear you have been given a set of exercises to.
Gorgeous assortment of plants...you have a lovely garden packed with interest. Take carex

The photos of your garden are lovely, Lincs! You have lots of flowers still whereas the plants on the balcony are shutting down for this year.

So sorry to hear about your health problems &, like everyone else above, I wish you all the very best with your new medication & calcium tablets. Hope you are able to do some gardening even if it is only a little at a time as your strength allows.

Hi Sue, that’s just awful for you. I’m so glad you are finally getting some help. I really hope the meds work for you. Sometimes I feel like swearing at these dismissive GPs. Trouble is, they don’t know their patients any more do they. In my childhood my GP knew my whole family. Not all progress is positive.

Sorry to hear of your pain and difficulties Sue, I can sympathise with you from experience. I hope the medication will help.

Lovely photos from your garden, the autumn colours will bring some cheer :)

I hope you are now getting to grips with your pain relief Sue. It can be so draining. Glad you are getting on with the garden and the plants have come through this weird summer. The roses are doing well as are so many of your lovely plants.

Hi Ange, it was a disappointment but we cannot control the weather can we, have to work with it as best we can, I garden on clay so it went from a paddy field to looking like a dried and dusty prairie, I managed to keep my top lawn green by collecting my waste water and pouring it over it every night, when I got my hosepipe out, ( wasn't strong enough to carry the watering cans much) I used it for my flower beds and the pots, the lawns always recover eventually, dead plants and shrubs don't...
Like you I'm watching my lawns turn a lovely shade of green, its still raining here, thats three days and nights of constant rain, haven't heard of any flooding locally but others haven't been so lucky, my heart goes out to them...
Don't give up Ange, take note of what has done best in this years conditions,make plans even if its only in your head at the moment, lets face it , could be completely different this time next year....

Thankyou Daylily. I love the colours of autumn both in the gardens and out in the countryside....I'm feeling optimistic now I know what the problem is, won't turn into a long distance runner overnight but at least I know now how to cope with it and what is good for me, plus with the meds my bones should improve even if its only a little bit, the calcium is already making a difference, I don't have to fall out of bed in the mornings because I've seized up......

Thanks Bernie, now I know what I can and can't do I'm already feellng better in myself, with the meds and the exercises, ( I've already discovered digging in the garden, albeit in moderation) is actually good for my hip movements, that gave me a boost, lifted my spirits so to speak....Seeing your garden bouncing back is to me one of the best therapies of all.....

Rose you've known me long enough to know that I am a tough cookie under normal circumstances and I do not give up, I follow my mums regime, you've probably seen me write that mum used to say "if something makes you ache when doing something one day , get up the next day, do the same jobs and work it out of your system...I have improved since being on the calcium, I'm even able to go without the painkiller tablet some days, still not very good walking uphills so won't be mountain climbing or going up the steps when visiting castles and historical places, another passion of mine, I have to stay on the ground floor now, lol.... .....My garden is what kept me going Rose despite losing so many plants, I just have to work at a slower pace..Oh !!!! also be careful not to fall over as I could break a bone without even realising it, all sounds good fun doesn't it....Like most of the country we've had all those dry months worth of rain in 72hrs, the garden is loving it, I have green lawns again now and I swear I can see the grass growing, I have a lot of perennials here, sadly the flowers didn't last very long, like you I went around deadheading in the hopes of a second showing, no signs of that happening yet but they might surprise me now they have their roots in moist soil, its not too late is it... Thanks Rose, you take care also .. Will PM you...xx...

Hello Klahanie, hope all is well with you., I'm definitely improving thankyou, was despondent for a while there, hence my absence, although I was looking in, as I said August was a nono as regards writing a blog, I'm back on track again now and trying to catch up with everybodies blogs......

Thanks Julia, I'd forgotten you were a physiotherapist, there are some very good exercise videos and lots of advice on the NHS Osteoarthritis pages as well as what the doctor told me, I daren't ride a bike as my eyesight is useless if the sun is shining, I also wear hearing aids, not a good combination is it, swimming is out as I get cramp in the water, however the leg and hip exercises include using the same action one uses when doing a spot of digging, I worked out that as long as I do things in moderation instead of going at it for hours at a time my gardening is still good for me in all ways, jobs just take longer now but that doesn't matter does it, being able to carry on doing what we enjoy is what counts....

Hi Balcony and thankyou..... Things are certainly better now in the garden, was a very disappointing sight a few weeks back, poor flowers were really suffering, many were dying off before they had barely opened, I'm not surprised yours are shutting down, especially with the heat we had at times, you are not that far from me so probably wasn't a lot of difference as regards the temperatures, I moved pots and baskets into shady spots, thats not possible for you to do with only having the balcony is it.....We will carry on and I dare say you are already planning your spring display....

Karen its an absolute nightmare here, trying to get an appointment to see a doctor is darn near impossible, I eventually managed to get somewhere by seeing the practise nurse for a checkup in July, she could see how much I was struggling, I told her that last January I had seen a doctor and she wasn't interested and told me I should expect things like that to happen at my age and to take paracetemol, also that I felt she implied I was wasting her time but that I did not know her name and no way did I wish to see that doctor ever again.. The nurse said" I cannot comment on that" but I was sent for xrays the very next day Karen and since then also had mri scans, thank goodness for the nurses...she told a different doctor who issued the prescription for the strong medication for the pain and the calcium tablets, so yes the majority of the doctors at our surgery are a waste of time...The system has broken down..... Its no wonder more people are now going to A&E for treatment and therefore causing more problems at the hospitals...

Thanks Hywel, I have noticed an improvement already but still having difficulty getting some of my medication, think its got lost along the way, hoping when I start on them I won't need the strong painkillers at all, we wait and see... I love autumn and yes it does bring some cheer, I hope all is well with you Hywel...xx

Thanks Eileen, I have already noticed an improvement just by taking the calcium tablets, even manage without some days, thats definitely progress, i haven't yet received the other tablets, they've got lost somewhere along the way, the doctor said once I'm taking them I shouldn't need the pain relief, mind you she has warned me that they might make me sick so I'm to stay upright for 30mins after taking them, then eat something , sounds like fun doesn't it, thankfully I will only take them once a week.....The garden is certainly looking good now after all that rain, it was certainly needed Eileen, we were lucky here, the thunderstorms lasted a long time as did the rain but I haven't heard of any damage to any property in our locality or flooding unlike other places, it certainly has been a very weird year and still not out of the woods according to the forecast ....

Rose I cannot PM you, x still kicking me out when I try, sorry about that, its been like that for months now.....xx

Sue, how lovely to see you back on GoY but so disappointed for you with the health problems. Your Nurse certainly hurried things along for you, pat on the back for her methinks! Thanks goodness you have a diagnosis and the correct meds to ease some of the pain. Please don't overdo it in the garden, easy for me to say as I'm guilty of doing that. It's so hard to try and takes things steady, rather than pruning, deadheading, weeding for hours.

I found a large Viburnum shrub had rust on most of the leaves so decided it had to be removed. Like you, I just kept going and was very tired that evening so I'm not doing that again. Famous last words!

The white Rose in your third photo is gorgeous and I love the stumpery and the Delphiniums, the latter I have never grown as we have a lot of snails and slugs in this garden so they would just get munched no doubt.

I did send you a PM on 14th July, than an email on 24th July but am guessing you didn't receive either? Let me know if any PMs are getting through. Take care.

Hello there Shirley, yours were the last pm's I received, I so wanted to reply and tried many times, unfortunately I also can't email anyone, I've had a trying time teccie wise, the way I was feeling its a wonder my previous laptop didn't get launched out of the windows, it suddenly stopped charging up, when I managed to get up and running again my aol account had crashed, I cannot get back in, also it won't let me open a new account as it says there is already an account in that name, however it refuses to accept my passwords, I lost all my contacts, which included telephone numbers and email addresses.....I don't know whether any pm's will come my way Shirley or not but they definitely won't send.... I do have a question I can ask on here, Do you still have someone in the Falklands ????x

Oh Sue, isn't technology an absolute pain in the you-know-where at times?

I attached a photo of my daughter and her fella in the email which I now know you didn't receive and yes, he is a Corporal in the RAF and currently nearing the end of a deployment to The Falklands. It's about 4 degrees with snow some days ... :o(

He sent a smashing photo of a Penguin the other day, I shall see if I can put it on here. Just put it on for you!

I thinkyou sent the photos via email Shirley but that was to aol. I now can't access it as I said, very handsome soon to be son -in -law, I was going to reply and show you my grandkids in their Cosplay costumes which they always make themselves when everything went wrong....

So true LL. I’m so glad you saw that Nurse x

Ah, Cosplay, that has brought back memories of when daughter made a costume for a young girl ... Squirrel Girl complete with dark brown fur fabric tail ... :o)

So am I Karen, its taken a week to get my new medication , its a ridiculous situation all round...

It really is. It’s no better here Sue. I think it’s a little better in Scotland, but only because the population is so much smaller.

My apologies, Sue! I've missed you blog.
I'm so very sorry to hear you're still in so much pain. How awful to be told it's down to age!!!! You must feel let down terribly, Sue.
Thank goodness the scans have shown several diagnoses - however, it sounds like your pain relief hasn't been effective! I can empathise regarding the lengthy wait on new medication - I'm always chasing prescriptions for my patients at the surgeries.
I do hope your new medication will start "kicking" in soon 🙏
Your rose collection is a beautiful array of colour and type..your acers too, they are really something special.
The stumpery looks great! Your ferns are thriving. I took all my hostas out, reluctantly, last year, Sue. I love them, but, after only a short time, they were stringy and almost munched to the root.
Your garden is full of variety and lovely colour. Thanks for sharing, but, take care and look after you too, as well as your lovely garden. Keep us updated on your new meds x

No worries Kate, I've missed a lot of blogs this year, it happens sometimes.... I now have my new meds Kate, took the first one this morning, only a weekly dose for five year's for that one, guess that means they expect me to reach 82yrs , I better had as I'm curious as to what happens then, the calcium is twice daily for the rest of my life, I have to say that even with taking just the calcium tablets its already a huge improvement Kate, I've only had two pain relief tablets in the last week, at first I was taking them twice a day, doctor said with this tablet I probably won't need the pain relief so that will be good won't it....I did feel very let down, if the doctor I first saw had done her job properly I wouldn't have gotten so bad, its disgusting to say the least....Thankyou for complimenting my garden, I needed a boat yesterday as it flooded but nowhere near as bad as other places, how abouts where you live and work Kate ??? ..

Hello Lincs, I am so sorry to hear you've had so much pain this year. I do hope the meds once they kick in will give you a lot of relief and make you feel easier.
You have some lovely roses there, mine too have suffered this year with blackspot, even Compassion which is usually immune.
My garden isn't one for Acers, the two small ones I bought this year I'm not expecting to make it through the winter. My Acer Jordan has put out long branches with different shaped leaves to the main part. They must be from the rootstock but I'm leaving them if that's how it wants to be..:))
I love the last photo of your garden, it looks beautiful!

I've just read your message to Kate and it sounds like things are going well pain wise, I sincerely hope it continues.