Getting there

Melchi...i'm growing Begonias from scratch this year and they are SO SLOW! Glad to see yours is even slower (being outdoors). I can now have faith that mine will get going eventually!

Have to agree re. Strawberry planters. They are almost impossible to keep moist. I wish I'd thought of shoving stones in the holes. Mine was so bad I was quite relieved when it broke and I could bin it!

I like the use you've made of the dead plum tree. I pruned my old one very hard last year because it was a neglected mess and the fruit never ripened. They rotted on the tree remaining hard. So I thought...nothing to lose really, and planted a yellow ivy to grow up it. I fully expected it to die. But its growing! So I wonder if perhaps next year there will be nice Victoria Plums on it.

I love the memories you have of the patio, and the use you've made of all your pots. I do try to keep the pots down in numbers here as they are hard work as you know. But i never succeed! Today I planted more Of my potted Heucheras in the ground. But you can bet those pots wont be empty for long!

Nice garden tour. The tipped pot with purple flowers look like asters. Mine usually bloom late summer though.

Growing from scratch is always a slow process, I think. We are now so used to seeing fully-grown plants that are not strong enough to go outside. Consequently, it is very difficult to realise that they are actually forced, and not performing at their natural time. I was talking to the man at the nursery about this. He was saying that the supermarkets are driving the demand for early-flowering plants, even though many will not survive. We were remembering how old-style nurserymen would not consider selling bedding plants before June 1. Having said that, it is reckoned that spring begins almost three weeks earlier than it did 20 years ago (not this year, it didn't!)

Glad you agree about the strawberry pots! I thought it was only me!

The memories are the greatest advantage of staying so long in one place...

I also tell myself I will use less containers, but I can't resist - I just love them.

I hope your plum tree picks up. I had many jars of jam and plum crumbles from mine before it succumbed to - I think - silver leaf disease. It has a good after-life, though!

Thanks, Bathgate. The Brachyscombe had smaller flowers when I first got it. It is sold as a trailing basket plant. I think it must be a type of aster. It always flowers early, and keeps going through to the first frosts.

Well I really had a good laugh Melchi - the picture of the pelargoniums was the only one that was upside down, and the comment was that it had flowered in this position for four years - remarkable don't you think?

Begonias certainly are dozy abut getting started but they make up time once they get going.

Southgate's a beautiful fuchsia. I trained one as a standard once but it wasn't really strong enough. I've got a couple in pots now on the patio just coming nicely into flower. You'll love it.

Your little glazed pots were certainly a good find - very nice.

I thought the 'Aster' was a Michaelmas Daisy.
Nice to see a sheltered garden. Lucky you.

Thanks everyone!

I laughed when I read your comment about the upside-down pelargonium, Stera (though I can never understand how or why some pictures load like that).

I have just googled brachycome, Diane (no "s" or "b" - my mistake) and it is indeed a member of the aster family. It is very sheltered in our back garden, and I really appreciate it.

It's interesting that strawberry planters seem to be unfit for purpose, Hb. Someone must have thought they were a good idea! I've bought those hanging basket fuchsias before. They give a wonderful display for ages. I've always managed to overwinter them in previous years, but it didn't work this year. The pelargoniums are a particular joy. I love them.

Wonderful blog Susanne . . . thank you for giving me a big smile on this chilly, wet morning. I think your garden looks delightful, and not neglected at all :)))

Thank you very much, Sheila! No, it's not really neglected, but I am very laid-back about self-seeders and plants that lots of people would consider to be weeds. Just occasionally, I fantasize about having a really good clear-out and sorting the beds once and for all. But I'm afraid it would end up looking much as it does now, because that's just my style. And truly, I love it just the way it is!

love the pots on the wall and all the other planters, bit like I have done with my pathway at the back door, only enough room now to walk down might have to move them once Lottie gets walking and trotting around the paths. lol :O)

No - of course, your garden is not neglected - I was just thinking about what you said about having a slower start than usual. "Laid back" and natural is a great style!

Oh Sheila, I didn't think anything else! It is entirely what I said - and actually celebrated in my "Messy Bits" blog! No probs!

You have nice garden, looks like a shelter from stressful life outside. Do you have to sit down on the bench, when you are in the garden?

Thank you, Katarina! Yes, I find it very peaceful in the garden. I can put all other concerns aside while I am gardening.

I often sit on the bench with a coffee. I am rather pleased that since I put it there, I have managed to construct a sort of bower around it - more by luck than management!

Enjoy your nest. I like mine, too. ;-)

The title of your blog suits me ... I am slow to catch up with GoY but I'm getting there ! lol

I know what you mean about a slow start. It's June now but the weather is more like March. I sewed some veg seeds last week but there's no sign of them coming
up :(

Your garden seems to be doing well in spite of the slow start. Things catch up ...

That plant you can't remember the name of is Mimulus. I don't know if anyone has already said it. I haven't got time to trawl through all the above comments.

Love your Pelargoniums on the wall :o) I hope they get the sun they need. Maybe things will improve soon.

Brachicome - I usually keep them for a few years. I haven't got any now though. I must get a few. They are good in containers aren't they.

I think my patio is like yours. So many pots, and 2 cold frames ... soon there won't be any room to sit there lol

Thank you for your kind comments, Hywel, and for reminding me about Mimulus. My granny always called it Monkey Face, and I am always forgetting the correct name! I agree about Brachycome - I think it's a great container plant.

Amazingly, after a horrid morning, the sun has come out and transformed everything. I am just tucking in the last of my container plants and enjoying a couple of hours outside. I've just popped in for a coffee so am catching up. Actually, I'm just going to post a couple of photos. I have been looking through my old photos and blogs recently - something I rarely do - and it has
inspired me to get things spruced up. It really is beginning to look more as I want it, so that's good. I always get a few nice surprises when things I'd forgotten about pop up!

Lol those upside down pelargoniums had me thinking you had emigrated to Oz. Everything is looking really good. I love those aquilegias they are so graceful.

Thank you, Scotsgran! I don't understand the upside-down picture. They were all taken and uploaded together. Oh well! I am happy with the state of the garden, especially now I have got the containers sorted. They are an important part of my summer. The aquilegias are improving year on year, which is very encouraging! Just hoping for some summer weather - it is improving here, but is still changeable hour by hour. I'm in the garden now, and it's mostly sunny, but breezy and quite cool.

We have had a wet and windy week but the forecasters say it will improve from tomorrow. It is very cold this evening but there was a red sky tonight so here's hoping.