Nature is a wonderful thing it never fails to amaze me how the seasons c...

We have some lovely sunshine today. Love last years pictures, just been looking at mine--very restorative!Don't have much luck with lupins, aphids raid and devour!
Don't over do the housework, its a bit like the Forth Bridge.

Certainly is like the Forth Bridge, it is never ending isn't it. Finished vaccuuming, now eating some Ryvita and a cuppa soup then off to dust and wipe down surfaces. Thanks for looking at the pictures, glad you enjoyed.

Beautiful summer pics Olive and your garden looks very tidy in the today ones too.

A layer of dust protects the wood! We've had windows installed today, one more to do tomorrow so, the dusting can wait until Wednesday now. Your garden is looking great, so good to see the sun casting shadows. Always makes me think it's strong sunshine. : o ))

Very nice. Garden looks lovely now. You can just see that it is spring time at last even though there is still a long way to go. Things are growing! Yay! Ryvita...ugh :(

Karen it was Ryvita thins - Sweet Chillie flavour, you would like those, topped them with beetroot, even Sammie likes those.

It's so nice to have your photos to prompt you remembering your beautiful and colourful garden last year. Things are springing to life now that spring is upon us and it's so nice to see GoYers with all their plans and projects coming to life now that winter is over too :)

Karen....your mom is right...the Ryvita thins (sweet chillie) are very tasty...I'm not usually a fan of Ryvita either! lol

I've been out in our garden today taking photos of the dismal landscape and some of my plants that seem to be reviving but I can't get them to upload into my Picassa. I'll be on the phone to the son-in-law again yellling HELP!

Going to write a blog anyhow despite not having any pictures as there seems to be some things to put in a blog!

Ok ladies, will give them a go!

Ryvita thins, yum, love em!!
Lol, I have my summer border as my desktop pic at the moment!!
Lovely sunshine here today too.....not long until pretty flower time!

What's wrong with chedder and chive kettle crisps?

LOL Driad!! :))))

Nothing wrong with them at all Driad, they are scrumptious only trouble is I want more and more and more. LOL :O)

It's nice to see the contrast between the seasons. I hate cold weather. Don't mind clouds and rain though. It's usually milder when it rains.
I love lupins. I've just bought 4 for 99p lol. I hope they grow.
I'm glad you've dug out some grass. It will look better and be less work aswell :o)))

It is less work Hywel, you got a bargain with those lupins, must go out and buy some plants must must must!! think I am getting withdrawal symptoms lol :o)

lol Don't withdraw too much. We need you on here :o))

LOL :o) thanks Hywel.

Mature cheddar and chive tyrells trump all other crisps... them or wotsits (I still can't resist those =P)

Your summer garden looks lovely, and very sumptuous! :) Its so nice being able to spy on whole sections of other peoples' gardens! So much more fun than just seeing snippets through pictures of specific plants ;)

Your lupin were looking fantastic aswell... my own seed sown ones (or at least those that that were still alive..) were just a couple of inches high when I last saw them... I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will survive the slugs until I get home!

Could you please let me know what the pink flower at the front of your third picture is please? It looks rather zingy... I hope your borders are restored to their full spring and summer glory soon :))

Jennyfer is that the spikey one or the rounded one, the spikey one is Lythrum and the rounded one is a pink Monada, there is also a red Monada at the edge of the border in that photo. Hope that helps

I think Jennyfer is probably looking at that lovely deep pink Monarda Mum. x

It is lovely can't wait to see this border up and running with all it colour again, I planted lots more in there last summer so should be even better this year. :O) must stop doing that wishing my time away, lol. I enjoy spring much better than summer, but like the summer borders more for their colour. I like the autumn for its colour but hate the winter for its cold. lol. only thing about winter is you know it is going to get better and then all the good things come up in the garden. yay!

hehe, I used to really enjoy winter, but the last three seem to have dragged on for so long!
I've just googled 'monarda' and that looks like the right one, thanks :) Although I really must stop buying seeds as I have far too many already :P
Please keep posting pictures of your borders as they wake up; they are very lovely! Not long now :))

Will do Jennyfer, there are lots of different Monardas, but that dark red one is a double one called Sqaw, think that's how it is spelled. Cannot remember the name of the paler pink one, they grow very quickly on little runner shoots once they are established. Sometimes the double flower doesn't appear, think the longer they are established the better they become. Hope you find what you are looking for. If you look at my photos there are lots of pictures on there to give you inspiration. My style is more cottage garden style, don't know what style you are looking at but I like the oldie worldy types of flowers, only just started growing roses. If you want to look at Clematis, look at Karensue63's garden pictures and blogs she has a lot of knowledge on clems. and a good site to order from for those is Taylors website. (Karen is my daughter btw) she lives much further north than we do. But on the east side of the country also so she is fairly well sheltered. Well have a look anyway and enjoy. Back to the studies though, not too much gardening work lol.

Yup, that's me! :))

Was that in reply to being the daughter or the expert on Clematis lol. :o)

I certainly aint no expert, but I definitely am a daughter! :)

At the side of me your a very good expert and I am definitely a mum xx

Not at all...lol! I just love Clems! x

Just seen your garden absolutely beautiful, what a difference between the summer and winter photos. It was such a lovely reminder of whats to come thanks for the blog :)

You're welcome Teds, glad you like it.

Cottage garden style is definitely my favourite!!
We actually live in a cottage, and the garden is ever so slightly wild, so I am hoping that an informal cottage gardeny style will go with it... but mainly I just think they're pretty :)
It will take a bit of work though... the two borders I cleared are still pretty bare (although the first one i went through has started to fill up with buttercups again *sob*)

I have started looking through your pictures and you have some really pretty ones :) I hope I can master planting like that one day!
I don't have any clematis yet (although there are a couple well established in the top garden where mum's veg patches are), but I would like some in the hedge... can they grow in hedges, or would it be too shady?

Jenny....check out Teds.....she has a lovely cottage garden that may give you some ideas too.

Good luck with your plans, Jenny.

Hi Jenny, your plans sound lovely. Clems like their feet in the shade and their heads in the sun. If you want them in hedges, I would choose carefully according to the height of the hedge and the height of the clem. I have a couple growing through a holly hedge in semi shade and they are doing well. Some Clems are happier in semi shade than others. The ones I have in my holly hedge are Cassis, Cezanne and Angelique. See what you think of them! Taylors website has an option to search by height, colour, etc.

wow, some of them grow seriously tall! Our hedge is about 6-8feet tall, depending on whether its been cut or not... I quite like the idea of a winter flowering one... something to keep my mum cheery when she looks out of the window, but they're all 10-12foot ones, would they go crazy on a shorter hedge?

I will have to have a look when I go home and see what the sun/shade is like, as right now I can't think.... it definitely gets some sun, although the bottom is probably shady, but dad does take a big hedge cutter to it every year, would a clematis object to that?

Thankyou for the advice :) and that website's filtering options are very good =] I like that cassis one, and its the right hight! Although I suppose a paler one might stand out more against a hedge.... ahhh!!! too much to think about :P

Jennyfer, you will need to consider the pruning of the hedge. I much prefer group 3 clematis because a) they don't get the dreaded clematis wilt and B) you can cut them down to the ground every year (preferably in late winter, but I do it in the autumn and they don't care), and they regrow from their bases. If you put a clem in your hedge, it will have to be trimmed either in the autumn after the clem is all finished, or in the spring, before the clem has got going. You won't be able to grow a group 1 clematis in your hedge, because it will not flower if it is pruned. Group 2 Clems need to be pruned differently..and it's unlikely that they will combine well with a hedge that needs pruning every year, as you need to leave some of the clematis vine intact......what sort of a hedge are we speaking of? There are some group 3s that go mad every year. A really good one for a dark hedge would be Viticella alba luxurians or Viticella cerulea luxurians. They are both beauties and the cerulea has blue,white and green flowers, the alba has white and green. I had to remove my alba last year as it was just too vigorous for my fence....wish I had known, I could have sent it down to you! :)) Other alternative would be Tanguticas or Bill MacKenzie..the late summer flowering yellow kinds. They are also very vigourous. Trouble with all of these is you wouldn't be able to cut your hedge after about May, as the clematis would be sending up it's lovely shoots into the bushes. HOpe this helps! x p.s. up here, there are a lot of Tropaeolum Speciosum grown in evergreen conifer hedges and trees and they look fantastic in the early autumn...worth considering. :)

Your mum wasn't joking when she said you knew a lot about them! :P I will have a look at those types on the website :) Its a mixed hedge, with some holly and I think a copper beech, but its hawthorn for the most part. Dad trims it in late winter/early spring or autumn I think, so it doesn't disturb the birds.

Those Viticella ones look very nice, if they wouldn't be too big for the hedge :) Thankyou for pointing out the group 3 thing, that helps a lot :) also cutting down to the ground sounds a lot more straight-forward than pruning :P

Thankyou very much for all your help, it has been incredibly useful! Hopefully I will be able to get one soon :)) x

Good Luck Jennyfer, I knew she would be able to help you.

lol, thankyou :P I only hope I haven't caused too much inconvenience by asking so many questions!

You can never ask too many questions, everyone on here is willing to help with advice and to try and sort out any queries you may have. Keep asking, we are all novices (well most of us are) we all learn from each other. It is a brilliant website. Just enjoy it.

Yes, Mum is right! We all love it when we ask questions. THat is what GoY is for...so we can help one another! :))

That makes me feel better :) And you're right, it is a lovely website :) Its like facebook for gardening, and equally (if not more addictive). Garden stalking totally wins :P

Very very addictive, we have talked of organising a planters/gardeners addictive organisation, probably running on the lines of AA. LOL. We are all addicted, sure it cannot be good for us, good for the gardens, bad for the bank balance. lol. :o) Can just see us all sitting in a circle admitting our addictions, it would be funny wouldn't it. lol. Best kind of addiction to have I think anyway.

Did you see GW last night? There was a lady on there with far too many trees in her garden, and an addiction to Clematis...."I just can't stop buying them"...I thought she was my soulmate!! lovely garden too! Actually the whole programme was a breath of fresh air. Back to the old format...real garden and Joe and whatsaname.....lovely!

No didn't see it, will try and watch it later on on the i.player.

Karen....I thought of you when the clematis lady said she couldn't stop buying them...lol I thought I've heard that before! A soulmate for sure :)

Ooooh, I saw it on iplayer, but was saving it for tonight! I do hope it is better, I followed it last year, but it was never that much help and they kept on bringing on big barrowfuls of manure and big plants and it made me all sad and frustrated because I couldn't afford them :P

You're right with the addictiveness Oliveoil :P I think its definitely better for me than my other chocolatier addiction! Hmm, Gardenaholics Anonymous...

I've just watched it :) Definitely prefer it to last years format so far :P And it mentioned the clems you told me about! :) That lady definitely needs to join GA!

You're so right Jennyfer....praps we should email her! :)

I cannot watch it my computer will not allow me to download the updated version of the flashplayer, no videos and no i.player, I cannot sort it out, have been trying all afternoon so far. I am soooooo sad and so fed up with it. It tells me it will not download the new version because another version is in use and I don't know what to do to change it, oh to be a computer whiz kid. Have taken off the old version but still it will not download it. Anyone got any ideas please.

Oh gosh, this is where I normally call in my dad... or spend hours pushing different buttons and getting frustrated, like it sounds like you have :(

I went on bbc iplayer help and that gave a link for installing flash and the bbc 'webwise guide' for it:

http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/playing_tv_progs/new_flash

could that be any help? Its probably what you've been doing already, but it might be worth giving a try...
Other than that you might have to close your browser or something :/

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html

Is a link to flashplayer's troubleshooting page

(we are allowed to post links on here, right?)

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html#main_CommonErrors

might show the problem you've got and how to solve it

Mum, it sounds like the computer hasn't deleted all the components of the old player.....I will try to find out for you. ....Scott says Google 'how do I install flashplayer' and you should find out. Scott also says go Start, Accessories, System tools, system restore...then you can restore it from there to a date before you wiped it...or thought you'd wiped it. Chris says...there is a great programme, free to download called 'CClean' http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner which will wipe it properly if that helps. Hope something of that helps! x

Great minds Jennyfer! :)

thank you both will try those ideas. Have tried and exhausted every other idea.

I hope you manage to fix it soon! (and yay for the google karensusan!)

Still not been able to done everything that everyone suggested, no luck yet!! will keep trying - I will get it done - I will - unless I get too fed up with trying. lol. Seem to have been at it for days now. Think it might cost me money, will be taking it to an engineer, but not until it has finally got me flummaxed. Don't think that is far off now.

:( :( I hope you figure it out soon and don't have to resort to that! Is there anyone you know who can have a quick look at it? It may just be a simple oversight or problem that could easily be fixed by someone computery

Still working on it Jennyfer not paying out just yet! I am an old scrooge. lol. I hate being beaten though.

Yes, and the longer you refuse to give in the less you want to :P Maybe if you tried googling your problem...? Just type it into google and chances are something will come up. Sometimes people with the same problem ask their question in a forum or something and people respond to it. Might be worth a shot.

Oh, and make sure your internet browser (firefox, internet explorer etc) is closed when you try to download it.

done that Jennyfer,

It just comes up with error page and says:

'Flash player could not be installed because and existing version may be still in use. Please close all applications using flash player and try again'

I don't know what else is using the flash player. Nothing that I know of, It doesn't even have a flash player installed so how on earth it can say that I just do not know. I even uninstalled loads of programmes and cleared out some stuff I don't use and still it will not load up. I have uninstalled it and tried several times I don't have firefox I have internet explorer and Windows Defender and Norton antivirus think that might have something to do with it not downloading, but I know not what to do to sort it out. Going to see if youngests boyfriend can sort it at weekend when he comes down here. fingers crossed eh!

The worst thing about it is that I do not know when it failed to start working so I cannot go back and do a system restore because I do not know at which point it needs to go back to. Oh I wish I was more technical with my computer. lol. Of course I followed all instructions for problem solving, initially it told me to uninstall the existing flash player and of course I did so, now I have not even got the old flash player installed.

Oh Olive....I do sympathize with you :( I am very techi- challenged and even have trouble following "fixing" instructions on my puter so yu're doing much better than me...you are attempting to rectify the problem. I'm too scared to try anything!

I hope the b/friend idea works out and he can help you to get it sorted. I rely on our son-in-law (reluctantly as he has to work with computers all day in his job)...but he's very obliging after a few hints.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that your repair plan works :)

thanks Whistonlass

I know it won't be much consolation but I've just been speaking to our daughter and she is experiencing the same issue....apparently there are a lot of people having the same problem...a glitch in flash player by the sounds of it.

You're not alone in your frustration....and her husband is a IT consultant and it's proving a challenge for him too. If any solutions come to light I'll let you know, Olive.

Oh thank you Whistonlass any help gratefully appreciated.

Maybe you have to temporarily disable your anti-virus programs?