Birtie demonstrates that Rhododendron buds are forming now.

Hello Birtie ..Maddy sends her love .

Very pretty Birtie. Looks like she has a crown on her head. She's like the queen lol

Look at that little face ,your a little cutie Birtie ,plant seem to be getting confused these days Sarah dont you think ,most of my flowers still think its summer,...not that I am complaining ,but I remember not that many years ago I would be lifting my Dahlias round about this time to store over winter.....

What a sweet little face and I agree, BB, she certainly looks as if she is wearing a dainty little crown :)

Princess Birtie - You look shocked to be have unexpectedly become royalty. Your majesty will soon get used to these Goyers staring at their princess. There has been a Prince Bertie before but never a lovely Princess Bertie I'm sure. Of course your garden will henceforth also have to be known as a royal garden. Your lady in waiting took a fine royal photo of you wearing your white silver crown. Now I must beg leave to depart your felineness.

Her Royal Feliness the Princess Birtie would just like me to pass on her Royal thank-yous for all the nice comments about her. She would tell you herself, but paws are not really designed for typing....or rather computers are not really designed for paws....and such things are jobs for servents in any event. She would also like to send special Royal Meows to Maddy and Blodyn, so long as they don't try to invade her territory - she has enough trouble already with invaders from neighbouring territories wanting to steal her garden and her crown!

LOL! Her Royal Feliness is lovely!
Smudge says "I'm not a cat I'm a hedgehog" so we'll ignore her. She's the REAL Madperth, you know!
Pm'd you, Sid!

Did you? Ooo....going to look....

Lady Sid - As a result of your photo I went and checked my rhododendrons - all but one had buds on too - isn't that amazing? The one that didn't have buds on is called night sky - I suspect that it does not have buds on because it has expired. It has no leaves and is all brown. Also I have an old rhododendron that has gone a bit leggy. Is this a good time to prune it back or should I have done it before the buds started? Which type of Rhododendrons do you have and what colours are they. Do you have a favourite variety and what is it about that variety that appeals to you?

Yup - quite normal for Rhodos to be showing their buds now, so if yours (like mine) are in containers, it's really important to make sure they don't get too dry at this time of year. I too suspect your budless Rhodo has, so to speak, fallen off the perch of life and ceased to be. It is an ex-parrot, erm, e'hem, Rhodo I mean. I don't know about pruning Rhodos I'm afraid. Instead of pruning mine, I intend to 'aerial layer' the longer stems and make new plants of them. So, they get cut off when roots have formed, whenever that might me. If you prune now tho, I think it's safe to say you'll be cutting off next spring's flowers, so you might prefer to wait until after flowering.

My favourit Rhodo? Well, I have five in the garden. A dark purple, a red, a variegated one with purple flws, a pale pink and a deciduous Azalea 'Glowing Embers' with orange flws. I like the red one because it's a nice compact shape and I like the colour. I think my best one is the Azalea because not only do you get the bright flowers, but you also get some lovely autumn colouring of the leaves - you can see it if you look at my recent Autumn Swansong blog.

Lady Sid - I returned to your fabulous Autumn Swansong blog. I enjoyed seeing Glowing embers again and am adding it to my wish list. I also saw another rhodo which is in a container in your blog that I missed first time around. Instead my attention was caught by the Sedum and the beautiful Princess Birtie in the foreground.

In the summer I created a space next to my leggy rhodo and had been wondering what to put there. Your knowledgeable and most helpful reply has provided the solution. Thank you. I am glad I did not bother looking up the answer to my pruning question as I enjoyed your response which as well as being informative can also be read either as being tactful or ironical. Of course I read it both ways.

I too will be having glowing embers in my garden shortly. Granddaughter will be visiting for school half term so we will be having an early halloween/bonfire night, embers and sparklers I am sure.

Are you content with the title Lady or do you think Princess Birtie would mind you also being elevated to Princess in the land of GOY? I know you are already a Royal favourite of her majesty.

My rhodos are not in containers and I wonder why you keep yours in them?

I am sure you will enjoy 'Glowing Embers' - it's a real beauty.

Any cat owner will tell you that the Feline one in the household is the one in charge! So I think Birtie would prefer for me to remain Lady-in-Waiting lol

My Rhodos are in containers because my soil pH is neutral and the Rhodo's like acid soil. There are two that are planted into large containers that I have sunk into the ground so that they look as if they are growing in the ground.

Beautiful Birtie. xxx

Thank you TT :-)

Sid - It would never occur to me to have a cat in my house. lol.

Is it true that the colour or hydrangeas changes based on the PH? My hydrangeas can't make up their minds which colour to be

Oh dear! Caroline will have to watch out then! lol

Yes, that is true about the Hydrangeas. Although some are bred to be one colour or another, your basic pink Hydrangea will produce electric blue flowers if planted in acidic soil - hence all the blue ones you see in Somerset and Cornwall, which have acid soils. Mine can't make up it's mind either - my soil is neutral and it has pinky-bluey-mauvy flowers.

No worries Sarah...I have already lived through that!...lol...his bark is worse than his bite..lol

Queen Catfinch - I was talking about cats, now I am confused and so is your cat by the sound of his bark. Have you been having a dizzy spell oh Queen of the witches? Turn him back at once before we get in double trouble trouble.

Ummm...I was not talking about a cat barking Sir Bear of the North Welsh Woods..and you know it....! Perhaps you need to be caste a spell upon... let me see..I need to get out my dizzy spell book..! I could use a little backup girls..what shall we do with my rebellious Knight?

Hmmmm...it will have to be a potent potion for sure........

hi birtie, you are adorable :o)

LOL Birtie uv become a rite professional in the Garden now :)

Birtie says these Rhodos are Perrrrrrr-fect :-)

A lovely cat, with a truly regal gaze.

Thank you Gb, she is lovely!

beautiful cat

Thank you Elsie - I see you have your own Felix domesticus 'Varigatus' there ;-)

thankyou... yes i have 4 of them !!

OMG!! ;-)

lol !! I would have more but my husband says 4 is enough !

I have a friend who has 3 cats - she says you have to have more than 4 cats to be a 'mad cat lady' lol

I think i already qualify... I am told I am mad about cats quite a lot !!

Not a bad thing ;-)