You know you're getting old when...

Oh come on Suzy, it won`t take you long and its a very good time to plant them, LOL, raining here as well so I've only been out to the greenhouses to do my watering, thought about doing some work in there but thats all it was as even quite chilly inside and not very cheery at all....

Erm, sorry, Suzy, but to my mind your garden center staff don't know what they are taking about. I admit to not knowing these specific varieties of Pieris and Azalea and my comments are more general. These are both ericaceous shrubs and require humus rich, acid soils to grow well in. I think that your Hampshire clays will be more alkaline and so totaly unsuitable for the plants to go into the garden. A container with ericaceous compost should suit them better.
If it turns out that these two varieties are actually suited to your soil I appologise. I am quite sure that someone will point this out very quickly.

I've not ventured outside at all today - wind's buffeting the windows, constant drizzle which, as you rightly point out, Suzy, I am very grateful to see, just thinking about the plants and soil now we can't water anything any more here. And yes, I wouldn't have given a fig when I was young... but I'm not sure that's a bad thing, that we think about something other than ourselves as we get older, lol!

Well sis I agree. Wasnt bothered too much before last year and got into it because I needed to with my bigger than preferred garden. Good thing is I now have my 'ageing' sister as a gardening buddy (only kidding!!).
My Azalia is doing ok but no signs of any buds yet but our soil is so different considering we are less than a mile apart. Very sandy Vs very clay!

Well hello there little brother! And when are you going to bring your pickaxe round and break the bottom of my pond out?

Now Bulbaholoic you've put me in a quandry! It's a local nursery that I bought these plants from rather than a chain of garden centres; they grow everything themselves and I believe they are very knowledgeable and wouldn't sell something that wouldn't grow in this area. However, I am slightly concerned now you've mentioned it, I'm wondering if maybe I should get a soil testing kit. Might check them out on ebay.

We're ok at the moment with watering here Bamboo, no hosepipe ban as yet just warned to be more careful. And Lincslass, hope to do some work out there tomorrow!

Oh yes Suzy, I'm fedup already as its rained every day since we got our ban, mother nature is taking the mickey out of us now...

I tend to agree with Bulbaholic, I think he is right, spot on in what he says although coming from the north of England I know nothing about Hampshire clay soil, but would imagine clay is clay anywhere. Any azalea as rhododendron heathers and so so many others need acid soil, they are lime haters, and unless they at the garden centre have introduced a lime loving Azalea you must indeed suspect their knowledge or more importantly their lack of it. If you plant this Azalea in clay it will very quickly show its dislike of its habitat and you will indeed lose this plant.Put it in a container filled with rich ericaceous compost and let it live.

Hold on a minute - I live in West London, and we have clay here you could make pots out of - but its not alkaline, we're neutral slightly bordering on acidic here - Pieris and Azalea do just fine in the soil. Admittedly, blue hydrangeas tend to become lilacy pinky, but its generally fine for things like Skimmia and Camellia and Pieris. And Hampshire's not that far away... and clay soil is not always alkaline.

Thanks Bamboo, I think I'm going to take a chance, there are Rhododendrons and Camellias in the area. I might buy some ericaceous compost to put into the planting hole to help them along a bit. Fingers crossed!

I know what you mean, I'm starting to notice I say things my mum and dad do. Me and my hubby are 29 & 30 and we've been hoping it would rain for ages so the garden could have a good drink and fill up the water butt! We also talk about "kids these days" haha x

Blimey, you're starting early, Craftyemma!

If your local garden center thinks the plants will thrive, I would trust them; they should know what grows in your area. My garden is very heavy clay - and acidic. I have many many plants that like acidic soil and they're doing well in the clay.

Thanks for the encouragement Digginfit, I've planted them in the ground but dug in quite a lot of ericaceous compost from B&Q to give them a little help. Was astonished to see the price of the plants I bought in B&Q were almost 3 times as much as what I paid and they didn't look as healthy as mine :). Happy days!

You are starting early Craftyemma, I'm creeping into my mid 40s and only just started, had no interest really until now apart from tubs and baskets. Wish I could have a waterbutt, but my downpipe from the house goes into next doors garden. I could have one off the garage but then I'd have it on the patio which I'd rather not.

I've been in the garden all day today, re-shaping and enlarging one of the borders and planting all the plants I bought over the weekend. Oh and I hung a trellis up on the fence, time will tell if it falls down :O

I hope you were able to plant your new purchaces today. We've had a dry sunny day here. I hope you have too ...

I certainly did Hywel, spent all day in the garden, looks like another dry day here today :)

hehe well I might as well get set into my funny ways early! Our waterbutt is connected to the shed, hubby put some guttering up on it last year just after we moved in :)

Nice to meet you Suzy ( through my blog) , I would have agreed with Bulbaholic, but then when I read the other comments, I wondered what was the right thing to do. You would expect the garden centre to know. If you hadn't already planted them, you could have put them in large pots of ericaceous and sunk them into the ground so that they looked like they were growing there. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Oh Rose, how charming - 'you would expect the garden centre to know'. Now, call me an old cynic, but my expectations of 'professionals' (including doctors, dentists and garden centres) are so low they're practically invisible...from experience, I'm afraid...

Ah now that would have been a good idea Rose, but planted a while ago now and all seem to be doing well. I'd probably agree if it was the usual chain of garden centres, but the one I go to is more of a family run nursery. I've also since researched through google that a lot of this area is, indeed, acid, so I'm hoping that all will be ok. I did also dig in ericaceous soil to be on the safe side. My dwarf rhodo is just coming out in flower now and the larger May Day rhodo looks as though it won't be far after :). Pleased to meet you too Rose, I'm very new to gardening but am enthusiastic!

Oh Bamboo, thats a shame , they can't be all bad. We have a wonderful doctor who always has the time for you and a good hospital who caught my breast cancer in time , years ago and treated me straight away. I probably agree with you about the garden centres though!
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that they do well. You could always try talking to them! Lol. I do!

Ah yes, I remember well the 20 years I had a great doctor for - unfortunately, she retired, and the nurse practitioners bought the practice - result is, not a decent doctor in the place. A really bad idea, any good doctor wants to own their own practice... And no, of course I don't mean all professionals - I reckon roughly 20 percent a bad, 80 percent are mediocre, and 20 percent are really good....

I'm another one with slightly acidic clay Suzy. Rhody's and Pieris and Camellias love it here. We also have great regular rain, which might be a bit less reliable in the south, but if it is dry you will need to water your shrubs. If Bamboo says they will be fine you can trust his advice. I once heard excellent advice (it must have been Alan Titchmarsh I would think ;D). The advice was, if you are a novice, pay attention to what is growing well in other good gardens in your neighbourhood and start there. I think that is really great advice for any new gardener and once you get a bit more confident and knowledgeable then you can start to be a bit more experimental. Visiting open gardens is another great way to find plants that will thrive in your local micro-environment! :)

Erm, Karensusan, I am a she not a he...

Sorry Bamboo. I know that...I was actually meaning Bulbaholic. I don't know what's the matter with me today...that's the second thing I've got confused on here today! :D Apologies.

Ah, I didn't realise you knew - lots of people on here thought I was a bloke...

Yes, I used to, but Annella put me right. I have no idea why though.

I refused to admit my gender for the first year or so on here - you get taken much less seriously as a professional if you're female, lol!

Oh, I see. Perhaps that is the reason then.