What a mess..

hi Dee lovely to see you back and so sorry you have had all this mess in your lovely garden, i just think with these severe winters now we cant have our tropical plants unless in pots and kept warm over winter, i lost all mine so im not getting anymore, going for hardy plants now, i dont have a greenhouse so no chance of over wintering anything, i will look forward to how your turns out and just know its going to be special :o))

Oh, it's so disheartening for you, Daisy, but as you say, not all bad. Just look forward to buying loads of new plants to fill the gaps (and a raised bed sounds perfect)!

sorry to hear about your lost plants,i am sure it will be back to normal in no time..after a few trips to your garden centre..:o)

Hi sand, sorry about your tropicals, annoying isnt it? there so expensive, i paid £43 for a Phoenix last year, only had it 3months before winter set in, i fleeced it and put it in the greenhouse, Tut, its Deed, brown and crispy like burned bacon lol..I dragged it out yesterday and got stabbed multible times by the spikey thorns on the bottom leaves, Stupid Thing hahaha..You do deffinatley need a greenhouse to overwinter some of these gorgeous plants, My TFs have survived (again) Woohoo, I know i said no more tropicals unless there bone hardy, BUT, Hub had sent for some drill bits from the shopping channell and they came 6.30 tonight and there was a gardenbargain magazine inside!!!!! I just had to send for an offer on 2 x 1.5mtr Phoenix Canariensis £29.28.. What am i like..
And thanks for the lovely Compliment Sand..,

Expensive this weather fluctuation, in a couple of years we will have heatwave winters.....maybe! I buy plants that say hardy now!! Good luck with your new beds.

Thanks Sheila and Joanella, Yeah, new plants, Got the all picked out in my mind. Got to pay a visit to my garden centre Joanella :))) wonder what sis is doing at the weekend hmmmm..

Thanks Lulu, I wish we could just have normal winters, How hardy is hardy with the last 3 winters we have had, I know most members have lost plants and we promise we will buy hardier plants, and then spring comes along and we forget, tempted by the most beautifull plants and flowers, Sigh :)

I know how disappointed you must feel. I am going to stick to hardy plants but I know what you mean by temptation. I have been busy planting summer flowering bulbs hoping that they will look after themselves.
I have also noticed that plants are not labelled with their country of origin, I noticed this after seeing an Italian lorry delivering to a nursery - they were delivering alsorts of mature specimens - what chance do they have of surviving the winter here if they've been raised in a med climate.

I am sad to read about your trellis collapsing, Youngdaisydee, I remember your lovely 'tropical planting' and am really sorry to see the damage it's suffered over the winter. I read a comment on here tonight that fleecing plants only gives an extra 2 degrees warmth! Doesn't seem worth the effort really! Good luck with your trip to the GC! : o ))

Too right Kfunsters, Deffo no chance of them surviving up here then, I didnt fleece my windmill palm this winter for the first time! It sailed through, in fact it has 5 new leaves, amazing... Im learning tho :))))
Im planting a lot of tropical "looking" plants Shirley, and dont really mind if there cheap and dont make it, some are just the price of a shrub and Colocasia are only £2 50 on ebay, Cabbage palm, red star £2.95 at B&Q, Phormium yellow wave £7.99 are hardy, and ferns, hostas etc, ive sown Nicotina, Castor oil seeds and my daliah and begonia have started sprouting (wrapped in newspaper in the cupboard) So not too bad or expensive really, I didnt know that about fleecing, but they also go in the unheated greenhouse, so maybe a couple more degrees..
PS, the decking was BOGOF at B&Q and the compost was half price to, hub was free lol..

horrible losing nice plants but you are making a good job of tidying up again, hope the new ones work well ~ that black bamboo sounds lovely.

Thanks Stickitoffee :) The black bamboo is lovely, it has bright green leaves, I hope it grows OK :)

so glad you tree ferns made it Dee and knew you wouldnt hold out on not buying anything, especially when you said about the bargain garden mag lol, hope they do well, have to bring them in the house in winter to keep warm, one on either side of the bed, great feature hahaha

Well, after such a disaster you at least have the consolation of being able to choose some new plants and perhaps doing things slightly different, like your new raised bed. Mother Nature can be hard on us gardeners sometimes can't she ?

Thinking back to some of your other blogs I know you won`t let it beat you, sounds to me as though you have already sorted it in your head, good for you Ydd, enjoy hiding those bins again, look forward to seeing photo`s of your newly designed area.......

Och, it's disappointing, but just as you say, take all your losses as a learning curve, although sometimes I think I haven't learnt anything... I can't tell you how many plants I've lost to the cold over the last 3 years, dahlias, fushias, geraniums, and they've all been bundled against the cold, coats, scarfs, wee hats ;0), no, joking! Well, in fact I even tried storing some in the central heating boiler house outside...and they melted too!! Yuckers! :0( You seem to be making great progress there anyway...it'll be lovely very soon! Keep your chin up!

Eeee what are we like, This gardening lark costs us a fortune, But Plants, there just amazing, and as you say Mariek, I get to buy more, Yay.. Lol Sand, side of the bed, Ooooo I did that with me Nana, didnt survive tho, Too warm I think..Awww Libet, sometimes we try to hard, Now I think, if they survive thats great, if they die, Tough:))))
Thanks Linclass, Ive took some pics this morning, still too early to look even half decent! A few more weeks or months maybe :)
gotta go to work now, to pay for these new Phoenix lol.. See ya tomorrowX

Awww what a shame! I know exactly how you feel! Well... it looked gorgeous before and will do again! Have fun rebuilding with all your new plants!

I think we all should stick to chinese plants as most of those are hardy very few with our weather from Africa etc survive here once we get hard winters and what a waste of money, I m sticking to hardy plants from now on even though I have nt lost a lot compared to a lot on here, a lot of Forbias died around our town but mine did nt but its gone any way to my son, whos cordelines are naked now like most of every one elses.

Thanks Helenium, Im already having fun lol, hub found an exotic GC in durham, so we are going to have a look. I lost my Cordy this year Sixpence, Seems like the whole of England lost them, Ill maybe get another one, Ill see... You stick to your hardies, less heartbreak :) happy gardening all :)

I shall and try and find ones that are hardy and drought resistant too if I can lol.

We all seem to have lost so much this year....lets hope we have a nice summer.

So difficult when you love tropicals, not to try again I am on our third Palm stayed in the house all winter!! so no failure there lol glad you are getting sorted.

Thanks, Sixpence, Karen and DD.. I bought another Cordyline a couple of weeks ago, It was only £5.99 so not to bad, its in a pot for now..
I think most of us have probably forgot about our losses now Karen and started all over again, I wish i had a Conservatory DD, it would save me a fortune :)

It would young DD! Perhaps we should start a campaign.