Narcissus Archives – Thomas Stone MCI Hort MPGCA

Posted on March 24, 2018March 24, 2018 by thomashort — 13 Comments

Six on Saturday, 24th of March

Well who expected that bit of snow, just when we thought the beast from the east had finished with us, he came back and hit us again with more snow, can’t remember the last time we had two good snow falls in one winter but there’s also a rumour that 2 maybe come 3 over Easter with another blast from the eastern freezer coming in and coating us in more snow. This cold spell is definitely slowing down things in the garden as well as nature overall, normally I would be mowing once a fortnight at least by now, down the lawn at one site once over a month ago and it’s not even close to needing another cut. The weeds are also growing away very slowly, the early season species like goose grass and speedwell are just sat there and not romping away as they should be. It all may be temporary, nature has a great way of catching up with things.

This weeks super 6 comes from a mix of my garden and my clients garden, I have some lovey plants that have slowed down and sadly not flowering or doing something interesting. I also haven’t had a chance to start destroying anything to make space for the new plants I have over ordered maybe!

Chionodoxa luciliae, or as it is now Scilla luciliae!

The glory of the snow and it certainly has lived up to its name this year, starting to flower just after the snow has disappeared for a week at least, these are one of my favourite bulbs, I love the blue carpet they give us and that blue is just stunning!

Violia riviniana

Violets to many are the sign of spring, seeing these lovely little violets opening up in the spring always takes me back to a colleague, Eddie, who sadly pasted away 15 months ago now, he used to look forward to seeing these tiny flowers opening up in the spring and I still can remember him getting off the tractor to look at the first ones. They are food to many of the fritillary butterflies.

Ribes sanguineum

Yes yes I know it can be found anywhere but I so love Ribes sanguineum, always on the first spring shrubs to flower and it was a delight seeing these appearing, great for the early bees that are flying around. The scent from the foliage is lovely as well

Just loved this combination of narcissus jetfire, nestled amongst carex evergold and Heuchera at on-site I planted up, it gives 12 months of interest and the bulbs give an extra lift in the spring and a different colour as well. Bulbs are so useful in the garden.

New plants! Not just for me but for my clients as well, there’s a lot of fruit trees there, including some bred in Hampshire for one project. Just need to unpack them this weekend and get them ready for planting next week!

Muscari ‘Pink Surprise’ is a new one for me. I love muscari in all it forms, this pink grape hyacinth looks a delight and I can’t wait to see it bulk up over the next few years

I hope you enjoyed my 6 on Saturday from Mine and my clients gardens If you did please checkout other people’s 6 on the memes founder website https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/ I love seeing other people’s plants and what’s happening in their gardens. Why not give it ago yourself next week and give me a shout so I can take a look

Until next week, have fun in the garden

Posted on March 10, 2018 by thomashort — 26 Comments

Six on Saturday – 10th of March,2018

Well that didn’t last long did it, of course it’s the snow I am talking about, we had it quite deep here for us in Hampshire but sadly most of it was gone by Sunday, it did make the garden look beautiful and of course the plants have their colours enhanced with the pure white snow, making all the colours seemingly jumping out at you.

The rest of the week was pretty cool and dry with us right until Friday when it seems the heavens opened and everything got a good watering. I am still not 100% sure the winter has finished with us yet, there always seems to be a little bit of a sting in the tale of the winter

My six this week comes from my own garden, there’s a few things going on and being planned as well, I hope you enjoy this weeks six

This is my last picture of my Edgeworthii I promise, well ok for this year and I will be honest it’s nearly finished but I love this picture of the flowers with it’s little snow hat on, it really bought out the colour in the picture, it looks stunning doesn’t.

The very beautiful crocus tricolor, it’s a new in the garden this year but already I love the 3 different colours on the flowers, it really makes them stand out

My new roses, not all for me but a few are! Always find it exciting getting new plants in, these are kneeled in or my version which involves a large pot and loads of bark mulch used to cover the roses. This is a brilliant way to keep the roots damp in the short time in a small garden where you haven’t got the space to kneel them into the garden

And this is where they will be going, taking the Spotted laurel and planting under the window and replacing it with roses and a few more underplanting to get the best from the site, it just needed a little more colour in the area

I don’t have that many daffodils in my garden, mainly as it in my mind suits the more formal approach that tulips give you, I caved in last autumn and thought I would try this smaller forms of daffodils like fortune, here just coming into flower, can’t wait to see them in full flower, hoping it is going to work

And I love these little specie tulips, this is the first one opening for me and it’s called biforiformis, it’s tiny flowers look nothing like the huge forms of tulip that will be flowering very soon but these hold a little bit more charm for me

hope you enjoyed my 6 on Saturday from My garden. If you did please checkout other people’s 6 on the memes founder website https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/ I love seeing other people’s plants and what’s happening in their gardens. Why not give it ago yourself next week and give me a shout so I can take a look

Until next week, have fun in the garden

Posted on February 10, 2018February 10, 2018 by thomashort — 28 Comments

Six on Saturday 10-02-2018

Well that was more like it! A cold week with plenty of frosty mornings. It’s wonderful seeing the plants covered in a fine dusting of frozen tiny water particles, adding a glittery shine to all that is touched. It is so nice also seeing the big round yellow think up in the sky, it just seems to turn the day around lifting not only our spirts but those of the wildlife we share the garden with. My highlight of the week was watching a red kite flying low over a field with a Kesteral in the forefront and 3 buzzards circling behind. Times like that, I find I have to just stop what I am doing and watch nature happening in front of me. This closeness with nature is one reason I just love what I do

Anyway moving back to topic and that’s of course 6 on Saturday and for the 3rd week in a row, it comes from my little patch in Hampshire. Not too sure how I managed it but I did!

Let’s start with a Heuchura and their beautiful foliage, they can really add a depth of colour and interest into the garden at any time of the year but even more so now, I love some of the names as well, this ones called Sugar frosting. Just look at that shade of purple underneath the leaves, just stunning purely stunning

So pleased with this galanthus called Spindlestone surprise, it’s really bulked up well in the pot and I am enjoying the 4 flowers I have, hoping to get a few more soon!

One of the first ones I brought a couple of years ago called Chedworth, makes a fine specimen in a pot, one of my little jobs this weekend is to feed them all with liquid seaweed to give them a boast, also tempted to repot a few of the ones that have finished flowering adding a bit of blood, fish and bonemeal to them

A little dwarf iris now one called iris danfordiae, it’s a lovely little scented plant on the verge of flowering! It belongs to the iris reticulata group (although I have heard horror stories they are not iris any more but Iridodyctium, but let’s only say that name after the 9pm watershed Mark!) Whatever the name, it’s still just lovely

And now for a dwarf evergreen shrub that is way underrated, it’s tough, it’s beautiful, it’s Eurya japonica ‘Moutiers’! This shade loving shrub can be pruned and shaped but it’s the stunning leaves and stems that turn bright red in the cold winter that sets it apart from many other shrubs, hard to find but well worth it

A late addition to six on Saturday but I so wanted to feature this beautiful small climber, it’s Ribes laurifolium Amy Doncaster, it’s lovely member of the current family that flowering at the moment, Amy Doncaster is a form with red stems, selected by the great plants woman Amy Doncaster from her garden in chandlers ford. I only planted this out last year and is already proving me with its beauty.

I hope you enjoyed my 6 on Saturday from My garden. If you did please checkout other people’s 6 on the memes founder website https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/ I love seeing other people’s plants and what’s happening in their gardens. Why not give it ago yourself next week and give me a shout so I can take a look

Until next week, have fun in the garden