(Via Snappy's Gardens Blog)

Posted by admin to hellebore niger, viburnum on 2008-01-15, 06:32:00

The Rain came again today, pouring down for a few hours. I ventured outside to see if the Hellebores had flowered yet. Not yet, but pretty close. They have either pink ish or white flower buds. Five plants have developed flower buds which are now growing upwards, as they started off in the soil close to the base of the plants.
The Raindrops are photogenic on the blue berrys of the Viburnum.I actually saw a blackbird eating one yesterday.
You can see the Sunken Bird waterbowl with surrounding stones..
I wandered if the Rain would dampen the garden birds spirits. It was like wacky races today with numerous birds flying in and out. I counted up to twelve at the most. Five Blackbirds, and seven Blue tits. They are actually quite hard to count because they are all moving about rapidly.
Some bird photos to come today..

(Via Snappy's Gardens Blog)

Posted by admin to snow, viburnum on 2008-01-03, 17:05:00

The Viburnum Tinus with the First snow flakes of the new year.It fell and laid for a while then melted away. you can nearly see the Snow Flake shape on the right hand corner.
I love snow.I slept too much today.More garden posts when I wake up again.

(Via Snappy's Gardens Blog)

Posted by admin to bulbs, geraniums, ghosts, viburnum on 2007-12-12, 10:16:00

Beautiful delicate white Viburnum flowers that smell faintly fragrant...

The Viburnum blue berrys with the golden stripes...

The pink Geraniums that were flowering before the big clean up.

I wandered what evidence of previous gardeners i would find. There was little buried treasure only broken pieces of pottery . Not even whole pots just solitary fragments.
The most noticiable thing in the garden is the Viburnum shrub which is about seven foot high and six feet wide. It has the pink star shaped flower buds, with the scented white flowers. After it has flowered it makes the blue berrys.The whole shrub/tree is covered in them.I potted up two viburnum baby plants that had young red willowy stems.
The Geranium was wild spilling onto the stone slabs. It was wildly overgrown and woody.The roots were like a bowl of spaghetti! Masses and masses of solid root.
I trimmed the lateral and bottom of the viburnum. If I want to hang washing It will need trimming backfurther along the front. I wont untill spring trim it back now.
There are three patches of Geraniums, one in a pot, and two sections in the soil. They will flower again with the cuttings I moved.
The only other things I found were an unknown bulb, large amounts by the right hand fence.I left a few, and collected a tub full.I am letting them dry out untill I can identify what it is! It is shaped like a skinny turnip with small bottom and long thin top part, all white coloured.
Two severely leggy heathers sagged onto the patio.They had about a foot of dead wood beneath the green parts. They went into my compost boxes!
There was a bird house with its roof missing, and full of damp.It disintegrated when I tried removing it from the post.
I found several plant labels, some were so old they were unreadable. On the computer desk now is the label for Calluna Vulgaris Tricolorifolia, a creeping heather.
I know for sure that the soil can support Heathers, Viburnum, Geraniums, and the unknown bulbs.
The treasure was the soil, dark alkaline soil that had not been dug for years. Black gold almost, but two sides of the garden have been cultivated once upon a time.
I wander if the ghost gardener liked the cleared garden, free of brambles and weeds, with the raised beds uncovered, and the original fence nailed back upright. The patio swept clean of collected debris so they are light coloured.
Its been cold and as I have done as much of the garden as I can at the moment I can be reflective, about ghosts and gardens.