Growing Pains....

[cheerypeabrain]

I've only really been gardening 'seriously' since our Doggie died in 2004..apart from a few tomatoes in the GH most years since we inherited it from my FiL back in the 80s.

My gardening 'style' has changed over the years...in 2004 it was anything exotic I could get my hands on...I didn't really know what I was doing (still don't) and I still retain a passion for bananas, tree ferns and anything with big luscious leaves.

I've always enjoyed growing plants from seed...but shunned anything 'cottagey' as I thought it was boring and a bit naff, preferring to grow stuff that I considered unusual (and difficult)...I still don't like Roses or sweet peas.....

Last year was such a disaster (largely due to the weather) that I've had another rethink...this year I have bought (shock horror) a dicentra spectrabilis!....and we have DAFFODILS! (won't last...I'm bound to rip them out)...then yesterday I was drawn to a peony exactly like the one my Nanna had in her garden when I was a small child! Herbacious perennials just never featured in my garden before a few months ago..if I had them at all, they were treated much the same as annuals and ripped out once they'd died back....I'm becoming respectable...lorks! ...it'll be shrubs next...(I blame The witch ;D )

The vegetable patch was a bit of a surprise...all of a sudden I wanted to grow vegetables as well as flowers in my very small garden....(nothing to do with GW)

So what I want to know is...have you changed your gardening preferences over the years? were you once captivated by a particular type of plant ? (for example I have about 7 different types of lavender in pots)...were you once a stripy lawn person now growing rough meadow?....do tell ;D

[mickthecactus]

Nope, I'm pretty much the same only more so with the C&S.

Always wanted a lovely lawn but never had one - grandchildren and girlie dogs put paid to that.

Still love growing veg.

My Dad in his heyday had 2 large (well they seemed large to me) beds in which he just grew Dahlias and I've often wanted to do this as well but never got round to it. Maybe I'll strip out the 2 beds in front of the greenhouse and convert them.

[debbiem]

Stripey lawn?! Eeeek - never been like that. I've always tried to get it as wild and rambling as possible. I do have some cottage garden plants and would have a few more if they weren't quite so tasty to slugs and snails!
But I'm a shrub fan too - as long as they're big enough they can withstand the chickens and a lot of them are evergreen too for some colour during the Winter.
I've just planted a load of bulbs which I think is my major change. There were loads on offer at the GC and they're all coming up nicely, apart from the Hyacinth Jan Bos which is getting munched.
And the Hyacinths, Crocuses and Daffs look so nice right now. I'm hoping that by the time the lawn has grown back and the chickens are allowed into that part of the garden again that the bulbs'll all be over - I'm hoping the two times coincide - that's the plan anyway. : I'ver also put in a few smaller plants which isn't my normal choice which'll have to get a move on if they're going to be big enough to ward off the chickens. :
Great innit?

[debbiem]

Ooo The witch that reminds me of something I missed out - another change for me is that I used to hate Montbretia but now I love the stuff, as it rambles off with a mind of its own. I now have a mad orange one whose name I don't know, the Lucifer, and the yellow George Davison. Wonderful plants.

[4pygmies]

My gardening style has had to change since I moved up here as this garden is far too big for one person to keep looking ordered and well kept. So I suppose I have become much more interested in making a wildlife friendly garden over the last 15 years and less of a designed space. I still would like my flower garden to look as if I have taken some trouble over it but I haven't managed it yet! Luckily I prefer the very scruffy look - it's much more like me than anything tidy and neat......and I do love wild flowers anyway ;D

[Sleepy]

Apr 3, 2008 11:55:39 GMT 1 @The witch said:

Apr 3, 2008 8:39:51 GMT 1 @debbiem said:

Ooo The witch that reminds me of something I missed out - another change for me is that I used to hate Montbretia but now I love the stuff, as it rambles off with a mind of its own. I now have a mad orange one whose name I don't know, the Lucifer, and the yellow George Davison. Wonderful plants.

I love Lucifer too Debbie, they now refer to the plant as Crocosmia btw.

I still refer to it as montbretia as well as crocosmia. And I don't care what 'they' think about it