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Post by cheerypeabrain on Dec 2, 2007 15:04:08 GMT 1
Can you tell us about your favourite winter time plant ? ...I spose the berries on the skimmia look nice....but tbh the nicest thing in the garden atm is the ivy on the gazebo..... :  |
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Post by alicat on Dec 2, 2007 21:31:47 GMT 1
Hi Cheery For me it has to be the Viburnum - Eve prince. ( In the front garden. Not shaped to it's best, but I would really miss it if I dug it out.) It started flowering a month or so ago and will continue to flower right through until spring. I just love it, especially when its cold and wet. Also love my Holly at the bottom of the garden because all the birds come and feast on the berries and are pretty much safe from the cats. ;D Can't think of any more at the mo, but i'm sure there are more.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 3, 2007 14:13:58 GMT 1
I have a huge old Pieris in a tub in the front garden. At the end of summer it starts developing flowers for spring followed by the gorgeous red leaves.
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Post by madonplants on Dec 3, 2007 15:11:43 GMT 1
Easy one this, holly. When I was a child, we had a huge holly hedge that went around three side of our house and in the winter, the berries were great. Trouble is so did the birds! ;D We nearly always seemed to save some for ouselves at Christmas, luckily.
Keith
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Post by maggyd on Dec 3, 2007 17:00:28 GMT 1
Hi Cheery For me it has to be the Viburnum - Eve prince. ( In the front garden. Not shaped to it's best, but I would really miss it if I dug it out.) It started flowering a month or so ago and will continue to flower right through until spring. I just love it, especially when its cold and wet. Also love my Holly at the bottom of the garden because all the birds come and feast on the berries and are pretty much safe from the cats. ;D Can't think of any more at the mo, but i'm sure there are more. Same as you Ali ;D I have two Viburnum in the back garden plus a winter flowering Cherry which has started to flower early this year! it is usually Christmas week that it comes out but it started two weeks ago, also the winter Jasmine is looking good it really brightens up a dark day. |
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Post by 4pygmies on Dec 3, 2007 21:22:43 GMT 1
Viburnum tinus is pretty much my favourite too - the pink flushed flowers are very effective tucked into Yuletide wreaths, should any of you feel creative. I also have Viburnum bodnantense 'Dawn' in my garden which is pretty huge now and always smothered in scented gorgeous little pink flowers on the bare stems all winter. I keep meaning to buy myself a Chimonanthus praecox (Wintersweet) as I think they are really beautiful too...keep forgetting though... : |
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Post by debbiem on Dec 6, 2007 14:12:30 GMT 1
Can you tell us about your favourite winter time plant ? ...I spose the berries on the skimmia look nice....but tbh the nicest thing in the garden atm is the ivy on the gazebo..... : Do you have acid soil, Cheery? I don't, but was thinking of planting my Skimmias in the border with some acid compost around them to see how they got on. I wondered if I'd get away with it, since where I'm going to plant them's not particularly fertile anyway. I love all plants that are green and alive and kicking during the Winter months, they all cheer me up. If everything lost its leaves and were all bare branches wouldn't it be dreary and depressing? |
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Dec 10, 2007 20:05:04 GMT 1
Can you tell us about your favourite winter time plant ? ...I spose the berries on the skimmia look nice....but tbh the nicest thing in the garden atm is the ivy on the gazebo..... : Do you have acid soil, Cheery? I don't, but was thinking of planting my Skimmias in the border with some acid compost around them to see how they got on. I wondered if I'd get away with it, since where I'm going to plant them's not particularly fertile anyway. I love all plants that are green and alive and kicking during the Winter months, they all cheer me up. If everything lost its leaves and were all bare branches wouldn't it be dreary and depressing? I have a boy skimmia in a pot in ericaceous compost...and a girl skimmia in the border...I dug in a bag of ericaceous compost and fed it in the spring with the appropriate fertiliser....all my acers are in the same compost in pots as well...I tried putting one in the ground and killed it...  our soil is pretty neutral. The only plants that look nice atm are the euphorbias really...and the ivy o'course. |
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Post by madonplants on Dec 10, 2007 21:58:40 GMT 1
Can you tell us about your favourite winter time plant ? ...I spose the berries on the skimmia look nice....but tbh the nicest thing in the garden atm is the ivy on the gazebo..... : Do you have acid soil, Cheery? I don't, but was thinking of planting my Skimmias in the border with some acid compost around them to see how they got on. I wondered if I'd get away with it, since where I'm going to plant them's not particularly fertile anyway. I love all plants that are green and alive and kicking during the Winter months, they all cheer me up. If everything lost its leaves and were all bare branches wouldn't it be dreary and depressing? What pH is your soil, Mrs B? Skimmias can cope with 'mildly' alkaline, but prefer acidic soil. Keith |
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Post by debbiem on Dec 11, 2007 10:49:44 GMT 1
Do you have acid soil, Cheery? I don't, but was thinking of planting my Skimmias in the border with some acid compost around them to see how they got on. I wondered if I'd get away with it, since where I'm going to plant them's not particularly fertile anyway. I love all plants that are green and alive and kicking during the Winter months, they all cheer me up. If everything lost its leaves and were all bare branches wouldn't it be dreary and depressing? What pH is your soil, Mrs B? Skimmias can cope with 'mildly' alkaline, but prefer acidic soil. Keith It's funny you should say that, Keith. It was only at the weekend that I was suggesting to OH that we get a soil ph kit - we REALLY need one! I've always assumed that our soil was neutral'ish but when we moved here two years ago it was terrible and we've been trying to improve it ever since with our own compost, manure, Growmore etc, and depending on what's gone into the compost for whichever end of the border the ph could vary so a kit's definitely on the cards. Since I planted an acid-loving Leucothoe in the border a while back which seemed to be happy there I'm wondering whether the soil's more acid than I thought. I replanted it elsewhere eventually as I thought it may die if I left it where it was.The answer's in the kit, and nowhere else!  |
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Post by madonplants on Dec 11, 2007 11:01:36 GMT 1
What pH is your soil, Mrs B? Skimmias can cope with 'mildly' alkaline, but prefer acidic soil. Keith It's funny you should say that, Keith. It was only at the weekend that I was suggesting to OH that we get a soil ph kit - we REALLY need one! I've always assumed that our soil was neutral'ish but when we moved here two years ago it was terrible and we've been trying to improve it ever since with our own compost, manure, Growmore etc, and depending on what's gone into the compost for whichever end of the border the ph could vary so a kit's definitely on the cards. Since I planted an acid-loving Leucothoe in the border a while back which seemed to be happy there I'm wondering whether the soil's more acid than I thought. I replanted it elsewhere eventually as I thought it may die if I left it where it was.The answer's in the kit, and nowhere else! I have one of these probes, that you just push into the soil. It's accurate enough and so easy to use than putting powder into a container, did all that when I worked as a lab technician all those years ago!! Those test tube ones are much cheaper and for one test, might be all you need, just take bits of soil from around the garden, mix it up and away you go. I probed all my garden and it reads 5.8-6.8, but normally 6.3-6.5 on average. Keith |
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Post by canarycreeper on Dec 12, 2007 16:49:43 GMT 1
The witch, I'd love a Mahonia but the garden's too small ... there's a magnificent one down the road I lust after. Best winter tonics in my tiny patch are an Ajania (Pacific chrysanthemum), bought as a tiny pot plant from Lidl a couple of years ago ... lovely evergreen leaves and covered with yellow flowers throughout the winter, followed by Fatsia, with its sprays of cream flowers followed by berries ;D ... cheers ... |
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 12, 2007 16:53:03 GMT 1
The witch, I'd love a Mahonia but the garden's too small ... there's a magnificent one down the road I lust after. Best winter tonics in my tiny patch are an Ajania (Pacific chrysanthemum), bought as a tiny pot plant from Lidl a couple of years ago ... lovely evergreen leaves and covered with yellow flowers throughout the winter, followed by Fatsia, with its sprays of cream flowers followed by berries ;D ... cheers ... Canarycreeper- I remember, you've a buddleia you can't kill..... Yes? |
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Post by canarycreeper on Dec 12, 2007 17:21:33 GMT 1
Yup ... and it's still going strong, drat it  ... cheers ... |
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Post by canarycreeper on Dec 13, 2007 14:17:30 GMT 1
Hhmmmm ... The witch, I didn't know Mahonias could be hard pruned ... must scout around. They really are lovely ... cheers ...
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Post by madonplants on Dec 13, 2007 15:45:55 GMT 1
Hhmmmm ... The witch, I didn't know Mahonias could be hard pruned ... must scout around. They really are lovely ... cheers ... Yep, I had one, when we lived in Waterlooville. I hard pruned it, in the spring and it soon came back to life, after a good feed. Keith |
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Post by blacky on Dec 29, 2007 20:58:21 GMT 1
i have one too and i chop it hard and it does grow back bigger than ever the colour of the new shoots are lovely |
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Post by debbiem on Jan 5, 2008 13:24:25 GMT 1
Do you have acid soil, Cheery? I don't, but was thinking of planting my Skimmias in the border with some acid compost around them to see how they got on. I wondered if I'd get away with it, since where I'm going to plant them's not particularly fertile anyway. I love all plants that are green and alive and kicking during the Winter months, they all cheer me up. If everything lost its leaves and were all bare branches wouldn't it be dreary and depressing? What pH is your soil, Mrs B? Skimmias can cope with 'mildly' alkaline, but prefer acidic soil. Keith I bought a soil ph test kit, Keith, the test tube kind. It has 15 tests in it - after that I'll buy one of those probe types that you have. The soil in the area I've tested is raging ALKALINE, the liquid turned dark dark turqoisey-green.  I think it's going to vary depending on where in the garden I'm testing and how much which particular area's been improved but the spot I tested was where I was thinking of planting out the Skimmias, so thanks for the tip. |
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our soil is pretty neutral.
I think it's going to vary depending on where in the garden I'm testing and how much which particular area's been improved but the spot I tested was where I was thinking of planting out the Skimmias, so thanks for the tip.