Thursdays favourite plant

I think I did this one this time last year but what the heck its a stunner





If you want to read the old post its here I don't think I can say much more about these beautiful little flowers. If you can, get yourself out in the woods this weekend, because a woodland floor covered in bluebells is one of the most beautiful sights in the english countryside.

Jess x

P.S I'm very excited, tomorrow I'm off to the devon county show which kicks off my season of shows, fetes and village fairs. Can't wait to have a look round the poultry tent.

Thursdays favourite plant

What could you want prettier than the humble harbinger of spring....

Primula vulgaris



There are so many different species of primroses, the native vulgaris is my favourite although Cowslips (primula veris) are very dear to my heart and I love the drumstick primrose (primula denticulata) and the gorgeous primula vialii

I adore these simple little flowers of sunshine, the way the appear amongst tree roots and popping out of hedges promising spring, blue skies and sunshine. One of the first flowers I could identify as a little'un, they remind me of walks in the woods with my mum telling me stories of fairies and elf's. I used to lie down on the ground in the leaves and rub my cheeks against the petals. They still seem magical to me after all these years.

Funnily enough there is so much folklore attached to primroses concerning fairies, My favourite is the Celtic and Germanic stories about finding a fairy hill or a fairy rock and touching it with a posy of primroses, it would open a door to the fairies kingdom. A posy left on the doorstep would invoke the blessings of the fairies upon the house, petals scattered on the doorstep will prevent fairies from crossing the fresh hold. Hanging posies in cowsheds will prevent fairies stealing the milk. This is a good one I found, if you see a single primrose and dance round it 3 times clockwise it will ensure your hens lay well.


If you want to have your own magical carpet of faerie loving sunshine, you can propagate them very easily from root cutting (Hmm I should do some propagating how tos) or you can grow them from seed, either sow seed collected when its fresh or if you buy seed it will need a period of chilling to germinate. You can buy the plants but make sure you get ones marked vulgaris otherwise it could be any old bedding polyanthus.

I'll leave you with this by Cicely M. Barker



The song of the primrose fairy

The primrose opens wide in spring;
Her scent is sweet and good:
It smells of every happy thing
In sunny lane and wood.
I have not half the skill to sing
And praise her as I should.

She's dear to folk throughout the land;
In her nothing mean:
She freely spreads on every hand
Her petals pale and clean.
And though she's neither proud or grand,
She is the Country Queen.

jess x

Thursdays favourite plant

I've got a lot of catching up to do here so I'll rush through a bit If you want to know any more leave me a comment and I'll answer any questions.
So here we go.

Ohh my camera (and blogger) is still playing up so I've borrowed a few pictures.

Tricyrtis formosana (toad lily)



What can I say about this, its absolutely stunning. I love the way the spots are carried through to the stamen and anthers. It flowers from about late august till about now (mine has still got lots of buds on it). This is a Japanese herbaceous perennial, that thrives in shady spots, and damp soil. It has a thick fleshy roots and is really easy to propagate by root cutting in the spring. The Leaves also have gorgeous spots on them and I'd advise giving them support as the stems can flop over a bit. Give it a good thick mulch in the autumn.

Cyclamen hederifolium

(image via flickr)

This is the native autumn cyclamen you see bursting out of fallen leaf litter in shady places, under trees and shrubs or banks and hedgerows. The flowers come up first, then the leaves follow. The leaves are stunning in different patterns flecked with silver. You can buy these as dry corms or in flower. Theres a video link to Carol Klein talking about them here


Aster monte cassino



I have a few different asters but this is my favourite. It copes with dry soil better than most asters and mine has never got mildew. I love the tiny little daisy like flowers. I have mine planted with.....

Penstemon Raven


(image via Hayloft plants)
I have a real weakness for dark almost black plants, and this one is almost velvety. My biggest tip with penstemons is to not cut the old stems back until spring when new shoots start to emerge. If you live somewhere prone to frosts, mulch it with straw around the crown to protect them. These are great for bees giving them a real feast before winter.


Euonymus alatus (spindle)
(image via flickr)

Autumn colour doesn't come much better than this. This spindle has the gorgeous pink berries and seedpods. It has these corky sort of wings along the sides of the Branch's. They'll grow to about 2 to 3 metres in height.

Liquid-amber



If you've got the space (alas I haven't) then this tree will give the most amazing autumn display, I love the variations in colours. But beware it will grow to about 15to 25 feet high.

I'm off now to gaze out the window at the rain watering my freshly moved around herbaceous border that I managed to do in yesterdays perfect sunshine. Somethings not quite right but I can't decide what it is yet, hopefully I'll figure it out in time for a break in the rain.

My new venture

The other day I mentioned something about an exciting project that I've got in the pipeline......

Well.......

One of my neighbours has this field and he's renting it to me so.......

I can start my own smallholding.

Here's a picture



Isn't it beautiful, ok so its a bit overgrown (this photo was taken in may, the grass is beyond waist height now) its a bit of a mix of woodland, meadow and marshy meadow, there's a very overgrown pond and a stream. You can see some stables hidden behind the grass (husband was all worried that I'd be all can I have a pony, can I have a pony pleasssssseeee) but my neighbour is using them for storage, however there are two chicken houses.
So that is where I shall begin. I'm going to keep chickens for eggs and raise chicks for selling. I'd like to breed tradional and or rare breeds, and show them. I'm also very keen to get ducks too (did I mention the pond) but I'll start with hen's first.

Hubby's cleared some ground behind the stables (waist height in nettles) and put up fencing and fixed the houses up. So we're almost ready to get started.
The three little chicks will be going there in about 4 weeks, I want them to get bigger and more confident first, So I've built a chick-ery in the garden as a sort of halfway house for little'uns before they move into the field.

There is also a huge veg patch there but its overgrown with docks and nettles and ash tree saplings, so I'll have fun clearing that over winter.

One of the best things though is the abundance of wildlife there. There's deer (fallow and roe) which will cause problems with eating crops and fencing but hey ho, Dormice and the rare yellow necked mouse. Hundreds of different wild flowers and grasses and tons and tons of different butterflies and moths. It really is a beautiful spot and I'm so excited about it all. I'd like to eventually (few years down the line) keep sheep, goats, pigs, turkeys, alpacac's but one thing at a time.

I'm off to another auction on saturday so I may well come back with a few more little ones.
The chicks are all doing really well, perching and dust bathing eating all my swiss chard and trying to catch flies. They are still sort of un-named as I'm not sure if one of the welsummers is a boy or a girl as it's bigger and darker than the other (who's definatly a girl). But the little buff sussex who's adorable like a fluffy powder puff goes by the names of boo, buffy or buttercup sometimes. I really hope she's a she ( I think she is), this ones all cute and fluffy looking but a real cheeky little trouble maker.
Ethel is still happliy sat on her nest with only about 6 days to go so fingers crossed this time next week She'll have some babies.
I'll post some ore pics of the soon.

Anyway got to go as I have a million and one things to do

jess x

Ohh if anyone has any tips or advice please drop me a comment or send me an email.

Step away from the spade

This is not my garden but if it was I could live with it.(Image via google images)


I love this time of year, you know being a stone through away from autumn, I don't even really mind the fact that our summer seems to be over and done with. What I don't like about this time of year is the fact my garden looks rubbish.
Late summer gardens can look stunning and there is still lots of beautiful plants yet to shine, but mine just looks a mess.
All my planting mistakes in spring show up and I think "why did I plant that there?" or "I didn't stake that well enough" or "that's a lot bigger than I thought it would be".
It doesn't help that my little patch is bordered by wild countryside and even though this year I thought i was more on the ball with keeping back the wilds I'm having battles with brambles and bracken taking over my hedges and fences and my bank that separates the chickens from the flower garden is over run with brambles and field maple saplings, tansy and bracken. It looks amazing in the spring with bluebells, primroses and violets.

I really think I'm more of a spring gardener than a summer/autumn gardener. I was so pleased with how everything looked a few months ago but now it looks shaggy and over grown. Maybe I'm being a bit hard on myself but I always seem to be a bit lack-lustre in the garden after July. The problem is I'm itching to get started on dividing,moving,and planting. I'm trying to plan a overhaul and now is a really good time to take stock of what doesn't work or look right. I really have so much work to do and I'm dying to get started but I need to wait at least until the asters and chrysanth's have had there turn.

Thursdays favourite plants

This is Hemerocallis "summer wine"

Isn't is gorgeous. They're commonly called day lilies because each flower lasts for a single day, although don't let that put you off because they produce lots of beautiful flowers, so you get a new one each day in late June/July. These perennials can happily grow in borders or large containers and come back year after year and get bigger and bigger, so they can be divided in spring or autumn and give you more plants. You can also eat the flower buds I'm told, but I've never tried. I wouldn't want to miss out on the flowers.
They are best grown in a sunny spot but are quite happy in heavy clay soils or moist soil.




Allium sphaerocephalon (round headed leek or drumstick allium)

Now I know there are some spectacular alliums out there like christophii or the huge giganteum and in comparsion this one might seem a bit small and humble, but I would always pick it over its more showy brothers and sisters. Firstly its really inexpensive compared to most alliums and you get more bang for your buck, a pack of 20 costs less than a single giant variety. Secondly they look amazing planted on mass and because the flowers are more lightweight the don't need supporting. Thirdly bees and butterflies love them.
I love the way when the flower first forms its totally green and the purple colour starts at the top and kind of bleeds down and you get a two tone effect.
These are so easy to grow, plant them in the autumn about as deep as the bulb is big. once in the ground they will come back year after year. They look stunning planted with grasses or just drifting through herbaceous plants. If your a fan of Prairie style gardens this bulb is essential.

Lastly (and I should have posted this earlier because they've gone over now)

Digitalis (Foxgloves)

To me no cottage or wildlife garden is complete with a few foxgloves (or hedge, bank, roadside verge and woodland) They're wonderful they add height stature and a dash of the English countryside. They are a biennial plant so now is about the right time to sow seeds for next years flowers. You can either scatter a packet in a seed tray and prick out and pot on the seedlings when they are big enough to handle or just throw a handful of seeds in your flower bed.
there are so many different varieties and colours to choose from, I love white ones and the native purple one (Digitalis purperea). I've just sown Pams choice to have next year, but this year I had this creamy yellow one



I think it might be called primrose carousel but I can't remember.

Right I'm off out to the garden to will some lily buds to open and see how many potatoes have grown in my potato filled compost bag.

Enjoy the sunshine

jess x

Thursdays favourite plant

Choosing just 1 plant is proving to be difficult so at times I might be indulgent and have a few.
So I have a bit of a woodland feel here today.

First up I have the gorgeous English bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)



I'm really lucky to live near woods that are absolutely carpeted with bluebells in the spring, to me they epitomise an english spring. I don't think I need to say how lovely they are. Obviously they are protected by law in the wild but you can buy seed and nursery grown bulbs here and here
One thing with bluebells is to watch out for the Spanish ones (Hyacinthoides hispanica). These invaders cross pollinate with the natives and take over. It's quite easy to tell the difference the spanish bluebell is larger with a straight stem, bigger paler flowers, and no scent.

Solomon seal (polygonatum x hybridum)



I adore these plants, they're so graceful with their aching stems and green tipped white bells dangling under the leaves. It related to lily-of-the-valley and grows in woodlands (another native wood lander). There are a few different varieties of these(the "multiflorum" being the native)such as a variegated one and a bronze one that I saw at the chelsea flower show last year called "bethberg" that I'd love but have never been able to find. The name Solomon seal comes from notion that if you slice the rhizomes (thick root stock) you can see shapes and markings that resemble Hebrew script.
Polygonatums are really easy to grow but watch out for Solomon seal sawfly.These little swines will strip the leaves bare if they can, I pick the caterpillars of as soon as I see them and feed them to the chickens.

Bleeding hearts / dutchmens breeches (Dicentra spectabilis)



These babies originate from china and like a bit of shade and nice rich soil. They have such pretty heart shaped flowers, I love the pink ones but there's also a white variety as well.

All three of these plants look really good all planted together, and as a bonus they all like the same conditions.


One last thing don't forget to keep feeding the birds, It used to be said that birds only needed feeding in the winter months when food is scarce, but with all the rushing around they're doing catching bugs and flys for the babies, having a nice fat ball to grab a quick snack from will keep their energy up, but don't put whole peanuts out in case they try to feed them to the little ones, it'll make them choke.

jess x

Thursdays favourite plant

So I want to do a weekly show of love for some of my favourite plants, I'll add some tips and advice too if i can. Todays is.....

Snakes head fritillary (Fritillaria melagris)

Love love love this gorgeous little gem.

This little baby is a quite rare native of damp meadow and chalk soils (I've sadly never seen it in the wild). I grow mine in a container (and I've also got a small clump in my wild patch) that way I can enjoy it close up whilst it's flowering. You can buy it as dry bulbs in the autumn but like snowdrops I find it grows better if you get it ready growing or after flowering ("in the green"), check out the alpine section of the garden centre, they sometimes reduce them when they've finished flowering. Although in the wild they like damp soil I plant mine up with gravel mixed in the compost to improve drainage, and to prevent the bulbs rotting in the winter.

There such beautiful delicate flowers like Tiffany lamps.

I'd love to know what your favourite plants are, or if you've seen fritillary's growing wild.