Long Mizzle Garden

 Hello m' fiery crusts, With each growing season, it is fun to try something different at Long Mizzle. This year I thought I'd have a dabble with dry flowers. Technically all flowers can be dried, but some fare better than others. If hung upside down, nicely spaced in a warm, dimly lit place, they are more likely to retain their colour and shape.  As I am yet to erect a proper drying rack (or slung twig more like), some have started to festoon the living room druid tree - turned skeletor lamp shade.  Above: Statice (Limonium sinuatum) The Statice was very easy to grow, with lovely sturdy fluted stems and indigo flowers. The mutant molluscs seemed to leave it alone. I wish the same could be said of the Strawflowers - many young plants succumbed to the munching marauders. Aren't the papery flowers wonderful though !? Above: Strawflowers (Limonium sinuatum) In addition to the Cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) and Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), which self seed freely here, ...

Hello from a chilly Long Mizzle, Brrrrrr, please come through for a virtual cuppa in the garden. We have tea, coffee, herbal or hot chocolate? ... The traffic at the bottom of the road has finally settled down and the frosty nights leave the pink River Lilies sugar coated. As the day progresses and the sun lazily stretches out, the crisp ground softens, sending quick ascending vapour over the old town and tidal river. This week I've been sowing chillies and, shock horror... bird watching ( I never ever thought I'd say that!) amongst other things. I had to dig out my 'Pat Butcher' fake leopard fur coat. I just need the big earrings and fag hanging out my mouth now. In the vintage orange vase: dried Agapanthus flower heads. The sticks, jars and green orbs keep the cats' furry bottoms off the vege beds. Frosty River Lilies (Hesperantha coccinea) - The Camellia at the top end of the garden won't be too happy about the frost but it'll survive (if this particular ...

Hello, glass of hyacinth anyone? It is a wonderful time of year, where my love of horticulture fuses with my mam's passion for glass collecting. Together we start the process, in a chilly October garage, of forcing hyacinth bulbs in vintage  'Bulb Vases'. Fueled by steaming cups of tea (not hyacinths - they are poisonous!), the vases are pulled out of storage and we carefully wash and dry them all. Matching yellow jumper alert! (If we were off to town together, I'd make mam change!) We then fill them with water, almost to the top, but making sure that the bulb we place on the top does not contact with the water, else it rots. This year's bulbs have been treated to two months, in a paper bag, in the fridge. You can buy pre-treated bulbs, but they are more expensive. Look at this lovely plump bulb eager to send its roots out. (Please note, hyacinth bulbs can be a skin irritant to some. I've got old boot skin, so they don't bother me) The vases and bulbs the...