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, ...

Bonjour mon petit jonquil! Got your cuppa? Let's go....Wow, what a difference one week makes. It really feels like spring has sprung. The question is, is it warm enough to sit bare bottomed on the soil yet?... certainly not, how dare you! The mornings are still a little frosty. Here's just one job I've been meaning to do all winter: sorting out the area by the playhouse. I wish I had taken a  'before' picture to go with my smug 'after' picture, as it was quite a mess! Nettles removed and bramble roots wrestled out, I laid weed membrane down and covered it with new bark shredding.   A landing area where the kids put their deck chairs, I have been instructed not to grow plants in this spot. This is where they natter to their friends at the bottom at the garden  (p.s. the friends sound made up, but they are indeed real). So, what to put there instead??? A wooden throne of course!!!   Voila! The Long Mizzle Throne, forged from seven pieces of fallen wood, co...

Hello m’ blustery barnacles, It has been a soggy, cold week here at Long Mizzle, so lots of time's been spent indoors, chain drinking tea, browsing botanical books and attempting some watercolour painting.  Look what’s popped out in the last few days – Monsieur gave me this Moth Orchid (Phalenopsis) a few years ago for valentine’s day, saying it was "the runt of the litter and the last one in the shop". Immediately I loved it. Some people chop off the stray, fleshy aerial fleshy roots, but I  think they just add to its weird beauty. Plus, these plants photosynthesize from their roots, so it is best to leave the aerial escapees intact and allow them to party, whilst the lower level roots are best kept in a clear pot. [Regarding root condition, green = good, silver = de-hydrated, brown = dead] In the wild, Phalenopsis would be perched in the crevice of a tree (epiphytic) or clinging to a rock face (lithophytic). This one has long been due a re-pot, but I will wait until i...