Long Mizzle Garden

 Hello M' Allhalloweenen, One year and for one year only, the lower part of Long Mizzle Garden became a big pumpkin patch. It followed the autumn removal of the mutant Leylandii hedging by hire-a-dad-with-a-chainsaw (Leylandii must be the social vampire of the gardening world). The in-situ compost heaps that had sat all winter fed the soil. Monster shade casters and moisture suckers removed, life slowly started to seep back in. The spring sown Jack O' Lanterns loved it. By the following autumn, we had more giant pumpkins than we knew what to do with.  I wish I had a picture of the garden that year. This is how the patch looks today - a mix of Cordylines, Grisolinia Littoralis, Bay and Camelia. The pumpkin patch was truly magical, but without replacement hedging our garden would be overlooked by a number of houses. Not good for Nude Tuesdays. This week I have continued with hedge trimming in between the many showers of rain. This particular line has to be hard cut back once a ...

 Hello m' ginger snaps,  It may look like I'm moving house, with all the boxes and tissue wrap...but I'm not! The local weather man warned us storm Arwen would bash the UK's South West coast, and it duly arrived on time on Friday night. This was my resulting Saturday morning 'to do' list - Re-oraganise chintzy bone china cups and saucers Go through wardrobe - dig out favourite 'Scandi Noir' jumpers (fill bags for the charity shop - a girl only needs so many winter jumpers) Look through the Alpine Garden Society's seed list - make a 'wish list' Drink lots of tea, using one of said chintzy cups, whilst trying to look moody in Scandi Noir jumper of the day. Below are cups and saucers from Royal Albert Bone China (1977) Provincial Flowers series.  They illustrate - Left:  'Mountain Avens' (Dryas Octopetala), arctic alpine flower Right:  'Lady's Slipper (Cyprpedium reginae), said to be the rarest orchid in Britain.  *I can report t...