Wake up and Smell the Roses

Rosa Rambling Rector is a thug but a benign one. Mine is about over now but bloomed abundantly and although a brief spectacle, I would not be without it. I was forced to hack it back very late last year, but clearly, it bears me no ill will. Too big for a small garden?? – undoubtedly, but catch it before it runs riot and you can keep it within bounds, go away for a couple of weeks and you’re lost! The honey scent is a daily treat during flowering and delighted bees tumble drunkenly from one tiny bloom to another. It has been almost completely clear of pests and I attribute this bonus to the sparrows that infest it in the cool early morning and the hard winter we experienced. A few vigorous and unforgiving trees surround it and it has been known to suffer badly from greenfly, but not this year.

Mail Order
My decision to experiment with mail order plants this year has, by and large, been unsuccessful. Tempting photographs and persuasive DVDs lulled me into one of these, five of those, 2 dozen of the other and so on. I’m fond of fuchsias, but 5 Lady Boothby is a bit silly in a small plot like mine and although Gardening Which? has accepted it as the world’s only climbing fuchsia, speaking personally, the jury is very much still out. It is certainly vigorous and responds well to “pinching” but I remain to be convinced that it is a climber rather than just plain leggy. If they prove worthy, I may keep one and give the remainder away. I’ll not fall into the mail order trap again. In my case, and this is purely a personal opinion, plants were dispatched far too early and the soft growth required a heated greenhouse – an expense I am not prepared to incur. During the cold and frosty early spring this year it was a struggle to keep rooted cuttings alive and bug and mildew free, and if you dislike chemicals as much as I do, a struggle can become a near impossibility. To add insult to injury the capsid bugs have been on the munch again in my garden and the fuchsias are always the first target.

Froglets
Our tiny froglets have escaped into the garden, around 20 of them – slippery little suckers. Being in loco parentis so to speak, I wanted to hang onto them until they were a decent size but they would have none of it. They determinedly climbed the sides of their laundry box home and didn’t give up until they were out of there. Oddly, we are left with one single tadpole, no legs, no nothing. I am assured by “froglife” that it may mature later in the year or failing that, over-winter and develop next spring. For the time being it remains in splendid isolation – and I remain without a laundry box.

Canary Creeper
I’ve grown canary creeper this year for the first time and it is absolutely everywhere! The bees love it and it makes a pleasing splash of yellow when all the spring yellow is gone away. Now I know what it can do, if I grow it next year I will be a little more circumspect about where I put it and probably confine it to one part of the garden, if that’s possible – mind you, I do have a certain admiration for an annual that grows so fast and flowers so profusely in such a short time.
Mr Bird watches all and says little.









Mrs Bird watches Mr Bird.