autumn colours

[moonbells]

I do love the colour that my acer palmatum 'Osakazuki' goes. I think it's one of the best for colour.  I am also relieved to see it like this - after it got dried out accidentally by the hubby while I was away last year, and lost most of its leaves, I was worried it wouldn't recover. But it has - with more dense foliage.

I also like the colour the hosta tub has gone; they make a nice contrast, esp with the michaelmas daisies too.



moonbells

[moonbells]

[GREENWIZARD]

wow ;D ;D

[Gardengirl]

STUNNING  ;D

[busy_lizzie]

That is gorgeous moonbells!   :) busy_lizzie

[Heldi]

Oh wow moonbells! I'm the green eyed monster,I'd love to grow acers but I have a very windy garden and my last one died earlier this year. It was  acer palmatum altropurpereum or something like that,(doing it from memory). Bought a sambuccus nigra "black lace" to make up for it. Very lovely but not quite the same though.

I agree, your hosta looks great too. I have a massive hosta which I need to split. I'm nervous about doing it. It's been following me around since about 1996 with only a couple of huffs, I'm wondering if I might be pushing my luck!!

[Robert_Brenchley]

They're pretty tough, just dig it up and tear it apart. I just ram a spade through the rootball.

[wardy]

I've got the windiest garden imagineable (live on the top of a hill with nothing for miles to stop the wind! ) I grow acers but tucked in a corner and they are doing very well.  The structure behind the acers is an air raid shelter.  They have their uses  :)

Oh, only just noticed the pot of mint on the top.  I've been looking for that!

[moonbells]

GW you really shouldn't say wow after your robin pic!

I was lucky enough to get a good one in Feb last year, but of course invalid for any of the comps here! I thought I'd posted this already but can't find it so...
has anyone seen one more cartoon-spherical?


:) Perhaps our posy robins are related! 

This one was hopping about under the benches at RHS Wisley.  I fed it half a sandwich and it just kept coming closer... until it was about a foot away.  And I put the cam on x2 zoom, flash on and it never blinked! It was freeeeezing so just shows how they fluff!

Heldi - the acer was the first one I found. For some reason the nursery I got it from (just N of Milton near Cambridge)  was selling really quite large trees at £12.95 and I still think it was a bargain. Poor thing has suffered a lot and is still in the original pot I bought the same day! Though for the last year I've kept it in the shade while it recovered from the crisping.  I've also got a 'butterfly' (not terribly impressive) and a A.P. shirasawanum 'aureum' which is fantastic in spring with lots of pale green fans.  And a bonsai A. P. 'deshojo' which went the same way as the 'Osakazuki' and is currently recovering... they are beggars if you forget to water them!

Wind - the one in the pic was in the path of the wind rushing down the tunnel between houses for the past year.  (Which regularly blows over the Christmas tree).  They are tougher than they look - remember in Japan they get typhoons...

moonbells

[Juliet]

Gorgeous acer, Moonbells - I am jealous too - we have alkaline soil here so haven't even tried to grow them.  When we move, if we still have alkaline soil, I'm getting one in a pot!!

I live quite near Milton! - are you in Cambridge too, or were you just visiting?  I don't know a garden centre there though - mind you, I found one today I'd not been to before (just S of Wilburton, if you know the area) - normally drive all round Cambridge to get to one the other side ::)!!

[Heldi]

I've got the wind tunnel effect down the side of my house too. It creates a whirlwind in the back garden. I thought I'd finally found a part of the garden that the acer liked but unfortunately it died anyway. I've been wondering if it is the sea air but then I've thought, since it was a bargain basement tree, it  may have been poorly sick anyway.

Does this mean I can try again ??!!  ;D

[GREENWIZARD]

fab pic of robbie m
~love it

[moonbells]

Heldi - yes!
(I lost my first deshojo too - and it's a pain when they're so expensive!)

Juliet - I garden on Chilterns chalk - we have 6" of awful topsoil above solid blackboard best and I love rhodies. camellias, acers, gentians, blueberries... so have a HUGE collection of potted specimens! (As you can just about see from the back garden pic; there are circular paving stones inset in the lawn alongside the path, each of which has a pot sitting on it.)  I even have a pond in a pot as you can't dig deep enough for a real one...

Was just visiting Cambridge as we then had friends in Milton (who have now moved back to London so no more excuse to go to the nursery :( )  I know it was on the A10 to Ely... we just popped in.  As we'd just gone all the way to Ely, it could be anywhere on that road! And it wasn't a chain... and I can't find it on yell.com... but did find one just behind Milton so you don't have to drive round the city!

moonbells

[Heldi]

I love your rotund robin too, I forgot to mention it before as I was getting excited about acers!

[Juliet]

I even have a pond in a pot as you can't dig deep enough for a real one...

I love the idea of a pond in a pot!  :D

When I designed our garden (when we moved into our first bought house) I'd never been that interested in gardening, & in any case didn't know how easy it would be for me (I'm disabled & have minimal energy) so everything had to be low maintenance - I thought watering pots would be a lot of work, so I didn't plan to have any.

5 years later I have 3 large planters, half a dozen pots with permanent residents, and 22 (I think) temporary pots of cuttings.  Watering is one of my easiest jobs, & planting/digging in pots is a lot easier than it is in the rest of the garden!

We live & learn ...

I'll have a look for your garden centre next time we go up the A10 - there are quite a few small ones round here & some are not very good, which is why I've tended to stick with the one South of Cambridge, as I know that plants from there will be in good condition.  The one we found yesterday was very nice though, & much closer ... better make the most of it before we move!

[wardy]

Heidi   We get that wind tunnel effect, with leaves spiralling upwards and dropping through the velux windows in the roof if they're left open!  I've lost camellias etc so had to move those but managed to keep azaleas and pieris in pots which are directly facing the wind.  It's also a frost pocket but fortunately the acers tucked in are doing well.  My soil is alkaline but they don't seem to mind

[Heldi]

I have a peiris in a large pot right up against the house wall.  It's doing ok though I didn't have many flowers this year/last year. I'm hoping it is adjusting itself to its position and will have lots of flowers next time. Haven't even attempted camelias. I'd love a red one. I'm thinking about the acers and maybe keeping one or two in pots beside the house.  Oh no not more pots!!!