A Small Step Forward For Snail-kind!

It's a garden post today...

I took my photographs yesterday, because the sun was shining, and the weather forecast was bad.  It's been raining off and on all morning, but it seems to be clearing a bit now.  When I did my garden chores, it was damp, but it was still enough to start my annual sniffles.  I've been taking a spoonful of local honey for the last 6 weeks (started this too late, I know) and it may be alleviating things a little.

Anyway...  To my horror, I discovered yesterday that two recently planted annual poppies had been shredded by some slimy fiends, so with damp weather forecast, I hurridly put together a slug pub and left it out overnight.  I visited it this morning, and did a headcount.  17 slugs in total.  No wonder the poppies were getting munched into oblivion!

More importantly, I counted three snails amongst the victims, with a fourth teetering on the rim.  I didn't push him/her - I don't consider that sporting. 

Wow!  It seems as if the snails are at last abandoning their Temperance League and partaking of alcohol.  To their folly...  It's a lesson to us all - says the National Disgrace (who spent much of the morning doing a workout, then gorging on fruit smoothie & a pear...). 

According to a recent wildlife programme (can't remember which one...) the average garden has a slug population of 44,000.  That's a whole lot of plant-munchers....

Another garden tragedy I must report is the death of the £1.49 clematis from Lidl. It's a weird situation.  The thing seems to have spontaneously keeled over.  It looks suspiciously like a case of clematis wilt to me, but no-one's been working near the base of the plant, so I don't know how the stem can possibly have been damaged.  The weather has been very warm and dry, but the base of the plant was shaded, and it was watered frequently, too.  It's one of life's little mysteries, I'm afraid.

The Accidental Flowerbed has now been cleared and I'm in the process of planting it up.  The back garden's gradually coming together, though there's still gaping holes where the mature penstemon used to be.  It's oriental poppy time now in the herbaceous borders:-

 

I particularly like this small pale pink poppy.  It was bought from Thomson & Morgan as a 'Patty's Plum' and is supposed to be dark red, but this is what it turned into:-

 

The patio pots are also looking good.  I've stocked them with pre-grown plants bought from Erskine Garden Centre, which is run on behalf of Erskine Hospital, an organisation which provides care and support to injured ex-servicemen.  This year, their choice of container plants as been superb.  Here's a general view:-

 

The verbena in the foreground is particularly striking.  Here it is up close and personal:-

 

I've discovered a new range of container plants this year which I've been growing for the first time.  I've used verbena before, though not so extensively.  They're very handsome.  Bacopa's also a very attractive option, and I've been planting a lot of nemesia, and chancing it a bit with surfinia and petunia...

Lastly, here's a mystery shrub from the front garden.  I always assumed it was a weird form of pieris, but after seeing copious photos of something virtually identical on lizziebelle's  journal, I'm now convinced that it's actually a mountain laurel.  Any ideas, anyone?
 

A Small Step Forward For Snail-kind!

It's a garden post today...

I took my photographs yesterday, because the sun was shining, and the weather forecast was bad.  It's been raining off and on all morning, but it seems to be clearing a bit now.  When I did my garden chores, it was damp, but it was still enough to start my annual sniffles.  I've been taking a spoonful of local honey for the last 6 weeks (started this too late, I know) and it may be alleviating things a little.

Anyway...  To my horror, I discovered yesterday that two recently planted annual poppies had been shredded by some slimy fiends, so with damp weather forecast, I hurridly put together a slug pub and left it out overnight.  I visited it this morning, and did a headcount.  17 slugs in total.  No wonder the poppies were getting munched into oblivion!

More importantly, I counted three snails amongst the victims, with a fourth teetering on the rim.  I didn't push him/her - I don't consider that sporting. 

Wow!  It seems as if the snails are at last abandoning their Temperance League and partaking of alcohol.  To their folly...  It's a lesson to us all - says the National Disgrace (who spent much of the morning doing a workout, then gorging on fruit smoothie & a pear...). 

According to a recent wildlife programme (can't remember which one...) the average garden has a slug population of 44,000.  That's a whole lot of plant-munchers....

Another garden tragedy I must report is the death of the £1.49 clematis from Lidl. It's a weird situation.  The thing seems to have spontaneously keeled over.  It looks suspiciously like a case of clematis wilt to me, but no-one's been working near the base of the plant, so I don't know how the stem can possibly have been damaged.  The weather has been very warm and dry, but the base of the plant was shaded, and it was watered frequently, too.  It's one of life's little mysteries, I'm afraid.

The Accidental Flowerbed has now been cleared and I'm in the process of planting it up.  The back garden's gradually coming together, though there's still gaping holes where the mature penstemon used to be.  It's oriental poppy time now in the herbaceous borders:-

 

I particularly like this small pale pink poppy.  It was bought from Thomson & Morgan as a 'Patty's Plum' and is supposed to be dark red, but this is what it turned into:-

 

The patio pots are also looking good.  I've stocked them with pre-grown plants bought from Erskine Garden Centre, which is run on behalf of Erskine Hospital, an organisation which provides care and support to injured ex-servicemen.  This year, their choice of container plants as been superb.  Here's a general view:-

 

The verbena in the foreground is particularly striking.  Here it is up close and personal:-

 

I've discovered a new range of container plants this year which I've been growing for the first time.  I've used verbena before, though not so extensively.  They're very handsome.  Bacopa's also a very attractive option, and I've been planting a lot of nemesia, and chancing it a bit with surfinia and petunia...

Lastly, here's a mystery shrub from the front garden.  I always assumed it was a weird form of pieris, but after seeing copious photos of something virtually identical on lizziebelle's  journal, I'm now convinced that it's actually a mountain laurel.  Any ideas, anyone?