1. This week's instant gratification: Hyacinth Yellowstone. It is ages since I planted hyacinths in any garden. We stopped at B & Q to buy some new kitchen cupboard shelves, there were none in stock, and I took consolation in these. The colour is is soft yellow very similar to wild primroses and they work nicely in the the sort of gloomy weather we have been having this week.
2. I despair: this is just one of the examples of the devastation by slugs this spring. Would the RHS have us only grow plants that slugs and snails don't touch?
Slug nibbled narcissi |
From a headline in yesterday paper: ‘It’s patronising to say that all slugs are friends – the RHS treats gardeners as nincompoops’...A new campaign by the RHS and the Wildlife Trusts is encouraging us to appreciate the garden pests – but not all horticulturists are keen.
3. For several years I had admired a yellow rambling rose along a friend's fence, and last year I had permission to take some cuttings. I have three good rooted cuttings, and this week at the same time as planting out the hyacinths, these were planted all along the south facing fence. Let us hope it won't be too many years before they are flowering. Hopefully someone will be able to identify it once they are in flower, and in my dreams the fence is festooned with roses.