One of the flowers I missed while I was in Libya was the forst flowering of the native Orchid - Dactylorhiza ... species - I'm not entirtely certain which one I bought - probably Dactylorhiza maculata, the Heath Spotted orchid. I ought to have kept a record when I bought it from Hayley's Orchids on ebay. A great source but they are not cheap plants - mine was around £13 - for one plant!
http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/hayleys-orchids
Unfortunately lots of the native orchids have pink varieties and Jiurie hadn't mastered the Macro function on the camera.

We took a walk around the area with the Dog last week and came across a muddy field that had several interesting plants in it. One was the great Muddy retriever.

The other was the Nortern Marsh orchid - very dark, spotted by Jiurie. there were around a dozen in the field hidden in the depths of the long grass. As tempting as it was to dig one up and bring it in it was never a consideration for me. It is illegal but it is also immoral as I know that if I did and transplanted it to the garden it would simply die so that would be out and out wrong. Still don't know why orchids are thought of as exotic - I mean they are local plants but still the name holds a bit of magic - an orcid - a native oprchid.

One of the seeds that did really well this year is Dusty Miller - Senecio cineraria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senecio_cineraria. Not only did it sprout well (as did around 50% of the species I tried) but it also survived the early transplantation and overly heavy watering (my fault for being away) and the reverse hardening off (out in the night and in during the day!) to be thriving when I arrived 2 weeks ago.

Now I've tried it outside - planting out - thriving in the tubs - my first conscious deliberate colour coding of foliage - the silver of the Dusty Miller should look really good against the deep red of the Acer maple - and looks like it has survived the bunny mowers for a week.

So I've now planted out the rest of the plants - trying to make a border along the path and one of the first plants in the second round of the xerophytic garden and I'm hopeful... hopeful that the slugs don't come out in force, hopeful that the rabbits haven't just been teasing me.

There are a hell of a load of them out there - six the other morning (there's one beneath the tree and another one to the right of this photo - little b....unnies.)
that did that last year with something - can't remember which - left them for a couple of days so that I thought that they were resistant so I planted out the rest - and then they just mowed their way across the lot.
This time, fingers crossed, this time....
So I tried for a week in the front - and the damn rabbits do mow the front too - they are still okay so I've planted out the rest now.

,
Well there are several plants around here which I did not expect to see again after the snow we had this winter and after the second cold snap caugtht everything in March time but they are here and I am truly amazed.

The plants I am most amazed by are in the third half-barrel from the back door and we pass them everytime into and out of the house. I guess this is why I am most amazed by these - because I was most aware of the problems they had.
This is the Dusty Miller plant and the Delta Sarah Fichsia whixch I have blogged about several times and given up on several times too. As you can see below they are both really flourishing under the new hotter winter that we have decided to implement around Aberdeen.
There will be more about Dusty Miller tomorrow so I won't labour the point here.

Another one I spotted today is the return of the dalo - a perennial favorite of mine which I thought I had finally destroyed by overcrowding them with chrysanths - I'm going to get the chrysanths out this year. The first leaves are just poking out of the tub among the flower stems.

In the front - well the hebe that was destroyed by the frost is still hanging on but, to be honest, I can't see it lasting through another winter.

And finally for this quick round up - the carantions (florist's carnations supposedly) in the front barrel have returned. I thought the slugs and snails had finally finished them off but they are popping up all over even in the tubs at the back and the pinks that have been transferred out into the the fenced off corral. Amazing how some things cling to life and never give up fighting - amazing and quite inspiring to me.

Today we had a couple of firsts thanks to the current hot weather (so hot that I have barely been outside today - great day for weeding except that you don't really want to be doing anything when it's so hot.
You miught think that I should be used to it working in Libya - I am but then I don't work outside manually in Libya - I'm in front of a computer screen for around 8 hours a day in a (poorly) air-conditioned office so I'm used to the heat but not he work in the heat.
In mo0st tropical countries you styay out of the sun as much as possible and in the middle of the day you sleep (preferably) or at least suit down in the shade. That's the way it is in Fiji, Angola, and Libya. That's part of the reason everyone wakes up so early -0 at the crack of dawn - so that you can get your work done before it gets too hot and then have a lonnnnng lunch before going out for a few more hours in the late afternoon when it starts to cool off.
However in Scotland I'm in (my) Northern European mode learnt in the winter - sleep late in the nice warm bed then work in the warmest part of the day when the caffiene starts taking effect, work through the afternoon and especially in the early evening when your mmuscles are all loosened up and it doesn't seem worth going in as you are so busy outside. Unfortunately if you wake up late, then can't work in the heat of the sun, then you don't really start work until 3 or 4 in the afternoon - a day such as today or the weekends in Tripoli - very bad - a lot of time wasted but enjoyabble...
Oh yeah - first lily of the year and first Calendula Offinalis - marigolds.

And just because it's the 4th July I'll throw in an added freebie picture for no real reason - pansies going great in the tubs here. Even the ones I grew from seed this year are doing okay (not that there are many of them).

Along the burn are a couple of notable garden escapees one a big plus the other a big minus(not from our garden - at least not in the last 3 years that is) - the Giant Hogweed and the Monkey Flower. Let's start with the Monkey Flower - something me and Jiurie are trying to encourage. This could be Mimulus guttatus (Monkey Flower) which I've just read on Wikipedia is one of the main species used for genetic research - over 1000 scientific papers on just the genetics of this one plant. I won''t be reading any -I hardly ever did read read scientific papers when I was a student (which is why I was a first-class science student at any level) - read the abstract and then photocopy the paper just in case (just in case of what I don't know as I never ended up reading the papers I think I expected my brain to assimilate the information by osmosis - just in case of... nope still can't come up with a valid rationale). Ther's a couple of asp[ects of the biology I might investigate though - they are supposed to be edible and they concentrate salt so can be used as a salt substitute/source ... I might give it a graze next time I'm down by the burn.
The Mimulus is right at the edge of the burn which is a classic place to find garden escapees - the seeds being brought down the stream and depositied when the winter and spring melt subsides. The other garden escappe is strange as it appears to be moving up stream - that is we saw it last year around the burn beyond the dual carriageway bridge 50 yds or so downstream from the end of our garden. This year there 3 or 4 have popped up along the side of our burn - the buggers. We are talking about the giant hogweed here - a noxious plant that it is illegal to plant it or to cause it to grow on your land. However we don't have to remove it - just make sure that it doesn't spread to anyone else's land. Seeing as our neighbour has it already and may have allowed it to spread onto our land then we are in the clear - I wonder if we could sue them?
"Legal implications of invasive weeds
If you have Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed or Himalayan balsam on land that you own or occupy you:
 do not need to notify anyone are not obliged to remove or treat these plants on your own land
must not allow Japanese knotweed or giant hogweed to spread onto adjacent land; the owner of that land could take legal action against
you must not plant or encourage the spread of japanese knotweed or giant hogweed; this can include moving contaminated soil from one place to another, or incorrectly handling and transporting contaminated material and plant cuttings." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Hogweed
http://www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/63107.aspx
I can see why the Victorians introduced it - it is big is good-looking (like me... joking m- you could add that it is a poisonous vegetable like me so we won't push that comparison any further). The one in the corner of the Ram field over the burn is at least three metre tall - well taller than me.
 

It is a very handsome plant butthe  poisonous hairs and the very poisoud sap can leave your skin photosensitivce or blid you if it gets in your eyes. I guess I need to go hack it down or spray with glyphosphate to protect the wife agrandkids and dogs - pity.

Here is the leaflet from the UK Govt Environmental Agency - I'm just helping to distribute this as a public service (if I paid any income tax then I would help pay their wages so maybe they should be paying me -  although I do pay my 17.5% VAT and  a load of tax on Petrol and  everything else I buy.)

 http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Leisure/giant_hogweed__899765.doc

Giant Hogweed

 

Giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) was introduced to Britain in 1893 as an ornamental plant.  It escaped from gardens and now colonises many areas of wasteland and riverbanks.  It forms dense colonies that suppress the growth of native plants and grasses, leaving the banks bare of vegetation in winter and increasing the risk of erosion and recolonisation from seeds washed downstream.

 

Legislation: The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provides the primary controls on the release of non-native species into the wild in Great Britain.  It is an offence under section 14(2) of the Act to ?plant or otherwise cause to grow in the wild? any plant listed in Schedule 9, Part II.  This includes Giant hogweed.

 

HEALTH HAZARD

 

The stems, edges and undersides of the leaves bear small hairs containing poisonous sap, and the slightest touch causes painful blistering and severe skin irritation. Unshaded habitats with high soil nitrate levels tend to produce greater quantities of toxins in the plant.  Contact with cut material in sunlight produces a skin reaction in almost all cases.  Blistering symptoms occur 24- 48 hours after exposure, and dense pigmentation is visible after 3 ? 5 days.  This may persist for 6 years or more.  Protective clothing must be worn. 

 

Facts and figures

 

Native range: Caucasus mountains.

 

Lifecycle: It is a perennial plant that takes up to 4 years to mature and flower, after which it dies.

 

Stem:  Green with dark-red or purple blotches.

           Hollow

           Up to 100mm across

           Up to 5m tall.

 

Leaves:  Dark green, in a rosette

               Jagged appearance and spiky at the ends

               Lower leaves up to 1.5m long.

               

Flowers:  White

               Several hundred in large umbrella-like flower heads up to 500mm 

               Across.

               June ? July.

 

New plants: Each flowerhead produces up to 50,000 seeds (approx. 10mm x 

                    7mm) that are easily dispersed by water, so the plant disperses

                    rapidly along watercourses. Seeds may remain viable for up to 

                    15 years.

 

Control:  Aim ? to kill the plant or prevent flowering.

 

Chemical control is most effective. Spraying can start as soon as the plant is about 1m high, usually in March and continue throughout the summer.  More than one application is often necessary and follow-up spraying will be required to kill seedlings in subsequent years.

 

Non-chemical control Cutting down stems with a sharp scythe before flowering will help control this plant.  Flail mowing is possible but with extreme caution due to the risk of being sprayed with sap.  Protective clothing should be worn.

 

The crown may be dug out just below ground to prevent regrowth this provides good control.

 

Grazing by cows and sheep will suppress growth but will not eradicate it.

 

It is essential to establish vegetation quickly after control measures have been applied, as dense grass sward tends to discourage seed germination.

 

Disposal: Should be taken to a landfill site or by piling on site and composting.

 

 

Useful links: 

 

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/netregs/processes/367839/?lang=_e&textonly=on

 

 

So many things going on, so many things to talk about. However I need to save some things for when I'm away. Let's look at pone of the things I go tup to this morning (Before the strong sun drove me back indoors for the early afternoon. I started to weed the bog garden and it became clear that the bog garden is not very boggy. When we moved in there was a contorted willow in the front garden - a specimen plant. My wife didn't like it - I think because it reminded her of Medusa and snakes and she has a great fear of snakes (are you listening Prof. Freud) (een though therearen't any land snakes in Rotuma in the pacific - though the black and white striped sea snakes are fairly common and there are often Moray Eeels slithering around the coral pools when the tide down out on the fringe reef - but I digress) and I didn't liker it because it meant that you couldn't see my rockery from the window in the dining room (aka the games room/ the music room/ the computer room/ the small lounge - depending on what I want to call it at the moment). At the time we were poor but we were happy - the disp0lay was only around six heathers, a burgundy glow  Ajuga, a couple of house leeks and half a dozen football sized stones from the back garden but it was a rockery to me.

Anywho I dug out the willow in the first spring we were here and then laid down a double layer of pool liner (not cheap) and filled the 2 metre by 1 metre by 1 metre deep hole with hlaf of the soil then added multipurpose compost from B&Q - 6 bags of 150 litres each that's... 900 litres of soil. It is supposed to be peat in a bog garden ( I wanted to grow carnivorous plants and bog plants and they need peat and almost no nutrients in the soil) but peat is expensive plus I reasoned that the peat based compost would exhaust pretty quickly and be as good at the real thing. As it happened the carnivourous plants never did germinate either in the bog garden or any other place (but I'm still trying). I planted half a dozen Ajuga reptens (bugle) on the northern side - in the slight slope of the bog garden and they have done great. Literally from 6 B&Q plants we must have 3 or 4 square meters of plants now and continuing to grow.
 Anyhow today I realised that the bog doesn't look very boggy so I set the hose in, turned on the water and waited, and waited, and waited. Now I know that tap water shouldn't be used for a bog garden - the chlorine kills sensitive plants (more about that a different blog) but I reasoned that it would be a few days before I could get any plants to put in, during which time the sun would have boiled off the chlorine - and I might even try for a few pond plants too. So I waited some more.
While I waited I helped the Ajuga in it's battle with the creeping buttercups that keep trying the infilitrate through the patc h. Fortunately the buttercup is doing very poorly against the bugle - they have very similar lifestyles - creeping runners which root about every 6 to 9 inches.

I don't think the bugle needs much help from me but I was waiting for the bog to fill and once you are in the mood pulling up buttercups can be very satisfying. And then I noticed that the burgundy Ajuga on one corner (added 18 months ago - from the original plant in the rockery) has met the Braunherz  Ajuga described above -the dark one. I wonder which one is going to win?

In the left corner wearing burgundy, cream and green leaves is Burgundy Glow, in the right corner wearing dark bronze leaves in Braunherz. Now... Fight!. The winner will take on Caitlins Giant which is claiming the South East corner and looks a big bruiser (but it doesn't seem to have the soil grabbing and overall tenacity of the other two varieties). 

 I weeded both ot the contenders to make it fair and await the outcome . My heart says Burgubdy Glow as that was one of the very first plants I bought for the rockery in the very first month we came to Tipperty - well before the bog garden came into being, but my head says the Braunherz - it is very smoothering - it can even out fight the creeping buttercup so it must be one hell of a creeper. Oh - and I did get to see the blue flowers (though not of those at the bog garden - we have some behind the gate at the base of the fence shaded by the shrubs), vivid blue flowers against the dark leaves. Oh, and in case you were wondering - the bog garden took an hour to fill to the lip of the liner - clearly the "bog" part of Bog Garden hadn't got through to someone. An hour to fill - and five minutes to drop down again so that the water wasn't visible. I'll check again on Friday (Road trip tomorrow) and see how far down the water has gone - but it looks like there is a hole in my liner dear Lisa, dear Lisa, there's hole in my liner, dear Lisa a hole (possible from when I dug out and transplanted the kniphofia).

Up here in Aberdeen the first roses of the year (in my garden at least) has come out. It's on a small bush at the back of one of the half barrels. It's peachy (colourwise) and around the size of a small egg.

Last week at the botanical gardens in Dundee the roses were all out and many were starting to fade. Dundee is only 60 miles south of Aberdeen but it seems to be much warmer - more tropical - they had Yucca trees outside in flower!.They had Rosemary plants on North walls thriving! (More to come on that) It was almost like being back in Tenerife (well if I was totaslly drunk it might have been). In fact the weather yesterday was hot all day and I got sunburn for the first time in maybe 6 years - in Aberdeen! (Last time was Rome and that was seriously scorching)... where was I... weather - today was warm and overcast - perfect planting out weather so I spent the day doing the fuchsia cuttings in the morn in the greenhouse then the dusty millers, verbascums and gentians into the garden in the early afternoon... but more on that another time - roses - yeah - Dundee- afraid the picture was a little blurred so not up to usual standards. This was the nicest rose I saw in the botanical gardens.

So how is our rose garden doing... um - out of 18 roses (for under £50 in total) only 1 has kicked the proverbial and become just an expensive twig. The others aren't really throiving yet but that is because it is their first year and it takes a year before shrubs bed in. All (except the one) are showing some signs of growth so we are still hopeful of a good (cheap) rose garden - though of course I never promised Jiurie a rose garden.
This is truely a rose garden not a scrappy patch of ground.

And now we are going to take the son't dog (Arthur - golden retriever) out for a walk so I can spy on the local gardens and see if anyone else has got any roses out. Watch this space

It turns out that many of my favourite plants are biennials - there's teasel, great mullein and foxgloves. They are all large plants between 4 feet and 7 feet tall typically, with copious tiny seeds, thick stems and thick leaves.

As predicted the foxgloves in the front have turned our moss garden into a veritable glade of wonder. They are all self seeded from half a dozen plants put in 3 years ago - one of the first purchases from B&Q when we moved in. wild-type pink ones but they didn't seem to do as well.) White is certainly the dominant colour for this year.
By the by in the picture below my wife isn't pixie sized (though she is only 5ft 2) it's just that I shot through the flowers of course.

The photo doesn't really do the garden justice - the greenery gets lost in the background and the white flowers get lost in the white walls of our cottage. Actually it is two cottages made into one - which is a bit greedy of us really but that was how it came. It is particularly greedy as we don't have any kids living with us at the moment (though the Graduate will be here from tomorrow until she gets a real job). To think that this place probably housed maybe a dozen people at one time and now it is just Jiurie most of the time. Makes you think really. Not sure what it makes you think but it does make you think.
Anyhowthe foxgloves have not only soread downwind from the original plants they have managed to spread upwind a little bit too so that they are starting to grow under the trees too.

The flowers themselves are attracting a lot of bees - both honey and bumble - and the flowers are well shaped for the bees to crawl up inside for the nectar while tiny hairs inside the flower scrape at their backs and wings. I only noticed the fine hairs when I took a photo of a wild-type purple flower but unfortunately it doesn't show up too well in the blog photo. Time for a scan maybe (tomorrow). The white flower definitely doesn't show the hairs clearly.

Apologies friends - there has been almost a week without a post. That is mainly because we attended our 2nd youngest's daughters' graduation in Dubdee, then satayed a day in Galsgow (where our youngest is studying) and then met my parents in Greenock (they are on a N Europe Cruise... why would anyone want to stop in Greenock?) and took them down the coast to Largs and then across the water (on the ferry) to the isle of Cumbrae for fish and chips at Millport.
There will be a few photos coming up - we went to the botanical gardens in Dundee to take pre graduation photos - kind of like people do for weddings - and had a nice day out.

Then today I spent half the day tackling the jungle that summer has brought on. The grass has riotted between the daffodil leaves - they all got the lawn mower treatment today, while the buttercups have tried to overrun the strawberry patch and others in the rabbit-fenced allotment - they got the pull and twist treatment today, while over the fence the willowherbs, the nettles and the docks have tried to reclaim the wilderness from the potqatoes, the comfrey and the fruit-trees - they all got the machette treatment (cane knife treatment) thought the nettles fought back soo that I can still feel my right hand tingle as I type8 hours later, whuile the cane knife tried to take the top off my middle left finger as I had over sharpened it with the whet stone.

So it has all been go followed by a few hours at the beach with the son's dog trying to get him to swim out to the seals at the mouth of the River Ythan.

But back to the garden. Where do I begin - the fuchsias rampant, the fuchsia cuttings - most have taken!!!, the foxgloves - a real swathe of white and pink forming a wildlife glade, the dreaded Giant Hogweeds threatening the river bank, the basket tomatoes - we have a few fruits growing, the seedlings in the greenbhouse - half still alive, half dead, the dusty miller sedlings are growing great, the seedlings in the incubator - doing great - unplugged them and put into greenhouse (still in incubator) and they baked to oblivion in only 4 hours AAAAAAGHHHHH- the pollarded rowans, the rose garden (or lack of) or the biggest and best revelation of all the lupins.

Lupin hill is a real mass of colour. They have absolutely run riot these last two months. There are only 5 plants but they have each formed a huge great bush of colour.

There are lupins along the sides of just one cutting between Aberdeen and Dundee- just south of Stratcoe - and I saw them blooming again this year - much wider dispersal along the cutting but each still looks like just the one stalk to one plant. I didn't get a picture but should have done. It was this bank that inspired me to put our lupins on the bank. They are just at the one cutting and none of the others - on both sides of the road so I am fairly sure that they must have been planted deliberately otherwise why would it be only on othis one cutting.
At the Tesco's roundabout in Ellon there are also one to two dozen lupins appearing this year. I don't remember seeing them before and they are all widely separated - maybe 1 p lant every 2 metres or so with just the one spike each (so probably either first or second year spike) so I think that they two were planted. When the graduate daughter gets home with car #2 I will pop up there and get some piccies. There are also some purple orchids further along the bank and they must be natural dispersal as I can't imagine the road-people planting those (apologies if I am wrong).

I would type a big long post about roadside plants but my shoulder is sore from swinging the cane knife, my arm tingles from the nettles and my finger hurts from the cut so I'm a physical wreck after only one day in the garden - so much for being a professional - the old hands would laugh at me and call me soft (as I am) but I will get harder so that by the time I go back to Libya in 2 weeks time I'll be a finely tuned instrument ready to go soft again.

Home time - I'm on my way - almost - from misery to happiness today and I'll actually arrive back in the light instead of the dark so I can take a good look round the garden before I even get to go inside. Normally I have to look round under the security lights and can only really check to see if the plants are still there or if the bunny mowers have taken them. I then have to wait until the next morning (usually late as I love sleeping late when I'm back in the big (super king) sized double bed that is still warm in the morning. This isn't a good trait for a gardeners as we are supposed to be up at the crack of dawn but I'm afraid I'm a night owl - always have been, always will be.... till I have to make my living at it.) to go out and check the damage from pests/weeds.

Jiurie tells me that she wants to be a full time gardener now - we have a convert! - and that she's been keeping up with the weeding. Also she's been moving plants in and out of the greenhouse (though she did get the hardening off the wrong way round for a few night - plants in the garden during the day in the greenhouse during the night - not the other way round). I'm expecting the garden to be like something out of "Better Homes and Garden" but I know that it more likely to be like something out of Mad Max - especially over the fence where the giant hogweeds are gaining a hold in their battle against the nettles , the docks, the willowherb and the nightshade. But hope springs eternal and I'm sure that it will be a restful three weeks in the sun with barely a kiss of rain (except when planting out) with all my fuchsia cuttings springing up (90:10 odds that they are all rotted), my pricked out seedings standing straight and true, my seeds in the propagator lush and strong and all's well with the world.

At Casa Frary

it'll be

and

not

and