Another garden Development

Today, we took an evergreen out of one of the beds in the garden and planted two more Betula ermanii pendula. There is one Betula there already and this year, for the first time, it has a ceamy white stem. It is in the bed where the lilies grow from which I took my avatar.
There use to be an old cherry in this bed, with a stem that went round and round. Difficult to describe. And there was also an Ash which was self -own. One year when we were away, it pushed down the 2* listed wall because it had got too fat, so it was summarily removed. Things around there grew much better after that, but the cherry still inhibited things with its shade. About four years ago, it decided to turn up its toes - old age. I took the chance to change things more than somewhat. I increased the size of the bed and planted lots of shrub, the lilies and other bulbs. I had put in a conifer near the wall soon after I arrived and after the cherry went, it took off and would have achieved a good a good size, given half a chance.It is in the background of this snowy picture. Today, we took it out and there is no doubt in my mind that it should never have been there! I had bought 2 more Betula ermanii pendula afew days ago, and after removing the conifer, we planted on to the left and one very close to where the conifer was, As they develop, I plan to clear stuff round them and plant bulbs etc underneath. This is an example of a garden developing, as it should.
The top picture is rather dark I am afraid but it does show the bed without the conifer and if you look very hard you can see the two labels on the new trees, well to the left of the old one and a little to the right.
Below, you can see the 3 stakes of the 2 new and 1 old tree.
If I live long enough I will put up a picture of the patch after it has developed to how I imagine it will be!

Conversation with Dr Stuart Burgess

Yesterday, about 13 of us gathered in Wooler, in Northumberland, to discuss Rural problems and the ecumenical Church's place in the countryside with Dr Stuart Burgess.
Stuart is the Government's Rural Advocate and Chair of the Commission for Rural Communities. He reports directly to the Prime Minister and works closely with Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He is also a practicing Methodist with a deep faith.

The group consisted of The Archdeacon of Lindesfarne, The Diocesan Rural Officer (who is also our Vicar), 3 or 4 other vicars, a man who is working in the field of farming problems and deprivation, 2 Methodists, also with interests/responsibilities in the field, and an ex head teacher who is also involved with the Church, the wife of one of the Vicars and two or three others. Stupidly I did not note down everyone.

We had a wide ranging discussion about the difficulties facing Rural Communities. Stuart is leading an Upland Farming Inquiry, which he says must be wider than just hill farms and look into social and community problems. He is looking for evidence and during the 12 week consultation period is going to a number of parts of the country that come under the heading, including Northumberland. The official launch will be on February 11th and the Report will be out in the summer.

As we are going from a 3 tier Local Authority to 2 tier in May, so losing the layer nearest to the people i.e. the District Councils, (I am not counting the Parish councils here), there are a number of worries for everyone, not least the rural communities. The CAB is having funding problems as the Districts used to support them extensively but the new County is going to have severe financial difficulties itself. (Does Iceland ring any bells?) This means that the rapidly increasing numbers of people with financial concerns and debts, may not have that source of help. This led to a long discussion on how you define poverty and the hidden poor.

We moved on to important requirements for the Rural Communities.
The Rural Economy is very important for the future sustainability of the countryside. And that is dependent on good, fast Broadband to a large extent.
Affordable Rural Housing is essential to help prevent the flow of the younger population of villages to the urban environment. With affordable housing, you keep the younger people and also the shop, Post Office and First Schools. (In Northumberland we currently have 3 tier education, so the First Schools are much smaller than in 2 tier and therefore more vulnerable.)
There is often resistance to affordable houses. Most people agree that they are needed but "that site in the next village would be so much better" It is usually the incomers from the urban areas who have this reaction. It is Stuart's view that every village should have a dozen affordable houses and some system should be in place to prevent them being sold on into the ordinary market. Something such as a Community Trust can acquire the land and build the houses. When a person moves on, only the equity share can be taken out. Not sure what that means exactly but the result is that the house is there for another needy person. A Community Trust could also build a Care Home, to serve a smallish area so that the elderly can stay in touch with the community from which they come.

We ended with a discussion about the part the Church - of whatever denomination - should play in rural life. Stuart believes that all branches of the ecumenical Church should be getting their act together, stop worrying about the things like Women Bishops and sexual orientation (C of E) and restructuring (Methodists) and concentrating on what they can do for village communities. He believes that Church land should be used wherever possible for building affordable homes. As all other public buildings will disappear, if they have not done so already, the Churches, usually Anglican, should be used properly instead of once a week (or even once a month). They should become the focal point of the Settlement. They can contain a Post Office, a Shop, an Internet Café, and even a Doctor's Surgery. None of this will interfere with its original purpose of worship, but will make proper use of a building that is frequently listed.
We should also as congregations by trying to decide what contribution we can make to slowing climate change.

I am sure we talked about plenty more, but that is the extent of my notes. Tourism was another subject that was touched on as an important contributor to the rural economy, but bringing some conflict with rural dwellers/farmers.

It was a very worth-while day, spent with a highly intelligent man who was prepared to listen to everything we had to say, as well as share his views with us. And added to that, the drive to and from Wooler was through gorgeous Northumbrian countryside made even more beautiful by the snow.

Flowers out on February 1st

This morning I went out into a dark and gloomy garden to look for flowers that were blooming. It was necessary to do it today because there is heavy snow forcast which will put paid to some of these. The aconites above will press on under the snow, regardless and of course the somewhat late Christmas Cactus will be happy in the Conservatory.

There are a lot of snowdrops coming out, they too will survive happily under the snow, as will the Erica carnea.
The Garria elliptica catkins are lengthening well, though they never get as long as some Garria.

The Hebe is doing very well. I think it must be one of the really hardy ones, unlike the other, which was fine on New Year's Day, but has looked sadder and sadder since. Still there are these 2 flowers trying to come out.

The Helibore is trying hard and there are others that will be out soon. They too should not be bothered too much by the snow.

The Jasminum nudiflorum is a bit messy. It has not been a mass of colour - just odd ones coming out and the rest going over.

More snowdrops here, while the Mahonia

Bailii is really over but there are a few florets still out.

A bad picture of Viburnam bodnantense, sorry. It has been out since September, going off a bit if toooo cold but then coming back. It will go on till about May probably

And finally the Witch Hazel. It should not like this soil - on limestone - but lots of ericaceous compost and fequent talking to it telling it it is loved, seem to be working. It was planted last early winter, with a few flowers only. I am thrilled with it this time and the amount of growth too.

Me and House Plants

I am not really very good at house plants, but I do have some successes.
Of the ones that were mentioned in the comments on the last blog:-

Cyclamen. Some survive, some I lose. When they are new, the secret is to keep them moist but not over-wet. If they dry out, they fall outwards and do not come up properly again, even if watered soon enough. If overwatered they will just gradually give up the ghost. There is much talk about not getting the top of the corm wet and watering from the bottom. I have never bothered about that, and I don't think it matters, if you tip any excess water out of whatever they are standing in if you have given them too much and the conditions in the room are correct. This house is more likely to be too cold than hot. It is frost free though. If there is a radiator, I keep the cyclamen well away from it, (this goes for most plants). As they are in bloom in winter, the sun is not a problem and they do like plenty of light. I pull out flowers that are dying, hoping to get the whole stem.
If the plant is worth it, I keep it in the greenhouse after it has flowered. This does not get as much light as it should, which in summer suits cyclamen. Watering goes on as before - only when needed but do not alow to dry out. Now comes the "don't know" bit! I have allowed them to dry/go dormant during the summer - about June to September - and also kept them going all year. I think the natural way is to let it go dorment. Either way, for me, they go leafless or nearly at some point and then start up again. The old one in the picture was certainly allowed to take its own course this year. Can't remember how long I have had it or whether it has ever had the dry-out-under-the-bench treatment. If it had it would have been repotted in nice new compost in September. I do not bring them into the Conservatory until they have several flowers out and plenty of buds. I do not try to keep them in the house proper for two reasons - I forget to water them and the conditions are not as good.

Poinsettia - Make sure that the shop wraps the plant so that not a breath of a draft can get at it. When you get it home, put it in a draft-free place. Not too much light. I haven't got one this year but if I had it would be on the kitchen table against the wall with very little natural light. There is an electric light above it which is on quite a lot - enough apparently as it then lasts from before Christmas to about Easter, though by then it has lost most of its leaves. It needs to be kept just moist, not wet. It must not dry out though. Either way it would drop all its leaves. I do not try to grow them on afterwards. The Christmas ones have been grown in specialist conditions, with the amount of light per day very carefully controlled, as this and temperature decide when it will produce its red (or yellow) bracts. Not flowers - they are the tiny things in the centre. On Gardeners' Question Time, you will find that they all turn up their noses, whoever is on, because the plant is so fussy. Huge quantities are produced, presumably because a well grown plant does look very Christmassy. Very few survive more than a few days!

Other queries were:-
Wizzard - the plant in picture 6 down is Hebe Crystal. It, or its near relations are quite common. I saw one in Suffolk that was about 8ft tall but I think this one is not as vigorous. It could be controlled by pruning, anyway. It is very good value because it flowers from about August/September to early Spring.
Tiggy - What bulbs?!!! Usually there are lots poking through by now, even up here, but this year there are hardly any. I do not have any really early snowdrops, perhaps I should get some.
Frances - We are as far north as you can get in England, almost, only Crystal and @themill are further up. Scotland is another matter, of course - run from the chain-saw! We are at 650 feet, which is quite high, and very exposed to the wind, though we do have a wind-break to the West. Very open to the East, only a stone wall which doesn't really help much. The temperature gets down to -4 or -5 on the house wall, quite a lot lower out in the open, I should think. In the past this used to happen quite often and we had lots of snow. Now not so often and much less snow. This winter has been colder though. Highest shade temperature reaches 24 or even 25.

Colour in the garden on New Year's Day

Today, I went looking for colour.
First I looked in the Conservatory. This cyclamen I have had for a number of years, forget how many.



This one was given to me by the staff at the School at the end of term. They seem grateful for the small amount that I do for them

Then I went to the Greenhouse. the Azalea is the one that I took 2 years running when I started my blog. It gets ever bigger but does not flower as well as it used to.

Very much the tail end for these Fuschia. They will have to be cut hard back soon.

These Streptocarpus (is that the right name?) have been in flower since spring but are tailing off now. I shall remove the leaves that have had flowers growing from them soon. Many have gone already

Now we veture out into the gloomy day. (The sun came out later but I couldn't be bothered to go out again!) This Hebe appears in the last blog but it is looking a bit part worn after the long cold spell and snow.

You do not need flowers to give you colour. These pictures show evergreen foliage, some variegated, some gold and some stem colour. Also a different Hebe with small white flowers in the second picture.

And lastly, gold and green

Frozen Flowers to lift the Spirit

In amongst all our sadness for Sam, after losing her beloved husband Richie, I am posting these pictures of brave flowers that have weathered extreme cold and snow in our Northumberland garden and are still there to cheer us.

These are Old English roses, Graham Thomas, that often go on flowering until Christmas.

This rose, growing on the house wall, was planted a very long time ago. It is a once-a-summer flowerer. What is it doing flowering now?

This orange-berried Pyracantha is keeping its food for the birds for a little while yet.

Here you can see what last night brought - freezing fog. Proper colour of the flowers is there in the middle.

And this brave fellow, Hebe Diamond, will flower most of the winter. I love it for that.

This did its flowering proper in the summer, as it should. Now it is doing it all over again in this inclement weather.

Here is one of G's roses - sooo beautiful.

Snow and Church

A trip up to the Church, to see how the heating was working - it seemed great, but what will the cost be?

Here we see it sparkling clean after lots of hard work!

The view as I started down the hill again

Church gate to House gate.

Two pictures, taken in the garden:

Two lovely people who live next door:

Where is that food I thought you had?

Move over, I want it! Oh, you blurdy cheat, it is only a camera!