Happy ramblings: Rosa 'Seagull'

When we were leaving our previous house and garden, I took 10 cuttings of my rambling rose, Rosa Seagull. Roses aren't exactly known for being easy growing plants, and I'd never taken rose cuttings before and wasn't that hopeful that the cuttings would take. So it was quite a surprise when 9 of the 10 cuttings did!

So two years ago I planted two 20cm 'sticks' into the border of our south-facing fence. Here's the result. 

This was after a large attack of greenfly, just when the flower buds were developing, which my soapy water squirter took care of. It recovered well!

It's a very fragrant rose, and in the hot weather last week, sitting outside for dinner at our garden table, the aroma was beautiful.

 
And it was alive with buzzing from the many bees seeking it's pollen.

The flowers are now spent, so I'm going to prune back the stems and with luck, I might get a second smaller flowering.

As for all those other 7 plants, I didn't have room for them, so I gave them away so others could enjoy them.

It turns out that taking rose cuttings successfully is really quite easy, so do give it a try.

Feeling seedy

I'm feeling rather seedy. No, not that type of seedy. The growing seeds type of seedy. This week the seeds I ordered from the annual Hardy Plant Society (HPS) Seed Distribution Scheme, arrived. As a member, for only £5 (to cover the costs of postage and admin), I can order 20 packets of seeds. You can see the different types of seeds I ordered above.

I looked each variety up so I had the correct growing information and collated all of this into a document, along with a picture (where I could find them) so it will be easier for me to identify. Yes, I'm that nerdy. 

From finding out this information, I discovered that I needed to sow all the Allium seeds immediately. So I also made up labels for them.

It was then seed sowing time. They need light to germinate, so I didn't cover the seeds with anything. I felt like I should have done so, as you do that with most seeds. But HPS said you don't, so I have followed their advice.

And because they need cold to help them germinate, I've put them on a display shelf in the garden. The ground staples (the silver prongs) are there to stop the pigeons from getting in there an digging up the seed. Yes, they do that, and I've found this is effective in stopping them. Once the plants get to a certain size, I can remove the staples.

The rest of my seeds are to be sown in Spring. 

Seeds!