1 March 2019

Garden Stuff

mystery shrub
This will be our first Spring in our new home and it is exciting to discover what is emerging from the wilderness of the garden.  This small shrub has just developed large buds but we have no idea what it is.

Paul has got into gardener mode and the window sill and work surfaces of my boot room are covered with seed trays and chitting potatoes.  He has started weeding and turning the soil of the flower beds and the wilderness is gradually being tamed.

broad beans

chitting potatoes



These are Rick's newly trimmed and washed front paws.  This photo was taken shortly before he jumped into Paul's newly dug flower bed. (He refused a head shot as he doesn't want to be identified.)


20 comments:

  1. Hello Sue, I’m no expert but I wonder if that pretty plant could be a peony? The foliage looks similar to mine, but it seems awfully early to have buds on so I’m probably wrong! How exciting to discover what you have in your new garden. Rosie x

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    1. Thank you Rosie, I think you're right. The red foliage confused me but now I've looked it up that looks exactly right.

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    2. I was afraid I could have been wrong so didn't say anything :D but it was my first thought too.
      Patricia

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  2. Chitting potatoes? Shouldn't that be an "s"?

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  3. Hi Sue, Looks like a variety of Hibiscus to me. We've just started our first round of seed trays with leeks and onions. Rick is adorable.

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    1. A bit too early for hibiscus here I think.

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  4. Before I read whatyou had wrirten underneath the photograph I thought 'Now that's an interesting vegetable.'

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  5. It looks like a tree paeony to me. 😀

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    1. Possibly a hybrid of tree and herbaceous peony?

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  6. I agree with your other commentators that the mystery plant is most likely a Japanese tree peony. Lucky you! They are such beautiful plants. And the broad beans are looking good. Next Saturday I shall be busy at our local seed swap event and on the lookout for broad bean seed.

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    1. I can't wait to see the flowers when they bloom.

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  7. Those are some very cute paws!

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    1. They didn't stay white and fluffy for very long.

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  8. Oh, lucky you with the peony! It's like Xmas all over again with your garden surprises...Rick's paws look like innocence itself, haha!

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    1. I've always wanted a peony in my garden.

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  9. I was going to suggest Peony too. We have one in a pot that is just starting to send up leaves.

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    1. I miss my wisteria but it wouldn't be right for this garden.

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  10. I looked in yesterday and realised that it was time we started chitting potatoes. We swung by the garden centre and now have trays of potatoes chitting in our front bedroom. Thank you for the reminder.

    We have a huge peony that was already here when we moved in twelve years ago. The leaves on yours certainly look like peony but ours has only the fat leaf buds coming through at the moment. You must be ahead of us in your part of the country. We are in the South, near Windsor.

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    1. It's a good look isn't it, chitting potatoes on the window sills?

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