Come the spring I am out there

[Lindon]

Feeling better everyday and with the promise of plants and places to be it's a good

[sassy59]

Great way to be Lindon. Good for you. Xxx

[Ern007]

I totally think you are right - I love to garden, can't do much these days but like to be in there - I have been very lucky, I made my living from growing plants.

[clematis5932 in reply to Ern007]

tell more please. What did you grow.

[Ern007 in reply to clematis5932]

I started growing Fuchsias for fun, and sold cuttings mail order. I found I was short of after my father died, so I reduced that and contracted out to a garden nursery - We grew Tomatoes, onions. salads - We did a full range of bedding plants and harvested Chrysanthemums for florists after summer had gone..

After i retired and still grew Fuchsias - but got interested in hardy palms such as "Chamaerops Humilis AKA European Fan Palm" and others, a while ago I posted on here a pic of a flowering Cordyline - Canna Lillies another I started to grow and they are surprisingly hardy, Oh and hardy succulents like houseleeks. Good fun..

[clematis5932 in reply to Ern007]

Loved your story that is the sort of gardening that Iwoud have loved, left it a litle late in life before i had the gusts try it. I also loved Fuchsias' and grew a lot, to many in fact from about Feb to April

I would be in the greenhouses until 1am in the morning watering pinching out etc. My husband made me a beautiful heated sand bench with a much loved Parvo heater. I grew them for about five years until the dreaded Vine weavel came visiting, one Dec they wiped me out virtually overnight. I was never able to totally eradicate them .

[Ern007 in reply to clematis5932]

It could be hard work at times, but was well worth it... Fuchsias are great, I grow "Prosperity, Garden News Margaret" amongst others now. all hardy variety's - Back in the day we had pest treatments that worked, fungus treatment that worked - Rust was the worst enemy. you could treat it but damage was bad. Hardy varieties like Army Nurse, Flash and the huge 'Riccartonii' won't give you much trouble. Lilly's are prone to the red beetle, caught early fine. if not spoiled for a year, Vine weavel are a pain, we always searched the compost in spring to find the dreaded white grub...

[clematis5932 in reply to Ern007]

Last reply now . I also have lots of hardy's somehow not the same though . Lilly beetle had never seen until about ten years ago, I had a couple of Lilly's in the ground I noticed this horrid black sludge all the way up the stem and no idea what it was, I started to shake the stem and all of these bright red beetles fell too the ground and vanished in seconds. Following year the same happened I stopped growing them as I hated the black poo that was left on the stems. I didn't need to sift through compost to see the vine weevils " I could smell them a mile off " I thought that I had at last seen the last of them until February when a very large Hebe about four foot high and the same wide started to look a little sick we thought that the frost had got it so waited a couple of weeks took it out of the pot and there were dozens of them in the soil and hanging from the roots we had to let it go as hardly any roots left to salvage. Happy gardening.

[slram]

Pretty! Me too-my favorite time of year!

[Alberta56]

Glad to hear you're feeling better.

[watergazer]

So good to hear you’re feeling better. A garden is a great place to be x

[Karenanne61]

Glad you are feeling better. It's amazing how some sunshine and colour in the garden can lift us up.

[winnabago]

So very true.

[Fleur29]

I love seeing everything green up in spring. Gardening can be hard work, but I do what I can. I consider it all therapy. especially pulling weeds 🙂

We had an unusual cold spell in December and many people here are pulling up dead plants that would have otherwise made it through winter, so lots of work ahead.

[Patk1]

Gd to hear yr improving & looking forward to yr gardening x