SuburbanGaze

Some lovely sights outside today, a Bullfinch and then a Great Spotted Woodpecker.  I heard a loud tapping on the trunk of the Crab Apple in the middle of the lawn then saw it briefly eating out of our  Winterbourne House   bird feeder .   We are very lucky to have caught it on film because it flew off quickly and was only there for a brief moment.

Earlier this year we had the massive conifers on the left-hand border taken down professionally (expensive but worth it) and we were left with these stumps which we have slowly been digging out of the ground...it's been a huge effort! I'm almost 6 foot in height so just imagine... Now to break down those stumps...but thats for another day/week/year.

This has been our second trip to Gardeners' World Live in Birmingham (we also visited last year).  The trick is to arrive early before the 9am opening and get in that queue with the other early-risers.   W hen the gates open dash around the entire show in under 90 minutes.  Then get out before the hordes of people arrive - it gets extremely busy towards 11am  Then you have the rest of the day free to have lunch somewhere and enjoy your garden. This year we weren't as clueless as the previous year, its amazing what you can pick-up in such a relatively short space of time reading online sources, visiting gardens and garden centres, reading books and magazine articles.  Personally I have begun to live and breathe all things horticulture - I just love creating things and watching them grow. We made sure that we purchased a collapsable garden cart for our purchases.  Zaluzianskya ovata You have the opport...

Thanks to Ikea we have procured some solar powered garden lighting items in the form of this apple and pear - we love them.  

We have been paying a bit of attention to our somewhat neglected front garden again.  We have chucking some bark down to suppress the weeds.  We have also planted a small Sambucus nigra (Elder) and some bright flowering perennials which will hopefully spread to fill the space. That Hellebore to the right looked lovely in bloom over the Winter

A beautiful hanging basket gift from my parents.  My Dad makes loads of these each year and hangs them from the fence posts all down the garden and gives one to each sibling.  They always have a magnificent looking one hanging by the front door.  This is an art we've never attempted, maybe in the future we can give it a go.  

We may have mentioned before that we like garden tat.  We aren't guilty for the Peacock (it was a gift from my future parents-in-law).  However, we are guilty of adding the Owl family (how can you resist those cute faces).  

We just adore ferns grasses and hostas at the moment, they are so lush and add a tropically mysterious accent to the garden.  They look awesome planted in groups together and placed around the pond borders.