Does any one know.....

If I don't get this plant this year, I think old Daisy_Chain is going to wilt and die.
MELIANTHUS MAJOR.....does anyone know where I can get one. I've tried for the last two years with no joy.
Maybe if you are one of the lucky owners of this magnificent plant, would you trade a bit with me?
PLEASE>>>PLEASE>>>PLEASE>>>PLEASE>>>PLEASE>>>PLEASE>>>PLEASE

I hope I'm getting this accross to you all, Im desperate

YES, i do want the address, smile.

Alan.

what about seeds from www.chilternseeds.co.uk

the seeds are $3. you probably know it grows 1 - 6 feet and it's a half hardy shrub

Mark
who's off on his vacation in 2 hours. yipee!!!

Thanks Mark for the info. I'm going to order some seeds first thing Monday.

daisey-chain, Have a look at, http://members.aol.com/ftfnur, click on perennials, select M, its about 20 or so down the list, hope this is of use.

Alan.

ALC, thanks for the info, but i'm having problems finding it. When I go to the address above it says... "we can't find that page try retyping URL". call me novice if you like but whats a ULR???
Help...

I get that a few times, try clicking refresh on the top bar, are you on another,com ?.

Alan.

When you say another .com do you mean btinternet.com? Coz I'm pressing the refresh button and its making no difference...ahhhh computers!!

I dont know whats gone wrong with that, have you tried typing it in the address bar.

Alan.

I'll give it a go........watch this space......

AJC, got there in the end thanks. I was in seventh heaven until I noticed the £8.00 for delivery. Is this average for mail order plants? seems a little expensive?

Its avaerage yes, but it comes next day from him, so the plant isnt knocked about for so long.

Alan.

AJC, you live not far from me i think. You near all those great Bulb places??

Yes, north Cambbs, 10 minutes from Wisbech.

Alan.

Yes, March, north Cambs, 10 minutes from Wisbech.

Alan.

So there's two of then...twins perhaps?
Only joking.
Maybe you could explain to me what this LOL business is? I'm only trying to get in with the crowd...i feel left out not knowing.

It means Laugh out loud, it to signify humor, as not to cause offence, check out the Gweb garden party, who pays thread, they should have used it on there.

Alan.

Thanks Alan, I feel better now that I know.

I don't know how much im allowed to say about the competition, but the link about the fridge was very funny, I'm still laughing about the care in the community comment!!

Hello Daisy! Are you getting the hang of the computer ok? I think you'll find that people are generally very helpful. The URL is the address of the website.
I'm not sure if we've spoken much before. I'm Diane. Welcome to Dave's Garden. I live in Middlesbrough. That's in the north-east of England near the mouth of the River Tees. It's near the Dales. A lot of my plants died (or were hacked about by incompetent gardeners) when I was ill a couple of years ago. I'm fine now but I have a lot of replanting to do. I'm trying to grow cottage garden type plants from seeds, grew a lot of hardy annuals last year. Also putting in a lot of bulbs. I'm keen on daffs and tulips. I'm looking forward to hearing about your garden. Hi Alan! Good to see you're helping Daisy. Sorry to hear you've not been feeling too great. Hope you're feeling better today. Bye for now! Diane!

This web site exists because of the other one, most people here have been in there at some point.

Alan.

Hi Northerner, yes Im feeling right at home here now thanks to you all, and it's very addictive.
I have plenty of spare seed, if you email me Ill send them to you to help brighten up you garden.

Diane, hows your new gardener doing.

Alan.

Oh Hello Alan!! Not too badly thanks. He was here at 8 in the morning and got started pruning the roses. He's given them a very hard prune. They're old roses and a bit on the fragile side now so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm gradually taking them out, a bed at a time. Very sad cos they were planted by my Dad just after we moved in here and he was so proud of them. I've always found deadheading roses very relaxing tho I can understand that it would drive some people round the bend. After that he mowed the lawn. I still think I may buy myself a better mower eventually. I used to mow it myself but it used to take me ages and I'd end up exhausted. And I had more time then as well. I do IT courses at the uni during the week and the workload is starting to pick up again with assessments needing doing very soon. Or at least they'll be handed out soon.
I'm waiting for some new fencing to be put up. After that I have some beds that need a good digging. They had shrubs and roses in them. I think Ted may double dig them. Well, they had roses in for nearly 40 years so I think the soil needs revigorating, what do you think? I can do a single dig on them myself, but I'm not too sure about double digging. After I've seen it done once I'll be able to do it myself I expect, as long as I allow myself time. Ted seems to be a manure and lots of digging man which is what I'm needing at the moment. The man I had last year was more into bedding plants - expensive - and not what I was looking for. I'm not sure whether to get double diging done now or nearer the time when I replant my roses. Which could be as long as five years away. I'm trying to look after the beds, there's 15 of them of varying sizes. Weeding, putting in seeds, bulbs etc.
Now that you're a free man again once you're into the spring weather you'll have to titivate yourself and be a regular giddy kipper and find yourself a nice girlfriend. Or two.

I think your new gardener has his work cut out Diane, and i have a new girl friend, shes in the garden, see louisa photos no7 i think.

Alan.

Hello Daisy, I'm relatively new at this too but the chaps and chapesses have made me feel at home almost immediately. you learn something almost every day with this crowd and most of it's nice.

Alan you PROMISED you wouldn't mention the 'who pays' thread again ! 'Cos it's you I forgive you but stop giving me bad dreams ! Also, what photos, how do I find them and how dare you be unfaithful ???

Diane, the best thing I ever bought for the garden was a petrol self-propelled mower, it totally changed my gardening. It's not state of the art or anything but it only cost just over £100 from B&Q 2 years ago and all the work's been taken out of cutting the grass. I was taught to dead-head using a hedge trimmer and although it's not too neat until new growth appears it's very quick !

Jo

Hi Jo! Yes, I was thinking of a self-propelled mower. I'd really like to try one out though. My neighbour Marie has her son come over to mow her lawn and he uses a petrol mower. When I catch her round at the shops I'll ask if her son will let me have a go with it. They're not cheap so I want to be pretty sure before I spend my money. I'm left-handed so I find the electric cables infuriating. It always gets in the way and I've already had to have the cable replaced. B&Q was where I was thinking of. I got my last one in Dickens but it's closed down now. How do I go about getting petrol for it? Sorry to sound such a dummy!! I have some garages just round the corner from me. Is the petrol big and heavy to lug around? Depends on the size of lawn I suppose!! Also storage. They're bigger than the electric mowers aren't they? And there's the petrol to store. I've a corner house so I've lawns at the front, down the side and two at the back.
I was ill a couple of years ago, Jo. I'm fine now. But I had cowboy work done on me. I've got cowboy fencing up - the foundations are in the wrong place, so I'm waiting for one of the local firms to replace it. And the cowboys hacked my garden to pieces, shrubs, roses, lawn. I really need to re-edge my lawn. My edges have all disappeared. If this gardener does even one edge, correctly, then I can learn from him and try doing the rest myself. Likewise double digging. I'm able to do single digging but the beds will have got pretty compacted with nearly 40 years of roses so double-digging is worth a shot.
I need to redo most of the beds. I'm doing it gradually. Some of the beds will remain either bare or have hardy annuals in them for another year or two. I've been doing the bed in front of my front door. It's got primulas abnd spring bulbs in. It looks lovely, but I can't afford to do them all at once. Most of my roses are very fragile now, which is a real pain. I've already removed quite a number of them.
I go to courses at the uni during the week. Go to one on spreadsheets tonight. When I have tests and assignments it eats into my time. I'm hoping to go on a full-time course in the autumn. I'm in the process of filling in the application form. Feeling pretty nervous!! I was deferred last time through lack of experience. It's for science graduates and is a conversion course. I'd like to teach IT skills. Some of my classes are in the evening so it only leaves me the weekend for gardening. Along with getting in food, putting on a wash and housework whoever heard of housework not me? That's really why I wanted to find somebody reasonably priced to keep my lawn under control for a few more months. Not forever though.
I don't think you were to blame for the weekend weather. It was me!! I put down stuff for my lawn then I wanted a spot of rain so I wouldn't have to water it in!! My lawn looks a very peculiar stripey colour today.
Alan's girlfriend looks as though she has very skimpy clothing!!!

Diane, my petrol mower's abouthe same size as my old Qualcast electric mower, it's a little heavier but not too bad. Also of course when it's running you don't have to use any effort to get it from the front tothe back gardens you just pull the trigger/handle and follow it round the house. It takes about a mug full of petrol so I keep about 1/2 gallon of petrol in a proper petrol can, plastic from Morrisons for about £3.50 I think and the pouring spout that comes with the can pours neatly into the mower, no fuss no danger. The only problem with it is that it doesn't magically get rid of the cuttings so you have to empty the cuttings hopper frequently. The noise it makes is much nicer than an electric one though. Carrying 1/2 gallon petrol is no chore at all.
I finished all mystudying back in the stone age, I specialised in Languages and I'm a complete ignoramus when it comes to computers - however I do love my books and I guess my ambition is to have floor to ceiling books in a proper study one day. That and someone to pay for them all :)

I decided to temporarily replant some of my garden since I can't afford to do what I want for a good wehile, so part of it is vegetable planting now instead of lawn and flowers, I'll change it back next year or the year after.

I don't get the comment about the photos - what, how, where etc etc ? I really don't know my way around.

Jo

hi, Jo, yeh, sorry about that, i will not mention it again, promise, Louisa put some photo's on the photo forum, they are of here garden when she lived in England, very nice.

Diane, you leave my girlfriend alone, lol.

Alan

Ah haaaaaaaa now I get it - I'm so silly I didn't realise there WAS a photo forum, the little time I get to play here I just spend whizzing backwards and forwards and not exploring. Must do better.
Anyway Alan I'm disappointed with your taste, I mean she's SOOO obvious, a real tart if ever I saw one and that BUM !! I bet she thinks she looks good in vivid red too !

Jo

Jo, she reminds me of my ex, thats why i like her.

Alan.

Ooops.

(very small voice) - sorry.

Jo

NO jo, cold heartless and just sits there, lol.

Alan.

When you lot have finished with your lawn cuttings please send them to me or start your own compost bin with them, providing you have not put pesticides on it.Diane pity your garden has not been dug over cos this cold weather would have been a treat for the garden. Going to look at Alans bit of skirt,you would think he would learn-leave the females alone.

Yes, but he needs to get to grips with the real thing!

Hi Sheila! The man I had last year was prety expensive - at least for me. And he wasn't too bothered about doing a good job digging. I'm well rid off him. But it's caused me a great deal of inconvenience. I have a few spring bulbs in some of these beds at the moment and Ted (the one who's just started) doesn't want to do the digging till the bulbs have flowered and started to die back a bit. I've only put some bulbs and bedding plants in them not shrubs. Fiddly but not as difficult as shrubs.

Diane, if your soil is like mine i dont blame him for not wanting to dig, to [profanity removed]ed wet, would make more mess than a little, to much like hard work too at the moment, be patient, it has to dry out some day, ?.

Alan.

Hi Alan! Yes, the soil probably is slightly on the cold and damp side at the moment. I'm just in from brushing the lawn. Some of the lawn stuff was still lying on the surface so I took the broom to it. Put some more irises in and did some cutting back. My roses are looking very fragile now. There's one group I'm definitely going to try and remove in the autumn. Will probably leave that section of the bed well-dug and open to the elements next winter rather than slinging more bulbs in. My daffies are coming out now, my primulas are gorgeous, so are the hellebores. Hope the weather is reasonable at the weekend. I'm thinking of trying to clean my paths. They're a bit grubby and green looking!!

Hello Diane, my daffs are out now too, not many flowers this year, or new buds, i think its time to dig them up and divide them, but fortunately that is a job i can do whenits warmer, my primroses are full of flower, have been since early feb.

Alan.