lf1

Thanks for the pics Dunroving. Your US garden looks very lush. I am interested in your planting list as there are a couple of plants there that I haven't come across in my research. The Nadina and the first one on your list (can't remember the name of it). In the second picture, are those Heathers in pots? I have just bought a couple and read that they like ericaceous soil. Have you used that for yours? I might need to make another trip to the garden centre!! Not that I mind doing that, I could spend hours there.


I have, for the first time, planted some winter containers. Such things were few and far between in the Rockies, so I am very happy to have some Skimmia, Heuchera and Cyclamen brightening up my front door.

dunroving

Nandina is called "heavenly bamboo" in the US. One version is tall (4 to 6 ft) and the stems look like bamboo (hence the name). The other is a shorter, softer version called "firepower" and that's what I have - it's called Firepower because the leaves have a red tinge that gets stronger in mid-year. I have never seen it growing in the UK, but a local nursery I trust had some and said it can survive around here so I thought I'd give it a try.

I was given the Sysirinchium by a friend in N. Ireland. I have never seen it before. She didn't know it's name so we jokingly called it "peepinupsis" because it just peeps up from the ground. It is a low plant, with almost grass-like leaves and small yellow flowers that flower all summer. Since I got them from her in late May, I potted them and they did so well I divided them into three and then planted them and they have already settled in. I think they are going to be a favourite.

I miss the taller flowers I used to have in the US, but the exposed nature of the hill I am on means that no sooner do they grow up than the wind flattens them, and I'd need a forest of stakes and too much faffing to protect them. I miss having rudbeckia, lantana, asters, etc.

I have LOTS of heathers, mainly because I noticed everyone seems to have lots round here so they obviously do well! I use a mix of commercial potting compost and home-made compost and they seem to do fine with this. The soul where I am is very poor drainage clay with no nutrients (and all sorts of weird stuff buried under there - toys, tools, rocks, concrete, polythene, even a metal picture frame!) so I have had to gradually completely dig this up over the years and remove it and replace with the mix above and various amounts of horticutural grit (which they are always talking about on these gardening shows, but you can't get at most plant nurseries, seems daft).

I also now have lots of various types of ferns in my bed at the back, simply because I also noticed that bracken grows all over the moors here so they obviously can survive. I am moving to low maintenance and simply figuring out what is local and what survives rather than buying plants from Dobbies, etc., that are imported from places like Africa and don't last longer than a few weeks. I have spent a lot of money on plants that didn't last under the harsh conditions in my garden.

(Have added two more pictures of my NC house - dogwood and rhododendrons in the back yard, and jasminum next to the car port)

jasper123

Dunroving I know you live in your house in Scotland, but I just wondered when you refer to your N.C. house it seems you still own that one, do you? and are you renting it out, just interested!!!! I hope Im not being a nosy Parker!!!!

dunroving

No, it's just easier to type "my NC house" than "the house I owned when I lived in NC"!

I'm no property baron, still have most of my current mortgage to pay off ...

I do visit "my NC house" though, as I have good friends in Greenville and visit them every 2-3 years whenever I am at a conference anywhere nearby. I took a photo laast time, will try to find it. It still looks really nice.

When I went back to "my TN house" a while back ("the house I owned when I lived in TN"), I found the new owner had ripped up the flower bed I put in the front in order to lay an extra parking bay for his truck. Heathen!

between two worlds

Very interesting dunrovin all this about gardening, and your NC garden was lovely.

I am in awe of the fierce amounts of industry you are applying to your Scottish garden!
In PA, we had a nice perennial garden but the soil wasn't great, you had to do lots of watering in summer, and in winter of course some things that would winter over in England (like rosemary, for example) simply died. So I used to yearn for a typical lush English cottage garden!

However we did have lots of lovely things--in spring grape hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, a few snowdrops, crocuses, etc; later, lilies of the valley, irises, a blue geranium type thing, bleeding hearts (dicentra), a tall clumpy thing with feathery leaves and little yellow flowers that spread like mad (alas! I did know all the names so well, how could I forget?),oh, lots more.....

And we sold the house and unfortunately--I mean unfortunately because of the unavoidable garden sights, not the friendship!-- I was still friends with the next door neighbor so had to go back and each time i could see more of the neglect and abandon of the garden...heartbreaking.

lf1

Dunroving, I like the look of the "firepower" and it seems that it might be a suitable size for my garden. Have you found it to be invasive? When I see the word "bamboo" my alarms bells go off, even although I have heard some varieties are not considered to be invasive.

In the exposed areas of your garden, have you tried plants that are recommended for coastal areas? Maybe they would be able to handle the wind a little better. In my Calgary garden, I was determined to have roses, despite the climate. I knew tea roses would be a pain to maintain, having to bury them in fall etc, so I opted for shrub roses and I loved them. They withstood the winters, severe pruning and gave lovely displays of flowers throughout the warmer months.

In my front garden, which was more exposed to the cold winds, I planted "Pavement" roses and they grew beautifully, with very little attention from me. I plan to put some shrub and climbing roses in my current garden, so needless to say I have to reign myself in when browsing the David Austin catalogue or website.

mikelincs

Nandinia firepower. info here..

Buy Nandina domestica 'Firepower' | Plantify

jasper123

Thanks dunroving for clearing that up for me,
I had the same problem with the soil in our back garden, when I started digging up the roots of all the weeds ----- I found that they were so deep, so I had to dig deep, and I found so much garbage under the soil, bits of plastic and tools, and bits of wood and nails and old toys and so much stuff, OMG and the soil is really horrible, it surprises me that anything grows at all,
but everything grows lovely, all the old bushes that have been there since 1930's and all the new plants I plant take well right away, all I do is occasionally put new soil over the top of the old, pretty cheap too for good rich soil here, two large bags for a tenner,
As most people on here know that I lived in apartments for 36 years in the U.S. so I never ever had any gardening experience, but since Ive been home I have learned a lot from my Mum, for the first couple of years we did the gardening together, but now Mum cant do that anymore, so I do it all, and I never thought I would say this but I really do enjoy any work I do out in the garden, ------ Mum said to me a few years ago ----- Ill make a gardner out of you yet!!! ---- but Alan Titchmarsh I aint!!!!

Flying Enterprise

Hi Jasper123,

I am a Newbie, I just want to ask when you returned to the U.K. did you have property or did you have to rent ? we are thinking of returning in the near future, but looking at the property ads most of them mention no dogs, we have 2 sausage dogs, looking for a small place with access to a garden, not much out there,

Like you we have spent many years away from the U.K. but are now retired.

between two worlds

Hello Flying Enterprise! I am sure Jasper will reply in a bit, but I wanted to say welcome to the thread.

You are right, I think (though I have never specifically looked) that it is quite hard to find a rental that accepts dogs.

Presumably you know about rightmove.co.uk, an enormous database of properties both for sale and rental?

We have retired to the UK as well but we already owned a small property as a place to stay when we visited, and were able to sell it and get a slightly larger one. So I don't know about rentals, and have only ever had a cat anyway.
But I am afraid that when we rented out our own property as a furnished rental, we were one of those mean landlords who specify no pets!

I think that's entirely understandable with a furnished property. So you may have better luck if you search unfurnished rentals (which you probably are doing anyway).

Good luck with the search! And-- if you want-- tell us more. Where are you living as an expat? Are you and partner (you say "we") both British? And so on....!

lf1

Whilst renovating the garden a few interesting items where uncovered. A beer bottle from the Coldstream brewery which hasn't existed for years and I can find little information on it. Also, a French 5 franc coin from the 1870's. One of these days I'll get around to finding out more information on them.

lf1

Hi Flying Enterprise and welcome to the forum. Some posters have returned with dogs, but the only name I can think of, at the moment, that rented is Britwhore. I am sure there are others and hopefully they will see your question.

Best of luck.

Flying Enterprise

Hello I1

Thanks will check that one out, unfortunately will have to rent as to buy property in the U.K is a near impossibility, and being a pensioner would not get a Mortgage anyway.

Flying Enterprise

Hi between two worlds. Thanks for the welcome!! I live with my wife in Cape Town, left the U.K in 1975 during the dark days of the 70s,

Went to live in the then Rhodesia, as my wife's parents lived there, stayed until 1980 when Zimbabwe was born! moved down to Johannesburg stayed till 2010, then moved to Cape Town for a bit of peace!

I initially met my soon to be wife in July 1969 in Jersey in the Channel Islands and was married in December of that year.

between two worlds

Aw wow, an interesting story -- and lovely long marriage!

Well, have you visited UK often while living in Africa? Will it seem very changed (and I am not implying either for better or for worse, just wondering if it will seem very different)--or have you been back and forth enough to know what it's like these days?

And are you prepared for the weather?! Of course it is more temperate in UK than many places but I think it may be a bit of a shock after where you have been...