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Friday, May 18, 2007

Today's one to ponder


OK, so this probably won't stimulate quite such frenzied scribbling as our celebrity countdown but, well, who knows? Having spent half an hour attacking a bush (don't ask me what) which James had started to trim and left looking like a relic from the punk era....I got to thinking about gardening. I know tons of you are hugely knowledgable and enthusiastic so.....

Your absolute top THREE garden plants - and why they're such superstars. I was going to say just ONE but figured there would be an uprising.

Now onto the veg patch - once again THREE only....

Pictures would be good.....talking of which, what the heck is this plant? It's taking over!

posted by Exmoorjane @ 8:53 AM  

23 Comments:

  • At May 18, 2007 9:28 AM , Blogger @themill said...

    Snowdrops, tulips and lavender anywhere.
    Rocket, beetroot and garlic in the veg patch.
    Think that might be Comfrey, but mine is more blueish pinkish. But huge and has taken over the entire area around the woodshed. Very good for composting apparently. However ther are many far more knowledgeable gardeners out there who will be much more reliable than me!

     

  • At May 18, 2007 9:51 AM , Blogger toady said...

    Jane this is far too restrictive. Can we have subsections for shrubs, trees and annuals. Then of course climbers, succulents, bulbs,
    ooh err I'm going to have to think about this one. Toady

     

  • At May 18, 2007 9:56 AM , Blogger ska said...

    yes three is too few!

    lavender
    clematis (and that includes each and every single one!)
    jasmine

    courgettes
    runner beans
    tomatoes
    because these are the three I have always grown every year - they look gorgeous and are very productive.

    But I'd like to be able to have more to choose!

     

  • At May 18, 2007 9:57 AM , Blogger KittyB said...

    Narcissi, sweet peas, dahlias, flowers to cut for the house for most of the year that way.
    Potatoes, peas, carrots. Everyone in my house eats all three. Slug resistant carrots though as my current 'Chantenay Red Core 2' seedlings have *all* been eaten! Waily waily indeed here at the veg patch.

     

  • At May 18, 2007 10:03 AM , Blogger Elizabethd said...

    I think it is Comfrey, or Pulmonaria.

    Favourites;
    Always roses, the old kind.
    Delphiniums
    Alchemilla mollis
    Lavender
    I know....that's 4, but?

     

  • At May 18, 2007 10:03 AM , Blogger Faith said...

    Oh dear dear dear - VERY hard you make it Jane!

    Daffodils
    Roses
    Lavender

    (but really want Sweet Peas too!)

    Runner beans
    Raspberries (well I know they're not veg)
    Tomatoes

    Why are they superstars? Well its not spring without daffs or summer without roses. Lavender is part of me, my childhood, my parents - can't explain better than that.

    Raspberries are my fave fruit and delightful to pick, beans and toms easy to grow and useful in kitchen!

     

  • At May 18, 2007 10:25 AM , Blogger Suffolkmum said...

    Roses (old), lavendar, sweet peas. Sooo many more ...
    I don't have much room, so have to crowd stuff in, and the easiest are garlic, tomatoes and strawberries.

     

  • At May 18, 2007 10:41 AM , Blogger mountainear said...

    Comfrey - Symphytum officinale perhaps. Do not encourage it. It is a bad sort - as you have found out.

    Snowdrops - just so pure and welcome in those bleak winter days.
    Rosa 'Gentle Hermione' - it's a girl thing.
    Dianthus - Mrs Simpkins - another white flower, slightly ragged but with a gorgeous scent that knocks yr socks off.

    Veggies:
    Carrots - fresh from the ground with the soil rubbed off and munched straght away.
    Squash - just wacky creations
    The Onion - firstly because I can grow them and secondly where would the world be without the onion?

     

  • At May 18, 2007 11:03 AM , Blogger WesterWitch/Headmistress said...

    Daffodils, tulips and ice plant. And yes what is the plant in your picture - we have two of them!

     

  • At May 18, 2007 11:05 AM , Blogger MaidofKent said...

    That is comfrey and at 4.00p.m. today you should pull it ALL up, squash it into a container with a weight on top and leave it there until you can pour some 'juice' off into a watering can, add 9 parts water. Keep the rest in the container to produce more 'juice'. Be warned it smells YUK, do not leave too close to doors, windows or seating areas, but it's better than 'Miracle Grow' for the stuff you DO want in your garden - such as:
    Iris
    Rosemary
    Lily of the Valley
    Parsnips
    Tomatoes
    Runner Beans
    to name FAR TOO FEW!!!

     

  • At May 18, 2007 11:13 AM , Blogger @themill said...

    Oh, how clever I feel. I think I was right with the Comfrey. And how could I not have sweet peas?!

     

  • At May 18, 2007 11:17 AM , Blogger Exmoorjane said...

    Comfrey eh? And to think I bought it in a garden centre and lovingly tended the little brute (not so little)...It's nasty to pull up too as very spiteful spikes on the stems that get stuck in your fingers. There's a pulmonaria underneath it somewhere, and chives and a hosta. I'll attack it at 4pm as suggested - thank you!

    Sorry, knew you'd baulk at only three. But how interesting. We all love lavender.....
    Alright, alright, how about top ten?? Jxxx

     

  • At May 18, 2007 11:35 AM , Blogger toady said...

    That's more like it.
    Toady's top Ten

    Lavender [ all forms]
    Wisteria
    Palms [ all forms]
    Clematis
    Cobaea
    Agave
    Jasmine
    Eringeum
    Roses [old fashioned]
    Narcissi
    Lilies

    [oops that's 11. Don't tell Jane]

     

  • At May 18, 2007 11:51 AM , Blogger WesterWitch/Headmistress said...

    Vegetables - but I don't grow them - Sprouts, Parsnips and sage and onion stuffing . . . drool . . Xmas dinner . . . .

     

  • At May 18, 2007 11:51 AM , Blogger lixtroll said...

    I'm afraid I am not very practical and an awful gardener - I read all the posts of you clever people discussing plants and vegetables so knowledgeably in utter amazement - and shame! So here is my fanciful and so not too practical for the Scottish Highlands list . . .
    Stocks and Sweet Williams for their amazing fragrance and colour - and who could resist the sunflower, with its great big friendly face all fringed in yellow held up to the sun!

    Again not too practical on the veg front - I love onions (I think it's onions or something, advice appreciated!) when they go all wild and seedy and grow up high and get those lovely pointy papery caps teetering on tall stems. And little squashes growing fat and yellow between their muscular stems and leaves. And brussels sprouts because they are like small trees covered in knobbly fruits!

     

  • At May 18, 2007 12:03 PM , Blogger Suffolkmum said...

    Comfrey's OK if you keep it in a 'wild' part of your garden - I keep it well away from my herb garden but am quite fond of it. It has a hugely long tap root so it can be a pain to dig up. It's a great healing plant for skin complaints and used to be used for broken bones - old name 'knitbone'. Makes a fabulous liquid feed.

     

  • At May 18, 2007 12:36 PM , Blogger Grouse said...

    Bluebells
    Clematis
    Verinica (The ice-blue one)

    Brocolli
    Watercress
    tomatoes

     

  • At May 18, 2007 12:55 PM , Blogger Withy Brook said...

    Help, I need time!
    First yes Comfrey. I've managed to get rid of nearly all mine, thank goodness.
    Flowers - Old fashioned roses, they must have a good scent and be repeat flowering.
    Snowdrops because they promice spring to come.
    Then masses just come rushing in and I love them all, especially the ones that are out at the time! Sorry, that's a cop-out!
    Veg - Peas. Picked, podded outside with the baby blue tits feeding beside me and then cooked (just) and eaten quick. There is nothing on earth to beat them but...
    Carrots. Pulled when they are still small, washed and cooked (just) and eaten with a little butter and lemon juice. There is nothing to beat them either.
    Lettuce. So easy to be able to go and lift a lettuce just when you wnat it and eat it fresh, haveing grown whatever is your favourite variety at the time.

     

  • At May 18, 2007 3:22 PM , Blogger The Country Craft Angel said...

    My top 3 flowers:-
    Lavender, Sweet Peas and Roses

    Top 3 Veg patch:-
    Tomatoes, Courgettes and Strawberries.

    These are my absolute top 3 that I couldn't be without.

    warm wishes
    x

     

  • At May 18, 2007 4:09 PM , Blogger Zoë said...

    My favourites are English Rose 'Othello', Scented Leaf perlagoniums, 'Attar of Roses' especially, and (this is very tricky) Buddleja I think. As for veg plot, in my own garden, double U cordon Apples and Pears and the tiny cherry tomatoes, plum or otherwise. Can't wait to eat some!

     

  • At May 18, 2007 4:51 PM , Blogger elizabethm said...

    thank goodness for extension to top ten:
    snowdrops (hope in a flower)
    daffodils (spring on a stick)
    hellebores (moody colours, marvellous foliage)
    alliums (great purple pompoms)
    lavender (France, childhood)
    old roses (scent, fabulous folded flowers)
    paeonies (old ones with the dark red flowers big as a child's head)
    delphiniums (but can't grow them)
    violets (tiny wild ones)
    cyclamen (whoops, that's 11)

    Veg:
    peas, courgettes, red onions, potatoes, tomatoes, gooseberries, raspberries, rhubarb, squash, climbing beans
    all yummy, all easy except perhaps the peas, all taste quite different brought in and washed and eaten right there and then.

     

  • At May 18, 2007 11:30 PM , Blogger Cait O'Connor said...

    Jane, this is spooky, I hadn't read this request from you when I put out a request for people's 3 favourite meals/ingredients. (see my blog or above).

    I am thinking about your request and will get back to you.

     

  • At May 18, 2007 11:42 PM , Blogger CAMILLA said...

    It looks like Comfrey Jane,in fact I'm sure it is. Favourite flowers would have to start with the Rose, then Delphinium, Geranium,Sweet-pea,Lavender,Foxglove,Honeysuckle,
    Jasmine. Vegetables - Carrots,Courgettes,Green Beans, followed by the fruit-Rasberry, Blackcurrant,Apple,Apricot.
    Heck, Jane, I have just had a quick look in my gardening book, and your plant is, ANGELS TRUMPET,
    latin name for this is, DATURA suaveolens. It can grow to 200-300cm. Origin: Mexico. Description: Shrubby deciduous plant with glabrous, long ovate leaves uo to 30cm long. Flowers large, trumpet-shaped, five-petalled, pleasantly scented. Requirements: Flowers profusely if watered liberally. Cut back in spring and let plant make new shoots at a temperature of 18C.
    Hope this helps dear Jane.
    Camilla.xxx

     

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