Post Comment Love 9 - 11 February

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed from the linky, and if older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

This week we were in Nottingham on Tuesday night to see ABC perform their Lexicon of Love album with the Southbank Sinfonia. It was a great night out, and as well as playing the classic album in its entirety, they also played their other hits. Martin Fry’s voice was still fantastic, and strong - though at the end of the evening both MOH and I were wondering what they’d do for their encore as they’d already done all their hits.

Problem solved though, and an obvious answer - repeat The Look of Love and get the audience to join in! Well it worked for me.

A special note to the pink suit though. Yeap, it was that pink, and it also matched the ABC hanging at the back of the stage, though the green lights in my photo this week don’t really show that.

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A beautiful border that's In the Pink

* I was invited to the press preview for and provided with a pair of tickets to Gardeners’ World Live so I’m marking posts from the show as 'Ad’ - as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

The theme for the beautiful borders at the 2023 Gardeners’ World Live was ‘My Garden Escape’, but as ever they were bursting with inspiration and ideas, and lived up to their name of being beautiful.

This week I’m sharing the border designed by the Gardeners’ World presenter Sue Kent, titled In the Pink.

Pink is Sue’s favourite colour and she says that scented flowers are her joy and painting her escape. This border includes all three of these, and I correctly spotted the colour progression from bright pink to white pink, and includes roses and peonies, annuals and perennials and the odd vegetable too.

The spaces aren’t large, but it really does show what you can do in a small space. Even so, the colour progression was clear, so here’s a closer look at each end of the border.

Colour affects our energies and emotions, in this border Sue has created a space ‘for visitors to absorb and assess how that colour makes them feel’ - I know I left with a smile on my face.

But one last picture, the art and painting. Sue explained that painting was important to her, but she also needed something that would cope with all weather and wouldn’t spoil for the show. That ruled out paper and watercolours, as soggy paper wasn’t really the look. So she dug out her pink nail varnishes and a piece of glass and took it from there.

Brilliant, hey? And definitely beautiful. I so wish you could experience the beautiful smell for yourself!

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was as fabulous as ever!

My garden in January

It’s been interesting to see what’s happened in our new garden this past month, as I said in December’s update I have more pictures than perhaps I’d normally have at this time of year. That’s because I’m keen to learn, record and share what the garden has in store for us. Though, it’s still January and it’s been pretty chilly, and wet and I only managed to get out into the gardening once, and that was on the penultimate day of the month!

But early in the month it was good to spot this colour from the hebe, the purple leaves as well as the vivid purple flowers - what a treat in what can be a pretty dreary month, and a month that’s not my favourite.

That said, the euphorbias we brought with us from our London garden seem happy enough. They are still contained in the pot they moved in, and I’m not sure yet where - or when - I’ll unleash them. They multiply a lot, and are already spreading in the pot, so I’ll need to remember that.

In December I finally got around to potting up some daffodils, and so it’s great to see them pushing their way through the soil. The ones I didn’t get around to planting also sprouted and have gone a little bit awry without the soil. They too have now been potted up, though I’ve needed to be gentle so they don’t break - I’m hopeful they will continue to grow, as they’ve been pretty resilient so far.

There’s plenty of plants in the border near the garage, and the elephant ears above are doing really well. When the weather, and ground, is a bit warmer I need to plant the elephant ears we brought with us alongside one of them which is doing less well.

One thing that’s quite different from our previous garden is the amount of bird visitors, we have far fewer here. In London we had robins, blue tits, great tits and plenty of pigeons, as well as a blackbird or two. Here, when we first moved in there were a couple of wagtails, and we’ve seen a robin occasionally. We’ve also seen a blackbird a couple of times, hanging around the crab apple tree no doubt looking for food.

The two days after the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch we had a crow visit around the same time of day, but nothing any more regular. In an attempt to look attractive to smaller birds, and encourage that robin we’ve bought a hanging bird feeder and filled that with fat balls. We need to get something that the blackbird will appreciate more though, and work out what that is, where to put it and how to make sure it’s only attractive to the intended species.

But we’ll work that out, though grateful for any advice you have.

The tulips from dad are also poking through the soil, and they’re also in pots so that I can move them into view from the house when they’re flowering. The ones we brought with us are also coming up and it’ll be great to see them again.

It’s good to see how the plants are growing, and I love the pale greeny pink dots that promise flowers to come.

And look how much those daffodils have grown in a month…

The mahonia has changed too, the bright yellow flowers are less prominent but in their place berries with a blueish tinge are starting to form, so it continues to be a plant to watch.

The fresh growth on the red robin tops are living up to their name, and look great as we look out the window. These were a plant on my wish list, so I’m really pleased it’s here already.

January is also the time of year when hellebores start to make their presence known - the one we brought with us, a deep, deep red which came from my FIL’s garden is showing signs of new growth which is a relief as it had looked pretty unwell beforehand. I also spotted that we have one planted, though I’m not sure why the leaves are tinged with grey/black, possibly its been affected by frost, I’m not sure. I don’t know what colour this one will be, but my guess is a greeny cream, though I could be completely wrong - I’ll let you know.

And finally, we have a new tree. It’s small, and has plenty of growing to do. Our council here offer up to two free ‘whips’ for residents, and while we already have five young trees in our new garden we took advantage of this offer with a single silver birch. I’ve put this into a pot to give it the best chance, as where I want to plant this needs a bit of prep work which we haven’t been able to do just yet, but soon hopefully.