Gwenfar's Garden and other musings – Page 2 – Notes on growing ornamentals and edibles, and musings on other matters that interest me.

A large flower, the size of your hand span, facing towards the left. The outer petals are white, and then it has lots of purple and blue coronal filaments that really add the wow factor. It then has yellow-green stamens, then purplish dotted small stems leading to the two dark yellow pistols that meet at the top. You can see raindrops have collected amongst the filaments.

A brief passion

18 September 202318 September 2023

I did not mean to go nearly 3 months between blogposts, but between visitors and having pinched a nerve in my left shoulder, I’ve not been able to type much. It’s slowly improving but still a way to go. Honestly, …

Three people, two white, one a person of colour. One white person sitting in a beach wheelchair, the other two people above and behind. Everyone is smiling and happy. To the left you can see the sandy beach and the edge of the water.

Beach scenes: Barry Island and the beach wheelchair

14 May 202424 June 2023

I don’t recall the last time I walked on a beach. It’s been years, then some more years still. To be fair, we either lived in Oxfordshire or South Yorkshire, which are no where near the beach. But mainly it …

Black ‘n White

16 June 202316 June 2023

Got a little planting today today, including this gorgeous purple-leaved Geranium. This is Geranium pratense ‘Black ‘n’ White’. I guess ‘aubergine-purple and white’ didn’t have the same ring to it! I picked it up on a recent visit to Aberglasney …

The blended scapes have been spooned into individual ice-cube tray sections.

Garlic scapes: preserving by freezing

11 June 2023

If you grow hardneck garlic, you’ll end up with scapes in late Spring/early Summer (full info here). A simple way to preserve them is to freeze them, viz: Step 1: First, cut them up roughly. Step 2: Put them in …

A view of the whole greenhouse looking from the front left to the back left side. There are some plants and a wooden seat alongside the greenhouse wall.

Enter the dream: my new greenhouse

5 June 2023

Gardeners frequently dream of bigger, better etc. More space, more plants. And I’ve definitely had that dream. But my health can no longer manage a big garden, and our new garden is about a third of the size of our …

Blue Camassias in the foreground, and in the distance you can see a hint of the bluebell wood. There is lots of lush green growth and it all looks very vibrant.

Garden visit: Aberglasney Gardens

7 May 2023

Aberglasney Gardens is a good example of a the value of second chances. We visited Aberglasney, in the Tywi Valley, Carmarthenshire (Wales), more than 15 years ago, and all I recall is it felt dim and uninviting. It was towards …

A view of a lake framed by some trees that are just starting to come into leaf, in the forground. In the background is the lake, and behind it are small hills of trees not yet in leaf. The sky is blue with wisps of white cloud. It's like a looking through a window to the lake.

Cosmeston lakes: April 2023

8 April 2023

After weeks, and weeks, and weeks of rain, the sun finally shone. Just in time for the Easter weekend – hurrah! So off we stroll/rolled down to the lakes to get some sun, Spring air, and increase in our allergies …

There’s life beyond 1660 (reviews of a book The Unrespectable Woman, and podcast My Love Letter Time Machine)

13 March 202313 March 2023

If you’ve ever checked my bio on social media, it usually includes the sentence “…also loves pre-1660 British history…”. I love medieval and early modern British history (my degree was in the latter), and these days I’m particularly interested in …

Focus on a single stem of the shrub. The stem is a dark purple, though looks purple-reddish white the bright sunlight on it. There is one cluster of small white flowers coming off from the stem, with some smaller clusters developing but only the pinkish outer layer of the flower currently shows. The leaves are long and slender and are a green-red colour.

Oh so sweet: the sweet box fragrance in winter

5 March 2023

One of the great delights of winter and early spring, come from a rather small, almost insignificant, white flower, of sweet box. You don’t really notice the flowers. It’s the fragrance you’ll notice. You’ll be walking down the street and …

A section of the back garden that has been completed by the landscapers. You can see the layout with two raised beds and one lower ornamental bed, paving, and rusted steel arch. This backs on to the back of the house.

Growing through phases: phase 1 complete

5 March 202310 February 2023

The first phase of the landscaping was finished last week! It looks bare now, but it is ready for planting. To remind you what it looked like previously: And now: The empty paved area will be for the chairs, table …