No Rest For The Wicked
Stachyurus praecox
A shrub purchased last Spring and already it has justified the investment. Planted temporarily in the veg garden awaiting its permanent (as yet to be decided) home. Such is life, chez duck. Nothing stays still for long.
The news of the week is that the bathroom is done. Pending any issues that have yet to surface of course. Not wishing to tempt fate I take nothing for granted these days. The U-bend duly arrived from Italy and an impressive thing it was too. All gleaming chrome, which seemed a little over the top for something that resides in the back of a vanity unit. Out of sight behind a drawer. And true to form, it didn’t fit. Our long suffering plumber has fashioned a modification with bits of white plastic pipe which happened to be knocking about in the back of his van. It isn’t pretty. But, as we’ve said, it won’t be seen. It works.
All that remains now is to complete the search for all the paraphernalia you suddenly find you need when you have a new bathroom, especially if you have an inbuilt resistance to drilling into recently tiled walls. A freestanding loo roll holder, shower gel dispensers, new towels and bathmats. It has taken me days, if not weeks, of searching. When you can no longer relax in front of the fire with your Facebook feed lest you be confronted by yet another advertisement for loo brushes you know things have become pretty desperate. Did you realise that you can spend £450 on a loo brush holder? Me neither. And nor did I.
Epimedium warleyense ‘Ellen Willmott’
We did purchase a new set of bathroom scales. White, sleek, in keeping. Gone are the days when scales existed merely to measure your weight. No, nowadays they will also nag you daily about your fat ratio, water content, muscle and bone mass. Ours even provide a weather forecast for heaven’s sake! Unsurprisingly then the scales also come equipped with bluetooth, wi-fi and an app. Mike spent this afternoon in geeky paradise setting it all up. For some reason I can hardly dare contemplate, part way through this process I was asked for my current weight which was duly entered into his phone. (Am I the only one to wonder why the scales wouldn’t actually know that?) Perhaps a new surprise will await me on Facebook tonight. With a weight reduction target to boot?
Narcissus canaliculatus
I love miniature daffodils and surely they don’t come much smaller than this. The blooms are barely larger than an English penny and it stands just 5 inches off the ground. So small in fact that unlike many of the bulbs I’ve attempted to grow over the years it has remained under the nibblers’ radar.. so far. The disadvantage of hugging the ground so closely is the tendency to be mud splashed by the rain!
So, with the bathroom finished and the budget for world travel blown for the next few years at least, what are we going to do with ourselves now? Put our feet up and enjoy the sunshine? Ho Ho. As if. And probably just as well since there’s been precious little sunshine here lately. After those few fine days in February it was tempting to think I could be well ahead of the game this year and yet already I am woefully behind. The ground is now so wet it will be a day or two at least before I can venture out onto the soil, even if we get no more rain in the meantime.
Euphorbia characias ‘Silver Swan’
But never fear, there should be no shortage of blog fodder over the next few months. Plans are afoot. This week we take delivery of a number of removal company cardboard boxes, into which will go the contents of the sitting and dining rooms. The following week the boxes, plus all the furniture, will be collected and put into store. For how long we do not know. How long’s a piece of string? Or more to the point, how long does any renovation project take around here? Especially if we decide to tackle two rooms at once?
Helleborus ‘Harvington Apricot’
The hellebores are still at their peak. Now it’s the turn of the apricots..
Helleborus ‘Harvington Double Apricot’
There’s an absolutely glorious double version too.
Two rooms at once? Are you now completely mad Jessica? Possibly. Because that’s not all..
Also this week we should get a visit from a man with a mini digger to talk about some landscaping. Assuming he can get his machine down here in the first place of course, by no means certain. And then if things do go to plan, and I’m really lucky, a replacement greenhouse. Hopefully before the current one finally falls down.
So there’s bound to be a story or two in that lot isn’t there?
Magnolia x loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’
Once established this magnolia just seems to get better every year. It is smothered in buds.
And then of course there will be plants. Regular readers might recall that the last couple of years there’s been an Itoh peony watch. This year’s watch could be even more exciting, for this temperate climate gardener at least..:
Strelitzia reginae
The Bird of Paradise plant. The first flower spike, five years plus after growing it from a seed.
Watch this space..
Woo-hoo on the completed bathroom! I feel your pain, trying to select the dare-I-call-them accidentals that fill out a usable bathroom. And, yes, the odd adverts that creep onto your screen afterwards… Our need for appliances – kitchen and laundry, none of which came with the house – coincided with all the box stores’ appliance sales. Lucky, wasn’t it? Except that all that mind-boggling selection process (specifications, reviews, not to mention price) had to be done in about 48 hours. Because, of course, I had left the task till the end of the sale…
Those apricot hellebores are gorgeous. And I am watching for that peony!
Oh good timing Amy. I hope you managed to get some good deals but I know that sort of pressure. Over here at the moment the sales seem to be carrying on forever, such is the impact of Brexit uncertainty. The dilemma is how long to hold out, because prices sometimes go even lower, without losing the lot! Even plant sellers are having sales, now we’re talking..
cool beans!!! i can’t wait to see all the renovations.. and the stories … there are always stories.. and this time of year one can always go out and ‘smell the roses” love that apricot hellebore… can’t wait to be home in two weeks and see what’s happening at chez hommeyer
I hope you’re somewhere warm and sunny! I do envy you in the US, as with Australia, to be able to escape from winter on a domestic travel ticket.
Very cool beans! I’m rather enjoying having the veg garden as a nursery bed. It may well stay that way.
Yay! A finished bathroom, you must be over the moon! Love those pretty bells and the Euphorbia and those apricot Hellebores. You have such lovely unusual plants in your garden. But I have begun to realise that you are a glutton for punishment. Two rooms? And a greenhouse? So jealous of the Strelitzia. I have recently decided to buy seeds and grow one, not realising it may take 5 years to flower. Gosh, I’ll be an old woman then!
This is the second time I have tried Strelitzia from seed. The first one took 25 years to bloom.. just saying! I’ve been moving this one outside as soon as it’s safe from frost and that has seemed to make a difference. One year I even planted it in the ground over summer but they grow very fleshy roots which easily break, so it was hard to dig up again. I shall now just pot the plant up as necessary. But not too frequently as apparently they are more likely to bloom if a little pot bound.
It makes me tired just reading your blog Jessica, where do you get all the energy? I have just finished decorating the downstairs toilet and need a breather before tackling any thing else!
Ah well, the bathroom was ‘easy’ given that we are neither plumbers nor electricians and thus had to get others in to do most of the work. The next two rooms will involve rather more hard graft on our part!
Congratulations upon completing the bathroom remodel, Jessica! At least you got a nice long trip (sort of) between major projects. I’m impressed by your willingness to jump into the fray yet again so soon. As my husband and I prepare to embark on our project (subject to yet another delay as our contractor has pneumonia and must complete another project before demo starts on ours), I’m terrified and have seriously been wondering if it wouldn’t be easier to sell our current house and buy another one. However, that would mean leaving my garden, which would be very hard. At least you’re fitting an exciting garden project into the mix. BTW, your garden is looking lovely despite having been left on its own for a time.
I couldn’t leave my garden either, or yours for that matter if I had it! I sincerely hope that you won’t experience too much contractor related damage when they do finally start. They are renowned for their large feet and uncanny ability to zero in on your most cherished specimens when deciding where to put those feet.
More lovely photographs. Congratulations on the bathroom
It’s been a long haul this one hasn’t it!
£450 for a loo brush? I rather spend it on having someone else clean my bathrooms.
Nevertheless, congratulations on a completed bathroom…guessing it almost feels anti-climatic after all the bathroom reno-trauma you’ve been through. But then again, it isn’t slowing you down–best of luck with the reno of sitting and dining rooms, the new greenhouse, shifting plants…you are definitely related to the energizer bunny. And ever the optimist (with the required sense of humour). Looking forward to your works in progress. I stand in awe.
Thanks Mary. After all the trauma we’re both almost scared to use the new bathroom. No doubt such thoughts will wear off in time. This evening I feel more like the energiser bunny’s mate. The one which ran down and flopped flat on the floor!
I shall certainly be watching this space to see how that Strelitzia progresses. I think that is an impressive achievement from seed.
Enjoy the bathroom!
The Strelitzia flower spike is heading steadily for the greenhouse roof. Could be a problem if it gets there before I can safely put it outside for summer. As it is Himself will need to deconstruct the tomato supports if I am to get it out at all!
Two rooms at once! Be still my beating heart. I planted E. ‘Ellen Wilmott’ last autumn, so it is nice to have a glimpse of what I can expect. And those apricot Hellebores are stunning. I love seeing how the real plants look in a real garden as opposed to the catalog shots.
My poor plants are all looking a bit ragged at the moment. No snow here, plenty of wind and rain. But it’s been a mild winter and with a spell of warm sunshine in February Spring has come early. There’s more on show than there would normally be this early in the year.
Love the plants and bet you are glad its all over!
I won’t be doing a bathroom again any time soon, that’s for sure!
OMG on the bird of paradise blooming from seed! SO exciting. I got a little bored with them after a year in Los Angeles, where they never seemed to stop blooming, but home-grown in a climate with real winter is another thing entirely.
That wee Narcissus calculators is.on my wishlist — for my old age when the garden is “done” and I will just futz about with small alliums, sedums, and the like.
We saw many Bird of Paradise growing happily in Australia and LA must have a very similar climate. But here, yes, they’re a challenge and something a bit special. I’ve had at least one growing pretty much all of my adult life, ever since Mike and my Dad laughed when I first brought home the seed and proclaimed it to be a joke (it has orange fluffy bits attached) saying I’d never manage to get anything from it..
Oh that stachyurus looks decidedly eye – catching. So glad that you are not spending £450 on a loo roll holder – all the better saved to spend a penny (or two) on plants. Now why did I think you might be putting your feet up this year Jessica?
£450 on plants would be a much better idea now wouldn’t it. A good and timely thought Anna, especially as I have just been making a list of all the Spring plant fairs happening locally.
So glad for you that the bathroom is finished apart from the choosing of just the right accessories, a job in itself. Beautiful photos of plants, as always. Good to hear about the miniature daffodils. Perhaps the nibblers went for something else? Baby slugs are lurking among the juicy new leaves of plants here in our garden beds. The Bird of Paradise plant grown from seed is impressive! Wishing you well with your next. project!
Thanks Linda. I’m finding baby slugs everywhere now too. The downside of a mild winter.
Oh no, how can you face it? The upheaval, the mess? You are going to have to move into your lovely bathroom. But you have some fabulous spring flowers to enjoy in the meantime.
In the midst of packing today and I have to admit I’m not looking forward to all the upheaval. As always, I shall just keeping repeating the mantra that it will be worth it. It usually is. And, as you say, there is still the garden..
By the way, £450 for a loo brush holder? Who buys them? Why? Are they status symbols? I buy a fresh one every few weeks for £2.99.
Well exactly. The world has become a very strange place.
JEALOUS – her in New Brunswick we still 4 feet of snow on the front lawn…… beautiful – I guess I’ll have to enjoy spring through your pics…
4 feet?! That’s almost up to my neck. What happens when it all melts?
On the basis that it doesn’t cause a flood I do hope it melts soon and you can start to enjoy some blooms. Hang in there, Spring is coming..
Your bathroom beat my bathroom. I thought I had it completed, but the faucet handle fix revealed another faucet problem. Finally though after I had a meltdown with the contractor he agreed after six weeks of denial, to send out a plumber at his expense. New parts ordered but they are back ordered and coming from–Italy!
I splurged on Yamazaki shampoo dispensers–thought they were outrageously expensive at $16. They are quite nice, better than I expected, though one can get a very well grown Leucadendron here for $16.
The indoor projects make the outdoor ones seem so easy. Left to itself here S. reginae enormous clumps weighing several hundred pounds that require large digging equipment to remove. The flowers are wonderful but the plant needs attentivel maintenance to stay tidy and ornamental. Congratulations on growing one from seed!
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if your spare parts from Italy arrive sooner than mine did. Such is the way of the world.
And you aren’t the only one weighing up the cost of bathroom accessories against the purchase of essentials such as plants. On the plus side it makes our addiction look frugal in comparison.
No breather between bathroom and new projects. You really area glutton for punishment aren’t you?
I just want to get it done now. Then I can enjoy the rest of the summer relaxing in the garden!
The gardener knows I suspect,
That with two more rooms to perfect,
That the greenhouse is groaning,
The garden is moaning,
It’s just time for a her lovely new project.
It does not quite scan but you get the drift. Please start the new project soon as we need some good weather in Somerset and as soon as you are stuck indoors, paintbrush is hand, the sun will emerge!
There is never a good time for renovation projects. It’s just as horrible in winter when there is no power, no plumbing and the wretched contractors have left all the doors open, again. But at least while they are here there is nothing I can usefully do, other than watch the clouds of dust emerging from the windows in the relative safety of the garden. You’re right though. When we do (eventually) get to paintbrush stage the barbeque summer will arrive. Right on cue.
Your flower photos are particularly beautiful in this post! Perhaps is because spring is slow in coming here and we are longing for a little color. Sounds like you will be having a busy summer. Enjoy.
Too busy. Already I’m seeing gorgeously sunny days like today when I could have been in the garden but wasn’t. Good to hear from you Brenda and hope all is well. Spring will come!
Just as the bathroom is finally finished, you’re starting a two-room project? My hat’s off to you! My talking scale kept saying, “Please, only one person at a time.” so I threw it away.
Ha! The way things are going mine could soon be saying the same. Comfort eating helps the stress. And the odd glass of an evening..
Glad the bathroom is now complete. You do like a challenge, hope all your plans go without too many hitches. I love that euphorbia it’s colour is quite unusual! Sarah x
It came through winter completely unscathed! It’s been quite a feature all year because of the variegated foliage, it stays bushy and compact too. Recommended.