Re: Gardening Thread.

**lily** Wed Aug 29, 2012 2:46 pm

What color is it, Sabot?

**Sabot** Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:32 pm

lily wrote:What color is it, Sabot?

This one is a bronze colour, Lily. A mass of small flowers. But most of my others are large flowers in various colours. Not as large as they could be because I don't pick off some of the buds, which you need to do if you want the really big ones. I've so far got red, bronze and that lovely pale lilac.
Chrysanthemum growing in France is a big industry in Autumn because so many of them are taken to Cemeteries. Literally hundreds of thousands. Such a glorious sight.
And if families don't live near where their people are buried then there are also courier services which deliver to graves.

Chrysanthemums are my most favourite flowers, and I spent a small fortune on Alliage perfume and soap when you could still buy, because it smells like Chrysanthemums. I really miss it, and hope one day that Estee Lauder will reintroduce it.

**lily** Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:38 pm

Oh, how lovely, Sabot. You may know this but, the favorite flower of the Duchess of Windsor was the chrysanthemum. Those large ones?

**Sabot** Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:47 pm

lily wrote:Oh, how lovely, Sabot. You may know this but, the favorite flower of the Duchess of Windsor was the chrysanthemum. Those large ones?

Which Duchess of Windsor? Eek

**lily** Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:09 pm

The one what lived in France, Sabot. rofl

**bb1** Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:19 pm

Oh dear......

**Sabot** Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:34 pm

lily wrote:The one what lived in France, Sabot.

Oh, that woman. So she had some vestige of good taste after all. I wonder if she is buried in France. Lots of Chrysanthemum if she is.

**bb1** Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:44 pm

Wikipedia:

The Duchess of Windsor died on 24 April 1986 at her home in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris.[4] Her funeral was held at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, attended by her two surviving sisters-in-law: the Queen Mother and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, and other members of the royal family.[121] The Queen, Prince Philip, and the Prince and Princess of Wales attended both the funeral ceremony and the burial. She was buried next to Edward in the Royal Burial Ground near Windsor Castle, as "Wallis, Duchess of Windsor"

....and the Queen Mum could frequently be seen dancing a jig on it. Allegedly biggrin

**Sabot** Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:00 pm

So The Queen Mother won't have left any Chrysanthemums, then.
Poor woman, I got to feel quite sorry for her in the end. Fancy being married to that Dipstick.

France has a rather odd attitude to Chrysanthemums. They are Flowers for the Dead. You never give them as a gift, and no French person would have them in the house. I sometime suspect that my neighbours look slightly askance at my passion for them. Since my son took down The Ghastly Hedge my garden is totally exposed to anyone passing. But I don't mind about this because I quite like looking at it myself, from the outside.

There is a lovely scent of Autumn in the air today. Everyone seems to be having Bonfires. Quite odd in August due to Fire Hazard. But not much chance of that due to interminable rain again. What a very odd Summer it has been. But I haven't seen much sign of Global Warming.

**Sabot** Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:19 pm

Oh. I almost forgot. The Winter Fuel Payments are coming for the likes of me. Whoopee. And there is a form for claiming Back Payments to 2000/2001, which is when I first applied and was refused. This is going to amount to about £2,500 for me, apart from the current £200 a year, so I am really pleased. It isn't often that I get handed £2,500. Never before, in fact.
I am now seriously considering asking for Interest on the Back Payments. It is my money that was illegally with held. I paid for this for thirty bloody years, and I am seriously pissed off by the fact that some Government pulled this trick on the likes of me.
But the people who work for The Pensions and Benefits Office are completely straight and honest, and always helpful.
I might get a really good Wood Burner installed. Still thinking about that. Flames in a big open Breton fireplace are lovely, but such a pain to light every day.
And I could have one of they hob things on top that you can put a stew pot on.

**lily** Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:27 pm

Glad to hear you are getting that money. Oh a wood burner might be lovely for you, Sabot. smile

Just want to add, rather cautiously though.......it is still bl**dy hot here although not as bad as it was.

**bb1** Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:31 pm

That's great news, Sabot Champers

**lily** Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:34 pm

Maybe you could buy a large white chrysanthemum plant too? They are pretty even if someone infamous loved them..........

**Sabot** Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:54 pm

bb1 wrote:That's great news, Sabot

I am so pleased, Bonny. You have no idea. The money in itself isn't all that important. I have survived without it for quite some time. But I am just sick to death of pensioners being treated like discardable dross. They take away hope you see. No holidays, no minor extravagances, no new clothes, no hair do's, nothing to look forward to. Just bugger off and die soon.
I am lucky because I don't give in easily, and I actually enjoy the relatively minor fight for survival. It is what I am. I sometimes think I should have been born two hundred years ago and gone to America, or somewhere else interesting. As it is I just made a job for myself. I found a vacant slot.

So really, I just want this piss arse Government in UK to pay. And I hope it costs them a headache. How dare they discard me and treat me like a fool just because I am knocking on a bit.

**Sabot** Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:05 pm

lily wrote:Maybe you could buy a large white chrysanthemum plant too? They are pretty even if someone infamous loved them..........

I have been thinking about a White one, Lily. But those are the ones that go first, so you have to pay a bit more for them. But with two and a half thousand quid heading my way, I might just go for it. They don't always "Take" you see, and sometimes they just die, although not all that often.
This is the thing about being a bit short of money. You worry that it might be wasted.
Although please believe me, I am really okay, and do not feel in the least bit sorry for myself. I have a really nice life here.

**bb1** Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:23 pm

And a tidy sum of money, that you're entitled to anyway, will make it that bit nicer - and easier.

**lily** Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:34 pm

Sabot wrote:
lily wrote:Maybe you could buy a large white chrysanthemum plant too? They are pretty even if someone infamous loved them..........

I have been thinking about a White one, Lily. But those are the ones that go first, so you have to pay a bit more for them. But with two and a half thousand quid heading my way, I might just go for it. They don't always "Take" you see, and sometimes they just die, although not all that often.
This is the thing about being a bit short of money. You worry that it might be wasted.
Although please believe me, I am really okay, and do not feel in the least bit sorry for myself. I have a really nice life here.

We know that you don't feel sorry for yourself, Sabot. Please get a white one if you can. It might surprise you. smile

**Sabot** Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:57 pm

bb1 wrote:And a tidy sum of money, that you're entitled to anyway, will make it that bit nicer - and easier.

Actually, I will probably just stick it in the Bank for a rainy day, Bonny. I long ago ceased to be very good at spending money unnecessarily. And I quite like finding Strawberry Suckers by the roadside. And buying "Sell by Date Food." Life is still some sort of adventure.

**Sabot** Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:00 pm

lily wrote:
Sabot wrote:
lily wrote:Maybe you could buy a large white chrysanthemum plant too? They are pretty even if someone infamous loved them..........

I have been thinking about a White one, Lily. But those are the ones that go first, so you have to pay a bit more for them. But with two and a half thousand quid heading my way, I might just go for it. They don't always "Take" you see, and sometimes they just die, although not all that often.
This is the thing about being a bit short of money. You worry that it might be wasted.
Although please believe me, I am really okay, and do not feel in the least bit sorry for myself. I have a really nice life here.

We know that you don't feel sorry for yourself, Sabot. Please get a white one if you can. It might surprise you.

Why is a White one so good, Lily?

Someone grew me a White Hydrangea a couple of years ago, and that is beautiful this year, but they do tend to go brown around the edges if they don't get enough water.

**lily** Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:05 pm

I think they look stunning in a classical way, Sabot.

I guess I love white flowers. rofl

**Sabot** Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:30 pm

lily wrote:I think they look stunning in a classical way, Sabot.

I guess I love white flowers.

So do I. I just think they are a bit more fragile than other colours, so I worry about them a bit more.
It takes so long to build a garden. Nearly twenty years this one has taken, and it is my first garden in so many ways. The first house that I bought myself without any help from anyone, and also the first garden that I have built myself. All very haphazard with such a limited amount of space. Everything just stuck in where I could find a place to put it. And lately up growing things because they don't take up much room. So it was a real disappointment when that horrible frost caused so much damage, just when it was all coming to good.
But next Spring isn't that far away. And this is what gardening is all about. There is always next year.

**lily** Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:00 pm

Well done, Sabot. Next year it will be beautiful again and you can be proud once more as well as see the possibilities. Such is life?

**bb1** Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:40 pm

It's official....

http://news.sky.com/story/978880/washout-wettest-summer-in-100-years

Washout: Wettest Summer In 100 Years
This summer has been the wettest since 1912 with 362mm of rainfall in the last three months, according to new figures.

Women try to find shelter from the rains during the Bank Holiday

England and Wales have seen the wettest summer for 100 years, according to MeteoGroup.

Rainfall for June, July and August was 14.25in (362mm), making it the wettest summer since 1912.

MeteoGroup forecaster Nick Prebble said this summer is set to be the fourth wettest since records began in 1727.

This comes after unsettled weather over the Bank Holiday weekend that left many parts of the UK with heavy rain and flood alerts.

More follows...

**Sabot** Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:03 pm

Well, I managed to cut a very large lawn today, between showers. But that is what it has been reduced to. You can't just let the bloody grass go on growing.

Also got some more Strawberry Suckers, although God knows what I am going to do with them. But I am half hoping that my middle son, turned Farmer, is going to come and take some of my growings off my hands.
I suspect that most of these Suckers grow into Wild Strawberries, but Wild Strawberries are very much sweeter, albeit a little smaller.

PS. Clean your teeth with a slightly soggy Strawberry. The whitening properties are amazing. This is true.

**Sabot** Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:19 pm

A friend of mine. One of the few, is moving tomorrow, but only just up the road a bit. He is a bit on the large side, and his knees are much worse than mine. So today, I have boxed up loads of his books. He actually owns more books than I do, which is saying something.
Also dumped a load of his rubbish to various Bins around the immediate vicinity, but mainly because I didn't want to fill up any one Bin.
He is the only person I know who never makes me feel like a pain in the arse on the rare occasion that I ask for a favour. If any of you have a friend like that, then grapple them to thy soul with bands of steel. They are a rare person indeed.
Nothing much to do with gardening, but such is life.

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