We're at it Again

 Buying trees that is. It is the time of year to plant trees except that this year it isn't. In keeping with the rest of Europe we have had virtually incessant rain since Summer ended, in October. We have been debating about replacing a number of trees that we have planted over the years. Yesterday we were fed up with being sent in from the garden by frequent heavy showers so we took action.

Three of the Cypresses we planted in the front garden died during the past year. As they had increased in price two and a half times from the last time we bought them we thought long and hard about replacing them but as the scheme relies on them we took the plunge.

The sycamores we planted when we first started to develop the back garden look the same as the day they were planted. Each year we talk about replacing them, well they are finally for the chop to be replaced by Leylandi. I can hear the gasps!! However I will explain the thinking behind this "unusual" choice. Firstly conifers do very well in our garden and leylandi grow very fast and make beautiful specimen trees. The nursery had some very nice significantly grown ones 3 to 4 metres tall but we immediately questioned how these two "ageing" gardeners were going to handle them. So we settled on 3 that were just over a metre high. On a recent gardening programme on the radio we heard that young trees are better to plant than older ones. In an experiment recently carried out a young tree had caught up a much older one within 2 years.

Naturally a strole around the nursery prompted more purchases, an azalea for me and a juniper for John to bonsai. We have not finished yet 2 pseudoacacias are on order on line, a yellow one for me and a contorted one for John. We are not noted for doing things by halves! Furthermore we have literally thousands of tulip bulbs to plant and 30 grasses. Goodness knows when we will be able to get them in the ground as the forecast is more rain. As gardeners we will always be moaning about the weather. At least we have not had any frosts yet and all our tender plants are under cover.