Joanne's Cottage Garden

END OF YEAR REPORT!

2011-12-31T15:10:00.000Z

I have been very neglectful of my garden blog this last year due to various things not least my involvement in advocacy of Lyme Disease not just through my Looking at Lyme Disease blog but in helping support other sufferers and campaigning through my Member of Parliament, who is being very supportive. The replies however from our Department of Health would be laughable if it wasn't for so many people's suffering, they trip themselves up frequently and show how ignorant they are of the developing research.

The garden continues to be enjoyed and there have been various changes. Due to having some lovely new hardwood windows and Mike decorating the house, we decided to cut the Wisteria hard back. I did check on Google and found re assurance from Arabella Sock who I know of through the blogasphere but can't now find the link. So with fingers crossed we cut back the Wisteria to about knee high and at the end of the Autumn we were rewarded in seeing one new shoot reach about 3 feet before the Winter.

The Fuschia bushes have been flowering well into December as we still have not had much in the way of frost yet.

I took the opportunity to get Mike to relocate the water barrel which was always an eyesore next to the garage. So painted black and at last connected to a down pipe it already is proving to be less of an eyesore and very useful.

The Wallflower are looking good this year and again were grown from seed in the greenhouse to start then into pots and planted out in the vegetable patch after we had harvested early crops.

My daughter Rachel took me to a lovely pub/eating place The Churchill Arms not far from Notting Hill, the eating area was in a conservatory and the ceiling was covered in hanging plants it was absolutely amazing, so I decided to have a go at making our lean to a bit more interesting. The roof height is a little low but already it is looking rather nice.

The yellow flower on the bottom right is a Coronilla Glauca Citrina. It was a present from my daughter Rebecca two years ago. It has not stopped flowering since she gave it to me, but in Winter it flowers the most and the perfume is so delicate and welcome at this time of year. It says it is fully hardy but I bring it into the lean to during the Winter months because I am not altogether convinced of that.

Still interesting colours along the back terrace

Although the climbers were very hard pruned for the decorating and new windows they are recovering well. I love the new door which is a stable door something I have always wanted.

In March my 90 year old Dad came to live with us, he is still able to get about slowly but decided he couldn't manage his house and garden alone.

Leah at the well came with him.

The Hydrangeas are looking particularly colourful this Autumn.

There are still a number of roses flowering and the box comes into it's own dressing the vegetable garden in the Winter.

This was another big change to the garden. Thirty years ago when we moved here we planted a hedge of Leylandii. It made a good hedge between us and the neighbours at the bottom and although Mike pruned it hard it was a mammoth task. About 10 years ago the fence behind the Leylandii came down and with agreement of the neighbour we decided we didn't want another fence but in order to disguise the brown Leylandii which loses it's green against a fence and does not re grow, we planted Laurel in between the Leylandii. All the best advice said not to do this as they would not survive. They were small plants and needed watering during the Summer months but had grown well if a little sideways. So we decided the time had come to get rid of the Leylandii and hopefully in the next year or two the Laurel will shape up to become a more manageable hedge.

With the removal of the Leylandii we gained 3/4 feet across the bottom of the garden so scope for other things which is always fun for a gardener. Mike did the spade work in digging up the no mans land in this bottom corner much of which is riddled with Ground Elder and Bindweed. We will never get rid of it but every now and then we have a purge in one part of the garden or another. This has all been replanted now with plants from my nursery so looking forward to seeing how it progresses. I had grown lots of plants over the last couple of years because Rebecca and husband moved house and so lots of nursery plants have helped furnish their new garden.

The greenhouses are tucked up for the Winter, those plants on the left were grown from seed and in true Joanne fashion I lost the label and name. I do know what they are not and am hoping they are Dierama pulcherrimum or Angel's Fishing rods but maybe that is wishfull thinking because I lost the original plant and had tried seeding them.

Of course I am as usual slow to get my head around blogger changes but seem to be coping after having initially tried adding this to my wrong blog!

So all in all it has been an interesting year but the best news was becoming a Grandma to a lovely little Graddaughter.

Wishing all my blogging friends a Happy and Healthy 2012.

CLEMATIS

2011-06-12T11:32:00.015+01:00

Belle of Woking looking lovely here, it has a slight grey mauve tinge which does not weather well and looks like a mop on a stick as it dies off.

I have been so busy gardening and enjoying the Clematis that I forgot to take photos when they were at their best how remiss of me. Above is Mrs N Thompson loving a dark corner near the arch and gate.

Rebecca was given to me by it's namesake my daughter and only added to my collection early this spring it has been a magnificent specimen flowering profusely in it's first season one very well worth adding to a collection and again seems to be happy in a shady spot.

Sorry about the bedraggled Josephine but it has flowered profusely and desrves a better photo but there are many posted on earlier blogs of clematis.

Sunset looking the best ever this year with quite a number of blooms, but I planted it some ten years ago and it has really struggled even though it gets fed and watered in the same way as other plants.

This is a real treasure William Kennett, I lost the original plant possibly too hot and dry where I planted it but this was a successful cutting which is coming into it's own.

I think this is Vit. Etoille Violette under the front window.

Mamori an unusual name and one I often forget but isn't the internet clever and here was a link I found from spelling it incorrectly

http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=279

A STROLL AROUND MY JUNE GARDEN

2011-06-02T22:17:00.025+01:00

Welcome to my June garden. Although I haven't been posting for such a long time I have been busy in the garden and taking time to enjoy the lovely sunny weather we have been having this year. Watering copiously as there has been no rainfall since the end of February until a small shower or two this last week not enough to dampen the leaves.

Cornus Kousa looking lovely but it needs a more shady spot than I chose to plant.

Greenfinch rambler always looks lovely but is difficult to photograph to do it justice.

Albertine every wall needs an Albertine.

Vielchenbleu just beginning to flower and should be a wonderful show judging from the number of buds.

Prince Charles an excellent clematis.

Pink Fantasy

Rambling Rector what a picture.

Lots going on in the working area.

Even after off loading plants to my daughters and the occasional visitor there's lots left. Note to self stop potting things on when you haven't room for what you have already got.

Sweet peas for cutting seem to do well in these pots.

Thank you Mike for doing an excellent job of cutting the Box.

Don't these trees make such a wonderful backdrop to that side of the garden.

This is actually the vegetable garden but is the prettiest part of the garden and the most interesting as well as the most fragrant.

How lucky I am to have a garden and the good health once again to enjoy it.

After struggling to find time to post I found I was unable to publish through blogger help I discovered the message Javascript void when trying to press the publish button was connected to a download I did recently of Internet Explorer 9 I have removed this download so fingers crossed looking good so far as other changes have resolved.

SAVE ENGLANDS ANCIENT FORESTS

2011-02-11T21:29:00.003Z

The Tabbush Sister's are back in action to save our forests. Please steal this song, sing it, re-write it, arrange it or just send this youtube clip to everyone you know. Pass it on to stop the government selling our forests! x

ACT NOW Save Englands Ancient Forests

Sign the petition here

-------------------------------------------------------------

Forest sell off abandoned as Cameron makes U turn
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/16/forests-sell-off-cameron-uturn
People power do count!!

Now if only people power could make such a difference over Lyme Borreliosis and co infections we might actually save a few thousand people from suffering chronic Lyme Disease un necessarily. See my other blog for more information.

BATTLESTONE HILL RHS WISLEY

2011-01-19T21:07:00.014Z

I couldn't have chosen a nicer day, the weather was perfect for a walk up Battlestone Hill. January is probably the only month I hadn't visited RHS Wisley so it was a treat to see what was on display.

Delightful Hellebores.

The Hamamelis were in full bloom, I am so pleased I was able to enjoy them.

The views were lovely with the low sun highlighting the Hamemelis amongst the mature trees.

Lots of buds on the Rhododendrons and Camellias so must be sure to return in February and March to see them at their best.

This was definitely the right day to enjoy the Daphne, the perfume pervaded the air as I walked around the hill.

Even the remains of Autumn foliage was interesting, these strange leaves of Magnolia Macrophylla like dirty handkerchiefs hung up to dry, behind the Hydrangea heads.

And these little treasures Aconites, not yet open.

I met the Galloping Gardener for a visit to the RHS Wisley Glass house to see the butterflies but as she had to gallop off, I stayed on and enjoyed a walk around the garden.

Do pop over to The Galloping Gardener blog and you can enjoy the Butterflies.

THAT'S ENOUGH SNOW THANK YOU!

2010-12-20T16:35:00.009Z

These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago in the last snowfall. Once again the snow has returned and much more forecast tonight and Thursday Ugh!!!

At least the greenhouse seems fairly snug although in prolonged cold, as I do not heat it many pots will freeze, so it remains to be seen what survives.

WINTER FAIRYLAND

2010-11-24T12:40:00.009Z

Winter fairyland

The Box edgeing helps to keep interest in a winter vegetable garden.

Frost and sun competing for interest.

Roses with winter ice dresses.

Swiss Chard looking rather attractive with it's silvery edges.

My two garden helpers Mike and Beth.

OCTOBER GARDEN

2010-11-16T16:51:00.027Z

Yes I know it is now November but just had to post this farewell to the Autumn garden.

The Dahlias have been great at prolonging the flowering in this front border but have all been lifted now and stored in the garage for another year.

They have flowered for months and provided much colour in the garden and house.

Fuchsias are still flowering although last night's frost will no doubt bring the end of flowering.

Sophie's rose a present from my brother and sister in law has flowered throughout the summer even though this was her first year. She has such a deep and lovely colour and great perfume.

Rudbekias still flowering where the Delphiniums were it will be interesting to see how they both fare next year.

Hydrangeas still with autumn colour.

Ferns once again come into their own and this is a particularly nice one.

Wallflower have done well this year although I still need to plant them out.

The greenhouse is full to overflowing but many of the cuttings will be heading of to my daughters new garden when they are big enough.

So I have been busy in the garden although I have been neglecting my garden blog. Hopefully soon I will get round to visiting old friends in the garden blogging World. I have however have been very busy with my Looking at Lyme Blog link at the top right if anyone is interested in following up on either Lyme Disease or with ME/CFS quite fascinating research and developments going on at present.

LATE SUMMER TREASURES

2010-08-14T21:57:00.039+01:00

Welcome to my garden it has been some time since I last posted.

The fuchsia takes over from the rambling rose Crimson Shower

These Rudbekia were grown from seed this year and I have planted them amongst the Delphiniums which have been cut back, not sure if the Delphiniums will come again this year.

Crocosmia and Phlox an interesting combination.

The Dahlias are adding colour to the front bed.

The hanging baskets have got rather dry in the baking heat we have had this year.

Outside the back door the trellis is doing ok with it's colourful planting soon the clematis will take over from having lost the Passion flower.

I rather like these Morning Glory with their welcome late flowering.

Ville de Lyon Clematis.

This Hydrangea is rather special it is a cutting from a neighbour Christina who died a couple of years ago.It is so nice to have plants that remind you of dear friends.

I grow Galtonia in pots like many other bulbs and they have been spectacular this year.

I put some pots of Rudbekia in this border with the pots of Agapanthus and it has been quite colourful. I am reluctant to plant up too much as I need to finish weeding out ground elder again. Up to a few days ago this was spectacular with Perle D'zur in full flower but I was very slow getting the camera out and have missed many good shows.

This Hydrangea has put on a good show despite the hot dry weather, it has been quite a struggle keeping it watered adequately and a warning not to plant in full sun.

The Hoheria has been amazing and once again I missed photographing it at it's best. It has grown rapidly into a very large shrub and already I have pruned hard back reducing last autumn by about 1/3 so an amazing shrub but needs lots of space.

Viticella Blue Belles took several years to flower, it grows very vigorously and flowers rather later than many of my Viticella.

Vit. Royal Velours an interesting colour and unusually rounded petals.

At last the Box is recovering after a very hard prune this year rather late into the summer.

Cercis Canadensis Forest Pansy is doing well such a lovely shrub but does grow very large eventually.

How could I have missed photographing my Eucryphia when it was at it's best, now after the rain it is not looking so good and just a hint of Vit Soldertage hidden amongst it.

Cleome something I haven't tried growing before but every year I say I won't bother with annuals and then find something else to try. Perhaps next year I will not bother, they are so much hard work especially with watering and the beds are always so full.

Jackmanii grown years ago from a cutting and the original plant is no more.

Another Cleome still reserving judgement.

Seem to have a good crop of apples this year, I am sure the watering has helped.

Vit. Polish Spirit from a cutting.

Courgettes have done well but I keep forgetting to pick them and they end up as baby marrows.

Eat your heart out Ray Evison!

My clematis cuttings are just taking this is the really exciting part of gardening. I haven't taken clematis cuttings for a while except a couple last year which I got so excited about then left the lid off and the snails eat the lot. Reminder to me to put slug pellets out round them.

I think the above was Madam Julia Correvon.

I think the above is Josephine and the one below Polish Spirit and b---er me there is a snail in there and it's pitch dark so I can hardly rush down the garden please be a dead one.

Well it wasn't but it is now. I did creep down the garden with a torch and my dressing gown on and the little b--er had been munching away. So slug pellets tomorrow a must, goodness knows how they climb up there and get under those lids.

So who needs all Ray's sophisticated and scientific paraphernalia it's much more fun hands on.

The rose cuttings are not looking quite so promising but who knows maybe.

I have lots going on in the nursery partly because my daughter is about to move house and so I have been getting things going that she might like to have. If not I think a plant sale may be on the cards.

This seedling is from a seed Rebecca brought back from The Gambia, a Flamboyant tree Delonix regia It has been such fun germinating unusual seeds.

Onions waiting to be strung although they have been so small this year I suspect lack of water early on because I have watered well during the summer.

The shallots are as big as some of the onions.

Tomatoes are only just beginning to ripen but we should have a good crop.

HAMPTON COURT RHS SHOW 2010

2010-07-13T21:39:00.024+01:00

What a picturesque setting for this great if not the greatest garden show.

These are just a few of the small gardens.

After a while I realised that in fact what interested me with the gardens was the planting. Surprise surprise. The focal point in most of the gardens was usually some structure or folly mostly things I wanted to avoid taking photos of in preference for the plants.

See what I mean, although it would have been difficult to capture any of this lovely planting without including those ugly seats.

The other thing problematic at shows is the people, thousands and thousands like ants crawing everywhere. So to get any photos without people in was quite a feat in itself. I included the above plus people as it was something Rachel rather liked. I am not sure it would fit in her garden though.

Just the odd shot in the Marquees crowded as elsewhere. The day was so hot the hottest this year and really uncomfortable in or out of the Marquees.

I couldn't miss posting a photo of the roses.

or two.

And Rachel who accompanied me to the show, rather well covered due to the fact she is on Doxycycline which can have a very bad photosensitive reaction to sun. Yes some of you who follow my blogs have guessed, she had a tick bite recently and despite all my constant warnings she removed it incorrectly and as it had been attached probably about 24 hours we are not taking any chances. One member of the family with Lyme disease is more than enough.

DELPHINIUMS AND STUFF

2010-07-07T22:13:00.009+01:00

This is the first time my Cornus Kousa Chinensis has flowered. She is a lovely tree and as mentioned in my last post seems to do better in a more shady spot than I have chosen, so suffers from the heat and needs to be watered regularly in our current hot dry weather. Her bracts didn't get pink tinges on the edges as I had expected not sure why not. Yes I know not the best photo but it does give an idea of what a lovely tree she is.

Delphiniums in the front border by the wall, not the most expected place to grow them but as I had some going spare and no where else to put them I decided to try them here. They have been lovely and very much admired by passers by.

Years ago when I had an allotment the guy who had the plot next to me was a Delphinium grower, he was well known for his plants and won lots of prizes for showing them. Can you imagine the joy of working next to half an allotment full of Delphiniums. Dreaming Spires I think was the name of one and that always comes to mind when I see Delphiniums. Bill Hancock was his name, I think and I remember him telling me that they were easier to grow in groups because they liked grit around them to keep the slugs off. He was quite right Delphiniums dotted in a mixed border rarely survive a second season if a first even, but grown in a group they are much easier to look after and look wonderful together.

A riot of colour or some such thing.

I am rather proud of my Hostas they look spectacular in large pots and they were grown from seed so even more satisfying. My one weakness is using slug pellets but the slugs and snails do win in the end. I have some in large galvanised buckets and wash bowls and they seem to be less prone to slug attack, unless I stupidly have them so close to other plants so that the slugs and snails slide across from the neighbouring plants. I think I have too many plants. Can you have too many?

I adore lilies but the Regale Lily is my favourite, you just can't beat that perfume. I grow them in pots so they can be placed near the house when they are at their best and the perfume wafts indoors, gorgeous.

My Delphinium bed in the back garden hasn't quite come into full bloom in this photo and now I have missed their best and the wind took a few stems down which we are enjoying indoors.

This is where I spend a lot of my time, I love taking cuttings and have been busy these last few days doing cuttings of Rambling roses and clematis, not that I have any room for more but my daughter may like some for her garden.

Yes a bit untidy in this photo, it was tidied a little more for the Galloping Gardener's visit but I confess it is back to it's untidy state again now. I really am running out of space wherever you look.

WISLEY WITH THE GALLOPING GARDENER

2010-07-02T12:57:00.010+01:00

I had a glorious day yesterday visiting Wisley in the company of the Galloping Gardener or Charolette to fellow Blotanical followers. It was lovely to spend the day with someone who shared such an interest in one of my passions.

I make no apologise for a photograph of the rose garden, rather a different perspective than one Charlotte posted, but as Roses are one of my passions I needed to post one photo of the Wisley rose garden at it's best.

The Country Garden is looking delightful with it's informal planting even though displayed in formal beds. I confess to being very disappointed years ago when this was first re developed with my love for cottage gardening, but I have to say that once the plants settled in after about a year it has been a delight for me to visit ever since.

One of several small town gardens which I always enjoy visiting because they are easier to identify with, with my own small garden.

Here the Cornus Kusa Chinensis is looking rather sickly, there used to be a very large tree of this where the Rambling roses used to be but it developed some disease and eventually died. When I saw both these trees some years ago I was so taken by their beautiful appearance with their bracts that I decided to buy one for my garden and this year was the first year it flowered and produced the lovely bracts. Of course I did what Wisely had done and planted in an open site in full sun. It was a mistake I do not think it enjoys full midsummer sun and mine needs a regular watering to perk it up. I notice that in the woodland area at Wisley the other side of the stream the Cornus trees do much better, perhaps a combination of some shade and damper ground.

Again in the small town gardens.

and another town garden

This is the Herb garden which again is planted in a formal setting but of course herbs are informal in their nature and the combination is very pleasing.

One last photo of Charlotte in the Herb garden. What a lovely interesting lady she is. I have so enjoyed her blog as she Gallops off to all sorts of gardens all over the World and am quite in awe of her achievements with the The Raven Foundation - a project to build a hospital for rural villagers in Rajasthan. I am sure that any donations to the Raven Foundation will be appreciated as I am sure any good publicity for the Foundation will be too.

ROSE EXTRAVAGANZA

2010-06-25T14:58:00.032+01:00

Dawn chorus from my bedroom window in early June to listen to whilst enjoying my June roses.

The only thing missing is the heady perfume of the roses.

Sir Edward Elgar

Aviateur Bleriot

Goldfinch changes colour from salmon/gold to pale yellow

Cornelia

Cottage Rose

Charles de Mills

Sweet Juliet

Mayor of Casterbridge

Unknown rose with no perfume but always flowers profusely.

Sophie's Rose

Jayne Austin

Unknown rose a cutting from my mother in law.

New Dawn

Vielchenblau

Unknown rose

Rosa Galica Officinalis

Cecile Brunner

Rosemoor

Hermosa

Francine Austin

White Flower Carpet

Rosa Mundi

Francis E Lester

Mayor of Casterbridge

Blush Rambler

Falstaff

Rambling Rector

New Dawn cutting.

The Garland

Rambling Rector from the other side next to the compost heap. Rather a nice way to hide the compost and the perfume from the rose and the Honeysuckle is wonderful.

A sideways view of the vegetable area which is actually where most of my roses are, looking across to the backdrop of the woods.

BIRDSONG IN THE WILD WOODS

2010-06-08T21:40:00.014+01:00

If you turn the volume right up and start the video you can listen to the bird song as you scroll through the photos below.

The photos are of my and Beth's walk in the Wild Woods, near the end of the walk I felt that photographs alone just didn't catch the magic of a walk through these woods and so decided to take a video, not for their pictures but so I could capture the bird song. I forgot that we were nearing the road and so there is a whooshing sound from the cars near the end. Nevertheless the bird song was such a delight.

Down the track from the road.

This area used to be a lake but is down to just a trickle these days.

Another magnificent Oak tree. There are several around this area.

Beyond this fallen tree is a track which leads to the road, between two fields it would be a wonderful place to walk if only it were not so overgrown.

Beth leading the way while I decided to take the video with the bird song.

BEHIND IN BLOGGING AS USUAL

2010-06-05T19:24:00.013+01:00

These photos were taken in May but as usual I am behind with blogging and gardening for that matter. It is once again stinking hot and so again I have been busy hose piping. The problem is I see so many jobs that need doing whilst hose piping and often they are still waiting to be done the next time I need to hose pipe.

The Passion flower plant that was growing on the trellis by the back of the house did not survive our cold snowy winter so once again I reverted to colourful hanging basket plants to adorn it until I get something else to grow. In fact Rebecca brought me a Montana clematis and so that was where I decided to plant it. Yes I know it really needs much more space but it will be nice for a few years and pretty near the back door. I really do not have room anywhere else for a Montana.

Hostas always look great and grown in old wash tubs works really well, but this hosta really must be divided up next year.

A quick look at my alpine sinks and the lettuce that can be picked leaf by leaf very useful for a sandwich or salad lunch.

This area Mike called the GAID Garden for the Aged, Infirm and Disabled. It stemmed back to the time when my Arthrits and Muscle weakness from Lyme Disease meant I could not garden. Mike thought it was a good idea having things in pots because you could lift them up on your knee to garden. Great theory but infact that was something else I could not do even lifting a magazine was painful, now recovered I can do all sorts of gardening jobs again.

When Beth was younger she liked to play ball along this area, but now it is a job to walk through all the pots at times.

Cerastium tormentosum is a wonderful plant with masses of lovely perfumed sprays of white flowers it is rather rampant and needs keeping under control.

Just one flower on this group of Flag Iris but the ones in the front garden are flowering better this year. I do like Flag Iris but it is difficult finding the space for them in my crowded garden

The Gleditsias are just coming into leaf either side of the arch. They are such wonderful trees.

I never used to like these big blousey poppies but grew some paler ones from seed which have been flowering this year for the first time somehow they help dilute the brighter ones so the effect has been much more pleasing. I also grew some white ones from seed last year but they don't seem to be big enough yet so doubt I will have flowers this year.

If these poppies are cut back after flowering they often flower again in late summer.

The Lupins I grew from seed and planted out last year are beginning to flower and add extra flowers and colours to this already busy bed. Since taking this photo I have weeded all around the edges removed the wallflowers and planted out dahlias in any spaces found. It seemed to work well last year, but I only stood the pots out, this year having run out of large pots I decided they could go in the soil once the frost was passed and they had already grown 20-40 cms.

Finally my Ginka tree in a pot, thankfully it survived the snowy winter. I am not sure what I will do with it when it outgrows all my large pots but I will worry about that then.

EARLY FLOWERING CLEMATIS

2010-06-02T18:21:00.022+01:00

The President is looking lovely at present so no apologies for showing him off with three photos.

Nelly Moser is looking particularly good again this year despite having had a few weeks of rather bright sunshine and heat which does tend to make stripey clematis fade more noticeably.

Josephine is always a favourite of mine because my mum bought it for me not long before she died. She would often call me Josephine if she wanted to wheedle me into doing something.

Marie Boissolet has a slightly unusual shape to it's petals more rounded than many clematis.

and that lovely hint of green stripe down the middle of each petal.

Poor Niobe was damaged a bit in the autumn accidentally pruning it when trying to tidy up the ivy. So far this is the only flower and as you can see a bit ravaged.

A new acquisition last year Bell of Woking, a bit miss formed but rather a big blousey clematis which has grown quite rampantly. Living not far from Woking I decided it was a nice one to add to my collection. I think my collection totals 50 at the latest count but I am sure I will find the odd spot for more.

Not an especially good photograph of HF Young but it has grown into quite a big clematis from a one year old seedling that was given to me. You can see the perennial problem I have with columbine and this is after I had pulled out arms full of it.

Mrs N Thompson is a great colour and does well in a fair bit of shade because it helps to keep it's lovely colour.

The colours are not so obvious in the first photo with wet petals as it is in the next.

Wadas Primrose is a fairly new acquisition, a couple of years ago, the plate sized flowers are really quite striking

Quite a good colour which works well under the Gleditsia especially as it's leaves tend to be a similar shade of green.

The final one flowering is Special Occasion, it is one in it's third year and really struggling to grow. I don't think it was meant to be very vigorous and another that has had it's petals eaten I suspect by earwigs but not sure. I have planted it at the base of a Eucalyptus thinking the colours would be great together. Although I will keep the Eucalyptus well pruned I doubt this poor soul will ever get up into it's lower branches for the colour scheme to work.

Last years post can be found here here here here and here so lots for me to look forward to.

In the first clematis post I seem to have called Wadas Primrose, Gillian Blades so apologies to anyone who may be confused by this wrongly named clematis.

WISTERIA TO LABURNUM

2010-05-30T22:43:00.013+01:00

As the Wisteria starts to drop it's petals the Banksiae Banksiae Rose comes into it's own. This is an amazing thornless rose that keeps most of it's leaves through winter and flowers very early, in the late spring. It grows rampantly and being a native of China really needs a protecting wall to help it through the winter. It has the bonus of a beautiful perfume. It is best grown near where you walk because the flowers are tiny they can be enjoyed more close up, as well as the perfume.

Just as well Mike does an excellent job of pruning many times during the summer.

As the Wisteria comes to an end the Laburnum comes into it's own.

Isn't gardening a delight?

WALKING IN THE WOODS

2010-05-25T12:46:00.018+01:00

I decided to take my camera with Beth and I on our afternoon walk in the woods.

We have a choice right is pretty but a shorter walk.

So left it is in amongst the Cow Parsley which is still very beautiful and ethereal.

The three trees are still all there although one is dead and marked for the chop sadly.

Every direction you look is lovely.

Even the views through the leaf canopy to the sky are a delight.

Then into the field with a view back towards the way we came and the great Old Oak looking majestic.

Recently the idea is that this bit of common land is managed by only mowing a pathway through to walk, so that it encourages wildflowers. Great in principle but in reality as it is surrounded by houses, the children often play here.

With the deer and the pheasants in abundance this is such prime tick habitat and children are easy prey for ticks. Pheasants are competent hosts for Borrelia, Lyme disease and as the Clandon Park Estate which borders the woods breeds Pheasant. We are over run by them not just in the woods but in our gardens too. Who knows what percentage of the ticks will have Lyme Disease but I am not the only person diagnosed with Lyme Disease in this area.

The Hawthorn blossom is lovely it has not yet got it's pink blush so clearly not all pollinated yet. The pile of logs is to encourage stag beetles. I haven't ever seen any out here but each year we get them in our garden, they probably like the old logs left under the shrubs.

The lovely Oak tree beautiful whatever the weather, I bet it has some stories to tell.

Back up the track home.

WONDERFUL WISTERIA

2010-05-19T22:06:00.013+01:00

Wisteria is so wonderful it deserves a post to itself so here goes.

The Banksiae Banksiae Rose is in bud below and will make it's own display soon.

Mike works hard to train the Wisteria along the gutters and try and keep it from climbing under the roof tiles.

Peeping over the gutter, a view of the Wisteria from the bedroom window.

A final view from the bedroom window.

Mike said to me, you didn't really need to go all that way to Giverney when the Wisteria is so lovely at home.

Well of course we know better.

I so enjoyed seeing Monet's garden.

MONET'S WATER GARDEN

2010-05-14T13:36:00.032+01:00

This lovely Cornus was a great welcoming sight into Monet's Water Garden.
I will let the photos speak for themselves but the colours, textures, reflections and planting make this such an inspiring garden no wonder Monet enjoyed painting there so much.

Yes the dreaded Japanese Knot weed at least that is one invasive plant I have so far avoided in my garden. There is a glimpse of Monet's house in the background. The garden is in a valley with lovely hillsides either side.

The above photograph was taken by Rachel and it is so easy to see why Monet painted in the style he did when looking at this view.

I had to get a photo of me in just to prove I did actually go there.

It started to rain as we neared the end of our walk around Monet's Water Garden but loved these two little boats moored.

As umbrellas unfurled I couldn't resist taking this photo of the bridge with the haziness the rain made the photo I felt it was truly Monet style.

Umbrellas can be useful to keep the rain off the camera whilst still taking photographs although it can be quite a juggling act but this lovely pink Cornus said goodbye to us as we left this lovely garden.

I hope you all enjoyed your visit with me. If you look at the post before this you will find links into Monet's garden and a blog link about it.

MONET'S GARDEN GIVERNEY

2010-05-06T18:14:00.044+01:00

Last weekend I visited Monet's garden in Giverney. I have wanted to visit there for many years and was treated to the trip by one of my daughters.
The garden was a delight and we were lucky to dodge the showers.

Yes it was the fritillaria not the hen pen I was trying to photograph.

I had to post a photograph of myself just as proof that I actually visited the garden.

One of my two lovely daughters Rachel.

Rachel took the above photo as well as many of the others she has a good eye for a photographic opportunity. I could learn from both my daughters.

Years ago suffering with chronic debilitating Arthritis and muscle weakness I would never have imagined that I would recover so much that I would be able to do such a trip or all the walking over the three days we were in Paris. My symptoms were found to be Lyme Disease and on long term antibiotics I have my health and life back. How many more patients could have their health restored if there was more awareness of this dreadful illness and the even worse controversy which leaves patients and children un diagnosed and not adequately treated.

For details of Monet's garden see here. and a garden blog here

I will post more photos of the Water garden soon.

BLOSSOM

2010-04-28T22:06:00.013+01:00

A celebration of Blossom greeted me as I looked down the garden today. The Cherry tree outside the kitchen window had finally blossomed although we did wonder if it was going to this year as it was so slow to flower. We never pruned it last Autumn which we usually do and so the flowers were even more spectacular than usual. It is a large tree for near the house so does need to be kept in hand.

Don't you just want to bury your face in all those lovely flowers.

Prunus Persica a small but delightful tree.

An espalier eating apple tree left to grow as a tree because the wall is far too low to have trained it along. This was in the garden when we moved here 30 years ago and it has the most delicious apples if we get them before the bees do.

These lovely flowers are on the Cooking apple tree. Again it is meant to be an espalier but I moved it from a north facing low wall to this site and have allowed it to just grow as a tree with lots of pruning.

You can see the size of the Cherry tree and why it needs to be pruned hard. It does make a lovely natural shade to sit under in the Summer though.

Heavenly Blossom.

Like lots of little faces.

I really had to wallow in all it's glory.

PARHAM HOUSE GARDEN

2010-04-24T20:06:00.033+01:00

Last week my daughter took me on a trip to visit Parham House Garden. I have been there once before in the middle of the Summer and remembered what a lovely garden it was.

It was nice to see it at a different time of year and there was a lot of interesting things to see. Strikingly the many interesting views and vistas and historic details to enjoy as well as many spring plants and a lovely green house.

http://www.parhaminsussex.co.uk/

The little house in the wall has been turned into a children's play house quite delightful.

The greenhouse is such a delight and we bumped into a friend of Rachel's Tom who is the head Gardener. What a wonderful place to garden I was quite envious until I remembered that I haven't even time to keep my small garden in hand.

Such a lovely nursery area with an interesting selection of plants to buy.

The cafe was a real treat with all the old kitchen utensils and the amazing range.

All in all a lovely place to visit and I look forward to a return visit.

BACK TO THE GARDEN

2010-04-12T16:39:00.037+01:00

At last time for the garden again. I have had a busy time and so not been able to garden or blog. Two weeks away from a computer doesn't help either. Now I am home there is so much to catch up with.

At least I returned home in time to enjoy the daffodils in flower.

The trough is doing really well despite the prolonged snow we had this winter.

Delphiniums are doing alright by the front wall, they were grown from seed last year and put in late summer and then some of them had a late flowering. I must have a good weed before they get too big.

One thing about whizzing around the garden with a camera you get to see all the many jobs waiting to be done,

The Bay trees survived the snow and the new rose Sophie's rose was planted in a cardboard box in the centre. This is a useful tip when planting roses in the same place as ones that have been previously growing. I find an A4 box the perfect size.

As ever the ground elder is fighting back and I really do need to try the poison on it this year I meant to last year but where does all the time go?

Despite my absence the tomato plants are busy growing, I was lucky to have Mike then Rebecca on watering duties.

I am back to growing Moneymaker this year again, but also Chelsea Mini and Tumbling Tom.

The Passion flower on the trellis by the back door was a casualty of the snow so I decided to plant a Clematis Montana Mayleen there instead. This was a present from Rebecca and although the space is a bit limited for a Montana it is about the only space in the garden that I could consider planting it.

The primroses, primula and cow slip are fun on the stand which came from Columbia Road Market.

The sinks need a face lift but at least there are some flowers coming. The bird is sitting in front of a disastrous attempt on a hypertufa face having been inspired by Frances of Fairegarden. My attempt leads much to be desired!

The spring garden is looking nice at this time of year, last years sorting out is producing the rewards this year.

I moved the crocus to the front edge of this border and must have another dig through to remove any more bits of ground elder before planting up. The Leucojum are looking particularly nice so I won't disturb them just yet. A good excuse to put that task off.

Some of the Hostas are showing, the primroses are looking nice and again I planted a few crocus around the edge of the pond.

The daffodils in the vegetable area are looking nice. I have had a busy couple of days digging out the old Lavender and replanting with small ones grown from cuttings a couple of years earlier. The grape Hyacinth look particularly nice along the edge but they can take over. I have added Thyme grown from seed last year but struggling a bit and cuttings of pinks which I had growing in shallow pans. They should do well facing the sun especially whilst the Lavender is so small.

Mike has been very busy with the vegetables and all is coming along well including the Raspberries.

I didn't get my corner seat and it may well go elsewhere but these two old school chairs make a nice perch from which to enjoy a different aspect of the garden.

The Delphiniums are doing fine but not much space for the spare plants I grew last year.

This was the bottom bed that has been renewed like the other two and a few Alchemilla Mollis plants have also been added hopefully they should do well if I remember to water them. I like things tumbling towards the path but don't always remember to plant far enough in, with such a narrow path there isn't space to encroach onto it. Years ago I edged it with Thyme and it was lovely but I had planted too near the edge. I had hoped to do something similar but the seeds I sowed last year didn't do as well as I had hoped.

Lots going on in the greenhouse, lettuces and even a couple of rose cuttings fingers crossed though because now is a difficult time when they start to shoot but may not yet have grown proper roots.

Mainly Nerines but a few other things.

A mixture of Lillies the orange ones always do well but my favourites are the Regale Lillies. I find they do better for me in pots as the ground is a bit clay, so wet and cold in the winter.

Sweet Peas and a few Tomato plants which would not fit in the porch. This is a cold greenhouse so there is a possibility that a cold night could damage them.

Pleonies are coming and the box cuttings are ready to pot on as the roots are coming out of the bottom of the pot. Box are probably the easiest things to grow from cuttings, hence all my box hedges.

Even my potting bench is looking cheerful.

The nursery area is rather full but I just deleted the other photo by mistake. When I dig ground elder out of a bed I pot on any plants I rescue, this allows me to see if any have any unwanted weeds in and when I plant up an area I usually have lots of things to choose from.

The Rhubarb is coming along and the daffodils are doing well.

The Primroses and Primulas are looking pretty.

One of the few Camelia flowers

The Hostas are growing but so are the weeds!

Wanda deserves a photo to herself.

Hardenbergia Violecea was a plant I bought some years ago but it often struggles the flowers are delightful, I wish I could take a cutting successfully.

BURIED TREASURE?

2010-03-09T13:32:00.010Z

As the Crocus fade and the sun warms the garden I decided I really had to make a start on tackling this bed. It hasn't been touched for several years, apart from a bit of pruning and arms of Columbine pulled from the ivy at the back.

Some years ago whilst struggling with Lyme Disease and not able to garden I got Mike to clear out many of the herbaceous plants and plant up with shrubs some of which I'd grown from cuttings, thinking it would be easier to maintain, especially as it is full of ground elder, which is difficult to get rid of. Mike is not so particular as I am about the garden if it is green that's ok by him although he does enjoy the garden immensely and is a bit of a wiz these days with the vegetables.

Apart from the very long cold snowy and wet winter there have been other obstacles to sorting out this area of the garden. I dread to think what the grass will be like when Mike finally completes the roofing project which was interrupted by the weather.

So a start was made and only half way through I have already filled two trugs of ground elder roots for the council tip. One bucket of rubble later I found an especially difficult piece of rubble to remove, just where I wanted to move some of the crocus too in the front of the border.

Of course the lump was under part of the grass and with all the rubble used to build this part of the garden up after the previous owner had building work done I had found plants didn't grow well here and so decided to remove the offending piece.

I wondered how big it really was, dug up the grass, was a bit unsure in case it was part of a drain lid, or maybe with the strangle lip it was an old sink or part of a toilet. The house was built in 1900 and originally had an outside privet at the bottom near the pond. I also pondered the idea that it could be a cover for a well as many of the houses along this street had wells at the back.

Well eventually out it came and no it was not any of the things I'd thought, it wasn't treasure of any sort.

Turning it over the name imprinted in reverse, clearly showed it was CEMENT, so what shall I do with it now? Perhaps find some strategic spot and call it Joanne's Folly!

However you can imagine the physical effort needed to remove this from the ground after already spending an hour digging Ground Elder.

I spent 6 1/2 years suffering with debilitating and painful arthritis and muscle weakness, my fingers hurt to blow my nose, my hands hurt to hold a magazine and I could not walk up or down stairs properly for 3 1/2 years how many more people's painful Arthritis could like mine be as a result of Lyme Disease how many more people could get better on long term antibiotics? For more information look at the links on my side bar and follow the link into my other blog Looking at Lyme Disease. How many family members and friends do you know who have symptoms and have never been properly assessed for Lyme Disease because of the controversies surrounding diagnosis and treatment. How lucky was I? Although all could have been avoided if only doctors were more aware and had treated me when I had presented with bites and obvious bulls eye rashes, with a few weeks of simple antibiotics.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

2010-03-02T17:14:00.014Z

At last Spring is here, the temperature during the day has been just right for gardening, it is so nice to feel the warmth of the sun and see what is flowering.

It's surprising the variety of colours of Hellebores, I didn't think I had many this year but guess they are just slow in showing due to the very long and cold Winter we have had.

At last I have been able to garden in comfort and catching up with tasks that were never completed in the Autumn.

WELCOME TO MY GARDEN

2010-02-25T15:10:00.002Z

I have been meaning to post this for some time. It was my very first attempt at taking a video of my garden.

There were many lessons learnt

1. tidy the tools away

2. mow the grass

3. think what I am going to say

4.do not pan the camera too fast

5. sorry can't do much about my Lancashire accent even after 40years living in the South it is still very strong

The Clematis is not Huldine it is John Huxtable the unknown one on the arch is Polish Spirit I think it was a cutting and my last one I called Mademoiselle when I should have said Comptesse d'Bouchaud.

Ah well must do better.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG

2010-02-23T11:33:00.012Z

For the first anniversary of my blog I decided to look out some old photos of the house and garden. This was the house about 26 years ago.

Most of my old photos were really of the children rather than the garden but the Oleander on the doorstep is still the one we have today and although regularly pruned back it still flowers beautifully.

For many years the front garden was laid to lawn but bit by bit I dug out the flower beds until now there is no grass just beds.

Rachel and Rebecca on the rocking horse but not a lot going on in the garden as you can see, by the way of plants.

This snap shows the garden open plan before Mike built the fences which I think help divide the garden into separate spaces and give new dimensions to grow things on.

Rebecca was enthralled by these Amaranthus, Love lies Bleeding but they did do especially well in this hole we made in the back patio. You can just see the small Ceanothus that was planted there under the window which eventually grew very well and then just died. It was replaced by Banksiae Banksiae rose which is still there now.

This was many years later as the Leyland Cyprus hedge is very mature but the second fence is not yet built and the swing is still in what is now a mixture of vegetables box edging and roses.

This is about twenty years ago before we had the house extended over the back room. The bird bath lost its top so often we eventually moved it to the side of the garden and the top never came off again.

The Ceanothus is showing on the back of the house it grew very rampantly and needed considerable pruning every year. The honeysuckle on the fence also grew so well I was sure the two would join hands across the patio and stop us walking along if I left it for a day or two.

This was just after the extension was built and clearly Mike is busy laying out the vegetable area. No fence yet at the second level. The trees on the left were peach trees which eventually just died. They did have peaches but the birds and bees made a meal of them before they ever ripened enough to eat them

Sorry about the quality of the photos.

A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND

2010-02-18T15:13:00.028Z

Yesterday the weather was glorious and Mike and I with Rebecca and boyfriend Zion and Rachel went to visit Weald and Downland open air museum. The leading museum of historic buildings in England
Designated by the Government for its outstanding collections of national importance
Winner of the Museum of the Year, Community Museum of the Year and national awards for interpretation and education.
Set in 50 acres of beautiful Sussex countryside is a very special place to wander amongst a fascinating collection of nearly 50 historic buildings dating from the 13th to the 19th century, many with period gardens, together with farm animals, woodland walks and a picturesque lake.

I'll let the pictures tell their own story and for more information you can refer to the above link.

Rachel our eldest, I will get shot for posting this but as she rarely looks at my blog and so long as Rebecca doesn't tell her, I thought I'd get away with this photo.

Mike and Beth trying to get warm, shame about the electric fire I must figure how to brush it out.

Just a few herbs for sale for those gardeners who visit.

It was a lovely sunny day although very cold but very enjoyable we were lucky with the weather, it is back to rain again today.

BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES

2010-02-10T16:27:00.015Z

I had to go back and have another look at the Beautiful Butterfies at RHS Wisley Glass house. This time the sun was shineing and so there were more butterflies to be seen.

The eye on this is amazing that is if it is a real eye.

Looking a bit bedraggled perhaps it is a dead one just placed there for our pleasure.

As you can see it is necessary to look carefully to find some of them.

Grubs up! This one's colouring blends with it's food.

So another amusing trip on a cold winter's day.

Mike has had his first evening after work when he was able to get in the garden. So he was busy chopping logs up yesterday.

As to me, I have at last planted four pots of snowdrops around the small pond near the front door. This is an ideal spot to enjoy them each time we go in or out of the house. There were some snowdrops there already so it has added to the numbers. The snowdrops have been waiting a week for me to plant them. I really am a fair weather gardener.

My next task is to start planting seeds Sweet Pea, Busy Lizzie and Lobelia for starters.

February 14th now that is an important date according to Margery Fish, that is the date she cut back her clematis well the group 3 types that is.

I have tried experimenting in past years once pruning a month earlier but resulting understandably with the group 3's flowering at the same time as the early flowering clems. I have also tried staggering pruning over a few weeks which can also vary the flowering. If I were clever I could probably have a very long flowering period but with about 50 clematis plants in the garden there's usually one flowering from early Spring until the Autumn.

MONET'S GARDEN GIVERNY

2010-02-07T14:02:00.003Z

In May I will be visiting Monet's Garden at Giverny, the trip was a Xmas/Birthday gift from my eldest daughter and will be a real treat.

I have wanted to visit this garden for a long time, but not really had the opportunity for the last few years in particular.

I have been having a look on the internet and this is their website but I also found this blog which I thought was very interesting particularly as there is a translator on the left so that I can translate to English and read as well as enjoy the photos.

http://givernews.com/

So no pretty pictures from me today you will have to visit the above link instead.

ORCHIDS AND BUTTERFLIES

2010-02-01T17:23:00.015Z

What else can you do when you don't want to go out and garden in this horrid cold weather? Well a trip to the Glass house at Wisley seemed like a good idea. The orchids were of course putting on an excellent show at this time of year but I am still disappointed at the loss of the Singapore orchid house. One day perhaps they will construct something similar for orchid lovers again. They always are so staged in the new glass house.

Beautiful though all the same.

At present they have introduced butterflies into the Glass house so an added incentive for me to visit.

The dull skies have meant that not very many butterflies have appeared, but as they are to be there until near the end of February perhaps I will have another trip to see them.

I so enjoy seeing so many colourful butterflies on other blogs I follow around the World so it was fun to see some of them here.

GARDEN BLOGGER BOOKS

2010-01-26T21:28:00.002Z

Just having a bit of fun with manual settings. I couldn't resist popping outside when I saw the sky whilst I was washing up.

I am sorry if I haven't been keeping up so much with blogging friends but when I am quiet it is usually because I am busy with my other blog.

My youngest daughter thought it would be nice if she made me a book of my blog, mainly connected with the garden. She has been very busy loading onto her computer and recently showed me how it was coming along. I was most impressed it looks lovely and will be so nice to have a book to flick through and remember the garden in 2009.

I was 'speaking' with Charlotte of The Galloping Gardener recently and she pointed me in the direction of www.blurb.com This looks an excellent website and has a free download for making your own books and has lots of other information.

Recently Frances of Fairegarden has been busy posting about what happens to blogs when we cease blogging do check her recent posts out.

Perhaps we should start a fashion of publishing Garden Bloggers books from Blotanical could be quite something. Meanwhile though it would be fun just to have a personal copy of our favourite Blog posts.

What do you think?

A BIRTHDAY BOUQUET

2010-01-20T09:24:00.011Z

A birthday bouquet arrived from my brother and his wife for my 60th birthday what a wonderful surprise. I have always drooled over the David Austin cut roses when looking in their catalogue and at their stands at Hampton Court flower show. These are Miranda. I never imagined I'd ever receive a Bouquet. Thank you so much John and Barbara they are really wonderful and thank you also for the lovely rose Sophy's rose a beautiful light red or deep pink colour that repeat flowers.

This last photo was for Carolyn at Aiken House and Gardens, do pop over and see her beautiful collection of china but take time to scroll back to her lovely summer garden too.

WINTER WONDERLAND

2010-01-16T11:46:00.014Z

I had to post these photos of our winter wonderland even though at last the snow has gone. We are so lucky to live so near to the woods and to be able to go out and enjoy their beauty.
All these photos were taken on automatic settings.

My faithful friend always stands where I want to take a shot.

For once Beth decides to look at the camera, probably rather inpatient with me keep stopping to take photos.

I hope you enjoyed our walk. These woods are frequented by deer but also pheasants which are bred on the neighbouring estate (competent hosts for Borrelia infection, Lyme Disease).

I still enjoy my walks in the woods where I would probably have contracted Lyme Disease but I go well booted and not in flimsy sandals or shoes as I had been known to do.

I just uploaded an excellent video to my side bar which I would recommend everyone watch, Seven Facts about Lyme, you never know when that information may help you or someone close to you.

PHOTO EXPERIMENTING 3

2010-01-10T12:40:00.008Z

After talking with my daughter I realised that it was the White balance that needed adjusting on my camera. I had been playing indoors and not adjusted the settings back. So I decided to see how things compare by having the only differential the WB settings.
The first one is in fully automatic mode and from that I copied the settings just adjusting the WB so they are all ISO 80 Av 4 Tv 1/125.

The above was manual settings as Auto but also AWB automatic white balance still a very slight difference in the sky an improvement I think.

This was with WB set on daylight and perhaps my favourite although I don't remember the sky being so blue so perhaps an enhancement rather than a true capture.

This was with WB on the cloudy setting

This was white balance on fluorescent light setting which is meant for indoors but is very similar as the daylight

This one had WB set on Tungsten.

PHOTO EXPERIMENTING 2

2010-01-09T13:57:00.017Z

In all the manual setting apart from the last three I have used Saturation in the edit function on the computer to try and reduce the blueness of the snow but always at the expense of the redness of the sky.
The first was M ISO200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/60

M ISO 200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/200

M ISO 200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/320

M ISO200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/80

A ISO80 Av 2.8 Tv 1/60

M ISO 100 Av 4.5 Tv 1/40

M ISO 200 Av 2.8 Tv 1/160

M ISO 200 Av 2.8 Tv 1/125

M ISO 100 Av 4.5 Tv 1/160

M ISO 100 Av 4.5 Tv 1/100

M ISO 200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/250

M ISO 200 Av 2.8 Tv 1/640

M ISO 200 Av 2.8 Tv 1/320

M ISO 400 Av 2.8 Tv 1/800

M ISO 400 Av 5 Tv 1/320

PHOTO EXPERIMENTING 1

2010-01-08T13:39:00.019Z

The sky was so interesting when I walked Beth yesterday I had to go back and get my camera . The sun was going down behind the trees so I decided to experiment with settings and where better to record this than on my blog
The first setting was Automatic (A ) ISO 80 Av 3.2 Tv 1/60

A ISO 80 Av 3.2 Tv 1/60

A ISO 100 Av 2.8 Tv 1/60

A ISO 160 Av2.8 Tv 1/60

A ISO 100 Av2.8 Tv 1/60

Manual (M) ISO 200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/100

M ISO 80 Av 4.5 Tv 1/20

M ISO 100 Av 4.5 Tv 1/20

M ISO 200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/20

M ISO 200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/40

M ISO 200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/80

M ISO 200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/30

A Iso 200 Av 2.8 Tv 1/60

A ISO 160 Av 2.8 Tv 1/60

M ISO 200 Av 4.5 Tv 1/30

Well not absolutely sure what I have learnt but hope this will be a useful reference for me.

I don't think the blueness is to do with the ISO perhaps it is the size of the Aperture any suggestions?

Wonderful what you can do with a digital camera and how it can influence the mood of the picture that's before even attempting to use a photo editing program.

CAMERA FUN

2010-01-07T16:18:00.019Z

I decided to take my camera on my morning walk with Beth. The first three shots were set on automatic.

I had left the house before breakfast because as I was getting up (very late) I noticed the sunrising making the sky so interesting. Because of all the houses sunrise is not so picturesque as it is in the fields. By the time we arrived I had missed the best of it and then struggled a bit with settings as all this is very confusing for my brain.

The following were taken on manual settings with a higher ISO perhaps too high. At least with digital photography you can compare and check settings on the computer.

The sun light on the snow was very interesting and I like to take pictures into the sun to see what effects you can get.

The light reflecting in the following photo rather spoils the shot but still some interesting components.

Having taken too long getting to the fields the clouds started to cover the sun but still two interesting photos I thought.

The last photo was taken of the same image as the first but the first was automatic and the second on manual with higher ISO. What a difference in blueness to the photo not sure what that is due to but I think it looks more alive than the first one.

What do you think?

Photography is something new to me so any constructive criticism will be gratefully received.

Do you think I should just put it on Auto or is there any hope for me on this steep learning curve?

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

2010-01-06T19:11:00.002Z

Right that's enough now, no more snow I am no longer enthralled by it's beauty and decided it was time to sit round the fire and keep warm.

MY TRUSTY FRIEND

2010-01-04T16:27:00.006Z

Happy New Year to everyone. We have had a mixture of snow and frost over the last three weeks and these were taken on one of my walks by the woods with Beth.

I had great difficulty getting her to look at the camera she seems to know what I am trying to do and usually looks the other way.

I have been getting behind with posting on this blog and catching up on other blogs but must get back to it now the festivities are over.

I have been busy feeding my other blog though and recommend you have a quick look at this post. http://lookingatlyme.blogspot.com/ part of this video featured also on Canadian TV recently on an earlier post.

A new film just released in the USA was Under the Eight Ball have a look at the trailer through the link. Rather mind blowing and certainly thought provoking!

A SPRINKLING OF SEASONAL SNOW

2009-12-20T11:27:00.011Z

Soon after the frosty start the weather turned to snow but fortunately we have only had a sprinkling unlike other areas.

Note I did not need to add the snow flake effect to this photo.

Again I think the remaining dead growth adds a good dimension to the winter garden.

A look down the road to the woods.

The next morning from the bedroom window. It gives a good plan of the garden at the front.

A view across to the trees from the bedroom window.

This is a view from the back bedroom window and gives a good plan of the back garden. Excluding most of the top grass area because it is covered in roof sheets etc as Mike still hasn't finished the work on the back lean too. Weather has now got in the way of the last few hours needed to complete the lean too but at least it is water proof. Once I can get to this area there are still some shrubs I need to prune.

Just a bit to the south not covered in roofing stuff.

A view from the back bedroom across to the woods with the bit of the other bedroom window in the photo.

A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL CLICK

A TOUCH OF FROST

2009-12-16T14:59:00.022Z

A touch of frost in the garden this morning, the first real bit of frost this year. The trough in the drive is still interesting with it's winter foliage.

I am slow at cutting back the dead plants, I quite like to see them in the winter frost especially from the bedroom window above. I also think they give the birds opportunities to feed. Well that's my excuse anyway.

These berries on the wall should keep a few birds fed.

The frost looks good on these silver leaves but I must look up the name of this shrub because I have forgotten it.

Hebe Nicola's blush looks especially pretty in the frost.

One of several frozen mini ponds.

I still haven't got round to pruning all the roses, some, but it is a shame to chop them back when they are still flowering.

More silver foliage lending itself to the frosty look although the box looks interesting too, much better than the traditional vegetable bed which can look so bleak in the winter.

I couldn't resist these last roses with their pretty frosted edges.

And the Fairy too.

The greenhouse is rather full and being unheated I decided to leave the summer shade on maybe it will help keep some heat in.

These little babies didn't find a home but maybe some will get popped in the beds in the spring, I quite like them on the bench too, up close to enjoy them.

Interesting to see the Acer has already swollen buds of new growth.

This view back to the house hides the jobs on the top section that are still waiting to be done.

One more last farewell from an unknown rose.

I have been busy updating my Looking at Lyme blog link top right so do pop over and have a look.

MARTIN MERE WILDFOWL CENTRE

2009-12-09T14:33:00.015Z

During a recent visit to family I was taken to the Martin Mere Wildfowl Centre. At this time of year there are so many birds to see and at 3 o clock they are fed near the hides so it was a truly amazing sight watching them fly in, many of the swans in formation.

The above photographs were taken from the videos I took which I will post during the winter months.

The last few photos were taken from a different hide with rather dirty glass windows that didn't open. Good for keeping warm but not so good for photographs.

The final shot was near the entrance who could resist a shot of Flamingo, interesting to read on the Martin Mere website, that they are classified as near threatened.

NOVEMBER IN THE GARDEN

2009-11-17T16:30:00.018Z

I am so behind with posting and catching up on other blogs but I decided to post a few photos of the garden last week. Of course this was a cheat bought from the local street market but a welcome sight by the front door.

These hardy Fuschia come into their own at this time of year all grown from cuttings from a friends garden in Newquay.

Nicola's Blush Hebe a cutting from a neighbours bush it is a very worth while Hebe to grow. All the Hebes I have tried have taken well from cuttings.

Winter Jasmine already putting on a good show.

In the back garden Fairy Rose again taken successfully from cuttings.

I finally removed the Dahlias last week and I was pleased that the ground elder was not as bad as I had expected. Pity I didn't sweep up after myself but nice to see soil without ground elder here.

Whilst I dug, these little beauties smiled down on me. Vitecella Vernosa Violecea quite dainty clematis but so worth growing where you can enjoy their lovely faces.

One last bloom of Edward Elgar. Sadly the perfume is lost in the cooler weather.

I even had a tidy up along this wall which is something I rarely get round to doing. The ferns are still looking nice.

Hermosa has bloomed since May so well worth growing although the stems can be a little weak.

I was so pleased to see so many flowers on the Arbutus Uneo because I lost one plant and this it's replacement looked as if I might lose as well earlier in the year.

The leeks are doing well and ready to eat.

What a different view at this time of year. I replaced many of the Lavender on one side of the garden and have pruned very hard back with others. If the pruned ones do not survive because I don't think Lavender enjoys such hard pruning, I have got several cuttings in pots which can be used to replace them.

As you can see I have had fun loading larger photos and putting my name on them. As if anyone would be interested in pinching them Hah! I think I was like a child with a paint box and made the names too colourful. Must follow Tatyana's advice and choose more discrete colours.

The reason I have not blogged so much recently is because there has been lots to read and e mails to send regarding my other interest. Yes you guessed following developments with Lyme Disease. The news about XMRV retrovirus is also fascinating to read. Many people with ME/CFS diagnosis are found to have Lyme and there are so many parallels with the two illnesses and the politics that surrounds them.

So rather than compromise this blog I started another one Looking at Lyme there is a link on my side bar. I will use this new blog to post anything that catches my eye, of which there is so much. It will also make a suitable place for me to retrieve information quickly.

I am more than happy if anyone chooses to visit and by all means add your comments.

THANKS TO BLOGGING FRIENDS

2009-11-08T11:45:00.002Z

I have many things to thank my blogging friends for.

Karen An Artist's Garden for introducing me to blotanical.

Many of you for hint's on photography and advice on copy and pasting links.

Now I would like to thank Tatyana of My Secret Garden for her interesting and useful post on Make it tougher for thieves. I have figured out how to put my name on photos, I used my Canon Digital Photo Professional thanks also to Daughter Rebecca's help recently. I will be playing around to fine tune one wet winter's day.

Last but by no means least thanks to Catherine from A Gardener in Progress for her useful advice on posting larger pictures. I have long enjoyed and admired her lovely photos.

So my first attempt is of a November rose Rosemoor, such a delicate shade of pink and delicate petals with a strong old rose fragrance.

THE WILD WOODS

2009-11-04T16:53:00.028Z

Across from where we live is a small copse, at the entrance is a lovely Oak tree which was planted in Remembrance of the men who died in the Ist World War. The tree doesn't seem as if it could be 90 years old but that is what the plaque says.

This copse has only developed since the second World War, at that time it was open ground. There is still a concrete slab amongst the undergrowth that I am told was used for a gun mounting. The gun would have been used for protecting the railway route nearbye into London.

Hard to imagine that history when walking through these trees.

Across a road from the copse and down the track into the Wild Woods as my daughters used to call it when they were small.

This area was a lake and I have seen old photos showing a boat house and boat moored at the far side.

I suspect the building of the housing estate that borders this wood would have diverted drainage thus causing the area to dry up.

Beth leads the way.

You can hear her saying why are you lagging behind as I stop to take photos.

The Holly trees are full of berries at present so plenty of food for the birds.

This wood hasn't been managed for many years it was once coppiced.

There are many fallen and damaged trees which is sad but adds to the character of the place.

Beyond this fallen tree was and old track way which has become so overgrown.

A slightly better view with the field on the right and another behind the trees on the left leaving the track in a dip. It is some time since I tried walking along it and the far end is not penetrable which is such a shame. It could be opened up to the road and would make such a lovely walk.

This is much further over in the woods by the railway line.

You have to love these roots and with feet like that the head in the sky is hardly a surprise.

Looking back is the boundary into the fields and from that point views across to Clandon House.

I have spent half the afternoon playing with Picasa trying to load slightly larger photos by URL but without success. I so admire the slightly larger size seen on many other blogs. So guess I need to try again one winters day. However I am pleased that I was able to take all the photos using Manual setting so at least I am beginning to learn something with my camera.

MEME/ 100th POST /GURU

2009-10-24T10:22:00.016+01:00

This is my 100th post I have just become a Guru on Blotanical, all it took was lots of pleasure in looking at so many wonderful garden blogs around the World. Many thanks to Stuart at Blotanical for providing this opportunity.

I decided for this post to do a Meme. I have been tagged by Missy M of Missy Wayne's Backyard, Happy Mouffetard of The Inelegant Gardener, VP from Veg Plotting, Maureen from Allotment Heaven and Bangchick of My Little Vegetable Garden during the last few months and just haven't got round to taking up their tags so here goes.

Seven things about me, it was fun looking through photo albums for old photos.

1. The above photo of me as a child must be where my love of gardening was born. My maternal Grandfather was a photographer for the local paper in his spare time. This was his early attempts with colour photography in about 1953.

2. Here I am with my two elder brothers at Bolton Sailing club where my parents spent most Sundays racing, while we ran wild in the woods. As children we didn't get much opportunity to actually sail but in my early 20's whilst living in Torquay I joined a sailing club. I went with some friends in a yacht and entered the Tobermorray Race from the Clyde a three day race to the Isle of Arran and also with a group from work we hired a yacht and sailed from Teignmouth across to Aldernay, Guernsey and then back into Dartmouth both were memorable trips.

3. This Standard Little Nine dated 1932 was my first car it was such fun to drive around Wimbledon where I was working in the 1970's.

My first husband was keen on old cars and this Wolseley Hornet, Eustace Watkins Special 1935 was stripped completely and rebuilt by him with dogsbody getting the menial jobs. Although I dismantled the upholstery and re upholstered the interior. Quite a good job if I might say myself.

Eventually I also had a stab at the tonneau and hood which were particularly challenging without old ones to take a pattern from.

This MG PA 1934 was my last car I had whilst married to my first husband sadly after we split up it was not practical for me to hang onto the lovely car.

3. Some years later I met and married Mike and have been so lucky to be married to such a lovely man. These are our two daughters now grown up and nearly 30, where have all those years gone. I am not allowed to put family photos on my blog but hope they don't mind me using this one. They are both lovely girls and I am proud of them. Both have continued in their individual ways with my love of gardening as seen in an earlier post Nature or Nurture.

4. Being a none working mum with time and shortage of money I started to make soft toys, although it didn't provide me with an income because selling is not me, it was fun and provided presents and raffle prizes for schools and charities.

These Hippos were so the children could sit astride, my favourite toys were lions large enough to sit on and I am sorry I never took a photo of them.

5. When the children started school I took on an allotment but when I returned to work part time it was easier to grow vegetables in the garden and give up the allotment. A much younger and thinner me without the grey hair.

My success with the car upholstery led me to try my hand at furniture re upholstery and this is a chair I recovered, with Beth as a puppy misbehaving as only Springer Spaniels know how.

Another of my projects was this Victorian Day bed. not an easy task it had 94 buttons to sew in.

A lot of thought has gone into who to pass the meme onto so I do hope you pop over and look at their blogs. There are so many I could have chosen not just the many on my blog roll but so many more on Blotanical.

Firstly I nominate Kiki Awake with Charm and Spirit because I found her photography outstanding and her poems/prose lovely. I found a kindred spirit in her love of trees.

Secondly I nominate Rob of Our French Garden in the beautiful Dordogne because I love following his garden.

Thirdly I nominate Rosthchild Orchid Wisteria and Cow Parsley I am so enjoying her blog and look forward to seeing her develop her rambling and overgrown small holding. Her words not mine.

Fourthly Charlotte of The Galloping Gardener which I love to follow but because of her work in India with The Raven Foundation.

Esther of Esther's Boring Garden blog recently did a meme and chose blogs that were not gardening blogs so thanks to her for her idea which I will copy and have therefore chosen.

Fifthly Renee of Renee's Reflections Her and her husband struggle with chronic ill health because of Lyme Disease and the medical system.

Sixthly Laurel from Dreams at Stake for her courage at fighting her many chronic health problems including Lyme and ME/CFS. Her efforts recently in producing a video testimony are to be commended and I hope you take time to watch her video.

Last but not least number seven I choose Jo of Jo Blogs struggling with ME/CFS lets hope the recent news over XMRV retrovirus helps so many such chronically ill people.

This last one is not a tag because I do not think it quite appropriate but I would like you to pause and look at Lewis Jeynes struggles over the last nearly four years. He has finally been diagnosed with a cause for his deteriorating chronic ill health, Lyme Disease and is being treated privately on oral antibiotics he is improving and has gained some control of his head . Still the NHS shake their heads and will not treat him on the stronger antibiotics he needs because they follow the IDSA discredited Guidelines.

Next time you meet someone who dismisses Lyme and/or ME/CFS as rare and easy to cure please remember that for many of us that is not the case.

NERINES AND LIQUIDAMBER

2009-10-21T12:35:00.009+01:00

I love Nerines and have struggled for years with them in the garden although several neighbours have wonderful displays in their gardens. I have one flower in my garden.

I started to grew some in large white buckets so that I could place on the doorstep. They are in a gritty compost which they like and I can keep the frost off their flowers by the protection of the front porch. This worked well except they needed re potting and the buckets were too big and heavy to keep moving.

This spring I repotted them and ended up with a bench full of pots. I think I let them get too dry early in the year and due to lack of space they stayed in the greenhouse all summer. This year I have so few flowers on them I do hope they do better next year.

The Agapanthus and lillies are stored in the greenhouse during the winter but at present the greenhouse is full of geranium and other plants that need to be in a frost free place ie. the porch which is currently being re roofed.

Hiding amongst the Amelanchier is a Liquidamber that I have relocated. I need to nurture it for now until it is properly established. I am hoping it will fill a gap that has developed and balance this corner out better.

A couple of years ago I planted up either side of the fence with a view to more height and so making the top bit of the garden more enclosed and hiding the view out over the estate behind. The Hoheria grew larger than I had realised and flopped over and around the Liquidamber so I decided to move the Liquidamber I always knew it was not in a good position as it grows into such a large tree although not in my life time.

I have a cutting from Crimson Shower Rambling Rose which will benefit now with more space and the seat on the left covered in ivy will not be submerged by the Liquidamber.

MERROW

2009-10-17T18:57:00.041+01:00

St John's Church Merrow dating back to the 12th Century.

The Horse and Groom dates back to the 15th century.

The church and the pub stand sentinel at the cross roads in Merrow either side of Trodds Lane which goes via Newlands Corner over the Downs to Dorking. It was once the main road.

The road East to West at this junction goes from Guildford to Epsom hence named the Epsom Road.

Garden Cottage is directly opposite the Horse and Groom. It was once used as the school house.

Taken from a 1934 map with revisions 1938. Showing Merrow Downs.

At one time there was a race course on this side of the Downs between 1701 to 1870 and to the West of the Downs there was a prison of war camp during the last war 1941 to 1942.

Directly opposite the Church and at the top of Merrow Street is an area of allotment gardens. Merrow Street was the main road from the Downs to the main London Road now replaced in part by the A3.

Proceeding down Merrow Street this is the entrance to The Cedars.

Merrow House was once the home of Miss Thrupp. Her father was Rector of St John's Church. The Thrupp family owned most of the land either side of Merrow Street and lower down what is now known as Old Merrow Street. The original road being dissected by a road into a housing estate.

Merrow House is now split into flats and part of the Sunset homes. There are other modern flats too built in the grounds next to the house.

Merrow House Cottage

Evergreen Cottage

1 &2 Appletree Cottages

Michaelmas Cottage

Spring Cottages on the right with a new development mirroring Spring cottages, Wentworth Cottage and Orchard Cottage

Coxhall

1 Coxhall Cottages

2 Coxhall Cottages

Looking back up Merrow Street the hedge on the right of the photo is the boundary of Bushy Hill School. On the left is Rectory Close leading into a group of houses built in the grounds and on the site of the old rectory.

This was an old drovers way and bounds the school hedge.

This development was on land that belonged to Bushy School, now called Merrow Place the houses have been built to replicate much of the character of the older houses.

There was strong opposition over loosing the character of Merrow Street and this hedge, hence these houses Hawthorn Place were tucked away behind the hedge.

Looking down Merrow Street.

Treetower House

Merrow Infants School a church school. Miss Thrupp was responsible for the building of this school to replace the little one opposite the Horse and Groom. It was extended in 1901 about the time some of the houses were built.

Yew Tree cottages

1 &2 Salisbury Cottages

This is the style of several of the houses built around 1900 as farm labourers cottages and many of them were named after the Africa Wars.

1 &2 Garnet Cottages

A section of map updated since the Merrow Park development which started early 1980's. The church is at the bottom right at the junction and at the top of the map Merrow Street ends in a cul de sac where Kingfisher Drive crosses into the estate.

Across Kingfisher Drive into the next section of the old road this is now known as Old Merrow Street.

Great Goodwin Farmhouse

1 Alma Cottages

2 Alma Cottages

1 Peace Cottages with its majestic chimneys. There was previously a building on this site which was the old bake house. When it was demolished the bricks were reused in building these.

2,3 &4 Peace Cottages originally three cottages they have been sympathetically extended on the left to make a larger cottage and on the right to build a fourth cottage.

Pound cottage. The Pound was once in the garden and this is where stray animals would be brought. Pound Cottage was at one time used as the Laundry.

1 Orange Cottages

2 Orange Cottages

1 Gateside Cottages

2 Gateside Cottages

This is the next section of the map showing where Kingfisher Drive crosses at the bottom and the railway in the top corner. The bottom of old Merrow Street is also now a cul de sac and the new road replaces this lane.

At the top right this side of the railway is where the old brick works used to be. The bricks from there were used for building many of the cottages.

Of course there are several other modern houses scattered in amongst these old cottages.

More information on Merrow can be found through visiting Merrow Residents Association website.

AUTUMN FLOWERS

2009-10-14T12:44:00.019+01:00

The flowers in the garden are still providing an interesting show.

I planted out Delphinium I had grown from seed not expecting it to flower until next year but was delighted to see they have added to the Autumn colour.

I moved the pots of Dahlia from the centre bed to this bed next to the wall. I needed to use the space to plant out Wallflowers and the Dahlia were not ready to be stored for the winter just yet.

I have always found growing Delphinium from seed rewarding but they do not do well in my mixed borders as they need attention to keep slugs and snails off their tender shoots so I try whenever possible to give them a bed of their own. This is not easy in my garden too many plants. This bed by the wall although it has several large shrubs and roses is ok because I can still watch over the Delphinium plants and they do look lovely flowering there both from the front window and from the road. Cheers up many a passer bye's face when they see a riot of flowers.

This was a straggler Fuschia from last year but such a delightful flower. I am not good at keeping non hardy fuschia year to year they get so woody and never produce nice shaped plants. Yet another skill to develop.

The grapes still looking great and the birds are enjoying the feast.

The Acer looking ok although a bit dry round the edges of the leaves from lack of water.

Couldn't resist posting this. Still several Morning Glory popping up daily.

Arbutus Uneo with still one or two fruit looking attractive now they are deep red with the Fuschia peeping through the fence. I am rather pleased the Arbutus is surviving, when it lost so many leaves early in the year I started to worry, but it looks happy enough now.

Cercis Canadensis Forest Pansy is also looking happy so I am pleased with this too.

Amelanchier a must for any garden that can accommodate a small tree. White blossom in the spring followed by red berries that encourage the birds to feed and then this lovely autumn colour which will be followed by the Acer's colour soon.

Not as colourful as earlier in the year a little sad really that summer is behind us.

A few more Dahlia that filled a bed in the back after I had attacked the ground elder.

This was early evening sun going down on the right of the picture which is why the garden isn't so well lit.

Late sun through Amelanchier.

Another Fuschia left over from last years hanging baskets.

Hydrangea with it's Autumn colours.

Hypericum I think Elstead, the berries look better than the flowers do.

VACCINES AND AUTISM

2009-10-13T18:18:00.002+01:00

Do have a good read of the full article as it is a concern many mothers and grandparents have when considering vaccines.

I will get back to posting about the garden tomorrow all this information is so interesting and could impact on many of our families and friends.

The Huffington Post

A link into a TV interview is on this site.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/is-autism-associated-with_b_316986.html

As Dr. Mikovits explained to a television news program in Nevada, "It is not in the paper and not reported, but we have actually done some of these studies (in ASD children) and found the virus in a significant number of samples that we have tested for. It could be linked to a number of neuro-immune diseases, including autism. It certainly won't be all, because there are genetic defects that result in autism. But there are also the environmental effects; there is always the hypothesis that, 'My child was fine and then they got sick, and then they got autism.'"
According to Dr. Mikovits, XMRV (which admittedly sounds like a satellite radio system for your Winnebago) can lie dormant in people, until it is "turned on or off" by other factors, such as stress hormones like cortisol, or in response to the presence of inflammatory "cytokines," protein molecules secreted by immune cells to help regulate the immune system.
And then Dr. Mikovits dropped a bombshell that is sure to spark controversy.
"On that note, if I might speculate a little bit," she said, "This might even explain why vaccines would lead to autism in some children, because these viruses live and divide and grow in lymphocytes -- the immune response cells, the B and the T cells. So when you give a vaccine, you send your B and T cells in your immune system into overdrive. That's its job. Well, if you are harboring one virus, and you replicate it a whole bunch, you've now broken the balance between the immune response and the virus. So you have had the underlying virus, and then amplified it with that vaccine, and then set off the disease, such that your immune system could no longer control other infections, and created an immune deficiency."
So there you have it - a possible explanation of regressive autism in a significant number of cases associated with immune system deregulation triggered by vaccination.
Of course, much more work is needed to nail down the exact significance of such an association. For example, is the virus implicated in the cause of autism, or do children harbor the virus as a result of autism?
Either way, it is notable that such questions are being asked by mainstream sources such as the University of Nevada, and by extension the NCI and the Cleveland Clinic: Can XMRV infection plus vaccination create the right conditions for regressive autism? That remains to be seen. But it also means that the thousands of parents who claim their children did regress shortly after vaccination may not be so crazy and "fringe" as they have been portrayed by experts such as Dr. Paul Offit of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Dr. Thomas Insel, head of the National Institute of Mental Health and Chair of the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC).
"We certainly are advocating vaccinations and how important those are to the well being of the children," explained Annette Whittemore, founder of the Whittemore Peterson Institute.
"But what we are hoping for is, by finding out whether or not one is positive to XMRV, whether it is in one family member or another, and then looking for it in children, you could alter the immune response in such a way that you can protect the child and still be able to vaccinate and avoid autism in these kids. And again, I don't think ether one of us is sitting here saying, 'Vaccinations cause autism,' but rather a number of factors; a genetic susceptibility to the illness, to the infection itself, and then on top of that you are adding something to that mix that takes that child over the top."
Apparently, the CFS findings have impressed the scientific community. "We presented these data three times: Twice at closed conferences at the NIH, and one at an international meeting a few weeks ago, and you could hear a pin drop in the audience - it's amazement" Mikovits said. "The scientists are excited, everyone is working on it, so we know we are going to get a lot of help. It's just amazement, it's an entirely new field of medicine and everyone who's ever worked in this family of viruses is, now that we've shown it's a human pathogen, is extremely excited."
Whittemore added that researchers hoped to develop a vaccine against XMRV quickly, noting that "It would be easier to find a vaccine against this than HIV, because it is a simple retrovirus."
The discovery raises more questions than it answers. What, exactly, is it about immunization that might switch on XMRV viral expression? Could the effect of heavy metals upon cytokine balances be at play? Where did this retrovirus come from, and how did it apparently become so prevalent in children with autism? Did these children inherit the virus from a parent, or was there some other unexplained route of transmission? Why has the NIH said nothing about XMRV in association with autism, and did Dr. Insel know about these findings without sharing them with the IACC?Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/is-autism-associated-with_b_316986.html

CHRONIC FATIGUE TO LYME

2009-10-12T13:15:00.002+01:00

From Chronic Fatigue to Lyme: Medically Unexplained No More

Labelling sick patients psychiatric is medical abuse.

Over the past year, forces at the highest reaches of medicine have made ever stronger efforts to burden the sick, diseased, and infected with psychiatric labels, consigning them to often mind-numbing psych meds and untreated infection, immune dysfunction, and pain. Some critics see this as psychiatric abuse at the hands of non-psychiatrists --since it is rarely psychiatrists, but rather, those in other specialities who step outside the circle of their training to impose these crude diagnoses on the medically ill.

The above is a quote from Pam Weintraube in Psychology Today
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/emerging-diseases/200910/chronic-fatigue-lyme-medically-unexplained-no-more

Pam has written some very in depth articles on Lyme Disease, links into some of her articles are on my side bar under Lyme Disease.

I would really like to copy the whole article but hope you will take the time to go to her article through the above link and read it yourselves in full. I expect there will be someone you know who has been labelled with a psychosomatic illness when now there is evidence that it could be a physical illness.

Further quotes from her article.

Other scientists in favor of restrictive treatment for Lyme disease have burdened women in particular with the stigma of psychiatric disease --contending that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, chronic Lyme disease, and depression may really be one and the same. Gary Wormser and Eugene Shapiro, an infectious diseases doctor and a pediatrician respectively published the proposal in the Journal of Women's Health in 2009, despite lacking psychiatric training themselves.

When it comes to stigmatizing the sick, why let science interfere? Indeed, this past week the American Association for the Advancement of Science reported in its prestigious journal, Science, that 68% of chronic fatigue syndrome patients were infected with a new retrovirus, called xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus, or XMRV. (Just 3.7% of healthy people are infected) A follow-up study, also reported in the Science, raised the number of CFS patients infected with the retrovirus to 98%, in all.

Brian Fallon of Columbia University, has this to say about so many diseases presenting in similar ways: "Those who say that the patients with MUS (medically unexplained symptoms) have a purely psychological illness are missing the point about the commonality of these syndromes," he states. "The key element is that these illnesses share symptom profiles because these symptoms represent an abnormally perpetuated physiologic response. For example, it is well known that elevated proinflammatory cytokines produce these symptoms; also well known is the fact that depression can be a by-product of such an elevation because certain cytokines reduce the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin in the body.."

“Despite the effort to keep patients running on empty, science is moving on. “I think this establishes what had always been considered a psychiatric disease as an infectious disease,”Judy Mikovits, the scientist leading the retrovirus work at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno, said this week in the New York Times.

Hillary Johnson, the author of Osler's Web: Inside the Labyrinth of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic, has said it best in her blog:"A nova has appeared in the constellation. We knew it would appear some day-but in our lifetimes? Many of us, having given up on recovery, had merely hoped we might live long enough to understand the scientific basis of our suffering. Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of us didn't make it, or simply gave up. Between the time Dr. Judy Mikovits of the Whittemore Peterson Institute and her collaborators at the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic submitted their paper to Science and today, we know at least one woman, the British citizen Pamela Weston, chose assisted suicide rather than go on; in the note she left behind she wrote that she hoped her choice would, in some part, move the UK medical research forward. Might Weston have hung on had she known about XMRV? We grieve for those who couldn't wait, couldn't hang on, and acknowledge their bravery. For the rest of us, this is a day to celebrate"
I urge everyone to read this as well as Johnson's prior post, a copy of a speech she recently gave in London in May 2009.

Pamela Weintraub is a senior editor at Discover Magazine and author of Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic, first place winner of the American Medical Writers Association book award, 2009. A revised, updated PAPERBACK version of Cure Unknown will be published October 13, 2009. The update covers the topic here, and is available on Amazon for a little over $10.
--------------------------------
Many thanks Pam for all your efforts in fighting our corner.
I will close with a sunset picture in the hope that not too many suns will set before the medical world starts to listen to what patients are saying.

AN AUTUMN WALK IN THE WOODS

2009-10-10T16:20:00.022+01:00

I had to show this first picture of a Sweet Chestnut. Nearly 30 years ago when we walked at Winkworth Arboretum we collected chestnuts with the children. I planted them in the garden and several grew. Realising that I did not want a vegetable bed with huge chestnut trees I transplanted to the edge of the woods. This is one near the road that survived . There is also a Horse Chestnut tree a little further in.

I once said to Christina the old lady who lived opposite this space what I had done and that perhaps one day we would be able to collect chestnuts for the fire with our grandchildren. She remembered what I said over the years and often chuckled about it.

The year Mike's eldest Grandchild was born was the first year it had chestnuts on. That was 13 years ago.

So far the autumn colours haven't really come into their own.

This is taken a few paces from our house which is on the edge of a housing estate.

Down the track to the left into part of the woods is my most frequent afternoon walk with Beth.

You just have to look up at the lovely canopy.

These woods are not really managed and many of the trees are strangled with ivy.

Trunks are such tactile things don't you think.

At this point my flash started to go off and I think it spoils the true colour. Also I ran out of battery so had to give up taking photos on this walk.

On my next walk the weather was very dull so I tried experimenting on 1600ISO setting for most. I found setting the F number aperture first was best because that enabled me to set the shutter time at the minimum suitable for each shot. I did not take a tripod and so hand shake was a problem with a long shutter time.

Did that make sense? I am on such a steep learning curve with photography and was actually very pleased that the shots came out at all. All the automatic ones wanted to use flash and I was definitely not happy with those few I took.

Dreaming spires and as I said so tactile.

Always a shame when such a large tree has had to be felled.

This group of three trees always looks so special one has a paint mark on so I am hoping it is to remove a branch and not the whole tree.

Out in the field and then back to the woods on the homeward journey Beth in the distance. You can see what I mean about Autumn colours not quite here yet.

This lovely old Oak is such a magical tree, how many tales it could tell and how many generations of children have swung in it's branches.

At that point I had to close as it started to speck with rain and yes there is just a slight mark on this photo from a raindrop. That is going to be a wet winters day treat, to learn how to touch up photos.

Other walks this way were in Snow and A Walk in the Woods.

If you enjoyed these photos you really must go to Kiki's wonderful blog Awake with charm and spirit her photos are truly amazing and her prose are enchanting transporting you into a truly magical world of trees.