This is the third year they’ve flowered in their pots after being overwintered by the compost heap. They’re fed with tomato fertiliser once a week.

Now the telescope is no longer wheeled down this path it doesn’t have to be kept wide.

This is the second year of flowering having been left in their pots over winter. Very tall, but easily supported by wigwam of bamboos. Lily beetle irritating but not serious. Adults and larvae are quite easy to see on the very open foliage of thin leaves of regale. I go round once or twice a day squashing the adults, which I see very rarely and are extremely tough. I also squash the larvae, trying to forget what the red-brown goo they cover themselves in is.

See also earlier post.

.c 10 larvae found on Lilium regale in pot 89 at the front, and one adult. Pot 90 at the back was completely clear.

One larva found in pot 93 of lilies from Homebase at the back. Third year of flowering. Nothing on similar pot 94 at the front.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen lily beetle in this garden.

These pots of (mainly) bulbs come again and again

They’re not really in the way, and I’ve got enough pots for other things, so I suppose I might as well continue in this way.

Lifted some bulbs from pots and put them in plastic troughs for the foliage to die off completely

These plants, good in pots last year, are showing no new growth at all, so I put them on the compost heap:

These were very good last year, but this year the flowers are weak and the leaves seem dead at the tips. Did I let them dry out too much?

I haven’t seen this before, although I did wonder whether the tulips would find their way through the rather dense lychnis alpina plants when I planted them last autumn. The lychnis are now in another pot.

The bamboo in a tub near the garage was blown over in storm Ciara. It looked nice, but I had been meaning to do something to reveal more of the culms and reduce the foliage anyway. I cut some of the stems that were leaning at an angle and looking a bit manky at ground level. Approximately 5 stems. Then I rubbed off the foliage from about 2/3 of the lower part of each stem.

I took off about 50% of the foliage which must reduce its wind resistance. From most angles it looks much better, although the stems definitely seem to be divided into two parts – old and new. It’s just as tall as it was, which is the main thing.