Sunday 13 February 2011

A very dreich day in the garden..........


Its been a very dreich day in the garden............
Oh dear what a weekend it's been. Dreich (bleak, miserable, dismal, cheerless, dreary) or what? Between the force eight gales and the battering rain - to be honest its not been alot of what you'd call 'prime spring gardening weather'. I did heartily venture out there - nearly blew over - hastened inside quick style. This cheery robin in the window, guarding against the dismal weather, was a chirstmas pressie from fellow blogger and wonderful friend Daffy. Doesn't he just look so colourful up against the window looking out on all that - well - wet and nasty weather really. Isn't he gorgeous? And, look out there, don't we need a bit of cheering up?  At least in this weather, with a gale in this direction, the kitchen window which was previously salt encrusted from the last gale (last week) got a lovely clean - always a silver lining eh?
A very cheery robin on a very dreich day, I love him!
Having been around a few gardening blogs I've been cheered up by the spring delights popping up here and there in other parts of the UK. That, I have to say, has kept me sane, and away from the seeds - nothing planted yet. I have been trying to get motivated though and keeping my chin up. I decided if I can't share any outdoor delights with you all, and really, I can't, then I can at least share the plant thats keeping me smiling in the house at the moment Oxalis triangularis. Even the name makes me giggle, 'Tri-an-gu-laris'. It's like another one of those Harry Potter spells isn't?  What I like about it, is the vibrancy of the colour it has - before you adjust your eyes - yes it is purple - VERY purple. How gorgeous is it? Better than a cold shower or a slap in the face with a wet kipper - it's a plant that wakes up the eyeballs immediately.

Oxalis triangularis, Love Plant or Purple shamrock
I love it - my daughter bought it for me at a school sale, maybe why its other name is the love plant? I'm very pleased that she'd brought home not only a plant I didn't have (normally very difficult, given my addiction) but it is also purple, my favourite colour. Its a very easy plant to care for - in fact aside look at it and give it some water, its had NO care. And there it is, happy on the window sill making a very dreich day a bit more bearable. Thank you Mr Oxalis!
Bringing a bit of 'spring colour' into my life when there is NONE outside.

Very beautiful and an easy houseplant!
This plant comes from Brazil, I don't think it would like to be outdoors here! I do like the fact that it is a plant which has, wait for it, cos this is really sinister - 'Photonasty' - sounds terrible doesn't it? It just means that it is one of those plants which fold down their foliage at night - it kind of closes in on itself - when the light levels get low. Maybe its to protect itself from being eaten at night? When its sleeping? We haven't tried to eat it - far too pretty, but every night it closes up just the same. The term 'nasty' when referring to plants, isn't the garrish and the obscene (or for those plants we come to despise) - more the response that plants make to a specific stimulus which is suffixed with the 'nasty' ie - photonasty=response to light, Hydronasty=response to water, thermonasty =  response to temperature ..........what a bit of fun for me learning a new thing during my 'dreich day'! I've not a hope of doing anything 'out there' at the moment, so I've been opting for a bit of indoor gardening.
Chilli's which were cut back have started to come back to life - they take up one window sill...........
A bit of 'indoor gardening' in this house means covering the kitchen in bits of compost, plants and general garden debris.  I've done alot of propagating of my houseplants - kept me busy and playing around in the compost. Window sills are beginning to fill up with plants and cuttings, which is of course what they are designed for eh? The chillis I cut back are now sprouting back into life, a good tip I found online was to cut them back in the autumn and over winter them, well that worked very well. I'm looking forward to more fruits this year!

Cheery robin, watching over my new cuttings, one window sill now nicely full........
I can at least enjoy this little bird and its cheery colour - whilst it watches over my little cuttings rather than trying to pull them up or eat them. I think whilst I've not managed to get out there much, due to the weather, its made me do a few 'indoor' things and appreciate them too. As I'm hoping to be upto my elbows in compost soon, I'm happy I guess for this dreich day to have let me appreciate my oxalis a bit more and make a few cuttings. Maybe not too dreich a weekend after all. Indoor gardening, in this climate, has a lot of benefits - mainly that you don't get blown away whilst trying to do something!

And whilst I'm indoors, I'm still debating the whole, chickens in the garden thing, I've got time to think about that and plan a little. Thank you for all your helpful comments.

Enjoy the rest of your sunday.............x

13 comments:

  1. That purple plant really is beautiful, we did admire it while we were there! I really must get into houseplants more, we have NONE (apart from one hyacinth that arrived a couple of weeks back). Absolutely appalling, and I loved being surrounded by yours! Must do something about that very soon!

    Glad cheery robin is making the rain a little less dreary!
    xx

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  2. Dear Fay, I am pleased to say that I know the word 'dreich' very well as I am an avid reader of Ian Rankin who keeps me well versed in all this Scottish...as now do you!!

    Your windowsills are certainly overflowing so I do hope that the weather will take a turn for the better soon and you may once more be able to see through your windows!! Still, on a dreach day, better to just look at the Robin.

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  3. We have shared the dreich weather here today,Does'nt look too brilliant for the coming week according to Countryfile either.
    Love that Love plant,but love the wee robin more!

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  4. Sorry to hear you have such miserable weather. That plant looks fantastic. I've never seen anything like it here unfortunately.

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  5. The weather does look a tad miserable.Thank goodness you have the lovely purple plant to cheer you up.

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  6. Lovely bright spots of colour on your dreitch day. It does look a bit bleak - hope things look brighter soon for you!

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  7. Thank you all - dreary here again today but the wind died down - phew! I love the plant too - thank you for the lovely chat on here!

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  8. What a beautiful robin, he even glows on a dreicht day, a word I loved to hear when I lived in Edinburgh. Trust the Scots to have a lovely word to describe such miserable weather. Your oxalis is a glorious colour, it almost hurts the eyes, more Dulux than Mother Nature. All that and education too - "nasty" will never be the same. Great post Fay. Hope the sun shines soon.

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  9. Fay - you really face the elements living where you do. I love the word "dreich" It says it all really.

    The oxalis is wonderful - it is such a good colour.
    K

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  10. I love the oxalis! Your post made me shiver. It reminds me of why we moved to California! Hope it warms up for you soon and allows you out to play in the garden.

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  11. I have the same oxalis - it is a beauty. And it has flowers too!!

    Hope you get a little sunshine soon ... and I love that incredible mountain.

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  12. Hey there thank you all

    Dave - the Oxalis here has one little flower - but very pretty. I love our little mountain too - thank you for popping past.

    Byddi - Its certainly shivery here at the moment - California sounds gorgeous! It gets to 14- um maybe 20 here in the summer :) postively balmy!

    Thank you Karen, tonight I drove home with the goregous open skies and was glad that I'm living here. Makes living with elements so much easier.

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  13. Janet - I love the word, its just so descriptive.

    xx I hadn't realised you'd been in Edinburgh. That plant is very dulux - I think it does OK outdoors in the 'sooth' - if you want any give me a shout.

    Thank you all very much for the lovely commenting!

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