Yes, I know, another teasel. Sorry about that. I just had to post this picture to show you how purple the flowers are on the wild-type teasels. As I recall, this one grew from a seed I brought back a few years ago from Wormwood Scrubs. The much bigger teasels that are descended from the ones we bought several years back, meanwhile, are white.
So did you see us on TV? If not, I'm happy to say I recorded the segment on my phone and posted it to YouTube (not publicly). So click here to take a look! We originally submitted about six minutes of video, in which I talked about not mowing the lawn, our wildflower area in the back corner, and gave specific plant and insect names and reasons for keeping many of our "weeds." The show used two minutes, and cut out a lot of those specifics. But you know, we're still happy. Two minutes of fame is better than nothing!
Those of you who have questioned my decision to plant burdock will be amused by the host's warning at the end of the segment that it gets badly tangled in dog hair. He's absolutely right -- for anyone with a long or even medium-haired pet, it would be a risky plant to have around. Olga has such short hair that it's not a problem for her.
These rather reproductive-looking structures appeared on our canna lilies. At first I wasn't sure what they were; I thought the plant might have some kind of disease. But no -- they're just seed pods!
We did have some wild weather yesterday as a result of Storm Evert. Lots of gusty wind and occasional downpours. I never left the house, so it didn't affect me much, except that I always had one eye on the garden to make sure it fared OK -- and it did.
Here are some signs of the times:
These scrawled messages appeared on temporary parking restriction signs on our street. There was an anti-vaccination rally at Parliament on the 19th. I disagree with this person's viewpoint, but I was nonetheless intrigued to find those messages.
This one just made me laugh! The things people do...
I spotted a big clump of the purple coloured teasels on a dog walk the other day. I never realised that they had flowers on them until you mentioned it a while ago!
ReplyDeleteThey're not very conspicuous flowers -- much less conspicuous than the seedheads themselves.
DeleteIt was great to see the three of you in the garden. I didn't realise the teasels were so tall!
ReplyDeleteWe have six teasel plants that are all taller than me -- and a few more smaller ones!
DeleteThunderous applause from Yorkshire! How absolutely spiffing that "Gardeners' World" used that footage and also - if you will pardon the pun - sowed some seeds in gardeners' minds about our attitudes to weeds. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you liked it!
DeleteOMG, you were on with Monty! How nice to see you both. Yes, burdocks are amazing, but the bane of people with sheep. I am presently enjoying the amazing six foot thistle in the sheep yard. It's what I would call a guilty pleasure, as I know I will be removing thistles for years to come.
ReplyDeleteOh, Lord, I can only imagine how burdocks must get entangled in sheep's wool. That would be miserable!
DeleteREALLY nice to see you two and your lovely garden! I enjoyed it all, and the high point for me was seeing your Lady's Mantle. You've made terrific decisions in your garden.
ReplyDeleteThanks! We love lady's mantle. We have quite a lot of it in between all the other plants in the flower beds. The ones shown on the video actually re-seeded themselves between our patio stones -- I was lifting the leaves to show the stones beneath! We like them there!
DeleteBy my calculations, you have thirteen minutes of fame left.
ReplyDeleteI guess no one ever said we have to use all 15 minutes up at once, did they?!
Deletewhat fun! it was a nice segment even if they did cut it down by two thirds.
ReplyDeleteand I don't get why people want to protest against the vaccine. I do understand that some people don't want to take it but to go out and protest against it?
I don't get it either, except I think they genuinely believe it's harmful -- not just something they don't want to take but damaging to everyone. Which is ridiculous, but hey, people believe in a lot of weird things.
DeleteSteve! That was wonderful! I'm so glad that you were able to record the segment. I can't wait to show it to Owen. He'll be thrilled! As am I. Just lovely.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it! Hope Owen gets a kick out of it too. :)
DeleteWe loved watching that video. It was great to see you and Dave. Yes! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is beautiful and I love hearing you talking about letting the weeds grow and then thinning when necessary. I think we are trying that here without intention. LOL.
Ha! It is an easy way to justify a more lackadaisical approach to garden maintenance -- but there's genuine value in that! Who says we need to keep everything in perfect trim?
DeleteThanks for the link to your video!
ReplyDeleteYou have a wonderful garden..a great improvement on what was there when you arrived.
We think so too. Hopefully the landlord feels the same way! (We told them about the show so they could watch, but I haven't heard anything back from them!)
DeleteThanks so much for the link to the video. It was great to see you both and to hear you talk about the garden...and with Monty, too. The garden is so great. Love all the variety...planned and unplanned. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteThe unplanned is the best part -- when things just show up.
DeleteYou handsome weed! Thanks for recording that, so good to see you three.
ReplyDeleteWe had fun with it!
DeleteThat video was terrific! You and Dave did so well on camera and I enjoyed the great shots of your garden before and after. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI hope we did OK. We had no script -- I spoke off the top of my head, which is why I hemmed and hawed a bit. It sounded more natural that way, I suppose -- that's what I'm telling myself!
DeleteI did enjoy seeing your lovely garden and glad that Olga got a little taste of fame too. Thank you for sharing your clip. I get BritBox here but think I have to wait as right now there is only Episode 1 of the new season.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, I didn't realize they were so far behind! I wonder why? It's a seasonal show -- it doesn't make sense to hold back the episodes for too long.
DeleteWhen you wrote about being on that show, I didn't realize it was Monty Don's show. I watched his French and Italian garden shows on Netflix and will probably watch them again because I enjoyed them so much. The Italian one even featured some gardens I visited on my last trip to Italy. I loved your 2 minute segment and your lush garden. That perspective of how tall the teasels are was great.
ReplyDeleteI guess I didn't think of them being so tall. And I really enjoyed seeing you and Dave. Very nicely done!
Yes, Monty Don is a master! We enjoy him a lot. I'll have to look for those French and Italian shows!
DeleteYou and Dave were great on video. The garden looks great, too. Teasels are an amazing plant, so are the burdocks.
ReplyDeleteIt's incredible that they come up from the ground and get so huge all in one season. (Well, they're both biennials, but they gain all their height and flower in their second season.)
DeleteFabulous video!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI'm sure you're tired of me saying this, but we had the same gusty weather with wicked rain yesterday! Okay, I'll stop now :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the clip of your garden - how exciting to be chosen for the broadcast! Did you know the burdock burrs will also stick to your clothing, your hair - well, not yours, but Dave's! - and even to your fingers or other exposed skin? They were also the inspiration for Velcro!
This is a very weird weather parallel we're having! LOL!
DeleteOh yeah, I've definitely experienced the stickiness of burdock. But they're easy enough to pull off unless they're embedded in long fibers or hair. Then it's disastrous!
So nice to see (and hear) you and Dave and, of course, glimpses of Olga! You really do have a magnificent garden. I'm so glad you were able to share it with us!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I find stuck to my dogs (and occasionally myself) are beggar lice. They would even stick to Olga.
Yeah, they're annoying. We used to get those in Florida, too, as well as sandspurs and Spanish needle, which are worse!
DeleteVery nice video! Preach those weeds - especially if they bring in the bugs!
ReplyDeleteChris from Boise
Ours seem to bring them in!
DeleteI enjoyed your video and even with their editing, you made a great video! I keep hearing Dr. Hook and their song about being on the cover of The Rolling Stone.
ReplyDeleteHa! I actually thought they did a great job editing -- it didn't hurt to take out the details. They probably figured that people watching the show would know what all the plants are, so they didn't need me to explain it.
DeleteThe clip was good to watch. I think anti vaxxers are protesting so much because they know in time they will face disadvantages and restrictions, and so they should.
ReplyDeleteI suppose, but why they're so convinced of the harmfulness of this vaccine is a mystery to me. People actually think we're all going to be dead in a year from taking the shot. It's insane.
DeleteThat was so lovely to watch. I enjoy actually seeing and hearing the people I follow online. (And Dave and Olga, of course.)
ReplyDeleteIt's natural to want to put a face and voice with someone's online persona, I guess! Glad you liked the video. Dave made me do all the talking. :)
DeleteThanks for sharing the video - it was great to see & hear you! I especially love the photo of Olga in motion from when your garden was much more tame :)
ReplyDelete