Terry Thornton gardens in the north of England and has begifted this forum with numerous photos and text beyond his own home page...
Terry's Site ... where his latest work shares wonderous July blooms. Thanks Terry - those clematis and all were mouth watering this month!

Now that his original thread on this forum 'The Growth of Gardens in England' is getting a bit overgrown, I thought it best to start afresh.

Just to start it off, so I don't get ribbed about the empty canvas. :-)

A colour/form combo, purple Clematis viticella Polish Spirit and yellow Clematis tangutica.

Terry, you are an artiste! That is a spectacular combination.

Couldn't have posted a better first canvas! We want more! We want more! Headed to your website, Terry. Thank you!

Maggie, I don't know what you mean...ribbing, from us?!?

Right Gail, would we kid a kidder, tease a teaser, rib a ribber ?!?

Aren't those 2 colors sensational together! BJ is really going to enjoy Terry's site this month, so many wonderful clems to drool over.

How about this for a way to grow sedums. Wish it was mine.

That's pretty cool. Is it an optical illusion, or is the base triangular shaped? At the bottom it just looks like a wall, but at the top the surface area looks huge.

So wonderful to see that beautiful piece of work. I see what Caro means, it is hard to tell if the planting is only on the wall cap and the yellow background is growing on sloping ground, or if the whole thing is a raised bed. Is it public or private Terry?

I adore sedums and would love to do something similar but must keep the fanciest ones (slowest growers) in pots. Here I go again, moaning about the pill bugs,,, but they absolutely strip the best sedums bare, down to the roots, when I've planted them in the beds or rock wall crevices. Was spreading pill bug infested compost today and aching again about it - can not wait to try our new idea of adding bene nematodes to the piles in hopes of it foiling the little beasts. Won't you guys be sooo glad if it does the job and you won't have to listen to my moaning every time someone mentions one of my pill bugs' favorite meals!

It is an old farm building on private land with a public right of way running by. The roof is covered in thick stone slates, as used to be fairly common in this area. Other buildings close by have been renovated and turned into housing, would you like to see? of course you would.

Most old stone built farm out buildings in this country are being converted into beautiful and interesting accomodation. I am enjoying watching the gardens develop and mature on the ones above. Like mine they are on a North facing slope.

These are some more in the same development, should appeal to all you country lovers, I want the one with all the glass that used to be the barn. The building to the left is a new stable block, the surrounding area is woodland and open fields on all sides, am I drooling? ;-)

Wow. The house looks pretty big, but adding what I assume to be the old barn or stables, it must be huge. Imagine farming in a place where the summers get rain and cooler weather. I just walked down to the mailbox which is a quarter mile. A blasted killer bumble bee chased me halfway down there. Just glad: 1) it didn't sting me; and 2) it chased me down the hill rather than up the hill! I'm fascinated with the farm pic. Do you have anymore?

I happen to know Caro is a barn freak :-) which explains her begging for more! Now THIS is a barn anyone could get excited about. And I'm with you Terry about rejoicing in the conversions of these wonderful buildings made of quality materials - made to last. I lived in an ancient village built of brick and stone buildings, slate and lead roofs and cobbled anything. When some fool built a garage/filling station of corrugated aluminum on the high street in the 60's, the citizens went mad and instigated it never happen again. It hasn't. But the closest farm buildings behind the high street have been made into glorious residences with similar window treatments and the village highly approves. Me too, I really need to start buying lottery tickets.

Right now, I'd be happy just to have that great mound of stable sweepings in the pic! Wow, that would make some great fertilizer for this rocky garden! Oooooo look, there are even TWO turned piles of BLACK-ready-for-the-garden stuff! Now we know why you go on these walks Terry (with empty sacks?) AND have a GREAT garden.

If you come with empty sacks Maggie, you should go to the woodland, rich black moist leafmould, two feet deep.

And what wood *I* tell the customs man? ...
Hay, I just now straw it for the first time too. Dung know who poopt that in there. It was knot I.

Oh, no, wait,,, leafmould,,, not poo,,, I'll have to work on that one a little morel.

Yep sure sounds like alien talk to me, Captain. :-)

The peacocks have arrived. They seem attracted to my heavy girlfriend.

Garden has been awash with them for the past three days, great to see them and especially in large numbers.

There goes the family rating Terry !
But she and her friends sure are beautiful. Thanks for letting us enjoy it too.

How wonderful that they picked the prettiest spot in the garden to pose!
By the way, Roland sends his regards to Pandora. I think he's quite smitten. They'll be able to see eye to eye soon, when I find him a pedestal. (I put all my men on pedestals.)

All I can say is, I might spend more time out side if I had a HEAVY Girlfriend like that Terry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Loved the Peacocks too!!

I just KNEW you'd comment on this one David - all in the name of art of course!!

Peacocks?!?!?

Wow Terry. I bet you really thought I was nuts when I advised Maggie not to get peacocks for her garden a while back.

Thank you Caro! I had the same thoughts before the pix loaded completely! Terry, how many inches are they 4-5? The butterflies, I mean. (Let's see if we can keep our minds out of the gutter and on the garden, if we can...ha!) I was picturing the fowls doing nasty things with the art piece until I saw the picture. Then to find they are beautiful flutter-things instead...hmmm, I must clean up my mind!

Ok Gail, if we are going to get down and dirty on this (another poor choice of words me thinks) here goes,,,
Everytime I come to this thread to read the new posts and see Pandora in all her glory, I can't help but think what a beautiful body she has and how depressed I would be if I had to look at that everyday, reminding me of the impossible ;-) I could lie and say - 'of the old days' Ha. Sooooo, I can't help but wonder about how wife Christina feels about your other woman, Terry? (No side stepping allowed)

Well chaps, I am shocked and stunned by all this double en tendre I thought that this was a family show! But Terry I did think you actually meant Peacocks (birds) as opposed to butterflys, do you smear honey over your girlfriend to make her more attractive?

Now I really am confused! What do you Brits/Welsh refer to as peacocks? To me, it looks like butterflies on the girlfriend, but Terry called them peacocks, which to me is a large bird. Will someone clarify please??

I always wondered how that was spelt Nicola.
The honey is for the butterflies, right ;-).

Its safe to say 'Brit' for Welch too Caro - They will all concede to being British but,,, just don't call anyone from Ireland, Scotland or Wales 'English'. Right Chaps ;-)?

Come on Terry,,,, stop stalling.

The insects are called peacock butterflies, Carolyn, due to the eye markings on the wings being similar to those in the peacocks tail. Sorry for the intended confusion. :-)
In answer to Maggies, no side stepping, Christine just tells me to be careful, and remember that the girl in question (Shy Maiden, Pandora is the other one)nearly did my back in last time I tangled with her.

Sorry Nicola, nearly forgot your question, so busy squirming out of Maggies. Nothing on to attract them, just a good place to stop and soak up the warmth from the sun.
Here's a pic showing the markings that give them their name.

Nice picture Terry.....but lets get back to the GIRL friend.......You put honey where???????

Nice picture Terry.....but lets get back to the GIRL friend.......You put honey...... where???????

Great pictures, but I think calling them "peacocks" is really stretching it. I've never seen any butterflies like that. And thank you, Nicola, for privately explaining this to me, while these other guys were trying to gaslight me about the peacocks.

Oh No, we've gotten David's imagination up again!
How wonderful to snap a photo of the peacock on a 'butterfly bush' ... and of purple to match its spots... and the bloom has red eyes! Would that be a 'Dark Knight' Buddleja/Buddleia Terry, or maybe a 'Black Knight'? I noticed the species B. davidii reseeds wild & weedy in the so. of England and was wondering if the cultivars re-seed as much in a milder climate than mine? I have Dark K and Pink Delight, but have never seen any seedlings - course those pill bugs do most of my weeding before I even get a chance to choose! So it may not be a climate thing.

Not Black Night, Maggie, it's the one on my site for July, I thought it was fallowiana, but I'm not certain. The growth habit is much nicer than the more usual davidii, lower growing and more arching, much more graceful. I do have Black Night, but the flowers are over all too soon for my liking. I do get lots of self seeded ones springing up around the elegant one, but have not as yet grown any on.

You Texans are praying for an end to summer and we are watching a fast approaching autumn and mourning a summer that never was. Still it has been a good growing time, even if we didn't get to sit out much and enjoy the flowers.

Sorry David, no more Maiden pics. I had to go out this morning and wipe the spiders webs off her chest, awful job, but somebody has to do it.

Thanks so much for the last posting Terry... You can tell I was HONEYED out earlier....When I posted TWICE......Wow, I must of lost my thought for a second......Gee, Terry sorry to hear your Summer is going.....Ours will be too ONE DAY and I can not WAIT......I hope you used a good feather duster on your maiden...seems only proper...you know....

Don't encourage him any more Terry ;-)
btw, Some of us prefer live art in the garden.

Okay I'm a bit behind on reading this weekend. The pix of the butterfly is wonderful. Thanks Terry. Wish we had the nonsummer here. I've decided I'm ready to move to Washington state or Oregon and grow REAL flowers.

Umm, Maggie. By "live" art in the garden, are you by chance referring to the Adonis working the mulcher?

Well lets see..."LIVE ART"........No, I am going to be good....So many jokes, so little time...........

Ah the art of subtle word play, yet Caro sussed to it faster than the butterfly.
Long live live art. (Not a typo)

Some things I snap to faster than others!

While the rat's away the cat's can play, Terry ;-). This is to let everyone know he has his new August pages up. They are as always, brilliant, even in spite of the puter crash loosing 600 pics.
Let's sneak a peek while he's off in Scotland, the rat... while we are roasting over here!
Terry's Garden

A sunset to compensate for the slug pic.

Not only Atlanta that burns.....

Fantastic!

Now that warms my cockles... and I don't even have to risk UV eye burn to savor it. Thanks Terry!
See what I meant about those UK sunsets!?
And think about this - orange and purple in human compositions can seldom pull it off as well as Nature's works. Blooms of those two colors together knock my lights out too. Now imagine that combination on fabric (60's) or walls (70's) or hair (80's), none of which will ever attain 'classic' design status. All proving once again, that Dame Nature is the ultimate designer!

Careful Maggie, you're dating yourself! Terry, thanks so much, it more than makes up for the slug pix!

My mother told me about it ;-)

Terry's Sept pages are up!
Sept in a Yorkshire garden
As always, they inspire tons of thoughts and questions that I usually E him about.

Terry's Jan 2001 is posted} ;-)
Love the ugli iris - i need to research that. Wonder where it is native to? I'm sorry your allium is not as rewarding as my kind is - One gals winter allium is a sister to another chaps weed - don't you love it! But yours has MUCH nicer flowers than mine - they look like white bluebells.

This is so interesting that the Narcissus cyclamineus has not bloomed that early for me - maybe they are of diff strains, or it is the climate diff. - that is what is blooming in the fairies patch pic of my comestrollie, but it is an old pic without benefit of date. But they are not even in bud yet - think it is more like March. Since my article was on 'spring and winter' bloomers under the mulberrries, it seemed strange to post pics of things that bloom from december to march instead of the current stuff.

Your note about being pressured to work the garden better now that it is on view 'out there' - can you imagine having it open to warm bodies??? ack Have you ever considered doing an open day for the NG Scheme or Red Cross as Nicola does? I have been to quite a few of them, and I know yours would be a treat to all who came Terry.

Nice try Maggie, but unfortunately you read last January's pages. J I shall have to learn how you people put links on here, tried to get the formatting but just coming up page not found. So here it is the clumsy way. http://GardeningAndWildlife.homestead.com/files/index.htm
Hope I got that right.
I can send seed of my Allium later if you are brave, but be very careful where you plant them.

I'll try to do this Terry.

Terry's New Website

oh,, I was thinking the url wouldn't change unless you went to your own domain. Should've waited til this morning instead of trying doing it with eyes propped open with matchesticks. See how good last year's was, that I thought it was current ;-).
My comments still apply, except now there are more for you to deal with :) I'm so impressed with you growing that Cordyline from seed! They are such traditional plants for architectural body over there. When I wanted that effect below the round steps, I used clumping yuccas (without regret) because cordylines are not commr grown here. There are so many Aussie plants that TX gardeners could use, maybe more will become more available with the recent gardening upsurge herebouts.
Are the beautiful ugli iris blooming yet this year?

Yes they are blooming now Maggie, but as you noticed I used them last January already. They would be great plants for you Texans, they will only doing well for me in the dry spot under my front window, in almost sand and south facing, with my Wisteria making sure they get almost no water. If you can get seed the Cordyline is real easy to germinate and grows pretty fast, when somewhat larger than mine they have a cloud of creamy white flowers.

Terry! How lovely is the Celandine! Maggie, is that a Texas grower? Can we even find it? Also, just loved the Duck Potato.

Loved the light color on the front facia and door. It looks a little lighter than my choice this year but I'm loving the way it looks at my place with plants up against it. Hope you like yours too!

It's such a woodland baby but I would guess it couldn't take our summers perennial. so sad, but ya never know till ya try. Why not give it a go Gail,, it might be as tough as some of the other things we can grow in an irrigated shade garden. You be the guinea pig , ok ? ;-)

You may have a chance with it Gail, it dies away completely by end of May, but you would still need a shady spot. If it's happy it self seeds around and it does need sun to open the flowers.

Okay, now I've been challenged and I'm on the hunt to find it in a catalogue!

I love adventurous gardeners! There's a lot of things here that wouldn't be, if I had only followed regional books when the garden began ;-)

Terrrrry what's this about not including your u iris because they are on last years page. Pshaw. Consider last years archived, and continue to share the things you are esp enjoying each month. Each year, things mature, gardener discovers more, new visitors partake,,, let your pages evolve as the garden does :-) okay???

Btw, Pashaw = Poppycock, or the more contemporary,, BS :-)

Hmmm and what could BS stand for? I know that one Bovine Spillage.

Just don't hold back on the new pages :-)