What's a Master Gardener?

London, Paleeeeeeese Robbie, go wash your mouth out, only kidding!!!!! smirk. I am indeed just a few miles from Greenock, where IBM was and is almost closed down now, all the ship yards have gone and my husbands line of work, power stations, have seen their day, but lucky, we have retired, just in time I think, I was born in Edinburgh and lived a childhood of bliss in the countryside, so we decided we would bring the kids up as country bumpkins too, now onto Grand-kids, even they are now big, bad and expensive, all in that order, actually no, I am blessed, you prob know lots of folks from the small town I live on the outskirts of, where you get the ferry over to Millport, they mostly hail from Greenock, IBMers. we visit the USA each your and go to Florida, place called Naples, love it, trying to get husband to agree we need a place there for the winters as I cant cope with them here any more, the cold, wet damp weather dont help people with back trouble.
If you can send a pic of the Daisies you are looking for, I will do my best to send the seeds on, but there are a huge family of Bellis and will need further info, colour, size etc, or do you mean the weed ones we get in the lawn ????? Great to meet you folks, and let me wish you health, wealth and happiness throughout 2008, or as we say, Awra Best, lang may yir lumb reek. Weenel.

LOL my hubby is from Dunoon and didn't get all of that last part-LOL
Yes, I did in fact mean the weed-LOL, I want it to grow all over my yard. I loved that little weed so to me it is not a weed :o)
It was the cutest little flower and I love it. I would sit in my front garden with my son and make daisy chains with him. I think it would be wonderful if I got rid of all my weeds here and planted those "weeds" all over the place. Do you know if they set seed? I would love to have them and I am not joking! Its amazing what you miss most when you move away. Hubby misses sausage rolls and Rowantree fruit Pastelles...and I miss the sound of the waves, the wind and lose little lawn daisies-LOL

Have you ever been over for Cowal games?
So nice to chat with you, thanks so much! Robbi

Hi Robbi, been to the Cowel games more times than I care to mention, they ain't the same any more so have missed the last few years, the prob for me with the games now, the youngsters have decided it is a great excuse to go to an island and get drunk out of their heads, so not only do you trip over them in the street, you have to jump away as the vomit ejects from their faces on the ferry home again, the best bit of the games for me and family is the last march past when about 150 pipe bands come playing down the street all in different tartans and all various levels of playing ability, the very young kids in the pipe bands are just wonderful, so confident and do they swing those kilts, you cant drink outside the pubs now so you have to get your prized spot on the roadway way before the pipe bands all start up, it is a shame that some imbeciles spoil such a tradition for others, or am I just showing my age. I will see what I can do about your Daisies, mine are dying off now with the frost at night, but believe me, they will return with a vengeance next year, I will see if any wild seed places have them and let you know, they spread like mad too so watch where you grow them if I can send them. The last bit translated to.
Awra Best, Lang May yir lumb reek.
All the best, long may your lumb reek. meaning long may your chimney smoke, ie you will be rich enough to keep your home warm. the reason in Scotland of old, when you visited someones home to bring in the new year, you took a lump of coal with you, so a good fire meant lots of friends and a warm home, does that help. By the way, my old friend Vivian and Fred, used to own the Cote House Pub (inn) on Dunoon years ago.WeeNel.

what in the world are you doing up so late-get to your kip girl! LOL
I love the last march! I also love the the caber toss etc.

I miss Dunoon so much, the Cowal games were just a part of it. I miss the Clyde and watching the Ferry cross this time of year with that wonderful wind.

Thanks for writing that out, I think my hubby got mad at himself for not knowing it-LOL....he also remembers the Cot House-was it passed Sandbank?
We try to do first foot here in the States, but we never get a tall man to bring us coal. I miss that. Hogmanay is just not the same.
Now, I will close so you can get your sleep. I would love those daisies, so we need to keep in touch :o)
I also would love to hear about the plants/flowers you like to have in your garden. I would be more than happy to share seeds with you if you are interested :o)
Robbi

Robbi, where I live is totally exposed to the elements that come straight off the water, last week we had 70 mile hour gales, so you can imagine, anything that has not yet lost their leaves are shredded after that, we garden on 10 acres, but, leave a lot of it as woodland, but the benefit of that is I get a lot more diversity for planting, like shade, damp bits, sunny walls and an abundant of wildlife, so I feel as though I am in a landing place for heaven, I love it. The soil is much the same as on the Island you left called Dunoon, which is red sandy and very acidic, so after a good few trials and errors, we decided we cant really change nature, we now stick to plants that prefer that soil, Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Camelias etc, trees are Pine, Beech, Tulip trees, Hazel, etc,etc, different types of these ofcourse, when we came here, there had at one time been an old Victorian garden, traces it back to the 1820,s so we set about looking for photo of what it looked like before, so that has been our work for the past 20 years, trying to re-establish the layout and shrubs/flowers etc, they had before us. Around the house I have managed to change the soil over the years with loads of manure, fish/bone meal and seaweed etc, so I have ornamental borders that I can grow all my old time favorites, like Roses (protected from the deer)
Delphiniums, Cannas, all the perennials you would grow in the Victorian era, it is really hard work because of our situation right on the sea, so the salt spray, wind and everything else the elements throw at the garden, but once you master how to garden in these conditions, you really do enjoy it, as my daughter would tell you, it is my sanatorium and keeps me sane, I also have a large greenhouse a conservatory etc, so I am able to grow lots of tender plants that need special care here in Scotland, so I can do gardening all year round unless it is freezing cold. I have the sea to the front of me and way, way behind, farm land so it is very quiet and peaceful, no close neighbours, close enough to town if I need it, but far enough away if I want to live in the garden all summer, because of our situation, we get loads of friends and family come for a few days/weeks at a time, it is wonderful, but have to say, after about a week, I just want to get the place to myself and hide in the garden, My grand-kids love the place and spend a lot of their school holidays with us, thankfully, they also like the garden, dens and we made them cycle tracks through the woods for them to enjoy and stay out of my hair if I'm busy. If I look out my windows and across the water, I look directly over to Mount Stewart house (the Earl Of Butes home) if I see that on a clear day, I know it will be great weather wise, but if not, then there is a storm coming in, you just learn to read the weather, and believe me, here, in my garden, you need to be pretty sure or within an hour, you can get devastation. hope this helps you understand our area and layout. Best wishes. Weenel.