tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post8607155427171774225..comments2024-03-28T10:26:58.307+00:00Comments on Inexplicable DeVice: That Old Back Passage Called LoveInexplicable DeVicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-30848460636978151172020-12-09T19:07:49.941+00:002020-12-09T19:07:49.941+00:00Did you know he had lino in the bedroom before you...Did you know he had lino in the bedroom before you married him, Mitzi? Or was Husband #5 on the cards as soon as the honeymoon was over and you spent the first night of conjugal bliss in a linoleumed room (I hope he had the decency to have a faux-polar bear fur rug on it, at least?)?Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-20012748344603194002020-12-09T19:01:24.175+00:002020-12-09T19:01:24.175+00:00Weird indeed - the greengages in the hedge down th...Weird indeed - the greengages in the hedge down the road are in flower!Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-37532701229981442642020-12-08T18:31:20.165+00:002020-12-08T18:31:20.165+00:00I used to live in a house like that too, Moorfield...I used to live in a house like that too, Moorfield Road, Bridlington, it was opposite the gasworks. I must stress that I did not own the property nor was it the family home and it wasn't for very long either, it was my 4th husbands place, very Coronation Street, he had lino instead of a bedroom carpet. I can't believe that was 27 years and 652 husbands ago!Mitzi https://www.blogger.com/profile/01416789788174823493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-75941535424074577242020-12-06T16:13:31.961+00:002020-12-06T16:13:31.961+00:00The plastic greenhouse was always a bit of a false...The plastic greenhouse was always a bit of a false economy. At the last place we went through at least two, if not three replacement covers (the little squares of plastic held together by mesh kept falling out, so rendering it useless in the rain) and had to peg it to the ground with tent pegs to stop it blowing away. We erected it on the paved-over garden here with bricks to weight it down but it only lasted a couple of months before we gave up on trying to keep it upright and the whole thing ended up in the bin. Jx<br /><br />PS It's not only the bulbs - two of our osteospermums are covered in buds! Weird things, plants.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15501010362663971583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-84105700589929081882020-12-06T16:04:36.114+00:002020-12-06T16:04:36.114+00:00Did you live in a house like this too, Ms Scarlet?...Did you live in a house like this too, Ms Scarlet? Perhaps once we leave the EU (next month - Gulp!), Boris will make it mandatory that every Brit MUST live in a terraced house with a tight back passage for at least six months of their lives?<br /><br />As for the hint, don't worry if it doesn't come to pass this year (we don't want you adding more stress to your life/Christmas/teeth) - although I am now intrigued...Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-42520392094527873032020-12-06T15:59:14.139+00:002020-12-06T15:59:14.139+00:00Quite! I rather liked the small space as it meant...Quite! I rather liked the small space as it meant I had to be more creative in fitting everything in. One might think that selectiveness would be a key trait too but, like you, that went out the window as soon as I saw a plant (or twelve) that I liked!<br />The ferns stayed pretty small as they ended up in a pot which I haven't moved them from in a decade or so.<br /><br />I do sometimes wonder if the people who moved into Castle DeVice after me managed to keep that passionflower in check once it got going again in the summer (I moved out in February). Or if they got swamped?Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-50654410172039867372020-12-06T15:49:35.177+00:002020-12-06T15:49:35.177+00:00Ah, the plastic greenhouse! I used to have one at...Ah, the plastic greenhouse! I used to have one at Castle DeVice that lasted several years - in fact, a sliver of it can be seen behind that slovenly cow Margaret 2.0.<br />I've just come in from putting plants in the greenhouse and tidying up, and while I was out there I noticed that the dwarf irises and crocuses are coming up!Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-40937497667672573482020-12-06T14:47:20.471+00:002020-12-06T14:47:20.471+00:00Apologies! I am late!!!
Oh. You mean me, don'...Apologies! I am late!!! <br />Oh. You mean me, don't you? I'm supposed to take a hint. Okay then. It is almost in hand :-)<br />I adore the jungly back passage - it gives me hope that one day I will gain control over my unruly bush.<br />Meanwhile, is it a rite of passage that every Brit, at some point, lives in a house like your old one?!<br />Sx<br />Ms Scarlethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00449626572478125088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-69523950835048616842020-12-06T13:26:05.745+00:002020-12-06T13:26:05.745+00:00Since our plastic greenhouse was destroyed by stor...Since our plastic greenhouse was destroyed by storms, we've taken pot luck on things surviving by being tucked away on shelves against the wall of the house. Fingers crossed... The only thing we've lost so far to frost was a venerable old scented-leaf pelargonium. All our pots of bulbs are already sprouting, so maybe they know something we don't? JxJonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15501010362663971583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-90343294461093133722020-12-06T10:26:19.150+00:002020-12-06T10:26:19.150+00:00How lovely. I can see the similarity. We share the...How lovely. I can see the similarity. We share the love of Ferns and jambing in as much as we can. It is not the size that matters it is what you do with it !<br />I like the way you can see the garden change from month to month. Plants and flowers filling up all the space to bursting point. Your Passion Flower looks like it is trying to take over the world or at least Norwich.<br />Glad you still have the Ferns, they must be quite a size by now<br />It is Ab Fab to be reminded of the Spring and Summer along with the essentials of any garden, namely Ella Fitzgerald, a Blackbird and a Pixie or Elf or two.<br />We only have a Gnome<br /><br />ttfn <br /> Madam Arcatihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05697235864401310471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-21126805596269033602020-12-06T08:01:35.658+00:002020-12-06T08:01:35.658+00:00"TFGES" sounds like a partiallly withhel..."TFGES" sounds like a partiallly withheld sneeze - I grant you a pardon.Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-32026004101025398052020-12-06T08:00:19.873+00:002020-12-06T08:00:19.873+00:00Fear not, Dinah! I forsee rain at lunchtime. Alb...Fear not, Dinah! I forsee rain at lunchtime. Albeit Tuesday lunchtime, so hopefully your garden can hang on until then.Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-32659294331539560172020-12-06T07:56:17.486+00:002020-12-06T07:56:17.486+00:00Oh, yes, I forgot about your January escapades in ...Oh, yes, I forgot about your January escapades in the previous Delargo Gardens! I hope that's something I never have to contemplate, nevermind actually do.<br />Having said that, I've just opened the curtains to a blanket of frost - time to get the Eucomis and Asarinas into the greenhouse, perhaps...<br />Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-49923123500842627152020-12-05T13:39:10.699+00:002020-12-05T13:39:10.699+00:00TFGES! Oh, pardon me. I was meant to ignore that. ...TFGES! Oh, pardon me. I was meant to ignore that. The Mistresshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07109289531733623207noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-83237330190753359192020-12-04T22:58:35.242+00:002020-12-04T22:58:35.242+00:00It's lovely to have little treasures by way of...It's lovely to have little treasures by way of continuity. Our first garden together was, of course, not our first home (there were two in Plymouth before moving to London, then a shoebox in Ealing before we spent almost a decade in our first flat in Harringay, also upstairs). The first actual downstairs outside space was rather tiny and our plants there were mostly annuals; however we still have the rather splendid "Bishop's Children" Dahlia (grown from seed) from this era, as well as the Asarina (which tbh is probably seed-of-a-seed-of-a-seed by now) - any other plants we transported from there either died (lilies, pelargoniums) or ended up moving to friends' gardens eventually (crocosmia, delphiniums). The garden immediately before this one, however - apart from our entire first collection of fuchsias (casualties of the dreaded mite) and a few other border plants that we reasoned would never adapt to growing in pots (knautia, coreopsis, kniphofia, gladioli, which also went to new homes) - I dug up (in a snowy January) and transported in its entirety to adorn our current extensive gardens of Dolores Delargo Towers, and are still flourishing. Familiarity breeds contempt, my arse! JxJonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15501010362663971583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-33663663016299736582020-12-04T22:15:07.442+00:002020-12-04T22:15:07.442+00:00I love your jungle-y garden!So many things that do...I love your jungle-y garden!So many things that do not grow here.In fact, right now, there are more things on the verge of dying.So far, our wet season seems to have lost the coordinates...dinahmowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00052642938090553088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-56701381288815828652020-12-04T19:31:28.324+00:002020-12-04T19:31:28.324+00:00Well, I didn't want to over-egg the pudding, s...Well, I didn't want to over-egg the pudding, so to speak...Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-22847747787643077812020-12-04T19:30:30.090+00:002020-12-04T19:30:30.090+00:00Oh, and amongst that lot somewhere is a magnolia, ...Oh, and amongst that lot somewhere is a magnolia, and an unintentionally bonsai-ed pine tree (grown from a seed brought back from Spain by my landlord [who lived next door] in a huge pine cone), which have also made it to Hexenhäusli Device!Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-65979148352264262442020-12-04T19:26:54.334+00:002020-12-04T19:26:54.334+00:00It is said that one always remembers/has the fonde...It is said that one always remembers/has the fondest feelings for one's first, and that's true for me with this back passage. Castle DeVice was my first home - and garden - after moving out of the childhood home.<br /><br />Even though the avocado has long since carked it (it made it to Castle DeVice #2 with SP but was frozen to death in the winter of 2010/11, I think), and the Zantedeschia turned to mush in a previous cold winter, a handful of smaller specimens have moved with me to see two castles, a castelette, a chateau, and now Hexenhäusli Device: Some of those little ferns around the mock orange in the May 2008 photo live on; as does that variegated agave in the Hippeastrum photo, and the little semperviviums and fuchsias in the Mid-Summer 2008 pic below.Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-38801659348210575622020-12-04T00:54:55.452+00:002020-12-04T00:54:55.452+00:00You didn't even use the words "back passa...You didn't even use the words "back passage" as labels.normadesmondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17325110017442011627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-13409483677274342572020-12-03T22:55:50.800+00:002020-12-03T22:55:50.800+00:00What an impressive back passage you have/had, dear...What an impressive back passage you have/had, dear!<br /><br />Like us, it seems, you have had many a move over the years - we're on "Dolores Delargo Towers #3" now (before that we only had a window box in an upstairs abode). Yet some of our plants have dutifully followed us on our travels - do you still have any from this "jungle" with you in Hexenhäusli Device? JxJonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15501010362663971583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-35515865258613513012020-12-03T18:19:21.368+00:002020-12-03T18:19:21.368+00:00It is more traditionally "witchy", I'...It is more traditionally "witchy", I'll grant you. And, although the coalman never made it inside, certain special entrances were in use for other visitors.Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-27994884684315880262020-12-03T18:15:19.806+00:002020-12-03T18:15:19.806+00:00I do miss living there now and again. But those w...I do miss living there now and again. But those were different times...Inexplicable DeVicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04187364843729214996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-13377911455031260852020-12-03T17:25:51.542+00:002020-12-03T17:25:51.542+00:00I'm afraid I prefer it to your current chateau...I'm afraid I prefer it to your current chateau. Did it have a special entrance for the coalman as they did in the Black Country?Hound of Hecatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09844511746240773640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17645685.post-85532222688774483152020-12-03T17:22:51.699+00:002020-12-03T17:22:51.699+00:00I'm finding myself very fond of your cottage. ...I'm finding myself very fond of your cottage. And I do like prolific growth around a rear entrance myself. Very nice indeedHound of Hecatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09844511746240773640noreply@blogger.com