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After visiting 2 sets of friends who each are very proud of their lolipop olive trees ive come to realise that others is rather magnificent.
My mum bought it from the supermarket 10 years ago and it was less than a foot tall.
What have you got that you are proud of?
.ignore!
From the thread title I was expecting this to be the announcement that Greg Wallace has joined Monty Don's presenting team
We have a garden. We're nowhere near retirement so nature does her thing. We advise, nature pushes back. Plants that require regular watering tend to die. I can appreciate a fine manicured garden, but also I like a bit overgrown and wild. Its a bit like shaving, a potentially endless battle I see no point in engaging with. Trim when it gets itchy 😬
The Magnolia tree that came with the house 😁
It has taken a load of trimming each year to stop it from completely blocking the second story window.
It's amazing for about a week
My kids like climbing in it's low branches
It has helped keep the back of the house cool in the blazing heat
I absolutely love it ❣️ 
There’s several things in this photo I’m quietly proud of, the apple tree is one my folks bought in a pot donks ago, probably from a garden centre and which my step-dad treated very poorly.
Not knowing much about looking after apple trees, after unsuccessfully replanting it in a bigger hole, then in the nice big pot, and it still not being very happy, I asked a professional and started feeding it and watering it a lot more, and this year it’s got so many apples on it the weight is pulling it out of the pot! It’s now properly up straight.
Just below it is an Acer that I found as a tiny seedling that was growing in a pot, from a seed shed by my big specimen tree, Acer Palmatum Osakazuki, which is around 40 years old now, and the shrub rose against the wall is one I grew from a seed taken from a hedge at the Butterfly Centre at Royal Wootton Bassett when I visited with Joey about six years ago.
This Acer is another one I grew from a seedling from the same parent tree, which it’s just underneath.
The sheet of plastic board is sitting on top of the hedgehogs feeding station, it’s to keep the rain out of the box.
The small, pale green variegated Acer dicectum is one I bought recently to replace a seedling that’s struggled for several years, but never managed to grow decent roots, and sadly withered and died.
At some point I’m sure I’ll find another seedling from the big tree that I can cultivate - there were two more, which I gave to friends, which are doing pretty well.
Not really gardening, but garden related.
This is Milo, cared for in rescue (local rescue centre) then released under the shed by SWMBO.
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Hmmm. I can take no credit for them and I almost always forget what they are called, but we have some bonkers agapanthus at the front of our house. They were here when we moved in, and we haven't touched them. They get no love, but every year we get these bonkers large flower heads on them.
Most years someone snips at least one or two of the flower heads off (for seeds or to stick in a vase, I don't know). A bit annoying, as if they asked we would gladly let them have one, but to cut them without asking seems a bit off.
We frequently see/hear people talking about them as they walk past and sometimes get asked questions about them; questions I can never answer as I have no clue about them.
No pics as my daughter & I literally dead-headed them yesterday.
@piemonster - that ‘hogs a big one! My current big one, as far as I know, is a bit smaller than that. I had a regular visitor that got so used to me going out to sort out their supper dishes that if he was inside the feeding station, he’d sit on a plate while I filled the other two, then let me pick him up while I sorted the third plate, and start scoffing the food while I put the lid on!
6 acres of rainforest and sclerophyll with almost no weeds and hundreds of species of flora (including an olive tree) and fauna (and a few dirt jumps). It's not gardening as such, but it is a fantastic place to live.
whoopsie
Same view. The day we bought the house and a few years later.
Despite having minimal gardening experience (mostly helping my dad when I was a nipper), I agreed to take on the development of a fledgling community garden we inherited at work. This is it when I took over 2 years ago, and how it looks at the moment.
Count - looking good but you might want to consider thinning the apples, both to improve the quality of this year’s crop and improve the chances of a decent drop next year. At the very least reduce clusters of three to two and take out any below top quality - snip rather than pull off unwanted. And you can lightly prune the leaves to help ripening - youtube is your friend for that.
@blackhat - I’m already doing that, even the little apples are quite tasty and juicy, so I’ve been going through them and stripping out the small ones, then eating them!
That’s still going to leave me with more apples this year than at any time since my folks bought the tree, and that’s easily 25-30 years ago.
I bought a few raspberry plants a couple of years ago, and last year planted them out into bigger pots, and one of them has got a single stem that’s as tall as me, now!
Or it would be if it wasn’t bending over - I’m going to have to get some longer canes.
One small thing that’s been a surprise, and that’s a sycamore seedling I found growing in another plant pot. I thought I’d replant it, and it’s grown quite well, but something has taken a shine to its leaves, possibly leaf-cutter bees? Anyway, I’m keeping it fairly small, just because it’s obviously useful to some insect or other…
From little acorns great oak trees grow. When junior was very young he brought some acorns home. I shollow burried some in a flower bed and some time later noticed a weed with an oak leak. I transplanted it to pride of place in the middle of the lawn and it's now 5m tall. There's a maple and some elms that I've also found growing in flower beds and transplanted with the idea of having a mini forest hopefully far enough from the house it doesn't increase fire risk.
Take care with the sycamore - they have a reputation for outgrowing their welcome
Sycamore do spread a lot. I have a couple of trees (one either side of the path to the house) in my garden and the seedlings get everywhere. Mind you, I have birch seedlings everywhere as well, so I guess it evens out.
And nettles.
And dandelions. Dammit.