Hostas are emerging from the ground along with ground covers, day lilies, phlox, sedum, grasses, poppies and more. Once the warmer weather and sun kick in, it’s always fun to see how quickly plants start to grow.
I stopped by our local nursery yesterday. There’s not a huge amount of inventory available, but that will change now that spring is here. I picked up some bags of top soil and a flat of gorgeous pansies, since I knew I could plant them in my urns. They’re hardy – just in case we get a freakish cold weather day.
It’s immensely cheering to see some colorful flowers on and near the porch. Pansies make me happy.
I’ve been watching a British gardening show on Netflix called Big Dreams, Small Spaces. The host is Monty Don, who is a sort of gardening hero in Britain. I knew about him via Instagram (I follow him) so when I came upon this show, I was thrilled. He works with people who want to turn front or backyards into a beautiful garden and it’s a lot of fun. Plus, I learn a lot.
Heaven knows, we can’t expect any gardening shows from HGTV. Those days are apparently gone as they’ve locked into an endless stream of House Hunters and “Flip” shows, all of which bore me to tears. I realize they are a cash cow for the network but for me they’re a big, fat yawn. I really only watch Home Town – and that’s over for the season. Remember the days of gardening programming? And a host of other wonderfully unique shows?
Thank goodness the Brits are true garden lovers. I imagine there will always be garden programs across the pond. And thank goodness for Netflix!
Today it’s a ‘rain all day’ kind of day so I’m going to run some necessary errands.
Happy Wednesday.
Monty Don on You Tube and Netflix are what got me through these last 2 months of winter. The climate in which he gardens is nothing like mine but when the snow is blowing and piling up out my window a visit with Monty Don helps me through.
I am shopping for pansies today!
I love him. He’s smart and kind.
yes!
xo
I’ve seen that show listed on Netflix and I’ll give it a watch now. No garden shows on HGTV and yes it is so much of the same old thing. I like to watch homes be redone and the styling is lovely but then you know that the homeowners don’t keep it all unless they pay for it. Sours me a bit. I want to see how they really look with their real furniture and things. Grumble grumble! I love Home Town, such a sweet couple and Laurel, MS is such a lovely little town. I’ve been there as a blogging friend lives in Laurel and has a booth in an antique mall. She said they really are a nice couple and do great work.
You can tell they’re nice people. I liked Fixer Upper, too, but Joanna’s style was almost always the same: shiplap, industrial, open shelving in the kitchen, subway tile, etc. And she filled the houses with her furniture brand…
oh, those flowers are beautiful! and i am so glad and grateful that spring is finally here!
no gardening shows for me as i don’t have a place to garden. i used to watch and enjoy a couple british comedies: “keeping up appearances” (with hyacinth bucket insisting her last name was pronounced “boo-kay” [bouquet] even though everyone else knew otherwise) and “are you being served?”. a little sweet silliness on a saturday night. :)
happy wednesday!
kathy in iowa
Oh yes. Patricia Routledge was brilliant as Hyacinth. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every episode. She’s a great physical comedienne.
Hi, Claudia, I was searching for pansies to buy just yesterday! I think Mother and I would have gone insane this last couple of months if it wasn’t for all the brilliant British programming – Doc Martin, Poldark, Midsomer Murders, Escape to the Country (yes, it’s house hunting but I love to see how much more realistic and pragmatic UK home hunters are!), and of course the fun gardening shows that kept us dreaming in between poring over the White Flower Farm garden catalog! In addition to Big Dreams, Small Spaces we have also enjoyed Love Your Garden. Right now, only the bunnies are loving my garden but hopefully I’ll be able to soon join them!!
Oh I love Escape to the Country. Completely different than American shows. And they haven’t bought the house before the filming, which is what happens on HGTV. I’ll check out Love Your Garden, as well! Thanks, Martha! (The rose bushes you sent me are starting to leaf out.)
Agreed! Big Dreams, Small Spaces was a delight. I loved the different motivations behind the various gardens. That and almost weekly visits to a Wisconsin Nursery (for indoor plants)have helped me survive the usual winter doldrums. I am quite enamored currently with The Great British Baking Show. So very kind. HGTV… Ho hum… It started off with so much variety. No longer a go to.
I love that show, too. I’ve watched a lot of episodes and have a lot yet to see! Thanks, Pam. I agree about HGTV.
Claudia, Some times I catch P.Allen Smith’s Gardening shows. Then he will do some cooking . :) Those flip and redo ‘s of houses…gee the money involved they may as well build new. I miss Decorating Cents. Love your new sweet pansies. They are so hardy. Blessings, xoxo, Susie
I used to watch that show – I don’t know if it’s on my PBS station out of NYC. I’ll have to check. Thanks, Susie!
the just ruined HGTV. it’s nothing compared to what it used to be.
i quit watching it years ago.
it’s now exactly as you described it. and boring in the extreme. AND unrealistic.
your little pansies are beautiful. it’s quite chilly here today! but we’re happy no severe weather is on tap. :)
It’s rainy and chilly here, but it isn’t snowing and it isn’t below freezing. I’ll take it!
I’m lucky that I have four or five PBS stations from which to choose. Every evening as I prepare dinner, I can watch P. Allan Smith Garden Home or Growing a Greener World. I love PBS shows, especially the mystery series, and Great British Baking is so much better than that scandal-laced poor excuse of an American version. I’m disappointed in the direction HGTV has gone, and also Food Network. They’ve both turned from educating to entertaining, and many times, entertainment where one competitor makes snarky comments about another. I also loved the Great British Sewing Bee, but it’s no longer aired in the US it seems, so sometimes I find it on You Tube.
Enjoy your spring blooms! I was very surprised and happy my pansies and primroses overwintered and survived and are blooming again.
We only have one – Channel 13 out of NYC. We used to have access to Long Island’s public station when we were renting, but not anymore.
I agree about HGTV. They took something very good and ruined it.
Have watched a lot of Monty Don on YouTube. There are some good gardening ideas there, too. I just query my thought, and there is almost always several options that display. As I look out the window this morning, the grass is turning a darker green, and that is a lovely sight! The lilacs and forsythia are all budding, too. My chives are 6-8 inches tall now!! It would be fun to have a time lapse film of the ground where I know things are planted and see how long it takes for them them to pop up. Ahhhh, retirement!!
For those who like the Great British Baking Show, Mary has a YouTube channel where she visits castles in England and does cooking. So beautiful. I love to listen to her voice!
Hope you complete your errands. The pansies look lovely. Have a great Wednesday!!
Thanks for he tip about Mary Berry! ;)
I went up to check out the forsythia (which is really on both our neighbor’s and our property and I see bud. But since it’s in the middle of the woods it doesn’t get as much sun, so it’s always a bit late to bloom.
I like the Great British Baking Show but I had to take a break from it. I’ll get back there soon.
We have the Great Canadian Baking Show here in Canada – one season. Not anywhere as good as the Great British Baking Show – was so good. Really enjoy Monty Don – British do great gardening shows. Agree about HGTV ☹️
But with Dan Levy as a host, right? I love him!
Thank you for the pansies! It’s usually too warm by now for pansies in Alabama. But this year the prolonged coolness has kept them going.
Growing up in Delaware, my mom would pick the blooms and float them in a bowl as a centerpiece. It was a good way to display not just the flowers but her own mother’s cut glass bowls that otherwise went unused.
Pansies are old-fashioned flowers. And they’re edible, too. Not that I’d eat them, I enjoy looking at them too much.
HGTV is a far cry from what it used to be. I really miss the few gardening shows they did have..guess I’ll check out Escape to the Country….sounds like that’s right up my alley. I do enjoy Home Town…and Good Bones…that’s about it. Your pansies are lovely! ;)
Escape to the Country is lovely. I wrote about on the blog several months ago. I really like it. And it’s not formulaic but very honest.
Couldn’t agree more about HGTV. Reminds me of that John Shedd line “Whenever there is an original sound in the world, it makes a hundred echoes…” The minute ANYTHING becomes popular, people race to repeat it [and in this case, ad nauseam]. Well, at least it’s not “The Real Estate Channel” 24/7 anymore. And I guess we’d be bored if they did gardens all day long too. What I want to know is – when did variety become a bad thing? I’m not a programming genius or anything, but it seems to me that offering a variety of programming would bring in MORE viewers, not less. I know I certainly watch HGTV MUCH less than I used to when it first started. Maybe with Summer coming, there will be more garden shows. Maybe that’s what’s behind their thinking? Why show gardening in the Winter? I just wish there was more variety. OK, end of soapbox. Hey, your pansies are gorgeous. They – along with violets – are just about my favorite flowers. They almost look as though they have faces. Enjoy your day outside! Peace.
#Resist
#ProtectMueller
Why does everyone automatically think that if something is popular, they should inundate the market with more of the same? It’s lazy.
As far as I know, there haven’t been any garden shows on HGTV for several years – no matter what the season.
I’ll have to check out that British gardening show. I can’t even tell you the last time I watched anything on HGTV. Same ol’ boring and mostly unrealistic stuff.
I’ll be hitting the garden centers this week, too. We finally have spring!
Yay! I feel the same way. I’ve been to two of them recently.
I also watched Big Dreams, Small Spaces on netflix and loved it,
Yes, I really love it too, Edis!
HGTV had some great shows – about 20 years ago! I haven’t watched it for ages. Nothing on it interests me. I did love their shows about gardening, especially A Gardener’s Diary. Your pansies are beautiful. We are lucky to be able to grow them here all winter long.
I LOVED A Gardener’s Diary. I wish they would bring it back!
Those Pansies are beautiful. I love Pansies. Unfortunately,once the temperature gets hot they will be gone, they are cool weather flowers. Enjoy!
Marilyn
Actually, mine lasted all the way to November last year. Pansies are tougher than you think.
We “cut the cord” on cable some years ago, and I now subscribe to BritBox, which has a lovely show with Monty Don called “Gardners’ World”–we get the weekly episode as soon as it airs in England. They started as half-hour episodes in March, and then took two weeks off around Easter. Now it’s back with a full hour episode each week until the end of the year. You get to see Monty gardening in his own home, and his two Golden Retrievers steal every show! You can try BritBox free for 7 days, and I recommend it! It also has newer eps of Escape to the Country than Netflix does, and a wonderful series called The Instant Gardener that we really enjoy. https://www.britbox.com/us/
Thanks, Wendy! I’ll check it out.
We’re considering cutting the cord as well Wendy. We ‘love’ BBC & most everything British. I have purchased gardening books from England as I ‘love’ the English Cottage Gardens.
Thank-you for the link via Claudia. Thank-you Claudia for feeding my addiction via Netflix.
Happy Spring …
xo
Oh how I miss the The Gardeners Journal, The Gardeners Diary, and one I learned so much from, Gardening by the Yard. Now I do not even watch HGTV. I will have to check out the show on Netflix you mentioned. ☺
I miss those shows, too!
Love those pansies. We have some Johnny Jump-ups that survived our winter; pansies around here tend to last as well. Hope your sun comes back tomorrow. Ours is going into hiding again.
I kept my pansies going until the first snow – which is pretty good for the northeast!
Your pansies are gorgeous. We have some at the mailbox that were planted last fall and I love that they come back in late winter and early spring.
I agree with you on HGTV, although I use to enjoy House Hunters. I gave up cable over a year ago and did not have access to it. I now have YouTube TV and could watch it, but there’s nothing on. I love Netflix and I have Britbox which is a great source of British shows.
Right now I am enjoying Chicago Cubs baseball.
I really enjoy your blog and just wanted to comment and say hi!.
Yay Cubs! Thank you so much for your kind words, Sharon.
I will definitely be checking out Big Dreams, Small Spaces on Netflix as I LOVE gardening shows. It is too bad that HGTV doesn’t have them anymore. I was home sick a few weeks back and came across Fixer Upper which I had never seen before. I love that show. Chip cracks me up. I love his sense of humor. What are some of your other favorite gardening shows??? There used to be a gardening show on the weekends which I haven’t seen or watched in years. I can’t even remember the name of it, but I LOVED it.
All my other favorite gardening shows are long gone, Mamey! That’s why I loved discovering this show on Netflix.
I watched every episode of the show. He’s such a calming presence and has great knowledge and insight. I learned how to up pot a plant the easy way from his show.
I learn a lot from him, Chris! Glad you enjoy it!