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Hydrangea Paniculata Pinky Winky — 46 Comments

  1. Hi Alistair.
    I didn’t expect you to start blogging again so soon so I missed this post when it first appeared. The garden looks full of promise but I expect it will take a while to sort out what you have. The advice which is often given is to leave it alone for the first year to see what comes up………I have yet to meet a true gardener that could do that!

  2. Hi Alistair and it’s great to read that you and Myra have settled in well to Cheshire life. Lovely to get a little glimpse of your new garden and it’s full of potential for sure! By the time you’ve got the internal work done you’ll have discovered what little bulbs there are too in the garden.

  3. Happy new year Alastair! I love hydrangeas, and though Pinky Winky does have a silly name, it is really pretty with the mid-season mix of white and pink blooms.
    I am so excited to see your new garden! It is smaller, but does seem to have some great features like privacy hedging in the back garden. It is nice that the front is near a wooded area as well. I am sure you will do great things with this new property as soon as the house itself is sorted. All the best for 2014!

  4. Goodness, Alistair, I take a break from blogging and you move house! What an adventure. I am sure you will make your new garden beautiful, I was always amazed at how lovely your old (?) garden is. I like hydrangeas whose flowers age to pink.

  5. Alistair, I know you will miss your beautiful Aberdeen garden, but I agree with the others that this one seems to have wonderful potential. I’m sure you will have fun developing it into another much-loved garden.

  6. Happy New Year to you and Myra, and may you enjoy your new home and garden! It looks like you have a lot to work with, and I am sure that in a season or two it will be absolutely stunning. I am looking forward to watching progress in your 2014 blog posts.

  7. I wish you the very best in your new home and garden. It looks like you are off to a good start. I like Pinky Winky, a very nice looking plant. It will fun to see how your design develops. Glad to see you back.

  8. Hi Alistair, so good to see you back blogging, great to see photos of your new garden! Your description of your ‘small’ garden makes mine….tiny! You have ample space to fill it with thousands of plants and bulbs, it’s just a matter of how you stack them 🙂 Good luck with all the planning, have fun!

  9. The back will be a bit of a building site for a while come April but I will be glad to get all the house stuff over with. Our first house had a north facing back garden and it wasn’t all that bad. When the sun shines there is already a bit of heat in our south facing front

  10. Its good to be back Donna. We are working on designs for the back at the moment, see how it goes. Keep safe in those sub zero temps.

  11. Wow!!
    I’m sure now it would feel like a fresh new start in getting into gardening all over again.
    Have a fresh wonderful New Year with your new garden Alistair!

  12. Alistair I was so happy to find this post in my inbox. You have one of my favorite hydrangeas. And it certainly loved your climate. I like the bones of your garden. You have so much to work with and I know you will cleverly plant an amazing garden in the back.

    It is so nice to see so much green as we have lots of snow and arctic temps. Happy New Year!!

  13. I am absolutely thrilled to see you back on your blog. And the new garden looks positively gigantic compared to what you had prepared me for. AND north-facing is wonderful, think of all the shade plants you can grow. Get a few hellebores and snowdrops in now and you are good for the next couple of months. I agree with Larry, let the games begin.

  14. Great to see you back. Here’s to New Beginnings & a Happy New Year to you both. Excited to see what you create in Cheshire x

  15. Good to see you back in blogland, Alistair. It’s exciting to have a new garden to lick into shape — looks like it has great potential. It’s wise of you to take your time before making big changes. I wish you and Myra every happiness in your new home! P. x

  16. Happy New Year Alistair! Pleased to see that you and Myra have settled into your new home. I look forward to seeing how you plant the front and back. You pretty much have an empty palette, which is always fun. There are so many lovely hydrangea, Pinky Winky among them (even though the name is a bit comical.)
    Happy gardening in 2014. I look fwd to doing the same once all the snow and ice leaves our area…still at least 3 months to go……

  17. Thanks Angie
    The front garden is a treat compared to the back. Enjoy your garden this year, I always feel the gardening season begins now after all the hoo ha of the festive season. (what a misery guts)

  18. What a wonderful setting for your front garden Alistair, as has already been said – having the woodland as a back drop is a marvellous thing.
    Your back garden will get the Aberdeen Gardeners’ touch in no time I’m sure.
    It will be nice to sit back and enjoy what will appear before you make your start.
    Wishing Myra and yourself a Guid New Year in your new home!

  19. Hi Holley
    We will give it a full season before making any serious changes. Myra is already doing a good job in attracting garden birds.

  20. Your new garden is really quite beautiful. I love the wall of green. It will be fun to see what pops up throughout the year, and to see how you are going to improve and add to it. And the woodland background is such a delight. You don’t have to worry about encroaching neighbors and Myra can attract all sorts of birds and other wildlife. A new home, a new garden – a new chapter. Exciting times ahead!

  21. Hi Chloris
    Thanks for dropping by. I do think the backdrop makes all the difference. I am not surprised you share my view regarding the name pinky winky.

  22. it’s wonderful to have a backdrop of trees to set off your new garden. The ‘borrowed landscape’ of a garden setting is so important.
    That is a gorgeous hydrangea although like you I couldn’t bring myself to buy one with such a cringe-making name. It’s like all those Hemerocallis with names that you could never bear to introduce into your garden in case anyone asked you what it is.
    Good luck with the new garden.
    Chloris.

  23. Hi Esther
    I have managed to avoid getting drenched, in fact its been not bad at all. The front garden is definitely looking better than the back at the moment.

  24. Hi Annette
    I dont think there will be any major changes to our garden this year, other than part of the back being demolished with the extension.

  25. Hi Alistair,
    Great to see your new garden. As you say North facing could be a challenge, but if you managed such a beautiful garden in Aberdeen with our colder climate and shorter growing season then you can easily cope with a North facing back garden in Cheshire.
    My in-laws were from Cheshire and they always said it was ‘an overcoat colder’ up here in Aberdeen!
    Good Luck!

  26. Congratulations on your move. Hope you are settling in well. To name a plant ‘Pinky Winky’ is not, I would suggest, a canny commercial move. Perhaps it was sabotage?

    The garden; the front looks great. The woodland makes it look much bigger than it is. The back – a wonderful palette for all thing things you will want to do to make it your own.

    Have a great 2014. Hope you aren’t getting too wet.

    Esther

  27. All the best to you Alistair in your new home. I am sure you and your wife will come to love living there. Pinky Winky will make it a good start.

  28. Alistair,
    So glad you and Myra had a smooth transition in the big move. Your space looks full of potential. Sounds to me like the backyard should become an intimate patio area massed with containers that include a sprinkling of them with evergreens for four season interest. There’s nothing like the potential of annual combinations of thrillers…Nothing more intimate in a courtyard than a gentle waterfall and fish. Alistair, take what’s perceived as your biggest weakness and turn it into one of your biggest assets. Happy New Year, my learned friend.

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