Sunday 31 January 2010

End of Month Review Jan 2010

Ok, not strictly an end of month review, more a case of checking whether Spring is with us yet...

Saturday I ventured out into the garden to survey the damage done over winter and by the snow and frosts…

I warn you now, there are many… many photos, and I realise it will be endlessly boring to most people, however it is a record for myself!

Ok, so coming out of the house and looking at plants on the decking:

First we start with the Hellebore… Quite a few flowers on it now, very impressed. I need to decide where to plant it…



Honesty seedlings have survived, plenty for me to plant, and I have promised some for my mum too.


A trough planter with unhappy Cyclamen and Crocus


Aquilegia seedlings, not to worry there are new leaves coming up, the larger leaves did not survive the layer of snow.


My £1 Jasmine is still with us too…


Those un-Foxglovey looking Foxgloves! I understand they may be the perennial form, rather than biennial.


A bulb, I think it’s a Tulip I planted late on bought from Rufford Country Park! Hmmm I ought to have labelled the pot!


Salvia


Pot full of bulbs, Iris, Tulip, Crocus and Allium (I think, yet another unlabelled pot!)


Fuji Cherry looks promising


Raspberry bud


The main border to the left:

Plenty of drumstick Allium coming up…


Shasta Daisy


Moth chrysalis is still with us


Aquilegia hasn’t done a great deal since last week.


Osmanthus will soon be in bloom, offering a much welcome perfume


One of the Hebes, all seem to have survived.



Lupin


Clematis Marjorie has buds! Oh, so excited!


Ice in the Bird Bath – yes, nothing to do with the plants! But it’s a good indication of just how cold it was!


Now we skip across to the front border on the right:

Nothing will kill this Campanula… A snowdrop pokes its head out too.



Snowdrops



Snowdrop and Scabious, ready to go!



Verbena Bonariensis seeds


Magnolia buds… Last year it didn’t flower… If it doesn’t flower either this year I may have to get rid :( Pains me to do so, but a star magnolia without its blossoms is redundant.
I’ve had it 5 years or more, it’s moved around with me, I planted it hoping the reason for no blossoms was being unhappy in a pot.


Pot of bulbs



A self seeded Campanula resides with the Passionflower


Aquilegia seedhead



This Onion just will not die… Ever! This is the one which flowered over the summer, it was enormous!


Now we move onto the border along the side of the house:

Snowdrops, I think…


Crocus joins the snowdrops


A bird’s foot Trefoil joins the bulbs in the border. It seems to have survived the Snow just fine and looks like nice healthy growth.


Shasta Daisies


The Rose was not so lucky.


Second Lupin


Moving up into the garden to the left border by the fence:

Sage looks lovely and silvery, contrasts well with the dead crocosmia leaves.


Roseraie De L’hay… I wouldn’t want to fall into those thorns!


Aubrieta is doing very well.


Geranium and sea thrift with the leaves of the Dierama towering over.


My American Wisteria has survived!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. Phew!


Winter Jasmine is hidden behind the Sweet Pea, hopefully next year it will be much larger and we’ll be able to see it!


Rose, Tess of the d'Ubervilles



Now we’re up onto the Tier:

Cotoneaster berry survived the beady eyes of the Blackbirds and Song Thrushes.


Tiny Acer looks to be well, the other half is not so lucky, but I suspect the damage was done by the Willow branches blowing in the wind.


Briefly we move up onto the second tier, by the summerhouse:

Clematis Willy buds climbing up around a post on the house



Red Robin, I’m undecided whether to get rid of it… It’s making a shady area even more shady!


Autumn Cherry is FINALLY beginning to flower… Last year we had flowers way back in November… Not this time round!





Willow buds…


The birds were most put out by my presence… Watching from their ‘safety bush’…

Coal tit and Goldfinch


Blue Tit


Coal Tit flies in anyway!



Moving down onto the first tier again:

Another Aubrieta, I’m surprised and thrilled to see it… When I first planted it, it was desecrated by our mollusc friends!


Chocolate Clover


Blue pot is, once again ripped up by the damned Fox. Seriously, this year I will fully secure the garden.


Black Lily Turf looks fantastic



So in conclusion, I don’t believe we lost any plants to the unusually harsh winter. Although it is yet to be seen whether the Verbena’s come back… My large mature plant seems fine, but I’m unsure of the new, smaller ones I planted last year.

I have noticed a distinct lack of Crocus though, I planted 200 in Autumn, many had already begun to sprout when they were planted, this was not my fault though – was how they arrived! So I suspect is the reason, but I am most disappointed if they are not going to come up… What a waste of time!!!

24 comments:

Lucy Corrander said...

Exciting, isn't it.

I'm not usually a fan of spring but this year I'm noticing how early things are appearing - maybe because I was expecting them to be late.

Crocusses - I'm wondering if, for some reason, they are lagging behind the daffodils and tulips and may suddenly get going after all. (Round here too.)

Lucy

ginny said...

sigh....all that promise...you have some gorgeous plants in your garden and the photos are all dreamy... i so love spring and the re-emergence of the garden.. i shall take a peak outside now to see what lies ahead for us x

Cheryl said...

Hi Liz...I am amazed how well your garden has survived.
I recorded minus nine here last night Living in lowland the garden is in a frost pocket.....so I can see why your jasmine survives. Lucky you. So pleased that everything has done so well....you should have a good gardening season ahead.

Can't wait to see the moth when the time is right.....

Have a good Sunday in your garden......

Liz said...

Hi Lucy,

I'm very surprised just how many plants are showing signs of life especially after such cold weather for weeks on end. I'm beginning to wonder how long the ground wasn't frozen for since before Christmas!

I do hope you're right about the Crocuses... I ordered the beautiful 'snow bunting' and was really looking forward to seeing it mixed with a purple variety!

Liz said...

Hi Ginny,

Thanks, it's a shame there's still so much brown around... But it's exciting none-the-less :)

I'll have to check photos from last year to see how far things were!

Liz said...

Hi Cheryl,

You'd think it would be colder up here, especially with the hills - obviously not!

There was quite a serious frost last night, everything is very white this morning, but not a beautiful hoar frost... Otherwise I think I may have braved the cold to get photos...

I hope I catch the Moth before it's gone, I will try to remember to check it when I get in from work, see if I can catch it emerging!

Looking forward to reading your Sunday Safari, I'm off out for a birthday meal for my Dad.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for all those wonderful pictures showing that spring is coming. You are a great gardener.

Hank Moorlag said...

Nice to see the signs of spring and new growth. Great series of photos that didn't bore me at all! Hank

Rebecca @ In The Garden said...

What a beautiful spring post, I can smell the spring air from here (although it's still snowing). Love the dark grass.

Nutty Gnome said...

Gorgeous photos Liz. I have NO idea what's happening in my garden as I haven't made it outside for days - been languishing inside with a stonking head cold! I did make it as far as the settee this afternoon, so there is hope! :(

Anonymous said...

Dear Liz, What a splendid record for your archives. I do think what you are doing is such a good idea as it is all too easy to forget what was happening when.

Also, by dating these pictures it is interesting to compare one year with another.

Thank you so much for being a regular picker of my postings; it is most encouraging.

Cheryl said...

Hi Liz....I agree, I thought I would have higher temperature than you. I have been reading up on my area and apparently because we live in lowland the frosts tumble down to us.....I would never have bought this house if I had known that. What with rabbits, heavy frosts and waterlogging I am surprised I have a garden.

Hope you had a great time with Dad.
Strangely my family took my Dad out for a birthday treat......his was overdue, as we could not all get together, on his actual birthday......

Liz said...

Hi Anonymous (?)

My pleasure, and thank you for viewing my photos I’m glad you enjoyed looking at them!

Liz said...

Hi Hank,

Thanks for stopping by my blog, I’m glad you enjoyed looking at the photos, there sure were plenty of them!

Now we just need the temperatures to rise again, over the past few days it’s been bitterly cold with regular frosts.

Liz said...

Hi Rebecca,

Sorry to hear you still have snow! We’ve been relatively lucky over the past few days as other parts have been getting it… Making up for what we had previously I think!!! Although last year we had deep snow in February… *touch wood* I hope it doesn’t happen again this year.

Liz said...

Hi Liz,

Sorry to hear you have a cold! Arghhhh, nothing worse than a cold, they’re just so frustrating being unable to breath, eat, sleep.

I’m sure you’ll begin to feel better soon, a sweet cup of tea often works wonders. (just don’t drink it all the time!)

Liz said...

Hi Edith,

I’ve had a look through my photos from last year and see no sign of Spring until the latter part of February when the Iris and Crocuses are in flower… Whether this is because there were no signs or just laziness on my part by not recording them, I’m unsure…

I think to be honest it’s actually because I was having a rough time this time last year, and didn’t much feel like celebrating spring…

Liz said...

Hi Cheryl,

Ouch, a whole variety of different problems for you! I guess there are some advantages to living on a hill – no floods, although that didn’t stop our cellar flooding a few years ago in the big floods, ground was so saturated it had nowhere else to go).

You also had the droughts last summer… It’s been a harsh couple of years for your garden…

Dad’s birthday meal was fine, general chatter and the sort. The royal family didn’t come because William is ill though, so it was a quieter occasion than first expected.
I hope you had a nice time for your Dad’s birthday too?

AustenOnly said...

Lovely pictures Liz.I need to get out there to look at my garden but even I am discouraged by the bitterly cold weather.

Im glad your Wisteria survived!

Joanne said...

Great photos especially the Hellebores.

Shirley said...

Hi there Liz, didn’t have time to comment over the weekend… too busy drooling over your photos ;-)

Love that first shot… it really put me in the mood for gardening! Your garden does appear a bit ahead of mine (as usual) so for me its great to see what’s coming… eventually ;-)

Sorry to hear about the ‘last chance magnolia’… LOL… I’m guessing it will flower now! Mm… had you already picked a plant to replace it ;-)

Ah… I see your cotoneaster berry has kept its colour too! I’m guessing my blackbirds were keeping ours for a ‘rainy day’ but they are out of luck now as the cold turned them into dull non-descript shrivels!

Okay… my jaw really did drop to see blossom with blue skies… the birds were pretty too of course ;-)

Ah now… I can agree with the last plant… mine has been looking fantastic too :-D

Thanks, I thoroughly enjoyed your January garden review… wishing you a good week :-D

Liz said...

Hi Julie,

It was painful taking the shots, well I lie, when I came back in and realised how cold my hands were – then it was painful! My brain must’ve blocked out the cold as I was concentrating and in a ‘zone’ lol. I cannot blame you being put off going outside at the moment, at all!

Thanks, I too am thrilled the Wisteria made it, I do hope it flowers this year…

Fingers crossed!

Liz said...

Hi Joanne,

Thanks very much, I’m glad you enjoyed the photos :)

Liz said...

Hi Shirl,

Ha ha, yes there are quite a few photos to get through… whoops!!! Many were over-due though… Well, that’s my excuse anyway ;)

To be honest, my garden is a month ahead of itself compared to last year, however that’s a post for another day! Seems to me plants prefer to have a distinct line between Autumn and Winter rather than the recent relatively mild uneventful winters.

I hadn’t already picked a replacement for the Magnolia… However!
Last night I was looking online for one lol, I haven’t yet chosen anything (no point until I know whether Stellata is going to flower or not) but I have a few possibilities lined up :D

I’m thinking it’ll likely be crab apple ‘red sentinel’ thanks to its attraction for wildlife, or some other type of fruit tree. I would like another Magnolia but I ought to stick to my wildlife friendly plants instead.

The past few days here have been clear skies and lots of frost… Today has seen some drizzle but I believe rain is on its way tomorrow with heavy showers… At least it’ll give the ground chance to thaw out and perhaps the plants will begin growing again.

Black Lily Turf is very nice, I have the Big Blue one too, but it’s never done very much, I should probably move it as I think it’s spot at the moment is too dry for its liking.

Thanks Shirl, I’m glad you liked it. I’m sure February will be just as packed with photos when hopefully all the bulbs are in flower!