Sunday 2 May 2010

Sunday Safari

So much for the horrible start… Saturday started out wonderful, I popped out to weed the dandelions out of the lawn and boy was it hot in the sun!

Lawns mowed front and back
Back lawn and border weeded
Sedum planted in border to crawl and cover wooden edging (was here when we moved in, it was not my idea.)
Dicentra and Toad lily planted in shady area under cherry tree
Agapanthus moved from under the cherry tree and planted in the new border where it should be sun baked during summer.
Orange-tip butterfly spotted but for a third year running, still no photo!!!!

On my travels I discovered there are many, many seedlings coming up in the new border, I was worried I wouldn’t get anything but the recent rain has certainly made them happy! I suspect they’re probably all poppies but I hope some of the corncockles, Fox and Cubs and Ragged Robin are coming up.

A few shots from the garden…

I think this is trying to be a tulip… Mollusc friends once again have had a good meal at least!


I am in love…


Clematis ‘willy’ has exploded this year…


She is larger than ever before, with masses of flowers


So beautiful


Forget-me-nots


Tulip ‘Little Beauty’


The Blossom will not last much longer…



14 comments:

Cheryl said...

Hi Liz....glad you were able to take advantage of the weather and get all those gardening chores out of the way.

Orange tips are very hard to capture.....they dart around all over the place and rarely settle.

The clematis is beautiful.......I like it's fragility. I have buds on many but none are blooming yet.....

Slugs and snails, I know you have many. I have seen empty shells but no major damage yet. In saying that the hostas are just beginning to poke through the soil. If the eat anything it will be those......

We have heavy rain at the moment....it started early this morning. My mystery plant is growing by the minute and is now a metre high. I am beginning to think it is comfrey, as was suggested by many. I wish it would hurry up and flower.

Enjoy your bank holiday......

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Lovely spring blooms, Liz! Clematis is special!

ShySongbird said...

You have been busy Liz! Saturday was better than forecast here...until the evening! My goodness we had some heavy rain and it went on all night long. Today is dull and only 8 degrees!

Lovely photos again, your Clematis is gorgeous and I just love Forget-me-nots, such a pretty colour. I had to remove most of mine to deal with the dratted Ground Elder :( I expect they will be back next year though and I'm sure the Ground Elder will be back before that!

Curbstone Valley Farm said...

I'm sorry the slithery slugs have been chomping your tulips. I love your clematis though, it's absolutely gorgeous!

Su said...

Lovely photos. Glad you got to enjoy some sunshine. I love your clematis, I might have to look out for that one.

Lona said...

Hi Liz. You had a busy day girl. Love the clematis and its tear drop blooms. So pretty and of course the blue forget me nots. Gotta love blue ;-)

Liz said...

Hi Cheryl,

There are still so many more jobs to do... It seems that every time I clear some of the black pots by planting the contents more appear as if by magic from a shop... Someone really does need to stop me, it must be some sort of illness.

How is the Clematis obsession going Cheryl? :D did you buy those other plants as you had planned?
I have Clematis Majorie and Rubens in bud so they shouldn't be much longer and then in summer I have Blue eyes to look forward to.

This year I haven't yet had a great deal of slug damage because it's been so dry so far, but over the past week or so where we've been havng some rain the problems are popping up.

No heavy rain here yet, just slight drizzle over the past few days.

Kala said...

Lovely macro images - color and composition are great.

Cheryl said...

Hi Liz....yes I still have the clematis obsession. I have purchased several cheapies and have planted them to climb trees and shrubs.
I will buy the 'specials' at some point....but in flower, mainly to see, they are, exactly what I want.
Rabbits like clematis so I have to get an obelisks etc in place for the more expensive varieties. I do not want to plant them only to find they have disappeared overnight.....

Liz said...

Hi Tatyana,

Thanks, I’ve noticed I have a lot of pink at the moment… I’m usually more of a purple/blue person!

I love the Clematis, I’m considering getting a purple alpine for the other post on the summer house to help even things out a little… Truth is, any excuse to get yet another clematis!

Liz said...

Hi Jan,

We haven’t had any heavy rain over bank holiday, however we have had cold winds, drizzle and even the occasional hail shower! This was between blazing sun, when I was weeding it was so hot I actually almost gave up and came inside, I was panting away desperate for a drink!!

I love forget-me-not too, sadly my large ones both died in the snow, but luckily I’ve found some self seeded around the garden. Mum has promised me some from hers but she keeps on forgetting…

I do hope you’ve beaten the ground elder! I don’t think I’ve had to battle it myself, we do have some elder but it doesn’t yet appear to be invasive in the sense it grows around the garden. I need to cut back the brambles though as I’ve noticed it rooting up in some places… Need to keep on top of that!

Liz said...

Hi CV,

I have far too many problems with the slugs/snails, hedgehogs are not common around here – too hilly and the gardens are tiered so it makes it difficult for them to get around to eat the nasties, Song thrushes known for eating snails only visit in winter when we have snow yet live just 100/200 m from here and like to tease me.
I do not wish to use pest control, so have to go on ‘slug patrol’ in the evenings and mornings to pick them off my plants… As it’s been so dry over April damage has been minimal, but as you can see they have managed to get some things.

Liz said...

Hi Su,

I would definitely recommend ‘willy’, it has a nice ferny habitat compared to the montana’s so they can cover unsightly areas if needed. It is relatively small though and will only grow to 2x1.5m – just perfect to climb up the wooden beam on our summer house.

Liz said...

Hi Lona,

Yes indeed blue is wonderful, usually I prefer cooler shades, but I’m beginning to realise I have rather a lot of pink in the garden. I do like pink, usually purple pinks though. Perhaps I need to get a little more blue and purple into the garden…