Friday 14 January 2011

One week on... And GBBD!

Spring is definitely on the way, I saw a Bee fly into the bus window today, no doubt woken by the unusually warm weather over the past few days. I just hope it manages to find food somewhere!

Hellebores have a few more leaves on them. Not so sure I’ll get any blooms this year.

Centre stage is taken by the Snowdrops…



Rhubarb is looking close to releasing its first leaf…
Tulips are beginning to appear at last and join the Crocus. (crocii???)


Hawthorn buds, I love their new leaves… By far my favourite to see!

Magnolia Stellata, hope to see flowers on it this year. I don’t think there will be any though. I’m sure before all the snow there were big fat buds, now there don’t seem to be any.


Rose buds, I should get it chopped back before it begins growing…


Pheasant’s Tail grass looks wonderful

The Carex however, does not!

Tiny Aquilegia leaves!

New growth on Veronica ‘Twilight’

Aster seeds are long-gone, will be chopped down soon.

New Hollyhock leaves, very surprised to see growth on this!

This blog post can also serve as my Garden Blogger's Bloom Day post! Please pop over to May Dreams Gardens see other GBBD posts

27 comments:

A Year In My Garden said...

It's never a good sign when spring insects commit suicide by flying into motor vehicles - we haven't got anywhere near as much green here as you have at more or less the same latitude

Curbstone Valley Farm said...

No snowdrops here, alas, but our rhubarb is stirring. Most here it seems have no idea what to do with it, but in England I remember we always had it in the garden. We have Crimson and Victoria varieties, and both have pushed their first leaf! A sure sign that spring can't be too far behind. I look forward to seeing your snowdrops unfurl!

Anonymous said...

It is like spring in your garden with all the budding plants. You are going to have some real pretty blooms soon.

Cat said...

I love the anticipation of the budding plants and bulbs in your garden! So much to look forward to!

Nutty Gnome said...

Ey-up Liz. By 'eck there's a lot goin' on in your garden!
It's way too wet and windy today to go rootling round to see what's coming up, but I do know that we lost several large branches off the Scotch pine and a few small multi-trunked conifers will never be the same again after having huge amounts of snow on them for a couple of weeks! I'm also concerned about the strange squashed shape of my(ex) hugest phormium - I'm not sure it'll ever be the same again! Ho hum!

Carolyn @ Carolyn's Shade Gardens said...

No GBBD for me with deep snow cover here and more expected today plus no flowering houseplants so I am enjoying the Southern Hemisphere and California gardens! You managed to come up with some great interest shots. Love the snowdrops: are you a galanthophile like me?

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your divine photos of life starting out of the earth. I must look up the Magnolia stellata, as I have a bush that buds like that. We've been wondering what it is.

Janet/Plantaliscious said...

For all that you are much further north than me your garden seems to be embracing the idea of Spring much earlier! Wonderful to be reminded of all that new growth just waiting to erupt from the dank earth. Love the delicacy of the emerging snowdrops.

Noel Morata said...

aloha,

spring does look like its already getting started in your garden...how exciting!

have a great weekend

Liz said...

Hi AYIMG,

The bus was sat at some traffic lights, so the Bee flew away relatively unharmed - let's hope it managed to find food though!

I think it's likely the sun that's brought some of the bulbs up, during early December we had a lot of very cold, clear days so the light levels must've tricked them into thinking it's spring. Because it certainly can't be due to warm temperatures!

Liz said...

Hi CV,

I've no idea what type of Rhubarb we have - it was here when we moved in and it seems to be undestructable, it was dotted around in random places and we removed a clump and threw it as you do to one side... It just didn't die! It began growing still and I eventually gave it to my mum. Other patches are still around mainly because I have nothing to replace them with so they can stay for a while longer :)

Liz said...

Hi GWGT,

The garden isn't actually close to Spring - I wish it was, but these are only teeny tiny signs of life amongst a lot of brown!

Liz said...

Hi WG,

I do hope they hurry up and bloom, I need flowers! All the rest don't look like we're have blooms any time soon though.

Liz said...

Hi Liz,

Sorry to hear you have damaged trees, I am sure we'll all begin to notice just exactly what damage we've sustained soon. I'm waiting to see what's died, but I do have damage on some of my smaller shrubs that were a little too small to really be able to flourish after, but we'll see.
I saw some lovely ornamental firs today at Dobbies that I might be tempted to buy another time. I'm no fan of conifers/firs but these were the lovely type you get in japanese/chinese gardens.

I hope you get out in the garden soon to discover the delights just waiting to pop up!

Liz said...

Hi Carolyn,

I do like Snowdrops yes, I don't collect them though and stick mainly to the 'common' types, my numbers are gradually rising and I must have over 300 in the garden now. That sounds like a lot but because they're such small flowers 300 isn't actually much at all.

Liz said...

Hi Curtiss Ann,

Magnolia Stellata can grow into a rather large tree, they don't tend to have a dense habit like other shrubs/trees and is perhaps more ornamental than a lot.

Liz said...

Hi Janet,

It's very exciting to see the plants beginning to bud up and/or bloom! Some of the photos in this post are from borders away from the house too, which I hadn't expected there to be any growth yet because they're not as protected from the worst of the weather.

Hopefully your garden won't be far behind mine and I'm sure in the next couple of months yours will really begin to over-take mine!

Pam's English Garden said...

Dear Liz, How I miss snowdrops in an English garden! I planted them here but the chipmunks made short work of the bulbs. My rhubarb is thriving, however, and I love rhubarb and strawberry pie. I just hope my strawberries will survive this long, cold, snowy winter. Happy GBBD ... I am not participating this month. P x

Chloe m said...

So what do you make with your rhubarb? I am always curious what people do with it. I make pie with what little I get out of my garden.

Seeing the spring grace your garden gives me hope for mine in five months! It is something only gardeners can feel, that anticipation that reminds me of Christmas morning as a child.


Your photos are great!

Rosey

Liz said...

Hi Noel,

Thannks for visiting, I'm very excited to see the bulbs coming up and the Snowdrops almost in flower. It's very difficult not to check on them every single day.

I hope you've had a good weekend!

Liz said...

Hi Pam,

Sorry to hear your Snowdrops were soon eaten! Argh, I can imagine your annoyance and disappointment!!

Our Strawberries have survived here, so I would imagine yours will have managed it too, although I'm not sure if the Alpine Strawberries have survived - I'll check sometime soon, I did have a look in the border yesterday where they are but didn't notice any - I'll purposefully look for them next time.

Liz said...

Hi Rosey,

I don't actually make anything with the Rhubarb - sorry :/
I give it to colleagues at work or family and neighbours. Usually people tend to make it into a pie, similar to an apple pie, it needs to be boiled down first and plenty of sugar added to it.
I think a collegue at work used to eat it with natural yoghurt, but don't take my word for that!

I have one massive plant which seems to love growing along the side of the house, a couple of years ago it produced an enormous flower on it too. I leave it at the moment because it provides some green in an otherwise empty area, plus it's always nice to give it away to people and save them some money because it is quite expensive to buy...

Wally said...

Oh, so lovely to see the first stirrings of spring.

easygardener said...

My early Snowdrop is flowering at the moment and I must cut back the foliage on my Hellebores otherwise I won't be able to see the flowers clearly. It is so good to see signs of life in the garden.

debsgarden said...

It's so exciting to see signs of spring! I am ready for warmer weather. I'm going to the beach this weekend, and the temps are supposed to get into the lower 20s. I wonder if I will see ice along the shore; that would be something!

Alice Joyce said...

Happiest of New Years to you, Liz,

Spring popping here, as well. Lots of garden work yesterday and an aching back to prove it...
but it's all good.
xo Alice

ShySongbird said...

Hi Liz :) and a very happy New Year to you!

How nice to see some small signs of Spring, I think we all need that. It looks like your garden will be lovely before too long.

In a similar vein to your Bee, I have a tiny Ladybird on the bedroom window. Every year at this time, as soon as we have some sunshine, the Ladybirds start appearing on the window. How they get in I'm not sure but I think they must overwinter under some tiles which are below the outside of the bay window. They shouldn't emerge until about March but any sunshine in the new year seems to fool them! I always feel they are doomed whatever I do, if I leave them in the bedroom they will die from lack of food and if I put them outside they will die from cold. I usually put them out in the hope they will find a sheltered place to stay but sadly I don't always notice them and they end up dead on the bedroom floor.