I’m a little late this month, and it’s quite amazing to see how things have changed in just a week… The grass desperately needs mowing now and I really ought to have done it before I left for Rotterdam.
Ok, so let’s have a look at what’s been going on recently chez moi.
The Dwarf Russian almond is starting its show, we have a few blossoms open and I can see many many more buds, I think this year will be the best show yet.
Ok, so let’s have a look at what’s been going on recently chez moi.
The Dwarf Russian almond is starting its show, we have a few blossoms open and I can see many many more buds, I think this year will be the best show yet.
Tulipa Turkestanica is looking amazing, it’s my first year with this wonderful small Tulip, and it’s making quite an impact.
I planted it quite late so they were done in desperation, especially in the new border where I had some left over that needed to go somewhere… But right now I’m not complaining because they’re just so pretty.
Even the underside of their petals are pretty
Various perennials growing on the other side of the border: Acontium, Geranium, Veronica and Aster. I really need to move ‘Lady in Black’ soon otherwise I won’t be able to see the sloping border behind.
I plan on using some soil that was dug up for the new fence posts to fill in the slope so I can get rid of that plank of wood. The original plan was to have this entire side sloping up to meet the existing border, but we dug down further than I expected and I didn’t have enough topsoil/improver/compost to fill it in. So now I can hopefully make the gradual gradient I originally wanted.
So far I am most impressed with my shady Cherry border (not so shady now the summer house has gone though). I planted quite a few bulbs in it last Autumn and am glad to see a fair few have come up as well as other various plants. I’m most relieved that the Pulmonaria ‘sissinghurst white’ have come back because they had completely died off over winter and seem to be way behind everyone else’s.
I’m not sure if there will be much of interest in the border over summer and autumn though, but the Geraniums will at least provide some ground cover.
Bleeding heart seems to be quite slow in its progress
Narcissus ‘Silver Chimes’ survived me digging up the border and planting lots of new bulbs; I’m impressed I didn’t destroy it!
Pulmonaria have grown a lot since I last saw them!
And a few flowers…
Just one white Anemone Blanda… It was supposed to be a mix of white and blue.
And a few of these pale Blue/white ones
Tiny Ajuga flowers can be seen developing between the leaves.
Bleeding Heart has plenty of buds on it, I’m looking forward to its flowers soon.
And a wider view of some of the border, it doesn’t look like much; but it’s a vast improvement on previous years.
Abrieta forms a beautiful carpet of very welcome purple flowers.
The Osmanthus blooms are out, and their perfume carries around the garden and combines with the Muscari.
Alliums will be flowering soon, I estimate around 3+ weeks earlier than last year
And of course, my very favourite…. Magnolia Stellata
There aren’t many, but more than I thought and at the moment, even one would make me happy after a 3 year hiatus.
14 comments:
Very cheerful. My aubrieta is starting to bloom, at least one of the eight plants has flowers. Funny that just one is starting to bloom, since they're all planted on the same side of the house.
Spring plants are so cheerful :D
Your yard is colorful, and it still seems early! I might have to get one of those dwarf almonds....
Lovely Liz....so good to see so many spring blooms in your garden.
I think it is nice to go away for a while....returning to the garden after a break often gives us a different view on things.
Lovely to see your muscari.....as always the rabbits have eaten mine.
Hope you enjoyed Rotterdam??
Hi VW,
I have a similar situation to you, I bought 4 more Aubrieta to plant and just the one is in flower yet all the pots are in the same place (not yet planted)
Hi Kyna,
They are indeed very cheerful, certainly after having only brown to look at for a couple of months. I think it's time for me to tidy up the dead twigs now, they've been left for the insects and to protect against frost, but now just look a mess.
Hi OMS,
Things have been very early compared to last year, the extremes of timing I think, because last year everything was very late.
The Dwarf Almond is lovely, and well worth it just for the blossom although the fruits/nuts are not edible.
Hi Cheryl,
Sorry to hear your Muscari have been eaten, such a shame... My spring pots are a disappointment this year, sadly I seem to have lost a lot of the bulbs in them so only have one or two things per pot. Looks like I'll have to empty them out and start again.
Rotterdam was very nice, quite a strange place as so few people live in the city centre, so at night it's very quiet; especially early on in the week. But I loved the buildings and water fronts.
Nice to find you back safe and sound Liz, I hope you didn't work too hard in Rotterdam ;)
It's always surprising what an effect a little mild weather has, all sorts of growth seems to put a sudden spurt on and it all looks like it is happening there.
I have a small border of Muscari in my front garden which I usually thin out. This time I didn't get round to it and I have to say they look very pretty all massed together.
Beautiful Liz, there's no question that Spring is there to stay. I love the photograph of the emerging maple leaves!
Hi Jan,
Rotterdam was great, thanks. Urm, didn't really do any work to be honest. One evening we attempted to do a bit of brainstorming for our upcoming essays, but it didn't get far and we ended up in the hotel bar just like every other night...
Ooooops.
The trip felt like a bit of a waste of time, we went to find out about the Dutch planning system and had all these talks/tours booked. But they pretty much told us the same thing over and over. Just the history of the city, or what they have planned and what they're developing without actually telling us about their systems. So we still have to do the research back here in the UK.
Was nice to go there though, and I want to go back in a couple of years when their masterplans are hopefully complete.
It's so refreshing to go somewhere that openly welcomes new architecture and modern design without all the red tape and NIMBYism we get in the UK. Their buildings would cause outrage over here; something which I just cannot understand.
Yes I'm all for heritage management, but at the same time we live in a modern world and I feel new buildings should not pretend to be something else. They should also be modern, inspirational and sustainable.
Anyway, off my soapbox now :)
It looks like I've come back to some rain; although I'd rather have sun, the reality is our garden desperately needs the rain after having almost nothing for a good few weeks or more now.
My Muscari numbers are still very low, I'd planned to get some in Autumn but couldn't afford them, so hopefully this year I'll get some planted.
Hi CV,
Thank you very much :)
Spring is definitely here, and April has brought its showers... I'll have to hold off with the lawn mowing and various other jobs for another few days it seems. Wednesday is set to get rather warm though - great, that's when I'm in Uni! grrrr :D
It is all looking very colourful. Magnolia stellata is a gem. I always look forward to mine flowering. The Almond blossom is a lovely colour.
Most of your plants look to be a few weeks ahead of ours. It's looking great your way!
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