Leaves are beginning to open on some of the shrubs in our garden including the bright orange Spiraea ‘Goldflame’ which is always a picture at this time of the year, setting off the golden yellow flowers of Forsythia ‘Lynwood’ that is planted close by. All of the daffodils seem to be coming out together and the whole garden is awash with their swaying flowers in various combinations of yellow, cream and orange. There are so many different varieties and I especially love the scented flowers of multi headed ‘Soliel D’or’ and ‘Martinette’. The Hellebores that were not scorched by the wind are flowering now in huge clumps and the white daffodils beneath the shrubs in the green and white borders are just beginning to open.
I have still not pruned too much of the wind damage away from my browned off evergreens preferring to give the plants a chance to catch their breath and begin to produce new shoots so that I can cut back to new growth later in the spring. I thought that the last flower buds on the Viburnum tinus were ruined but the plant has rallied and defiantly produced some new flowers, although they are bruised around the edges and not of a standard for Mrs McGregor’s arrangements!
We have another area of the back garden to redevelop now that the hedge has been cut back to size. I was worried that we had killed the Privet, but there are plenty of green buds on the bare wood now, so it will not be long before the hedge turns green again! Hopefully we can keep on top of the pruning little and often so that it does not grow back into the light excluding monster that it was before!
As a result of the lack of light in this part of the garden, all the other plants lean forward and now need gentle pruning to encourage them to make better shapes. A large Cotoneaster that had grown into a small tree was particularly spindly so it will be coming out and will make room for another small tree, to break up the outline of the Privet and create a focal point in that corner of the garden. The Cotoneaster provided interest through the year with evergreen leaves, white flowers in summer which the bees loved, which were followed by clusters of yellow berries. However, I would like to grow a deciduous tree which has good autumn color but does not grow too high. The area is very sunny for most of the day, so I am tempted by Cercis (Judas Tree). These upright trees are slow growing and have heart shaped leaves that give good autumn colours but their main feature is pea-like mauve flowers that are crowded on the bare branches in May. The soil is well drained but in good heart, so it should be happy there. Another old favorite of mine is Amelanchier and there are several growing well in the local area. Again this is a plant for all seasons with good autumn leaf tints of red and orange and new growth of bronze leaves that contrasts with clouds of star-like white flowers in spring. They are very elegant trees and would also be ideal for this area.
Decisions, decisions........
