April has been frosty and sunny and warm, it has not been very rainy. The garden could do with a bit of rain, it is not horrendously dry, but the new plantings are needing to have an eye kept on them. My four rain butts are empty which is a clear sign we need some rain.
In the front garden the lilac is flowering, it is not flowering well as I invariably incorrectly prune it. Maybe this year I will get it right, it needs pruning when it has finished flowering and sooner rather than later.
The back garden, despite the lack of rain, is looking green and lush. The tulips are still flowering well and the buds are forming on the roses.
In the Conservatory Border the Rheum - or ornamental rhubard, is doing well and the dark tulips pick out the colours of the foliage beautifully. Of course I shall claim that this is my excellent design skills, not sheer coincidence.....
The Euphorbia mellifera, which does need a bit of a prune as it is getting very large, is filling the garden with its honey scent.
The Spring Garden is also looking lush. The Acer Orange Dream has developed into a nice little tree. It has been in the garden about 12 years. It was tiny when planted in a 9cm pot, but now it is really a joy.
The Malus Rudolph crabapple tree is covered in blossom. If you have room for one blossoming tree, this might be the one. It is not huge but it is so so pretty and lots of small deep red crabapples will soon follow.
The Wild Garden is now getting quite tall, the cow parsley is just starting to flower and the daffodils are just about finished.
In the Exotic Border I am waiting for the Tree Ferns to start to unfurl their new growth.
The tiniest tree fern, that is really a glorified house plant as it cannot stand much cold, is now outside for the summer and has just started to show new growth. I worried I had not watered it enough of the winter as it was living in the conservatory, but it seems to have got through ok.
It will not be long before its big brothers join it.
I stood and admired the Carol Klein Acer whilst I was taking these photographs. She has become a magnificant tree.
I found this photograph of her from 2014. She has been in a pot for many years and then planted into the garden when I first arrived here in 2007. The location did not suit her though and she looked quite poorly. In 2012 I relocated her to her current position which is more sheltered and here she has thrived.
Look at the wonderful growth on this fern in the fernery. I was stopped in my tracks by it.
and this is the Hydrangea petiolaris; the climbing hydrangea but I am growing it to be a shrub. This is the first time I have kept this shrub alive for more than one year so I am very excited to see flowers on it.
The Illicium simonsii is flowering, I always say this is my favourite impulse purchase. It is a relative of the Star Anise plant, but I believe that the seed heads that look very similar are not edible.
I like this view over the Pond Border, ok the border itself is still in its Spring scrappy mood, but it shows the pleached hornbeams well. They really do look like a raised hedge now.
In the greenhouse life is returning to this drosera, I had thought it might not have made it through the winter so this is a very welcome sight.
and in the Coal Bunker Border the cardoon remains the structural heart of this border. One of my best planting decisions I always think.
The Pond is looking a bit low and it a bit too full of plants so I need to thin them again. This will happen.
I can hardly believe we are almost in May. I have sown very few seeds and I still have so much to do. It will happen I tell myself, it will happen.
