It is fair to say that March has been a bit of a month and the garden has carried on regardless.
I am going to start this month's review of the garden with a 'look at the quince hedge'. I am so pleased with this hedge this year. It looks like a hedge and it is covered in flowers. I admit if it grew to be just under the windowsill I would consider it perfect, but perfection is overrated.
There is a small group of pots on the front doorstep. The pale Narcissus Spoirot are a very beautiful hooped daffodil and I am really glad I bought some on a whim last Autumn.
The Magnolia in the front garden is just opening its flowers and so far as not suffered from the recent cold nights.
and the front side lawn has finished its crocus phase and the wave of aconite foliage is soaking up all the energy they can before they disappear again until next Spring.
There has been a very important addition to the front garden. As I am working remotely from home for the foreseeable, I now sit at my kitchen table working on the computer most of the day. I have bird feeders in the back garden, but I cannot see them from where I sit. So I bought another bird feeder. I was advised that if I put it directly in front the window that the birds would get used to it and start feeding. For a day or two I saw very few birds, but now they are being visited regularly. This has really been a highlight of social distancing.
I wander around to the back door and the Iford Cherry is flowering well this year. It is a cheery sight by the back door and whilst it was plonked (carefully placed) there as a temporary measure I have never felt the need to move it elsewhere. I like it where it is.
The back garden is looking very green and has been having its winter-detritus cut back. I mowed the lawn at the weekend, a preemptive mow as it was just starting to grow and also dry enough to be done. The words 'dry enough' have not been used very often this year.
I have cut back the five rather large Euphorbia stygiana bushes in the garden. I grew them from seed a couple of years ago. They had got rather big for their boots so this year I have taken them back to the new shoots that are appearing.
The concrete planter under the Bramley Tree is a blizzard of Narcissus Thalia.
and the Spring Border is looking very Springy. The Acer Orange Dream, planted a long time ago is a well behaved nicely growing little shrub. There are scatterings of pulmonaria in this border and very soon the Erythronium Pagoda will be flowering. The buds are visible so it is a matter of days before they open. They are always a favourite this time of year.
If I turn from the Spring Border and look behind me I look across to the Wild Garden. The Prairie Borders have had their hair cut and look lumpy and bumpy. The Beech Pillars look like pillars and the other Iford Cherry can be seen in the background flowering well. The apple tree is now just a tallish stump after its collapse a few weeks ago and I peer at it often to see if it will sprout new growth.
The view across the Dancing Lawn, which is currently in its daffodil phase, looks across to my Magnolia Leonard Messel. A shrub that sulked for a few years after planting but is now a glory of the garden in Spring.
Though he has got a little chilled recently. Always such a shame when this happens but thankfully it is only superficial damage.
In the Wild Garden the Muscari stream is looking a bit more than a dribble this year. I have not added any bulbs to this for a year or so, which means that this Autumn I probably should.
I always like this view back to the house from the top of the garden. You can see the paths I mow through the Wild Garden. I usually sit up here when I have mowed the lawns just to take stock and enjoy the garden with the scent of the cut grass. It is a moment of 'enjoy the little things'.
This is a side view from the Pond Border, not a view I show very often. At this time of year the Pond Border looks at its worst. It will soon improve (hopefully).
Whilst much in the world feels dark at the moment, there are always signs of hope in the garden. Buds are forming on the Tree Peonies.
and the mild winter has meant that this echium has (so far) successfully overwintered outside.
In the vegetable borders the Purple Sprouting Broccoli is broccling. This is one of my favourite vegetables to grow as it is so easy and tastes so good.
In the greenhouse the fleece demonstrates the weather, it is all a bit cold and warm and cold again.
I finish as is traditional on the (full) pond. It is now wriggling with tadpoles and newts and visits from an occasional heron.
Stay safe all.
Thanks as ever to Helen for hosting this meme.
