End of Month View – May 2012

Another month over and it couldn’t have been one of more extremes.  Nothing but rain and low temperatures at the beginning and then no rain just unseasonably high temperatures the last few weeks.  There seems to have been no transition from one to the other, one minute we were wearing jumpers the next T-shirts.  The plants have soldiered on some flourishing in the temperatures and some, like the Delphinium, seem to have ground to a stop.

The main garden has been somewhat neglected as I have been concentrating on seedlings and potting up whenever I have had time to garden and the weather has allowed it. The patio/spring border is really burgeoning and looking very lush.  Strangely I seem to have quite a few Aquilegia which I have had to stake this year.  I don’t know whether it’s the weather or my heavy footed cat who loves to hunt in the borders especially now the foliage has filled out.  It is increasingly hard to find her in the garden.  I have a little tweaking to do in this border as there is a Japanese Painted Fern just behind the gap you can see above.  It is completely swamped by the surrounding plants so needs bringing forward at some point.

The Cottage Border is coming into its own.  I had hoped that the Delphinium would be flowering the same time as the Peonies  but it isn’t to be.  However, the Aquilegia and Foxgloves are adding plenty of height.  I’m not sure about the yellow Welsh Poppies which seed themselves all over my garden.  I think I need to remove them from this border and I must remember to deadhead the ones I let remain in the garden before we are completely awash with the yellow peril.

I have been wondering about my step over apples for the last month but today I noticed that they have suddenly sprouted lots of leaves so I have to get in there and do some rubbing off of unwanted buds.  Once the branches start to form I shall put in some canes to support the branches.

I am really pleased with the Allium cowanii (those are the small white flowers along the front of the border).  They are doing really well and adding some front of border interest.  This is something I have been trying to get right blending the planting at the front and the back of the border with planting in the middle.  I don’t necessarily think that all the plants have to be low at the front of the border but I do like to try to have plants to hide the stems of the taller plants.
This is the view from the other end of the border.  Those pesky Welsh Poppies can be seen ruining my pastel ensemble!!  Thalictrums are just opening so hopefully they will still be flowering in  months time for me to share but maybe that is asking too much with the weather we have had.

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