Hello to Old Friends...

I spend a lot of time in Spring walking around the garden talking to, no, not myself, but to old friends who are returning. Those emerging plants which WERE NOT THERE last time I walked down the garden and are suddenly unmissable ! They seem to appear to thrust through the soil overnight. It is such an exciting time of year, filled with surprises for me, as I tend to forget where these star players are in the garden, until they turn up again.
This year they seem glossier, more vigorous and stronger than ever.

This Hosta has shoots which look like talons at this stage. They are at an ideal stage to split -  and just before the stage where I need to put a campbed next to them and go on 24/7 slug-watch !

The lovely glossy young leaves of a Ligularia, which I think is Dentata. It is, like the Hostas, prized by slugs and snails alike ! I have had lovely plants decimated overnight, some years.

This looks much more exotic than it really is... it is a lupin which for some reason (maybe the cold weather) is much darker leaved than usual. Note photo-bombing by naughty dandelion !

Here are the fresh new leaves of Berberis  Thunbergii Atropurpurea, which are part of a newish hedge, replacing a hebe hedge which was lost in the 'Great Freeze of 2010'. The leaves are at their best when they are new as they tend to fade a bit throughout the season.

More red leaves ! This is a new Climbing Rose 'Antique', planted in the Autumn, and clearly happy and healthy. I can't wait to see the big soft pink flowers when it finally blooms.

At last - a green one ! This is one of my blackcurrant bushes which is bursting into life in the veg garden.
There are lots of new ones every day, and it is a lovely time to evaluate the garden, when you can still see the 'bare bones' of the garden (the unchanging elements) and the beginnings of the 'flesh' (the planting that fills out the skeleton). The clarity you find at this time of year becomes less obvious as the season progresses and the plants lose their early definition.