I’m sure you won’t mind me saying that I am rather pleased with my garden at the moment. It makes me smile so much especially when the sun shines, as it has been all week, and the small spring flowers glow.
I have been taking advantage of the longer days and have managed to work outside for an hour at least three evenings during the week and I am hoping to make this a habit for the rest of the year while the days are long enough. It is a wonderful way to unwind after a trying day at work. Although having spent some hours this last week digging up sycamore seedlings I could feel irritation creeping back from time to time so I had to restrict myself to sycamore weeding for just 30 minutes at a time. I have never known a year like it, they are everywhere.
The grass path has had its first cut of the year and I have decided to retain it if for no other reason than the cat objects to the gravel paths! I am pleased with the border above – still in need of a name, maybe the Cherry border? It has perplexed me for years ever since it was first created. Earlier this spring I really cleared it out and planted some hellebores, a peony and some other perennials. Various daffodils which were already in the border have been flowering and a host of aquilegia are now putting in an appearance.
The back of the border leads round to the former Bog Garden, again in need of a new name – I’m thinking Camellia border. This has also been a little perplexing for a few years. There are a number of ferns in this border including some Onoclea sensiblis which I hadn’t realised when I bought them a few years back need moist conditions, so I have really mulched the border to try to retain the moisture. One evening this week I added a Cardiocrinum giganteum, Mertensia virginica, Dentaria pinataand a whole host of snowdrops lifted and divided from the other side of the path. I know some people argue against planting snowdrops in the green but for me I needed to do it now as they are swamping some of the epimediums and other spring plants. The larger log to the left of the photo is the cat’s scratching post. The other
The other end of the border. I am hoping that next spring, and even more so the following spring, the border will be a sea of white in early spring. It will be interesting to see how it all fills out over the coming year and to think about ways of improving it more.
I spent several hours in the border above where the worst case of sycamore seedlings has been, the neighbours have a large sycamore just the other side of the fence so I blame them. I first created this border probably 3 or 4 years ago and this spring is the first one when the plants have started to fill out and bulk up. What you can’t see if that there are fat noses of Solomons Seal coming up all over the border but still no sign of the large hosta I am waiting to relocate. My only disappointment is that hardly any of the small narcissus I planted 3 years ago have flowered this year. There is meant to see a sea of yellow here and there is nothing. I don’t know why. The clumps aren’t congested at all so I don’t understand why the narcissus are blind.
I feel that the garden is beginning to have a more cohesive appearance. I just need to continue this through the rest of the year.
Today I have wrecked destruction on the patio border. It looks awful at the moment but hopefully the image in my mind will come together as the year progresses. I removed a small euonymous from here as well as some Japanese Anemones which have been moved up to the back of the woodland border. I have also dug up quite a number of bluebells which I have to say have gone on the compost heap. Outrageous I know but planting bluebells in a border is madness, they are such thugs once they get going and the leaves soon swamp out other plants. In this border there is a whole host of lily of the valley and last year I struggled to spot any. I relocated some of the bluebells last year to the top of the garden where they will cause less problems so I don’t have a problem ditching the rest. I also lifted and divided the clumps of snowdrops here spreading them along the border rather than all clustered at one end. Others were relocated in the woodland border along the top of the wall to try to increase the spread for next year. The reason behind the destruction is because I had a number of plants that needed the wonderful conditions in this border – the elusive moist but well-drained soil; it is also quite shady. So I have planted Blechnum chilense, Peltoboykinia waranabei (a home-grown seedling), Anemonopsis macrophylla seedlings and most scarily four Meconopsis ‘Hensol Violet’ seedlings which I grew last year and have nursed over winter – I so hope they flower, I will be delirious if they do.
I leave you with a shot of the wonderful blue sky we had on Saturday with the flower on the large Prunus against it. Given the winds we have had today I am surprised that so much of the blossom is still in place and the air is positively humming with pollinators on the blossom and other spring delights.
