Epimedium
Not such a gorgeous weekend as last weekend which was disappointing given it was the Spring Equinox but fingers crossed Easter will see a change and temperatures will start to improve. The garden certainly appears to be waiting for the green light although the epimediums seem to have decided they have waited too long. I am particularly pleased to discover flowering buds on the majority of the other epimediums; worryingly I seem to have accumulated 13 over the last few years.
I do like spring as you have time to really look and see all sorts of delights emerging rather than being overwhelmed with things to look at as you are in the summer. I would like to claim that the combination of the white hyacinth and phormium (above) was planned. But it was a lucky accident with the lime green on the leaf seems to pick up the same color at the base of each flower. There are lessons to be learnt here about how plants combine well and that is something I have been reading a lot about recently.
I am reading Andrew Lawson’s The Gardeners Book of Colour which is brilliant. I have read essays and books about color with the obligatory color wheel before but none have ever explained colour, tones and saturation as clearly as Andrew does. I haven’t got far through the book but I am already thinking about how color creates an atmosphere and how I might try to use this in my garden especially given the big rejig that is going on. I am also reading Sarah Raven’s Bold and Beautiful which is also inspiring as I love strong colours but I worry about them looking garish in English light. I am hoping that between the two books I might learn something useful about combining plants and color and take my bitty garden forward.
In the meantime I have sown the first seeds in the new propagator – Cobea scandens which I have wanted to try for some years. I have pruned the prostrate rosemary that falls over the wall back hard so it looks a little embarrassed showing its legs but I know it will re-shoot like mad. I have also cut back some of the tatty fern foliage from around the garden; it is great to see the new furry fronds ready to emerge as soon as the weather warms up. Peering in the borders I found both Iris danfordiae and iris tuberosa flowering but my photos arent up to standard so I will try again for next weekend. This is the first time both have flowered in the garden so I am hopefully they might establish.
I’ll leave you with what is in my opinion the maddest narcissus
Narcissus Rip Van Winkle
