First picnic of the season. We visited Hodsock Priory for the bluebells.
No picnic is complete without jam jar flowers- and chocolate cake.
And this is the glorious view.
I wrote about Hodsock snowdrops here. Also a must-visit for bluebells. Last chance to see them this coming weekend 6th and 7th May, 10-3pm. I’ve shared more photos over on twitter @kgimson.
Do you have any favourite bluebell woods you like to visit? Are you a fan of picnics?
Quick peek in my Potting shed. These flowers have been such a joy. The scent is perhaps too strong for the house, but perfect for the potting shed. Drowns out the aroma of compost and tractor fuel. I shall be planting Paperwhites again in October for Christmas presents, and January/ February for spring cheer.
Tiny flowers on trees grown mainly for their leaves. Such a spring surprise, and a treat. This one is Crimson King, Acer Platanoides. Also known as the Norwegian maple. Photo taken at Burghley House near Stamford.
What surprises have you found this spring? Have you noticed any tiny flowers on trees? I love to hear your comments.
Everything in my garden has suddenly gone whoosh! I’m running round the plot at breakfast, lunch and tea break – finding flowers that I’m certain were not there earlier in the day. Plants just seem to pop up overnight.
My favourite tulip, Burgundy, was only in bud for a day or two. Then by lunchtime, the flower was wide open. When the wind blows, they look like ribbons of silk scarves, dancing in the breeze. Lily-flower tulips have a certain elegance and movement. Much better than their stiff, cottage cousins, I think.
Hellebores make perfect ground cover in fading shades of purple and pink. As a contrast there’s tiny forget-me-nots in the borders, and the lawn is edged with a frill of scented wild violets. Blue and cerise pink make very happy companions.
Looking up, banks of cherries make a white cloud over the wild garden. There will be lots of fruit for the blackbirds- and us.
Hasn’t it been a fabulous year for blossom. Cold temperatures in January, followed by sunny, mild days in March, mean we’ve had the best year for cherries and magnolias for a long time. My planting is the wild cherry Prunus Avium. Simply beautiful- all year round.
If we don’t have any frost, there will be a record plum harvest. There’s enough to pick for the house too. Blossom on the breakfast table and by my bedside. One of the joys of spring.
Pieris Flaming Silver is planted in an enormous pot. It wouldn’t like my heavy clay soil, so I cheat with containers and ericaceous compost. It’s beautiful all year round with white heather, bell-like flowers and red new growth.
My favourite narcissi is white Pheasant’s Eye. Reliably comes back every year, and naturalises in borders and under trees.
White, highly-scented Narcissi Geranium is another glorious treat. My children used to call it the poached egg flower.
Brightening up a dark corner- Devon Red. The petals look sugar-coated in sunshine. A hardy flower which copes with hail and high winds in my garden.
Narcissus Ice Follies, viewed from the summerhouse, replace the snowdrops and wild anemones. Cowparsley will soon compete with native bluebells. It’s an ever changing scene.
I love these cheerful jonquils on the potting shed windowsill. A perfect match for forget-me-nots, and just the right size for jam jar flowers. Trees by the pond show a reflection in the window. And the last of the paperwhites, hyacinths and cyclemen are pressing at the glass.
And I’ve got company again! Opposite the garden gate are these beauties, let out onto grass for the first time this year. They look on incredulous as I dig and weed.
What sights do you love to see in your garden in April? Do get in touch and let me know. Thanks to Helen for hosting this end of the month view. Click on the highlighted words for more information. They are not advertising or affiliate links.
Pulsatilla vulgaris Rose Bells joining the spring parade. Also known as Pasque flower. Love the hairy buds and leaves. So much Pollen. Camera phone photo.
Magnolia Stellata Water Lily. Star flower.
Such a joy at all stages. I look forward to these flowers every spring. More information on this magnolia from the RHS website. Click on the highlighted word.
Joining in with Michelle and her new meme celebrating what’s in flower in the garden right now.
It’s been sunny and warm enough on a couple of days to open the summerhouse doors. Grace cat has appreciated the warm weather. I’ve propped up the blue hyacinths with hazel twigs. Catkins are a perfect match for spring bulbs. Tete a tete daffodils were planted in pots in October and put behind the pottingshed out of sight. Luckily I looked the other day, and they were in full flower. A week or two earlier than last year.
This is the current view looking out from the summerhouse. The mini-wood will soon be bursting into leaf. Snowdrops bought at Hodsock Priory are starting to spread. There’s a patch of wild garlic I shall be harvesting soon to make a delicious soup.
It only takes a few years for the patches of snowdrops to bulk up. I will be dividing these in the next week or so. I will dig up a clump, break them into half, put half back in the planting hole and spread the others about, incorporating some grit and leafmould in the planting pockets.
I’m saying goodbye to the aconite flowers for another year. Finally, after years of trying, they have taken off and are spreading across the wild garden. Incorporating lots of leafmould each year seems to be the answer. Plus patience. They really do only grow where they want to. I very nearly gave up to be honest.
At the side of the pottingshed there’s another wild garden where snowdrops and tiny crocus are making themselves at home. I love looking out of the side windows at this view.
Wild daffodils are finally starting to spread too. This was just one flowerhead last year. I am really happy to see it settling in with three flowers this year.
I think it’s my favourite daffodil. Such a delicate flower.
Primroses are escaping from the borders and making themselves at home in the lawn. A lovely consequence of giving up on the lawn feed and weed regime. Soon the whole front lawn will be awash with blue scented wild violets. They virtually pop up overnight. Such a wonderful sight to come home to.
There are violets by the front gate and all along the sunny front hedge bottom.
Eagerly awaited every spring- Prunus Okame is the first tree to flower in my garden. A blue sky is the perfect background for such a pretty pale pink flower.
A pink corydalis is thriving under the prunus and lives quite happily underneath the hellebores in shade.
My favourite hellebore right now. It reminds me of a stained glass window.
And finally, the pottingshed windowsill has pots of tiny tete a tete daffodils and single snowdrops. You can just see the blue hyacinths and matching daffodils inside the shed where the scent is intoxicating- mixed with smells of petrol for the mower and compost on the potting bench!
I hope you have enjoyed my whistle-stop tour of the garden today. Thank you to Michelle for hosting this new meme. Why don’t you go over and see what’s looking good today in Michelle’s garden on www.http://vegplotting.blogspot.co.uk . Join in- all welcome!
Cosmos seeds. Now safely gathered in.
And after Christmas I will start sowing again, for a summer delight of bees and blooms.
My cut-flower-patch kit cost me about £20 from Ben at Higgledy Garden, mail order. Great value, to get me started. I shall re use my saved seeds, but I’m looking on the website to add new varieties for next year. What are you planning to grow in 2017?
Still mild enough to sit in the summerhouse. Heaps of cosy woollen blankets to hide under. So I made an autumn wreath out of beech leaves, rosehips and cowparsley seed heads.
My wreath is made from a woven willow base. I learned how to make them from Georgie Newbery at Common Farm Flowers. I can highly recommend the courses. I attended one for creating a cut flower patch and posy tying. I’ve never had to buy any flowers for my house and family since. I’m planning to attend one next year on growing flowers for weddings and special occasions. I’ve already bought my voucher for the course. It’s great to have something to look forward to as winter starts to bite.
The Persian ironwood shrub, Parrotia Persica still looks like a bonfire of colour.
Orange tulips, a present from a friend- the view inside the summerhouse today.
Have you got a favourite place you like to sit in the garden?
I can’t believe I turned my nose up at chrysanthemums. It might have been the huge Pom Pom flowers that put me off. Some the size of a head. All stiffly growing in rows, marshalled into line by an army of stakes and string.
Not my kind of gardening- and I’d probably have composted any cuttings or plants that came my way.
But this year I’ve had a change of heart. My father in law handed over a cutting of a yellow spider chrysanthemum. It’s a plant that has been passed around the family and grown for over 70 years. My father in law is struggling with mobility now and can no longer garden. In fact this year we’ve been running two gardens- theirs and our own. We’ve all worked like demons to keep their immaculate garden up to standard. And the reward has been the smiles and comments from every carer, nurse and visitor to the house. Their glorious flower-and veg- filled garden has been preserved.
And so has their much-prized chrysanthemum. I couldn’t be the one to let the side down. I couldn’t let the family chrysanthemum -known as Aunty Doris- die out. So it’s been potted on and watered and fed, and generally fussed over all summer. And I’m surprised to find that I totally love it. It has personality. The glorious sunny yellow flowers open like a sea anemone. It’s fascinating to watch. As the flowers grow, the centres turn a beautiful emerald green.
After all that nurturing – the flowers are returning to my mother in law, Joan. Just as her husband of 66 years has always grown them for her, I’m growing them now.
Chrysanthemum known in the family as “Aunty Doris.”
I love its rather messy flowers. Beautiful from bud to open flower.
Luckily I’ve got lighting in my potting shed, so can create my flower posies for Joan after work.
In the posy this week is Chrysanthemum Stallion Yellow and white Swan from Cheshire family nursery Chrysanthemums Direct. Bought as plugs from RHS autumn show. I think they cost around £1 each, and have made good strong plants in a year. I’m an organic gardener, and on my potting shed table is some natural fertiliser I’m trying out from PlantGrow. I’ll let you know how I get on with it.
Chrysanthemum Swan in the centre, surrounded by rosemary, verbena bonariensis, pittosporum silver queen, rudbeckia grown from seed, violas and grasses. The orange balls are sprays of seed from crocosmia, and the grey foliage is Artemisia Powis Castle.
The blue flower spikes are Plectranthus Argentea which is now sheltering in the heated greenhouse for the winter and will provide flowers right through until February. This and many other plants in my greenhouse came from The Herb Nursery at Thistleton. Another family-run business I like to support.
The good news is, there’s about 6 more weeks of Aunty Doris chrysanthemums to come. I expect we will even have them on our Christmas table. A reason to celebrate- to be sure.
Have you ever tried to keep a family favourite flower or plant in circulation? Thanks as always to Cathy for hosting this In a Vase on Monday meme. Do take a look and see what gardeners around the world are growing.
Forsythia.Flowers out of season are always a joy. And the foliage is a burnished bronze too.
Seeds are so inexpensive these days, there’s really no need to save our own. One packet of seed can produce hundreds of plants-for just a few pounds. And yet, there’s something about autumn that makes you want to dash round the garden gathering everything in. Every coat pocket at the moment contains a paper bag full of seeds of every shape and size. It’s my natural inclination to harvest, store up, preserve – to make ready for winter. I’m doing the same with jams and chutney. Capturing the summer. My defence against the cold.
For this week’s Vase on Monday, there’s white cosmos, sweet peas, rudbeckias, verbascum, malmaison carnations and grasses all grown this summer from seed.
My favourite sweet pea is the variety High Scent. It’s a deliciously creamy colour flower with a blue picotee edge. These were direct sown in June to give a late show until the first frosts. The scent is glorious on a sunny day, but at this time of the year it’s less evident in the garden. A posy on a bedside table in October though, is a joy. Heat from the log fire seeps right through the house, bringing out the most wonderful scent.
Rudbeckias flower all summer, whatever the weather. Reliable and long lasting in a vase. There’s usually a few stems to pick every day, until November.
Seed originally came from Higgledy Garden. I’ve got my eye on some new seed – persicaria orientalis , and lavender larkspur for next year. But for now, my collected seed is laid out in little containers in the potting shed, drying off and waiting to be sown again next season.
Thanks to Cathy for hosting this theme.
Paradise Regained Garden 