Month: April 2023

Six On Saturday: Tales of woe and warming times

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Oh yes the garden is warming up, which brings out the pests. The clematis cuttings in the greenhouse have been eaten. I thought I had de-slugged the greenhouse after giving it a good sweep out in preparation for the new growing season, but no. Of course they find a way to wreak havoc. Pests are munching through the borders too, a new campanula has been razed to the ground, snails are the culprits here I think. I need to be especially watchful of the three dahlias in the greenhouse which have just put up shoots. Every year I say I won’t grow food for slugs and snails but once again I’m a fool. End of tales of woe, time for six good things.

One

Thankfully the tulips are unscathed and there are new ones to enjoy this week. ‘Negrita’ has been joined by ‘Spring Green’ which is one of my favourites and seems to be pretty good at coming back.

Two

Not so good on the re-appearing front is ‘Cairo’. I added in about twenty last year to coincide with the camassias. This year only two have appeared but I like the colour and the shape so I may well restock and have another go at building up a display.

Three

The geranium phaeums have opened. This is a sign that the garden is beginning to fill up, no doubt providing lovely cover for slugs but I won’t go there again.

Four

The first of the Germanica irises have opened, these are another Spring favourite, fleeting but such a great colour.

Five

New in the border this year, these are polygonatum × hybridum, or Solomon’s Seal. I did quite a bit of research into varieties of polygonatum but when it came to making a purchase the most interesting were out of stock and so the ordinary ones came home with me. They are in a shady northish facing spot and I was persuaded by the suggestion that they were thuggish and would spread. I ignored the note that said may be attacked by slugs!

Six

Trumpet fanfare for the last of the six. It’s apple blossom time and never have I had so much blossom on this apple tree. It’s a Braeburn on dwarf stock if I remember rightly. I inherited it from the previous owner who loved growing his own fruit. I have much to thank him for.

This week saw the planting out of the onion sets that I had started in the greenhouse and also the Pink Fir Apple potatoes. I’m holding back on sowing parsnip and carrot seeds as my soil still feels cold to the touch. Maybe the long weekend and the hint of higher temperatures will push me over the edge. The dead plants have gone and I’m looking for some hardy evergreens to replace the three pittosporums. The other spaces will be filled with some spare perennials for the moment. I’m moving the windowsill tomatoes down to the greenhouse this weekend. We have a bank holiday in the UK and the weather looks good. So it is with great joy I wish everyone Happy Gardening! I hope the weather is good wherever you are. Garden Ruminations is the place to go for more of the SOS gardens.

Six On Saturday: Almost all tulips

/ n20gardener / 16 Comments

It seems that when I write these SOS posts the mornings are chill and grey. The tulips are persuading me that things are better than I think so all praise to the tulip today. Here’s my six with two non-tulips for a little variety.

One

The second wave of tulips has begun, so I go back to re-visit the early flowering ‘World Friendship’ which is now joined by a white form, forgive me but I can’t remember if these are ‘White Triumphator or ‘Nicolas Heyek’. It’s one or the other!

Two

These tulips grow at the slightly shadier end of the long border where the white ‘Purissima’ flourish. This is a collection of ‘Shirley’, ‘Queen of Night’, ‘Violet Beauty’ and ‘Barcelona’. ‘Queen of Night’ is a late flower, so these have yet to arrive.

Three

Now for a sudden burst of sunshine. I took this photo earlier in the week when the light was shining through these, making them glow like boiled sweets. These are my miscellaneous collection of tulips bulbs that came as a free add on with another bulb order. They have proved to be wonderful performers. I have no idea what they are!

Four

Back to a shadier part of the garden, well in fact the veg plot. I planted the edge of path with a Sarah Raven mix of ‘Mariette’ (pink lily shaped), ‘Lasting Love’ (triumph, pinky red), ‘Ballerina’ (Lily orange) and ‘Sarah Raven’ (Crimson, lily flowered). Only the last two have opened up so far.

Five

So goodbye to the tulips for now and back to fritillaries. This beautiful white one has appeared and looks magnificent. The self seeded regular fritillaries are appearing against a wall, a dry and sunny spot. This white one is a mystery as I haven’t planted a white variety so maybe the birds have been generous again?

Six

Another mystery is the appearance of this peony. Not something that I planted but a peony it definitely is and wonder of wonders is has a flower bud. This part of the garden was an overgrown bed of weeds when I arrived so possibly the peony has lain dormant for several years and has only now decided that conditions are favourable for flowering. I’m very grateful!

Slow progress is being made with the seeds sown in the greenhouse. Just one or two germinations from the cosmos but there are some encouraging signs of digitalis lutea making progress. I am pulling up sycamore seedlings every single day. Next weeks sees the great dig out begin: gone for the cistus, pittosporum and I think too, a large choysia. Great opportunities for new schemes. Watch this space! Another space to watch is Jim’s Garden Ruminations, wise gardening words and all the SOS links. Happy gardening.

Six On Saturday: Mid April, motoring along gently

/ n20gardener / 15 Comments

First things first. Apologies. What with one thing and the other I did not get round to reading many SOS posts last week. I plan to do better this week. I did manage to be out in the garden for some of the fine weather and it was encouraging to see more and more plants making progress. The dead looking fuchsias are just showing signs of new growth from the base and more perennials are pushing through. This week the tulips took a bashing as the garden caught the edge of storm Noa on Wednesday and there have been cold winds and April showers galore. I cut back one of the winter damaged euphorbia melifera to the ground. Having spotted some very weak new growth on the second euphorbia I decided to leave the roots of both in the ground for a few more weeks to see if there is any real chance of recovery. The cistus does look very dead and I am readying myself to deal with that in the next week or two. Happily, there’s enough in the garden to keep the spirits up. Here’s this week’s six.

One

Undaunted by the chilly winds, more and more tulips are opening up. These are ‘Negrita’, soon to by joined by ‘Spring Green’ and possibly some ‘Ronaldo’ but I did dig a few of those up as I moved things around over Winter. Time will tell.

Two

I really should have featured these last week, as they are a little past their best this week. These are the very pleasing flowers of epimedium x versicolor Sulpehurerum together with a hart’s tongue fern. I planted these up in a container to fill a shady corner and although the epimedium may need to be moved on as it establishing, so far the results are positive.

Three

Note to self: Must add some more of these to the garden. I hear that leucojum ‘Gravetye Giant’ likes it wet so here is one plant that must be enjoying the weather.

Four

The bleeding heart has made a another appearance in the garden. I worried for this as in its first year it was attacked by slugs and then unwittingly dug up by me as I relocated something else. I hope it has a good year this year and really gets its roots into the soil.

Five

I may have to concede defeat on the pittosporum ‘Nanum’. It has lost more and more leaf and the stems seem to snap more than bend. It is looks even more dead now, backed as it is, by the striking green of the new growth of melica altissima ‘Alba’. The melica is clearly indestructible, it grows in a cold dark border and happily self seeds. The border may be just too cold for the pittosporum. I’m giving it a few more weeks to see if some steady warmth can help it into growth.

Six

Iberis sempervirens. A solid plant for falling over the edge of walls. It looked a little scruffy after winter but it is in its stride again and brightened up this gloomy morning. I took a few cuttings when I was tidying it up and now have two more young plants to fit along the edges of this wall.

On the seedling front, I have germination from the Marigolds but everything else in the greenhouse is being a little reluctant to burst forth. Inside on the kitchen windowsill, the chillis continue to put on growth and have just been joined by some basil, tomato and cucumber seedlings. I planted out the ‘Charlotte’ second earlies and the onions in modules in the greenhouse are just about sending up shoots. It’s a cold unheated greenhouse so I have to be patient. Yes, a little more warmth would be welcome but I’m pleased to see the garden filling up again in spite of the weather. I’m off to Jim’s Cornish garden now to see what’s putting in an appearance this week and also to improve on my reading statistics from last week’s effort. Happy gardening to you all.

Six On Saturday: That’s more like it

/ n20gardener / 9 Comments

Just a few days of sunshine in amongst the cold winds and hail has pushed the garden forward once again. Now I feel that there is momentum. Pillows of new growth from the perennials are appearing everywhere and the birds are in full voice. The clematis armandii continues to do the heavy lifting but there is more and more to enjoy. Here’s this week’s six.

One

More tulips have opened up. ‘World Friendship’ mixes in the thin border with narcissus ‘Thalia’. I haven’t topped up the tulips for maybe two years now. There are just about enough to make a reasonable display but I have made a note for July to think about ordering some more. This week for the first time ever I noticed that aphids had taken a fancy to the tulips. They were swiftly despatched.

Two

The second narcissus ‘Actaea’ poeticus has opened. The first one presumably did get to open, but the slugs got there before me. These are sweetly scented, I haven’t noticed it yet but once a few more have opened I will pay them a little more attention. These are scheduled to arrive in late April so I am pleased to see them having a go at flowering now.

Three

I did mention last week that the scilla had opened up, but I lied! These are not scilla at all. They are ipheion uniflorum aka the spring starflower. I remember that I was trying to decide between the two, and eventually chose the ipheion. I can’t remember what the deciding factors were but I’m happy with them anyway.

Four

The blue anemone blanda were open several weeks ago, but in the last week the white ones have got into their stride. They were soaking up yesterday’s sunshine, providing a sparkling spot of white in the border. Acknowledgements also due to the photo bombing celandine!

Five

There are signs of growth even in the colder shadier parts of the garden. I planted a few erythroniums last year and I think they have all survived the winter. Now they have to survive the slugs. These are erythronium californicum ‘White Beauty’. They are billed as ideal for a north facing border and shadier spots so I am hoping they will settle in and in due course make some cheerful clumps of nodding flowers.

Six

The very first of the plum blossom appeared this week. All on the lower branches of the tree. That gave me a nudge to making sure the cherry tree growing against a wall was securely netted.

The long Easter weekend here is a great opportunity to finish the tidying up of the stems left over winter. The grass had its first cut this week and I am on the edge of planting up the potatoes. Some seeds have been sown, but there are more to start. I was planning to grow a selection of annuals to fill out the thin border this year but the thin border is really very thin (about 90 cms) and once I plant up the 16 echinacea ‘Pallida’ and some other perennials that I have been growing on I may well have filled the border. After six years of building the borders here I may be approaching capacity. But does that ever really happen? I suspect Jim, our host, would say no, never. His garden always has room for more. Take a look and see what Jim has this week. Happy gardening.

Six On Saturday: Flowers in the rain

/ n20gardener / 14 Comments

Oh the agony of it all. The garden creeps forward so slowly. The March surge was a subtle stumble. The rain fell incessantly yesterday and the slugs had a feast. All week I had waited for the ‘Thalia’ to open and it was with delight that I went into the garden today to capture them in their gloomy glory. Beaten to it by squillions of slimy slugs. Decimated. Eaten. Aargh! Oh well. On we go, there are things to be celebrated and that is what will be done. Here’s six from the garden this week.

One

The front garden magnolia has opened up and manages to look moodily brilliant. Monday promises to be sunny and I know it will look fantastic then. But this is what it looks like today.

Two

I am sharing the ‘Thalia’, with you, ragged edges and all. I try to keep slug favourites out of the garden but ‘Thalia’ and delphiniums always find a home here despite their appeal to the rampaging hoards.

Three

Here are the tulips that I showed in bud last week. ‘Purissima’. They stood up to yesterday’s downpours and will also look glorious in Monday’s sunshine. Perhaps I can re-post this six on Monday with a back drop of blue skies.

Four

I have been snipping away at this mahonia, name unknown, for a couple of years. Gradually bringing it back under control. It has responded well to my efforts and those of the winter weather. An undemanding and, I would say, indestructible shrub.

Five

The fritillaries have also made their way into flower. It’s probably too cold for lily beetle but I’ll be on the lookout for them in the coming weeks.

Six

The scilla also opened up this week, but this morning’s cloud was not encouraging them to show themselves so my final offering is the very pleasing new buds on one of the apple trees.

So April has arrived. I have trays of perennials waiting to be planted out, seeds to be sowed and weeds to be pulled. It may be a gradual start to Spring but it is happening and before we know it the garden will deliver its promise. Don’t forget to stop by Jim’s garden to see how things are coming along there, and to catch up on the links to other SOS posts. Happy gardening everyone.