There’s a window now for some editing of the garden. One or two things need dividing. Plants that were divided in autumn and potted on now need to be dropped into spaces and perennial old friends are re-appearing to welcome the newcomers into the borders. The usual suspects have self-seeded. Here they are primroses, verbena bonariensis, alchemillia mollis and euphorbia mellifera. This is all very encouraging, and encouraging me out in the garden again. Here’s six old friends for this week.
One
A few weeks back the clematis ‘Étoile Violette’ was cut back and as usual I took some cuttings from the new growth that had already come through. Usually these go into the greenhouse were the overwintering slugs or snails lock lasers on them and munch them to the ground. Finally, I have learnt my lesson and this year the cuttings were brought into the house and were nurtured on a windowsill. They have taken and I will be taking extra care of them until they are strong enough to go out into the big bad garden environment.
Two
Last Autumn a seedling of tellima grandiflora was teased out of the edge of the lawn and potted on. This is already looking ready to go out into the wide open spaces and, hoping I don’t jinx things, I would say these are slug resistant.
Three
The hylotelephium are putting out beautiful rosettes of new growth, this one is in the border and I have a small division taken in the autumn that is nearly ready to be planted on. I’m waiting for the roots to develop a little more.
Four
One of my regular old friends is the magenta phlox that came with the garden. The new growth is strong and it’s time to take down the old stems. I have divisions of white phlox in pots that need a home. There’s some colour scheme thought to be done.
Five
This is a relatively new friend, helleborus argutifolius or Corsican hellebore. I’m hoping they stay around as I really like them. I am thinking of dropping the white phlox in amongst them.
Six
The flowers on the rosemary are opening up and I have seen one or two bees in the garden on warmer days. These flowers will be a welcome attraction for them.
The lawn is having its first cut of the year today, blades on high. That always sharpens up the garden and will further encourage me to finish the cut back and tackle the weeds – bittercress and woodland geum are my top targets. For more gardening news I happily send you round to Jim’s place and I wish you all a pleasurable time in your garden spaces.
n20gardener 
A wonderful number of buds on the Hellebore.
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I also like the rosette of the sedum. Thank you for taking the time to capture the tiny blooms of the rosemary.
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Delighted that you enjoyed them
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Now there’s a Hellebore you don’t need to be on your belly to photograph! I love your first line: “There’s a window now for some editing of the garden.” It’s a perfect description of what I started yesterday – moving and dividing a few perennials – the window of opportunity disappears so quickly!
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And here it has rained nearly every day. I feel the window closing!
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It’s good that you get so many plants for free. I have never tried taking cuttings of my clematis – is it easy? Raining again today so gardening tasks are on hold yet again. It seems that at most I can manage a couple of hours once or twice a week! Surely it has to stop raining at some point?
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Oh yes. Please stop raining! Every time I think it’s time to garden the rain comes down and the soil is saturated. I’d say yes it’s easy to take clematis cuttings. These were very poorly taken in terms of leaf node positions but they took. I used 50-50 peat free and perlite. Pushed them in around the edges of a terracotta pot and put a plastic bag over the top. Then onto a windowsill in the coolish utility room. Took about 2 weeks maybe. Definitely worth a try.
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It’s a good idea to take clematis cuttings. I’m trying to seed for the first time but it doesn’t seem to start. Have you ever tried clematis seedlings ? Rosemary is starting to have its first flowers too, and for my first mowing it will be next Thursday ! Nice droplets in the hylotelephium
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I’ve never tried seeds for clematis. The cuttings seem to be easy to take. Hope it’s dry for your mowings. Rain again here.
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The rosemary looks really nice with it’s blooms. Mowing the lawn on Saturday just feels right! tzgarden.blogspot.com
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Managed to mow before more rain!
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Rosemary is much prettier than ours. I only got a picture of it because of the floral color, but then realized that the foliage is ruined by mites. It should be fine by summer. Phlox appeared in our gardens a few years ago. I have no idea how it got here. It is plain white, which is my favorite. It is so easy to divide and relocate. I am very pleased with it.
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Phlox is what we call a good doer!
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I am impressed because the only Phlox that I had ever encountered before was some sort of creeping Phlox that I still have not seen perform well. This common Phlox was the first of its sort that I ever encountered.
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I’m always a bit envious of people’s flowering Rosemary plants – I’ve never had much luck with it (in a pot or in the ground) and they’ve never flowered. The new growth of the sedum (I struggle with the new name!) is very pleasing. I need to chop back last year’s growth on mine.
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Ooh, I didn’t know cuttings could be struck from clematis, how interesting, are there any secrets to success?
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