Tag Archives: Tulips

Six on Saturday

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Despite the dreadful weather lately, the garden has flourished and plants are growing before my very eyes. Each day now there is something new, better, bigger or beautiful to look at. Today it was the the Amelanchier lamarckii against a clear blue sky.

As soon as the sun comes out, the Anemone blanda open and is an arresting sight alongside the naturalised narcissus and primroses.

Why are the tulips out so early this year? Is it the variety? The fact that they are in pots (the ones in the ground are not open yet, though already in bud), or maybe just the warm, wet Spring has brought them on quicker. I don’t know.

This large clump of Purple Honesty, Lunaria annua, decided to make its home at the front of the drive border, peeping out from the permanent shrubs, which seems to be its preferred habitat.

Last Autumn, I split a huge clump of Penstemon digitalis ‘Dark Towers’ into quarters and potted them up in 10 litre pots. Two have found new homes and two are now waiting for me to make up my mind where to put them. I now know they need a lot of room, at least a metre due to the volume of foliage they produce, and that is a metre I don’t currently have!

At least the rain gave me chance to get in the greenhouse and transplant the Cosmos seedlings and a few of the Which? Gardening trial seeds I am growing this year, including, for the first time, Amaranthus paniculatus ‘Foxtail’, a variety of the old fashioned favourite Love-Lies-Bleeding. They sent me 50 seeds but only half germinated. Not a great start!

Have a great Easter Weekend

David

Six on Saturday

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My Six on Saturday blogs have recently been interrupted by illness and holidays (in that order!) and on my return I was laser focused on getting the rose garden in shape. I foolishly (as it turned out) spread my own compost over the beds last year, and paid the price in millions of weeds. I also succumbed to my tendency to overplant, and stuffed every available space with herbaceous perennials, summer flowering bulbs and any spare plants looking for a home. I soon discovered that roses don’t like that. They like and need space and airflow around them, otherwise they sulk and whole stems die off! So, 13 old compost bags full of plants, weeds and detritus have gone to the recycling centre, beds are now weed free, fed and mulched, and looking all the better for it.

There is not much colour in the garden yet, but these little Anemone blanda have spread themselves around and pop up everywhere to compete nicely with the unwanted, and impossible to eradicate, Ficaria verna commonly known as the hated lesser celandine.

The other stalwart of the early Spring garden is the common flowering redcurrant, Ribes sanguineum. This one grows as a ‘full stop’ at the end of a beech hedge and gets a hard prune in August, which as every gardener knows, is far too late, But somehow, it has adapted to to this and rewards me with a good show every February and March. When I walk past, it is buzzing with bumble bees which always brings a smile.

Last October, a kind friend gave me some seeds of Lunaria annua ‘Chedglow’, a rather choice variety of Purple Honesty which begins life with blotchy leaves before they turn a dark shade of purple topped with dark purple flowers. I look forward to seeing it in all its glory next Spring.

The mild winter seems to have confused some of my November planted Tulips! These are not a dwarf variety, nor are they an early variety. They are supposed to be up to 40cm tall and flowering in May!

As usual, I seem to have sown far too many Cosmos in the mistaken belief that, because they are last years seed, the germination rate would be far less. Cosmos, as we all know, does not follow the rules, hasn’t read the packet, and will grow regardless of age!

Right, back to the pressure washing!

Have a great weekend

David

Six on Saturday

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It has been a very good year for Narcissus and I am hoping it has something to do with the fact that I feed them with blood, fish & bone meal as they are coming through, before they flower. The botanical theory is that whilst they are pushing this year’s flower through the ground, the bulb is already forming next year’s flower so that is when they need nourishment, not after flowering as some would have you believe. It probably also has a lot to do with the weather, but that’s something we can’t control.

“Weed, feed, mulch” is my March/April mantra and the latter arrived on Wednesday ready for the weekend thanks to those nice people from Earth Cycle https://earthcycle.co.uk/

A large ‘dumpy bag’ is approx 1000 litres and is just enough to cover my important beds and borders with a 30mm layer to prevent annual weeds germinating, conserve moisture and add essential depleted minerals and nutrients to the soil. It works out at 10p a litre delivered to my door which I think is good value. And, I get a free dumpy bag for hedge cuttings and a pallet for my next compost bin!

I have a little colony of white violets which comes back every year and is a charming addition to the beech hedge where it seems to thrive in the leaf litter. It has been invaded by foxglove seedlings this year but I will relocate those tomorrow.

The ‘May flowering’ Narcissus poeticus, or ‘Pheasant Eye’ narcissus, are rather early this year! They are normally the last to flower but are way ahead of schedule. But they are not alone………….

Just a red tulip, nothing special, left in the ground to take their chances, are already flowering at least a month earlier than last year. Odd! They are obviously happy in this front border and get well fed alongside the herbaceous perennials.

Chaenomeles, or Japanese Quince, are a wonderful sight at the moment. Forgotten for the rest of the year, hacked back in August when the hedges are cut, they seem to enjoy their brutal treatment and flower all the better for it.

I love the way some plants adapt to their position. This Iberis sempervirens has decided to fall gracefully over the step, just a year after being released from its pot in the new rose garden. It will flower for weeks and takes no maintenance. Please excuse the mice, they are someone else’s idea of cute!

Have a great weekend

David