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MAY

There's always so much to do in my garden in May.

At this time of year I could do with an under-gardener!

All these beautiful blooms are now over for another year.

Blue Veronica and Helichrysum - white Rhododendron and purple Iris - white Iris and pink Poppy.

Thank goodness I found a little time here and there just to relax, take photos ...

and admire the fruits of my labour.

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IN SPRINGTIME

I've been left feeling rather deflated after Friday night's Gardener's World - not sure why, I've been eagerly awaiting the return of Monty Don to the show for weeks.

Toby Buckland, Alys Fowler and Greenacre are no more, and the programme is now being filmed from Monty's own garden in Herefordshire.

It may be because having spent many hours thumbing through the pages, and drooling over the beautiful colour plates in his books The Jewel Garden and The Ivington Diaries, I'm already too familiar with the garden?

Having loved the garden at Berryfields, and being a big fan of Monty Don's approach to gardening, I'm sure to feel different once the season gets underway.

It's early days.

I'd be interested to know your thoughts?



I spent an hour or so this afternoon working on my Spring border - splitting Snowdrops in the green, and planting Honesty, plants grown from seed by my Dad.

Purple Honesty thrives in his garden of chalky soil, but up until now I haven't had much luck with this plant in my rich loamy soil.

It's Latin name is Lunaria, deriving from the moon because of its round and silvery looking seedpod.



This morning we had drizzle and light rain showers - it's been quite dull with short spells of sunshine breaking through this afternoon.

The beautiful lime-green Corsican Hellebore has enjoyed a good soaking.



The Spring border is on a bank which faces North, and sits opposite our workshop wall - it's not in complete shade, and gets morning sun from the East and evening sun from the West.

First to appear are Snowdrops, followed by Primula vulgaris, Hellebores and Euphorbia - I may be tempted to introduce some Crocus next year?

I'm not a fan of bulbs in borders, there's too much danger when digging in for other plants with a trowel.

So as not to disturb the Snowdrop bulbs, I surround each clump with chunky bark pieces, which also adds a more woodland feel to the area.



Whilst working, this lone Sparrow sat above - of course as soon as I came back inside the whole group (host) decide to come out of the hedgerow.

A bit nervous, or camera shy perhaps!

I could also hear a loud hum of Buff Tail Bumblebees - both on the Winter Clematis and on the bank, where they are happy to nest underground.



The Forsythia is not the only yellow shrub in Spring in my garden - there's Mahonia Japonica and Winter Jasmine which has just about gone over now.

I have two large clumps of drumstick Primula in pots coming into bud, and miniature Daffodils planted along the wall edge - though I notice many this year are coming up blind.


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There's colour appearing on the rockery too.
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This tiny flowered white plant is pretty rampant, and if allowed will quite happily spread a mossy blanket of green across the whole area.
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Soon purple Aubrietia will be in full bloom, amongst self-seeded(!) yellow Celandine.

I'm finding myself starting to like these out of focus colour blur pics!


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All nature seems at work, slugs leave their lair,
The bees are stirring, birds are on the wing,
And Winter, slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!
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In Springtime - by S T Coleridge

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IN FEBRUARY

The frozen ground is broken
Where snowdrops raise their heads
And nod their tiny greeting
In glades and garden beds.

The frozen stream is melted
The white brook turns to brown
And foaming through the coppice
Flows helter skelter down.

The frozen air is golden
With February sun
The winter days are over
Oh, has the Spring begun?

P A Ropes

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all images from The Daily Telegraph and Crocus websites

TAKING INSPIRATION

Every year I take pockets of inspiration from the spectacular gardens being shown at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Some plants which stood out and caught me in the eye this year are ones featured in the Gold medal winning garden designed by Andy Sturgeon for The Daily Telegraph. This garden creating colour and light, also won Best in Show.

For a 360 degree view of the garden, click here.

This is the first commission Andy has taken on since suffering the sadness of losing his partner, and mother to his three children, who passed away suddenly in her sleep last Summer.

The beautiful blue Salvia nemorosa Caradonna above was one of her favourites, and since I started gardening it's been a firm favourite of mine too. With it's electric blue flowers, it's a great value plant which will go on long into the Autumn, and will only be knocked back at the first sign of frost.



How pleased was I to see other heart-skipping favourite plants of mine chosen for the garden too.

Having always loved bearded Iris after inheriting a lovely white variety in my own garden, I've so far resisted the temptation to add any more.

Will I be able to resist the dusky and demure delights of Iris Action Time above?

Beautiful, just like my maternal Nan who was named Iris.



Or, the orangy pinkness of Verbascum Clementine?

I've been wanting to add more of this plant to my garden.

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Or, the ghostly white of Eryngium Miss Wilmott?

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I've coveted a big clump of this after seeing it used at Denman's Garden in Fontwell near Arundel, a local garden to me, and home of garden designer John Brooks.

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I've had quick look and all these plants, and more, are available on-line!

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Tempting enough for you?

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WINTER

... white



... bright



... delight!

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ANTIRRHINUM AND BUMBLEBEE

The plants are pollinated by bumblebees, and the flowers close over the insects when they enter and deposit pollen on their bodies. The bee in my photo had a very orange hairy back, anyone good at bee identification?

I was encouraged by the lady tending the plants in B&Q to buy this large pot of white Antirrhinum for half price! I am so glad I did, after initially deadheading, there have been lots more flowers and more to come, and hopefully be able to treat as a perennial and use next year? Remember calling these plants bunny rabbits, when you were small?

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ACHILLEA PTARMICA (THE PEARL)

A favourite of Edwardian garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. Especially lovely in evening light.

A main stem, with branching stems carrying white button-like flowers and small dark green toothed leaves. Tolerant of most soils and aspects, in my garden doing especially well in moist, sandy soil. This vigorous plant spreads by underground suckers and will quite happily romp through a large area, so be warned. After a long flowering season from June to October, the plant can be cut back to ground level.

A perennial with medicinal properties, good for cutting and using either fresh or dried, and is a great alternative to Gypsophila (baby's breath).

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GAURA

One of my most favourite plants in the garden is Gaura lindheimeri, Whirling Butterflies.

Gaura means superb, and this plant truly is. Flowers appearing along delicate stems in succession throughout the summer. In fact it goes on for months and needs no deadheading!

This plant is great for filling gaps in preferably well-drained soil, although mine seems to like a little mulch around the roots. It is a native plant of Texas and Mexico, where it is plentiful. It needs a good space and in my garden I have allowed for a two foot spread and height, although this is only approximate.

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TRADESCANTHIA

The tradescanthia is what I would call a good value for money plant. This variety which has beautiful ice blue flowers was given to me as a division by a friend from her mum's garden. It doesn't take long for it to bulk up and over the years I had gained three large clumps. I noticed last year each clump was beginning to overpower all around it, so I reluctantly dug up and split each clump into four separate divisions making twelve new plants, sharing them with my dad, step-dad and keeping some for myself to plant in different areas of the garden. A good idea, each new plant has already flowered and settled into their new homes for the next year or two?

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IRIS

I love iris, but I only have three varieties in my garden, the most impressive being the white one above, which has huge flower buds right the way up the stalk. I separated rhizomes from the original clumps I inherited last year and made lots of new plants, although I shall have to be patient, I only had the pleasure of one flower spike this year, but I hope for more next.



The purple variety above came gratis from my great aunt many years ago, who had it flowering in her front south facing garden. I have moved it around several times, but have now found a home I, and the plant is happy with. It has a pleasant aroma.



Finally I acquired this yellow flag iris from my dad. It likes moist and boggy conditions. I have no pond, but I have found a suitable spot where the rain regularly runs into. It does get quite congested and needs dividing every now and again to encourage more flower spikes.

I would like more iris around the garden and if I had allotment space I would grow many different varieties, mainly tall bearded ones. My maternal nan was named Iris so they always remind me of her.

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PIERIS

Today the weather is a welcome improvement on yesterday, a mixture of sunshine, blue sky and marshmallow clouds, intermittently being overcast by huge threatening black clouds bringing with them sleet/hailstone showers. I took the photo of the fiery red growth on this Pieris 'forest flame' this afternoon whilst the sun was still out.

An evergreen shrub which I have growing in a pot, placed in partial shade. It likes an acid PH and has white flowers in Spring.

The photo below was taken yesterday, and look at the depth of snow on the bench. Now we don't often see this!

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WHITE VIOLETS - Let's take a chance

Since medieval times the violet has represented the month of March in the flower calendar because this was the normal month of its emergence.

I have discovered C W Groves & Son, a nursery in Bridport in Dorset, which specialises in various species of violet. Another place to visit, when we are next down that part of the country.

Another violet post coming soon.

Elaine from Feel My Felt asked if these violets are growing out of paving, and noticed the two other plants in the photo. Yes they are coming through a crack in the paving, they have self-seeded here. The two other plants in the photo, are sedum which will grow just about anywhere, and herb robert, which is a member of the geranium family, practically a weed in my garden. I am forever pulling it up, the whole plant has a very pungent smell!

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HELLEBORE - Scandal

You have already seen photos of three of the varieties of hellebore I have in the garden, well this is the fourth.

I was really fortunate, as last year my mother-in-law's neighbour was having an area outside of his house paved, and he needed homes for his well established clumps of hellebores. Well as not to appear greedy, I came home with out five good sized plants!

I potted them on into one litre pots, to let them die down over the winter period, and then this year, once they had started to spring back into growth again, I planted them out in the borders.

I can't wait for next year to see how they have spread?

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WINTER-FLOWERING CLEMATIS

For interest in the garden during the winter season, I would definitely recommend planting winter-flowering Clematis. They are ideal for climbing up and over any structure, and do seem very reliable. These photos were taken about a week or so ago of two of the four varieties I have, cirrhosa Jingle Bells, Wada's Primrose, cirrhosa Balearica (I chose this one as it reminds me of my grandpa, who lives in Mallorca) and Early Sensation.



I wouldn’t say a record fast grower, but after a few years you may find it starts to thicken up, but don’t worry, we gave ours a quite severe haircut in the summer and afterwards it was looking pretty sorry for itself, but now, well it has grown back beautifully and has flowers in abundance.

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SNOWDROPS - Hope

Do you step out into your garden, full of good intentions of getting lots done, but instead spend more time taking photos than you do getting your hands dirty? Well since starting my garden blog, this is definitely the case for me. It suddenly came to me, as today is the 1st of March, that my Jan/Feb poll would have closed. I asked everyone, which was their favourite spring bulb, well the little beauties above are the winner.

Yes, the snowdrop received 51% of the votes, daffodil came in second with 25%, third bluebell with 16%, and last and definitely not least, the crocus with 6%.

There are approximately 100 different species and cultivars of snowdrop, the two most common being galanthus nivalis which flowers from January to March, and galanthus nivalis floro pleno, a double variety which easily naturalises.

I only have two clumps of snowdrop in my garden, I lost one clump last year. This year I am going to divide the clumps into small sections, and replant. My longterm plan is to have drifts, may have to wait though! This is best done immediately after the plant has flowered and while 'in the green'. Snowdrop bulbs are fiddly and unreliable, so division is the way forward. To increase my stocks I may be lucky enough to get a few clumps off my Dad, he has lots coming up through the lawn, they look beautiful.

Do you know that snowdrop enthusiasts are known as galanthropiles!

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NICOTIANA SILVESTRIS

Last summer I planted five of these lovely plants in a block just over a metre square, I love them, but they do grow into little monsters. As each year I am always wanting to experiment with something different from the seed catalogues, and as like most people space being at a premium, I didn’t bother with any this year. As you can see this lovely one has sprung up in the same plot, but where I am now growing my runner beans. I would definitely recommend to anyone who has a large garden to grow these ‘en masse’ as they look great in the evening light and have a lovely scent too!