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TUESDAY GARDEN RAKE

Sitting pretty in my garden is Aubrietia.



This week sees the first sighting of the Speckled Wood butterfly. Infact there were three engaging in a dogfight!

This one takes a moment to rest on a Euonymus hedge.


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I bought these lovely terracotta vegetable markers in Wilkinsons, and a pack of Gladiolus, Nanus Charming Lady, a pink variety, to be grown in clusters of five. Perfect for filling in the gaps.

I've done well for plants this week!

Coming away from our local B&Q with three Stachys byzantina and two Geum 'Mrs J Bradshaw' plants, (5 cottage garden plants for £5), also a pack of bedding White Salvia and New Guinea Impatiens, and a Carex 'Rekohu Sunrise', a very attractive evergreen grass.

A visit to a local plant nursery in search of more grasses, I find and buy a pretty yellow Verbascum called 'Primrose Path'.

Just to put the icing on the cake, my step-Dad-in-law surprised me with a Rhubarb Champagne crown, and a Blueberry bush!



I do work to some sort of plan in my garden, and forever moving and dividing plants.

Certain features you inherit, and short of hiring an excavator you have to work around what you've got.

I do discover happy accidents though, where plants self-seed themselves in just the perfect spot!
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The plants have been loving the soaking they've had this week, with heavy showers.

I think this Oriental Poppy flower bud looks a bit like a bunny rabbit!



All the neighbourhood cats love the garden!

The one above, who just happens to be my favourite, wears a bell, so hopefully the birds do get an early warning?



There's lots of places in the garden where cats like to explore and hide, ready to pounce on the first thing that moves, butterflies, moths, frogs, and birds!

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TUESDAY GARDEN RAKE

Well it's been another glorious week of sunshine, with the occasional dose of cloud here and there.

I finally got round to sowing some seeds.

Flowers - Calendula, Nasturtium, Sunflower, Morning Glory, Venidium and Cosmos.

Vegetables - Summer Squash, Runner Beans, Beetroot and Tomatoes.



Bees really love to get their noses into Lamium, otherwise known as Deadnettle.

My garden is full of many different varieties of bee at the moment, including a small dark black one who has set up home in our hose reel!

Lamium makes great ground cover, either in sun or semi-shade.



Over the years my Dad has given me lots of clumps of Cowslips.

I've had no success with it when planted straight into the borders, so not wanting to see another one just disappear, I planted the latest one in a medium sized terracotta pot.

It looks lovely in the sunshine, on a South facing wall.



Have you noticed how lush the garden looks at this time of year, with so many vibrant shades of green?

The Euphorbia above is one of my favourites in Spring, with its zingy lime-green bracts. Another plant given to me.

Be careful when handling all parts of the Euphorbia plant, the sap is highly toxic and an irritant to the skin and eye.

Will happily multiply in sun or shade.



The Lily of the Valley in my garden, is another plant which originated from my Dad's garden. You'd think I never bought any plants!

Planted in a damp position, it looks as if it will be another rampant spreader!

My Mum loved Lily of the Valley, its flowers and scent always remind me of her.



I've noticed a lot of wildlife this week, including this neighbourhood cat which visits my garden from time to time. It's got a very dappled grey coat!

Butterflies include the Small White and Holly Blue, also lots of Hoverflies and Mosquitoes.



This loved-up pair of Woodpigeons are around much of the time.

And well off-course, we had a couple of ducks waddling across our drive the other morning!

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RASPBERRY AND ORANGE SQUASH

Raspberry ~ pink Bergenia flower.



Orange ~ buds of Berberis.



Squash ~ seeds I sowed today.

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SNOW IN SPRING

The sunshine arrived weeks ago, and it just won't go away!

Flowering now in the garden is Amelanchier, also known as Snowy Mespilus.

The bees are loving it.

I recorded snow in April on my blog back in 2008, which did no favours to the blossom above.

There's nowt so queer as British weather!

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TUESDAY GARDEN RAKE

I love my garden in April.

One of the plants which is looking its best right now is the yellow Primrose. The one above having the most perfect of flowers and foliage.



Thank goodness I've finally got around to moving those Raspberry canes!

Given to me by my Dad a few years back I ended up planting them in a spare patch which I had at the time. Enjoying the morning sun, they did well, too well infact and where growing high, were seriously restricting my view into the garden.

To restrict their spread underground, I'm experimenting by re-planting them in groups, in cheap small black storage containers, having drilled four drainage holes in each base.

They are now on a West facing fence, where they will get most sun late afternoon and evening.

I shall let you know how they do?



Another plant which I may have regrets in planting is Lysimachia ciliata, Firecracker. It's sure to spread like fury much the same as the two other varieties I have around the garden. I know I shall curse the day I ever saw it, but having a definite liking for dark foliage plants I couldn't resist it!

It's teamed up above with Forget me Not, another plant which once introduced to your patch, will self-seed and be with you forever onwards!



The birds in the garden are getting through food at a rate of knots! Stocks of bird food have been running perilously low.

My on-line order from Haiths arrived.

As much as I like to see Stock Doves and Woodpigeons around, I've bought Premium Wild Bird Food, a mix with no wheat, to deter them from using the birdtable.

Also, I've noticed an increase in finches around at the moment, so to attract more into my garden I've bought Native Finch, a mix containing oil rich seeds.



My garden with its ivy and high hedges provides lots of food, shelter and nesting sites for birds.

It sees many of the most common species ie House Sparrows, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Starlings, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins and Wrens, so to spot something a little less ordinary and unusual to my garden, is always a treat.

Not having a long range zoom on my camera, with it taken through a window, and being cropped to the extreme, the photo above is not of the sharpest quality. The bird with its flitting movement, I'd say is some kind of Warbler?

On two occasions this week I've spotted a female Blackcap around the garden too.

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... the sun's still shining!

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TUESDAY GARDEN RAKE

You really couldn't have asked for better weather over the past week for gardening.

It's been bloomin' gorgeous!

I've spotted my first Painted Lady of the year.

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If something does well, I use repetition, rather in the style of a Cottage Garden.

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At the end of flowering seedheads were left on Japanese Anemone plants, and they've rewarded me with lots of little plantlets.

I've potted up ten new plants, and will leave their roots to establish. They will be planted out either this Autumn or next Spring.

This variety has a lovely pale pink flower.

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This spider's not backward in coming forward in making the most of this lovely sunshine. Behind the rock is Sedum.

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Big hedges surround most of the garden, ideal for nesting sites.

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Having spent a lot more time outside this week I've noticed a fair amount of Blackbird activity, with male and female both busy in and out of the nest.

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This saucer of sultanas will help build up their energy. That's if the starlings don't get to them first!

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Simone from Linden Grove came up with the idea of a Tuesday Garden Rake. Pop over to her blog to find out how to join in.

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... a Millipede's million feet disappearing underground.

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LESSER CELANDINE

Lesser Celandine, a native wildflower or a weed?



Whatever, it spreads like wildfire in my garden!

Looking less intense on a bank in semi-shade, this native wildflower mingles well with the Deadnettle plant, both having complementing white blotch marks on their leaves.

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Looking more intense on a rockery in full sun, this weed will put itself right where you don't want it!

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BLUE WITH A HINT OF BLACK

Above, the peachy pink buds of the Amelanchier tree, against sunny blue sky.



The purply, pinky blue of the Pulmonaria, in dappled shade.



And a hint of black.

Mr Blackbird taking a rest from his duties in the nest, amongst branches of the Hazel tree.

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THE COMMA BUTTERFLY

It is said the male Comma butterfly is territorial. This one kept flitting backwards, forwards, sideways and upwards to the same spot on the wall!

I wonder if you are as fascinated with their brightness of orange as I am?

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photo - The RSPB

MAGPIES AND THE WINNER OF MY GIVEAWAY

Sal from Sals Snippets, it's you!

Yes, you guessed it, the nuisance factor in my garden, is Magpies!

Like any clever thief, as soon as your backs turned, will come in and steal what's yours, or in this case the Robins!

Thanks to everyone who had a guess.

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WINTER AND SPRING, AND SUMMER!

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Lilac buds above.

But a little while a go

All the ground was white with snow

Trees and shrubs were dry and bare

Not a sign of life was there.

Now the buds and leaves are seen

Now the fields are fresh and green

Pretty birds are on the wing

With a merry song they sing.

There's new life in everything

How I love the pleasant Spring!

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Today, clocks in the UK move forward an hour.

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Which means one hours less sleep, but longer days and more time in the garden. I know which I'd rather have!

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SUNLIGHT AND SHADOWS

It's been a sunshiny and shadowy kind of morning in my garden.

I can only think of one benefit of inheriting 1970's style concrete slabs, and that is the great shadows that cast upon them in sunlight.

Achillea seadhead above.



After upturning and brushing out the wooden planters in readiness for the new season ahead, this poor Housespider's life has now literally been turned upside-down.

I do hope it doesn't try to seek refuge indoors!



A white feather blows gently along in the breeze, but manages to sit still just for a second, long enough for me to take a snap.



A shadow of Ornamental Sedge in high contrast.

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A WINTER STAR PERFORMER

The admirable Clematis Cirrhosa.

From November to April the Winter Clematis flowers flat-out, the month of March being no exception.

I have five well-established plants trailing over a wooden structure which separates the utility area from the main garden, three being var. Balearica, Wisley Cream and Freckles!

The South East has seen a hard winter this year, and the coldest on record for three decades. I am seeing a show of flowers on the Clematis more spectacular than ever.

Great for Bumblebees! The few who dare to 'brave it' in the coldest and darkest of months, can be seen buzzing around Clematis Cirrhosa in search of nectar.

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photo - The RSPB

ROBINS AND A MYSTERY SOLVED

If you've popped over to Flighty's blog lately you would have met the friendly pair of Robins who share his plot. Flighty has taken some great photos of his two.

As like mine, most gardens will have a resident Robin, but however hard I try, he/she just keeps giving me the runaround. I only have to pick up the camera and it's off!

I decided to buy a tub of mealworms, to encourage him/her to come just that little bit closer. So much for my efforts with these tasty treats, it's not the Robin who is helping itself to my moreish mealworms?



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The thieves have been caught red-handed. The evidence, or lack of, is there to be seen, and Re it was no ferret!
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Just for fun, would you like to guess who/what has been treating itself to these wriggly wrigglers? Entries from overseas welcome too.

The first comment to guess whodunnit correctly, will receive a set of nine pretty floral notecards, which include the ones pictured above.

Lovely, creative images to give inspiration for the gardening year ahead.

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... Moments from Suburbia thought she was coming over to my blog to see something nice, and all she got for her trouble was mealworms!

I'm nice most of the time!

These purple crocuses are just for you.

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MEALWORMS

Something's taking the mealworms, and I'm not sure it's the Robin?

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CROCUSES

A kind voice calls, 'come little ones', 'tis time to wake from sleeping
And out of bed without a word, the drowsy folk come creeping
And soon above the chilly earth, their tiny heads are peeping.

They bravely face the wind of March, its bite and bluster scorning
Like little soldiers, till oh joy, with scarce a word of warning
The crocuses slip off their caps, and give us gay good morning.

Anna M Platt

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MAKING WILDFLOWER MEADOWS

I buy lots of second-hand gardening books.

Making Wildflower Meadows by Pam Lewis, who gardens at Sticky Wicket in Dorset, just happens to be the latest, and found in a Scope charity shop for a £1.

I know I shall enjoy turning over the pages of information, photos and illustrations.

I recommend you go see the beautiful meadow gardens at Great Dixter in East Sussex, the home of the late (and in my eyes great) Christopher Lloyd.

One day I shall turn a little patch of my garden over to meadow.

Now that's a lovely thought!

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BLUE

On a cold morning, in the warmth of the sun, branches in my garden took on a silvery glow.



Hawthorn.



Hazel.



Rose-hips.



Amelanchier.



A brisk North-Easterly wind.

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