One morning when I got up, the light in the garden was so beautiful, I decided to take some photos from the balcony, before going down to get the breakfast ready.
The side garden.
The grass in the foreground, leads straight on to the circular lawn with the bog garden on the right and the pergola(where the white blossom is and the pink blossom on the large Bramley apple tree) leading to the fruit and veggies at the top left. If you turn left at the top of the steps…..
Turning left .
…….the lawn sweeps round the back of the dead oak and up the side of the garden next to the fence by the field next door.
Turning right.
If you turn right, the lawn sweeps round to the back garden where the woodland can be seen through the arch way.
Front garden.
This photo of the front garden was taken through the landing window. The Cornus stems are still waiting for me to decide what I’m going to make from them, in the meantime they add a splash of red!
Sunlight.
Wandering round this morning, the sunlight was filtering through to the bog garden where Matteuccia struthiopteris is spreading, I must watch it doesn’t spread too far.
Blue and yellow.
I do like blue and yellow together. Here it is Forget-me-not and cowslip looking lovely together at the drier end of the bog garden.
More blue and yellow
Just a bit further along, the blue is from the bluebells that are just starting to flower, Hyacinthoides non scripta, the English bluebell, and the yellow is the grass, Bowles golden grass, Milium effusum Aureum.
Tree peony
In the border across the circular lawn, by the dead oak, is my first peony to flower. This tree peony was just bought as “Red”, so I’m afraid no name, in spite of being nameless, she is rather beautiful.
Rhododendron bed
The bog garden gets drier as it gets nearer to the house and this is where the rhododendrons are. They are almost in flower, but not quite. The under planting is quite woodlandy here and where you can see spaces, there are hostas coming through.
Brunnera Jack Frost seedlings
Continuing round to the back garden I spotted some seedlings of Brunnera Jack Frost. One has come the same as its parent but the other is different, I must pot them on and plant them in the woodland.
Cotoneaster
Forming part of the hedge that divides the back garden from the woodland was a Cotoneaster, but what has happened, it is dead! How could it suddenly die I ask myself ? There is work here for someone, but I can replant with some camellias that are a bit squashed where they are at the moment.
Primroses
The primroses this side of the ditch have seeded downhill without any help from me, I hope to get the other sides looking like this.
The woodland
The fritillaries are over for another year, I am now waiting to harvest their seed. Now it is forget me nots, cowslips, primroses. claytonia, and honesty that are providing interest at the moment.
Honesty
I grew the honesty last year from seed, I expected all the flowers to be mauve but half have turned out to be white which is rather nice. When I planted out the plugs, by pure chance they have come with all mauve flowers at the back and all white in front, it would have been better if they had been mixed I think, better next year!
Opposite view of the woodland.
The cowslips and forget me nots are spreading in the woodland, also the little pink Claytonia which is above the cowslips, an eye will have to be kept on them to make sure they don’t over run any little treasures that there are.
Meconopsis Cambrica
My first Welsh poppy to flower in the woodland, I do like the way they seed around without any help from me, but all I need now is to sprinkle some seed among the forget me nots and they would continue the blue and yellow theme for me!
Long view from the back garden through to the side garden.
The view from the back to the side is getting more colourful each day as more flowers open.
Abu Hassan
In the border just outside the back door is Tulip Abu Hassan looking gorgeous with the sun shining through his petals.
I enjoyed my wander through the garden, no rain so far today, but the garden looks so much better than a week ago, it has really come to life and is now showing so much colour everywhere.
Thanks to Helen for hosting this monthly meme, do pay her a visit to see other gardens from round the world.
You have a wonderful view from your balcony, and it certainly is looking lush. Did you have much rain? It’s finally rained here after a very dry month. A lovely tour Pauline. The woodland is still looking lovely!
It has been more showers with sunshine in between Cathy and we are due more for the next couple of days. This weather is making everything grow so much now, I’m so glad you have had some rain at last, the gardens do need it! The bog garden will soon take over from the woodland as the area with the most interest, but there are still more flowers to come in the woodland.
Your wider views at the beginning were wonderful and gave me a great perspective on how your garden is laid out. The woodland with the little path through it is very cozy-looking. I planted Claytonia a few years ago and didn’t realize how much it would self-sow, I had babies everywhere the next year. I cleared most of those out, but one or two still pop up every year.
Thank you Alison, I like having a bird’s eye view! I must somehow create a map of the garden as it is a bit of a funny shape! Claytonia is a sweet little plant, but the seeds do jump everywhere, I quite often pull quite a bit out but there is always plenty left behind to stop the weeds growing!
I too love the first views of the garden, I don’t think I have seen it from that perspective before
It’s not often that I take views from above Helen, but in the morning light it was too good an opportunity to miss.
Hi Pauline,
It’s so obvious that you love gardening! Your property is so beautiful…..Cowslip and Forget-me-not! They’re great together…..I’m partial to pictures that catch light in different ways….I love the ones you took of the ferns with the sun coming through and the tulip. If you look out the window someday and see a chubby white woman wandering around in your garden…….
I do Sally, you’re quite right! It took us a long time to make the garden, it was wall to wall grass when we moved here, but I’m very happy with the way it turned out. I too like light shining through things, it adds another dimension to the garden. You’re welcome to visit any time!
Your garden is looking especially lush. Those generous, sweeping beds and paths are so relaxing and invite meandering! You are so fortunate to have a patch of woodland to which the garden can transition…the tour was lovely!
The rain we have had made such a difference to the garden Mat. We were very lucky to have the strip of woodland included when we bought the house, it is my favourite part of the garden. I’m so glad you enjoyed wandering round with me.
Oh Pauline, I love these views of your garden as they help me to visualize how your garden is laid out. So many inviting spaces full of floral treasures to explore. Simply beautiful!
Thank you Peter, I hoped the photos would give more of an idea of how we have carved flower beds out of all the grass that we inherited when we moved here.
Good morning, Pauline, your woodland garden is my favorite, it is so beautiful! Wish you a wonderful 1. May.
Sigrun
Mine too Sigrun! The woodland is a very special place for me, I love it in all four seasons.
I can’t believe it, but I think your marvellous garden is getting even more marvellous! I love its romanticism.
Thank you so much Catmint, I appreciate your lovely comments!
What lovely views of your garden Pauline and some wonderful photos. I always enjoy a tour of your garden. It is all looking fabulous.
The garden is certainly looking a lot happier Chloris, since we have had some rain. At last we are having the April showers the Uk is renowned for!
cant beat a good Welsh poppy. It’s all looking really good.
I like them too Alison, they bring a bit of sunshine to shady areas.
What a beautiful garden you have Pauline. I like the yellows and blues together myself and enjoyed viewing yours. A pretty April wander through your garden.
Thanks Julieanne, you’re very kind! I’m glad you enjoyed wandering through the garden with me!
How beautiful everything looks, it’s lovely to see all those young leaves on the trees, I liked seeing your garden in it’s entirety too, I have a much better understanding of it now. The tree peony is a beauty! My cotoneasters haven’t come back yet either, maybe ther is hope for yours. I rather liked the white honesty in front of the purple one, I have it seeding itself everywhere in my garden, I do really like it so generally leave it.xxx
Thanks Dina, the rain has made such a difference! The Cotoneaster which formed a hedge in the back garden is an evergreen or it was until it lost all its leaves over the winter. The branches are dead, I have scraped bits of bark and there is no green to be seen, it will definitely be coming out. I will be sprinkling the honesty seed round the woodland when the seed cases have formed, so hopefully they will come up with mixed colours next time!
As always that your photos of that fabulous shuttlecock fern take my breath away Pauline. I could kick myself as I saw one at a plant fair last week and did not buy 🙁 A shame about the cotoneaster but still it’s a planting opportunity 🙂
I like the fern too Anna, but it does spread rather a lot if planted in moist soil. I have some ideas about replacing the cotoneaster, I’ll just have to wait until the undergardener can manage to dig it out for me.
Hello Pauline!
I’m visiting from the End of Month view page. I really like how your garden is laid out. Makes me want to go exploring up that little path. So far mine is mostly flowerbeds, without very much connection to the house. Always something to aspire to! Happy spring!
Lovely to hear from you Linnae, it is always good to hear from someone new!
When making the garden here 25 yrs ago, I wanted there to be something interesting to look at from every window of the house. I’m so glad you enjoyed wandering round the garden with me.
Have a good weekend!
It looks beautiful, such a fantastic time of year for everything (with the possible exception of your euonymus). The overlook helps understanding the layout of the garden and it’s nice to see how it all goes together. Sad to see the fritillaries over fit the season, but there’s so much yet to come!
A month has made such a difference Frank, and the recent rain has made everything grow so much, including the weeds! I agree, once once set of flowers are over, then another comes along to take their place, the next area of interest will be the bog garden, the candelabra primulas are just starting to send up their flowers.
How glorious! I enjoyed all these views. The light is magical. Everything looks so pristine, lush and healthy. (Except for the ones that don’t make it! I always tell people they don’t see the dead ones. I once had several spreading cotoneasters on a hillside, and they also perished without telling me why.)
The rain has made such a difference Deb, the trouble is, we are having all our April showers in one go now! Interesting to read about your spreading cotoneasters, I suppose plants don’t live forever and this one must have been getting on for 30 yrs old.
Beautiful light, beautiful gardens…
Thanks Donna, glad you liked it all!
Your garden is always so neat and well kept, Pauline. How do you do it? My favourite pic is the one of the sunlight filtering through the fern – well spotted 🙂
Annette, you make me feel guilty! I took long shots as they don’t show the weeds the same as close ups! We are way behind with everything this year and struggling to get everywhere looking tidy, I didn’t show the worst bits!