More and more flowers are opening each day, making the garden very springlike. The weather has been beautiful since Easter, but last weekend was a lot colder, still sunny but colder. Because of the warmer weather, daffodils have been going over quite quickly, but more buds are opening each day extending the season.
Narcissus St. Patrick’s Day was late again, I think he has only been flowering on time once since I bought the bulbs about 10 years ago, it was well into April before the flowers opened.
Narcissus Geranium shows up well in the border.
Narcissus Tete a Tete are on their last legs now, they made a lovely splash of yellow all round the garden.
Just opening this last week is Narcissus Thalia, a really lovely white Narcissus which I have spread about the garden turning the garden back to white.
Also just opening is N. Sailboat which is fairly new to the garden and I think will soon become a firm favourite.
Caltha palustris is a large Marsh Marigold planted at the back of the pond. The leaves will end up quite huge after they have stopped flowering, it needs plenty of space.
Primula denticulata is the first primula to start flowering in the bog garden. This area is only just waking up, all the candelabra primulas are now showing their leaves, hopefully by next GBBDay I will have a lot more primulas to show you. This clump look as though it needs splitting, another job on the “to do” list!
Scilla siberica are seeding about happily on the alpine scree, they are increasing year on year.
Also on the scree are a couple of tiny flowered narcissus, such dainty little flowers with rather a lot of leaf! I think this one is N. Minnow.
This lovely tiny flower is found in Narcissus Division 3, small cupped, but I can’t find its name, so pretty though!
Iris japonica has such beautiful little flowers, they are much smaller than in the photo. I just wish the foliage wasn’t so messy!
Bergenia Beethoven is by the front door, there are quite a few clumps and I’m thinking that some of them could come into the woodland in the autumn.
Blossom time has arrived in the front garden, the cherry tree has lots of double flowers.
Lots of bees were making the most of the sunshine, buzzing around all the blossom.
The Berberis by the garage is attracting lots of bees.
Yes, still flowering by the back door is the Chaenomeles which I’ve been showing since November. I think it is almost finished now, but non stop flowering for 6 months is pretty good in my book!
The same goes for Viburnum Dawn by the field at the side.
And the same goes for the Camellia in the side corner, this still has lots of buds waiting to open. I’ve never known the last 3 shrubs to flower so well all through the winter, we had plenty of frosty nights but never a severe frost, so the blossom wasn’t affected, they deserve a rest now!
Exochorda macrantha The Bride is between the pond and the pergola making a nice splash of white at this time of year.
Euphorbia melliferra has started to pump out its wonderful honeyed perfume in the back garden. With the wind in the right direction this can travel 200ft+.
The flowers are a bit strange and I’ve noticed that it is pollinated by flies and not by bees, I wonder why when it has such a super perfume. It must like life here with us as I pot up seedlings all the time to give away at plant sales. It is more shrub like than other euphorbia and can grow to 5 ft x 6 ft, it is evergreen so has a good presence all year round.
Ranunculus Brazen Hussy seeds about like the wild celandine, but more is allowed to stay in the garden. The yellow flowers contrast beautifully with the chocolate coloured leaves!
Opening just too late to be included in my post about the woodland ephemerals, is Erythronium Knightshayes Pink, named after one of our local National Trust Houses.
Also just opening is Erythronium White Beauty, this is almost hidden under a Rhododendron so I must move it when it finishes flowering, then it will save me having to get down on my knees to photograph it!
Erythronium Pagoda is increasing nicely, this one is at the top of the bank to the ditch, I could maybe find a better place for it as other plants around it have grown so much.
Camellia Jury’s Yellow is covered in beautiful flowers at the moment. This shrub is in the woodland, there are a few more camellias there but none of the others are flowering yet.
Muscari Valerie Finnis is on the alpine scree and is increasing nicely, more lovely pale spikes emerge each year, it isn’t seeding around but must be increasing by making new bulbs.
I must sow some more seed from my cowslips if the pheasant is going to take his share of the flowers! Imagine a cowslip with bright red flowers, I had one a few years ago and moved it to a bed far away from the wild ones. The other day I found it was almost flowering, I thought just one more day, then I would photograph it. I went to photograph it for this post and what did I find, the flower had been picked and tossed aside!!!
My Japanese Azalea is gearing up ready to flower, there are so many buds, I think the foliage will be almost invisible when they are all out.
The Tulipa sylvestris flowers are now standing straight up in the woodland and the flowers are opening in the sunshine.
Having just written a post about all the woodland ephemerals, I will end with just a couple of long shots of the woodland, rather than go through them all again.
I’m not going to mention the purple flowers in the left foreground as my next post will be all about them!
Yesterday was a misty moisty morning, we had to wait a while for the sun to burn the mist away. The rest of the garden is now waking up, up till now the emphasis has been on the woodland, but the bog garden and the front border will be the next areas to flaunt their flowers along with the above, the alpine scree and the border round it in the back garden.
A splash of white from Narcissus Thalia brings the border at the back to life once more. These will be followed by lots more bulbs, mainly alliums, which stand to attention like exclamation marks!
Looking from the back through to the side garden, the alpine scree is where the variegated Yucca is. This used to be the pond before we relocated all the plants and amphibians to a natural pond at the top of the garden.
Thanks must go to Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for holding this meme each month, do pay her a visit to see flowers from around the world.
What a garden! So beautiful and big. The Thalia Narcissus is wonderful, I will look where I can get some.
Sigrun
Thanks Sigrun, we can just about keep up with it all, it was much easier 25 yrs ago when we made the garden here! Thalia is a beautiful narcissus, usually with 2 flowers on each stem.
How lovely seeing those shots at the end of your post, Pauline – thanks for including them
It’s nice to see the rest of the garden waking up and becoming green again Cathy, another month and the woodland will be having a well earned rest!
Very nice to see the long shots at the end of the post. What a bummer about your red primrose. That darn pheasant! You have plenty of other beautiful flowers.
Thank you Alison, I like seeing long views of other peoples gardens too! It was frustrating to find the red cowslip on the ground, it was the only flower that plant had, ah well, there’s always next year!
There are so many wonderful plants in your garden Pauline, it is lovely hearing you exclaim about each one as it faithfully returns each year. Like Cathy I particularly enjoyed the wider views at the end of the post and I will be avidly waiting for the post about you know what!
With the soil being so wet in the winter Christina, I did lose a few plants to begin with, less now that I know exactly what each area of soil consists of. I like long views of other gardens, to see how the planting goes together, to see the overall effect that the gardener has been creating. When I visit a garden in the Yellow Book, I like to go round twice, once to see the overall effect and then, nose down, looking at the planting in detail!
Everything looks so excited to be in your garden Pauline! Nice to see your Thalia brightening up the garden. I also like your other white N. Sailboat.
Thank you Susie, I like to think that they are happy to be here! N. Sailboat is quite a bit smaller than Thalia, so that to me is a plus point although Thalia has a special place in my heart!
Those last shots put a lot into perspective. I love the way you have transformed the former pond. Isn’t Thalia lovely? Mine opened yesterday, but the strong sun and wind we had today is making it flag already!
I have to admit Cathy, that I prefer the white narcissus even though the yellow ones brighten up the garden after a long winter. We changed the old pond when our first grandson was born, because we thought it would be safer and give peace of mind to our daughter and son in law. The new pond is at the top of the garden where it is fenced off.
How beautiful everything is looking! You do have a gem of a garden! I loved your daffs, especially Narcissus Thalia, N Sailboat and that charming no name one….
I am intrigued by that lovely stone circle in the last pic…..how interesting!xxx
Thanks Dina, the garden certainly comes to life when the narcissus are flowering.
The stone circle was the raised pond that the previous people made. When our first grandson was born, I had visions of him climbing up when he was a toddler and falling in before we could do anything about it! We made a natural pond at the top of the garden and fenced it off to keep everyone happy. We moved all the wildlife from the pond, 7 frogs, 1 toad, 33 newts and lots of shrimpy looking things. We also moved all the water bucket by bucket and a lot of the sludge from the bottom. It then got filled in with well drained gravelly soil, getting more gritty the higher it got and this is the only place I can grow plants that need excellent drainage.
Gosh, how wonderful that you took such good care of the old pond and it’s wildlife….and now have a lovely feature in it’s place!xxx
You should have seen us rushing up the garden with frogs, toad and newts that didn’t really want to leave their old pond! They soon settled in and were very much at home in their new dwelling. Our grandsons went pond dipping for quite a number of years, usually finding a newt to be intimately examined in a jam jar! They are now in their teens, so the newts are safe once more.
Amazing and wonderful variety spring flowers. No wonder you have such a variety of birds.
Spring is such a wonderful time of years Catmint, each day brings more flowers out. At the moment with the hot spell that we’re having, flowers are going over too quickly and strange as it may seem – we need rain!
Your garden looks great as usual! You don’t know how much I envy you for that euphorbia and the scent it has to have! Beautiful narcissus, mine had been under a bad spell this year, it’s their third year and although all of them had leafed rather well, flowers were almost inexistent. Who knows what’s wrong with them?
The Euphorbia is amazing with its wonderful perfume Alberto. I found it in a large garden open to the public, by following my nose, I soon found the source and was able to buy it in their plant sale.
How frustrating that your narcissus are refusing to flower, what was your winter like, they do need a cold spell in the winter. You say they have only been planted for 3 years so they can’t be over crowded and need splitting, I’m not sure what to suggest – sorry.
What an “assemblage of beauty”. Your cherry tree is amazing. However, the plant I will try to source (hoping it will survive) is your Euphorbia melliferra. What a lovely thing!
Thanks Alain, I love the cherry blossom, it’s such a shame that it doesn’t last very long, it has another period of gorgeousness in the autumn when the leaves turn a fantastic orange! I have a horrible feeling that Euphorbia melliferra won’t be hardy in your harsh winters, maybe in a pot to be overwintered indoors somewhere?
That was a wonderful tour of your gardens! So many Narcissus! The pure white one is striking……as are the Camellia and Iris. I’m not sure Cowslips would do well where I am but plan to do some research. They are lovely. Thanks for sharing!
The narcissus have been very good this year Sally, but with our hot weather at the moment the flowers are finishing far too soon. April for us, is usually cool and wet, but we have had non stop hot sunshine for a few weeks now, I shouldn’t grumble, but I hope this isn’t our summer!
Maybe cowslips would be fine for you if they had some shade and moisture, I’m assuming you are thinking that you might be too hot for them?
A little research and I now know they are Primula which do grow here. There is a Cowslip that’s US native……Virginia Bluebell. Of course, they’re blue. I love yours! From what I’ve read, it’s pretty zone hardy so I’m going to try it.
Wonderful! The Primula family are so varied and I love them all, I hope you will soon have some in your garden.
I’ve just sipped my morning coffee wandering round your beautiful garden. It always conveys a sense of peace and tranquility and I could almost hear the birds singing. Thank you Pauline 🙂
I too like wandering round with my coffee Anna, it was good to have your company! Thank you for your lovely comments, the bird song is beautiful here, we are so lucky.
Hi Pauline,
Your garden is looking very nice at the moment with plenty going on. Shame to hear it’s been misty for you, but at least it didn’t last too long. I can’t believe the year is running away… Where has the time gone??!!
The mist didn’t stay very long Liz, the sun soon burnt it’s way through and we then had a marvelous day. So many plants are opening all at once, it’s hard to keep up with them!
I enjoyed your Bloom Day post very much and also your last post on Woodland Ephemerals. In fact you inspired me to spend yesterday working hard in my wooded area so that I can fill it with shade loving treasures. We have had some beautiful warm days here.
Thank you Chloris, I think you all know how much my wooded area means to me, little did I think that part of the garden would be so important to me when we bought the house. So many beautiful plants grow in wooded areas, it is great fun tracking them down, I’ll look forward to seeing yours in due course!
Thank you for the tour of your spring garden, to have a woodland garden must be wonderful.
Thank you Brian, it’s good to meet someone new! Our little wooded area is a source of such pleasure for about 9 months of the year, I would certainly miss it if or when we eventually move!
Just lovely, Pauline! The header image with all those fritillaries almost brings tears to my eyes as I find them so hard to establish in my garden (think it’s to hot and dry in summer). That cherry tree is gorgeous – do you know its name? Narcissus Geranium and Einstein are among my favourites. We had hail yesterday which some of my spring flowers didn’t appreciate…
I’m afraid Annette, the cherry tree was here before us and I’ve not yet been able to identify it, we just enjoy it in the spring and autumn.The header photo was taken last year, I’m so glad you like it. What a shame your conditions aren’t suitable for them, would they not be ok in deep shade, it might be worth a try? No, flowers are like us, they don’t like hail, I hope it didn’t last too long for you.
I’m sitting here, at work reading this post and have to say that I just don’t know where to begin and my break isn’t long enough for me to say all I feel I’d like too.
Suffice to say SPECTACULAR!
What plants we do have in common are all at similar stages and yes, I have that red cowslip you referred to and was surprised it returned here as they don’t normally do.
Great post Pauline.
Wow, thanks Angie! I think this is a wonderful time of year in the garden, I definitely prefer the flowers of the first 6 months of the year to the second half, maybe that’s why so many plants are flowering now!