April saw a rise in the temperatures but also saw a few gales to batter the newly emerged flowers, tempted into flower by the warmth. The garden is definitely waking up and I can’t keep up with all the jobs that need doing! However some days I just wander round the garden and enjoy all the flowers with bees buzzing everywhere and we now have butterflies fluttering by, what could be better?
Chaenomeles
Chaenomeles
I know I have been mentioning this chaenomeles over the winter as it has been flowering since November, but this winter it has been amazing. Probably the warmer winter that we had was responsible for this, but we have another chaenomeles that looks the same, by the garage, and that one only flowers in the spring.
Camellia by the front door.
St. Patrick’s Day Narcissus still looking good in the woodland.
Each new clump of Muscari seems to somehow have a different navy flower with a paler topknot, it also has a much larger leaf than the others.
Some muscari have come up white and some pale blue like Valerie Finnis. They weren’t bought as a mixed bag but I like the variety.
Camellia Jury’s Yellow in the woodland.
Euphorbia melliferra has been flowering all winter but it is only now that it is warmer that we have the wonderful honey perfume. Each time I walk past, the flowers are covered with flies, I have never seen bees pollinating them.
Thank goodness for dandelions, it was just what this peacock butterfly wanted!
Rosemary. We had some with our joint of lamb last Sunday- delicious!
Lots of narcissus are still flowering although lots have finished now.
Forget me nots are popping up everywhere.
We don’t seem to have much damson blossom this year, so unfortunately we won’t have as many damsons in the autumn.
The pond is waking up, the large marsh marigold is making a good patch of yellow.
Camellia at the drier end of the bog garden.
English bluebells, hyacinthoides non scripta.
Geum Totally Tangerine has been flowering all winter. I never expected it to be in flower when the pink Rhododendron comes into flower next to it – it will have to be moved or I will have to snip the Geum flowers off for the month that the rhodo is flowering!
The evergreen azalea in the back garden is just starting to flower.
Claytonia in the woodland makes a lovely ground cover, such a pretty dainty flower.
I couldn’t not put my fritillaries in, could I ?!
Primula denticulata have settled nicely into a damp spot in the woodland.
Cyclamen repandum are still flowering in the woodland.
Erythronium Pagoda are just starting to flower on the side of the ditch.
Large coloured primulas are enjoying life in the border behind the scree. I did have some dark blue ones but they seem to have vanished, must buy some more.
It’s good to see that our resident thrush is working hard.
I hope you enjoyed your wander through the garden today. More and more flowers are opening every day, soon they will be everywhere!
Thanks must go to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting GBBD each month. Please pay her a visit to see other flowers from around the world.
Lovely to see all these flowers, and you’ve reminded me that I need to find some forget-me-nots. I’m sure we had some in the garden but they seem to have gone. Where I used to live when I was a child, the garden was full of them.
Each year Val, I think I’ve pulled too many seedlings out, but they always manage to pop up in the most unexpected places! They are such lovely flowers and certainly have childhood connections.
And thoroughly enjoyable wander it was too Pauline. You impostor Muscari looks awfully like M. latifolium. I love the little Claytonia – this is a new one on me.
Thanks for the ID with the Muscari Angie, the flowers do look rather amusing with their top knots! A friend passed the Claytonia on to me, I’ve never seen it for sale anywhere. it seeds about in the woodland and forms a nice groundcover.
Lovely to have a look at your April blooms Pauline. Your camellias are lovely and much earlier than mine. Have you been enjoying the warm weather? It got up to 20 degrees here yesterday, but today was back down to 10. Lovely to see butterflies again, I saw my first Brimstones yesterday. That pretty geum is very early.
Yes Chloris we have had some lovely warm sunny days recently, but now we are back to cold and wet once more! I haven’t seen a Brimstone yet, we usually see them in the summer, but not this realy. The geum has flowered on and off all winter, I have been amazed at how many flowers it has had, is it ever going to stop, I would hate it to exhaust itself!
Oh I enjoyed your April blooms Pauline. Your post also made me ask myself why I grow rosemary at the allotment and not nearer the kitchen door. Time for a move methinks.
I do like to have my herbs handy Anna, especially when it’s raining! They are all in the border by the back door, in amongst the other plants, rosemary for lamb, golden marjoram for chicken, chives for anything that needs it, along with fennel, and mint also for lamb. The mint should be moved into a pot as it is now weaving through the border and becoming a nuisance!
Geum and azalea side by side in your photos – the Geum petals have a dark border picked up by the azalea.
I’m puzzled Diana, as the photo doesn’t show the rhododendron leaves. I must go back to the photo to see what the leaves belong to.
Your front door camellia is a beauty. Also love the yellow one. Glad you take time to just wander and enjoy your handiwork Pauline. Have a great weekend.
There are times Susie, when the old muscles hurt too much to do any work, so wandering and making plans is all I can manage. Most days I can manage a bit, but lately this has been a problem.
Just the colour-fix I needed after a very wet Friday. Thank you!
So glad I was able to cheer you up Hayley. Hope you now have sunshine after the rain!
I do love chaenomeles, both the colour and the texture of the flowers and fortunately it does well here. The camellias are lovely too, but not sufficiently hardy for here. My damson is the same – either feast or famine. Last year it was heaving with fruit, we’ll see what this year brings.
I have C. Apple Blossom up in the veggie garden Denise, but it only flowers at this time of year and it’s buds are still tightly shut, very wise as it’s going to be very cold for a few days with the wind coming from the Arctic! I think a few nights of frost might have put paid to the Damson flowers, I should have run up the garden with some fleece to cover them!
I have enjoyed seeing all your spring flowers through your lovely photos. I think I would keep including my fritillaries, too, if they looked as good as yours! I love the chaenomeles, mine is very young and is having trouble establishing, but I hope it will get going soon. It is great to leave the dandelions for the bees and butterflies – they are such a favourite flower for them. I’m glad the thrush is tackling those garden pests!
I love it when I hear “tap, tap, tapping” in the garden Wendy, it means another snail has gone! We are lucky having a thrush family in the garden each year, they certainly find plenty to eat. I was so pleased to see the butterfly on the dandelion, maybe I will leave a few more round the garden in the wilder areas!
Think I need to replace my original Geum TT this year, it doesn’t appear to be coming back. Being a bit of a rebel, or should I say a bit of a Christopher Lloyd, I’d leave the orange and pink together, very fashionable these days!
But I’m an old fashioned girl Jessica, I’ll live with them for a bit and see how I feel about them together. I wonder why your Geum TT has disappeared when mine has been flowering all winter, you are probably higher up and therefore a bit colder than we are, but I thought it was totally hardy?
Hi Pauline,
You have so many flowers blooming! It’s wonderful. The Camelias remind me of Peonies. Beautiful, showy blooms.
It looks like you have a few colors of Forget Me Nots. Am I right? I’ve only ever seen the blue……
I know what you mean about having so much to do……I’m trying to clean things up a little each day, weather permitting.
I had to look again Sally, at the photo of the forget me nots, because I only have blue ones, but I think it is just a trick of the light where they look a bit pink. The weather was good yesterday and I managed to get quite a bit of tidying done, felt very satisfied at the end of the day!
I must look out for a Claytonia – sounds as if it would be at home here. And your gorgeous chaemomeles is STILL flowering! Good to see your fritillaries seem unscathed ☺so far… Thanks for sharing, always a pleasure to see your blooms
I think this year is the best for the Chaenomeles Cathy, probably thanks to the mild winter.
Would you like a seedling of the Claytonia, it seeds about ,be warned, but you are welcome to one. If you would like one, just send me an e.mail with your address.
Oh that would be lovely, Pauline, thank you
A pleasure Cathy, I’ll pop one in the post for you.
There is so much to see in your garden! I could wander all day there, enjoying the magic of your flowers and the butterflies. Love, love your fritillaries! I always look forward to your posts, but especially glimpses of your woodland area.
Thank you Deb, it is lovely to see the butterflies back again. It won’t be long before I’m sprinkling seed of the fritillaries, in new areas this time to try and extend their territory. The leaves are starting to come to the trees in the woodland, so the flowering will get less now as the light diminishes unfortunately, it will all enjoy a quiet time.
Finally we have some warm weather here. Yesterday was almost hot! Flower are scarce however, so its nice to visit and see a bit of spring. Your fritillaries are always so amazing. I love the checkerboard flowers in your header and post. The peacock butterfly is beautiful. I wish we had this type of butterfly here.
Isn’t it lovely when the weather warms up Jannifer! Are you on the migratory route for the Monarch butterfly, it must be wonderful to see numbers of those wonderful butterflies, occasionally some get blown off course and end up over here.
Glad you got to wander around and enjoy your beautiful garden, nothing beats that! I just love your Chaenomeles and what dainty Camellias you have. How odd about the flies, I notice how they gravitate to certain plants too when bees and butterflies don’t. Flies seem to love fatsia japonica….I loved seeing the peacock on the dandelion, I always leave some too along with a patch of nettles.xxx
The trouble Dina, when I wander round the garden, is that I’m making notes of all the jobs that need doing! I’m going to plant up our old dustbin with nettles for the butterflies to lay their eggs, then there will be no excuse for nettles in the borders any more!
Last fall I planted some ‘Valerie Finnis’ Muscari with the darker blue straight M. armeniacum. They do make a lovely combination. I was disappointed to learn, though, that ‘Valerie Finnis’ does not mean “Valerie is finished”.
Yes Jason, I couldn’t help laughing, it is rather a strange surname isn’t it. Valerie Finnis is one of our well known, in this country anyway, lady gardeners from about 60 yrs ago, she was famous for her photographs of flowers. The little flower named after her is rather pretty and looks lovely amongst the darker ones.
I’m sure I would just want to walk around your garden soaking in all the beautiful combinations, even the orange and pink! But where I would linger longest is standing admiring your Fritilaries, they are more lovely than ever.
Thank you for your kind comments Christina, the fritillaries are now just past their best unfortunately, a case of “you should have been here last week”! The next area to take centre stage is the bog garden, so I must get that neat and tidy. At the moment, there are hardly any plants showing, but I know from experience that they will all come rushing to the surface in a couple of weeks before putting up their rainbow of coloured flowers.
I always enjoy your tours of what’s flowering in your garden, Pauline. You have such a marvellous collection of woodlanders, specimen shrubs etc – all just beautiful and the product of years of work. How interesting about Valerie Finnis, must look her up.
Thanks Kate, when we bought the house, I had no idea of how important the woodland would be to me. I hope I got the information right about Valerie Finnis, I just tried to remember what I had read about her in the distant past!
What an interesting surprise to have the mix of muscari. I wonder if they will hold their own or if the more common blue will take over.
I can’t believe the quince is still going so strong. What a great year it’s had!
I was very surprised at the assortment of Muscari that have come up as I thought they would all be the same. When I went and had a look at them this morning, the navy one with the paler top knot has grown so much, they are at least twice the size of the others. I think I will move them to somewhere where they can be by themselves as soon as they have finished flowering.
We think the quince is absolutely amazing!