One minute it was March, then all of a sudden it is May, where has the last month gone I wonder? I know I have been spending far too much time fiddling in the woodland and now it is panic stations trying to get the rest of the garden into some sort of order. The weeding is going well, but I’m sure the weeds are winning, not me! I took a few minutes off to take some photos for the end of April, everything is coming fast and furiously, I just wish it would all slow down a bit and let me catch up.
My Wisteria on the garage wall. This was supposedly dug out years ago, the plant had other ideas, so I now have to decide what to do with it.
If I keep it, it will need training somewhere, I’ll have to think about this one.
Red campion is flowering in all the borders, I think a bit of control might be needed.
Choisya ternata Aztec Pearl is flowering by the greenhouse and smelling beautiful!
Valerian, which you see growing out of all the walls here in the SW corner of the UK. Mine is in a wooden barrel which is rotting away, I’ll soon have to find another home for it.
Euphorbia griffithii Dixter growing in the bed by the field, this used to be a big clump but now it is greatly reduced, I wonder why?
The lovely white layers of Viburnum plicatum Maresii are looking beautiful at the moment with an Azalea behind.
The said Azalea Persil, looking yellow at the moment but will turn mainly white with a yellow slash in a few days.
English bluebells under the Amelanchier tree, spreading nicely.
The border by the old village school with Milium effusum aureum taking centre stage.
Solomon’s seal is another plant that I thought I had dug out, it had other ideas!. Seen here with Hosta Sagae, a super hosta with lovely large leaves.
Epimedium Amber Queen just gets better and better with more tiny flowers opening all the time.
A dwarf iris on the alpine scree, after a shower of rain. Love the little blue beards!
I think these are ordinary Aquilegias which have crossed with A. flabbelata which is next to them.
Aquilegia flabellata, only 7 or so inches tall, so was planted on the alpine scree as I didn’t think it would survive in the ordinary borders.
It’s only now that I’m finding out the cost of our really hot summer last year. Usually I have a waterfall of pink from my Clematis montana which has grown up the oak tree at the side by the old village school, this year it has only one flower! It is the same with my rhododendrons, hardly any flowers at all, but worst of all, I seem to have lost nearly all my candelabra primulas that were in the bog garden. The bog has always stayed wet because of the underground stream and I thought it was still wet enough last summer, but obviously not. I will have to buy a few more different ones and get sowing seed once again.
April has whizzed by far too quickly for me, has it been the same for you?
I too have that feeling of panic when you realize you’ve been concentrating on one area at the expense of others that have succumbed to weeds. The work is never-ending. Sorry you lost your candelabra Primulas. I’ve never been able to get those to thrive.
I had my candelabra primulas for at least 10 yrs Alison, they made a wonderful display each year, but my fault for not watering them in the drought that we had last year. Because there is an underground stream under that border, I have never had to water before, obviously I will have to in future!
April has whizzed by too fast for me too. If only we could slow April, May and June right down. Glorious months. I adore the little irises but blink and you miss them. Yours is such a pretty one.
I’m sure I’ll catch up one day Chloris, but it is hard work at the moment, I have to be blinkered while I’m weeding and just concentrate on what is in front of me! Love the little irises, they have such pretty colourful flowers.
It seemed that April had only just arrived and then she was gone Pauline 😢 I wish that we could press a pause button now as it’s my favourite time of year. Your little iris is such a deliciously dark colour. I’m sorry to hear that you have some casualties following the drought. How long does it take from seed for the candelabra primulas to flower?
It doesn’t take too long for candelabra primula seeds to grow big enough to flower Anna, they should flower in their third year.I sow the seed while it is still green, as per Carol Kleins instructions, so they are decent sized little plants by the first winter.
So many lovely flowers Pauline. Your Viburnum plicatum Maresii is beautiful. Maybe I can grow that here. I have spent too much time in the garden and need to tend my vegetable patch and greenhouse. Hope you catch up with the weeding soon!
Thank you Denise, I always look forward to my Viburnum Maresii flowering, it makes such a lovely show with its horizontal layers. My veg patch and greenhouse are disaster areas, I would be ashamed for anyone to see them at the moment!
Yes, some plants are like people who show up as guests but end up as squatters. Geranium maculatum is another. I like your blue columbine.
I agree Jason ,but I can always weed them out when they have overstayed their welcome!
Good to see what is happening in your garden, Pauline. Doesn’t that milium glow? I too seem to have lost the candelabra primula I grew from seed although was probably lucky they had done so well where they were. My rhododendrons, surprisingly, are blooming reasonably well
I have ordered a few more primulas Cathy and will plant them today and will order more in the autumn to get the bed filled again. I will also save seed from the ones that flower this year and add those next spring. The drought last summer hasn’t affected the astilbe in the same bed, they are as good as ever.You were probably sensible and watered your rhododendrons, unlike me who expected them to cope! Deciduous azaleas however have never been so good!
I might have given them a token watering, Pauline, but only once or twice – and watering them at all is down to you, as you mentioned it in my early blogging days…thank you!
Mine were on top of an underground stream Cathy, and they seemed fine during the drought, as did everything else in that border, they shouldn’t have needed watering.Everything else beside them came through fine, maybe they needed splitting, some die if they aren’t split regularly.
Oh my gosh yes, April has come and gone before I even realized it was here. A fast moving spring is always so hard to keep up with, and here the weather and job schedule haven’t helped much at all.
So sorry to hear you lost so much during last summer’s heat. The candelabra primrose will be missed, and you’ve put so much work into spreading them around I hope something returns, even if it’s a slow crop of seedlings!
Here we have the reverse. For once I have a few candelabra primrose returning. They’re extremely common colors, but since they’re the only ones I shall not complain.
I have since ordered and received a dozen candelabra primulas which are just about to flower, so will be saving their seed Frank. Other colours that I hoped for had sold out so will hopefully order them in the autumn, to boost the dispaly next year. Better news about the Clematis montana, when I examined the base of the clematis, there are lots of shoots now about 7 ft up the tree, so once again hopefully, next year will be an improvement!
April? How about May? I don’t remember May arriving, but already a week has zoomed by. Summer will be upon us before I take my next breath! I am trying to catch up with everything in the garden, but the weeds are growing faster than I can pull them. I have several garden groups coming to visit over the next month, and I want everything perfect. Ha! What a dream. What they are going to see is a growing garden, work in process. Happy gardening!
It is all passing far too quickly Debs,I just wish it would all slow down for a while. I do hope you get everything sorted as you want it for your gardening groups, such a pressure when knowledgeable visitors come.
I sympathize re weeding, it’s the same here. I never manage to stay on top of them. You have some lovely blooms, fancy the wisteria growing again, mine hasn’t even produced leaves yet. I have the same problem after that drought last year. xxx
Too many, too soon Dina, the weeds always seem to get the better of me at this time of year. I have found my Clematis montana is now putting out lots of lovely new shoots and they are climbing the old oak tree already, there is hope for next yeat yet!