Its March and the weather is all over the place, such is its character. We have had mild days, frost, winds, rain, sleet and sun. We have had the equinox so the daylight continues to increase and the temperatures generally are on the rise and the garden has responded well.
In the front garden the large Magnolia soulangia is flowering well. I just have to hope that it will withstand any late frosts. Beautiful as the flowers are, frost damage makes them turn into brown dirty dish-cloths.
Whilst I am looking up at the tree I acquire an audience of cats. Esme, Flossy and Fluffy Pete are curious as to what I am doing. Tim is not curious, he hasn't stirred yet from his bed.
The Quince Hedge under the lounge window is flowering its heart out. It is a welcome sight for the bees who are emerging as the weather warms up.
At the side of the house the verbascum field is doing very well. These should flower this year and they will look magnificent (I hope).
The Smell Me and Dye Garden is quite weedy, it is bedeviled with couch grass. I have given it an initial swipe to dig out the weeds, but it will need several more attempts before I can consider it even slightly under control.
In the back garden the cardoon is growing well. This is now the sole survivor of the eight seedlings I brought with me when I moved into this house nearly nineteen years ago.
I have been clearing the garden of its winter detritus and generally weeding. Each part of the garden has its own specific weed problem. The Coal Bunker border is full of an invasive allium that I think I will never live long enough to eradiacte. The Pond Border is full of Spanish bluebells. The Conservatory Border is full of wood avens and also a different invasive allium. I suppose I should be grateful for the variety of weeds as it means I do not get bored.....
I bought this fancy plant support last year; I wanted to use it for this peony but I bought it when the peony was already growing tall. This year I moved it into position a couple of weeks ago and the peony is quickly reaching up through the swirls. This makes me very happy.
In the Conservatory Border the Magnolia stellata is flowering its best yet. Its whirly flowers work well with the whirly wind spinner. I would like to say I did this on purpose but I only noticed this today.
The standard wisteria is covered in buds. I am also on frost-watch for this plant as it can get very damaged by a late frost.
The tree peonies are budding up, this is always a moment of excitement and anticipation. I would grow so many tree peonies if I had the space and budget.
The Magnolia Leonard Messel, who has grown into a fine small tree, it just finishing its first flush. It will repeat flower for a while yet.
The Iford Cherry is just astonishing this year.
and the amalanchier is at peak blossom.
The Aldi Acer, who was an 18 inch unnamed twig when I planted it, is now a very fine tree. A real highlight of the garden.
I have tried to encourage fritillaria meleagris to enjoy growing in my garden: this little patch seems to be doing well, there are definitely more there than I planted.
The Spring Border is at about peak Spring. The Acer Orange Dream, that was planted from a 9cm pot about eighteen years ago, has slowly grown into a fine specimen. The narcissus are taking over from the hellebores and, whilst you can't see them, the Erythronium 'Pagoda' are starting to flower.
The Fritillaria imperialis is having a good year. No serious slug damage and (fingers crossed) no sign of lily beetles yet this year. They will appear, I know this, but at least it is getting to flower.
Also growing well is the Euphorbia mellifera, she is a bit of a beast and I missed the window of opportunity to prune her as it kept being frosty. She will get pruned after she has flowered.
The reason to want to prune the euphorbia is that she is blocking out my view of Camellia Donation, who is flowering really well this year. She is still quite small so cannot peep above the euphorbia. Never mind. The euphorbia is too large for its position in that border - rookie error, I should have planted her further back so that she became a back-drop; that would have worked better.
and the Pond is sparkling in the sun. How wonderful is this! What is not so wonderful is there has been no frogspawn at all this year. This is the first time since the pond was created there has been none. I am rather sad about this. I attribute this to the pond being rather over full of plants and rather over full of newts. This is a shame and unintentional and, (newt-wise) out of my control. Sigh.
Until next time
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