Another Bank Holiday Weekend

But vastly different from the last as there's very much a chill in the air.

Bank holidays are generally big business for garden centres who are more than happy for you to hand over your hard earned cash in return for great looking summer bedding plants...but beware as there's a frost looming that can kill those young plants.  Bring them into a porch, shed or garage if you don't have a greenhouse or coldframe.  If that isn't possible, throw over some fleece and tuck them up against the house.

The roses are beginning to flower, thanks to the unseasonably warm April.

At the top, orange r. Maigold in the front garden, pink r. Special Daughter in the Terrace Border...

...and white r. Margaret Merrill also in the front garden.  I hope they make it safely through the cold snap.

In the Yen Garden the Cotinus coggygria (smoke bush) is finally coming into leaf.  It's difficult to get the light right to show just how beautifully vivid the red-purple foliage is.

The rhododendron is happily joining the spectacle too.

With a backdrop of hundreds of pale pink clematis Montana Rubens blooms, the final daffs sing out.

A little movement in the Long Border is required to fit in another tree.

Having removed the syringa Sensation which didn't seem to be particularly thriving in the Long Border, the Photinia red robin standard (which is still a work in progress) has been moved along and the new tree planted.

The label states that it is an Acer aureum but it doesn't have the promised red new foliage.  I couldn't find a picture of the bark on t'interweb but I'm certain the blurb somewhere would mention the unusual colouring and stripes. 

We have therefore contacted the nursery for confirmation of the variety. 

The syringa Sensation has been replanted in the Terrace Border in full sunshine which should improve the vigour and flowers.

Aquilegias, as mentioned last time, are quite promiscuous and cross so easily.  This can produce some lovely variations. 

In the newly emerging Mugwort's Retreat, a new seating area is being created.

This will form a much needed private area now that our neighbour has converted their loft including a balcony with doors.  Their views must be amazing, but it's made my agoraphobia kick in again, hence all the trees.  Making a garden is a wonderful task.  Not being able to actually sit in it to enjoy all that beauty is so heartbreaking. 

On a brighter note, a young robin has been happily pottering about in the back garden while we work, coming closer and closer to see what goodies we might be digging up.  We hadn't seen our usual robin since last autumn (hopefully old age rather than the neighbour's cat has been responsible).

This new robin looks young and sleek.  Today he discovered the bird feeders in the front garden.  He spent around 5 minutes on a recon before flitting off again.  He's easily unnerved by the marauding sparrows but if he's anything like his predecessor, he'll soon make our patch his territory and defend it fiercely.

Other new visitors spotted today were a pair of greenfinches! It's been a couple of years since they were last seen but I could hear their distinctive voices before they descended on the sunflower hearts.

Our bird feeders are positioned just outside our sitting room window at the front, and keep me entertained for many hours.  Along with sparrows, regular feathered friends include goldfinches, long tailed tits, coal tits, great tits, blue tits and blackbirds.  The latter are very amusing to watch in the birdbath, which is a large black plastic plantpot saucer on a stack of bricks to raise it to viewing height.  We put a couple of rocks in it to keep it steady and it's relatively secluded beneath the Photinia in the front garden.  All the birds use it, whether to bathe or drink from it so it is regularly cleaned and replenished. There is another saucer-bath set up in the Long Border.  It's thirsty work raising chicks!