May - a force to be reckoned with

So far it has been quite warm and sunny, however May often has a trick or two up her sleeve.  

22c one day....then a cold arctic blast reminds us that we do not control the weather. 

This was actually an empty shell, beneath Angel's shrub (Weigela Wings of Fire), in the corner of the Long Border and Patio Borders. 

Globes of allium Purple Sensation above,  and peony Bowl of Beauty below about to burst open. 

The bearded iris have begun to join in the display in the Terrace Border. 

Oh and the wisteria is in flower!

Next week, I'm going to buy some bedding plants for us, mother-in-law and TMTC's aunt.  We have a local nursery that has just released appointment times to ensure social distancing, and if your name's not down, you ain't getting in.

It's Saturday morning as I create this entry.  Tomorrow Boris Johnson and his government are expected to announce certain restrictions to be relaxed. I hope they don't go too soon and too quickly and the mortality figures respond in the same inevitable manner. 

Stay safe and well.

Our Angel

Today's post is dedicated to our beautiful red border collie, Angel. 

I chose Angel when she was just a few days old, before she had even opened her eyes.  She had a pink heart shaped nose and pink foot pads.  We named her Angel and the breeder registered her with "celestial" as part of her KC papers.

After many play dates, at 12 weeks we were finally able to bring her home.  This tiny ball of fluff with a floppy ear became the most gentle, friendly, loyal companion I've ever known.

One of her favourite places was Filey beach in North Yorkshire where she visited at least once a year with the outlaws, camping.

Angel was a charmer.  She helped several children and my mother-in-law with their fear of dogs, and regularly received complements on how beautiful or well behaved she was.

She loved balls, sticks way too big for her, water and squirrels.

And she loved us as much as we loved her, if not more.

Angel

14.04.2005 - 10.11.2019

Finally

The sun is shining and we're not at work, have nowhere to be, have no-one to visit and no-one is visiting us...the garden is finally at the top of our to-do list!

We recently discovered that our garden is at 523 feet above sea level.  That's higher than Khufu's pyramid (the Great Pyramid of Giza) which stands at 481 ft.  It's higher than the Statue of Liberty which is just 305 ft from the ground to the tip of the torch, and higher than the Victoria Falls between Zambia and Zimbabwe which are 354 ft!

It is a fact that at the bottom of the drag to the village you can wear a t-shirt but by the time you reach the village you're donning a coat...and we're actually not quite at the top here!  It makes winter more interesting, that's for sure.  

Anyhow, I digress.  In the garden it's time to plant up and move and create.

Angel is intrigued but sensibly stays out of the way.

TMTC and Bumblebee are struggling to extricate rhododendron Christmas Cheer from its pot.

The soil needs to be scraped from the sides of the rootball to get it past the lip of the pot.

Teamwork!

It looks a good bit smaller now it's in the ground but it should soon grow into a large shrub.

Look at the beautiful colour of this bark.  It's the Tibetan cherry.

Also in the Yen Garden, the viburnum Dawn has been planted. It didn't flower this winter but that might have been due to the upheaval to make way for the hedge being replaced.

The viburnum Tinus pair on the other hand are flowering their socks off on the patio.

The three r. New Dawn survived winter in their pots and have now been replanted in Mugwort's Retreat.

The new outline has been marked ready for moving the brickwork edging.

At the top of the steps is a gentle honey scent coming from this Spireae japonica. It'll soon be smothered in tiny white flowers.

So many plants are coming into bud now, it's a job to keep up with what is new!  The trees all have varying degrees of leafing up.  This is the cherry blossom in the Yen. 

The clematis Shikoo winding it's way along the espallier apple tree already has flower buds!

And the tulips around the garden are waiting for their turn.

Elsewhere in the garden, I busied myself weeding the Long Border and the Patio Borders, moving crocuses from behind daylilies where they were hiding, planting snakeshead fritillaries, and dividing snowdrops whilst still "in the green" which means still having foliage.  I've also divided some native primroses and dwarf narcissi, and trimmed the Sarcococca confusa (Christmas Box) now it has finished flowering. 

The cheap hyacinths are such a welcome addition to the garden.  They add a wow factor, not just visually but they are extremely highly scented.  Their perfume wafts around the garden, reminding you of their presence like a spoilt child should your attention wander.

Since the blooms were beginning to flop due to the sheer weight of the flowerlets, I snipped off those most affected, added a few double daffs and a sprig or three lemon wallflowers for a posy inside.

The scented bouquet is so heady that it has to remain in the kitchen where it again stamps it's feet impatiently crying out to be noticed! 

Pure flower power!

Autumnal sunshine.

I cannot work out where this year has gone.  It wasn't so very long ago when we were mithering about the hot, dry summer and only seems a few weeks ago that we were enjoying alliums, daffodils and tulips after the Beast from the East delayed spring and the whole garden came to life at once.

2018 has been a pretty bizarre year in our South Yorkshire patch.

The hardy geraniums are having a last flourish. 

Pretty pink fuchsias join a final blast of colour from the astrantias in pink

...and white

The bergenia foliage is turning red at the front of the pond while the white Japanese anemone with their metallic pink hints on the reverse of the petals shine out from the gloom at the back.

Bold magenta osteospermums keep flowering in the Terrace seat containers above. 

A double Japanese anemone thrusts it's bright white blooms above a fading hydrangea in the Patio Border.

Down in the Yen Garden, this vivid hardy geranium is also happy to provide another display.  

The hardy geraniums and astrantias were all cut back after their summer show, which I tend to do each year to get a second flush of both foliage and flowers to help prevent gaps and stretch the display in late summer into autumn.  Who says this time of year has to be a time of subdued colours or stick to a pallet of reds, oranges and yellows?

Not that I mind the zing of an autumn glow of course!

The Man That Can had a bit of a repair job to carry out today on the terrace as a few of the most often used steps came loose.  Today was warm and dry which will hopefully allow the cement to set before any frosts arrive.

Our first new tree has arrived. It's a liquidamber styraciflua Lane Roberts, as mentioned in a previous post.  We're not quite ready to plant it so it has been placed in the Terrace Border, still in its container, and attached with a rubber tree tie to the washing post for now so it's supported against the autumn storms in a spot we can enjoy its firey autumn colour.  It won't be planted just yet but the maple shaped foliage will probably have been shed by the time the revamp at the bottom of the garden is complete. 

Finally, I've lifted the last few plants in the Yen Garden border while TMTC potted them up.

The planters have been moved aside to make way for the workmen, and the gravel has been scraped away to reveal the weed suppressing membrane in the spot where the last tree is to be planted when it arrives.