May - a foot each in winter and summer

"Don't knock the weather: nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while."

-  Kin Hubbard

May is such a fickle month.  One day the garden is bathed in glorious warm sunshine reminiscent of halcyon days of our youth...

...the next, out come big coats and gloves, and we're scraping car windscreens!

There is much truth in the old wives' tale ...ne'er cast a clout till May be out.

This week we have had night time frosts; -5c is definitely enough to blacken fresh foliage and kill delicate bedding plants.

Most of the plants in our garden are either trees, shrubs, evergreens, herbaceous perennial or biennial like the foxglove above, which seeds itself around and we just weed out those we don't want. 

This beautiful blue ceanothus is c. Italian Skies which is just coming into flower now in the front garden, and is a magnet for bees.

Deliciously scented pink r. Gertrude Jekyll over the arch on the patio. 

And growing up over the other side of the arch is the peach coloured r. Shropshire Lad.

There are a couple of jobs that need attention this week.  The wisteria is growing at top speed and needs tying in, and the wishy washy aquilegias need removing before they set seed.

These ones however, can remain.

So watch out for those night time temperatures.  Anything below 10c, and I pop fleece over anything tender, or bring it inside.

Keep alert, stay safe and enjoy the flowers.

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.

Summertime.....and the living is easy

However it's a bit soggier than last year!  The waterbutts have been fully replenished and the gardens are well watered.

The irises beside the pond are forming flower spikes. 

Bumblebees happily foraging between showers.

A couple of astrantia clumps.

The alliums seem to have been short lived this year.

However so far, hydrangea Blueberry Cheesecake is faring better in temperatures closer to the average British June.

Above r. Gertrude Jeykll in full swing and below r. Mum in a Million is just beginning.

The fancy aquilegia with upturned bells.

Above a sugar-pink hardy geranium and below another astrantia, paler pink this time...

...join a white lamprocapnos spectabilis in Mugwort's Retreat. 

In the Yen the red grass contrasts well against the fern. 

The Hakonechloa macra is just settling in at the back, while the heuchera lime marmalade has really found its spot beneath rhododendron Christmas Cheer.  The bees love it's tiny flowers. 

These little grassy forms belong to dierama.  I purchased two pots at a plant sale at the Botanical Gardens a couple of years ago but they've been reluctant to send out their fishing rod blooms.  I suspect they were overwhelmed to be honest by the huge peonies below so I've dug them up and popped them in this lead-look trough edging the Yen.  I'm not convinced this will be their forever home, but since removing the azaleas in the spring, The trough has been bereft of plants.

Clematis Armandii apple blossom in the Terrace Border above has had a prune as it wasn't covering the trellis correctly and the new growth was reaching into the neighbour's acers.

Another clematis, this time Montana Rubens, has received similar treatment now it's finished flowering.  It's not called "mile-a-minute" for nowt!  We can now clean up the fence and attach new wires.  This clematis will cover the fence again in no time.

The other clematis in the Long Border are growing at great pace now.  They are pruned each March as they flower late.

By June frosts are not unheard of but by and large are rare.  It's therefore safe to plant out bedding plants.

In the hanging baskets and containers, we've gone for varying shades of purple with petunias, nemesia and lobelia, with white pelargoniums.

Gloriously scented dianthus, creeping phlox and some pretty pink daisies which I think might be marguerites have been planted in the terrace seat along with some petunias.  There are a number of low growing perennials in the garden that I can split and add to the display to fill the gaps.

It shouldn't take long for these to fill out and bring joy to both us and the pollinators.