May Update

So much happens in May that it's sometimes difficult to keep up.  You can almost hear the plants growing!

Aquilegia

Peony

Azaelea

Sunflower seedlings hardening off.  It's still a little chilly to plant these out.

Bumblebee's tub brimming with promises.  It's really thickened out now.  The Bizzies are beginning to flower, but the lobelia are still finding their place.

WOW!  Clematis Rhapsody in full fettle again this year.

Bliss.

Rough Winds Do Shake The Darling Buds Of May

April 2011.  Another one for the record books - the hottest April since records began!

So far May promises to provide some much needed rain showers, perforated with warm sunshine.  Perfect conditions for the garden.

Another keen gardener in bud?  Bumblebee shows The Man That Can just how it's done.

And the fruits of his labour...

Not content with just one container, he moved onto the flowerbed created especially for both Bumblebee and The Toad.  This has not only been planted up with the left over bedding plants and a couple of tiny shrubs, but the complete contents of each of the seed packets that had been waiting impatiently for just such an occasion.  It will be a surprise mix, to be sure.

Talking of surprises, the clematis Montana has more than double the amount of blooms we had been expecting!

I cannot let the month go by without showing off the new growth on the tree.  Luckily we have had just the right clear blue skies to show it off to its best advantage.  Interestingly, this new growth has appeared almost 3 weeks earlier than last year.

Self sown aqueligia beside the greenhouse.  I do rather like these, regardless of where they pop up.

 Busy Lizzie.  What more can I say?

Choisya.  Mexican Orange Blossom.  These are the very first blooms on this young shrub.  The leaves are being nibbled though.  I've checked around the plants in the vicinity, and cannot find any of the usual suspects.  A little research is in order I think, and a night-time prowl.

Whatever the culprit, this purple-leaved sedum is also being attacked.  They share the bed, which I had hoped would be safe from marauding molluscs.  I've tried using some organic pellets, but these haven't even thrown up the usual slimy trails.

A wee gift from a good friend.  I haven't had much joy with Lily of the Valley in previous years due to the slugs.  Maybe a more established specimen will fare better. 

Did you know that Kate Middleton had Lily of the Valley in her wedding bouquet?  In the language of flowers, it symbolises a return to happiness.  The bouquet also contained myrtle, an emblem of marriage and love; sweet williams to signify gallantry, hyacinth is for consistancy of love and ivy for marriage, friendship, fidelity, wedded love and affection.

The fruit garden is beginning to take shape.  From blackcurrants to strawberries and raspberries.  All are coming into flower ready for the visiting pollinators.  I had planned on planting all the fruits out into the garden this year, but as usual time ran away with me.  They don't seem to mind staying one more year in their containers.

Azalea still going strong in such a vibrant shade of pink.

I think I've bought the wrong variety of ceanothus.  It's not nearly as strong a blue as the previous shrub that we lost a couple of years ago, and it seems to prefer to sprawl along the ground rather than create a nice blue ball.

Some of the trees are being replaced in our street, and the lovely tree surgeons allowed us to nab some of the chipped wood for our garden.  I'll let it sit for a few months before I use it though.

You can't have May without hardy geraniums.  This particular clump needs to be divided.  The centre of the crown looks like something has been lying in it.  In the autumn I'll dig it up, cut it into sections and replant the healthiest pieces.

And an update on the bedding plants.  As you can see these Bizzies's are eager to please already.

 

"When April steps aside for May,

Like diamonds all the rain-drops glisten;

Fresh violets open every day:

To some new bird each hour we listen."

- Lucy Larcom

Easter Baskets

Here in the UK we have a wall of Bank Holidays looming beginning with Good Friday and the Bank Holiday Monday that follows, which is going to give most of us a long weekend.  Not only that, but the forecast for the weather looks promising.  It's a short week for many followed by the Royal Wedding and May Day!

With the good weather and the holidays, I would imagine that nurseries and garden centres will be doing a roaring trade, so with that in mind, I got in there early with this little lot for my summer displays.

Ivy, petunia, loblia, fuschia, trailing pelargonium and I'm trying my hand again with buzy lizzies. 

The past few years have been tough for the bizzies with disease, but these ones look a lot healthier this year.  They can cope with a spot of shade, so I've popped them into the basket beside the front door along with some of the nepeta divisions.

These two have both been planted up with trailing pelargoniums, lobelia, petunia and a central fuschia.  I wonder how many people will buy plants in red white and blue over the weekend to show their patriotism...

More of the same in the window boxes.  Mine aren't themed around the Royal Wedding though, just big and bright and cheerful.

I just have to plant up the window boxes under the kitchen.  I need to wait for The Man That Can to lend a hand as they're too high to reach.  They will be more or less the same as the above, and not very interesting yet.

I have some fleece to hand should a frost be forecast.  If fleece isn't available a couple of sheets of newspaper will do the trick.

Have a wonderful Easter, I hope the sun shines for you all.

Lesson Learnt

The next time I get excited about Lola's rediscovery of laying, please remind me not to post about it!  Two entries ago, I mentioned that we'd all but given up on her ever laying again.  The very same day, she began laying, and had done so for a good three weeks.  I got so excited about it, I had to post on here.  Within a couple of days of my posting, she has gone broody yet again!  I love her to bits, but oh my goodness she broods if you so much as look at her funny!

Back to the garden.  The improvement in the garden with this week's high temperatures is clear for all to see.

Fresh growth on this heuchera take on a lovely glow in the sunlight.

This variagated nepeta had survived all winter in a hanging basket outside the back door with next to no watering.  The previous year it was molly-coddled in the greenhouse after gracefully hanging some 6ft from one of the baskets outside the front door.  I'm not very fond of the scent the leaves release if rubbed, but it's a great little plant and an alternative to ivy in baskets and containers.  I'm not sure I could responsibly recommend anyone plants it into the open ground though.  I would imagine it could very quickly take over!

I've divided this single plant now into 20 smaller plants for this year's display.  Cuttings from it are so easily rooted too.  When you pinch a plant out, use the pinched tips as cuttings. Strip off the lower leaves and push the stem into compost,  Within a couple of weeks a brand new plant for nothing!  Not bad for a £2 pot a couple of years ago eh? 

Last year I planted a row of box plants.  The strip of earth needs to be cleared a little, and I fear another batch of box plants should be planted between as I might have been a bit ambitious thinking they would thicken up enough to create a low hedge.  Still, it's all a learning curve.

Who doesn't find the fresh new fronds of ferns unfurling fascinating?

The only seeds that have been sowed in 2011 are my sons' sunflowers!

Hebe cuttings from 2010 potted on and pinched out to create a bushier plant.

 

 I love my lillies.  I adore lillies!  There's always room for more...

..and Clematis!  When you've filled your garden full of plants, think vertical!  Your garden is as high as you want it to go.  I had a single flower on this one last summer.  I had forgotten to prune it this year, so it's all a bit top heavy.  Another lesson learned.  Thankfully Clematis is one of those plants that can teach you it's own way.  If you inherit one, and don't know which pruning group it belongs to, leave it for a whole year and all will become clear.  They also respond very well to a good hard trim back if it has been left to run riot.  You may have to sacrifice flowers for one year, but once you have regained control, it will pay you back a thousand-fold!

This one however looks more promising.  Last year it sparesly flowered twice, which was unusual, but I put it down to the late spring, and the hard trim.  This year though it is heavy with flower buds!  In a couple more weeks it should be a real show-stopper!

This is a young Montana variety of Clematis.  Just two flower buds on it this year, but now it knows what it's doing next year it should come into it's own.

 

Another plant that reaslises its potential is this Lonicera (honeysuckle).  The Man That Can added a couple more rows of wire for it to train around.  There are finally flower buds forming on this after three years.  If the bugs leave it alone for long enough, it should become a highly scented addition to the driveway.

 

A weed is a misplaced plant.

 

Mind you, in any language a Dandelion can certainly be a major pain if allowed to.  This one think he's a hardy geranium!  We've been so lucky this month with the weather, but what encourages our beloved plants to grow and bloom also encourages weeds.  This week we've had clouds of dandelion seeds on the move.  Yes the unmown verges have looked very pretty with their cheery yellow faces, but all those millions of seeds are making their way to a lawn near you.  Armed with my trusty bulb planter, there are a few in my own lawn that need eradicating!