Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2017

Welcome to the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day where we celebrate what is making our hearts glad.

I'm linking this to May Dreams Garden where Carol hosts this lovely idea.

There is so much to choose from, after a gradual start in March we are suddenly spoilt in April and don't know where to look first. 

 I'm starting with these Tulips which have come back from last year. I think they are Sapporo. 

This Magnolia stellata is trying to steal the show but there is plenty of competition.

 Two auriculas which I bought last year, just coming into flower. 

 

 Geum 'Mai Tai'. I adore this. 

 

 Hyacinthoides non-scripta. I have inherited white and blue. The white came out a week or two ago but the blue are following along:

 
An inherited Crab apple. We had a touch of rain last night. Just enough to make the flowers pretty but not really enough to wet the ground.

 

 

 A bit of a dark picture but here is Corydalis 'Berry Exciting' now with it's contrasting purple flowers. 

 

 Euphorbia amygdaloides purpurea, the start of my euphobia collection. I moved this early in the year but it didn't seem to notice. Flanked by two hydrangeas but they may need to go. They are not very pretty ones. 

 I'm thrilled that these tulips came back from last year. I did nothing to them. I'd be interested to know if people dig up and store their tulip bulbs. These are Tulip Clusiana Peppermint Stick from Peter Nyssen. It's like having four flowers in one. First thing or on a dull day:

Gradually opening:

and then in full flower:

These Narcissus 'Hawera' are so delicately pretty. I bought a pack of mixed botanical narcissus bulbs from J Parkers last Autumn.  Of course they came in one mixed bag (it was not an expensive purchase). As they have come into flower this spring I've been tying different colours of thread around the stems for each variety so I can move them and collect similar ones together.  

They have been a complete joy, each one more lovely than the last and this is the finale...

I've never managed to get a Dicentra to flower until now:

 And finally what about this? I wonder if someone discovered this now would we all clamour to have it in our gardens? Maybe not when we discovered how invasive it is but the bees do love them and I have plenty!
 

In a vase on Monday

What a fantastic weekend we have had weatherwise. I'm sorry if yours wasn't so good. We had warm,even hot, sunshine and have been able to spend to whole weekend outside. There was plenty to do and we end the weekend tired but satisfied that we have made a huge difference by tidying, burning, clipping, trimming and generally fettling. Not to mention weeding, of course. If only it would stay tidy.
There was plenty of time to look around and decide what to put in a vase for Monday.
I chose this Spirea foliage. (Again).

 Some of it is reverting here. I think so anyway, I hope someone will correct me if that is not the case. So I thought I'd prune out the darker branches and use them in vases. Though they are beautifully coloured too, I'd hate to lose the bright reds and oranges. Perhaps I'll try rooting some bits. I have had good success with sticking twigs in the ground. Probably about 50:50 with things rooting or not, so it's worth a go.

 

 
I'd already chosen the white bells and a few other bits. In the end though I left everything else out as I think the white flowers against the dark foliage are perfect on their own.

I've also got these tulips on my kitchen windowsill. So far they are behaving well. They are tightly packed in. These are more Darwin Hybrids and I chose all the salmon ones.

 
Last week I picked tight buds and arranged them with foliage to hold them in place. What I didn't realise was that tulip stems continue to grow after they've been picked. I learnt this from Julie at Peonies and Posies.

So even though I did chop some off the stems they became rather unruly.
Look how beautiful they were though! They were like silk dresses. I kept them until they were very far gone. Definitely growing old gracefully.

For colourful and creative vases visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. In a vase on Monday. 

In a vase on Monday - First tulips

Yes at last! I've been admiring tulips in other people's posts, and even bought a few (I know you're shocked), but now I have my own ones flowering. 

One day they were in tight bud and suddenly there was the colour. 

I've collected some honeysuckle foliage. It's just the bits hanging down waiting to catch my face as I pass by to a water tank. 
Also some Euphorbia shoots. I'm not sure what variety they are. They have seeded from somewhere. I always use gloves when cutting so I don't get the sap on me. I strip the lower leaves then hold the stems in a jug of just boiled water for 20 seconds. This seals them and they last very well in a vase.
The tulips are Darwin Hybrid mixed which were free with a bulb order. I put them in my cutting patch so I'd be happy to chop them.  The red ones have come out first with a couple of salmon popped in here too. It's very organised of them to come out one colour at a time.

I wanted to tuck the flowers into foliage as I know they'll open and flop around. Also they are quite bright so this tones them down a little. 
They have opened quite a lot in a day and are very bright.  


We have had a beautiful weekend, weatherwise. We gave ourselves the day off on Sunday and visited Hestercombe. A beautiful garden, developed over 300 years, in Somerset.  Trees, shrubs, walks, bulbs in full flower, cafe, shop...

It was warm and sunny, a perfect day out. It's that time of year when it can look like summer but the trees are still bare. 
Then today we have woken to a ground frost. It pays never to be complacent when you are a gardener. 

For interesting and colourful vases from around the world visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden - In a vase on Monday.

In my new blue jug on Monday

It's Monday again, don't they come round quickly, so time for a vase. 

I decided to go for yellow, orange and blue this time. Not much blue yet but I popped it all in this gorgeous blue jug so that balances it out. This jug was another charity shop find. £2. It would have been rude not to buy it. 

I've included:
Forsythia
Spirea - you can just see the shrub behind the table. 
Forget-me -not
Wallflower - probably Cloth of Gold
Tete-a-tete narcissus
Lavender shoots from a leggy bush
Penstemon shoots - these will be pruned off in a week or two anyway. 
I tried some geranium leaves but they immediately wilted. They might work with some conditioning. 

The narcissus from last week are over but I picked these to go in the same vase with the foliage which is still fine. The are very sweet and delicate but I don't know what they are and have not had time to try and find out.

 I won't be picking these but just admiring every time I pass and making  a detour especially sometimes:

Last autumn I sowed dozens of Fritilliaria meleagris bulbs in an out-of-the-way patch of grass hoping they would naturalise. I despaired of them coming up as when I crawled around peering I could see nothing at all. Today I thought I'd have one last look and found this:

There are about 6 or 8, feeble looking but growing though the weeds we call a lawn. Now I'll have to set up a protective barrier in case they get squashed.
 
I'm so lucky now I have three days off. If you include the weekend that was 5! By the end of it my garden will be in tip top shape though I may not be able to move.
It's mostly weeding but also pruning, moving a few things and some planting. If I have time I'd like to finish digging a new bed.  I am also keeping on top of the sowing and pricking out. I manage to do a little of that on most days.
We had a run of dry cool, overcast days but then a fantasic weekend if you ingored the bitter wind. Some of it was spent fixing up posts, for a project I hope to be able to share soon, but I also fitted in lots of gardening.

Here is a bed already weeded and tidied:

 and it's neighbour half done:

 These two beds do not really have an identity yet. The get some sun and some shade and need a bit of wall covering I think.

 That is enough sitting around, the sun is breaking through so I am off out for more weeding. 
For creative and colourful vases from around the world visit  Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for In a vase on Monday.
 

Garden Bloggers Foliage Day - Up close and personal

As previously discussed, it's a wonderful time of year and we are finding new treasures every day. I particularly like the mounds of fresh foliage which appear untouched by pests or faded with age or weathering.
Here are a few of the things starring in my garden. It's a rather long and picture heavy post so settle down. Oh, and I was trying a borrowed macro lens so it's mostly close ups.

Corydalis 'Berry Exciting' this has purple flowers but at the moment is a wonderful mound of yellow. 

Saxifaga stolonifera. This and the corydalis are in my shady bed. I created it last year when I realised this area was always in shade. It will be trial and error to see what survives there. 

Lambs Lugs as my Mum calls them or Stachys byzantina to everyone else. Lightly touched by raindrops but not bedraggled

yet. 

Spirea japonica. Such a good value shrub, I think, but this is the favourite time for me.

 



This is artichoke foliage. Last year it produced the most wonderful flowers

What about things to eat? 

            Curly kale.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                           And beetroot leaves. I don't think any beets will be produced, this has been in the ground all winter, but you can eat the young leaves in salad.  

These are all Crocosmia, looking very lush but definitely need thinning. I cleared up bags and bags of leaves but as you see there are still more to do.  

Here is where they go...

Here is the compost complex, now moved. The powerhouse to feed all the beautiful foliage. 
Not looking as good yet as I'd like it to. The bags on the left are leaves collected in the Autumn and there are twigs saved for staking. The leaves are not nearly rotted yet so will need to be hidden away somewhere and forgotten.

This is a pile of manure. This was left to us and is to the right of the compost. How lucky am I? I've already moved two similar piles. When it is moved I'll be able to tidy up the whole area and it won't look like pallet city but then I'll have to go looking for manure! I'm using it to feed all my new trees and hedges as well as flower and vegetable beds. We'll also add a third compost bay when we can. 

So lots of work to do here but it's all good fun. 

I'm joining in with Garden Blogger's Foliage Day hosted by Christina at myhesperidesgarden.

In a vase on Monday -

Suddenly we've gone from having nothing much to put in a vase to having a choice!
This week I've seen daffodils, primroses/primula, forget-me-nots, hyacinths, hellebores, cerinthe, forsythia, aubretia and the first few camellias. 


I found this Hyacinth growing under a bush. I must have planted it there last year but it was a rather lost so cutting was the answer. There are two more spikes which I'll cut when they've opened a little more. 
I've added some of the gorgeous new leaf shoots which are so welcome and so beautiful. 

(It seems as though I should clean the window)

Here is willow, spirea, cotoneaster and wigela. The spirea is my absolute favourite. 

One of the fun things about moving to a new garden is finding out what is growing. Last spring daffodils popped up everywhere closely followed by white blubells (white bells?).

Here are a few with elaeagnus shoots. Last year the sides of a hedge were pruned but not the top. Another job to add the my very long list. 

 For creative and colouful vases from around the world visit In a vase on Monday hosted by Cathy - Rambling in the Garden.