This month of April is rushing by without giving me a chance to catch my breath and enjoy all that it has to offer. No sooner does one lot of plants come into flower, than another is pushing forward, trying to be the centre of attention. Trying to appreciate them all is almost impossible.
I’m starting with a small flowered ground cover, Claytonia virginica, which has almost white flowers, striped with pink. It seeds gently around, all mine seem to be in semi shaded borders where they show up nicely. They have spoon shaped succulent leaves and grow from tiny black tubers. They never seem to come up in the same place twice, I’m always pleased to see wherever they decide to put themselves.
This shows the patch of Claytonia in the border behind the scree bed, maybe some could be moved to another semi shaded border.
Looking across the scree with Narcissus Thalia and Prunus Kojo no mai in the background.
Iris japonica is growing opposite the scree, under the dining room window. They like to have the shelter of a wall and seem happy where I’ve put them. The flowers are very small for an iris, from photographs in books and magazines, I was expecting something quite a bit larger, but each stem has about a dozen or more buds on them so they make quite a show, but in a more subtle way.
Up in the veggie garden I have put Chaenomeles Apple Blossom on the fence, this is flowering before the real apple blossom which is covered in buds but they are firmly closed at the moment.
By the garage a Berberis bush is so laden with flowers, this branch is going to need to be propped up! So many bees buzzing round here every time I go to get my car out.
Bergenia Beethoven is by the front door and is in shade all day long, such a useful plant for shady spots. I must move some of them into the woodland where there are some very dark areas.
In a previous post I said that I didn’t think that Cyclamen repandum was seeding around like the other Cyclamen. If you look at the photo on the right, there are flowers at the top which are coming from 2 differnt corms so the ants are doing their job properly, carrying the seed away from the mother plant.
Still flowering in the border by the field is Viburnum Bodnantense Dawn. With not having any real frost this winter, this shrub has been flowering non stop since November – amazing.
Carpeting the floor by some rhododendrons is a plant of Dicentra formosa alba along with pulmonaria.
On the archway into the woodland is Clematis White Moth, this is keeping company with a rambling rose White Swan which flowers for most of the summer.
It won’t be long before Paeony mlokosewitschii is flowering once more. Commonly known as Molly the Witch, she is too beautiful to be considered a witch, her pale yellow flowers look so delicate.
Another beautiful flower for shady woodland is the Erythronium. The pink one is Knightshayes Pink. Knightshayes is the name of a National Trust house fairly near here. They have it under their huge trees forming a carpet where it has seeded about, maybe one day, if I live long enough, I too will have a little carpet! The yellow one is E. Pagoda, I have another pink and a white one, but can’t see them yet!
I’ve found my white one! It is now tucked away under a rhododendron which has grown over it, I think it ought to be moved so that I don’t have to search in future.
A tree paeony which I just bought as “Red”! It won’t be long before it opens into a dark red luscious flower which the bees will enjoy.
Brunnera Jack Frost is looking so pretty at the moment with its lovely forget me not flowers. There are a couple of seedlings nearby so I must pot them up and then I can plant them in the woodland in the autumn.
Forming a nice carpet in the woodland is Anemone nemerosa Robinsoniana, there are also lots of white ones flowering too.
In amongst the primroses and celandines in the woodland are a few bulbs of Tulipa sylvestris. When the sun catches them between the trees, they open wide and could almost be mistaken for a daffodil.
Little and large euphorbias. On the left is Euphorbia melliferra which has the most wonderful honeyed perfume which wafts across the garden making me feel hungry. This makes a shrub about 6ft by 6ft. On the right is the tiny Euphorbia cyparissias which does spread if it is in soil that it likes (well drained), guess who planted it in heavy unimproved clay many years ago, at least where I have put it, it is well behaved! This grows to about 12 inches, spread indefinite!
One of a few Polyanthus which flower on and off all winter, giving us colour in the darkest time of year, here partnered with a purple heuchera. I spy a bit of hairy bittercress right at the front, that must go before I do anything else or it will seed everywhere!
On the alpine scree are a few grape hyacinths Muscari Valerie Finnis. I must split these this year as they are crowding my Pulsatilla, which I couldn’t find, but there it was under all the foliage.
Ranunculus, I can’t decide if they are hardy or not. I thought they weren’t but left them outside by mistake. Then I thought that would be it, gone, but look what has come up once more and a few others are in bud so should be showing flowers in a couple of weeks.
It’s almost bath time again! You may remember last year that I planted an old tin bath with tulips, not any old tin bath, but the one I was washed in when I was a baby! At last, after all these years, it has another life. Last year I just left the tulips in place , but this year I intend to remove them as soon as flowering is over and replace them with something that will last until autumn. I’m full of good intentions!
The cowslips, Primula veris, are forming their drifts once more, spreading by seed and making parts of the garden look very pretty. They shouldn’t really like my garden, I read in the Sunday Telegraph this week, that Alan Titchmarsh says that cowslips like chalk downland!! We have the opposite, heavy, slightly acid clay, in the shade, it’s just as well I hadn’t read the books when my friend gave me three plants to start me off or I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of these lovely plants for about 20 years, getting better and better year on year.
Almost my last Narcissus to flower, N.Pipit and the perfume is absolutely delightful! I love the pale lemon yellow, fading to white, it really is one of the best I think, I must remember to buy more in the autumn.
If each flower turns into a Conference Pear, I will have a lot of pears to eat! I suppose though that they will have to be thinned like apples, to make decent sized pears.
Hooray, it’s forget me not time! Most of the borders have a splash of blue in them, including the woodland. They are such good fillers for any border, shade, sunny, wet or dry, they seem to like it everywhere. The gravel drive is proving to be a wonderful seed bed for them, that’s where I look first for seedlings to spread round the garden.
I can’t finish without mentioning the snakeshead fritillaries which are coming to an end now, I can stop worrying about Mr Pheasant for another year. We are preparing a new bit of the woodland for some more plants, so seed will be sprinkled here when they are ready. I will have to be patient as they will take a few years to reach flowering size. Fritillaria meleagris has kept the interest in the woodland after all the snowdrops faded, along with the narcissus, primroses and cowslips, what will come next I wonder?!
Thanks you Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this meme of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Do pay her a visit to see what is flowering across the world.
Your garden is bursting with color! Spring is such a great time in the garden and you have so many plants putting on a brilliant show!
Peter, I wish it would all slow down, everything is coming so fast and with it being hotter than usual at this time of year, flowers are going over too quickly.
Exciting time in your garden Pauline. Things have been slower here so I’m enjoying seeing your flowers bursting into color. The Chaenomeles Apple Blossom has such a pretty color.
Everything is coming on so quickly Susie, I really wish it would all slow down a bit! The C.Apple Blossom only flowers this time of year, unlike the salmon one by the back door which flowers on and off all winter, but it’s blossom is so pretty.
Your post just shouts spring is here! You have many plants that I would like to have the conditions to grow but I think my favourite this month is Brunnera Jack Frost. It is interesting about the cow-slips doing so well, you never can be sure can you?
The flowers and leaves of B.Jack Frost go so well together Christina, and always looks so neat and tidy! I think ignorance was bliss when I planted the cowslips, they have done so well here and obviously haven’t read the books!
So many lovely things to enjoy. What an absolute delight! A lovely tour round your garden to look at your treasures.
Alan is wrong about cowslips. Suffolk lanes are covered in them at the moment. Everywhere where you don’t see primroses you find cowslips and there is no chalk here.
The great thing in the garden is when primroses and cowslips hybridise, you never know what you will get.
How lovely that you have Cyclamen repandum seeding about. Perhaps I will release mine from the greenhouse.
Chloris my primroses and cowslips have been misbehaving for a few years now, all the offspring have flowers which are tall like the cowslip and also multi headed. But they are large flowers the size and pale yellow colour of the primrose.A couple have had orange flowers and these have been moved to a separate border. The lanes here are full of primroses, you don’t find cowslips growing in the wild here unfortunately.
I don’t think C repandum us quite as hardy as C.coum and C hederifolium, but mine are in a sheltered spot in the woodland where they are safe from the worst of the weather. It depends what sort of winters you usually have as to whether you can safely release yours from the greenhouse!
You have so many lovely spring flowers, Pauline. I’ve just planted a berberis this weekend for bees and butterflies – I hope they find it! Your fritillaries in your header photo are looking wonderful. I love the sight of your drifts of cowslips as well. I have a small clump but although I’ve hoped they would spread they haven’t. Perhaps in my case the conditions aren’t right for them – or perhaps I should just plant many more! At least the rabbits don’t seem to like them – so they’ve survived being eaten.
Wendy, I wonder why your cowslips aren’t seeding around, I’m assuming you are letting them go to seed? They really shouldn’t like my garden, but they do. I was given 3 plants by a dear friend who has since died of cancer, she said she wanted to see drifts of them in the garden, I wish she could see them now. I e.mail pictures to her daughter instead. Maybe if you sowed the seed in seed trays it would start them off, just a thought.
Isn’t it amazing how quickly things grow – I am never prepared for it! ovely photos Pauline. I really love that view with Kojo no mai at the beginning of the post. Can’t wait to see Molly in bloom… a yellow peony is a new one to me. 😀
Cathy, spring is passing by far too quickly, I do wish it would slow down! The buds on Molly are nearly open now, of course they will be photographed, it is such a lovely single flower.
That Anemone Robinsoniana is a lovely one, such a delicate colour.
Your Erythroniums do look good, I hope my single Knightshayes bulks up as well.
Jessica, your Erythronium will bulk up , mine started out as a singleton and it gets better each year. The little anemone is sweet, it is gradually forming ground cover in one part of the woodland, lots of leaves but not many flowers, maybe it is in too deep shade.
You really do have so much open now, spring should take a short breather so we can catch up! Out of everything I think the fritillaries are my favorite. Each time I open your blog I marvel at your new header!
I need to catch up too Frank! Time is rushing by with lots of new flowers opening each day. Fritillaries are certainly one of my favourites too, but then it depends on the time of year, they are near the top of the list! Glad you like the new header!
Looks like you are having a lovely spring! Thanks for sharing your beauty with us! Blessings, Natalie 🙂
We are having a lovely spring Natalie, it is so welcome after such a wet winter.
You have such an eye for weaving textures together. And I love the way you are able to have flowers seeding about. I must use so much mulch here, because of summer heat, I don’t have the same success. The Erythronium is fanciful and beautiful, it’s easy to imagine faries dancings under those blooms, don’t you think? I visited Knightshayes once and will never forget the spectacular walled garden. Hope I can visit your part of the country again sometime.
Thank you Marian, I have to admit I like a foliage tapestry under shrubs and trees but certain areas are deliberately left without a mulch, simply so that plants can seed about.
Yes, Erythroniums are just the right size for the faries to dance under, or they could use the flowers for umbrellas! Knighthayes is only half an hour from us, it is one of out favourite places to take visitors. Do let me know if you are ever in this part of the country, I could show you some beautiful gardens!
I rescued this from my junk mail, Pauline – I wonder if I have missed any others… Your April blooms are so beautiful, every one of them – I couldn’t possibly pick any individuals out! I have made a note of Clematis ‘White Moth’ though, as I haven’t come across that before – is it an alpina?
Lovely to hear from you again Cathy, yes, I think you have missed a few posts. We have been having trouble with BT, so I don’t know if this is what the problem was.
Clematis White Moth is an alpina, rather pretty.
April seems to be running away this year Pauline. So many treasures packed into your garden already I am wondering what new planting you will be adding to the woodland.
April is passing so quickly Anna, I can’t keep up with it.
New planting in the woodland will be hostas, ferns, foxgloves, candelabra primulas, astilbe, and a few others, most of which have been grown from seed.. It is quite damp at that end as it is ever so slightly lower so I think these plants will be happy there.
Hey Pauline,
Do you think you could have jam packed more true beauties into one post, my friend. Wasn’t familiar with that engaging claytonia but what a wee beauty. Keep up the great work, girlfriend.
Good to hear from you Patrick! The Claytonia seems to move itself round the garden, it quite often doesn’t come up in the same place twice, it likes to surprise me!
I love your scree garden – it works so well! Again you have lots of flowers…thanks for introducing me to Claytonia, a plant I didn’t know but I think it’s very beautiful. I have a weak spot for delicate looking flowers. Your Chaenomeles is very nice as well – I’ve been trying to get Geisha Girl but as with other plants it’s very difficult to get certain varieties. Have a very happy Easter, Pauline!
Claytonia Annette is such a lovely little plant, never a problem, but good for filling awkward areas. I hope you find C Geisha Girl soon, it can be frustrating when you have set your heart on a certain plant, but can’t find it anywhere. Do you have the equivalent of our book called The Plant Finder? It is a book published by the RHS I think, listing every plant that we could possibly want to buy and listing the nurseries that stock it.
thank you, Pauline, my flower-holism temporarily sated, I can now go happily to bed. Di – vine post.
Thanks Catmint, glad you enjoyed them, always happy to oblige. Happy Easter!
You have so many nice things in flower Pauline, it is hard to know where to start the comments. I guess I will start with the header: so pretty! I almost bought some Pagoda dogwoods, but was fearful that they would hate our dry summers. Seeing yours in flower, I wished I had at least given them a go. I really like the Anemone nemerosa Robinsoniana. The cowslips are always my favourites and I really like the color of the Muscari Valerie Finnis.
I see you are having issues with your neighbours as well. It is hard to have a house at such close quarters isn’t it?
Have a wonderful Easter Pauline!
Jennifer, it is so frustrating losing our privacy, but hopefully when the trees and hedge get all their leaves, maybe it won’t be so bad.
The cowslips really shouldn’t like our heavy soil, I’m just so glad that I didn’t know this when I planted them!
Happy Easter to you and your family Jennifer!
I enjoyed my tour of your woodland in April! I was studying some of your plants, even looked up Erythronium to see if it would grow for me and discovered there is an American native! I love all these fabulous spring ephemerals, though I wish some would last longer. I looked at my garden today and realized what I call the Deep Greening is about to occur, when summer comes in and most of the flowers recede. Spring was so late this year; I wish we could postpone summer!
Deb, I think lots of the little woodland plants that we have originally came from the Vancouver area and the east cost of N. America.
Yes, the leaves are starting to come on the leaves of our huge trees here too, soon the flowering will stop in the woodland and I will have to rely on interesting foliage to keep the interest going.