It’s May and it’s Rhodo time!

Posted on May 23, 2020 by Pauline

The stars of the garden at the moment are the rhododendrons and azaleas. In full flower, they are so bright and colourful, some with huge blowsy flowers that demand attention. Others are more refined, the deciduous azaleas also quite often come with a delicious perfume which wafts round the garden. There is so much flowering at the moment, but the rhododendrons and azaleas make sure you can’t ignore them.

I make no excuse for starting my post with the same photo as my last post, this is my favourite rhodo at the moment. This is always the first rhododendron to flower for me. It was already here when we came 30 yrs ago and is still doing well. The buds start out very pink, it then becomes two tone white and pink and ends up cream.

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May 2020 GBBD

Posted on May 15, 2020 by Pauline

What a wonderful month May is, flowers are bursting forth left, right and centre, old friends are coming back and it is lovely to see them all again, well I can’t see my real friends and family can I?! The rhododendrons and azaleas are amazing, flowering beautifully, so they will get a separate post later, they make the garden so colourful at the moment, enough to cheer anyone up in these strange times, but there is only me to appreciate them…sad!

This is always my first rhodo to flower, no name I’m afraid, this was here before I was.

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Clipping the Chinese Ginger Jar.

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Pauline

When I looked up the garden recently, I could see the box topiary ginger jar at the top end of the border round the dead oak, and it was looking decidedly scruffy, time for a hair cut!

I just remembered in time that I ought to take some photos.

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Project 2020

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Pauline

This is a project that has been in the making for such a long time, simply because I kept putting it off, so I decided to bite the bullet and get on with it this year, now that I am having to spend so much time at home. The rockery bed is at the side and back of the house and is a roughly north facing slope with the high side facing south and east.There were small trees and shrubs that I had planted over the years but they had all grown far bigger than I had thought they would and were causing a lot of shade ( which I already had plenty of in other areas!) so it was time for a clear out.

This shows the rockery from the back lawn, you can see all the empty spaces waiting to be filled. The border wraps round the alpine scree which is where the variegated yucca is and the back of the Bar-b-que which doesn’t get much use any more., maybe I could use it to display some pots?

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10 for April, 2020

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Pauline

While we are all staying at home, the seasons are changing before our very eyes. When this lockdown started it was a time for all the spring bulbs to flower and we seemed to go from snowdrops to tulips in the blink of an eye, now it is the turn of iris, rhododendrons and loads  of blossom, but it is still only April.  I wonder which season we will be in when the lockdown is lifted.

Rhododendron time seems to be early this year, once they all get going the garden is very colourful.

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GBBD for April, 2020.

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Pauline

In the strange times that we are living in at the moment, I’m appreciating my garden as I have never done before. I am out there as often as I can be, all this fresh  air must be doing me good, it is getting far more attention than it usually does and is looking a lot better for it. My robin is keeping me company, coming so close, I’m worried about stepping on him/her. Blackbirds are already feeding their youngsters in the nest and so many different sorts of bees are buzzing around all the flowers. Quite a few butterflies are already fluttering through the garden and the hedgehog is leaving messages all over the lawn! I really enjoyed my wander through the garden taking photos this morning, so do come with me to see what I found.

Waiting to be planted on the rockery is a dwarf form of Forsythia, hopefully it won’t get any taller than the 1 metre which it says on the label.

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Little Gems.

Posted on April 10, 2020 by Pauline

At the moment there is so much going on in the garden, so many lovely flowers to admire on my daily wander, it’s hard to know what to concentrate on. As well as all the larger flowers, there are so many little gems flowering at the moment, down at ground level, where sometimes you have to search to find them.

My first one is a dwarf iris which has been waiting for a really long time to be planted out. It is only about 5 inches tall but has the most amazing perfume, I must find a spot on the alpine scree for it.

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March, lamb or lion?

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Pauline

In looking back over the month of March, we have a saying that it comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, in other words the weather at the beginning of the month is much worse than that at the end. This time though we had wonderfully warm sunny days at the beginning and lately the gales have been coming from the north and east, howling through the trees and bringing freezing temperatures with them. At last though my lawn is drying out and I can now do my self isolating exercise by walking round it 10 times! Thank goodness I have a garden though, I would hate to be someone without somewhere to get my fresh air.

Come for a wander with me, starting in the front by the drive. Bergenia Beethoven is flowering away and spreading a bit too far. Some parts can be moved into the woodland as soon as flowering is over.

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Blossom. Top 10 for March.

Posted on March 23, 2020 by Pauline

Having recently done a post about most of my perennials and bulbs that are flowering at the moment, I noticed the other day that blossom was starting to flower on some of my shrubs. It just so happened that ten of my shrubs were starting to flower, lucky coincidence! With lovely weather at the moment, it was ideal for a wander and taking photos. I feel I am so lucky having my garden to wander in while I’m self isolating, the sunny weather is a bonus, thank goodness it wasn’t while we had that awful rain!

Camellia flowers were the first ones that I noticed.

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Pauline

Let’s forget what is happening in the big wide world, just for a few moments. When wandering in the little woodland this morning, I realised that most of the narcissus were rapidly going over, but the one that was standing out was Narcissus St. Patrick’s Day, so let’s celebrate, he is on time for once!

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