April was the month that our garden really started growing after winter, or noticeably growing that is. We’ve still to catch up with it, but it’s entirely do-able, if we can coincide our free time with some weather that’s compatible with gardening. That wasn’t always the case in April, but May is looking a little more promising. Mentioning May, we’re most of the way through the month and yet here I am only just sharing my garden in April.
As you can see it was a lush time. The sweet peas are a metre high, and the ivy is growing almost in front of your eyes. Ivy especially is something that can always be cut back in our garden, and cut back more than once a year as it goes for us.
As you can see the agapanthus had yet to be uncovered, but the parsley had overwintered well. It’s since in the process of going to seed, but I’ve harvested plenty from what was a small plant. Now it seems I’ll be trying to germinate a new plant, which if you remember isn’t my forte.
The sun did make appearances in April, and my Gertrude Jekyll rose is starting to grow, the reddish leaves venturing up the fence.
The yellow pom pom plant - or kerria - which has grown and developed from the shoots that popped through the fence, are just about done, but they’ve given a good show and lit up quite a green section of our garden for quite a while.
Elsewhere though there’s reminders that there’s still much to be done. Grass growing on the shed roof, is one of those, as is the moss on the greenhouse. I know that green roofs are a thing, sadly I’m not sure this is quite the look we should be going for.
We did tackle the forsythia, as you may remember from one of my weekly updates. For the first time taking precautions with the yucca below, we must have had an inkling of what was to come with MOH toppling off the ladder after overstretching just a little too far. There’s good news though, while we lost the most upright branch of the yucca, there’s signs of new life there so all is well - and the rest of the plant, although a little lopsided, is still going strong. The forsythia which we gave quite a severe chop, has after a worrying period, started to show shoots, so we both were quite relieved about that.
It’s been interesting looking back at these photos, as this sage-like-but-not-sage plant which I can rarely remember the name for has developed in the past month, they’re not in flower yet, but it won’t be long before it’s full of yellow blooms. And yes, that is a chocolate wrapper in the top right of the photo, I hope courtesy of the local foxes, rather than our neighbours children (although some quite large stones appeared in our garden last year - the decorative sort - so I can’t be sure).
The cherry blossom was full on, we have white blossom rather than the more often photographed pink blossom of Greenwich Park. We did seem to have quite a lot of blossom, so I’m hopeful that the amount of blossom equates to the number of cherries we can harvest in a month or so.
Over winter I ‘hide’ or store our terracotta pots in places that are less likely to be hit by frost, and one of these places is behind our gabion seating area. I’d kept meaning to check how the triangular planting camomile was coming along, and when I peeked into the space I was quite surprised - but pleased - to see a geranium already in flower.
I was less surprised to see that the forget-me-knot march had made it this far. They are pretty flowers, but we have them in droves, which can be a bit tiring and so they too, after a while, are pulled out without question.
The lilac - also white, I’m not sure what it is about our garden and white flowers - has also been flowering, and the blue skies, green leaves and white flowers are quite striking.
So in a couple of words, April in our garden was green and lush. We’re hoping to spend some time in the garden this weekend to try and tame it a little more, we’re later starting than usual, so wish us luck!