My garden in March

In last month’s update from my garden there was the promise of colour, but it hadn’t yet materialised - well in March, it materialised with daffodils, blossom and the tulips making their mark. That wasn’t all though, and thankfully looking back you can see how much the garden has transformed in a month, with Spring taking its first tentative steps - thankfully!

These three terracotta pots have kept me busy over the month, with MOH quipping at one point that our daffodils probably had the most attention than any anywhere else, which is actually a fair comment. These egg yolk yellow daffodils were the first to flower, not surprisingly as they were the ones that got into earth in the autumn. The errant or curly wurly ones that I didn’t plant until the new year flowered much later, but they did flower and they brought their pale gentleness to the garden as they did.

You’ll have seen this photo before I’m sure, and I make no apologies for sharing it again as I really like it and it was the first time on ‘daffodil watch’ that I had flowers, the blue skies were an absolute plus too.

It was good to see the crab apple tree spring back into life too. I’d pruned it at the end of the summer last year, to reduce its size and give it a better shape and over the winter it acquired a bird feeder. Unfortunately the only birds that were interested were a couple of crows who were doing their utmost to get to the fatballs it holds. Not wanting to encourage the crows into my crab apples (there’s a lot of them here, with nests in the taller trees a few gardens away) I moved the bird feeder out of the tree and hung it on the wall, as we’ve nowhere else for it at the moment.

Watching the crows and their confusion on their next visit made me feel bad (briefly), but also they were quite comedic too - they haven’t found where I’ve hung it temporarily yet either, though we do still have a crow or two patrolling the grass every now and then.

In terms of blossom our small nectarine tree really put on a show. This plant came from dad and it’s our first year of seeing what it gets up to, and so far it’s going well! I repotted it in the autumn and as we want to eventually grow it in front of the wall on a more permanent basis, I’d pruned it so there was a central stem and two branches on each side with the intention of tying it to a cane support. I didn’t get around to that before winter, which given the wind and storms was probably a good thing, and its rewarded me with some early and very pretty blossom - I’m keen to see what it gets up to over the next few months now.

My tulips were also showing signs of promise early in the month, and are clearly happy in their new location - which while windy is also protected and of course they get the heat from the garage wall behind them. I love how they’re so very green when they’re at this stage.

Here’s the errant daffodils, some were quite tall in the end, but some of the others not so much!

They are much more delicate in their colouring though, and while they’re lovely I much prefer the egg yolk yellow sort!

Throughout the month the acer which we brought with us has come back to life too. It started with small buds, which gradually turned into these folded up leaves. It’s great to have the colour back by our back (front) door - and I think there’s more leaves than I remember in previous years.

Although I’d been keeping an eye on the tulips, they did take me by surprise and were suddenly in full flower. I think they too are enjoying the more open, and sunnier, garden and have come much earlier than they would usually in our previous garden. That gave me a headache though as my patio pots were still full of daffodils, but I didn’t want to miss out on these either.

I soon solved that conundrum by moving the tulips onto the patio and arranging, and rearranging, the daffodil pots in the large border so that we could see them from the house. I also learnt that our soil is saturated, I bought some snowdrops in the green and needed to plant them, but also needed to mix in some compost to the soil so that they stood a chance. Knowing this I was glad I put the daffodils in pots, but now I’m thinking I’ll keep them in pots and half dig them into the border - especially as know I’ve worked out the optimum spot for them all.

So a burst of colour this month - and aren’t the bold tulips against the lime green of the euphorbia just divine? I’m thinking I should pot up some of that euphorbia so I can bring that into the patio pots as a foil for the tulips next year - I know they spread when planted in borders, so maybe this could be a way to keep them more contained!

Other than these pots, we’ve still not been gardening proper this month thanks mostly to the weather - let’s hope April brings better weather and more opportunities to spend time outside in our new garden.

My garden in February

The weather in February has been just as dire and uninspiring as in January’s update, and I’ve not been tempted into the garden for anything more than taking some photos and moving some daffodils onto the patio so we don’t miss them flowering. But the good thing about our new garden is that we see a lot more of it from the house as every room pretty much has a vista over the garden and we walk through it every time we go out, so that alone brings plenty of opportunity to see what’s going on.

And in summary, that’s quite a bit for this month - hellebores, daffodils and even a few weeds!

Let’s start with the daffodils, they’ve come on so much.

AT THE START OF THE MONTH

Once I’d spotted that the new daffodils were peeking through the soil and gaining height, they became a regular waypoint on the way to the car, and by the middle of the month after being looked at a great deal the flower buds started to develop. Though I was still in for a long wait for further developments, but I can wait (mostly).

FLOWERS DEVELOPING MID-MONTH

BY THE END OF THE MONTH THEY WERE ALMOST THERE, ALMOST!

By the end of the month I was sure that flowering was imminent, and I didn’t want to miss it by leaving them alongside the garage and nestled against the wall where they’d spent the winter months. So despite being full of cold I moved them, arranged them and rearranged them several times to get them in prime position.

I’ve taken to growing my bulbs in smaller flower pots so that I can move them around and add them to some terracotta pots when they’re in bloom (or about to be) - that approach worked well for the tulips in our last garden and it’s something I’ve done for the first time with the daffodils we bought from the garden centre here in the autumn. I’m hoping it gives me the flexibility to have some colour on the patio without necessarily tying up pots for bulbs when they’re dormant, or have gone over.

The errant daffodils (which were the ones I was late to plant) have also been checked on, and they’re still errant but are still growing - they’ll be the crazy gang members of the daffodil world this year I’m sure!

Other plants which we brought with us (and haven’t potted out yet) are also doing well - the early flowering elephants ears did just that, and their burst of pastel pink among the shrubs, where I’d hidden the pots for protection over winter, was very welcome.

The euphorbias and tulips enjoyed bursts of February sunshine, almost appearing to dance with glee in the warmth - and quite honestly, I know how they felt. It was also good to see the geraniums which originally came from my FIL’s garden come back, I’m less keen to see the grass they seem to have acquired, but at least its still in a pot so should be relatively easy to resolve at some point.

The rhubarb is a bit of a star, already I can see some delicate red stems which glistened in the sun. It’s coping well with being in the pot, and sharing that with some lords and ladies, and I expect it will do even better when its planted out when the soil warms up a little. Though of course that means no cropping for a while, but I think it’ll be worth the wait.

The mahonias continue to look majestic and they’ve added some great structure to the flower bed over winter, their yellow flowers are no more but berries with a blueish tinge are starting to appear - I think there’s more to come from this new-to-me plant yet.

The red robin bushes have also been much welcomed during the greyer days, and they’ve held up well with their gorgeous red tips - as well as this one, there’s one in the outside border which makes me smile every time I drive in.

And remember that buddleia that brought so many butterflies to the garden last summer, and the one I was tempted to cut down and move slightly? Well I gave it a hard prune instead, and already it’s back and growing well - I shouldn’t have been quite so worried about it should I?! I’ve also removed many seedlings from the gravel, so it seems I was never going to be without one, which is absolutely fine by me.

I thought the deep maroon hellebore that we brought with us was a goner when I looked at it early in the month, it had lost most of its leaves and gained a lot of weeds, but I was pleased to be proven wrong as it’s given us the most beautiful deep coloured flowers as it usually does.

But this year it’s been joined by a hellebore in the border which is aiming to steal the show with its creamy green flowers which really does pop against the bark mulch. I’m hoping that both of them are happy enough to drop seeds which in turn are happy enough to develop into more plants!

And weeds, they’re starting. We’re seeing a lot more in the gravel now the sun’s making an appearance and so I’ve a feeling that one of our first gardening jobs of the year will be to remove as many as we can. I’m under no illusion, this is something that won’t be a one-time job, it’ll be the thing that becomes my life’s work in this garden, but looking on the positive side on the right day it can be quite mindful!

My garden in January

It’s been interesting to see what’s happened in our new garden this past month, as I said in December’s update I have more pictures than perhaps I’d normally have at this time of year. That’s because I’m keen to learn, record and share what the garden has in store for us. Though, it’s still January and it’s been pretty chilly, and wet and I only managed to get out into the gardening once, and that was on the penultimate day of the month!

But early in the month it was good to spot this colour from the hebe, the purple leaves as well as the vivid purple flowers - what a treat in what can be a pretty dreary month, and a month that’s not my favourite.

That said, the euphorbias we brought with us from our London garden seem happy enough. They are still contained in the pot they moved in, and I’m not sure yet where - or when - I’ll unleash them. They multiply a lot, and are already spreading in the pot, so I’ll need to remember that.

In December I finally got around to potting up some daffodils, and so it’s great to see them pushing their way through the soil. The ones I didn’t get around to planting also sprouted and have gone a little bit awry without the soil. They too have now been potted up, though I’ve needed to be gentle so they don’t break - I’m hopeful they will continue to grow, as they’ve been pretty resilient so far.

There’s plenty of plants in the border near the garage, and the elephant ears above are doing really well. When the weather, and ground, is a bit warmer I need to plant the elephant ears we brought with us alongside one of them which is doing less well.

One thing that’s quite different from our previous garden is the amount of bird visitors, we have far fewer here. In London we had robins, blue tits, great tits and plenty of pigeons, as well as a blackbird or two. Here, when we first moved in there were a couple of wagtails, and we’ve seen a robin occasionally. We’ve also seen a blackbird a couple of times, hanging around the crab apple tree no doubt looking for food.

The two days after the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch we had a crow visit around the same time of day, but nothing any more regular. In an attempt to look attractive to smaller birds, and encourage that robin we’ve bought a hanging bird feeder and filled that with fat balls. We need to get something that the blackbird will appreciate more though, and work out what that is, where to put it and how to make sure it’s only attractive to the intended species.

But we’ll work that out, though grateful for any advice you have.

The tulips from dad are also poking through the soil, and they’re also in pots so that I can move them into view from the house when they’re flowering. The ones we brought with us are also coming up and it’ll be great to see them again.

It’s good to see how the plants are growing, and I love the pale greeny pink dots that promise flowers to come.

And look how much those daffodils have grown in a month…

The mahonia has changed too, the bright yellow flowers are less prominent but in their place berries with a blueish tinge are starting to form, so it continues to be a plant to watch.

The fresh growth on the red robin tops are living up to their name, and look great as we look out the window. These were a plant on my wish list, so I’m really pleased it’s here already.

January is also the time of year when hellebores start to make their presence known - the one we brought with us, a deep, deep red which came from my FIL’s garden is showing signs of new growth which is a relief as it had looked pretty unwell beforehand. I also spotted that we have one planted, though I’m not sure why the leaves are tinged with grey/black, possibly its been affected by frost, I’m not sure. I don’t know what colour this one will be, but my guess is a greeny cream, though I could be completely wrong - I’ll let you know.

And finally, we have a new tree. It’s small, and has plenty of growing to do. Our council here offer up to two free ‘whips’ for residents, and while we already have five young trees in our new garden we took advantage of this offer with a single silver birch. I’ve put this into a pot to give it the best chance, as where I want to plant this needs a bit of prep work which we haven’t been able to do just yet, but soon hopefully.