Chionodoxa, Puschkinia, Crocus, swathes of forget-me-nots and of course, beautiful tulips have all shown their faces in the last few weeks. Kojo-no-mai, a waterfall of white, then as it fades to pink, an elegant contrast appears with the emergence of light green leaves.
This “no trouble” prunus takes up so little room with its neat dwarf habit then performs again in the autumn with good autumn colour for little more than an occasional watering and a feed just after flowering. I found another on the “reduced”
table at the local Blooms yesterday and grabbed it. All the flowers had gone but it had a good shape. I now have three, all in pots (all different sizes) in different parts of the garden so when flowering time comes again they will be on hand to lift the spirits.
The tree heath (Erica Arboria) has put on a show. It never misses and a second plant in the back garden has topped a six-foot trellis this year. The fruit trees are in good heart, but of course piles of blossom do not necessarily mean piles of apples in the autumn. I don’t spray my trees, I let the birds do most of the work, so naturally I have to accept some pest damage along the way (and “peck” damage too, but they were here before I was). There have been days when the air has been so still that the apple blossom scent, even in my small garden, has been quite heady, if you close your eyes you can imagine you are in an orchard in Evesham (I wish) although you do have to ignore the incessant rumble of the M4, but hey, nothings perfect!
Though I have lost a few plants over the winter, I think I can count myself reasonably fortunate that so many of my favourites have survived. I am a little concerned about the Gleditsia as it shows no sign of shooting yet, but it is always the last tree to come to life so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. If it has “gone home” then I must accept that, and I have a small Yew close by which to an extent can take its place but I’m not sure I want to do without that fabulous splash of yellow early in the year – we’ll see.
I’m trying to forget about voting this week, dear oh dear, what a melee – with austerity staring us in the face, I guess I’ll have to dust off my seed-saving and propagating skills again. Is it time to “dig for Britain” I wonder?? Well maybe with a bit of a twist; we gardeners could carry on digging until we reached Australia, as long as we dragged a fair sized hose-pipe behind us; we could at least make a cup of tea when we got there.
Chionodoxa, Puschkinia, Crocus, swathes of forget-me-nots and of course, beautiful tulips have all shown their faces in the last few weeks. Kojo-no-mai, a waterfall of white, then as it fades to pink, an elegant contrast appears with the emergence of light green leaves. 
This “no trouble” prunus takes up so little room with its neat dwarf habit then performs again in the autumn with good autumn colour for little more than an occasional watering and a feed just after flowering. I found another on the “reduced” 
table at the local Blooms yesterday and grabbed it. All the flowers had gone but it had a good shape. I now have three, all in pots (all different sizes) in different parts of the garden so when flowering time comes again they will be on hand to lift the spirits.
The tree heath (Erica Arboria) has put on a show. It never misses and a second plant in the back garden has topped a six-foot trellis this year. The fruit trees are in good heart, but of course piles of blossom do not necessarily mean piles of apples in the autumn. I don’t spray my trees, I let the birds do most of the work, so naturally I have to accept some pest damage along the way (and “peck” damage too, but they were here before I was). There have been days when the air has been so still that the apple blossom scent, even in my small garden, has been quite heady, if you close your eyes you can imagine you are in an orchard in Evesham (I wish) although you do have to ignore the incessant rumble of the M4, but hey, nothings perfect!
Though I have lost a few plants over the winter, I think I can count myself reasonably fortunate that so many of my favourites have survived. I am a little concerned about the Gleditsia as it shows no sign of shooting yet, but it is always the last tree to come to life so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. If it has “gone home” then I must accept that, and I have a small Yew close by which to an extent can take its place but I’m not sure I want to do without that fabulous splash of yellow early in the year – we’ll see.
I’m trying to forget about voting this week, dear oh dear, what a melee – with austerity staring us in the face, I guess I’ll have to dust off my seed-saving and propagating skills again. Is it time to “dig for Britain” I wonder?? Well maybe with a bit of a twist; we gardeners could carry on digging until we reached Australia, as long as we dragged a fair sized hose-pipe behind us; we could at least make a cup of tea when we got there.
1 comment:
Very good journey and experience!
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