End of month view for April
Slightly belatedly, here is my end of month view for the coldest, wettest April I can remember!
All the ground in the side garden has filled up with foliage, day lillies, peonies, hardy geraniums, jostling with euphorbia and hellebores, these last still flowering away although the flowers are slowly turning to a pale, creamy green. The colour here is mainly from tulips. These are Hermitage, a new favourite.
Out in the field the little orchard is beginning to come into blossom and tiny tulipa linifolia is showing through the lengthening grass.
The apple blossom is in flower.
The peas are out in the vegetable beds.
The new native hedges are thickening up and beginning to deter dogs and small boys from crashing through.
The annual meadow is sown, fenced off from said dogs and small boys, but seems to be growing mainly scruffy bits of grass. Sigh.
There are bluebells in the hedge bottoms, as always lovelier than anything I can create.
The new crab apple (Red Sentinel) which has replaced the little quince tree which gave up the ghost over the winter is beginning to settle down.
In the kitchen garden I am getting close to admitting that the hellebore might need some rationalisation. By this I mean that cheerfully letting it self seed might be producing a kitchen garden which grows mainly hellebores, not the general meaning of the term.
All the ground in the side garden has filled up with foliage, day lillies, peonies, hardy geraniums, jostling with euphorbia and hellebores, these last still flowering away although the flowers are slowly turning to a pale, creamy green. The colour here is mainly from tulips. These are Hermitage, a new favourite.
Out in the field the little orchard is beginning to come into blossom and tiny tulipa linifolia is showing through the lengthening grass.
The apple blossom is in flower.
The peas are out in the vegetable beds.
The new native hedges are thickening up and beginning to deter dogs and small boys from crashing through.
The annual meadow is sown, fenced off from said dogs and small boys, but seems to be growing mainly scruffy bits of grass. Sigh.
There are bluebells in the hedge bottoms, as always lovelier than anything I can create.
The new crab apple (Red Sentinel) which has replaced the little quince tree which gave up the ghost over the winter is beginning to settle down.
In the kitchen garden I am getting close to admitting that the hellebore might need some rationalisation. By this I mean that cheerfully letting it self seed might be producing a kitchen garden which grows mainly hellebores, not the general meaning of the term.
Looking gorgeous - it has that wonderful spring verdant glow about everything. You can almost feel them bursting to grow.
ReplyDeleteThe native hedges are really coming along - hope to see them again one day
This is the first year the hedges have looked like hedges Zoe! Hope you will be able to see all of it!
DeleteI wish my garden looked as good as yours! I have forty shades of green and a great many weeds but not much else at the moment.
ReplyDeleteTulips for me really are the answer to the colour thing in April/May. There are loads of things waiting in the wings but it is only tulips which are shouting out right now!
DeleteWhat lovely gardens you have...you must spend most of your time in them. I love the perennial garden and the almost subdued colourings broken by the tulips almost brazen colour. I feel sooooo envious! Joan
ReplyDeleteI always feel I should make it very clear that the camera does indeed lie! In lots of ways it is very beautiful, yes, but if I had panned a bit left in the kitchen garden photo for example you would have seen North Wales's largest collection of dandelions growing by the greenhouse!
DeleteI love these monthly views of your garden and find inspiration in your hillside greenhouse and raised beds. I spent all of yesterday weeding and today have the aching knees and hands to show for it - but no pesticides were used, and that pleases me. I, too, have a rampant hellebore problem. I think I'm going to have to rationalise them too...please send details! :)
ReplyDeleteI love hellebores, that is the problem! Mine don't transplant well so I have allowed too many to selfseed and stay put. I think I shall just have to be more ruthless.
DeleteAll looking very lovely :D Especially the crab apple, one of my favourite fruit trees.
ReplyDeleteWe had to cut one down to make way for our new barn. It wasn't the most beautiful specimen but I feel better about that, having replaced it with two new ones!
DeleteGive the meadow time, but otherwise I remember you muttering about your garden ... now it really does look as if The Garden has arrived!
ReplyDeleteIt is coming together in some places but a work in progress in others!
DeleteAll your hard work has definitely paid off - your garden looks wonderful. It is so nice to see a spring garden as we head to winter.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to remember that you are about to turn to winter down in NZ! I am glad we have our spring up here although I wish it would arrive with a bit more conviction.
DeleteIt's lovely, Elizabeth. I never have enough tulips either. Daffodils are earlier but somehow the tulips are what my eye craves.
ReplyDeleteI love daffodils and have loads and they entrance me in early spring but the zing of tulips is something else entirely!
DeleteYour gardens are lovely, and I think there might still be time for the annuals...I hope so anyway! I have some bluebells which take care of themselves (a big plus when I am caring for plants) but they aren't blooming yet. Lovely photos!
ReplyDeleteI love bluebells and we have some in the bottom of the hedges. Hard to have too many!
DeleteBeautiful if cold and wet. I think this is a record for The Netherlands, too. Coming home from Texas and bringing my new summer clothes was a mistake. I am wearing my warmest winter ones this month. But, the flowers thrive no matter what. xo Jenny
ReplyDeleteWe had a few glorious warm weeks in March but now I am back to my fleeces outside. Enough! Enough!
DeleteAnother beautiful 'tour d'horizon' around your garden. And it's not only in April that the rain is falling.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. Still you have the new arrival in your family for some pretty major distraction!
DeleteIt all looks fab though I think your hellebores need relocating if only to make way for some more mint. I did laugh when you said that the native hedge was now thickening up enough to keep out small boys and dogs
ReplyDeleteLets hope May's weather is better
I could set aside yet another bed for scented mints but that might be pushing it!
DeleteLOVELY PICS:)so much spring..... I really like your blog and I will happily follow.
ReplyDeleteIf you want some swedish decor inspiration, you can check out my blog:)
Have a great week.
LOVE Maria at inredningsvis.se
(Sweden)
Thanks for your comment. Lovely to see your spring colours too.
DeleteOne of my favorite parts of your garden is the unfinished bits... I love potential. I love knowing there is room for more plants, more plans, more growing, more surprises! Going to estates is all fine and dandy, with everything trimmed and perfect for ages, but I'd rather have an unfinished garden any day... it's so much fun looking to the future with you! 8-)
ReplyDeleteWe have potential by the bucket load up here! In one or two places we also have some plants.
DeleteIt all looks lovely. I never cease to be amazed at how resiliant plants are, after all the awful weather they still bloom and look beautiful.
ReplyDeletePlants do rise again don't they? My tulips were close to flattened by wind and rain a few days ago and are standing tall again!
DeleteElizabeth, it's so odd to think that the weather at the end of March was warmer than it is right now. I plan to have a walk over in Central Park in a day or so to see what might still be blooming. Hellebores are so, so beautiful. I encourage you to encourage them in your garden.
ReplyDeleteTulips are magnificent, with so many sizes, shapes, textures and colors! Daffs are fine for early reassurance that spring will spring, but tulips are the color artists!
I know that I had some more profound comment in mind when I started typing this comment, but ... thinking about tulips has banished those words. xo
Another hellebore fan! I love them too.
DeleteHello Elizabeth. I stumbled upon your blog while looking at gardening sites. I went back through the archives, started at the beginning, and am now up to date. I really have enjoyed the journey and seeing the growth of your gardens, borders and chickens! I have a question regarding growing tulips in pots. Do you simply pot them up in the fall and leave them out in the weather? what are your typical low temps in winter? I would love to have some in pots, but don't have the room nor inclination to refrigerate them for the winter months. Keep the lovely photos and writing coming.
ReplyDeleteHI and welcome to the blog! I pot them up in November. You can even leave it to December here but it is better not to make it too early as tulips are more vulnerable to a disease called tulip fire when planted early. They don't need to be kept under cover. I just leave them outside all winter. Our lowest temperature in the last couple of winters was -17C and this didn't cause any problems. Go for it! They are really very easy!
DeleteIt looks really beautiful. I love your garden! In Sweden the spting is a bit slower :)
ReplyDeleteYesterday felt like spring again but today we are back to rain and have the woodburner going again!
DeleteAWESOME POST:) I thank you for sweet words on my blog and I hope you follow me along:)
ReplyDeleteIf you like chocolate..check out my new post:)
have a great week.
LOVE Maria at inredningsvis
Ah yes, well I love chocolate!
DeleteIt's SO cold here, our vegetable plot sees a few brave potato shoots wondering whether to go any further, the apple blossom is clinging on in the face of a chilly wind and we daren't plant out any seedling from the greenhouse!
ReplyDeleteI planted out my sweetpeas a couple of weeks ago and they have shivered quite a bit since then. I am pretty sure they will survive!
Delete