Sunday 30 March 2014

Spring breaking out all over!

Visiting London and searching for signs of spring in the city this weekend.


Silver Birches in the sun at the Tate Modern...


...pretty Prunus at St Pauls...


...and a mystery plant in Tottenham. Any ideas anyone?


Thursday 27 March 2014

11 Brunnera

We're up to number 11 in the 'Flowering in my garden' series already, and the number of things to choose from is growing every day. The challenge is changing from searching for something that is flowering, to choosing the best of the bunch!

Number 11 is  another member of the Borage family, Brunnera macrophylla, and this one is 'Jack Frost'.


Brunnera have beautiful, blue, forget-me-not like, bright blue flowers in March and heart shaped silver leaves edged and veined with green, which provide great ground cover all year round.


It likes dappled shade, and under deciduous trees and shrubs is ideal. They like it cool and damp, and they retain their leaf colour best in shade. They can withstand a bit of dryness once established, but can get scorched and tatty looking. 


If the foliage does become tired over the summer it can be removed in the autumn and will renew in time for the early spring, but I have never needed to cut mine back - it just carries on looking lovely all year!



I have lots of lovely bunches of tightly closed pinky buds just waiting to burst forth.


And this year there is a bonus - I have a couple of little seedlings coming up, easy to spot with their silvery leaves. Now all I have to do is fend off marauding slugs and my patch of Brunnera will grow and grow.


If you don't want to wait for seedlings, then you can divide plants in the autumn or early spring just like the Pulmonaria that was at number 10.


Brunnera variants include 'Starry Eyes' with blue and white flowers and 'Betty Bowring' with white. Leaf patterns also vary from solid green to solid silver. 'Hadspen Cream'  has creamy edges to the leaves and 'Looking Glass' is almost totally silver come summer.


Yet again, having researched the plant for my post, now I want a whole lot more of them! 
That wish list of mine is going to be totally unmanageable in no time (AGAIN!).

Thursday 20 March 2014

Working hard?

Well the rain is back, the temperature has dropped and the wind has got up. Obviously today was the perfect day to measure up for a new garden project (more of that anon)! 
Anyway whilst enjoying a planning meeting for this new project earlier in the week, Jayne and I found what we think might have to be Daisy's signature plant!


What do you mean we're not taking this job seriously enough!

Tuesday 18 March 2014

10 Pulmonaria

Number 10 in the 'Flowering in my garden' series is the little workhorse Pulmonaria or lungwort.


Very attractive to bees as you can see, and with flowers that open pink and then turn blue in jolly clusters, bobbing above beautiful variegated leaves there is nothing not to like. Added to that they are happy in the less salubrious areas of your garden, flourishing in semi or even full shade. So long as they don't dry out they are fine.

     



As well as the flowers, which appear  from late winter, Pulmonaria has glorious clusters of the furriest buds, nestling in rosettes of pretty speckled leaves. This furriness betrays the fact that it is from the same family as Borage which also has downy leaves and buds. The leaves are at their best throughout the summer when the striking markings show best. Old leaves are best removed after flowering, but with a bit of trimming the Pulmonaria in my garden looks good all year round.



The variants available are endless, and if you have different variants in your garden you are likely to get crosses, they are quite promiscuous! Flowers come in all shades of pink, blue, and purple and there is a white variant which is a little more refined. Leaf markings and shapes are equally varied from broad and speckled, streaked, edged, right through to narrow and silver, something for everyone!



And when the clumps become too congested or too large then you can divide them either in the autumn, which is what I do, or apparently after flowering in the late spring. My original two small plants came from my Mum (like so many of my plants!) and in four years that has increased to six. This year I think I might try a white one, perhaps Sissinghurst white or possibly a a pale blue Opal, or perhaps I shall just browse for something lovely - I do like a browse!



Friday 14 March 2014

Couldn't resist!

Yesterday was too beautiful for meetings, but sometimes needs must. So on the way home I stopped off at the local garden centre for some fertiliser to use at the weekend, but also so I could wander round in the sun looking at plants. As I pulled up I was greeted by a display of Daffodils, which I couldn't resist photographing and sharing. I apologise if this happens a lot but they are just gorgeous!







Still waiting for the new Daffodils in my garden - they're almost out, just another couple of warm days...

Thursday 13 March 2014

09 Berberis darwinii

'Flowering in my garden' this week was a bit of a surprise. Last time I looked my Berberis darwinii had tightly clenched dots of buds and looked far from ready to bloom. What a difference a couple of sunny days makes! Suddenly there are tumbling clusters of fiery orange flowers, streaked with red and held on pink stems. Against the dark, shiny leaves and the bright, bright blue of the sky the effect was stunning.


According to the RHS the Berberis Darwinii flowers in mid-late spring, but it is usually earlier here in Cornwall, and after the mildest of winters it's not surprising it's enthusiastic to get going. 


The leaves are small, evergreen and look like mini Holly leaves but are not quite as prickly.
In autumn some of the leaves redden and add interest alongside the bluish-purple berries that festoon the bush. 


It's an upright, fast growing shrub that originates in southern Chile and Argentina and is great for filling a difficult spot in the garden. It isn't choosy about it's position as long as it gets some sun, it's fully hardy, but it does need some space to spread out. Vigorous and easy-to-grow, it often flowers again in autumn, making it great value. And if it gets too big and sprawly, cut it back in autumn or winter, after the berries appear.


I inherited my Berberis when we moved into the house. The garden was neglected and overgrown, and it was hacked back mercilessly and battered about whilst being stripped of brambles and other weeds. But 5 years later it is a 8ft bushy, healthy shrub (and I have to admit I've largely ignored it in the interim) which brightens up the corner next to the compost bins.



And on a bright sunny day it introduces a touch of tropical orange zest to my garden, a promise of the blazing summer colours to come!

NB. Notice I didn't say the blazing summer to come - I thought that might just be pushing my luck too far! Fingers crossed though.


Monday 10 March 2014

A lovely sunny weekend!

You are looking at a very happy gardener! I know you're not actually looking at me (unless the rumours from the conspiracy theorists are true) but you know what I mean. Over last week my seed orders started to roll in, flowers, veg and herbs, so the excitement started to rise...


...then my snowdrops appeared and finally my random Dahlia!


Now I fully expected the weather to get even worse in honour of their arrival, but no - we had the most glorious weekend weather and the family decided that they just wanted to chill out. 
So obviously I high-tailed it into the garden sharpish, before anyone could change their mind. 

And this is what greeted me.


That's blue sky that is! And it stayed all weekend!


And in honour of the long awaited sunshine lots of things were rushing into flower, Daffodils, Crocus, Primroses, Geraniums, Grape Hyacinths - colour everywhere. But this Berberis darwinii was so stunning against the blue that I promoted it to 09 in my 'Flowering in my garden' series (to follow soon). Was it the plant I was most impressed by, or was it the blue sky? Hard to say, but what a stunning combination.

So, the snowdrops are in, the veg bed is dug over along with the hot side of the garden and both are top dressed and fed. I have an empty compost bin to start refilling and space to plant my newly grown seedlings (not that I actually got round to sowing any seeds)! I also sorted out the green house (a small plastic shelf unit with a cover) and discovered that all my cuttings have survived and grown massively. Not sure that I actually wanted 12 Osteospermum, but better have too many than none at all, which is what I expected.

According to the weather boffins, the good weather is set to continue, and certainly today was also glorious after a dull start. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about next weekend - it seems so unlikely that we'll have another weekend like the last one - but we can hope and keep our fingers crossed!


Monday 3 March 2014

08 Periwinkle

My lovely Periwinkle has been flowering all over the winter due to the mild weather, but this last couple of weeks it has really burst forth. This Periwinkle or Vinca Minor is in a pot on top of a rather unattractive brick pillar in front of my house, and is a common blue variety with neat green leaves mixed with a blue flowered variegated leaved strain.


Being on a pillar showcases the long pink stalks of regularly spaced leaves that pour down over the sides of the pot, and the mixture of plain and patterned leaves create a lovely movement and shine gloriously in the rain.


    

The flowers are a simple propeller shape with a pretty starry centre and the furled buds shoot up from amongst the new growth.




Vinca Minor is a mat forming hardy shrub that can be invasive. It flowers best in full sun, but is useful in any position as ground cover and thrives in anything but the driest of soils. There are white, blue and purple flowered variants available, I have a pot of white covering the water butt at the back of the house, but it seems to flower much less freely (maybe because I forget to water it!) Ideally you prune Vincas in the spring to encourage a good summer flowering, but when they flower as consistently as this year it's a bit difficult. So I'll wait until it pauses between one flowering and the next and give it a hair cut. That usually means it shoots from the base again and starts to flower all over again! Flowers also appear all along the long fronds, and these fronds often root themselves and colonise more of your garden, so keep track of where it's going unless you are happy for it to spread liberally!

Vinca Major is also gorgeous, this is some in Jayne's garden


 As the name suggests it's bigger and needs more space. It's equally enthusiastic, even hardier and will rampage around the place if left alone. However if you have a corner or bank that needs covering or a space to fill, then it is great value for money and looks beautiful almost all year round. 

Right, I'm off to trim and split my white Periwinkle so I can cover both water butts. With a bit of extra space, and a good feed- let's see if I can encourage that one to flower too!