The garden is absolutely sparkling in the May sunshine. Everywhere you look plants are growing so well, possibly the best the garden has ever looked at this time of year. Plantings are now starting to mature and fill their spaces, meaning that from a distance weeds are barely visible. Plenty there but only to be found on close inspection! The pink Clematis Montana growing on a pergola is looking stunning, and who knew that the flowers had a perfume? It’s something I’ve only become aware of this spring. The rose in the large terracotta pot by the clematis is ‘Desdemona’, a white English Rose which is growing well and now in flower too.
In the orchard the fruit trees have been absolutely laden with beautiful blossom, and have never looked prettier. Looks like we will have a good crop of apples in the autumn.
Wildlife in the garden is important to us and having had a pair of Mandarin ducks visit on several occasions we were thrilled to discover they had a nest in a hollow tree close to the house. What a cosy spot to choose. A couple of weeks ago four Mandarin drakes visited and spent around half an hour waddling round the garden, what a lovely sight but the dogs were frustrated at having to wait a while for their walk! This week we caught sight of mother duck waddling along the hedgerow with around 6 ducklings following behind. What a treat, and we nearly missed seeing them. Let’s hope they enjoyed our hospitality and will return next year.
Tales from a Country Garden 
How exciting having Mandarin ducklings! I know what you mean about the garden. Everything seems to have caught up and is flowering together. We have Siberian irises, bearded irises, tulips and even one daffodil and everything is bobbing with delicately coloured aquilegia. You should open your garden!
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Favourite flower last week allium, this week bearded iris, next week peonies maybe as long as this drop of rain doesn’t knock them over. Mandarin ducks gorgeous, so much smaller than mallards hence they fit in the hollow tree! So shy though almost impossible to get a photo, just a very fuzzy mobile phone photo was achieved. Hope your garden opening goes well this weekend, as for us – watch this space, maybe!!
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I hope they successfully rear the ducklings.
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Duckling update – mother and ducklings successfully left the garden, hopefully they all made it across the field to the river. Real treat one morning before they hatched was the sight of four mandarin drakes waddling around the garden, presumably checking on progress.
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