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Another month nearly over, time passing too quickly. It’s easy to get too obsessed by the weather, but at this time of year it’s hard not to worry about it being too dry, too cold, too windy. In fact we’re basically experiencing normal spring weather, but there does seem to be a lack of ‘April Showers’. Warmer days are most welcome though, being able to garden with fewer warm layers of clothing is quite a treat. Not so welcome were the frosts of a couple of weeks ago. We ran outside one evening protecting everything in the greenhouse with horticultural fleece, same with the vegetable patch and Acer trees were tucked up under a nice blue tarpaulin. All that was covered survived unscathed, not so the Wisteria. Sadly most of the buds have been desiccated by a particularly sharp frost, although there are just a few flowers that have survived in the corner of the South and West house walls, obviously more protected than the rest.

We love having the space to plant trees and are currently enjoying blossom on the various Crab apples around the garden. Malus Princeton Cardinal is always the first to flower and has been completely smothered in deep pink, fragrant blossom. This is an ornamental tree so the fruits are of no benefit to us, however the birds will enjoy them later on in the year. On the opposite side of the orchard we have several other Crab apples whose fruits can be used in the kitchen to make jelly. Probably the best of all is Malus Gorgeous that certainly lives up to its name, it is covered in beautiful white scented blossom, managing to time its flowering to miss the frosts (so far). We also have Malus John Downie another culinary variety, again with white scented blossom.

The hedge around the orchard is a mix of native species, some beech and two or three Prunus trees. The hawthorn is forming buds which will very shortly burst open and the beech leaves are just starting to unfurl.

There are still many spring bulbs brightening up the garden. Tulips in the circular bed in the drive have been stunning. I may have got carried away with the tulip order and ran out of pots in which to plant them, so glad I did. I’ve planted around 200 bulbs close together in an arc inside the yew hedging and they have really proved their worth, I’m so pleased too with the wallflowers which for the first time ever I’ve grown myself from seed. I’d given up on buying wallflower plants from either garden centres or the farm shop as they never seemed to grow well. The answer has been to grow from seed, so easy and they just needed a small area in the vegetable garden to grow on before transplanting to their final positions last autumn. Overlapping with the tulips are some slightly later varieties of daffodil. Narcissus Thalia has a lovely white flower and seems to flower for a good length of time. There is also a lovely clump of a variety whose name I’ve managed to lose in between planting last autumn and now! The name is immaterial, they look lovely!

As I look around the garden there is so much now in bud just waiting its turn. The very first Iris blooms are out with many more varieties in bud. Alliums are another bulb whose flowers are eagerly awaited, they’re so nearly out. The garden is at that point in the year when if you blink you miss something, so a leisurely look around each day is absolutely necessary.

We’ve reached the Vernal Equinox, marking the proper start of Spring. Much longed for by most gardeners I’m sure. A quick look at the weather forecast for the next week is indicating bright sunshine and warm temperatures a combination that will make everything in the garden grow, including the weeds! What I look forward to most at this time of year though is the lengthening daylight hours, maybe not quite time in the evenings yet to go for a walk or do much in the garden but it won’t be long!

I’m covering all the plants in the greenhouse with horticultural fleece at night still just in case the temperatures dip lower than expected and in fact this seems to have been a sensible precaution all week as there has been a very slight frost most mornings.

All around the garden buds are swelling and we are now well into daffodil time with some tulips flowering too. Tulip Purissima is flowering in containers and also in the garden. It seems it is more reliably perennial than many tulips. We had it growing in containers last spring and after flowering I immediately planted them deeply in the garden, I’m so pleased to see these growing strongly and flowering. A truly beautiful tulip which is pale creamy white in colour.

Magnolia stellata is flowering and luckily in a fairly sheltered spot so hasn’t been affected by the recent slight frosts. A deep pink magnolia soulangeana has also opened its first blooms, I don’t know the variety as it was here when we moved in but since removing a tree that was shading it this shrub has grown so well and is a real asset in the garden.

Ornamental cherries are starting to flower, Prunus kojo-no-mai is a beautiful shrub with small white flowers and has been flowering for a week or so. The larger Prunus are also just starting to open their blooms. Prunus Shirotae in the back garden is a beautiful tree that we planted in 2008 soon after we moved in. It has white semi-double blossom that is absolutely beautiful, the only downside being pigeons that are currently doing their best to peck all the blossom off!

Tulip Purissima

It’s been a wild and windy few days in the garden with three named storms in quick succession, followed by major flooding in the County. We’ve been fortunate and so far have escaped any damage to the garden. As we head towards the end of February though it’s clear that Spring isn’t too far away. It’s lovely to have extra daylight hours each end of the day now, even if some days it’s been too wet and windy to actually work in the garden.

A wander around the garden shows that many plants are now starting to grow. I’ve been finishing pruning the roses and am happy to see strong new growth on all the bushes. Three roses have been growing in large terracotta pots for a few years but last autumn I decided that it was time to plant them into the ground. I’m pleased to see that all three are looking happy in their new positions with plenty of buds. Now that I’ve cut back the dead top growth on herbaceous perennials I can see that many are starting to grow. Before getting too excited about what’s to come in the garden though, there are plenty of plants to enjoy right now.

Snowdrops have been flowering for a few weeks, and even better they are really starting to spread around the area where we originally planted them. The hope was for drifts of them under the trees to the side of the house, and this is certainly starting to happen. They are mixed in with crocus and cyclamen coum, both plants that will self seed freely if they are happy with their growing conditions. The first daffodils are just starting to flower, sadly I can’t remember their names but that doesn’t really matter! This area of the garden that we refer to as The Spring Garden is also where I’ve planted most of the hellebores. These are all Helleborus orientalis hybrids from Ashwood Nurseries, they are lovely strong plants in such a good selection of colours. In fact they should be good – I spent ages carefully selecting each one! There’s a lovely mix of colours from pure white through to almost black, singles and doubles. They self seed too and although there is a danger that the resulting flowers will not be as good as the parents, so far we are lucky and still have good clear colours.

The greenhouse is the place to retreat to on colder days and is starting to fill up with trays of seedlings with plenty more to sow. I think I will soon run out of space, but will work that out another day!

Time to make plans for the new gardening year although in reality I’ve been planning for this gardening year since the end of last summer. Not plans on paper, just plans in my head, ideas to try and make the garden look better this year.

The beds and borders obviously evolve over time. Plants that I put in all in a rush when we moved here have either outgrown their space or even died. How dare they! After fifteen years here I think we are now able to make sensible decisions about what to plant and where. We know the garden well, where the frost pockets are, the areas that bake in the sun in summer and those that see little light in the winter. Time now to tidy up the planting and look forward.

Seeds have been ordered and even better, have arrived in the post. I need to sit and make a seed sowing list and not be tempted into sowing too early. I’ll learn by my mistakes, be patient and wait a while. Seeds sown too soon turn into struggling seedlings, prone to damping off which inevitably leads to disappointment and having to start all over again. For now I will clean out the heated propagator and set it up in the utility room and make sure I’ve washed a quantity of small pots and seed trays in readiness.

Despite frosty and foggy days at the moment the garden is starting to come back into life. The first snowdrops are flowering, always the same patch that is first, I believe them to be Galanthus S. Arnott. Narcissus are starting to grow, there is a patch in the orchard underneath the willow tree that are always the first to flower and sure enough they are showing a few buds already. On odd days when the sun has broken through it really lights up the hazel catkins and Dogwoods (Cornus Westonbirt) in the orchard. One of the most rewarding shrubs at the moment is Viburnum bodnantense Dawn which is covered in beautiful pink fragrant blooms. It’s planted near the gate so I pass it every morning as I set out to walk the dogs, on all but the coldest days its fragrance is so strong. Mahonia is also flowering, the yellow flowers having a lily of the valley fragrance. On warmer days honey bees have already been foraging on this shrub. Shrubs that flower at this time of year are so worthwhile, not only for us to enjoy but also for the bees.

The ground may be too frozen at the moment for me to start on weeding the borders but there is always something that can be done outside. We’ve cut back the willow that surrounds the vegetable garden, carefully stacking all the stems ready for use. Some has been used to weave a short run of fence in the back garden at a spot where the hedge is a little thin. I’ve also woven a couple of plant supports which will be used for the sweet peas.

Already Autumn! How did that happen?

It’s been a busy year in the garden, the first six months of the year were completely taken up with preparing for our National Garden Scheme open day then after the gate was closed we breathed a huge sigh of relief before quickly starting more work.

Somehow you just know that when a digger arrives in the garden for a week there is going to be serious hard work in store. Obviously made easier with a digger! We’ve dug up an unproductive raspberry patch and relocated the compost heaps into the orchard. The chainsaw was then sharpened and the top taken out of a large sprawling yew tree. This is such an improvement, letting more light into the back garden. Small branches have been shredded,a large hired shredder making short work of it all, and useful timber logged and stored to season. A silver birch was also felled and together with a few small conifers the stump and roots were removed. Following all this we were left with a huge area which needed to be flattened and built up then flattened again to enable foundations to be put in for a shed. A scruffy lilac tree by the gate has been dug out and the metal fence taken down and straightened before going back up.

In place of the raspberry patch we used the digger to spread all the useable compost from the heaps and flatten it out to make a new shrubbery area. As if all that wasn’t enough while we still had the digger we took the decision to lift some turf to create a new flower bed to the side of the house. It was a busy week, no time to stop and stare. Things have moved on and we are now the proud owners of a robust shed and the fun bit, the planting has started. Still a little more to do, a beech hedge is to be planted between the garden and orchard to partially screen the compost heaps, and act as a windbreak. Hedging plants are ordered and due to be collected in a few weeks time. I can’t wait to get them in, a trench has been dug in readiness so it will be an enjoyable job.

Much of this work took place during the latter part of summer and so here we are in the autumn and the garden looks just a little as though it has been abandoned. Obviously it hasn’t been, but there has been precious little time for weeding or cutting back over the last few months. I decided that there was little point in fussing too much over weeds when such major work had to be carried out so for now I’m content to leave the borders alone and once everything has died down then I will start again with cutting back and mulching all the beds with homemade compost.

There might be a slightly dishevelled look to the garden at the moment but that is more than made up for by the beautiful autumn colours this year. So many shades of brown and yellow, the garden is taking on a golden hue. Even better, the leaf colour seems to be lasting for much longer this year. My favourite tree or shrub changes on a daily basis but some favourites have been Katsura japonica for its lovely candyfloss scent, the beech hedges that surround the garden and Acer callipes, the snakebark maple. The latter having the most beautifully shaped leaves which turn all shades of brown, orange and red.

A selection of views of the autumn garden.

Blink and you’ll miss it!

We’ve planted many trees since moving here, trying to plant sensibly for as much interest as possible from each tree. Spring blossom is important as is bark texture and obviously autumn colour. At this time of year though we are on tenterhooks hoping that the bitterly cold wind and frost will leave the blossom untouched. So far so good though and as we head into May most of the ornamental blossom has been unscathed by adverse weather. If anything we have had a better display than ever from many of the trees. The Amelanchier blossom is normally very fleeting but this year it lasted a little longer, although as ever I find it very hard to take a decent photograph of it!

Cherry blossom has been stunning as ever, in particular Prunus Shirotae which was one of the first trees we planted when we moved here. What a good choice! It is a spreading tree with the most beautiful white semi-double flowers. Always eagerly anticipated and enjoyed whilst in flower. In fact as the flowers drop the petals look rather lovely on the lawn. Maybe not so good when it sticks to the dogs’ fur and is then brought into the house, but then you can’t have everything!

My favourites at the moment though are the crab apples. Malus Princeton Cardinal is an ornamental crab and absolutely stunning. It has been in flower for weeks, looks wonderful, has a great scent and is full of bees. On the other side of the orchard are three culinary crab apples. We have Malus Profusion, Malus John Downie and Malus Gorgeous. The blossom on each is slightly different in colour with John Downie being completely white and the other two tinged with pink. All are scented and full of bees. The other apple trees are so far in tight bud and given the cold windy weather at the moment it’s probably just as well. Hopefully this year we will have a decent crop.

Wisteria growing along the South/West house walls is just coming into bloom. I’m relieved we have flowers as I took charge of pruning it again in January, I seem to have got the hang of pruning for flowers! At the moment though the very chilly weather seems to be holding it back, although plenty of flowers are out it isn’t quite as abundant as usual.

April was a very dry month here but now we’ve had a decent amount of rain, the waterbutts are filling up and I’m looking forward to a bit more warmth and sunshine and the flower beds bursting into life.

We seem to be having a ‘proper winter’ after many years of mild winters. The temperature overnight was down to minus 4c which is by no means the coldest we have ever experienced here, but add on the wind chill factor and all in all it’s pretty cold out there. This gardener doesn’t get deterred by that much in the way of weather, but generally extremes of temperature are what keep me inside, so this week has been a bit of a non-gardening week. Other than a brisk walk with the dogs first thing each morning and feeding the chickens each end of the day I’ve not really done anything in the garden other than attending to the greenhouse and placing horticultural fleece over overwintering pelargoniums each night. In truth the ground is absolutely rock solid so there is a limit to what could be achieved.

However it’s seed sowing time! That can be achieved inside, the propagator is set up in the utility room and I’ve got a supply of pots and trays washed, and a bucket of seed sowing compost also inside so I can do my gardening indoors! I’ve spent some time organising my seeds, both vegetable and flowers, into month order of sowing. Many years I find time just runs away from me, I get left behind and end up forgetting to sow so many seeds. This year I will be organised! Although I have to bide my time, I’m very impatient and have to remember that once these tiny seedlings appear they don’t really want to be thrust straight outside into an unheated greenhouse. Later sowings often catch up quickly and are easier to care for during their first few weeks. There are however some that do need to be planted now, so I will happily get on with that.

…and what a strange year it’s been. Who would have guessed this time last year that we would be enduring a global pandemic like nothing any of us has ever known. We are getting used to checking what we are allowed to do before we jump in our cars and head off to do something as basic as the week’s food shopping. As we reach the front door it’s no longer just a case of checking pocket or bag for keys, money and phone, also in the check list is face mask, plastic gloves and hand sanitiser.

For those of us lucky enough to garden some things don’t change. The seasons come and go and our favourite plants will grow and flower at pretty much the same time each year. I spend the majority of my time gardening in a normal year so that hasn’t changed. I’m not sure though that the garden has actually looked any better for my constant attention. Although maybe the vegetable garden has benefited and we’ve certainly enjoyed more home grown vegetables than usual. I’ve already planted garlic, onions and shallots for next year and ordered my seed and seed potatoes. I’m determined to grow as much food as I possibly can next year.

There’s plenty to do in the garden even on the darkest days of winter, and I made a good start in the sunshine yesterday cutting back growth on many perennials in the borders. A good day’s work cutting back and shredding, with the shreddings being used as a weed suppressing mulch on a new shrub border. We woke this morning though to a couple of inches of snow which looked very pretty to start with, but it wasn’t long before our footprints and those of the dogs started to make it all look a little messy. We spent a while knocking snow off the box topiary, and off various shrubs whose branches were weighed down to the ground with the weight. With more snow forecast it’s maybe a good time to stay in by the fireside and make plans for revitalising some of the planting in a couple of the borders.