Blog

How to tell the difference between a weed and a plant

That’s easy – the weeds are the ones that need a pickaxe and crowbar to get out of the ground and the treasured plants are the ones that leap out of the soil as you approach and then refuse to be re-planted!    Another way to tell the difference is to see what gets nibbled by rabbits – they seem to leave the weeds alone.

A busy day in the garden pulling out nettles taller than me along with bindweed, sticky weed and couch grass.  However with arms covered in nettle stings it’s good to have a look around the garden and find that in fact there are still some really nice plants growing that are looking fabulous at the moment.  Favourite at the moment is Papaver Patty’s Plum, a lovely dusky shade of purple.  I’m trying to ignore one oriental poppy bought as Patty’s Plum which has turned out to be a very bright shade of orangey/red.   I keep meaning to dig it up but haven’t yet had the heart to do so,  maybe just cutting the flowers off would help.   Cistus x corbariensis is a lovely shrub, absolutely huge and covered in the most perfect white flowers with yellow centres.   The flowers open each morning as the sun comes out and the bush literally hums with the sound of our honey bees foraging.  The first flush of alliums have now finished flowering but the decorative heads will complement everything around them for the rest of the season but there are still plenty more to come and those currently in flower are spectacular.

 

Exactly a week ago I was despairing,  our sandy soil was turning to dust in places and in others it was like concrete.    I was trying to weed in readiness for our Open Gardens weekend next month, wondering if it would be easier with a crowbar.   Everywhere it looked more like an August garden,  even Charlie the Springer was trying to find a shady spot to keep an eye on me, and no he didn’t damage anything – for one so bouncy he was remarkably subdued.  The question of the day was “why can nettles carry on growing when everything else gives up?”.

Anyway a few days of gentle warm rain, and rain all day yesterday, has made the difference.   We woke this morning to sunshine and a magical garden with mist enveloping the surrounding farmland.   The garden has burst back into life and a walk around reveals that in fact the plants are still growing, more and more are flowering and everything looks good (even the nettles!).   Alliums in the only formal part of the garden looked jewel like first thing, the sun bouncing off the rain drops on each flower head.   Hesperis matronalis or Sweet rocket is seeding itself all around in exactly the right places and is one of my favourites at the moment.   Aquilegias or Granny’s bonnets are suddenly in flower, the one pictured looking very bonnet like.   We grow the older shrub roses which seem to thrive in our sandy soil; in flower already is Madame Alfred Carriere, another favourite, growing up a very old apple tree.   Unfortunately both dogs seem to have had a mad moment today and one of the stems has been bitten in half, next job will be to remove it carefully and we will enjoy the unopened flowerbuds in a vase inside.  However for now the sun is still shining and weeding beckons …..

Northerly winds followed by damaging frost then easterly winds – plants in our garden have to be tough to stand up to current weather conditions.  Sadly the frost nipped new growth on many plants, shrubs and trees including newly planted Acers and Hydrangeas, however I can’t be downhearted for too long as there is still so much to enjoy.

Camassia bulbs naturalising in the orchard are just coming into flower.   I just hope that rabbits don’t like the taste of them! Rabbits always come into the orchard from neighbouring farmland and we don’t mind a bit, but having recently found a very plump one sitting in the middle of the garden we have spent a bit of time replacing wire netting along one boundary and raising the height of the wire between the garden and orchard.

Another favourite flower, albeit a wildflower and a weed to many, is Queen Anne’s Lace, which sounds so much nicer than Cow Parsley!  The roadside verges around us are full of this pretty flower and I dread the sound of a tractor coming along to mow it in its prime and yes I am the mad woman who runs out at the first hint of a tractor to pick it.   I would much rather see a jug full of it in the fireplace than it be flattened. It grows around the edges of our garden and I am trying to encourage it to spread in the orchard. I hope one day to see it flowering in abundance among the fruit trees.

Wisteria is in full flower and the scent is intoxicating,   on a sunny day with a window open the scent pervades the house.  Alliums are just opening and attracting plenty of bees.  One more favourite for now is Geranium Mary Mottram which has beautiful white flowers  I have it growing both in sun and light shade and it seems happy in both situations and is gently spreading.

On a day when the North wind is blowing across the garden what a treat to find some treasured plants flowering.      Iris Langport Wren has a beautiful deep purple flower and  is fairly low growing so I’m confident the flower stalks won’t get destroyed in the gusty wind,  however whether they will survive two Springer Spaniels rushing around is another matter!  Planted against the house wall is the yellow flowered Weigela middendorffiana.   It’s planted on the North side of the house in a sheltered corner up against the chimney and seems to relish this spot. The flowers are yellow  with an orange throat, very similar to a foxglove,  bees love this plant.  Paeonia mlokosewitschii or as most people refer to it, “Molly the Witch”, is a real favourite.   I bought this maybe fifteen years ago as a very small pathetic specimen in a garden centre end of year sale. It needed rescuing and has certainly grown since then.  However I probably haven’t treated it that well as it has moved house with us once and this is its second position here, I will leave it alone now and hope that one day it expands and manages more than one flower a year.   Another treat today, although not in the garden,  was being surrounded  by house martins swooping low over a neighbouring field as I walked the dogs, hopefully warmer weather is on the way.

There’s so much to enjoy in the garden this week.   Everything is putting on a growth spurt, weeds included.   The pink crabapple blossom, Princeton Cardinal, is stunning and has a lovely delicate fragrance.  It is planted close to our beehives and the bees literally make a ‘beeline’ to it.  Care needed when admiring the blossom up close!   The yellow blooms of Erythronium pagoda look just perfect as does the white Dicentra spectabilis.     Shrubs are now coming into leaf and there is such a variety of different shades of green in the garden.  Three Hydrangeas and two Acers purchased late last year have finally been planted after much discussion as to where they will go and hopefully will grow well in their chosen spots.

Favourite blossom this week. This is Prunus Shirotae which is looking absolutely stunning at the moment. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an overcast day as today or blue sky as it was at the weekend,  it lights up the garden.  On closer inspection the flowers are full of bees; at the moment as it is slightly chilly there are more bumble bees than honey bees, however care needs to be taken when having a closer look so that we don’t disturb the bees and get stung.  Less welcome visitors to this tree have been pigeons who admire the blossom by pecking it off – so frustrating!

Around the garden a beautiful deep pink magnolia is now covered in bloom. On a smaller scale one of my favourite flowers, Primula vulgaris, is flowering along the hedgerow in the back garden and starting to spread. Another welcome sight is that of Peony ‘Molly the Witch’ whose proper name I can’t begin to pronounce. I’m glad to see it has survived another winter and it has one flower bud – maybe one year it will manage two,  but it’s worth growing no matter how few flowers it has.

A mild weekend and a bit of sunshine is all it takes to bring out the blossom around the garden.   Magnolia stellata is opening its first furry buds and the bonus is the blooms have a delicate scent.   Bright pink camellias are in full flower and it is a treat to find a white camellia flowering,  tucked away and almost forgotten in the Spring area.     Forsythia by contrast is covered in bright yellow blooms as is Cornus mas.   Prunus cerasifera Nigra is covered in dainty pink flowers and still looks good even though it had a large branch blown out during the recent storms.     Best of all though is Prunus incisa Kojo-no-mai,  in two days it has come into full bloom, and looks an absolute picture.   Stand still for a minute nearby and a loud buzzing can be heard,   stand a little longer and look carefully and tens of our honey bees can be seen visiting each flower in turn.    This prunus has been covered in bees all day,   it’s good to see so many have survived the winter.

After gale force winds yesterday when the garden was not the place to be, today it is a beautiful sunny tranquil spot.   In the garden the only casualty was the top being blown out of  a Prunus cerasifera,  now the branch is down we see how much Woodpeckers had hollowed it out.    Luckily no damage was done to the spring flowering plants surrounding the tree and we are enjoying crocus, snowdrops, and the first daffodils and hellebores.

 

Snowdrops are flowering, forming a drift along the spring borders together with  the first camellia flowers in a sheltered corner and vibrant blue Iris reticulata.   Charlie the spaniel is always at my side in the garden keeping a watchful eye on what goes on.

 

 

Springer spaniels are good at digging, Charlie is intent on helping me clear the borders at the moment, after a little scrabble around at the leaves and undergrowth he then helpfully sits down close by.   Luckily not too much he can damage at the moment.