Buds are swelling
What a difference a month makes. The garden is rapidly coming to life with buds swelling on the shrubs and trees and herbaceous plants now starting to grow. The early spring flowers are being joined by daffodils, scillas, brunnera and pulmonaria. Vinca minor ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ is planted alongside one of the paths. This plant has such pretty small white flowers and just wanders among everything else without taking over. The two small flower beds at the front of the house are undergoing a facelift. When we moved in, there were very few flowerbeds so we had to dig an area quickly to house all the plants we had brought with us. Consequently, plants were planted without much thought and this area has been looking a bit of a jumble. In the autumn I dug many of the plants out and put them in a nursery bed. Small box plants that were struggling elsewhere in the garden have been planted to edge the narrow path, which now gives definition to the beds. I have weeded and am very pleased to see the alliums I planted in the autumn coming through, so now I can see where they are it will be easier to fit the perennials back in around them. Rose ‘Katharina Zeimet’ has been lightly pruned and is coming into leaf and rose ‘Louise Odier’, which was planted before Christmas, has some strong buds. The clematis armandii growing against the house is also in flower, on a sunny day the scent is lovely. In the greenhouse ‘Bunyard’s Exhibition’ broad beans have germinated, as have sweet peas and I have just sown the first tray of lettuce ‘Salad Bowl’. I love growing perennials from seed and two years ago obtained seed of Tulipa sprengeri , which is hard to find as bulbs. these are still small but have been re-potted and I hope they’ll reach flowering size in a couple more years.
Tales from a Country Garden 