May 25th

My ‘Molly the Witch’ peony has two buds

This is one of my favourite times of year – there’s a freshness to the garden and you can almost see the plants growing.  I’m particularly excited to see two buds on peony ‘Molly the Witch’ (Paeonia mlokosewitschii).  I moved it last year to a sunnier spot hoping for more than one flower a year.  Although peonies are said to resent being moved the risk seems to be paying off!

I’ve planted many allium ‘Purple Sensation’ bulbs over the last few years and these are now in bud about to flower – I can’t wait!  They grow alongside Iris ‘English Cottage’ in one bed which proved to be really successful last year.

I’ve got many trays of young plants grown from seed that I’m trying to harden off.  Without cold frames, I’m putting the trays on the grass on the shady side of the greenhouse each morning and with some chilly nights I’m erring on the side of caution and putting them back in at night.  I’m also a little cautious about leaving the trays out at ground level at night as there still appears to be a rabbit on the loose!

We’ve finished setting out the veg garden with the addition of paving slabs in the gateway; it’s all looking good and we’re looking forward to a productive year.  The first asparagus has already been harvested and is delicious.

We’re counting down the weeks now to our open weekend for the NGS.  We’re open on June 22 and 23 along with others in the locality.  All the major jobs we wanted to do prior to opening have been done and I now have to keep up to date with weeding and general tidying.  I’m also busy propagating plants from the garden to put on the sales table that weekend, along with surplus plants grown from seed.

My Highlight

The wisteria is in flower – it looks and smells wonderful!