In the gap between the end of the tulips and the start of the poppies and the peonies, we can bathe in the lush growth of May. In February there was bare earth, just the odd clump of snowdrops. The growth in March was ankle-high, with crocuses and primroses. April, knee-high, with the tulips. In…
Category: Spring
Vintage Silk
As you may have noticed, I have a thing for bright and deeply saturated colour. But I have other weaknesses too. Back in autumn I was seduced by a certain supplier of tulip bulbs and gave into temptation. I decided to try some sun-faded tones: vintage silk alongside my usual velvet and satin. I selected…
Peach Fuzz
Sssshhhh… I have to say that very quietly because even the words p-e-a-c-h f-u-z-z give my daughter the icks. This is another installment in my bud fest. If you want to catch up, here are the previous exciting episodes: Early Birds, The Dawn Chorus and Bursting Buds, The Ugly Duckling Becomes a Beautiful Swan and Cauliflorescence! We have a good…
Sissinghurst blows hot and cold
We had an impromptu Sissinghurst skip on Sunday, children, grandparents and all, so I thought I would share a few pics of what’s going on. Tulips I love this wonderful red-with-a-hint-of cerise-and-crimson lily-flowered tulip. I couldn’t find a label for the variety. It’s too pinkish for ‘Red Shine’ I think, so I’m opting for ‘Pieter…
EMERGENCY RESCUE!
The foul weather (swirling winds, torrential rain) meant I had to perform an emergency rescue on my tulips. These poor things were in danger of getting their necks broken. So was I. The rescue situation explains why some blooms are already at their creative peak (see my post from yesterday, Aging Beauties). Here is good old ‘Ballerina’:…
Ageing Beauties
I am infinitely more at ease with the way I look in my forties compared with my teens, twenties or thirties. I have heard women complain that they feel invisible as they age, but maybe I felt too visible when I was younger. Or visible for the wrong reasons. I was judged on what I…
Six Softies on Saturday
Inspired by all the other Six on Saturday posts which feature the dreamy tulip ‘Angelique’, I thought I would add a few soft and creamy ones of my own. Six on Saturday is where The Propagator invites garden bloggers from around the world to share six things going on in our garden right now. 1. Tulips ‘Jazz’…
Lighting the Touch-Paper in the Bright Border
The Bright Border has taken a while to ignite this Spring, but today, I think it took off. This border is not for the faint-hearted. It is fiery and fiesty; invigorating, rather than relaxing. Here are two of the euphorbias, E. amygdaoides var. robbiae, [health warning here] and E. griffithii ‘Fireglow’: ‘Fireglow’ deserves a close-up: And so does Euphorbia…
Cauliflorescence!
I am indebted to the lovely Jane from Jane’s Mudgee Garden for the title of this post. ‘Cauliflorescence’ describes the phenomenon of a flower producing blossoms directly from the tree’s trunk, which is what the Judas Tree is known for. Do you want to see it? Here it is closer up. The flowers are pea-like, but if…
A Profusion of Pots at Perch Hill
I went for total indulgence in the hot spell last week. I reasoned that it was too hot for serious gardening, so I may as well visit other gardens and bask in the tulip displays. So on Friday it was Great Dixter and on Saturday I took the family to Sarah Raven’s Open Garden at Perch Hill….
Good morning, my fine feathered friends!
The title is an homage to one of my favourite children’s books, Quentin Blake’s Cockatoos. Each morning Professor Dupont, a dapper chap, jumps out of bed, takes a shower, cleans his teeth, gets dressed, ties his tie, adjusts his spectacles and goes downstairs. He goes into his conservatory and there are all his cockatoos. He throws wide…
