Category: spring gardening

Aiming for a year round garden – early spring.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 10, 2014
3 Comments on Aiming for a year round garden – early spring.

We looked at our garden in late winter to see if our aim of creating a garden with interest all year was paying off. Now in Early April things have changed a lot in the garden since our last look so I thought we could have a look at it in early spring. Are we getting there?

I shall start with a look out over our gravel garden, The Chatto Garden, which illustrates just how important Euphorbias are at this time of year. The second shot illustrates how our new border has developed since we planted it up earlier this year.

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Foliage is still a key element in early Spring including fresh foliage of newly emerging herbaceous plants.

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Plants don’t have to be new to be good! Just look at the old favourite shrub, the flowering currant – just ask the bees and they will say how important they are! And of course daffodils and muscari bring life to our spring gardens every year without fail. All bulbs give little splashes of colour to brighten the dullest spring day.

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Our Hellebores are still going strong.

And now a quick visit to our Japanese Garden and the pond side border alongside. There is a lot of colour to find here.

Our native Primrose is perhaps our favourite plant in our garden at this time of the year with the delicacy of its scent and colour. Other small flowers star before their larger neighbours take over the borders.

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The star plant in our garden for early spring has to be the Chatham Island Forget-me-Not, Myosotidium hortemsium, with the flowers in a shade of blue that is so intense it is impossible to describe in words or give labels to. It lives in our Shade Garden so we have to make an effort to go and see it. It deserves our effort.

One part of the garden that we have given a spring clean to is the Seaside Garden which was in need of a face lift.

And for a promise of scent and colour soon to come we need to turn to the Viburnum family.

There are just too many photos left so I shall move into a gallery for you to enjoy.

Tags bulbs, flowering bulbs, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, grasses, organic gardening, ornamental trees, photography, shrubs, spring, spring bulbs, spring flowers, spring garden

flowering bulbs garden design garden photography gardening spring bulbs spring gardening Winter Gardening

Our Crocuses

We look forward to late February and early March as that is when those little jewels, the crocuses burst into bloom, attracting the local honey bees and any winter flying bumbles and solitaries.

Our crocus lawn is in its second season and is looking great.

In almost every other part of the garden they open their sunny flowers whenever the slightest sunny ray catches them. We thought we would take a wander around the garden with camera in hand and see how many different crocus we now have in the garden. Enjoy the journey with us.

Tags crocus, crocus lawn, flowering bulbs, spring, spring bulbs, spring garden

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials meadows spring gardening

Aquilegias in June

As spring-flowering bulbs fade hope relies on the Aquilegias for the next big colour burst. In our garden we have many selections of self-seeded natives and several species from elsewhere. They are grown for their unusual bonnet-shaped flowers, which come in a huge range of colours and shapes but are best recognised by the spurs that fly from the back of the blooms. Some have virtually no spurs at all but others can have spurs several inches long. They are traditional cottage garden plants but in the wild grow in a range of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and can be found in meadows, woodlands and higher up mountain sides.

One of their strengths is their hardiness, defying whatever the weather may throw at them but also shrugging off pests and diseases. We have never had a problem on any of our hundreds of plants, so they are excellent plants for the organic gardener.

Please enjoy a walk around our garden looking for our aquilegias. Just click on any shot and follow the arrow.

Tags aquilegias, garden photography, gardening, meadows, organic gardening

colours garden design garden photography gardening Hardy Plant Society HPS ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs spring gardening

A very special honeysuckle!

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 19, 2013
5 Comments on A very special honeysuckle!

Mention honeysuckle to anyone and the immediate image that forms in our minds is the scented clambering climber. Mention honeysuckle to gardeners and they will also think of the winter flowering scented shrubs such as Lonicera purpusii or Lonicera frangantissima.

But just look at this beauty growing in our back garden. Delicately scented pink flowers that resemble miniature lilac blooms on a scraggy untidy growing shrub. It is in flower now in May and will have red berries shining along its stems in the autumn where its flowers are now.

We have been enjoying its colour and scent each spring for the last 10 years and totally forgotten its name. We decided this year to find out what it was. The answer was to take a few photos along to our Shropshire Hardy Plant and ask Joe our plant guru. I thought it was a Lonicera (honeysuckle), Jude the Undergardener thought it was a Syringa (lilac) and other Hardy Plant friends thought it was a Daphne.

Joe had a close look and came up with the ID after just a few seconds thought. Lonicera rupicola var. syringantha, a honeysuckle with flowers like a lilac. It grows untidily to about 7 or 8 feet so ours is well on its way to being fully grown. Several hardy planters have asked for cuttings which we need to take in June, so it will be a productive shrub this year.

Enjoy my gallery of photos of this special shrub and imagine its scent. Just click on any pic to get started.

Tags flowering shrubs, gardening, honeysuckle, lonicera, shrubs

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials spring gardening

Primroses – more unsung heroes of the spring garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 15, 2013
7 Comments on Primroses – more unsung heroes of the spring garden

Following on from my posts about celandines and pulmonarias I am now urging us all to take more notice of primroses and all their spring-flowering cousins with which we can grace our spring borders.

The most beautiful of all are our natives, the Wild Primrose, the Oxlip and the Cowslip. Plant these in your garden and if they like you they will gently spread and wherever they ends up they will never look out-of-place. The primrose will flower earliest of the pair but the cowslips and oxlips will not be far behind. We have clumps of our natives throughout our garden and look forward with great expectations each spring.

There are so many cultivated relatives of these natives and relatives of plants from around the world that you can have so many different forms and colours. If you are lucky you will find that some cross with the natives and produce new colour strains.

On a recent visit to the RHS garden up in Yorkshire, Harlow Car, we found many different ones and were amazed in particular by the miniature jewels in the alpine house and in the alpine features around it. My next post will feature these.

Tags cpwslips, garden photography, gardening, oxlips, primroses, spring, spring garden

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials spring gardening

Pulmonarias – unsung heroes of the spring garden.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 11, 2013
15 Comments on Pulmonarias – unsung heroes of the spring garden.

Some plants become taken for granted and fail to be fully appreciated. I recently posted about celandines and got lots of favourable comments, so today I shall feature the wonderful pulmonarias with their subtle flowers and unusual foliage.

Here is the classic pulmonaria seen in so many British gardens with flowers in both pink and blue on the same plant and bristled leaves splodged with silver. We grow them in almost every border in our patch but they really prefer a little shade.

The best way to sing the praises of pulmonarias and hopefully encourage a few more gardeners to go out and get some for their own gardens is to put together a little gallery of photos of our plants to show their subtle beauty.

Just click on a photo and follow the journey to see if you are convinced.

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, pulmonarias, spring, spring flowers, spring garden

colours flowering bulbs fruit and veg garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening grasses hardy perennials Land Art ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture photography Shropshire shrubs spring bulbs spring gardening wildlife

A Bouquet for April

At last spring has arrived in the garden and taken it by storm. Buds are bursting, birds are nesting and bees buzzing searching the blooms.

Any bouquet for April will have to embrace flowering bulbs.

And how about adding a few bursting buds of trees and shrubs? Our miniature chestnut, the sweetly scented daphne flowers and the froth of snow-white amelanchier flowers.

All around the garden fresh fruit blossom promise beautifully scented and delicious, delicate flavours. The pinks of apple blossom and whites of plums. Oh so tasty!

The insects are appreciating these new signs of life too, in particular the bees and butterflies. This little bee knows that there is something good awaiting him inside the tulip once it opens. He is just a centimetre or so long and coloured a rich gingery orange.

I shall finish off by inviting you to enjoy a little gallery of garden delights taken on the last day of April.

Dusky pink primula hides in arum and stipa leaves.

Copper sculpture with copper leaved phormium.

Kingcups on the dge of the wildlife pond.

Tags amelanchier, apples, foliage, fruit and veg, fruit blossom, fruit., garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, grasses, insects, ornamental trees, outdoor sculpture, sculpture, spring bulbs, spring flowers, spring garden

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials spring gardening Winter Gardening

A close-up look at the Hellebores in our garden.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 8, 2013
15 Comments on A close-up look at the Hellebores in our garden.

Hellebores never fail to amaze. They flower early and continue in bloom for a long time. They present an unusual range of colours and markings on their petals which can vary in shape. We tend to choose reds and purples, plain and spotted and whites and creams mostly plain.

Let us start by venturing out into the borders armed with flower trug and secateurs, ignoring the chill in the air and nipping off a collection of flowers in a variety of colours.

The individuality of each is best appreciated by displaying them floating in a shallow bowl of water.

Now for a real challenge – looking closely and trying to show their character in water colours. I have chosen the deepest blue-mauve, the yellow-green and the pale yellow with purple streaks.

Tags garden photography, gardening, hellebores, sketch pad, winter gardens

colours flowering bulbs garden photography gardening ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire spring bulbs spring gardening Winter Gardening winter gardens

A Bouquet for March

Here is this month’s “Bouquet” post. The first photo says it all!

There are in fact two flowers visible – both yellow. Our Cornus mas is still in bloom and the flower buds of daffodils are spearing their way through their white duvet.

Let’s hope our April Bouquet is a bit more impressive!

Tags cornelian cherry, cornus, daffodils, dogwoods, garden photography, gardening, shrubs, snow, winter, winter gardens

allotments birds community gardening conservation fruit and veg garden design garden photography garden wildlife gardening grow your own hardy perennials Land Art meadows natural pest control ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture photography poppies roses Shropshire shrubs spring gardening wildlife

A Wander around the Allotments in June

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date June 30, 2012
4 Comments on A Wander around the Allotments in June

Here we are at the half way point of the year in the June allotment wanderings. As usual we shall start on our own plot to see what has been going on. Our little wildlife pond is beginning to look more established and the tadpoles are growing well. We hope the frogs stay on our plot and eat up all the slugs. As you can see we provided a little wooden ramp to help them get in and out of the water.

Heartsease self seed around the plot sometimes landing in suitable places arriving in a wide range of colours. This one seeded into the soil behind the green bench.

Our strip of wildflowers, a little piece of meadow, is beginning to flower. This Opium Poppy surprised us with its deep pink coloured petals.

Moon Daisies and Cornflowers.

Just as flowers feature strongly on our own plot so they do on other members’ plots and in the Green Space borders. In the Autumn Garden Achilleas are the stars.

Calendulas feature on many plots as they look so good, and work hard as part of companion planting helping to attract beneficial insects.

Our first “Buddleja Bed” planted to attract wildlife now looks colourful and full of life. After losing some of our Buddlejas in the dry last year when Shropshire experienced months of drought after two extremely cold winters, the name for these borders currently looks a little inappropriate.

Our wildflower bank sloping up towards one of our orchards is now looking more established as we have added plants that members have donated to add interest.

The Edible Hedge is now fruiting providing sustenance to birds and small mammals. Flowers in the borders at the base bring in bees, butterflies and beneficial insects. Beetles enjoy the long grass and we like them to be there as they feed on slugs.

The most colourful garden on site at the moment is the Spring Garden which still displays much interest as we move into the summer months. This garden is maintained by volunteers, Jill and Geoff who spend many an hour planting, dead heading and weeding.

Geoff and Jill’s plot is renown for its weed free neatness and precision planting.

The Summer Garden is not to be outdone though as the roses are coming into flower and beautiful scents greet us as we sit on the nearby picnic benches. The lavenders, geraniums and grasses planted between the roses add further interest and textures.

As June moves towards July our meadows really come into their own. Plot holders love to walk through them and a wide variety of birds, bees, butterflies, grass hoppers and every sort of mini-beast visit.

I shall finish with a shot of the plot we have nominated for this year’s Shrewsbury Town Allotment Competition and one of our grass spiral which currently looks most inviting.