My Little Garden 1st May 2021

We had a bit of rain this week which was extremely welcome, especially as I am temporarily looking after a lot of plants that are due to go into other people’s gardens over the next two weeks. Even the rain forecast for the Bank Holiday Monday is ok with me as I’m not planning to go anywhere.

It’s also been quite chilly and my delicate little seedlings have been cold even in the daytime. I have a new batch of cosmos in the greenhouse (aka front porch) and they all seem to be germinating well in their peatfree compost. Hopefully there will also be signs of life from the bee friendly mix from Higgledy Garden that I sowed directly outside last weekend soon too.

Elsewhere in the garden spring is moving on regardless and this week I intend to start with tulips for my Six on Saturday.

1.Tulips

This is my purple and orange border where no pale shades are allowed. The tulips are a mix of Negrita, Orange Cassini and Lambada with Lambada the last to come into flower.

2. Daffs

It’s coming to the end of narcissi time for another year but two little beauties are still going strong. Narcissus ‘Bellsong’ is a new favourite and hopefully it’s reliably perennial.

Narcissus ‘Pipit’ is fabulously fragrant and another new discovery for this spring.

3. Wallflower

Way back when in the depths of winter I ordered three Erysimum ‘Winter Orchid’ plants from Sarah Raven. The colours are lovely and they work really well with the purple and orange tulips in the earlier shot.

Unfortunately one of the three has turned out to be a very yellow shade of yellow so another home will have to be found for it.

4. Another wallflower

On the subject of wallflowers, I also have one of the ever popular and arguably much over used Erysimum Bowles Mauve. I regularly go off this because there are so many around, but there’s no doubt that it gives value for money in terms of floriferousness, and the bees and butterflies love it.

5. Japanese Quince

I acquired this beauty at a Plant Fair at Wisley a few years back. The label is lost but I remember it was supposed to be a new cultivar so it’s not C. speciosa ‘Nivalis’ or C. x superba ‘Jet Trail’ but I suspect it’s a relative. It grows in almost complete shade in a corner of the garden.

6. Clematis

And bringing up the rear in the last of this week’s ‘six’ is the delightful Miss Bateman. She is the first clematis flower this year, with C. ‘Nelly Moser’, Montana and Josephine hot on her heels.

And another week has flown by. As it is National Gardening Week I also did a round up of my lockdown gardening year if you fancy reading a slightly longer blog.

And to find out what’s happening elsewhere in the uk and around the world, take a look at the blog of The Propagator who is the creator of this weekly collection. And as always there are many more excellent photos and blogs on twitter under the hashtag #SixonSaturday

https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/

Have a great gardening weekend!