Six on Saturday - March's First

 One day of sunshine this Friday has lifted me.  After a week suffering from some dreaded lurgy, a gentle walk round the garden is just the thing to slowly appreciate some of what makes my Spring garden special to me. I picked up a few leaves which could have been protecting small slugs or small snails from around the spring beauties, but that is all for now, tomorrow I may sow a few seeds.

I had to tidy up a too large pile of magazines and send them on their way but tore out some amusing straplines, altering them a little and scattering them through my Six this Saturday, for my own amusement of course.  If you want to view practical, amusing or just seasonal items in the garden, the place to meet at is Jon's, whether you are contributing or just earsdropping.

1. Within a hour of the sun coming out the bees were out and the two latest varieties of crocus are now out and open ready for visitors. 

Crocus vernus Pickwick.

It is perfectly matched by Crocus tommasianus Ruby Giant . 

Groupings of both are scattered around the garden.  To think that these various clumps all came from perhaps three or four bulbs which hitched a lift in a pot along with another little shrub.

2.  The Shrub in question is a small Forsythia. I think this may well be it final resting point in the garden. 

"We've tweaked and edited and added, remoulding it a little more every year. That's the joy of it."

This shrub is at least 10 years old now. 

3. Standing at the study window looking down onto the gravel area there is a little gem of a creeping plant that has stood out all winter. It is very dark, but a good contrast against the cream stones.  Its tiny leaves are a deep metallic purple which reflect the light and unlike some of the silvery leaves or other preciouses have remained in pristine condition whatever the weather has thrown at it. None of the pictures where this plant is for sale shows the deep dark shiny winter foliage, and I would grow this never mind the flowers, for the foliage alone.

4. The red primula has survived another winter. Though I think it is loosing its vigour.  Perhaps I will try rejuvenating and moving it after it has flowered. I think they just flower so much it weakens the plant.  Is it flowering itself to death?

"We don't need the same plants in the same spot every year: we're always corralling them."

5.  I'm not sure that I find a daisy with so many petals quite as charming as one with a centre.  

6. The corydalis are starting to emerge in the conservatory bed, but just on the other side of the path, I am establishing a little clump of Galanthus Marjorie Brown just behind the Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens', a planting combination of snowdrop and this black grass that I picked on from the snowdrop weekend.  The plants arrived earlier this week from Lyn Miles, along with G. Pat Mason and G. Augustus.  However poorly I was I was not going to have snowdrops unplanted!  I think going out in the cold and rain set me back, but the bulbs have picked up very nicely.

"Using different layers of plantings, designer Ula Maria has created the space with soul her clients desired, full of contrast and character".

With such a small space, contrasts in colour, texture, changing plants throughout the season, or having ones so close together but with their different seasons, I work towards creating a garden that is seldom not able to give me something lovely to look at.

When resting I am  reading" A thing in Disguise: the visionary life of Joseph Paxton" by Kate Colquhoun. It is witty and interesting to hear about everything he got up to: visits to other gardens, nurseries and moving large trees etc. He was the right man at the right time, full of energy and with a very wealthy employer.  I am less than a fifth through, and am enjoying reading about his work. My interest was piqued only yesterday evening, by the first banana to fruit in the stoves at Chatsworth, and its connection to Mauritius.  I have looked into this further and found that Telfair sent two plants to the UK.  The story of how it came to be in Paxton's hands and what he paid for it, is further explained  in an article by The Tenerife News. There were two or three distinct types of banana available to buy and indeed my parents grew a couple of these in our garden, the smallest variety being the most sought after and sweetest.  I am not about to try and grow them here in my garden!