In a Vase - Three Graces

Its not that roses have fallen from favour, its just that there were no roses in my new garden.  The rose I missed the most was Grace.....I have won prizes with Grace,  and even picked Grace at Christmas Time.  Of all the roses I grew in my last garden, Grace was consistently my favourite.

I also loved Ghislaine de Feligonde, and Mr S Open Arms...and I had taken a few cuttings of these two, and have one of each well rooted here in the garden now.  Ghislaine de Feligonde is a perfect match in a vase with Grace, and as I write this, I have come up with the perfect spot in the garden to plant Ghislaine which was taken out of its pot and positioned temporarily in the ground last autumn.

I had planned on ordering bare rooted plants and planting them this winter, but when I read Cathy's blog about her new roses arriving from David Austin...I knew what I had to do.  Life is too short now, and I want to get the bed by the Conservatory planted up.  It will be a mixed bed.  The plants were ordered on Monday, and arrived around lunch time Wednesday, and planted in the afternoon...probably less than 48 hours in their box...that's smart logistics for you.

This morning the small damaged side shoots were just picture perfect:  I give you Three Graces...well three stems of Rose Grace.

The rose bushes arrived by courier and here they are ready to be opened.

Cleverly packaged with just some plastic tape, to hold the plant pot steady and upright...

The two rose bushes are having as good start as possible: a large and bountiful hole was dug, with plenty of compost added, well watered, with a sprinkling of David Austin Rose Food, and some fairy dust....then more mulch all around.  

They may be small now, but will have plenty of time to send out good roots and get established well before the winter.  Then next year they will be ready to romp ahead.

A few hours later this morning, the blooms are unfurling...and outside the plants had an additional good shower of rain.

Thank you Mr Austin and thank you Cathy.

In a Vase on Monday - Now it is Grace's Turn

Last week it was Princess Margareta's turn...this week it is Grace's.  Grace would have looked really elegant on the catwalk...and she did become a Princess.

I have been watching the rose bush Grace, in the bed just by the patio, and have been wondering for the last few weeks, whether it was time to do a first prune.  That is the prune to cut longish growths that when caught by winds tends to cause the rose tree to loosen in the earth.  Our garden is very well sheltered, and I have been hanging back on this.  Now I am rewarded..those rose buds are starting to open, and today I have three stems for an arrangement.  I can hardly believe it...it is so close to Christmas.

Towards the end of the garden I have a Cornus Sanguina Midwinter Fire, which has bounced back from its severe pruning this spring.  I have since read that it is advisable not to overprune this one!

When I got in inside I realised that the stems are both red and yellow..I think they are red on the lighter side of the shrub.

Then I added the three stems of Rose Grace

and as I zoomed into the picture found that I had brought in a ladybird.

Then just to prove that it is really winter...added some of the Variegated Holly

Cathy who hosts this meme is casting her spell again, so do go over and have a peep!

Roses Grace and Ghislaine de feligonde come up trumps in local show

Two new roses in my garden.  Grace was planted in a pot last year, and Ghislaine de Feligonde only this year.  I bought Grace during a visit to David Austin last year.

I only got the rambler Ghislaine de Feligonde, this year after hearing it being lovingly described by Mrs Ann bird, Vice President of the Rose Society at the Kenilworth and District Horticultural Society.  She gave the lecture in March, and the very next day, I went to visit Hinton's Nursery .  They were expecting an order from David Austin the following week, and with a phone call and an email they managed to get me Ghislaine de Feligonde.   I have been amazed by this beautiful perpetual rambler.  I love going into the garden and picking a few flowers for the house, or for posies for friends...and with a new rose, I feel it is kinder to cut the flowers quickly and allow the shrub to grow good roots and leaves rather than spend energy on blooms...well that is my excuse.

I was delighted to win two first prizes for these and also best in Classes 1 - 4.

Grace is a beautiful apricot colour, and already in late August, a whole second flush of roses which my Aunt admired yesterday.  Aunty Pat has failing eyesight, with macro degeneration, but she had to stop at this rose...she thought at first it was a large dahlia plant, the flowers were so numerous and colourful.

The past few months have been so busy for me....and I am now having to take it a little slowly due to a sore thumb joint...and whilst I was sorting through a pile of papers, whilst dear hubby was doing the heavier jobs, washing up, hovering, well jobs which hurt my hand....I came across my certificates etc. so I looked up the pictures I took at the time, and decided to put them up.  Nice to look back on during the winter months!

In a Vase on Monday - Grace

My little apprentice has taken up The Vase Challenge again now the school holidays are here...home made vases and daisies, and butterflies too.

This week Cathy's Vase is a blaze of colour, she just kept adding more and more..and turned up all sixes.  Do go over there and see the wide variety of flowers and from there vases from far and wide.

After a severe prunning a few weeks ago, Grace is looking bonny again.  I love that apricot colour contrasting nicely with  pale green leaves.  In the vase, to 'support' grace in more ways than one, are some stems of Leycesteria Formosa Golden Lanterns.  The Lanterns have started to have purple berries, and to complement them, I popped in a few stems of Sedum Purple Emperor still in bud,and  a piece of floppy euphorbia.  I'm not sure which it is.  It self seeds around the garden, is a little prone to mildew, and is often cut down with the expectation of fresh purple leaves within a couple of weeks.  It may be amygdaloides purpurea, but I would welcome suggestions.

 Finally a couple of fern leaves which don't really show up well in this picture: Athyrium Noponicum, and Athyrium Otophorum 'Okanum', which either have a purple stem or purple bits.

It is now getting so hot that the only room to put flowers in where they will last more than a day or so is the north facing living room.  I posed the flowers with some shells which I have had for many years.  The large one is almost the same colour as the rose, my mother had this Triton Trumpet Shell up on her pelmet for many years.  Its one of my many lovely treasures.  I made up this vase a couple f days ago, when I got up early to cut the flowers, and I knew we would be lolling around Saturday and Sunday and could enjoy this one over the weekend.  Monday morning is a bit of rush for me

Rose Grace - In a Vase on Monday

Three stems of Rose Grace are held nicely in a pin holder, and only needed a little extra which came courtesy of some trimmings from the dwarf golden mop which grows in a pot.   

Early this morning as I walked to change the water in the bird bath, I noticed that the earliest of the Rose Grace needed dead heading.  A couple of hours later as we were having our breakfast in the conservatory Mr S pointed out the small wren visiting the shoots on another rose picking off all the greenfly.  This year there seems to be a balance in the garden with plenty of ladybirds getting out of hibernation early, and now with their larvae in good quantities as well as the small birds picking off the bugs, there seems to be no outbreak of bugs this year so far.

Today's post is linked like others featuring material from the garden over at Cathy's 'Rambling in The Garden' blog, and anyone is welcome to join in, and I do love to read in the comments what you think of my contributions too. 

In a Vase on Monday - Rose Grace

Another week and another vase, a little routine is soothing, and I shall be anchoring this post to Cathy's.  Others will also be sheltering there, so for a little calming distraction, do go there to look at other vases of garden flowers. Just by coincidence Cathy has a 'nautical' inspired post, so whether you are anchoring against being blow way by the wind, or seeking refuge in a safe port, may you find moments of calm this week.

 If Grace can withstand the rains and winds then she deserves to make this week's vase.  I have posted vases with Grace as late as December, but there are not many more buds forming at present, maybe because we have been lacking in Sunshine.  Here against the yellow lampshade the blushes on the outer petals shows up nicely.

The Arum Italicum is showing nicely in the shady border, and the sedum is on its last legs.  Over the stormy period I have watched as  gusts tug at and cast the many petals like confetti, but now is the time to bring a few of the last buds indoors.

In a Vase on Monday - All dried up and African Skies

 All dried up and African Skies just about sums up the situation here.  All the windows are closed except for the vents and curtains and blinds closed.  It just feel like winter inside but with the thermostat turned high.  Again that last feeling will probably not become familiar with the costs of fuel sky rocketing.

Let us show grace, and at least appreciate that we are far better off than people over in other countries in Europe who are experiencing far worse.

Yesterday I dried some freshly picky lemon verbena leaves: they sat on a shady bench with a cloth over the top of the basket to prevent scorching and the leaves blowing away in the strange hot dry wind, and a few hours later they are stored ready for my afternoon tisane. Sage leaves and bay are also drying out very quickly.

Over the last couple of weeks, as I find interesting seed heads when I am dead heading, they go in some tall vases in the conservatory. In the foreground are the species tulips. from which I had been saving seed, at the back Briza media and to the right some Achillea King Edward from the gravel garden.

However I couldn't resist picking some Salvia 'African Skies' and pare it with a stem of Rosa Grace. It was already 26 C in the shade at 10 am this morning, but looking at this will hopefully give us 'cool feeling.

I shall be keeping inside and with my feet in cold water on and off, my favourite way to keep cool, enjoying my current book, and from time dipping into Cathy post, to see what people have been adding to their vases this week. Cathy's anchoring post this week is called Knight in Shinning Armour!

Six on Saturday - 12 June 2021

Things are romping away, staking is paying dividends, or should I admit I could have done more.  Jon the Prop who is currently helping others, is gathering us as usual this Saturday.  Lovely shrubs and plants there and no doubt on other posts from fellow bloggers.

 1. After the success from a taste point of view of growing only a few peas, this yearI have grown something new.  This is the white flowered sugarsnap pea Deliket. The seed supplier describes this variety as compact, but I'll eat my hat sorry peas but these are nearly as tall as I am! 

2 The second variety is a 'Mangetout' called  Carouby de Maussane which also is as tall as I am, 

with beautiful flowers which with their mauve and purple hues are exceptionally decorative, and would grace any potager whether small and humble like mine or in one of the many beautiful walled vegetable gardens of great houses. Though I think their mode of support would be far superior.  I shall certainly be growing these again, and will work on something more decorative for next year.

Between the two sets of two tall peas I have a row of Meteor first early as grown last year and those are living up to their description regarding height.

3. Rose Open Arms is in full swing operating as the go to place for all the bees and other insects.

4. Rose Munstead Wood is stronger in its second year in this spot: a deep and rich fragrant red...

5. Grace too is looking wonderful...

6. Phuopsis Stylosa has been doing its thing of forming a dome topped all around with its pretty small blooms again another favourite of the bees.  This plant with its attractive foliage is growing on a dry sunny patch and is perfectly happy with a good cutback, and comes again for a second or even third time in the year....Think of it as a Lady of the Causcasus's bedstraw, in a way similar to Ladies' Bedstraw, of the same family, but with an exotic touch, as decorative as any Persian rug.

Today I shall be having friends from my WI visit the garden in groups of up to Six, and we have several gardens open.  I've given the garden a great tidy up, and Mr S has joined in picking up leaves, sprucing up the seating area etc.....It just makes us appreciate what other owners do to get their large gardens ready.  I'm going to go through my long spread sheet, and print off the names of all the plants which may be of interest at the moment...wish me luck!

I may contemplate, but also need to seriously consider when to harvest my garlic:  I'll be reading up about this for my home work next week, and report then.

In a Vase on Monday - Grace and The Dragon

Sounds like the start of a fairy tale.....

My Vase today, with material which could have been gathered last week, shows just how early roses in our gardens are in bloom this year.  Maybe it is the bright clear sunshine: I am just accepting things just as they are for now, what else can we do? 

Persicaria Red Dragon, a pass along from Cathy, forms a lovely contrast for the deep rich apricot of Rose Grace, and a few stems of 'barcode' grass:  Phalaris arundinacea Picta previously known as Gardeners' Garters adds a bit of height.

Linking in to Cathy, the fairy Godmother of this weekly get together, where she is posting some beauties from her garden.  Others too from around the globe join in.

In a Vase on Monday - Singular Beauty

Have I been trying to incorporate too much variety in order to compensate for the restrictions we are under?  During the week, I came to a feeling of contentment enjoying the simplicity that life has to offer.  Cherishing what we have now in plenty is the theme of my vases.

Yes there are two vases, simply because this is a 'use up'.  The two Grace rose bushes were 'summer pruned' and the stems of flowers were languishing in a bucket overnight.  Catching the early morning sunshine in the middle of the dining table, Grace's singular beauty could not be bettered with any additions.

Alongside the bucket of roses was another one with all the prunnings from Pelargonium Pink Capricorn which was threatening to grow well beyond a reasonable size. 

This week our book club made up mainly of gardening lovers, which does not happen to be theme of our reading, but simply a group of friends who also happen to go to the same gardening club, are meeting up for the first time since the big P, in a beautiful garden.  Our book this time has been The Glittering Hour' by Iona Grey.  

Normally I like to read hard copies, but this time, I downloaded it to my phone. I had my little pad where I could write down the character names, and their links to one another: that is the way I have to read these days.  It has been a lovely read, and would recommend it.

Cathy too has gone for a theme on the colour purple, which a range of magnificent blooms, and a playlist to get you singing for the rest of the day.  Never heard of the Purple People Eater?  Far too frightening for me before bedtime!

In a Vase on Monday - M and XCII

When I see an Iceberg Rose it reminds me of my mother, who grew this in difficult conditions in the tropics.  The long pointed rose buds were the brides' favourite.  The button holes and brides bouquets would be kept in the fridge until the last moment, and often taken straight to the Church.

In two of my previous gardens I had a very floriferous climbing Rose Iceberg, and it amazed my mother when she counted the number of blooms on her visits.  Its not surprising therefore that one of the first rose trees I bought for the new garden this year was a climbing Iceberg rose tree.  I hope it does as well as the wonderful specimen I saw in full flower the week before Christmas when I first moved to Somerset.  The french name for this rose is Fee de Neiges, which mean Fairy of the Snows.

During the Summer, when I was first setting out the back garden, I bought a couple of Grace Roses, and they are already establishing themselves very well, and both currently have around fifteen rosebuds each.  In my last garden I used Grace for a Vase on Monday in mid December.

According to the BBC, Friday was the coldest October day for 10 years.  We did wake up on Saturday to find the top of the car covered with a wonderful ferny pattern of crystals, but the back garden protected by the stone wall, still has the nasturtiums in full flower, and nothing else hit down or blackened by frost.

As a result of this, I am able to pick a stem of Fuchsia and bronze fennel leaf for my vase today.  The cyclamen leaf, itself a frosty silver colour, finishes off this end of autumn arrangement.

The reason why I have called this vase M, is that M is the Roman Numeral 1000.  As I enjoyed counting the Iceberg Roses, I find other numbers, figures, counting, and statistics interesting.....I love probability too....On Saturday I bumped into a friend coming out of the Cathedral and one the topics in just five minutes that we touched on was that I wanted to brush up my Roman Numerals so that I could quickly read the dates on monuments.  So it was highly probable that I would choose M as the title of my post this week.

This is my 1000th post on my blog. With over 141 thousand visits, and one post alone getting nearly 25 thousand hits, all I can say is that I can't admit to the time I have spent writing since this blog started in 2007.  I wouldn't even want to calculate that.  All in all it has been a lovely experience, to keep records, share and explore interests, and along the way make friends, and reconnect with ones made years ago. Here is to the next M posts!!!!

This is my ninety second In a Vase on Monday....XCII

In her post Cathy explains the festival of All Hallows.  In Mauritius for "La Fete des Morts" people remember their loved ones who had died, visit their burial plots and place flowers on them.  I remember it to be a rather sad quiet day as a child, a day of mourning or of quiet reflection.  Maybe with changed times, there is more of a festive air, and like many places, commerce has made this into an occasion where consumption is encouraged.

In some countries there are festivals full of joy and merriment:  On a more joyful and coloured theme,  and for a glorious seasonal pumpkin coloured display do go and see what Cathy has posted, and other links to this week's IAVOM contributors.

In a Vase on Monday - Full of Grace

 It is a few weeks since I uploaded a post for In a Vase on Monday, and it is really lovely to be back.  I write this during a short break waiting for my coffee to cool.  The final fine sand of the bannisters is complete, and I gird my loins for the long stint of undercoats and gloss.

This morning before the sun has really cleared the sky of the fine haze shortly after six, , I brought the vase I put the blooms into last night,  into the conservatory to have sufficient light to take a picture.  All these blooms come from just one stem of Rose Grace.  The two bushes were cut following the fist surge of blooms only a couple of weeks ago, but before the other stems had finished, the plant sent up a new strong stem.  There is was, s standing out above the other pruned branches. With secateurs in hand from some other job, it took only a second to cut the stem out and convert the bush to a more harmonious shape.  The prunnings went into the vase with some stems of Persicaria Red Dragon, which keep being used.  They are full of roots in the water, and were waiting to get potted up.  The Persicaria Red Dragon was a gift from the Cathy.  I just keep on propagating it, and it gets passed on to any visitors who like it!

Cathy is the wonderful constant creator of IAVOM, who week in and week out, produces and herds us together.  Her post for this week is 'Dotty'.... Cathy is a great one for adding props, so this week my brass lizard shows just how hot it has been.  The arrangement is back on the mantelpiece where it is cooler and should survive a few days.

It has been very hot, and my rain dances have been letting the garden down....even when other areas of the country have received deluges, and the weather map shows rain over this area, still nothing...Parts of the garden need watering, and it seems to take all my spare time to water pots and favourite plants I don't wish to loose.  The internet went down, and after visits from BT and a new router, we are thankfully reconnected.

I picked this book up quite by chance in the library.  I had to go to Town and just needed a cool down, so headed to the library with its air conditioning, and all I felt like doing was having a sit down.  My eyes roamed the shelves for something, and maybe it was the botanic theme of the cover and the short introductions, but having brought this home, I have enjoyed both the style and the story.  Now I need to find another novel.....

In a Vase on Monday - Grace and friends

 I couldn't hold out any longer, this week it has to be roses.  This is just one stem of Rosa Grace which only needed a couple more elements.  I chose a few stems of the hairy leafed  Apple Mint to add as a scent enhancer, and some creamy edged Pittospurum tenuifolium garnettii.  A few weeks ago I was out in the garden and noticed an appealing scent and wondered what it was.  My nose took me to the shrub and I found that it was in full flower, by full I mean lots of flowers, but they are small and dark and against the dark stems only noticeable when you get in close.

The Vase is a cherished gift from Jenny, my Sister, who brought this back from her year teaching in Rouen as part of her degree.  The rocks and possibly a fossil came from our stop over at East Quantoxhead last week.

I've not been posting about the books I have recently read.  I have just finished 'Death with a Double Edge' by Anne Perry, and have enjoyed it very much.  This is not more normal genre, and a book from my WI book club, but I would certainly recommend it.

I'm joining in with Cathy and am looking forward to enjoying some other vases too. 

In my Garden

One of my weekly volunteering 'jobs' consists of spending time choosing books for people:  just a lovely way of spending a few hours.  I work alongside professionals and other volunteers.  I love books, and get to spend more time looking at books generally than if I were to visit the library perhaps once every other week.  When I handle books I'll of course have have a quick look if only to know where to place them.  I was tidying away a whole batch of large print books which had just come back from a nursing home, when my hand fell on a small tome called 'In my Garden' by Christopher Lloyd.  It had no pictures, but small articles.  Of course I had heard of Christopher Lloyd, and had recently seen a piece of archive footage of him in his garden in at Great Dixter, but I had never read any of his work, and decided to bring it home and give it a try.

What a discovery it has been!  I completely agree with the note on the back cover that his prose is exciting, his knowledge vast, his ideas are provocative, and he makes one laugh out loud.  As I read the book, I have a heavy book open alongside: The RHS Gardeners' Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers, so that I can quickly look up the plant he is describing. Its not a recent edition, (1990), nearly 25 years old, which I picked up in one of the local charity shops, but it is post dates most of the articles in this book.  I wonder whether there are any present day garden writers of Christopher Lloyd's caliber, and as readable and entertaining.  I picked up some recent RHS magazines and felt the writing style was so very different.  Just as when I was reading the Picture of Dorian Gray recently, I feel that there are so many quotable and memorable passages in his work.  I must start to make some notes, as these would make excellent small extracts to write onto bookmarks etc!

In my garden over the last few days, it has been bright sunshine one minute, and thunder lightning and heavy rain the next.  I brought in a few stems of Grace which I moved from its pot where it had been growing for two years into the border by the patio.  It is a little lax in its growth this year, no doubt due to the heavy dark weather we have been having, and I had staked it with some short bamboo canes.  I have a clump growing just behind the gazebo, and thinnings come in handy for this.  I laughed when I read about Christopher Lloyd's views in 'Stakes on the Future'.  The leaves of Grace are a little pale, no doubt many of the nutrients have been washed down deeper than the roots.  I used Epsom salts a couple of years ago, and will try these again, as well as some more of David Austin's rose pellets.

I planted seven new rose trees last November: Munstead Wood, Gertrude Jekyll, Princess Anne, and the following climbers: A Shropshire Lad, St Swithun, , Crown Princess Margareta and Claire Autin The first to flower is Gertrude Jekyll.  I've snipped off all the flowers, hoping the plant will make more growth in its first year.  I'm not that happy so far with most of the plants, but there is time still, and it has been an odd growing season.  I think in future I shall buy potted plants in the spring rather than bare rooted plants.  They looked pretty strong and I planted them in well prepared soil, in good weather the day after the arrived, and they have had plenty of water.

The scent of this Gertrude Jekyll rose is like old rose perfume, and I've put this little vase in the bedroom.

Izzi and I picked a large bunch of roses from the Etoile de Hollande for her to take back home on Saturday, and with the very open blooms, which will not last more than a day, we picked all the petals, and lay them out on the table in the conservatory to dry.  I am gradually collecting a large bowl full.

In a Vase on Monday - Full of Grace

Today is an Auspicious Date in our family calendar......

So I have held back this year, until now, to post a vase of roses the colour of which is beguiling.  

It is Rose Grace, which I had in my previous garden and have written about many times, 

and then missed so much I ordered a couple for my conservatory border, less than a year ago.  They are in full bloom, and are looking wonderful with their bright green foliage.  The blooms have stood the downpours without damage, which is a great attribute.

To balance out the roses, which are around 10cm across I have added some Persicaria Red Dragon, the big leaf being 17cm long, the original plant coming from Cathy, and a few stems of Phalaris arundinacea with its barcoded leaves, a recent gift from a gardening friend.  I love this plant despite a reputation of being rampant.  It adds a slender vertical element in the garden, and I recall growing it in several previous gardens, except the last one.

The vase is a lovely cloisonne vase collected by my mother's on her travels around China nearly forty years ago....

I shall go over to Cathy's blog, link into hers, and see what other friends have posted today...Cathy has posted roses too, with a great story under the theme of forgiving....

Six on Saturday - 16 November 2024

The weeks wiz by , and now we arrived at mid November leaves me baffled.  Jim is our leader for sharing of six things in our gardens.  The guidelines for joining in and the place to anchor your post is on his blog Garden Ruminations. 

1. With sunshine came butterflies and bumble bees visiting the Chrysanthemums, and made the grey days of last week melt away. 

Another special moment came when a robin  made the most of the bird bath, and since then, I have been cleaning it and changing the water each day. As I did yesterday evening.  I worked in the garden till it almost dark enjoying the company of Robin even though he is still very shy. Digging out the sedum, planting the fern, and giving the Conservatory bed a good tidy and mulch in readiness for the spring bulbs to emerge.

2. The cyclamen coum are already starting to flower in that bed.

3. At the start of the week the nasturtium leaves were still vibrant and green, adding to the frisson of wondering just how much longer they will hold, and still today they are green. I may well go and pick some since next week is forecast to be much colder.

4. The grass Panicum virgatum 'Sangria' bought this year is lovely but has not developed the red or purple flushed leaves I had expected.  It have developed a pale golden colour which works nicely in that spot.

Panicum virgatum 'Sangria'

The height suits this space and hopefully next year when it is a little more mature it will be more handsome.  I had Japanese Blood Grass on my list, and when I popped into my local garden shop to get some grit, they had one by the entrance.  I shall wait till next year to plant it out in the garden.  If anyone would like to comment on the foolishness of this please do leave your views in the comments.  I don't want to release an invasive plant into the garden, so shared experiences would be useful.

5. I've made a start on gently mulching the conservatory border.  Around one of the Rosa Grace  was the Primula "Treborth Yellow", which I was quite bowled over by this spring. Not surprisingly I had split it after flowering  into three.  A few weeks ago I had taken one and split it into three good plants, that I moved so that it as backdrop the dark foliage of the Pittosporum Tom Thumb.  

Primula "Treborth Yellow" planted up

This week the remaining two got divided and planted up into one of my special pots, hoping that it makes a real eye catcher next spring. With  a good sized space round the poor struggling Rosa Grace and a good measure of manure, it had better show its gratitude next year, or else it is being removed.

6.  Yesterday afternoon as the sun set Cornus sanguinea 'Midwinter Fire' was giving off what seemed like a glow, with the colours even more intense and rich than in the picture taken in the afternoon.

Strangely it is only now that it is starting to flower.

I really had thought I would not have had sufficient to choose six this week, it may be harder still next week, but hopefully I shall be able to go out, potter around and enjoy as pleasing a session as I had yesterday. 

Six on Saturday - 1 March 2025

On this first day of spring,the garden, having had a few days of bright sunshine, is certainly getting into gear.  The news described the first of March as the end of winter, but I thought it the spring equinox.  I prefer to focus on this gardening at the moment or my head will burst with everything else going on. Those of us who love to garden and to note the changes in our gardens, meet up over on Jim's post.  If that is something you would like to join in with, even from time to time, Jim has some guidance. 

Here are Six from the garden on this gloriously sunny spring day.

1. This crocus is small but beautiful and a true delight. Last year I was not convinced of its name, and hopefully someone will be able to name it. It certainly has done very well overwinter in the ground, unlike a couple of the other yellow varieties I had bought a couple of years ago.

2. Seriously I would love to be able to increase this gorgeous little Crocus.  I bought the bulbs last autumn from Pottertons, and I am getting many blooms from each little bulb.  I appealed to The Crocus and Colchicum group on Facebook for guides on how best to do this, and the author of an excellent article 'Botanical Bulbs' sent a link to an article they have written. I'm not so dedicated as to go the whole hog, however there are some good tips, and hopefully next year, I shall have more of these bulbs.I look forward to even more Crocus heuffelianus ‘Shock Wave’ blooms opening during the sunny weather.

3. For seven year I have been enjoying the colourful spring foliage on Sorbaria sorbifolia 'Sem'. This is the first spring that it is doing its uncurling of delicate foliage with its roots down in the ground.

Sorbaria sorbifolia 'Sem'

4. One of the largest and last of the snowdrops this to grace the garden is Galanthus Marjorie Brown. It is described as a strong growing elwesii var. monostictus with large flowers and glaucous leaves, and it started to emerge weeks ago, each bulb having three leaves, it almost looked like it was going to be a grey leaved tulip. 

5. Of course I am delighted that the primula are starting to flower again in the garden. This Primula juliae 'Port and Lemon' has done really well in the garden since it came here four years ago.  Easy to divide and its name a little teaser. Its lemon coloured blooms and its bronze leaves are easily recognisable. Here the sun and the camera have colluded to bleach out the port coloured leaves.

Primula juliae 'Port and Lemon'

I was rather disappointed when reading the result of RHS trials of Primulas in their March 2025 edition, to find that Primula vulgaris 'Taigetos' has no current suppliers.  How fustrating is that to someone like me who has just the right situation for it!  Anyway, I consoled myself by setting off in wellies to check on a local bank of primroses just a few fields away from the house.  In another two weeks it will be in its full glory.

6. The sun is bringing out bumblebees and other insects, and drawing my attention to the various plants inviting them to visit.

The sap is rising, buds and bugs setting to do their thing, let us get out there and enjoy that.  

And because it is St David's day, and my David likes little things too, here is what is left of my Narcissus cyclamineus

Narcissus cyclamineus