flowers

Too busy gardening to blog about gardening!

Which is a good thing, really! But I have missed writing these updates and sharing the photos and plants which I’ve accumulated in the past couple of weeks.

The weather has, unbelievably, been marvellous – sunny and warm and perfect for getting into the garden and planting out all the seedlings and young plants which have, until now, been crowding the utility/greenhouse, plastic growhouse and my ‘hardening off table’ outside the kitchen door. Over the past fortnight I’ve planted out marigolds (mostly in the veg garden), cosmos (corner patio), zinnia (in the raised bed with other cut flowers) and filled an enormous hanging basket with lobelia.

The garden’s also filling up with some new additions, thanks to a local church plant sale which was quickly followed by the school summer fair – I managed to pick up about maybe 20 different cuttings and small plants for less than a tenner! Annoyingly I forgot to photograph them, so I can’t display this triumphant haul, and I have now planted most of them!

They included some crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ which is now in the front borders in between the rhodedendrons to provide some late summer colour. I’m looking forward to seeing those spring up. I also picked up some gorgeous little forget-me-nots, which I’ve put into the side patio bed (the plan for this has changed somewhat – but that’s for another post!). There was a cutting of rosemary, two cornflower plants, some more lobelia and a mystery plant which I’ve put in a pot to see how it will turn out!

I’ve also picked up some new plants at Gardening Scotland – an event in Edinburgh which featured show gardens, plants, floral displays, food and lots and lots of gardening-related equipment for sale. My mum and I had a great day wandering around and enjoying the sights and scents. There was a wide variety of plants for sale, most by independent Scottish nurseries, and I found some beautiful, delicate alpines (I love them so much I will also do a separate post on these) and two hydrangea. I just couldn’t resist the hydrangea, as I have a weakness for these anyway, but also because these were unusual varieties and beautifully coloured. One is called ‘Popcorn Blue’, basically because it’s blue and looks like popcorn!

So, along with these new additions to the gardening, and thanks to the abundant sunshine, everything is filling out nicely and the garden’s beginning to look properly lush. The nearby trees have obviously filled out and we’re now surrounded by greenery. I’m spotting young birds visiting frequently and if you pause to listen you can often hear the squeaks and cheeps of a little feathered family nearby. The starlings are still doing daily raids too – I wonder if they’ll stick around when they’re grown, as we don’t usually get starlings in our garden.

The fruit and veg in the secret garden’s also looking brilliant, but I think this post is long enough and they deserve their own entry! So, it’s time to get back outside. I’ll leave you with a few photos of the various plants which are new or are showing off in the garden just now…

Laburnum

Hydrangea – ‘popcorn blue’ on the right!

Euphorbia

Aqualegia

Dicentra

Rhodedendron

Hesperis (sweet rocket)

Flowers/Fruits

The blossom is now giving way to potential fruit. Walking around the garden a couple of evenings ago I marvelled at how a flower – petals, pollen, delicate things – will change and swell and eventually turn into a fruit.

The plum blossom in our garden is finishing, but the big apple tree’s just starting to come out, taking its place. Meanwhile a new little step-over apple tree (a gift from my lovely parents!) is in full bloom with gorgeous pure white flowers and a sharp appley scent. They’re surprisingly large flowers given the size of the tree.

The step-over apple ‘James Grieve’

Right next to it, the gooseberry bush is promising a healthy crop this year – much more, I think, than the eight which I picked from it last year! Actually it doesn’t matter how many I get…I still have no idea what to do with gooseberries. I’ve never cooked with them and there certainly wouldn’t be enough for jam, even if I wanted to try it. I will google some recipes – if there’s enough I may try and include them in some form of baking.

It was a flower…now it’s a teeny tiny goosegab!

It was the little blueberry bush which started off this train of thought. I love how their delicate little bell flowers with just a hint of blue already look like berries in the making.

Blueberries-to-be

As you can tell from the photos it’s been a damp few days, which I don’t mind as I know it’ll give everything in the garden a proper boost, especially the young veg. But I’m hopeful the weekend will bring a bit more sunshine and dry weather. I’m currently hardening off my seedlings and the cosmos and marigolds will need to be planted out soon as they’re becoming rather leggy in their pots. Other jobs for the weekend will include staking my one and only tomato plant (it’s becoming enormous!), sowing my remaining annuals straight into some of the borders, a bit of weeding and maybe even a trip to a local plant sale to see if I can find a few bargains. I can’t resist a bargain plant!

A few photos

My current faves in the garden are the little patch of snakes head fritillary and the hellebores at the front of the back border, still going strong. I took my DSLR and 50mm lens out in the evening sunshine tonight and managed to get a few shots of these which I’m really pleased with.

I think I’ve finally figured out how to get the best from this prime lens! For photography fans – I stopped it down to f1.8 for this effect – the flower pops right out.

But this shot is my photo of the day…

…and it’s my current favourite spring flower in the garden – a delicate little hybrid of the purple fritillary and one of the few whites which are also there. It looks like it’s made of tissue.

Sunshine and snow

It has been a week of VERY mixed weather, with the past couple of days seeing glorious sunshine…while little flakes of snow gently drift down from above. Beautiful but c-c-c-cold.

So I’ve been wrapping up some of my tender plants or bringing in those in pots which I’ve been hardening off, like geraniums and fuschia. The passiflora I planted up in a lovely blue pot just last week is currently ‘dressed’ in one of my husband’s old t-shirts pinned together with clothes pegs. And my pea seedlings, which are showing signs of slight frost damage have most recently been protected by a free fleece cover which I got when I recently bought a little growhouse.

I chose the wrong week to move my seedlings from the utility/greenhouse into their new growhouse (I got it partly for hardening them off and to make watering easier, and partly to get some space back in the utility room!) because I think they’ll be ok inside their little plastic cocoon but I’ve been worrying about them during the snowy days – maybe it’s just too cold for them to be outside?? I’d be frustrated to lose them after spending the last few weeks watching them grow. But I suppose that’s the joy/despair of gardening! Fingers crossed they are protected enough and will survive this cold snap.

Checking the raised beds in the secret garden, I discovered signs of germination – hurrah! The purple sprouting broccolli is emerging, along with a few pea shoots and some rocket and lettuce. I am slightly worried about my potatoes – not a sign yet, although my dad, who planted his just the day before I did, has already got green tops showing.

purple sprouting broccolli

pea

rocket

Back in the main back garden, the blossom on the apple and plum trees is there, tightly wadded up, just waiting for the next warm and sunny day to burst out and really show off. I love blossom. One or two little flowers are already emerging – a hint of what’s to come…

Lobelia learning curve

I sowed lobelia last year, directly into the raised bed I used to grow cut flowers* and they did quite well, but flowered fairly late in the season and are not really great for cutting, they’re better for baskets or pots. So this year I sowed early under cover, with the aim of using the plants for two large wire hanging baskets which we inherited with the house. I have a vision of these lovely trailing purple flowers decorating the front of our house and making visitors ‘ooh’ appreciatively when they visit.

Lobelia erinus

However. Lobelia seeds and indeed their seedlings are ickle tiny wee things and quite tricky to prick out, as I have discovered! It’s not impossible, and I did manage to transfer most of the delicate little plants from the seed tray in clumps into a slightly bigger modular tray. I’m hoping from here they will grow big enough to then plant into baskets so that they can look beautiful at the front of the house, visitors will ‘ooh’, etc etc… However. Having dragged the wire baskets from the back of the shed to have a good look at them, they are BIG. 60cm each in fact, and I’m pretty sure my little crop of lobelias will only fill one of these at best.

I will definitely keep growing them anyway, they’ll do for a smaller basket or pot – but perhaps in the meantime I might have to invest in some pre-grown bedding plants for the hanging baskets, especially if I want them on display any time soon!

teeny, tiny seedling

pricking out lobelia is tricky!

In other garden news, I did the first grass cut of the season – yay! I observed two things:

1) the chickens didn’t freak out as much as I thought they might at the sound of the lawnmower. This is good, as I really didn’t want to have to cut the grass fortnightly during the summer under cover of darkness after they’d gone to bed to avoid scaring them!

2) The grass is in a pretty crappy state. What with scarifying, plus a bit of extra treading around fixing up a chicken run, plus a lot of rain recently, it’s not exactly looking green and lush and is still very mossy. This will be a long-running battle I think, to restore it to a healthy state.

My grass does NOT look like this <sob>

*This sounds impressive, but didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, apart from the cornflowers and a few snapdragons. I am giving it another bash this year and have sowed earlier so hopefully will get better results!

Too many seedlings?

…or is there no such thing?!

I am busy trying to pot up some of the seedlings which are getting taller by the day, including about two dozen French Marigolds.

Marigold seedlings – plus a small tomato plant dontated by a friend!

I don’t really know how many seeds you’re ‘supposed’ to sow but I seem to have a lot of marigolds here. I don’t think they’ll go to waste – I have plenty bedding space for them, or could give a few to family and friends so I’m just growing them all on! I also have a few cosmos and zinnia which need pricked out into bigger pots, but there aren’t as many of these and I kept back some of the seeds so that I could also sow direct into the ground. There are half a dozen sweet pea seedlings too but I’m holding off on planting them out for another week or so when there’s less risk of frost.

In other news today I have managed to clear the side patio, which I’m preparing to transform into an area for pots. I’ve lifted and potted the herbs which were worth keeping and chucked the ones which were past their best. Now all I have to do is put down a weed-suppressing membrane, lay some decorative stones on top and begin a collection of pots for this area. This should make the area fairly easy to maintain, and I’ll be able to chop and change pots depending on mood/season/availability of plants. There’s also a recently planted rambling rose (New Dawn) close to the wall, which I hope will do what it’s supposed to and ramble all over the place, covering up some of the rather drab grey brickwork.

Looking bare…but not for too long

Herbs potted up and looking tidy

As well as this I’ve planted two new climbers – a honeysuckle for the corner patio and a passiflora which has gone into a large blue planter with some climbing support. I love a climber and these two I picked up at Asda for just £2 each.

Passiflora in its new home. Please also note in the background the gorgeous red rhodedendron which is just emerging and is one of the stars of the back garden!

My husband made himself useful in the garden today, and helped me get rid of a large, unidentified, spiky shrub which I have proclaimed extinct. He’s cleared it from the back border, along with an old azalea, opening up this area for some colour. Having put in the Lidl primroses, I realised this corner has the potential to be much more interesting so I’d like to get a few perennials to brighten up the area and make it a bit more pleasing to look at, especially as it’s the main area of view from one of the kitchen windows.

Primroses and a couple of heuchera providing a small burst of colour, but there’s potential for so much more!

So there we have it, today I spent a couple of hours here and there in the garden pottering on a handful of minor jobs but it was still very useful and enjoyable. As I was re-potting herbs and clearing old plants I realised how even the preparation work in the garden can be satisfying – it’s like you’re moving around the pieces of the puzzle so that you can figure out the best fit and make the overall picture look really good!

My jigsaw might have to go on hold for the next few days though as the weather is due to take a turn for the worse. I have set a reminder on my phone to remember to bring in the tender plants I’m hardening off (fuschias and geraniums) as the nights are due to be very cold. Such is the way of Spring I suppose – a few bonnie days can quickly be followed by Winter’s last hurrah…

Mr Smith

As promised in my previous post, just a few hours ago, I grabbed the opportunity to get out into the garden and I’m pleased to say it was a productive afternoon and evening.

I had to dodge a few showers but I managed to plant out pea seedlings, as well as sowing new pea seeds. I also sowed early carrots, lettuce and rocket under a fleece mini-tunnel (the only one of two which survived the recent high winds). In the same bed there was one square space remaining so I constructed a makeshift obelisk from some branches foraged from the woods just behind us (fallen, not cut!) and sowed a few remaining sweet pea seeds beneath it, with the help of my smallest daughter, who loves to pick the flowers.

Pea seedlings

AND just before the light fell, I also filled in some space at the top of the potato bed with a few broccoli seeds – a bit of an experiment as I haven’t grown it before and, to be honest, we don’t eat much broccoli. I reckon whether it’s successful or not, the chickens will benefit from these plants the most!

Phew – I got quite a lot done with the bit of time I had and am feeling quite satisfied that I’ve got a few seeds and seedlings into the earth today.

A word about my companion when I am sowing or growing vegetables – Mr Smith. After we moved in here and I acquired the raised beds in the Secret Garden, my Dad bestowed upon me his copy of ‘Mr Smith’s Vegetable Garden’.

Mr Smith’s Vegetable Garden

Look! It cost the princely sum of 60 pence

My Dad has been using this book since he began growing his own vegetables many years ago and swears by it as a very simple, straightforward guide to how to grow most veggies in your garden or allotment. For each vegetable, Mr Smith lists the basic guidelines for How to Grow, possible Pests and Diseases and Storage and Kitchen Hints, plus a few simple line drawings for a bit of illustration. I have just checked the front cover and the book was first published in 1976 (as well as a reprint in 1977 – the year I was born!) and the advice and guidance in it is as relevant now as it was then. The book looks old-fashioned, but then I have a weak spot for ‘vintage’ gardening books – something I will definitely share in a future post…

Clearly Dad thought I could find the book as useful as he did as a reference point – and I do. Every year at this time I know I will bring out the book to check guidance for sowing my veg. I don’t know who Mr Smith was – the Monty Don of his day perhaps – but he’s an excellent guide and adviser when it comes to growing your own vegetables.

Scarifying!

Scarifying has been the main aim of today. Recently I was enjoying a cup of coffee in the garden and surveying the back lawn, when I realised that it was looking decidedly mossy – in fact it was starting to take over. The blades of grass were poking up sporadically between large patches of spongy moss, and it was starting to look like 70/30 in favour of the moss – maybe more in places!

So a plan of action was formed. The Head Gardener (aka My Dad) appeared today with an electric scarifier and we set to work trying to hoik up a large amount of moss and thatch and non-grass from the grass. He did the scarifying, I did the raking and scooping. We filled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow until his trailer was full of a giant pile of moss, ready for tipping at the local recycling centre. It seemed like a big job but actually took less than an hour – and was SO satisfying. Removing all the mossy stuff has left the grass looking a bit scruffy and muddy in places but I’m assured by the aforementioned Head Gardener that it should come back looking much better, although we may need to repeat the procedure annually, if not twice a year.

One of many, many wheelbarrows full of moss

He’s very good at reminding me that gardeners must play the long game. We can’t always get results straight away – in fact, we hardly ever do! It takes time for seeds to germinate, for buds to form and flowers to bloom. If we prune a shrub, it will take time for it to re-grow into a more pleasing shape; some trees will take years and years to grow – we have a Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria araucana) in the front garden which will take so long to reach a significant height that we will probably be long gone by the time it does so! And he likes to remind me, Instant-Gratification Girl, that I must be patient when it comes to my garden. I hope to enjoy it for many years, so a quick transformation is not necessary and virtually impossible, so I must take my time, plan carefully and be persistent with things like the grass and the Secret Garden/Allotment. Grass must be looked after, soil must be enriched and worked – the results will show themselves in time, and will be worth the effort.

In Bargain Shopping News, I was at Lidl today and picked up some more cut-price plants: two geraniums (99p each), four primroses (£1.89 each, 12 box (£1.99 for six) and a jasmine (£4.69).

The primroses are gorgeous – I chose two cream/white plants and two in pinky-purple shades. I will probably put these in pots but to be honest I’ve fallen so suddenly and completely for these sturdy little flowers with their vivid colours that it will be difficult to resist going back for more for the flower beds…

Primula

Wee pea shoots

Great excitement – the first shoots are emerging from my peas!

I reckon it really doesn’t matter if it’s your first time or your hundredth time planting seeds and watching them grow – those first little nubs of green pushing their way through the soil always give you a little rush of excitement; a sense of satisfaction that you are officially Growing Something. Nature and you are working together, you are a TEAM!

Nature and I are also working on some aubergines, peppers, sweet peas, lobelia – and as of today, some cosmos, zinnia and marigolds.

I may be running out of room in the greenhouse-utility room already…

A whole day in the garden

A WHOLE DAY. This almost never happens, thanks to a combination of family responsibilities, weather, a job and various other demands which crop up on a daily or weekly basis. But I have a very rare week off work, promised since last year, and it’s allowed me the luxury of time to write, garden, walk and go to yoga classes whenever I please. So yesterday, I spent all my time outside and I loved it. Following the walk I blogged about in my last post, I wrapped up (it’s still a bit chilly!) and went straight outside, armed with a gardening to-do list.

Focusing on the main garden, I dug, planted, moved shrubs, mulched and snipped myself into a state of bliss. There were two areas I was aiming to clear – the side patio bed and a section of the back border which is where I want the chicken coop (yep, I’m still planning this!) and run to go.

The side bed has been a bit of a conundrum since we moved in. It’s got three thriving shrubs in it already – a bamboo, a camellia and a lovely variegated myrtle bush. At one end I’ve planted some herbs as it’s close to the back door, and easy access from the kitchen when I need some for cooking. But the middle section is quite shallow and tough to dig, with lots of old roots from a huge ivy, most of which has now been cleared to make way for a gas pipe to be fixed along the wall (don’t ask, it’s a long and boring story…). Towards the end of last summer I planted some perennials which I’d bought – geums, lavender and a couple of foxgloves – but this was largely because I couldn’t really think of anything else to do with the bed. They’ve done very little since then of course, so I’ve now lifted them; the lavenders are going into the opposite end of the garden, the corner patio where we have a table and chairs, and where I’m growing a series of climbers to try and hide some of the grey breeze block wall behind. The lavenders should do a good job of brightening up the areas below the clematis, honeysuckle and roses which are already there.

The geums have now gone in below a twisted hazel which is also next to the back door, again a little bit of interest for the lower level of this small, rocky bed.

The plan now for the side patio is to put down a membrane, some decorative stones and to plant up lots of pots and place around the existing shrubs. That way, I won’t have to dig into the tough soil, I can plant a variety of containers and can chop and change the pots whenever I like. So, I’ve managed to clear the space ready for this, and now it looks like this…

I’ve also ordered a rambler from Peter Beales roses, which I’ll grow at the back and along the wall to try and hide some of the grey-ness. It’s a pale pink flower, and should complement the vivid green and red-pink of the camellia, which flowered beautifully last year.

I had to move a couple of things out of the back border too, so that I could mark out the approximate space I’ll need for the coop/run I’m hoping for. I moved a young cherry into the front garden, and removed a hydrangea completely. I love hydrangea – I don’t mind that they’re a bit old-fashioned, I just love their huge showy flowers – but this one was quite old and woody, plus I’d taken cuttings from it in the autumn so it will live on. There’s a rhodedendron which might also need moved out of the way but it’s just about to flower so I’ve left it for now.

This is how the space looks now…

In the foreground you might also be able to make out a small magnolia which was also planted yesterday – another bargain from Lidl!

So I’m quite pleased with the preparations I’ve made in these two key areas of the garden. Looking out and seeing the clear spaces gives me a sense of anticipation – I’m ready for the next stage!

And now for a close-up! A selection of photos caputuring what’s going on in the garden just now…

The rhodedendron which is getting ready to flower

Salix – a new pussy willow for the front border

The witch hazel is still going strong

Mild March?

It’s March!

And when I walked out of the door this morning it was much milder than I expected – about 6 or 7 degrees (which for my corner of the earth IS mild at this time of year!), prompting me to break out my New Spring Coat, which is lighter and brighter and it made me happy to wear it for the first time. And then I got this…

…so apparently winter is not done with us quite yet!

On the topic of frosty/mild mornings, a note about hellebores. If you walk out on a frosty morning and find your hellebores looking rather floppy – don’t panic. On very cold days, the stalks will bend low, flowers touching the ground, and they’ll look a bit sad.

sad hellebores 😦

happy hellebores 🙂

But when the temperatures rise again, they’ll perk back up and resume the usual position. When I first witnessed this, I was a bit alarmed and worried I’d somehow damaged them, even though apart from removing old black-spotted leaves I had pretty much left them to their own devices since last year. Thankfully this is normal hellebore behaviour and, being very hardy plants, they should continue to grow quite happily through the rest of the frosts, right through to sunny spring.

So although I might suffer with tomorrow’s predicted severe temperature dip (the New Spring Coat will go back into the wardrobe for now), at least I know my hellebores will not!

Sorting and planning

Is there any better way to spend a snowy Saturday morning than sorting out your seed packets?!

I spent a very satisfying hour this weekend disposing of the old packets, rediscovering ones which I had bought some time ago (I bought dozens out of season in Lidl for 15p each!!) and then planning my sowing/planting calendar for the next few months. Having also cleaned out my utility room in the past few days, which also serves as my greenhouse, I am now ALL SET to start growing!

I am trying to keep it simple this year, and have plans to repeat my attempts to grow potatoes, carrots, onions and peas. I’m also going to add some lettuce and rocket – mainly because these were some of the bargain 15p packets so if they don’t grow I won’t have lost anything! I think these will be good to try under cover and I have a cloche which I bought in Aldi last year marked down at the end of the growing season (there’s a definite theme developing here…!) so I fancy trying it with the salad veg and maybe a few carrots. Sowing some of these under cover also means I can start growing early, which is good because I’m itching to get started.

First things first, though, and I need some seed potatoes so I can start chitting them. I hope to get my hands on some by the end of the week. I’m also going to sow the first of my sweet pea seeds. These are a must for me in the garden – they are so colourful, they flower abundantly and smell gorgeous. I’m going to plant loads, everywhere!

2015…a summary

These pics display the best of the vegetable beds for 2015 – a poor show I’m afraid and I’m not sure if that’s more to do with my lack of expertise, the quality of the soil or the fact that this summer’s weather was frankly pretty rubbish. Nearby fellow gardeners with a great deal more experience than I have reported that many of their own vegetable crops were also unusually bad so I’m hopeful that with a year’s worth of knowledge under my belt and a much sunnier, warmer spring/summer (fingers crossed) that 2016 will see a lot more growing in these veg beds and that they’ll look a great deal more green and fulsome.

It’s now January so I’m beginning to make a few plans about what will go in this year – for a start I think I will try to grow some more fruit. Some Tayberry bushes left by the previous owner, which I thought I had removed (I didn’t know what they were at the time), seem to be growing back so I’m going to encourage them to return! I’d like to have some more raspberries and on the veg front I will probably try again for some potatoes and maybe carrots. I’m going to be less ambitious and plant more of a smaller number of vegetables, rather than a wide variety. And I’m hoping I can pull some rhubarb this year – the plants grew ok but never looked particularly ripe and ready…

Another thing I would also like to repeat is planting a bed of flowers for cutting – this did well, although it looked very unruly a lot of the time! But my daughters enjoyed picking the flowers and making up little bouquets and vases with different stems and I really loved seeing how quickly they grew, even if many of the flowers did take a long time to bloom (like I said, it was a cool summer!).

The snapdragons did quite well and the sweet peas were marvellous – these will definitely be back in 2016 I think.

The Thrifty Gardener

Aldi is my friend! I have been in need of a few bedding plants to fill some spare pots and was very keen to add some bulbs to the garden after a fairly poor showing last year. However I’m also trying not to overspend after a month which saw a few extra payments leave the account. So I decided to get down to Aldi, having had a good experience there previously, picking up ten – TEN! – bare root roses for just 90p each! I’ve also had a cherry and two raspberry canes from Lidl and all of these, planted early last winter, seem to be doing ok. And even if they weren’t, I would be safe in the knowledge that I hadn’t wasted my money killing off a pricey plant!

Aldi came up trumps this time too – allowing myself £20 to spend I managed to scoop dozens of bulbs, four trays of bedding plants, 20 packets of seeds (just 19p each!) and two small patio roses, all within my budget.

Here’s the haul in all its glory…

…and here’s the final result.

I spent sunny afternoon potting the bedding plants into an assortment of spare containers, including an old chimney pot (which I think we found at our previous home and subsequently moved it with us!) and an abandoned giant teapot which I found beside a skip at the local dump and ‘reappropriated’ for my garden. I’m really happy with this mini burst of colour and interest in my fast-fading garden, particularly with the cyclamen – I love these little twirly flowers!

Spring is doing its thing

I’m finding it really exhilarating to watch Spring unfolding in our garden for the first time. Trees and bushes are budding and blossoming and little green shoots are appearing in unexpected places, so that I’m wondering what plants are hiding under there that I didn’t even know I had! Among these surprises are dozens of grape hyacinth which are now in full bloom in the front garden, the snakes head fritillary which I posted about recently and dicentra, Bleeding Heart, which I was admiring in a garden centre recently, totally unaware that one was pushing its way up in the back garden.

One of the plants doing the best in the back at the moment is a stunning red rhodedendron.

It’s in full flower and sort of socks you in the eyeball as soon as you step round the corner! We have a few more rhodedendrons which are also doing nicely and providing bright splashes of colour at the front and back of the house. This pretty white one has a lovely delicate fragrance:

Rhodies weren’t traditionally a big favourite of mine, and I confess to trimming a couple of them quite drastically and yanking out a few of their azalea cousins in the autumn when I was tidying the beds up before the winter. However seeing their early displays of colour in our gardend also at Glendoick Gardens (more on this visit later) has definitely made me reconsider their virtues.

Finally, a wee photo of the fab little grape hyacinths – they’re such a gorgeous vibrant purple right now!

Julianne Robertson

writer | communications consultant | garden media specialist