On days like these

Narcissus 'Tete-a-tete' and Swing

On days like these when the sun is shining so hot it feels like summer I find the best thing to do is to just savour the moment.

Today I waved my father off as he towed the caravan for a break alone for the first time in his life.  Fifty-five years he and mum were together - before that was National Service - before that was living with his mum and dad.  It's not even seven months since mum died yet dad has managed to do something I thought he might never do.

It amazes me, just as I am amazed at how earth that seemed so bare and cold just a few months ago is now rippling with greenery and colour.  I know I planted some of the things that are growing and I know this happens all over these islands at this time of year every year but it still amazes me.




I sowed the seeds of Aquilegia viridiflora 'Chocolate Soldier' on 7th April 2013, so it has taken two years to be able to see this wonder.

A little shy, it bows its delicate head on a slender stem above deeply cut foliage tinged with chocolate at the edges.  Gently, lift its head and this is what is to be seen:

Sown in July 2014, were the Forget-me-nots, Myosotis 'Spring Symphony Blue':

More biennials:

Bellis Perennis 'Large Flowered Mixed' sown on 26 June 2014 (that would have been our 16th wedding anniversary had my wife lived).

The purple flowers towards the rear are Honesty, Lunaria annua, sown on 2nd July 2014.














Below, in my 'Gravel Garden' the unknown Iris from Lorraine Mitchell is spreading, as is Thymus serpyllum 'Coccineus' on the slabs, the yellow leaved Thymus x citriodorus 'Archer's Gold', and behind that the Dianthus deltoides while the quintessential English lavender Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' is creating a nice edge.

The first bluebell has also begun to bloom.  These were in the garden when I came so I don't know if they are English, Spanish or a hybrid.  They will be lovely when they are all out, though some people call them a garden thug.  Me, I'm not scared.

Hyacinthoides non-scripta ... maybe
Behind it is Narcissus triandrus 'Thalia' ... definitely

And as I lie down and gaze up at the sky I am stunned by the newly opening foliage of the Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, which looks like it has been living much longer than I have:

Looking back at the garden I am also looking forward to what else is to come this year.

I shall always savour days like these, for while I may look forward and back I really only have today. And none of us know what lies ahead - not even Rossano Brazzi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO8RGw-1RJs

A Power Much Higher Than I

Do I know what life is about? No.
Am I in charge of my own life?  No.
Am I grateful for this life that I have? Yes.

So, why am I grateful?  Because this brief, bewildering life is a beautiful wonder to behold.  If you don't believe me, just look at the life going on in my back garden today.

Hart's Tongue Fern (Asplenium scolopendrium) unravelling its fresh fronds.  This belongs to a group of plants that worked out a way of living on this planet long before human beings arrived on the scene - so who is smarter?  I don't know, but we are both still here.

There was a time when human beings spent a fortune speculating on Tulip bulbs just as they do property and shares today.  Curiously, the multi-coloured the blooms they prized most highly are created by a virus.

Maybe they would not have rated something like Tulipa fosteriana 'Purissima'.

Or Tulipa fosteriana 'Orange Emperor'.

And I am guessing someone once looked at this basic Tulipa sylvestris and wondered: How can I improve on that?

Right now I am seeing beauty everywhere I look in this little back garden of mine.

From the beginnings of fresh growth on the Yew, Taxus baccata . . .

. . . to the red glow of the stems (petioles?) of the new leaves on Viburnum x bodnatense, a highly scented winter flowering hybrid shrub originating from Bodnant Garden in North Wales.

Red stems of the sedge, Uncinia Rubra - a native of New Zealand it belongs to a group of plants from the sub-continent Gondwana that existed over 180 million years ago.  As such, they are found in New Zealand, Australia and South America which at that time were part of the same land mass.

After Gondwana, and so found in South America but not the Antipodes (oops, a bit Brito-centric there) is Fuchsia magellanica.  I cut this back hard and now in what might have seemed like dead wood to some there are the reddish buds of new foliage breaking forth.











A red glow that has been developed by the human influence is that belonging to Euphorbia griffithii 'Dixter':

A Chinese native, Paeonia lactiflora (Peony Rose) has formed its bud and getting ready to bloom:

As is the Spanish Poppy, Papaver rupifragum which has hitched its way here with both house moves since 2006:

London Pride (Saxifraga x urbium) has its flower bud forming deep within its rosette and that hairy stem will raise it up into the sun shortly with flowers of a delicate complexity.

Some plants (called weeds by some sad people) are determined to grow against the odds.  This Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) has pushed its way through a smothering carpet of Osteospermum foliage to produce this magnificent bloom.

Visually less spectacular but no less remarkable is this battered Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) - torn from being stepped on and treated like a weed between slabs, it is determined to bloom and has produced a flower on a shorter stem as a result.  It is a strategy that has worked because I have fallen in love with its resilience and decided to let stay at home in this particular crack.





These last few days has seen the so-called Winter Windflower coming into bloom:

Anemone blanda 'White Splendour'

Anemone blanda 'Blue Shades'

And speaking of windflowers, I could imagine this exquisite daffodil almost flying from its stem into spring sky.

This is Narcissus triandrus 'Thalia'.

And this little gem is Narcissus jonquil 'Sailboat'.













Of course, some plants have already moved on from budding and flowering and are beginning to think about setting seed for the next generation:

Scilla siberica

Caught in a spider web, the spores still attached to a portion of fern leaf and we are back near where we started - I think.

So, to whom am I grateful for all this life?

I don't know.  I call he, she, it and/or them a power greater than myself .  I don't claim to understand that power but it has helped me save my own life and I see it in everything I look at in my back garden today.

For short, I call he, she, it and/or them God but I never found that God in any Church or Sunday School.  After all this colour I shall leave you with the man in black: Johnny Cash.  I think he maybe found his higher power in the same way I found mine.

April Flowers

I think I shall just let the pictures do the talking today.

Yellow flower with dark foliage in the foreground is Ranunculus ficaria 'Brazen Hussy'.  Amongst the flowers of Bellis perennis behind it is the emerging foliage of two beauties from Quercus Plants, Fife two years ago: Astilbe 'Straussenfeder' and Filipendula rubra 'Venusta' both of which are yet to fulfill their potential.

In the tub, Narcissus 'Tete-a-tete' has begun flowering a few weeks after those that are in the ground.

The daffodils by the swing are Narcissus 'Fortune'.

A closer view of the Narcissus 'Fortune' by the swing.  In the background is the water butt collecting from the potting shed roof and the beginnings of what will become a bug hotel using an old nest of tables as the framework.

Two kinds of Tulipa fosteriana have opened in the last couple of days: 'Orange Emperor' to the front and 'Purissima' to the rear.  Unlike some tulips, these can be left in the ground without losing their vitality.

The blue flowers are Muscari azureum, a less invasive form of Grape Hyacinth and the foliage doesn't overwhelm as much either.  These are sitting in front of the prostrate Juniperus squamata, the divided foliage of Geranium purpureum (Little Robin - or is it Geranium robertianum Herb Robert?), and the shiny foliage of Fragaria chiloensis 'Chaval.'  The silver foliage at the left edge belongs to Lamium maculatum 'Pink Pewter'.

I don't know what kind of daffodil this is.

Or this.

Or even these.

But I do remember that these are Forget-me-nots that are just coming into flower: Myosotis 'Spring Symphony Blue' which were grown from a packet of Suttons Seeds.

The first Snake's Head Fritillary of the year has also come into flower: Fritillaria meleagris - a very exotic-looking British native.  In the pot behind is the fresh red-tinged foliage of  the Blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum 'Patriot'. I keep this in a pot as it requires a lower pH than that offered by my garden soil.

Though not yet in flower, the light gives even our common bramble a certain beauty: Rubus fruticosus.  But there, I have given an opinion when I said I was going to let the pictures do the talking.

Moral: Don't believe a word I say.

They also serve

As my old pal John Milton said when his sight was failing: "They also serve who only stand and wait."  In life in my back garden there is a lot of standing or sitting and even lying and waiting.  Sometimes life comes to those who wait and if I was a better photographer I could show you the wren that was working its way through my garden; the female blackbird who stood only a foot away from me for ages while eyeing up then picking up worms; and the two kittens who decided to use the space for a territorial dog fight.  But I am not a better photographer, so here are some of the less dramatic aspects of life today.

I am sure that these flower buds only appeared today on the daffodils Narcissus jonquilla 'Sailboat' as the stems only stood and waited in the sun.












As I watched my first bumble bee of the year heating up on a primula I also noticed the leaves of Anemone Blanda 'White Splendour' had appeared

However, it was only after taking the picture that I noticed the flower buds tucked under the leaves as well.


(Why this picture decided to upload itself on its side I do not know and I can't find a way to rotate it)











A fellow member of the Ranunculaceae family of plants is Aquilegia also known as Columbine or, indeed, Granny's Bonnets.

I find the emerging foliage of this one particularly attractive.  It is Aquilegia viridiflora 'Chocolate Soldier' which I grew from seed sown in April 2013.  They didn't do much last year but I am hoping they will flower this year.  The species originates from Siberia, this variety was introduced in 1902 and the flowers are supposed to be scented.  I continue to wait patiently for these.






The plastic greenhouse cover that was blown to shreds in the wind has been replaced and today I planted 70 corms of  the North American Gayfeather Liatris spicata in 70 small pots to start them into growth to delight the bees in the summer.  Just you wait and see.

Other things that appear to be only standing and waiting but are actually working hard include:

Myosotis 'Royal Blue' - Forget-Me-Not
Seed grown, the winter got rid of the mildew that threatened them in autumn.

Myrrhis odorata - Sweet Cicely
Must remember to remove those Sycamore seedlings.

Silene dioica - Red Campion
Fox and Cubs Pilosella aurantiaca in the background
One day, a wildflower haven this shall be.

Little Robin (maybe) Geranium purpureum
Amid runners of Bugle Ajuga reptans 'Braunherz'

Snakes Head Fritillary Fritillaria meleagris in sunken pots
Ox-Eye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgaris in the grown
Daffodil Narcissus 'Fortune' reaching for the sky

But it is not all waiting.  Something's are very definitely happening.  Another Siberian plant, the beautiful blue Scilla siberica is flowering nicely today:

The species daffodil, Narcissus lobularis, is more subtle than its highly cultivated cousins but no less enchanting for all that:

But, you could say they too are only standing and waiting.  Waiting to be pollinated or for the flowers to fade so they can set seed and/or return back to the bulb for the summer. Maybe Milton was only half right for we are all only standing and waiting . . . and serving.

Meanwhile, here's a daisy: Bellis perennis.:)  Have fun.