Showing posts with label hosta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hosta. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Hosta La Vista, Baby ...
In Spring, here in the UK, we tend to worship the new born colour. Our gardens have been so dreary for so long, with a palette of browns and greys, that this explosion of colour makes us as giddy as Banksy in a paint factory.
However, underneath the pastel pink of the blossom, the yellow of the daffodils and the blue of the Grape Hyacinth, there lies an equally interesting colour - green ! In Spring it is fresh and unsullied, ranging in hue from fresh lime to deep dark forest green. Always restful, beautiful and tranquil.
I was walking down the garden, meeting and greeting, as you do, and I started looking at all the Hostas. We have around 50 altogether, and their newly unfolding leaves are works of art.
However, underneath the pastel pink of the blossom, the yellow of the daffodils and the blue of the Grape Hyacinth, there lies an equally interesting colour - green ! In Spring it is fresh and unsullied, ranging in hue from fresh lime to deep dark forest green. Always restful, beautiful and tranquil.
I was walking down the garden, meeting and greeting, as you do, and I started looking at all the Hostas. We have around 50 altogether, and their newly unfolding leaves are works of art.
Saturday, 4 May 2013
It must be Spring because ...
It must be Spring because ...
... it's nearly Apple Blossom time...
... the hosepipe is soft and bendy in my hands ...
... the wooden garden garden gate is warm to the touch ...
... my jacket is off and hanging on a tree ...
... there are baby birds just fledging ...
... the air is full of birdsong ...
... I can feel the sun on my back ...
... the nettles are knee high apparently by magic ...
... the greenhouse is bursting at the seams ...
... dandelions mock me from every bed
... I can hear mowers in the other gardens ...
... there are bees and butterflies in the air ...
... the ponds need topping up ...
... my back is aching ...
... and these lovely boys are back ...
... it's nearly Apple Blossom time...
... the hosepipe is soft and bendy in my hands ...
... the wooden garden garden gate is warm to the touch ...
... my jacket is off and hanging on a tree ...
... there are baby birds just fledging ...
( This newly fledged Blackbird had flown into the greenhouse today, by mistake, closely followed by its mother. Luckily I caught it easily and released it outside with no harm done ! )
... the air is full of birdsong ...
... I can feel the sun on my back ...
... the nettles are knee high apparently by magic ...
... the greenhouse is bursting at the seams ...
... dandelions mock me from every bed
... I can hear mowers in the other gardens ...
... there are bees and butterflies in the air ...
... the ponds need topping up ...
... my back is aching ...
... and these lovely boys are back ...
Tulips
Hosta
Bergenia
Mahonia
Clematis Montana Rubens 'Pink perfection' - just before take-off !
I would love to hear how you know that Spring has arrived.
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Hello to old friends...
I spend a lot of time in Spring walking around the garden talking to, no, not myself, but to old friends who are returning. Those emerging plants which WERE NOT THERE last time I walked down the garden and are suddenly unmissable ! They seem to appear to thrust through the soil overnight. It is such an exciting time of year, filled with surprises for me, as I tend to forget where these star players are in the garden, until they turn up again.
This year they seem glossier, more vigorous and stronger than ever.
This year they seem glossier, more vigorous and stronger than ever.
This Hosta has shoots which look like talons at this stage. They are at an ideal stage to split - and just before the stage where I need to put a campbed next to them and go on 24/7 slug-watch !
The lovely glossy young leaves of a Ligularia, which I think is Dentata. It is, like the Hostas, prized by slugs and snails alike ! I have had lovely plants decimated overnight, some years.
This looks much more exotic than it really is... it is a lupin which for some reason (maybe the cold weather) is much darker leaved than usual. Note photo-bombing by naughty dandelion !
Here are the fresh new leaves of Berberis Thunbergii Atropurpurea, which are part of a newish hedge, replacing a hebe hedge which was lost in the 'Great Freeze of 2010'. The leaves are at their best when they are new as they tend to fade a bit throughout the season.
More red leaves ! This is a new Climbing Rose 'Antique', planted in the Autumn, and clearly happy and healthy. I can't wait to see the big soft pink flowers when it finally blooms.
At last - a green one ! This is one of my blackcurrant bushes which is bursting into life in the veg garden.
There are lots of new ones every day, and it is a lovely time to evaluate the garden, when you can still see the 'bare bones' of the garden (the unchanging elements) and the beginnings of the 'flesh' (the planting that fills out the skeleton). The clarity you find at this time of year becomes less obvious as the season progresses and the plants lose their early definition.
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