Mad, manic, marvellous May
Monday, May 30, 2011
What a month! The old saying goes "March winds April showers
bring forth May flowers" We had winds, lots of rain and flowers all
in May this year and what a show we have had. We are 2-3 weeks
ahead of where we usually are at this time of year and the
flowering shrubs have been a delight. All the various viburnums,
cornus controversa and kousa, spireas and kolkwitzia (the
wonderfully named "beauty bush") have put on an unforgettable show.
The scent from the philadelphus "Belle Etoile" now reaching its
peak is absolutely overwhelming especially towards dusk. A perfume
that sends a chill up my spine it is so intense. Even writing about
it gives me an adrenalin rush! Many roses too that looked dead just
2 months ago are flowering earlier than I can ever remember
here.
The herbaceous plants are marching on, the blue meconopsis had
their main flush in late April, the hostas continue to astound us
with their phenomenal growth and most amazing of all we have had
some delphiniums in bloom for about 10 days. When we started
opening the garden in late June 2000 I can remember being concerned
that the delphiniums, a cornerstone plant of the picket fence
cottage garden, would not be in bloom for the Open Day.
The same applies to the oriental poppies and we fear there will
be none left for our first visitors next week. With the lighter
nights it is a 12 hour day in the garden with so much to do before
our first visitors on 9 June at the start of a very busy month.
Someone once said that you can't have a nice garden and manage a
plant nursery and at this time of year I can see why they said it!
It's just the 2 of us doing everything but we are managing just
about to keep on top of everything. I really have gone crazy on the
plant propagation front and have run out of space for all the
plants we have for sale. Some really choice stuff for our visitors
and to plant out in the garden.
Weather report
Cooler than April with a couple of ground frosts and much less
sunshine. Windy for the most part much of it from the east or south
east and lots of rain thank goodness. No day time temperatures
above 19C. Very good weather for all the many plants we have set
out in the gardens
Garden update.
This month has been all about filling gaps in the borders partly
as the result of losses during the cold winter and partly the
refresh of the borders that I commenced last autumn. It should
provide for better balanced borders and a wider variety of plants.
Going to places like Great Dixter and entering the Daily Mail
garden competition made us look critically at our planting
schemes.
The vegetable garden is coming along well now after a false
start in late March. The dry weather meant we had to re-sow
carrots, parsnips and beetroot which struggled to germinate.
However we are already harvesting cabbages, cauliflowers, lettuce
and radish and the first strawberries are just a tantalising few
days away from our first picking as are the new potatoes.
Some amazing survivors of last winter are now emerging. Dahlias
are struggling but a good few have survived, the impatiens
tinctoria has been checked somewhat but is now growing away,
lobelia tupa is looking very well and most incredibly some tender
salvias, including patens, involucrata, x jamiensis and
darcyi overwintered in open ground and have started to
regenerate from the base
What's looking good?
An amazing variety of plants are vying for attention but apart
from those mentioned already, bearded iris and herbaceous paeonies
have been magnificient. Plenty of flowers and very strong
growth. It is the first time some of the paoenies have flowered and
we are delighted with them, especially an exceptionally large pink
flowered form that came to us un - named.
The aquilegias are just starting to tail off but a.chrysantha is
just getting into its stride, a lovely yellow flowered, long
spurred species form from North America that is bone hardy and
comes true from seed. It is a special favourite and eagerly looked
forward to each year.
Hostas are just amazing all over the garden (it is said that
they always do best when exposed to severe cold and dry winters
which seems to be borne out this year). Near the house we have
recently made a small rock garden to display the dwarf and
miniature forms which are becoming increasingly popular and are
very addictive but mighty expensive!!
Regular readers will know that thanks to our friend Tony, owner
of the nursery shadyplants.com we have over the years, become
introduced to arisaemas, aroids from the far east (commonly called
the cobra lily on acount of the shape of their flower spathes). We
seem to have had some good success with them and currently have 37
plants from 13 species in active growth around the gardens with
more popping up every day. I continue to find suitable places for
them and look to substantially add to our collection, (it helps
when your best friend has one of the widest selections in the UK
available at his nursery!!) Although perhaps not to
everyone's taste (Tony would hotly dipute this!!) they do add
variety and interest with their unusual flowers and long lasting
architectural foliage, and will grow in difficult areas of the
garden.
Finally we have had great success with our tender plants
overwintered in the polytunnels, justifying the expense of keeping
them just about frost free for the duration of the winter. Of these
the greatest thrills have been to see the erythrina crysta-galli
(the coral tree) coming into strong growth from the base, and a
plant from the Canary Islands, isoplexis sceptrum now in full
flower with brilliant large orange foxglove shaped flowers on a
relatively young plant. This has taken 8 years!! We bought the
original plant at Pine Lodge Nursery in St. Austell in 2003. It got
bigger and bigger, was fed and cossetted but never flowered. In
2009 because it had got so large, we donated it to the National
Botanic Garden for Wales but took a couple of cuttings. One failed
but the other grew exceptionally well and is the one now in flower.
The motto seems to be that if all else fails, start again. It is
such a lovely show in bloom that it has been worth the wait. No
other single plant in the garden is giving me such pleasure just
now.
Wildlife
A red letter day was 30 April when we took delivery a large
consignment of fish to replace those we lost in the Paddock Pond
during the winter, a mixture of common and golden rudd and some
excellent mirror carp. They have settled in well and it is lovely
to see their colour and activity. The tadpoles are growing rapidly,
the frogpoles with their back legs already are much larger than the
later spawned toadpoles.
I gave the Paddock Pond its springtime deep clean last
week removing masses of blanketweed, the pondkeepers nightmare at
this time of year, and cartloads of leaves from last autumn, the
source of all the pondlife deaths. Usually when I do this I dredge
up, to name just a few, newts, dragonfly larvae, water
boatman, and the mighty great diving beetle, a fearsome pond
predator. This year not one of any of them turned up in my net nor
even a single pond snail. We really are starting again at the
beginning where we were 17 years ago. On a brighter note the
damsell flies have returned to the pond, a red banded one and my
absolute favourite the stunning blue demoiselle in shades of
midnight blue and emerald green depending on how the light catches
them. A very special visitor to the pond and we are so lucky to
have them for just a few short weeks.
The pied flycathers are back and forward to the nesting box
feeding their young but already those predatory menaces the magpies
have spotted their nest and in that sneaky and cowardly way of
theirs are hanging around for easy pickings. They do this with all
the nesting passerine birds in the garden which severely limits
breeding success.
We have the lovely redstarts back after an absence of a couple
of years their bright red tails much in evidence as they flit in
and out of the hedgerows to their nests. All this way from sub
Saharan Africa to give us such pleasure.
Visits
A few sneaky days off in May with visits to the Red Cross Plant
Fair in Hampton Court Castle near Leominster, a really well
attended event in a superb venue, and Malvern Spring Gardening Show
which even in its 26th year just gets better and better. Some
tremendous displays in the Floral Marquee (particularly from Edrom
Nursery with a breathtaking exhibit featuring cypripedium , the
hardy slipper orchids) where we spent even longer than usual, and
made lots of purchaes (you can always find space for a few
more in your garden if you really try!)
After next weekend its our turn to play host as our garden open
season begins in earnest with 12 group visits in June, including 4
from Holland and one from Hilliers Garden Club which was a
memorable and thoroughly enjoyable visit last year and we are
pleased and honoured they are returning to us again this year. It
will also be a pleasure to welcome back our Dutch friends including
2 groups from the Dutch RHS.
If you would like to visit the gardens this year our Open Day
for the NGS is 24 July from 1- 5.00pm with home made teas and lots
of quality plants for sale, including Tony's famous arisaemas
Finally pictures - don't mention them! My internet creation
template is causing all sorts of problems and loading pictures from
the wrong files in the wrong text. My guru Ed is on the case.
Hopefully I will bombard you with pics one day soon just in time
for the explosion of colour expected in the next couple of weeks.
Watch this space.