The darling buds of May
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
What a wonderful month! What we would always want May to be
like.
After a slow spring, at last the trees burst into leaf and there
is colour all over the gardens as flowers come into bloom. May has
throughout the centuries been celebrated by writers and artists.
Shakespeare capturing the mood in his Sonnet 118 with that
memorable line about the darling buds of May. And a more recent
poet Philip Larkin almost 500 years later gave us a poem called
Trees, about the trees coming into leaf like something almost
being said
Blossom on the Bramley apple tree
One of the most eagerly awaited opening of flower
buds comes from meconopsis Sheldonian hybrid
Viburnums opulus sterile and sargentii onondaga
flowering well at the back of the Paddock Pond
Lunaria alba variegata much admired and easy if
left to self sow.
For the gardener it is also a very busy month with so much to
do, especially after the effects of the bad weather in the
earlier part of the year. Added to this because of 3 months of
chemotherapy I got seriously behind with all the many jobs that
need to be done before the better weather arrives. It has been
difficult to find the time to prepare my News Item for the month so
more pictures than text in this edition.
Weather
Very settled conditions on the whole with 15 days of
unbroken sunshine and 5 rain days. Changeable on only 8 days. Max
26C on 28th; Min 2C on 18th and 7 other days below
5C.
The sky at 4.50 pm prefacing another fine
day.
An attempt to capture a crescent moon that went
rather wrong. It looks more like the man in the moon!!
Garden Update
Plenty of lawn mowing to do, plant watering every day in the
tunnels and greenhouse and sowing later seed and pricking out and
potting on in the nursery.
The vegetable garden is growing away well now with good
germination rates and the later planted potatoes are now up so
avoided the worst of the colder nights. It was necessary however to
cover with fleece some of the more sensitive plants across
the gardens and to keep the heaters going in the protected areas.
Shrubs flowering well but roses are exceptionally slow partly
as the result of being pruned too late and not having been
fertilised which in past has made a big difference to an earlier
flush of flowers,
All shrubs have done very well and are flowering better
than I ever thought when we had those esterly winds and cold
weather in early spring. Choisya ternata is smothered with blossom
and a fine scent
A hawthorn in the bounday hedge topped with a
clematis montana looking like a birds nest as it refuses to cascade
down the tree
When the two colours do occasionally come together it is
a pleasing combination
Fortunately we did have some help in the garden when a friend
Matt came for a couple of days to get on top of the weeding which
became an urgent task with such vigorous growth in all the fine
weather. Pests and diseases need treatment with whitefly in the
tunnels particulary troublesome on pelargoniums and tomatoes. Black
spot on some of the roses. We have even had for the first time lily
beetle. This year at last I am going to use natural defenders
instead of chemical means to control the worst of the pests.
Agralan has a very good range of defenders for all type of pests,
many of which have no alternative and effective means of
control For more info go to www.agralan.co.uk
Taking all the pelargoniums out of the tunnel creates
air movement around the plants and ocasional spraying with fine
jets of water also helps.
What's looking good?
Most herbaceous plants, hostas in particular were
unaffected by the colder nights and the distinct absence of slugs.
Hostas have always been a passion of ours having
started over 40 years ago with just one plant (hosta albo
marginata) we inherited from the previous owner. There is such a
wide choice nowadays (it is estimated that currently there are
something in the region of 5000 registered cultivars
available) that it is difficult and expensive to
keep on top of the newer introductions, many of which can be
similar to each other.
One of the older cultivars is "Wogons
Boy"
Hosta albo marginata, a division of the original
plant in the garden mixing well with ranunculus aconitifolius Flore
Pleno. Commonly know as bachelors buttons, fair maids of Kent or
France. Take your pick or stick with the Latin!
Another happy blending of the same hosta in a different
part of the garden with Spanish bluebells and Welsh
poppies
A superb medium sized hosta is "Lakeside
Love Affaire" From a top American nursery bearing the Lakeside
name
Last month I wrote about the Atragene Group of
Spring flowering Clematis. C. Koreana is longer flowering and has
larger flowers than other members of this Group. No cultivar name
for this one as it came from seed I obtained from the seed
distribution of the British Clematis Society and is now up to 10
feet tall
The stream border in The Paddock Garden. In the
foreground is the imposing form of maianthemum
racemosum
In the shade border of the Paddock Garden is a
planting of Euphorbia palustris, one of the few members of the
genus that will grow in moist shade backed up by rodgersia "Irish
Bronze"
The attractive lace cap flowers of "Viburnum
Sargentii Onondaga" one of a dozen cultivars of the genus in the
gardens
Wildlife and countryside
There is continuing concern about the shortage of
swallows, martins and swifts this spring and a string of
correspondents have written to national newspapers to explore what
has happened to them, as with all the fine weather it would
appear to have been an ideal time for summer migrants. There is
however a silver lining as we have been lucky here for the first
time in some years to have heard cuckoos regularly calling across
the valley throughout the month. One bird we have seen plenty of is
the goldfinch catching the yellow flashes of their wing markings as
they fly quickly past us, which makes taking pictures
difficult!
Wild flowers have loved the weather none more so than
bluebells in woods and along road side verges mixing well with
other native plant life especially stitchwort, bracken, wild garlic
and buttercups and cow parsley or Queen Anne's lace which is also
looking marvellous along road verges, particulary so this year. It
has been suggested that the reason for such vigorous growth is the
effect of exhaust gases from vehicles which contain high levels of
nitrogen and various other chemical elements.
Wild Garlic
Roadside flowers near Cilgwyn Lodge
Bluebell woods overlooking the Lodge, one of many local
woods near us.
As last year there is ample evidence across West Wales of
the continuing impact of ash die back disease on native
populations, which are now being compromised to such an extent that
branches, which become brittle, are being shed beneath the infected
trees, causing some concern that where trees grow alongside a
main road, they will become a danger to passing
vehicles.
Ash trees are the dominant tree of the Cothi
Valley on the way towards Lampeter. It is very depressing to see so
many trees large and small, laid low by this terrible
disease
Visits
With little opportunity whilst having my treatment, when
it ended we couldn't wait to get out and about. We have gone garden
visiting meeting up with friends or on a whim, notwithstanding that
there are plenty of tasks to do at home! You do so miss the
inspiration that garden visiting can provide. And of course
the chance to buy more plants, my passion for which never fades!
Our first outing was with serious gardening friends, Peter and
Carole, Liz and Paul and Bob and Annette. The venue was Singleton
Botanic Garden in Swansea. I am embarassed to say that we had never
previously visited in the 40 years we had worked in Swansea. The
city has always had a reputation for supporting horticulture and
this is clear to see from the planting in the gardens and the high
standards of maintenance and colour scheming. It was tulip time
when we visited. There are also hothouses filled with choice
plants
Just a mile away is Clyne Gardens a gift in perpetuity
to the council by a wealthy land owner a member of the Glyn Vivian
family who were major benefactors of the city over the years for
the enjoyment of the people of Swansea free of charge and
open every day of the year. Dylan Thomas wrote his lines when
Swansea was still an industrial City but deserved the epiteth of a
lovely town and he should know because there are parks all over the
city and he lived near one of the best, Cwmdonkin, and a source of
some of his best poems and prose.
Freddie the dog of Peter and Carole had fun chasing
squirrels and even climbed a tree to get his prey, but
failed!
Malvern Spring Festival was one of the best we
have been to: great nurseries better lay out, more places to sit
and food courts everywhere. Also lots of fun features and a feel
good atmosphere all over the showground.
One of the most engaging was a "garden" that had been knitted
for charity by a host of volunteers!
Two fantastic driftwood sculptures in a show
garden that took 9 months each to make
Perrycroft Garden, Worcestershire an Arts and crafts
house designed by C.F.A voysey who was a leading exponent of the
style and built in 1895. The garden was the venue of a coach
trip run by our South Wales Hardy Plant Society Group. They
always pick some different places. Superb views (on a clear
day) of the nearby Malvern Hills. The garden is set at an odd angle
and immaculately maintained with some unusual plants
which put our collective knowledge to the test. Nothing hardy
planters enjoy more than such a challenge!
Yvonne one of our older members couldn't resist
the temptation of the swing.
For more info go to www.perrycroft.co.uk
Thanks for reading and apologies there is so much content for
you to read about. It has been such an exciting month!
Just one last item is a garden opening for the NGS by our
friends Robert and Barry where we will be selling plants from
Cilgwyn Lodge The garden is at Gelli Mydog Myddfai, Llandovery SA20
OjQ and is open on Sunday 10 June from 12- 5 pm, Signposted from
Llandovery and Llangadog off the A40. Please do try to come along
for cakes and wonderful views of upland countryside and the best
lawns you will ever see!