It’s amazing how fast things grow when you turn your back on a garden. Weeds especially. I think we have the national collection of bind weed in Somerset.
I hadn’t done a winter clear as the ground had been too wet. We hadn’t been around much. And I’ve picked up a bit of mañana syndrome. But needs must and last weekend I knew I had to do one thing. Prune roses. They weren’t pruned last year at all. A fail I know but the year before was a good pruning. Especially as I had Mrs Shouty as a guide and mentor for pruning the apple trees and the roses. Mrs Shouty -= Sara Venn.
So I hacked the roses. Some are old. Some probably need to be replaced. I will review at the end of the summer to see what’s what after flowering. But I pruned. I got attacked by the curse of the thorns. I have had my tetanus jab.
I tidied up a bit – well I cut the perennials back to the ground and then the rain came. Lots of it. So it’s still there to be taken away. On top of the bind weed.
Yes. There is smoke. But it’s Ian burning paperwork. Old bills. There is a bonfire there ready to start next time. A great big bonfire.
We bought a mirabelle plum a few years ago. It has fruited. Now great at the beginning. Some years the frost got the blossom and there was little or no fruit. But they are delicious. This year there is blossom a plenty. But watching what ever storm was passing through on Saturday shaking the tree and scattering the blossom filled me with gloom. If it’s not the frost that gets the blossom it’s the wind. Hopefully there will be plenty of fruit this year.
There are benefits of leaving last years flowers through Autumn and Winter . The colour of this sedum is great. And I haven’t cut it back. Not yet anyway.
Oh. I was also distracted. By a dahlia talk at the local horticultural society.
It’s a different tale back in London. The only cutting back I’ve done is to the Melianthus major which was tall and leggy. So armed with information and a decent secateurs I cut it low. Fingers crossed I’ll get flowers.
The garden in London is different. It’s small. More a courtyard garden and is sheltered. We have a typical London micro climate. I still have geraniums flowering from last year and are gaining growth at a rate of knots.
The Bowles Mauve is budding up well and will soon have a lovely scent when it opens. It’s a solid little plant and does really well
I can’t believe we have blossom on the citrus in the garden. And lots of it. Hopefully a bit more sun. A bit more warmth and these lovely flowers will open and there will be an orange blossom scent above the chair. Not that I can sit and read there. It’s there for one reason. Well three reasons. It’s the cats chair. Well one of their chairs.
If I was surprised at the blossom I am even more surprised to see a couple of tiny small fruits developing. Fingers crossed they will get bigger. I’ve been out and poo’d my plants including the citrus. The first feed of 2019. Using Lous Poo – alpaca feed
There is growth on the clematis. Early I think but never the less welcome. It’s only in the last two years that it’s done well.
Ian’s not a gardener. But he knows what he likes. Tree ferns for example. It was Ian’s ides to have tree ferns in the garden. I didn’t expect to have 5. But we have and I love them. I need to feed these once I take out the straw from the crown!
But they have survived in the garden for about 12 years and last year I didn’t fleece them or put straw in the crown when the the beast of the east arrived suddenly. But they survived.
One of my plant loves is agapanthus and I’m lucky to have them in both the London garden and the one in Spain. Again they need a feed if I’m going to get a great big show off spectacle of flowers.
I have just bought agapanthus black Buddhist from Farmer Gracy for the Spanish garden which was delivered last week.
We have a lot of blue and white in the garden here and there. There and here depending where I am – but I’d like to introduce some different ones. The ones in the garden have self seeded here and there and spring up everywhere.
The tulips in the window boxes are through – I planted them late but are growing pretty fast. There are new colours this year. I didn’t grow any in Spain as the ones I tried last year were pants. That’s not a variety. It was the outcome.
The jasmine is almost to the top of the downpipe and is heavy with flower buds. You know those pinky red little buds that open to a fabulous white scented flower. Add a bit of Trachelospermum a bit later and you have a succession of scent. I lost one last year but the other two are doing ok. Add the scent of my straggly honeysuckle to next door’s rampant one poking over the fence and we have the summer scents sorted.
Spain is weeks ahead of London and Somerset. In Spain the jasmine is out already as the weather has warmed up. Though I see we have two weeks of rain coming. Last March was wet. Very wet. So far we have had a dry spell since October when the reservoirs filled to the top. Great for the garden. Great for the reservoir and our storage tank. But…..
The freesia are brilliant again this year. Bought from Peter Nyssen and shipped to Spain – they look and smell fantastic. I must try some in pots in London next.
It is such a contrast between the three gardens – which I will admit is one too many. Somerset is at the end of a season and the start of another. It needs a good cut back. London had a central city micro climate and its small and sheltered. There is no way I could grow tree ferns in Somerset or Spain.
Spain is obviously very different. Whilst we are 650 m above sea level in the cooler mountains the season is well under way with colour and scent in March already. Plus we have plenty of green with the agave dotted around the garden. 
The almond blossom continues. Ours had been and gone and they were pretty heavy with flowers. The mimosa is starting to come out on our bank. In other gardens it’s over already. I’ve seen the leaves of the wild orchids poking through and the bee orchids in a neighbours garden. We had thought we may have lost some as we had
There’s enough to keep me going for now. There are lists. And lists of lists. My lists. Ian’s lists.
I have some more things to plant Colocasia Black Magic. Bessara elegans, Watsonia peach glow, Roscoea purpurea, Anomatheca laxa, Lycoris radiata to start and some Canna. These are for Spain and came from Farmer Gracy – great find.
I bought , on Ian’s instruction a big colocasia at the localmspsnish garden centre to add to the Mojhito that I bought last year.
Don’t tell Ian but I’ve got Canna on order from Todd’s botanics for London as well as some new white agapanthus.
There’s no peace for the wicked.
