Garden Highlights

 Its a beautiful sunny Sunday. I have spent the day watering all the greenhouse plants, re potting the Tomatoes Gardeners Delight, Tabasco Chili, Jalapeno Summer Heat, and moved the cold frame back into the shed. This has given me some more room to put the many pots that I have. I checked the Dog Roses, and only three out of ten had any root growth below. I think they were too moist in the black plastic and that the roots rotted off. Hence ten Dog roses with no sign of any growth.I have spotted one pink bud on one of the three plants. They are sitting now by the pond. I need to arrange all the garden before I go away next Friday.
 I finally got a photo of the elusive shy Wood Pecker, hanging on the fat balls. I wander why the suet snack had been demolished in double quick time. There is very little left so he moved onto the fat ball ring. It is such a beautiful bird to see in the garden. I had to get up early to photograph him. The feather colours are visible, as he turned before I got the camera turned on.

 The Iris (Indian Chief??) has finally bloomed. This plant has taken three years to grow a single flower spike. It is beautiful pattern of purple and white, with a furry yellow throat.

 I hope that the Iris Black Knight takes notice and flowers soon.There are lots of Iris rhizomes in the garden but none have flowered yet.

 I have to enjoy the bloom so three photos of it.

 The Chinese Tree Peony put out a second flower.This is much paler and looks like some raspberry ripple ice cream.I wander if has been crossed with two plants and this flower is reverting back to its parents flower?

 It closes at night its pale pink cup, and then opens again during the day. I needed patience for this plant too. It is third year lucky!

 The Alium Everest is blooming under the Ceanothus.I needed to move it out to photograph it as it is growing right into the shrub above it!I must move the bulb once it has finished flowering, and the seed head has dried off.

 The Aliums are beautiful plants with their firework explosion flowers. They rise above the sunken border and seem very centred this year. In previous years they have fallen over as they are so top heavy.

 The Rhododendron Sappho has opened all the flowers now. It is a pretty compact bush and I love the colours on the flowers.

 The Geranium has bloomed away madly.It regrows from the ground and bursts into life. The electric blue flowers glow in the evening.

The Geranium Rozanne was voted the plant of the Century at the Chelsea flower show. I love the exuberance of the flowers and how many flowers bloom at the same time.
  I have little time left now to garden. A few greenhouse plants need re potting. I may do it in the mornings after my night shifts.I will be on my way to London Heathrow next week.
  Snappys gardens blog will be in New Zealand for two and a half weeks. The camera will travel, and I should be able to blog from my Sisters house.
 The garden is so lush and full of flowers, new green leaves, and wild life.I'm sure it will survive but I will wander whats flowering.

Rain Drops And Flowers

   The great British rain has returned over the past few days. The occasional sunshine has encouraged a whole batch of flowers to bloom. This is the Chinese Tree Peony bloom from the window side. It is a delicate pink and almost white. It has lasted quite well despite the wind and rain.

  The first Rhodie flower of 2013 is the Rhododendron Sappho. It seems to have thrived in the pot, and is covered in flower buds just short of this stage. They are quite compact green leaves, and the flowers are impressive.

 The Native British Bluebells are flowering under the Apple tree. Cat thinks they are scented, but I cannot detect any scent. Maybe you need a whole carpet of them to get the Bluebell wood effect?

  This jolly Welsh Poppy has bloomed in the planter behind the Rose bench. I love the sunny yellow colour, and the green centre. It was curved downwards like an umbrella so the rain ran off it.I lifted the flower up to get the photo.

 The Centauri Montana has bloomed over my nights. The beautiful sky blue petals are held out from the purple centre, and black stamen. The flower buds remind me of little hand grenades.

 The rain drops give everything a clean glow, and a shininess. This is the Hybrid Tea Queen Elizabeth. The leaves are tiny compared to my Shrub Roses.I hope the pink flowers are compact and scented, to compliment the leaves.

 The Hosta's are loving the cool wet conditions. All the containers are bursting with vigorous growth and new strong leaves. They have lovely waxy leaves that hold rain drops above them. They also funnel water down the stems into the base of the plant. Like a green pin ball machine. It is fun to pour water near the leaves stem and see how it runs it downwards to the base of the plant.A perfect design of beauty and function.

 The cold weather has played havoc with the Mexican Orange Blossom plant. Its leaves keep getting damaged by the frost and snow. It has flowered this year. The white flowers smell like almonds, a Bakewell tart smell. If only I could grow a frost resistant plant.

   The Pink Thistle plant is re blooming. The pink flower is like a fraggle, from Fraggle Rock. The sea of green is behind it and beneath it.

The last photo is of the newly blooming Geum Mrs Bradshaw. It is a lovely red flower with a golden centre.
  I'm running out of time to blog. I have 11 days left until I go to New Zealand. Cat may have to take photos of the garden for most of June.
 The rain cannot dampen the gardens enthusiasm for flowering.

Kitchen Garden Musing

   The garden is multi functional. I showed the wild edges yesterday. Another side to it is the kitchen garden side. Growing edible plants or tree's for the purpose of harvesting them, and then using them in cooking. The grown your own bug has bitten me. This is the flower less Pear Tree Bonne Chretien.   
   Maybe next year? But it has the most sumptuous leaves covering the stems. I'm keeping the base of the tree weed free, and have been watering it, and using the worms fertiliser too. Hopefully all this leaf growth will develop flowering spurs for next year. Fruit trees are fickle, but I guess that means you enjoy it when they produce bountiful crops for you.

 This pretty Strawberry flower is smaller than the usual ones. This is the Mara De Bois Strawberry. Much loved by French chefs for its taste and sweetness. It has to be eaten right away as it loses vigour once picked. This is a chefs Strawberry, but not commercially grown by the supermarkets.
 Growing your own means you can pick old heirloom varieties, or ones less well known.

   This is the second trial year of the Pine berry. A white Strawberry that tastes of Pineapple. It produced no fruit at all last year, so I'm hoping for something to try this year.
 Strawberries are a big part of the garden with three separate areas devoted to them. Their is also a Gooseberry Bush, two Rhubarb plants, and some Raspberry canes growing in a pot.
 Is there anything better than eating Strawberries and cream from your garden in the summer?

 I have been growing a lot of plants for the allotment.These Pak Choi Ruby Shine were excess in the tray. I left them out on a chair and they grew better than the ones in the greenhouse! These are now planted in a cut green bag. These will be harvested by me, and stir fried with just garlic and soy sauce. They are yummy!

 The only Herbs that have survived the winter are a leggy Sage, and this pot of Garden Mint. Rubbing the leaves and smelling the minty scent is lovely. We used to make mint sauce at home with fresh garden mint chopped into vinegar and sugar. The smell takes me back when you brush the leaves.
  I have bought a Rosemary, and Lavender plant which can be used for cooking. They are being grown in two blue pots for their ornamental value, and for attracting the Bee's.

 The Greenhouse is full of Cabbages, Leeks, Green Beans, Chilli's, Tomatoes, and slow growing Celeriac. I have been starting plants off in seed trays and then trying to grow them onto a decent size with good root formation. The allotment plants need to be sturdy as they will have to cope with sunshine, rain, and pests. A three week trip to New Zealand for me has also complicated things.

 A welcome return to the Grape Vine that is growing in the Greenhouse. It has regrown from halfway up the stems. I need to make some support for the climbing leaves to clamber along. There are a good eight flower buds growing on, which means eight bunches of Black Munich Grapes.I maybe need to trim it further back in the winter to keep it low growing.

I hope that we have a better summer, so the Grapes can sweeten. The wet 2012 mean they grew but were not sweet tasting. I never believed you could grow grapes in Yorkshire. A long hot summer should mean lovely table grapes to eat.
   From the conservatory I can see the Oriental Mustard leaves, and Mizuna that I have tried growing. There are two planters growing Garlic.
 I have the two Cherry Trees in pots. The yellow Cherry has flowered, and is making the fruits. The Morello Cherry is all leaves and no flowers. The Bramley Apple Tree is also all leaves and no flowers.The old Braeburn Apple Tree in the pot will have a massive three apples only if they all grow into Apples.
   I loved cooking first, then go into gardening and plants. Now I can combine the two. A productive garden brings joy to the gardener/chefs heart.

Wild Edges

   I spent the day between the allotment and the garden. The garden is ordered but still a bit wild around the edges.Who remembers blowing these Dandelion seed heads to tell the time?Sending the seeds airborne with each puff of breath. This seed head was by the greenhouse.

 I cherish Dandelions. Having made a pillow of these to lie down on when i was small.The orange flowers attract all the local pollinators.They make a fabulous dry wine too.I read on Twitter that someones children thought that the dandelions were meant to be in a garden, because there were so many there.
 The funny thing is if you tried to grow them they would not respond. They self seed where they want to, and will not be swayed by the whims of gardeners.

 A Creeping Buttercup flowers by the greenhouse too. They have a beautiful simplicity, and purity. These are endemic all over the plot.I still adore the yellow flowers reflecting the sunlight.

  The wild edges of the unruly garden make a great home for some friendly native British wildlife. The pond has had newts since I dug the hole. How they found it I do no know. Maybe they smelled the fresh water? Here two common Newts swim around. They are fascinating to watch, swimming, doing Tai Chi in the water, or lying very still. I love the way they gulp their air down from the surface.

  The Birds are the most common wild things that I attract into the garden. This friendly Robin hops around even when we are in the garden. The Warlike Robin is a gardeners friend sat on the spade or fork handle waiting for the digging to uncover grubs and worms.He makes me happy to see him.

The other wild thing that I keep seeing, and have managed to photograph is our long tailed field mouse. He must live under the fence or patio. He scurries out from his hiding place, to raid the dropped bird seed.He can jump like a horse too if he is scared. Up and forwards.

 I think amazon the second is quite handsome in the mouse face stakes. He was happy to let me photograph him.I left some treats on the patio slabs.He has a funny habit of running between the slabs in the narrow gulley's.

 Some welcome returners to the pond are the common garden Frogs. They are like temperate water spirits peeking out of the pond looking at you. Some are skittish and dive straight into the water.

 Others are more laid back and will let me photograph them. I think the chilled frogs have seen me before and remember me.

 Its hard to estimate how many Frogs and Newts have taken residence in the pond. A lot hide in the murk, or under the bricks, or in the roots of the pond plants. I love seeing British wildlife having a home in our garden, when it has been built to attract them.The pond water has cleared slightly now, as the natural balance between clear water, and green algae has been reached.

The last photo of the wild edge of the garden is a Poppy flower head dangling down like a green tear drop. It is growing behind the rose bench. I think it is a welsh poppy but need it to open to work out what it is.
 The wind has blown the seed there, or the birds have dropped it. I love finding plants in new unexpected places. They choose the best place and bloom away. If you tried sowing them they would fail spectacularly. Nature is funny sometimes.
 The Chelsea flower show has exquisite manicured show gardens, but a slightly scruffy wildlife friendly garden is as much fun, and will last for many years to come.

May Garden Jewels

  The third week of May has seen the garden explode with new growth and flowers. This Peony Sarah Bernhardt has never flowered. It is growing up into the green concentric ring.Their are lots of ants running all over the small flower buds.I hope this will be have lovely blooms.

 The new plant in the wild flower area is beginning to show a little blue. I cut back some of the wildflower/weed that had covered the wildflower area to allow some of the shyer plants to grow and bloom. These should hopefully self seed and come every year.

 This lovely Thistle has dark maroon flowers. I saw it in some of the Chelsea show gardens. It is refined, architectural, and attracts the bees.

 Another new addition to the Apple tree pot are five English native Bluebells.They are supposed to have a violet smell, but i could not smell it yet.maybe when more of the bells flower I can smell it.

 Another returning plant is the Alium Gladiator.I have three of these plants that regrow from the ground year after year.

 The flowers look like purple or white fireworks and are beloved by Bee's and pollinating insects. If they can stay upright and not fall over with the weight of the blooms.I keep wanting to buy more bulbs at the Autumn flower show. They punctuate the sunken border with their colourful globes.

 This is one of my surprising photos. It shows the sunken border under the Ceanothus.It is unfurling the first honey blue flowers. The Dogwood from Harlow Carr is a rich yellow leaves and flower buds that contrast to the Lupins, and Geum Mrs Bradshaw.The problem is the Dogwood is starting to grow out onto the concrete path.It will need moving or trimming down the path side.The yellow leaves inject some colour into the predominantly green border.

 The Aquilegias are nearly flowering. I planted a load more of them in the wild flower area, and the sunken border. I love their trailing spurs, and cottage garden looks. I hope they mix and self seed. I have Welsh Poppies, and the Oriental Poppy that self seed and appear where you do not expect to find them. If i recognise the seedling I will let it grow.

 The Pansy's under the Roses continue to delight me with their many colours. Like Josephs technicolour dream coat. Their colours are great.

 The Kerria flowers still look beautiful on the dangling stems, with the Japanese painted fern, and Yellow Cherry tree as a backdrop.

 The Geum Orange look amazing still. The leaves are perfect, and the flowers glow like orange flying saucers. They catch the sunlight and just shine like little jewels.I love them.

The last photo shows the newly planted Barrel container. I planted two of the Domino Foxgloves, and the Sweet Peas Navy Blue, and White Supreme. Two planters have the spiral wires for the peas to grow up. Their is a third pot with the Alan Titchmarsh Scented Mixed too.I hope that they give the house cut flowers to fragrance the rooms.Bringing the garden indoors is a good reason to grow them. The more you cut them the better they flower.
 I watched the medals handed out at the Chelsea flower show today.It is inspiring when you see all the flowers, and arrangements of the gardens. It just remembering when you go plant shopping what you have seen