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 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.




8 comments:

  1. Those hosta shoots look like some scary alien digging it's way out of the soil! Hahaha to you camping out on the campbed to catch the slugs, just give them a saucer of beer instead :-)

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    1. Hi Juliet, they are quite scary! The beer is a win win solution for all, I think!

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  2. I do that strange muttering cheering routine when I'm in the garden at this time of year and then its the scratching head and trying to remember what was there and then having to wait until more of the plant emerges before I can identify it

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  3. I always play a little game with myself at this time of year called 'Name that plant' where I have to try and identify all my old chums as soon as I possibly can. I wonder of we all do it ? Might be fun to have a little identification quiz for people to have a go at !

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  4. It's always fun to find new plants popping out of the earth - or getting new leaves. Your hosta looks purple instead of the green I would expect. I like it!

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    1. It is one of the best times of the year , I can never remember who to expect and where they will pop up! We have plenty of the green hosta shoots but I do like the purples !

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  5. I'm glad to see you are getting things out. We are expecting mid 30's again tonight, after this I am hoping it warms up. We actually had snow this morning. The meteorologist called it not 'global warming' but 'global weirding.' My malabar spinach can't even stand temps in the 40's without wilting. Crazy.

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    1. The weather is so unpredictable at the moment, Carolyn. We are expecting temperatures to dip in the next few days after a few lovely warm 'proper' Spring days. What temperatures would you expect normally at this time of year ? s that unusually cold for you ?

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