Guest Garden

My mum has been busy in her garden just a few miles away from me. She has much more interesting displays than me during winter and spring, when my garden hibernates. In her blue and yellow border, daffodils predominate:

Here you can see the summer house which my dad built to my mum's design. What a clever pair they are!
In the front garden there's plenty happening too.

Thanks mum for allowing me to share your spring garden. You will have to drag youself away from it for a week, because tomorrow we are all heading for Cornwall! Next week I'll begin my series of posts on Gardens of Cornwall.

A bunch of Grape Hyacinths

Not everyone's favourite plant, this invasive little devil is popping up everywhere in my garden at the moment. I often pull them out by the handful where they are not wanted, but at the moment I'm quite grateful for a few splashes of colour. They look quite good in front of one of my monster Euphorbias!

Early tulips are starting to flower, and I notice that slugs and snails have already started to dine on their foliage. I must start to watch the hostas, which will be emerging soon.

I'm also pleased to see plenty of Aconitum reappearing, They self-seed freely around the garden, and the deep blue flowers last for months.

Last week I was fortunate to visit the Olympic Site in London, which I know has nothing to do with gardening. But between all the building work I came across this very unusual structure which was being used as a plant stand. I fell in love with it and snapped it, in case one day I decided to try and recreate it. Rather Dali-esque I thought. You may not share my enthusiasm for it!

Only two weeks until my trip to Cornwall. Really looking forward to it, and watch this space for a comprehensive tour of the gardens of this beautiful garden!

First Day of Gardening!

I've come out of hibernation at last, and spent the day gardening in beautiful sunshine. I haven't even really looked at the garden until today, I find it quite daunting when there's so much to do. The borders are still too wet to trample over, but I was able to tackle a few pruning jobs. A couple of over-sized buddleias met the enthusiasm of my new electric saw:

Now you see it...

Now you don't!

 Having left seedheads on my perennials over the winter, today was their annual haircut:

Sedums are cut back to the new growth

These Kniphofia are looking rather bedraggled

Here I have pulled out some of the dead growth and trimmed the leaves.
They should look good in a couple of
months, and believe it or not they flower their socks off.

This Pampas always looks a mess after winter.

That's a bit better....
I am pleased to see new growth on my Cephalaria:

Stipa tenuissima have made it through winter unscathed:

Hopefully next weekend will be fine too, so I can carry on with all the jobs
that need doing. Hope you've had fun in your garden this weekend too!