What's Looking Good April 2015

Forget flowers, one of my favourites at this time of year is seeing the new Fern Fronds coming through. I cut back the previous years growth of the established plants to get the most of the new fronds. Heres a Cyrtomium.

 

My Coronilla took -7c a few years ago and several -4cs this Winter with no problem.

 

Ouch! Stiff upper lip, Sheal. It'll soon be over and then you can get busy planting in a lovely, new, pylon-free bed

 

A misty Magnolia this morning...

 

Thanks Noisette. The cable has been moved today but I have issues about the safety aspect. The cable going out of my garden from the pole and via the trench is fine, but the other end that leads to my bungalow goes out through another part of the bed and I discovered yesterday I'm lucky to be alive! It isn't sunk very deep and has no 'armour' around it, I'm lucky I haven't put a fork or spade through it. Having spoken to the lads working on it - it now has to be referred to the engineer....he's away until next Tuesday. There is no way I will be able to plant shrubs in this part of the bed as it's to dangerous so something has to be done.

It's about another month before the pole is removed and now with a possible added delay I can see my annual plants going in quite late. If something is going to go wrong it comes looking for me every time....and finds me, this is so typical of my luck.

 

Gosh some absolutely lovely plants and gardens.
I know there is a thread about things being a bit late, but it seem to me that some things are but other things are early.

 

Crickey Sheal that is so dangerous,it doesn't bear thinking about

 

A couple of posts ago I posted some seed grown Snakehead Frits - well here is one of the parents which shows how different the seed grown ones are...........


Fritillaria uva-vulpis again just 'cos I like them!


A much better shot of Scilla siberica.............


This is exciting to me. Vestia foetida has taken a little over a year from seed to bloom (nearly anyway!).............

 

Sometimes Loli, we just don't know what's going on underneath our gardens, but I thought I did. The cable had to be put underground four years ago as I'd had some work done to my bungalow and the cable couldn't be re-attached to the same area. It was 'moled' right across my garden diagonally, through the bed and then attached to the overhead cables via the pole. I actually watched the work being done. What I didn't know was that the mole had redirected itself over and around the sewer that also runs through that bed which brought it closer to the surface. The firm that used the mole would have known that but I didn't and they hadn't bothered to tell me.

 

Please forgive possible image overload, but I may be a tad over-excited, as many of these plants are firsts for me. (This time last year, I didn't have a front garden at all. Last autumn was the first time I planted bulbs - both in the container garden at the back, and in the raised bed in the front garden). Many of these plants were Gardener's Corner inspired purchases, so you only have yourselves to blame!

Fritillaria imperialis. These were 100% inspired by this forum - prior to that I'd never seen or heard of them! I thought I had planted the bulbs too shallow, so I'm thrilled with these:


The yellow is slightly behind the orange:



Dwarf bonfire peach tree (my favourite plant in my garden), returning for its third year of glorious pink blossom. An excellent Groupon purchase!




Ornamental cherry blossom (forgotten its proper name). Another GC inspired purchase, currently in prime position, being featured in its pot:




Various fancy daffs/narcissus:
(These are planted at the base of my red twisted hazel, about to burst into life)




(Planted up with ornamental grass in a pot)

(Is it just me or do these - forgotten their name - look so much like dandelions, I cold have saved myself a lot of trouble?!)


Hyacinths:

(Some in pots)

(Some in the raised bed)


Snakeshead Fritillary (very happy to see these return, as I had forgotten where I'd planted the bulbs!)



Orange blossom (and lots of it):



Magnolia (supposedly Leonard Messel, though I see no hint of pink), with hyacinth and cotoneaster standard in the background.



Berberis - orange rocket (I never cease to appreciate this common plant, and particularly love it contrasted with the bright green growth on the dogwood behind):

 

And lastly (with apologies again for the mass upload), a couple of shots of my completed front garden. (Overcrowded? Yes, I love it that way!). This time last year, this was all concrete:

 

An absolute picture TT,Lovely plants and lovely colours,you've done a great job

 

Lovely plants TT and what a transformation to your front garden. I remember seeing the picture of the stacked pile of bricks which is now your new front wall. Great job!

 

My Cantua buxifolia has finally started to bloom ..................


Happy days!