Easter Weekend

Published on by Catherine

This weekend we’re forecast to have blue skies and wall-to-wall sunshine. That doesn’t happen too often on an Easter Weekend holiday. I’m planning to spend the day working in the garden, but yesterday we had two young grandchildren with us. Swimming at the local pool took up most of the morning then home for lunch and out again for a pleasant walk in the local nature reserve where we even spotted two deer.

We stopped at the seafront on the way back because I knew the ice cream van would be there. The prom was very busy and I prefer not to be there when it’s like that, instead I’m happy to leave it to those who can only visit on holidays and weekends. The wind was very cold, though it didn’t dissuade some hardy folk from paddling in the water. But you can’t pass by the ice cream van when you have a four-year-old and a nine-year-old with you! After the ice creams were scoffed we headed back to our house where they played in the sunshine in the more sheltered garden until Dad arrived to take them home. It was a lovely day.

I hope you’re all going to have a lovely weekend with loads of sunshine!

But let’s get on with this Saturday’s six. First of all, we have Narcissus Tete Boucle. This is one that I haven’t grown before. Initially, I wasn’t too sure about it, but as the flowers continued to open my opinion changed. I’m smitten. I’ll grow this one again.

Narcissus Tete Boucle

I visited our nearest garden centre during the week, with littlest grandson and grandad in tow. Our grandson really enjoys these visits, as he gets to run about outside, watch the fish in the indoor tank and more, but the big attraction is the visit to the cafe where he can have a doughnut.

I bought the lupins and compost I had gone for, but then spotted Muscari armeniacum ‘Mountain Lady’. I liked the colours, and it’s currently planted in a similar-coloured pot that sits on my little table outside the greenhouse.

Muscari armeniacum ‘Mountain Lady’

Here we have Chionodoxa ‘Alba’ & ‘Violet Beauty’. I love the tiny flowers of Chionodoxa and it appeared to be a good idea to plant the two varieties in the same pot, simply because I didn’t have many bulbs of either. However, Violet decided to take centre stage before Alba was completely awake. Note to self – buy extra bulbs next autumn and plant them in separate pots.

Chionodoxa Alba & Violet Beauty

Like most gardens in early April, mine is beginning to awake from its winter slumber and shrubs and trees are full of buds. Perennials are finally pushing upwards from the soil. It’s a process that gives hope to every gardener, and even though some plants have been lost to the winter freeze, others have been tough enough to withstand it.

This is a new growth on the Syringa vulgaris ‘Belle de Nancy’ that didn’t get deadheaded after flowering last year. I don’t quite know what to expect now, will there be flowers or just leaves? I can see some fat buds at the tips of some branches above my height but don’t know if they are leaf or flower buds. The photo shows buds lower on the tree – will they be leaves or flowers?

Syringa vulgaris ‘Belle de Nancy’
Clematis Korean Amber buds.

The winter damaged several of the 2022 planted strawberries, but fortunately, I had quite a few that I’d grown from runners and overwintered in the cold frame.

My very able garden assistant, age 4, was on hand to help me plant them – and he did a pretty good job of it! Grandad said to him, “You’ll have to ask Gran for your wages now”. He came over to me and said, “Gran, Grandad said I’ve to ask you for wages”. After a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “What are wages?”

The garden assistant at work

I have an old, unbeautiful patio, with an old, dreadfully awful fence on its right. The patio can be mostly hidden when I put down the outdoor rug, but the fence…that’s another story. I decided to tackle it and bought two decorative screens while they were on sale in January. This week, new fence slats were screwed horizontally onto the posts by my husband, and I painted them black. And before you ask – did I get black paint on the camellia – yes, I did! Finally, the screens were screwed on the top and it was complete. There’s a path that runs between the screens and the planter, and I’ll place a tall black pot between the two, I’m not sure what’s going in it yet.

It’s going to take me a while to get used to the new look. I think it’s quite modern, but the patio slabs are not. I’m dreaming about nice porcelain tiles replacing the concrete slabs. Note the word ‘dreaming’. 🙂

New decor screens

That’s my six for this week! Have a wonderful holiday weekend, hopefully in sunshine, whatever your plans are!

Jim is currently hosting Six on Saturday, so why not pop over to see what others have been sharing – there will be beautiful plants and flowers from all over the world.

23 thoughts on “Easter Weekend”

  2. So many lovely things in your post – and if your photos appeared in a bulb catalogue (maybe they do?) I would be tempted to place a huge order. It’s lovely to see you are training up the next generation of gardeners! I think so many of us were originally introduced to gardening by our grand parents.

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    1. What a nice thing to say. 🙂 No they don’t appear in bulb catalogues, though if they were good enough, maybe that would earn me a bit of pocket money to buy extra bulbs. 😀
      It’s nice to have children and grown-ups working side by side in the garden, isn’t it.

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  4. Your Muscari are so pretty, and your assistant gardener is charming. I would caution you about porcelain tile for your patio – it could be slippery! Are you considering a clematis for your decorative fence?

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    1. Oh, I’ll have to take a look at tiles – I wouldn’t want anything that was slippy. That fence area is in deep shade, I’ve tried growing many shade-loving plants in there, and they’ve all died! I’m just going to keep it simple – I’m hoping perhaps a hosta or the large-leaved Brunnera Alexander’s Great might look good. 🙂

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        1. Thanks, Su, I’ll try the Brunnera, although the plant I have has been recently divided, so is rather small. Worth a try though. 🙂

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  5. So many lovely plants. Narcissus ‘Tete Boucle’ is a beauty (I have one that is just going over) and Chionodoxa ‘Alba’ & ‘Violet Beauty’ look great together. I really like the screen – very striking against the black. We’ve yet to have our first ice cream of the year! Must remedy that soon.

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    1. I remember you said you were partial to ice cream…at any time of the year! Surprised you haven’t had one yet with all this sunshine, perhaps tomorrow you can enjoy a treat! Photos on the blog requested though! 🤣

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  7. Such a lovely post full of nice things. I like the screen and your camellia is a beauty! Muscari look good in pots I think and I like your Mountain Lady, similar to Ocean Magic which I do have. I noticed your Clematis Korean Amber which you didn’t mention in the write up. Do you like it? I have one which hadn’t done very much until I moved it to a sunnier spot and I now have several buds, but I find the flowers get lost among the leaves.

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    1. I’ve been caught out, haven’t I? 😁 I meant to delete it and use it in a later post about the clematis – but I forgot!
      There’s no short answer to your question at the moment. I love the little flowers, but the flowers are spaced so far apart, therefore mine doesn’t look the same as the photos.
      It doesn’t need to be pruned, that’s a plus, but it has travelled 15 feet along the fence under other clematis. I hadn’t noticed. I’ve managed to turn some of it back but I’ll have to wait and see how it looks when it flowers.
      I’ll try to do a separate post & photos later in the season.

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    1. No – I didn’t know that, Fred. I’ll always see them in a different light now! 🤣 It’s very handy having someone around who speaks the language! 👍🏻

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  9. Beautiful spring flowers, I love the “curly hair” narcissus in particular. That’s a perfect way to disguise an ugly fence, I love the panels which draw the eye up so you don’t even see the paving!

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    1. I’m always going to think about that narcissus as the curly-haired narcissus, and probably forget its real name. 🙂
      Thank you, I hadn’t thought about the panels lifting the eye away from the paving – that thought will keep me happy until it gets replaced! 😀

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