Author: Catherine

Warm Spring Days

Published on by Catherine31 Comments

Our temperatures reached 19C (66F) one day this week, and three other days were a pleasant 18C (64.4F). Some may find it amusing that here, on the west coast of Scotland, we consider 19C warm, but we’re used to cooler temperatures and like to make the most of warm, sunny Spring days when they finally arrive! Working and relaxing in the garden this week has been enjoyable. We’ve also had some much-needed rain to loosen up my clay soil. If I had any minor complaint it would be that the mix of sun and strong winds made it challenging to take photographs. In most cases, I waited for some light cloud cover – and here are my six choices for the first ‘Six on Saturday‘ of May.

Prunus ‘Kanzan’ is the perfect example of a wrongly placed tree. It’s at the back of the garden, surrounded by shrubs and other trees which means that I can’t get into its area to get photos when the blossom arrives. The main culprits are an old Syringa ‘Red Pixie’ that I’m planning to cut back, along with a very old and weak azalea that seldom flowers. The area needs breathing space – both shrubs might even be better removed and replaced with something else.

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Five in a Row

Published on by Catherine22 Comments

Five what? Five dry days without rain! The perfect cause for excitement, don’t you think? With heaps of sunshine adding to the joy, it’s definitely a reason for celebration. We’ve managed to accomplish a remarkable amount of work in the garden this week. Despite the chilly air, by afternoon, the garden’s been a ‘jackets off’ workplace. This weekend is shaping up to be more of the same! I hope your week has been as good as mine. Let’s take a look at my six subjects for today.

Six on Saturday

Exochorda x macrantha ’Niagara’ This was planted last year, so it’s still not quite large enough to create the beautiful waterfall of flowers shown in the marketing blurb. One day…

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Fiery

Published on by Catherine23 Comments

Six on Saturday

While I was away last weekend, the garden finally burst into glorious, vivid colour. I couldn’t get near it for the first few days due to high winds, rain and sleet. Finally, when it appeared as though the entire week was destined to be wild and wet, the sun arrived.

I normally resist photographing in sunshine because I prefer the results I get with overcast light, but sometimes you have to take what you get. The only day available to me this week was very sunny and windy, with only a few fleeting clouds hurrying by to soften the harsh, contrasty shadows that sunshine produces.

Tulip ‘Orca’. I’ve planted Orca many times over the years. It usually blooms first, aside from the species tulips, but this year it was a bit late. The flowers are big and hefty and don’t handle the elements as well as some other tulips, but I can’t resist its bold orange colour.

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Weird and Wonderful

Published on by Catherine28 Comments

This week marked the end of most of the narcissi. Tête à Tête performed as reliably as it always does, but overall the narcissi have been a disappointment as flowering has been sporadic. Tête ‘Bouclé’ (that was so successful last year) offered flowers every so often but never enough to appreciate them as a whole. Tete ‘De Luxe’ behaved in the same way. Thalia produced very few stems (more below) and other unknown varieties were a bit sparse. I’m looking for reasons.

Our weather continues to be dismal with no end in sight, although I’m happy to report that Easter Monday was a great gardening day – I made the most of the sunshine and I had a ball! Thursday was dry, and bitterly cold in the morning but warm jackets and cosy accessories kept that east wind at bay. A little bit of gardening was tackled, a few photographs were taken and below you can see some of the plants that caught my eye this week.

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Did Someone say it was Spring?

Published on by Catherine29 Comments

March came in like a lion and it’s going out the same way. This week has been tough on the garden – no jobs have been tackled and they’re mounting up.

However, it’s not been all gloom, yesterday morning was bright and sunny, the cold wind had dropped and I should have been busy in the garden. But it was the first day of the school spring holidays and we had our two nearby grandchildren with us as mum & dad didn’t have time off work. It was nice enough to go to the nature reserve where Littlest Grandson, while trying to race his big sister to the one-person bench that overlooks the pond, (who thought a one-person bench was a good idea?) slipped on the muddiest part of the entire area. He had to suffer the indignity of travelling home in the car without his shoes, socks and jeans. Will he learn to stay on the path? Of course not, where’s the fun in that. 😁

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