Spring – Page 8 – Notes From My Garden

The Learning Book

Published on March 18, 2023April 15, 2023 by Catherine6 Comments

Our littlest grandson has been trying very, very hard to understand the seasons. It can be a confusing concept for young children to grasp, especially when seasons don’t behave as expected.

A couple of weeks ago we were treated to a very sunny afternoon. We’d been through a long spell of grey, dark, wet and uninspiring days. It was like that when we left to collect him from the nursery that afternoon. But on the drive home, out came the sun and we made the decision to stop off at a local play park. It was by the sea and bitingly cold. I thought, if I can endure the cold wind for 10 minutes or so, that’ll be enough time for all of us!

When we arrived at the play park he asked,

“Is it summer?”
“Do we have sun cream with us?”
“Can I have an ice cream, please?”

You’ve got to love them at 4 years old!

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A Magical Mystery Tour

Published on March 11, 2023April 14, 2023 by Catherine8 Comments

I thought hard about buying the Itoh Peony ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ last year as it was a bit pricey. The photographs that accompanied the peony were so lovely that I eventually caved in to temptation and bought it.

It was a fairly small tuber, and its home was to be a wooden planter in a sunny spot. It grew well, the leaves were lovely and then buds appeared. I was so excited to see buds growing in the first year of planting! I watched it daily until that first bud unfurled. Well, I’ve got to tell you – I was so disappointed. The young flowers were a fairly rich magenta, and there was no sign of the lovely corals and creams on the marketing images.

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Weekend Jobs

Published on March 7, 2023April 14, 2023 by Catherine7 Comments

It was cold last Saturday, 4C, but calm with occasional spells of sunshine that made the garden more enjoyable to work in. The garden is undergoing a bit of a change, through necessity, and at the moment it’s not the prettiest of places. However, the winter gloom has given way to signs of spring as the borders turn green with emerging perennials and a few little splashes of cheerful colour here and there courtesy of spring bulbs and hellebores.

I’m longing for the day when the sun streams in my bedroom window early in the morning and I can hear the birds chirping outside. It’s always motivation to get up and get started with whatever happens to be on the agenda.

But back to the jobs that husband & I managed to tick off the list last Saturday. Two hydrangeas were lifted and replanted elsewhere. Six Hellebores were also dug up and moved to a shadier bed. Various perennials were replanted or moved from one area to another, and a new Exochorda ‘Niagara’ was planted. I’d love to think it would be covered in masses of flowers this spring, but I think it’s too young for that, so I’ll appreciate whatever flowers it offers up.

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March 2023 – and it’s hello again from me.

Published on March 5, 2023March 20, 2023 by Catherine10 Comments

If you follow the meteorological calendar, then it’s springtime right now and you can say farewell to winter. If you follow the astronomical calendar, then spring starts on the 20th of March this year. Either way, it’s close enough to inject us with all the hope and excitement that fresh life in the garden brings. Perennials will be popping up from the cold soil and trees and shrubs will be starting to bud. Late winter bulbs are blooming, and early spring bulbs are pushing through the soil with great determination.

It’s also now time for me to get this blog back up and running. I thought I’d be away for a number of months, but one accident was followed by another, then another. I won’t bore you with the details. Time had unexpectedly moved on and I hadn’t.

I’m looking out my window as I type, and the garden is starting to morph from a barren wasteland to one with spreading greenery (mostly, I have to say, due to the forget-me-nots that seem to adore this heavy clay soil) and little pops of colour from snowdrops, crocus and hellebore. Narcissi are in bud, and a few have opened, adding some welcome rays of sunshine to my view.

There are so many fabulous plant combinations in today’s plant-rich world, some of which would take your breath away, but at this point in time, mine is the tulip and the lovely little forget-me-not combination. The images are from previous springs.

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A Walk in my Garden

Published on December 5, 2020March 11, 2023 by Catherine28 Comments

A few years back a friend said to me that paper was dead. We have all this wonderful technology – all books will be digital and paper will soon be redundant. I couldn’t agree less. There’s nothing to beat snuggling up on a comfy sofa with a much-loved book, running your fingers over the paper and turning each page. It might be an old photo album full of fading photographs of great and even great-great-grandparents, a novel, a book of poetry, a family bible or a journal. Words and images on paper – why would we ever want to be without that magic.

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