The wisteria hasn't got enough flowers on it to look good in a photo as yet, so I've had a general wander round the garden to see what was happening instead.
The first photo was taken a couple of weeks ago and looks up the back garden. The Japanese Garden is to the right of the picture between the steps and the fruit cage.
Ceefer cat 'hunting' an interloper in the heather!
I have several large clumps of these pretty yellow flowers - but NO idea what they are! So if anyone could enlighten me I'd be very grateful!
An Acer 'Shin Deshojo' stands out against the euphorbia in a bed I'm currently working on in the back garden.
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Crocuses nestling in the shelter of the oak tree - my favourite tree in the entire garden. I sneak up and hug it when no-one's looking!
Frank the cat (because of his 'ol blue eyes!) keeping a watchful eye out in amongst the euphorbia. He was one of several garden-based presents I received when I left the NHS to start my alternative therapies business over 3 years ago now and he still makes me smile with his nodding head and wobbly tail!
Derbyshire's oldest flowering cherry, well .... flowering really!
We have had some beautiful sunny days with glorious blue skies, but they stopped happening as soon as the cherry had enough blossom to be worthy of photographing! It looks far better in reality than it does in the photo - probably because I haven't worked out how to eliminate backlight yet. It's almost luminescent in an evening as dusk sets in - it's beautiful. It's also huge!
The cherry is on the island at the front of and below the house.
The sky was just teasing here!
The ornamental cherry on the island mixes so well with the varigated grasses and the moss covered stones - not my doing, I have to confess, but that of the previous owners of our house.
Ferns always look prehistoric and a bit sinister to me as they begin to unfurl, but I like them when they're open so I'm prepared to put up with the few days of creepiness!.
A random mix of (mainly self-set) flowers at the top of the steps at the front of the house.
There you go - a whistle-stop tour round some of the garden. Hope you enjoyed it!
35 comments:
Gorgeous spring you've got going on over there!! Especially love that first pic. Beautiful!
Lovely glimpses of your garden! I adore that purple of the heathers, it's glowing. And your cherry is probably bigger than mine, which I thought was huge.
(if you like to see what's happening over here, I am putting a summary in English on each post, once you've past the weird bits in Swedish...:-).
It looks beautiful, spring is definitely there! I think the flowering cherries are so pretty, looks like a lot of your plants are at the same stages they are here.
Good gravy, your heather is stunningly large and gorgeous. I wish mine grew as well. Too bad we don't have Smell-o-vision (or Smell-o-blog) so we can't take int he wisteria!
I really enjoyed all of your spring pictures of happy plants and the reflection of a happy photographer.
I am not certain but your yellow flowers could be marsh marigolds? I am in North America, and I tend to know mostly wild plants.
The gray kitty looks almost invisible while the black kitty contrasts beautifully with the flowers.
Happy Spring!
b
Hi Gnome
The yellow weed is Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)I think.
It usually dissapears by summer but'll be back next year. I like it.
Rob
Flydragon - spring does seem fantastically colourful this year. It must have been the harsh winter we had. It worried the plants!
Camellia - yes, the heather has been glorious this year, pity it doesn't stay that colour all year round really!I'm glad you're doing some bits in English on your blog - I've been missing you!
Catherine - I love this time of year! Apart from the heathers, everything was shades of green when we moved in so we've had to work quite hard to get colour around the garden - but it's worth it. It's been quite a display this year!
Monica - we THINK there's a rockery lurking under the heathers!(but I haven't dared tackle it yet!). I know what you mean about a 'smell-o'blog'- I would love to be able to bottle the smell of wisteria!
Bernie - you're right, I'm very happy, whether it's taking photos or just working in the garden, I am at peace with myself and the path of my life!
Rob - RANUNCULUS!!! Dhoh - of course it is!!!Thank you for that - it's been really bugging me, yet I knew I knew it really - if you see what I mean!
It's Lesser Celandine, but I guess you know that by now!
Thanks Woody - it's always good to get confirmation though!
here i was thinking your garden was the start of a work in progress, what with the stream and all. instead, I find you have one of the most gorgeous gardens I've seen. how absolutely lovely...especially that heather bed. just fabulous. happy gardening.
irena
Oh, what a fairy garden!!!! So beautiful!!!! Fantastic photos! And I love the "prehistoric" reference! Never thought of it in that way...but they DO look like that!!!!! Terrific! Thanks for stopping by my "accidental" blog! And for your very sympathetic comments...LOL!! Great to "meet" you!
P.S. I think your blog is really beautiful...I love all the green!
Hi Irena - I'm glad you like my garden. The Japanese Garden is new - 3 years ago it was visually a 'dead' area, all old spirea, holly, brambles and privet bushes ....so I dug it all up! (like you do!)
The rest, including the heather bank, is pretty much as it was when we moved in 8 years ago, except that I have added colour - back then every plant was a variation of green!
I do have plans for other areas of the garden (much to Himself's despair!), but not until I've finished this part!
Oooh, I'm fibbing - I'm working on changing the size and shape of a previously straight border, dominated by a laurel, into a curvacious lucious, colourful area! Okay, so the BIG plans have to wait....!
Hi Sniffles and Smiles - great to meet you too. It was a happy accident of finding your blog!
I'm so glad you like both the garden and my blog - when First-Born persuaded me to do a blog I was TOTALLY convinced no-one would be interested, so it's wonderful to hear so many positive comments. Thank you. See you soon. :)
Love your garden, so lovely. I have just planted some wisteria in my tiny little garden, it doesn't seem to have grown much yet, the promise of the smell you describe gives me hope for the future!
That's really lovely! A true English garden. Thanks for the tour.
Hello Susan and welcome. Glad you like the garden. Your wisteria will get there - but don't expect too much of it this year!
Carolynn - nice to see you again. How's the running going? Yes, it is a very English garden at the moment - mainly due to the previous owners hard work .....but I have plans!!!
Hello Nutty Gnome (i like that name). Thanks for the tour. Looks like the previous owners had taste (but there's always room for planting something new). Love that cherry tree.
Hello Prospero and welcome! I'm pleased you liked the tour - you're right, the previous owners did have taste ....but they didn't have colour!
Oh. My. God. That is your garden???? I am SO not posting any pictures of mine from now on. In Disneyspeak (I'm still in Florida) that is 'AWESOME dude!'.
Thank you so much for your comment on my blog (just playing catch-up) - James is fine now...phew...and I'm coming home.
Jx
Hi Jane - I loved your posts from Florida, hilarious dude!!! Glad James is fine. Welcome home! x
I love Ceefer cat! Watch the celandines - they like to spread.
Hi HM. Ceefer cat is great - a big help in the garden!!! Thanks for the warning about the celandines, I'll keeo an eye on them. They're in a fairly isolated bed near the back door, so they can't spread into the main beds. I do like them though!
What a lot of variety and colour. I love the euphorbias contrasting with the acer!
There is a really interesting post about lesser celandines which you may enjoy on Riverdaze, a blog I like to read:
http://riverdaze.blogspot.com/2009/04/lovely-invader.html
The curled up ferns I find enchanting rather than creepy!
Your garden is beautiful.
Hi Phoenix C. and welcome! I'll have a look at the Riverdaze blog shortly, so thanks for that. I'm glaad you like the garden - I'm slowly working on getting more colour and foliage contrast in there, but it takes time!
Well, I now see where the Lesser Celandine comment on my blog came from. I say grow it—as I said when I answered you on my blog's comments section a few minutes ago. You have a great location with the shade and water and all.
I'm thinking about putting in some wisteria around the cottage. Your mention of its fragrance just reminded me to quit forgetting to do so.
Hello Scribe and nice to see you. I'm going to transplant some celandine up into the woods - I think it'll be very happy up there mingling with the bluebells, forget-me-nots, grape hyacinths and daffodils!
Go for it - plant some wisteria. It's stunningly beautiful at this time of year!
Thanks for the tour. I can appreciate all the hard work behind your beautiful gardens. Thanks for sharing so many photographs. ♥Rosemary
Hi Rosemary and welcome. It has been a lot of hard work (- with a lot more to go!)but I am so enjoying doing it all and transforming what was a pretty, but bland, garden into a place of joy! No big ideals there then!
Your 'whistle-stop tour' makes my heart stand still! So beautiful to see that Spring has found us all :)
Hi Joey. I love Spring - and it seems to be even more glorious than usual this year. I thing all the plants benefitted from the hard winter and all that snow - and we're benefitting from the show they're putting on right now:)
Just a few minutes in blogland, then I'm off out to plant some vegetables and flowers....... can you do just a few minutes in blogland?!
Hi NG - so glad you found me so that I can now find you! (especially as we are virtually neighbours...).
Love the tour of the garden - it looks beautiful. Don't you just love this time of year? Everything so fresh and perfectly formed (till the rain and winds come and ruin it all - or the cat sits in the middle of a wonderful dome of cornflowers. Sigh). I'm with you on the ferns, too, (bit triffid like) but adore then when they're out.
Indeed, it is Lesser Celandine, as you have been told. But quite where the 'Lesser' fits in I'm not quite sure: 'Morer' Celandine would be more fitting judging by how it completely overuns our garden at this time every year. It is EVERYWHERE! It's slightly on it's way out now, otherwise I would have taken a picture to show you. It's even on the lawn. When you dig, you will see lots of tiny little bulby things in the soil - that's the lesser celandine. I've given up any hope of containing it. It's just part of the garden here. Pretty at least with its little yellow flowers, and stops other more unsightly weeds taking over. I think of it as a green mulch!
I think we have much in common: location, gardening, alternative therapies, cats, love of snow and now Gurkhas too I see! Thanks for your comments and the petition link.
Right, must go as am off to run the Gardening Club at our little village school. Got some runner beans to plant out :-)
Hi Carah - it's good to see you. You're right, we do have so much in common - but I haven't (yet) had to fight to keep a school open (it may come to that soon though... but that's a tale for another day!)
Hope you got your runner bean s planted - I need to get the cucumbers, chillies, aubergines and peppers potted on and out into the green house. It's all go this gardening lark!!! :)
BEAUTIFUL images!! Love all the lavender shades. I've got wisteria, but no blooms yet.
Thanks for the garden tour! It was just lovely!
Hi Kylee - and welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed the tour. There will be more later.:)
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