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Good, bad & ugly in my April garden. Part Two

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So the journey continues, part one left at the steps & bluebells.
There are only a couple of steps, and once up on the grassed area, not officially classed as “lawn” it’s grass & daises.
As the steps are climbed the path passes under a blackberry arch, the blackberry is “Merton Thornless” which is just starting to come into flower

On left is an old apple, variety unknown, another mis-label, lurking among the branches is one of my climbing snails. :-(

To right is my Judas tree, from a seed sown over thirty years ago and generally neglected with branches broken by gales, but thriving and making a wonderful display every Spring

To the right and ahead is my gooseberry, variety unknown, some may recall that last year I severely had at it, removed loads of growth and trained one stem around a curly metal pole.
Which worked but my dream of a six foot curly standard gooseberry “tree” failed due to high winds breaking the branches & then sawfly

This year there is hope, loads of gooseberries all the way up the stem. I’m pinching out wayward shoots while they are soft and so are the spines
Here’s one of the many

However I’ll watch out for yet more lurking climbing snails

On the path, growing between the cracks are self sown forget me nots, I let them get on with it back they come every Spring

In the left hand corner is my “Sunburst” cherry tree. It fruits every year but I rarely get to eat any despite netting. They either split or my climbing snails have them. I get a few to tempt me to keep on trying
This year was heavy with blossom so again it’s fingers crossed

Between the cherry & gooseberry are some roses, one is “Deep Secret” which always does well with lovely scent. At the moment it is host to a few aphids, I have blue tits in the garden so if they fail to clear them I’ll squish them later

Around the back gate some “Jack by the Hedge” has sprung up. It’s another one I leave due to nice flowers and I’m told you can eat it but not one for me as it supposedly has garlic tang

In pots I have some strawberries, only about a dozen or so plants, varieties unknown. I have a few berries every year but hardly jam quantities. Here’s one this year’s promise

There is also a large pyracantha, yellowish berries and one all the wildlife loves, bees, hover flies, with the smaller birds using it’s spiny interior to hide & perch in followed by the blackbirds in winter
Flowers in waiting

Hanging over the the wall and into my garden is a variegated yellow leaved shrub, name unknown.
Can anyone identify it for me please?

Tomorrow moving into the front garden

More blog posts by grandad_gardener

Previous post: Good, bad & ugly in my April garden. Part One

Next post: Good, bad & ugly in my April garden. Part Three



Comments

 

What beautiful close up photo’s! You have a real eye for spotting the intricate images in your garden. I really enjoyed your pictures.

27 Apr, 2020

 

That looks like Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald and Gold’. Its a lovely bright shrub. Hope you get some cherries this year!

27 Apr, 2020

 

Lovely blog, grandad gardener! Beautiful close ups of your garden blooms and shrubs. Really striking! Agree with Karen re. The euonymus, I have a few in my back garden.

27 Apr, 2020

 

Great selection of plants there. Star of the show has to be the Judas tree - oh how I would love to have one of those...
Sorry your fancy gooseberry tree didn't work out - surprising really - never known one suffer wind damage before. Are you going to try again?
Lovely closeups.

27 Apr, 2020

 

We have three Judas trees which alter every day at the moment. Tight red buds were followed by a ghostly pink haze over the whole tree. Then a mass of pink blossom and now pink interspersed with beautiful fresh green, heart shaped leaves. A stunning tree all round apart from it's tendency to shed twiggy branches, but more stunning against the bright yellow Laburnum just in flower. All the fruit blossoms are lovely 'en masse' but close-up even more fascinating. You are doing a grand job with your camera!

28 Apr, 2020

 

Thanks for naming the shrub for me, nice to know the names of things.

HoneyS, yes Judas against the laburnum would be a stunner. Mine has neighbour's Concorde white pear blossom as it's back drop.

SteraG, gooseberry, still trying, looking good so far.
Once [if?] the berries get a bit bigger I'll post a picture of it, hopefully a six foot tall column of juicy berries and not a six foot column of tattered leaves

28 Apr, 2020

 

Excellent! Grown that way it must make both pruning and picking a less prickly job. I tried growing them as a couple of cordons against the garage wall some years ago and it was very successful.

28 Apr, 2020

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