Spring Garden Views ...

23 comments

We haven’t had a nice spring here in Wales this year.
In April we had a fortnight when it was very hot, and the rest has been cold and wet, with blustery winds :o(
My garden has been very slow waking up.

However, it now seems to be catching up, and I hope there will be lots of colour and interest that I can share with you through the coming months …

Here are some May views of my Tamarix tree, which looks very pretty this year :o)

St Francis is in a new position, but I don’t think he’ll be staying there.

He seems to look awkward somehow (although you can’t notice that from the photos)

The self seeded Aquilegias are running wild ! I will have to get rid of some I think. They are choking the things around them.

My Lonicera has grown up to the top of the trellis, and is flowering under the Perspex roof of the plant house I built last year :-

Here’s a small Weigelia tree. I like the colour of the flowers but I don’t know the variety. The label is lost.

And here’s my ‘ordinary’ Weigelia tree down by the garage.
It’s better this year than it’s been for a long time :o)

A little pin eyed Primula still flowering in my garden :o)

I never get many flowers on my Clematis Daniel Deronda, and they are difficult to photograph as well,
but a rich blue colour :-

Clematis John Paul II is doing nicely though :)

Little gooseberries starting to form in a potted bush :o)

Another good performer this spring has been my Geranium phaeum :-

My Ilex Golden King still has berries. I can’t see many flowers on it this year though …

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my May garden.
I’ll end with an evening view of my Tamarix and some Aquilegias :o)

25 May, 2015
19 likes

Comments

Kev_rowley

very impressive, if that's slow waking up, it must be a visual feast when wide awake :)
we're still over cast, and windy in east mids so things slow to wake here, gardening seems to be mostly in partnership with mother nature??

25 May, 2015

Dianebulley

Thats the way to plant up and look after a garden. When
Hywel put a picture on of when they first moved in, I was amazed at the small space he has.
Just shows it can be done.
I think St.Francis could be improved by colour. He could be painted using small pots of modelling paint, with a larger pot of brown for his robe, the colours copied from a print.

25 May, 2015

Terratoonie

Fab garden, Hywel, with stunning hillside views.

Paint St Francis ... ????
... noooooooooooooo ... sacrilege !!!

25 May, 2015

Thrupennybit

Wonderful spring garden and llooks great against the views.
Hywel I was told by a nursery owner if you trail your Clematis around a pergular in a circle not going up wards they produce more flowers, it worked for me.

25 May, 2015

Petaltracey

I noticed that your Holly tree was still covered in lush red berries... The birds in your neck of the woods can't be that peckish...!:D I have lots of Aquilegia's around the garden too - My Nephew grew them for me from seeds when he was a little boy! He's 24 now and getting married this summer! I just don't have the heart to pull them up... ;o)

25 May, 2015

Davros

Excellent pictures

25 May, 2015

Bathgate

Hywel, what is a "fortnight" ? It sounds like Shakespearean English. What is the literal definition of the word? Nice garden, I'm sure you can find a new home for St. Francis.

25 May, 2015

Cinderella

Your garden has really matured Hywel and looks very pretty, the Tamarix is lovely, and love the colour of your Lonicera flowers.

25 May, 2015

Hywel

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions :o)

Bathgate, a fortnight is two weeks :) It isn't Shakespearean. Maybe we only say it here in Wales.

26 May, 2015

Thrupennybit

Fortnight is used here Hywel Coventry fortnight holidays has been said for years here , may be the Welsh bought the name here as an influx of workers like my mum and dad came here from Wales to work.

26 May, 2015

Thorneyside

What a lovely garden Hywel and it looks so bright. The only times I've been to Wales was for Welsh Cob shows and it always seemed to rain even in July for the Royal Welsh.
The dark leaved Weigela looks like Weigela florida purpurea and the other Weigela florida. The trouble is they all seem to be called florida but with different cultivar names. I have 2 that were here when I came in 1993 plus purpurea, 'Bristol Ruby', variegata and variegata 'Victoria'. The last 2 I'm still trying to find the difference between. Also a cutting of 'Rubidor' about a foot high at the moment.
Please don't paint your statue.
Your plants all look very healthy, must be the fresh air in Wales! Not so good here under the Heathrow flight path.
Is your honeysuckle 'Dropmore Scarlet'? It looks goodand your Clematis look so healthy too.
I can't believe you still have berries on anything in the garden, the birds stripped most of mine months ago and the gale force winds took the rest.
A smashing garden.

26 May, 2015

Balcony

Your garden looks fabulous, Hywel! What is the dark leaved bush behind the pot with Gooseberry in? Got me intrigued! Lol!

Your Tamarix is lovely! There used to be a lot of them near a place where we used to live in Spain. I used to love to see them flower every spring!

26 May, 2015

Hywel

Thanks for all your comments about my garden. It's really in a bit of a mess.

Thanks for the Weigela name Thorneyside ...
I don't know the name of the Honeysuckle. I'm no good at keeping labels.
I think my cat scares all the birds away from my garden. I don't mind, because I have a phobia of them ...
Yes we do get a lot of rain here. We are in the line of fire from all the Atlantic weather systems ! I know no different :)

Balcony the shrub is Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace'. It gets nice pink flowers in summer.
The Tamarixes in Spain must have looked a wonderful sight :)

26 May, 2015

Cristina

Hi hywel, my tamarixe has never dun well yrs is fab .. Lovely. To see ur pics .. Been a long time ?

27 May, 2015

Paulspatch

Yes,its been very changeable down here but, I think we've faired better in the south east than most.
I can't seer pictures as on my decrepit old mobile Costa coffee at lakeside shopping centre but, I'm sure thetamarisk is looking great as my customers' one was when I did theirgardenthis morning.

27 May, 2015

Hywel

Thank you both.

Nice to hear from you again Chris ...

I hope you enjoyed your coffee Paul :o)

28 May, 2015

Paulspatch

I always enjoy my coffee Hywel...I can see the pictures now....Lovely tamarisk as I thought.
Where's Francis..........Oh yes, I assisi him?

28 May, 2015

Hywel

;)

28 May, 2015

Stroller

I do love your garden Hywel and despite the not so good start to the year it has caught up well and is looking lovely.I planted a Tamarix last year which is not looking too bad so it was nice to see how it should be looking next year if yours is anything to go by.

29 May, 2015

Hywel

Thank you :) I hope your Tamarix does well ...

29 May, 2015