My April garden

Hello Scotsgran - what a lovely selection of flowers - I particularly like the anemone pulsatilla - is that the right name ! - all those colours - I did have a mauve one but nothing this year yet - the pleone are beautiful - mine have finished flowering I had them in the conservatory for safe keeping - the challenge now is to get them to flower next year !! - Jane

Some beautiful flowers there gran :)

You have some real treasures there ... :o)

Fabulous spring colour Scotsgran

S'gran you have a lovely show of colour in your garden and the g'house, not sure I like the white extra covering on the glass though, I keep getting the same here, its not affecting the flowers in the garden, in fact truth to tell they are loving it and putting on a fabulous display, however the seedlings in the g'house are taking ages to come through and when they have are still very slow growing, I guess it will all come right in the end....

The flowers are lovely, especially the Pulsatillas, such glorious colours, as these are the same family as buttercups, which grow huge here, I must give these a try.
I bought a Cardiocrimum giganteum bulb for the first time this year, can't believe I spent £6 on a bulb! Having got it home I read somewhere that they flowered, then died, making lots of baby bulbs which take 5 years to flower - is that true?
The daffs are lovely and seem to be lasting well this year, love the little Bulbocodium hoop-petticoat one and the beautiful star shaped one.

Thank you for looking everybody. Janelloyd they are Pulsatillas (not anemone pulsatilla). I tried growing them over the years with very little success until I planted one in a pot. It obviously liked the drainage. After I built the raised alpine bed I started collecting different ones. They are thriving as you can see and I have a white one, pink ones, blue ones and red ones. Keeping your pleiones in a cold greenhouse is the advice I was given. These were bought at an SRGC sale last autumn and I have been waiting anxiously to see what I was going to get. There were no labels except the names. One of our members grows lots of them and also shows them. I looked online and found this website. It explains how to grow and care for your plants. http://www.nurseriesonline.co.uk/mailOrderSpecialist/Pleione-Orchids.html#.VyHFXY-cHL8
Linclass we were hoping to go up north for a short break and go to an SRGC show in Nairn this weekend but with the threat of 8" of snow on the hills I don't think it is going to happen.
Honeysuckle whisper it but I paid £9.50 for each of three cardiocrinum. They were already growing in pots. I had tried bulbs but the slugs got them. Two of the 3 are growing well the 3rd got eaten by slugs. I planted them in different parts of the garden and I got no flowers last year. Fingers crossed it will happen in the next few years. There seems to be three layers of bulbils around the foliage so I hope they will keep the flowers going after the first flowering bulb dies. I was told I would need to plant a plant each year for seven years if I'm wanted to see flowers every year. I checked the price this year and it seems to have doubled so I will not be doing that. I will just enjoy the lovely bronze foliage and the increasing bulbils instead. I hope you succeed with the pulsatillas. The bulbocodium are lovely. I should have a light cream coloured one in the front garden. I don't recognise the 'star shaped' daff and am wondering where it came from but I too like it a lot. .

Your garden is looking great Scotsgran. We have had snow here today.......how about you? I have been growing Cardiocrinums for quite a while now. They create bulbs that then take years to flower. I think I am due some this year. Fingers crossed......they are fabulous.

You have a beautiful selection of plants, Scotsgran! I loved the Pulsatillas you have! So many different ones! I've never grown them but I know of a garden or two around here where they grow.

I looked up the 'Cardiocrinum' & when you realise it takes at least 5 years to flower from seed & when it does can be up to 2.5m tall then you can expect to pay a fair bit for one bulb. My Amaryllis take 4 years from seed to flower!

You have a lovely garden, and your tulips make me envious. Mine grew a couple of inches and then were nibbled by something, not sure what! No flowers at all, I will put them in pots next year :)

it all looks amazing! so many early flowers..:-)

Thank you Sandra I try to have some flowers in every month of the year. Gee19. do you have deer or moles and I know you have squirrels, all three are known tulip vandals. The deer are the worst at nibbling the foliage, the other two tend to go for the bulbs. Balcony I reckon the reason gardeners live so long is because they have expectations stretching to years rather than months lol. I knew about the amaryllis taking years to flower from seed because I did sow some. I'm still waiting. I bought the cardiocrinum as growing plants in the hope that they will have a head start on the seeds I planted. I did not grudge the cost of them as they will be spectacular when they do flower. Linda 235 we had two inches of snow by 2am but it did not lie. The hills all around are white and it is hanging on so I expect we will see more before we see the last of it. Have your cardiocrinums ever flowered? I wish I had planted mine with more space for them to spread out their glorious leaves but I am reluctant to move them.

You have such a lovely selection of plants, all looking very healthy too, we just need some warmer weather now!!

Thank you Dottydaisy2. We have had a very mild winter and now we are having showers of snow, sleet and hailstones interspersed with bright sunshine. The plants do not seem to care. They are putting on a cheerful show so we cannot get depressed about the weather. I decided as its too cold to work outside I would stay in the greenhouse and pot on some of my seedlings. I should have done the job a year ago and the pots are full of weeds but I have found some healthy looking little treasures. A lot of the labels are blank, obliterated by the sun, wind and rain. I will need to be patient and hope they grow big enough to flower soon.

Yes they have flowered Scotsgran and they are a thing to behold. They are really tall with wonderful trumpets .......lots and lots of them. They are a real star in the garden.

Who was asking for warmer weather? Well you got your wish as we will be experiencing a touch of summer this week with temps forecast to reach 20ºC or more! :-))

Linda235 I have seen them in flower at Glendoick Garden and I fell in love with them then. When we visited Jean Bands garden she had a great swathe of them and they were spectacular. Because I am tall I rarely have to look up at plants but they should grow to around ten foot tall. I can hardly wait.