April Showers! I wish we had some rain!
By seaburngirl
13 comments
I know, I know, I shouldn’t wish for rain but what happened to April showers brings forth May’s flowers? Working in the garden is quite difficult when the ground is bone dry and in some places rock hard. The sky is brilliant blue with not a cloud in sight and out of the wind, surprisingly warm. I did remember the factor 50 though, unlike my eldest girl Elizabeth who laid her patio yesterday. She is ginger and should know better!
About 8 years ago I planted a 1litre pot of Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ in front of the lounge window. It is a wonderful late summer daisy type and the goldfinches love the seeds. However it has now spread to cover an area about 6ftx 3ft and has invaded several other nice plants. Mainly a red hemerocallis. Either Crimson Pirate or Red Hen I cant find the label and until it flowers I won’t have any idea.
You can see the extent of the digging. The Helianthus is very woody in the middle and it took some getting through.
The Hemerocallis was lifted and left to soak so I could tease out the Helianthus.
Then it was replanted along with some yellow tulips that for some reason are in the blue and pink bed. Not sure how that happened.
I will pot some of the spare bits and pieces to go on my next plant stall.
I then moved to the front border next to the wall and found I.pallida variegata and I chrysographes swamped by Saponaria, Hesperis and self sown Geraniums. Now dug over and planted along with a Polemonium ‘Heaven Scent’ that I moved from the tenacious Symphyotrichum [aster].
The Berberis is in full flower and was humming with bees.
This Iris lazica has been flowering for over a month now and it is beautiful.
Other plants coming into flower are Anemone ranunculoides, Bridal wreath Spirea and Paeonia mascula.
This is Vinca ‘Jenny Pym’ and she is a pretty little thing but she does like to spread herself around. Naughty girl!
A lovely little Allium: A paradoxum var normale: love it when the sun glances through it. It looks really delicate but it is as tough as old boots.
A neighbour asked me if I had accidently sprayed this Honesty with weed-killer due to its appearance. But it is a perennial one with variegation and white flowers.
One of the children in the street thought this was a snake! Its Disporum longistylum and it does look sinister as it pokes up through the ground. It will get to about 5-6ft in the place where I have it.
The lack of rain has meant the level in the pond has dropped but it hasn’t affected the Marsh marigold.
I really do think the garden needs rain and I am getting fed up with having to water all the pots in and by the greenhouse.
The fields around us are very dry too. The local farmers are getting worried.
Hope your garden is doing well in this atypical April.
18 Apr, 2021
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Comments
You have lots of beautiful flowers in your garden, SBG! 👍👏
The weather here has been very higgledy piggledy with very cold strong winds & some snow showers & a few brief rain showers. This weekend its not so cold & we have had many hours of warm sunshine - out of the light wind anyway! Frosty nights so gardening is still largely on hold.
As it has been so dry of late I've also had to start watering my plants as well! Twice a week at the moment!
18 Apr, 2021
Yes, guiltily I would appreciate some rain too. We water the front garden one day, and the back the next - alternating them but giving special attention to the newly planted plants. Thank goodness for a long hose!
18 Apr, 2021
Yes, your soil does look dry. Like your snail pot, unusual. I think your single March Marigold is nicer than the double form, beauty in simplicity. I didn't realise that Iris lazica is a unguicularis, much more refined foliage.
18 Apr, 2021
Lovely blog, Eileen. It was a lovely day in our area, wasn’t it - and yes, warm in the sunshine too! We have been watering a lot, had the sprinkler on for a while yesterday evening...everything is quite parched. I just said to OH earlier, we need some rain, desperately. Well, our gardens do, and the water bits need filling.
Your garden is really blooming, isn’t it!!! You’ve an array of beautiful flowering plants.
As usual, you’ve been hard at it, I can see! Looking really good! You’ve such a variety of colour and flora!!!
18 Apr, 2021
Thank you for all your lovely comments. The garden is very dry and OH scarified the grass/moss last week and it is looking very sorry for itself. Very brown in places. He wants to add feed and weed but is waiting for the forecast of rain or we will have to water it in. Sorry or I will have to water it in.
The snail planter is one of 2 and I'd love more but I haven't come across any. They have to go into the shed over winter as I don't want them to freeze and break. There are no drainage holes in them. I planted them up with hostas.
18 Apr, 2021
Agreed, we do need a little rain. Question....the yellow marsh marigold... is it possible for it to lay dorment for several years then appear ? my daughter's neighbor recently had a new fence put up and within days the plant appeared which looks just like your yellow plant. ;)
19 Apr, 2021
A lovely blog. I enjoy seeing your varied plants. I love Marsh Marigolds, there are many growing along the River here. I have only watered pots so far. The rest is dust dry on the surface & I hope there is moisture deeper down. Nothing seems to be drooping, but things are a bit behind.
We really need those April showers.
19 Apr, 2021
Hi Loupylou not normal as they take 2-3 years of seasonal growth to get to flowering size. If you get a photo you can post it on here and then we can check. they do need damp conditions, would that fit with your daughter's garden?
at least it was cooler during the day today and no frost FF.
19 Apr, 2021
You have some real beauties there Eileen, especially the allium.. Just looking at the Helianthus - does it have shiny green leaves as it appears to? I have a red one (Ben something, forgotten what) with green leaves but all the others seem to have dull grey ones) Do you cut it back or let it sprawl?
19 Apr, 2021
Morning Yorks the young helianthus foliage is not shiny as far as memory goes but at the moment it is all dusty with being dug up. I'd say mid green often with a bluey tinge. It flowers at about 4-5ft tall and doesn't seem to need much support either. It creeps forward rather than rampaging so easy to remove in that sense. The stuff it leaves behind goes quite woody though. I leave it until the spring to cut back as the stems are hollow and are good hidey holes for insects. I wouldn't let it encroach as much in the next 6-10 years as by then I wont be able to tackle it. I should have done something with it a few years back but i was being lazy. Would you like some?
20 Apr, 2021
How weird, only this weekend hubby ordered a Lemon queen lol. Saw one in a planted up garden at a local nursery and he fell in love. You have some really lovely plants.
It has been so dry hasn't it. I did my grass seed a couple of weeks ago thinking it would rain since it's April and save me having to water lol.
20 Apr, 2021
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Like you, we've been watering all the borders, pots and greenhouse. What a job! Looks like you've been giving the muscles a good workout. And the beds look good.
You have some interesting plants - I'm very taken with the allium; not heard of that one. I'm interested to see what your P. mascula looks like when it flowers.
18 Apr, 2021