Great Spring Combinations
Due to the severe lack of time I have to write, especially between spring and late autumn, I thought visitors to this blog might like to see some of the great combinations that crop up in my garden throughout the growing year.
Starting in now in April, this delightful mixture of rather unfashionable Dicentra spectabilis (now called Lamprocapnos spectabilis) and the tall, uncommon Brunnera macrophylla ‘Blaukuppel’ enhance each others beauty, something …
Mullein moths
I spend a lot of time wandering around my garden, pulling weeds and just looking at what is happening, especially when it comes to wild life. Each year the verbascums (commonly called Mulleins) get attacked by the caterpillars of Mullein Moth. These handsome little yellow and black creatures devour the leaves and flower buds. But I leave them be, because I know they will recover. As these pictures prove.
Mullein moth …
Perennials for Butterflies
When we moved into the house we now live in very few butterflies visited the garden. Largely planted up with roses, there was little for butterflies to feed on. The garden has now expanded to become a perennial garden and on warm days butterflies of all kinds can be seen merrily fluttering about the flowerbeds. Perennials produce just the right kind of blooms for butterflies and there are many that …
Notes from the early summer garden
By summer the garden has revealed what has, and has not, come through the winter. The late spring strugglers have either romped away or given up the ghost. Where they have died I’m now filling gaps either with new little treasures or with more of the same.
Campanulas
I’ve come to realise how few big campanulas there are available to gardeners. Some years ago I grew Campanula ‘Burghaltii’, which I really like, …
Spring in June
There has almost no spring this year, the cold weather really never went, and suddenly it was June. So it’s not surprising to find that many spring plants are still blooming in the middle of the year. We have Pulmonaria ‘Opal’ in flower in, which usually have finished by the end of April, and dicentra, Geums and Brunneras. I have quite a number of Geums, some of which bloom throughout …