April and May In the Garden

Apologies I've been away a little while due to being unwell and April seems to have passed me by and suddenly we are well into May. Here's a little snapshot of what's been happening in the garden while I've been recuperating. When I went in hospital all the daffodils were out and since then the cherry blossom trees and tulips have been and gone and now the garden is full of vibrant colour and plants again. Here are a few photos.

The cherry blossoms 

Magnolia and tulips 

Vivid yellow and pink broom in the front garden with aubretia and yellow alyson in the foreground

Phlox making a purple carpet

One of my May favourites - Aquilega 

A deep red broom currently brightening up a back border

The Californian lilac bushes are in flower

The geums are out and will flower all through summer

Another May favourite - weigelia 

May isn't May without a clematis in full bloom

Borders are brimming with forget-me-nots

The wallflowers have sprung back to into life for the summer

And bluebells - well they sing of May and signal the summer isn't too far away now

A peony unfurling in the early morning sunshine

It's all come to life so quickly and as we approach mid May, the cold snaps and frosts are leaving us. It's already time to redo the summer baskets and pots...

June Garden

Time for a quick catch up as I've been busy coming and going with hospital, travelling and other things and while all that's been happening the garden has suddenly burst into full bloom and is brimming with so much colour. So many plants have come to life again, I can't keep up with them all at the moment. 

We spent a sunny weekend updating all the pots and baskets with summer plants and general tidying and then simply enjoyed it all with a long awaited barbeque. The borders seem to have sprung into growth over the last week or two, full of poppies, geums, wallflowers, salvia, lupins and foxgloves. The roses have started to bloom and the pond is looking colourful - full of tall yellow irises at the moment. 

It's one of the prettiest months in the garden and a time to enjoy it to the full now we've reached summer and the longer days. It's such a pleasure and so uplifting to be outside and a time to relax, slow down and enjoy it all. 

Ox eye daisies in a chimney, which have just self seeded from previous years

Golden irises brightening up a shady pond

Beautiful poppies

Salvia - always brightening the borders through summer

Geums - they've been flowering through most seasons, but at their best right now

Foxgloves and roses

New pots and baskets

A hot June day - perfect! 

Autumnal Flowers

It's autumn and there's still plenty of colourful plants in the garden. The last of the summer bedding plants are still going strong and there's still fruit ripening on the apple trees and tomato plants. Salvias give displays of white and pink along the edge of the borders and the berries on the weeping cotoneaster tree are vibrant. 

Sedum plants have begun to bloom adding clusters of gentle and deep pinks and the verbenas are still happily reaching out to the sunshine we've had recently. Hydrangeas are another of my favourites, they can always be relied upon for that late summer and autumn colour. We've have different colours and varieties for interest in the front garden. 

Amongst the hydrangeas there's a scattering of other perennials still adding colour - catmint, Johnson's blue, anemones, late roses, geums and daphne. Then there are the autumn brights - the yellows of the potentillas and rudbekias. 

It's possibly one of the most beautiful times in the garden before autumn slips into winter and the days draw in. 

More April Plants...

There is so much colour now in the garden - the forget-me-nots have seeded themselves more and more and are making bright ground cover in all the empty nooks and crannies. The wallflowers have sprung back into life and will usually carry on flowering right through the season. 

The 'bridal wreath' shrubs or 'foam of May' as they are also known are in full bloom and look stunning. Geums we have planted here and there are also flowering and will continue to do so now as the summer comes and goes. 

Pink and white saxifrages are dotted around and have spread since we newly planted them and then divided them again last autumn. There are also some late flowering daffodils with multiple dainty flowers, as the earlier daffodils begin to die back.

We have a few more shrubs that I have to mention, as they add so much intetest to the garden at this time of year. A couple of forsythias add a strong yellow zest to the borders and we have a couple of small magnolia bushes flowering in crimson and pale pink, which I'm pleased about as they were recently planted and one didn't flower last year. 

That's the fun in gardening - it's hard work that pays off if you are lucky and you get to enjoy the delights and look forward to more. I'm hoping the magnolias will make spectacular specimen shrubs in years to come. 

A couple more plants that are giving so much pleasure in the garden at the moment are the forget-me-nots, white alyssum and the bluebells. Our first bluebells are flowering now, bright blue and fresh - they are in a sunny spot on the front garden, but we have many in the back garden in shady corners, which are now coming up fast on their heels. I always look forward to the blue bells. 

The garden really is so uplifting at this time of year, adding to the exciting anticipation of summer and warm days - and so far, so good with the sunny, milder weather!