Garden’s singing its spring song
The garden’s beaming with colour, scent and vigour – it truly sings in spring! Buzzing cerise flowers cascade from the flowering currant like flamboyant earrings and the hyacinths planted under the arbour release their sweet perfume amid the primula and fading crocus. It’s a lovely place to sit.
All the new dwarf and parrot tulips are taking it in turns to give a colourful show. I’m particularly pleased with the delicate pink and white of ‘Heart’s Delight’, which have attractive, patterned leaves and have tempted plenty of bees. The clumps of pulmonaria and muscari which I split last year have made a lovely fluted edging along the cobbled path.
With the borders well weeded, I’ve sown several seeds direct – marigolds, sweet peas, cosmos, poppies ‘Golden West’ and ‘Flanders’. The roses are all showing healthy growth and I’m really looking forward to seeing ‘New Dawn’ cloak the arbour and ‘Rambling Rector’ clothe the trellis at the back of border.
My husband freed the trapped perennial sweet peas which were practically welded through their pot and into the border. They’re now split and replanted. The annual sweet peas are establishing among them and will bring their intoxicating perfume. With this widespread and riotous colour, the garden is most definitely dressed to impress and I hope that the plants to come will continue the show and turn out in their Sunday Best! The young Rosa banksiae normalis on the north-facing front wall has had a good prune and feed – I’m hoping it’ll perform this season. I’ve ordered hanging basket plants – calibrachoa, verbena and lobelia in red, white and blue to use by the front door. I decided to have a cut flower border on the allotment this year, so have sown cornflowers, lupins, lavateras and poppies direct.