Many thanks @JennyJ for the Peony. The Buddleia was pruned the same day when the clearance happened on the last day of January. It was most likely also for them a bit late. It was done by their daughter, because the parents didn't feel well enough to do it. But let's see how it developed. This front garden is 40 years old. They were in their 30s when this started.
March has been a weird month. It started with snow and frost for one week, followed by a few milder days with sunshine, before extended rain bands hit the ground. Between all the days when the skies were dark and heavy, the wind made it unpleasant to leave house. Yesterday morning we had exceptional light. I seized the chance, stopped working and off I went on my bicycle with my camera. Arrived at the front garden, I couldn't have found better conditions for taking pictures.
The daffodils are the dominating plants. Their bright yellow flower head makes one smile, and somehow, the bed now look fuller. You can see the new little shoots from the bulb plants and also other plants like Cornflower have almost doubled in height.
Look closely at the ground. Can you see the red shoots amongst the green shoots? Playing with our imagination, we get an idea how dense the area will look like in a few months time.
In the middle, a Hellebore plant. Its lilac flower head is like a signal to the other surrounding plants telling them, it wants its space. We can see tulips coming on the top right and left bottom corner amongst the other plants that evolve.
You remember that image from February when I had shown where plants 1 to 4 were located. I have added number 5 and 6. You saw number 5 already mid March, but they were tiny, just two inches high.
Inside two weeks, the two inch red plant shoots are now 7 inches high. If somebody of you knows what plant it is, you are welcome to leave a comment.
Number 6 was still tiny in mid March, and has now grown too.
I had taken a picture from that very old shrub in January when twilight made the hour neither dark nor light. No wonder that the picture was blurry. I assumed in February that it might be a Buddleia. I'm sure many of you can identify what is growing now from the thick stem.
The giant Poppy plants happily grow and as well as the plant in front of it.
And finally that little tree surrounded by Daffodils which will flower in April, and other little plant.
We can curiously look forward to April. If we are lucky, we will get also sunshine and this will give all plants a much needed "vitamin sunshine" boost.
The pic. immediately above is a Pieris. Pic 6 along the edge of the drive is a centaura, probably blue. The woody shrub with the silver leaves is a buddliea. I spotted a dark "purpleish" flower which is a Christmas Rose/ hellebore. The red shoots are a peony. If when it flowers it is a double pink with a good scent it will possibly be Sarah Bernhart.
Apologies. It should have read Centaurea montana. Mountain cornflower. My father had it in his garden for years, really old fashioned. Lovely almost navy blue flowers which ants love. I have one in my current garden, white tinged pink. It is not so substantial but still insists on running around instead of staying in one place.
We are mid April and what a change. Two weeks ago, we saw mostly the yellow daffodils. And now? It looks much fuller. We are in an decisive month. We can't really describe what changes, but we see noticeable change. Some plants continue to grow or start growing, and others leave their best stage behind. It has been a wet month so far. Plenty of rain and but thanks to the sunny Easter weekend, plants got three days of sunshine and we can see it.
I have added number 7. What looked like dead in previous weeks regrows and we can see developing a rose.
This Pieris looks wonderful. There are two Pieris growing in that front garden.
It's the same position but the focus is different. Above the first row, below the second row with the Buddleia in the back.
One wonders what plant this is in the picture below.
Below looks like a geranium to me and is a leftover from a previous concept. But I might be wrong. It
will not get enough sunshine once the surrounding plants have reached
their full height.
The red one is the Peony and in the middle bottom position the Centaurea Montana as you identified both plants.
I will update you again in two weeks time, at the end of the month.
A garden coming Alive what a lovely idea Simone , just found your post as I have just been away to Australia for 5 weeks and I too could see how our garden was coming back as it’s Springtime . Again lovely idea , Thanks .
We are now at the end of April. The weather hasn't much improved
since the Easter weekend, we even had a frosty night in between. The lack of
sunshine stresses not only us humans but also plants. But still, the plants
in the front garden grow.
I start with a different overall picture to show a change. Somebody was in there and tidied it up and applied fresh soil. There
are walking paths that weren't visible in that extend before. Until now, somebody took care of the front garden at the end of January and now the end of April.
It's interesting to compare because corn flowers were always at that stage in my garden over the years. Whereas some plants are late and catch up with raising temperatures, others like the cornflowers below are not impressed by a cold Spring.
I took some images from along the wall to the pedestrian walk. It's packed with two types of plants.
While the first tulips already decay, the Spanish bluebells are in their element.
The rose in the middle of the now fast growing bulb plants has to hurry
up. Now is the time when the race for the best place to sun and fresh
air has started.
The front garden reaches now a stage where taking pictures gets exciting because we can play with structures ...
... and we can see how plants fight their way out of jungles. They want to stay alive what ever it costs.
You can see how the idea of planting has changed over the years. The
plant on the right bottom side will not have long time to catch sun light. It shows a kind of naturalism.
I wonder what plant this is below. Please feel free to comment on this.
I can't wait to see what May comes up with. We will find out in two weeks time.
It looks wonderful now. I wonder if the owners ( daughter?) ever feed the plants ? Or turn the soil? What if a plant dies? Do they leave it to die down naturally or pull it out and replace? I must confess to having a preference to clearing out in the Autumn but this garden is definitely looking great just now. Very interesting thread.
Posts
The Buddleia was pruned the same day when the clearance happened on the last day of January. It was most likely also for them a bit late. It was done by their daughter, because the parents didn't feel well enough to do it. But let's see how it developed.
This front garden is 40 years old. They were in their 30s when this started.
I ♥ my garden.
Pic 6 along the edge of the drive is a centaura, probably blue.
The woody shrub with the silver leaves is a buddliea.
I spotted a dark "purpleish" flower which is a Christmas Rose/ hellebore.
The red shoots are a peony. If when it flowers it is a double pink with a good scent it will possibly be Sarah Bernhart.
I ♥ my garden.
My father had it in his garden for years, really old fashioned. Lovely almost navy blue flowers which ants love.
I have one in my current garden, white tinged pink. It is not so substantial but still insists on running around instead of staying in one place.
We are mid April and what a change. Two weeks ago, we saw mostly the yellow daffodils. And now? It looks much fuller.
We are in an decisive month. We can't really describe what changes, but we see noticeable change. Some plants continue to grow or start growing, and others leave their best stage behind.
It has been a wet month so far. Plenty of rain and but thanks to the sunny Easter weekend, plants got three days of sunshine and we can see it.
I have added number 7. What looked like dead in previous weeks regrows and we can see developing a rose.
This Pieris looks wonderful. There are two Pieris growing in that front garden.
It's the same position but the focus is different. Above the first row, below the second row with the Buddleia in the back.
One wonders what plant this is in the picture below.
Below looks like a geranium to me and is a leftover from a previous concept. But I might be wrong. It will not get enough sunshine once the surrounding plants have reached their full height.
The red one is the Peony and in the middle bottom position the Centaurea Montana as you identified both plants.
I will update you again in two weeks time, at the end of the month.
I ♥ my garden.
I ♥ my garden.
We are now at the end of April. The weather hasn't much improved since the Easter weekend, we even had a frosty night in between. The lack of sunshine stresses not only us humans but also plants. But still, the plants in the front garden grow.
I start with a different overall picture to show a change. Somebody was in there and tidied it up and applied fresh soil. There are walking paths that weren't visible in that extend before. Until now, somebody took care of the front garden at the end of January and now the end of April.It's interesting to compare because corn flowers were always at that stage in my garden over the years. Whereas some plants are late and catch up with raising temperatures, others like the cornflowers below are not impressed by a cold Spring.
I took some images from along the wall to the pedestrian walk. It's packed with two types of plants.
While the first tulips already decay, the Spanish bluebells are in their element.
The rose in the middle of the now fast growing bulb plants has to hurry up. Now is the time when the race for the best place to sun and fresh air has started.
The front garden reaches now a stage where taking pictures gets exciting because we can play with structures ...
... and we can see how plants fight their way out of jungles. They want to stay alive what ever it costs.
You can see how the idea of planting has changed over the years. The plant on the right bottom side will not have long time to catch sun light. It shows a kind of naturalism.
I wonder what plant this is below. Please feel free to comment on this.
I can't wait to see what May comes up with. We will find out in two weeks time.
I ♥ my garden.
Very interesting thread.