Springtime in the Garden

Death

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Decay

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Ruin

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What a sorry state my garden is in. It needs a lot of TLC. So for the past few weekends I’ve been nursing it back to health.

I’m amazed at what’s survived and what hasn’t. This Dicentra (Candy Hearts) is in a small pot attached to a fence. We had the coldest winter on record for something like 20 years. I thought for sure it was dead.

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But on closer inspection, I saw new leaves peaking through the mess of dead foliage. And now look at it; you can even see several stems loaded with magenta flower buds.

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But the Geranium, the huge geranium snugly nestled in the flower bed, died. (Oh, darn. I’m so sad that great big, ugly plant is gone lovely plant is gone.)

Here are a few newly-acquired plants:

One of my all-time favourites: Dicentra (Bleeding Heart). I’m not sure this is the best spot as it’s a bit shady. I’ll have to keep an eye on it. (We’ve recently ripped out the shrubs around it; I hated those things.)

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Magnolia, planted next to the Bleeding Heart.

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Hellebore:

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An Azalea, potted up.

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These plants were purchased at the fantastic Mockridge Nursery. If you’re anywhere near Manchester and like to garden, you must go. The prices and quality are unbeatable.

Gardening is a totally new experience this year. Last year the garden was a blank canvas. It was daunting, but exciting. This year we’re enjoying some of the fruits of last year’s labour, and if anything it’s more exciting. Last year when I bought plants, I simply bought what I liked that was affordable with little to no thought as to where I would put it. I bought too many things and ended up with plants in pots that should have gone in the ground or the flower bed, and plants in the flower bed that should have been in pots.

This year is different. I’m seeing the space that needs a plant and thinking, ‘what shall I put there?’ And the annuals, rather than the perennials, are going in pots.

We’re hoping to build another flower bed and some sort of bird-attracting tree in the back.

We have this Snowy Mespilus bought last year for £1.79 at Morrison’s. It was tiny and we didn’t think it was going to make it, but here it is, sprouting leaves. It’s in a pot until we can figure out exactly where we want it.

I also need to find a spot for my Wisteria, which I also thought was dead, but is coming to life.

One dinky strawberry plant, bought for 99p which gave us ONE strawberry last year, has produced 8 or 9 plants. I’ve transferred them to the vegetable patch. I can’t wait to see how many berries we get this year.