Hello again everyone. I hope you are keeping well. The weather has turned fine these past few days since my last post and it has been a joy to be able to escape into the garden. Whilst the world is in shut-down, Mother Nature is carrying on as usual.
This very week, 16 years ago, I moved to Scotland and took over a much neglected garden. There was not much in flower back in April 2004, but by the following spring, with a little TLC, the first Chionodoxa magically appeared (I didn’t plant them) and have been coming up each spring ever since. They love the sunny flowerbeds and paths and are poking through everywhere at the moment. In contrast, their relation, Scilla, prefer the cooler, damper, shadier part of the garden. In the low light, their bluish-lilac flowers seem to glow with a luminous quality.
Another shade lover, is the primrose. There are 2 varieties in the garden at the moment. The bushy yellow one flowers just for spring whilst the paler variety is in bloom and and off for several months of the year. There are several primrose clumps now; they seed themselves and multiply every year, and really do brighten up a dark corner.
There were a few tasks to get on with at the weekend. One of which was to prune the bay tree-bush which has got a bit wild. I ended up with a huge trug full of bay leaves – they will keep me going for a very long time!
One of the first tasks I can remember tackling in the garden that first spring, was to dead-head the Hydrangeas. The papery flower heads act as a natural frost protector for the buds and leaves forming on the stem below. This is one of my most enjoyable annual tasks in the garden mainly because it doesn’t involve too much bending 🙂
My final image this week is of a Ribes Sanguineum or the flowering currant bush. It has been looking a bit sad for the past couple of years, but after a rigorous pruning last Autumn, it has come back to full flower and is looking much healthier. I love the blackcurrant aroma that the flowers have.
That’s me for another week or so. Enjoy the outdoors if you are able, and keep safe. Until next time, take care.
My Virtually Free-from Kitchen 
Thanks for the great advice about hydrangeas. Good post.
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Hi Jeri. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your positive comments. I am hoping to post some pictures of the hydrangeas when they flower. Kind regards. Kathryn 🙂
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Well, I dead headed our hydrangeas in the fall and now I am sorry I did. With spring happening in February this year it started to grow leaves — and after several consecutive nights of nasty frost the poor thing now looks very sad. Hopefully we will not get any frost again, which we sometimes do around May 11, a 3 day period called « Les saints de glace » over here.
Thank you for your advice, Kathryn; I should learn to let things be and grow an English (I mean, Scottish 😉) garden rather than try to keep the flower bed looking so neat. André Le Nôtre turned out a bad influence! Your garden looks so much naturally happier than Versailles 😊!
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I have to hold myself back from snipping everything down to the ground as soon as it starts to fade away in the garden. My natural instinct is to tidy, tidy, tidy. However, leaving a few things a bit messy here and there helps the wildlife as well as the plants, so that’s how I can reconcile the unruliness in my mind. Love the idea of “icy saints”. I think perhaps we have a few of those over here too although I’d say they are “demons” rather than saints! All the best to you 🙂
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😊
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Lovely!
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Thank you. Hope you are keeping well.
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We are doing well thank you for asking. Be safe and take care.
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