Welcome to my blog all about the things I love to grow and cook. You'll find a collection of seasonal gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan-friendly recipe posts, as well as a round up of my gardening throughout the year. I wish you good reading, happy cooking and perfect planting!
The garden is full of colour at the moment, thanks largely to the abundance of Lupin bushes. We’ve had the right mix of rainy days and dry days to bring them to full flower, and they look magnificent. Tall and sturdy, the structured flower stems are made up of many delicate individual flower heads with a distinctly peppery aroma, Lupins are a delight to behold. The violet-blue Lupin bush above has a quirkiness to it, each year one solitary pink stem grows in amongst all the blue ones 🙂
Up close on Lupins. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
It’s not just me who’s enjoying the Lupins, the bees are all over them at the moment – just look at those pollen sacs!
Lupin-lovin bees. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Lupins are the ultimate low-maintenance plant, and such great value. They will self-seed each year if you allow the seed heads to dry on the plant. I usually collect a few seed pods each year and pot up a few extra plants just in case I have a space in a border for a new plant – the pink one below is one of last year’s newbies. If you cut back the stems once the flowers have faded, you will get a second flourish of smaller flower stems later on in the season.
Pink and white Lupin varieties. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
The orange Lupin was planted last year, and I was intrigued to see whether it would grow back the same colour this year. I have found that Lupins often change colour in acidic soil just like Hydrangeas, and often revert back to the original violet-blue variety. The colour of this one is slightly more peachy this year, but still a lovely contrast to the other colours in the garden.
The blue and the orange. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back in the kitchen again soon. Until my next post, have a good few days and enjoy the sunshine when you have some 🙂
Welcome to the best month of the year everyone! After a wonderfully sunny and warm Easter, the garden has burst into bloom. Every bed is full of colour and the air is heavy with aromatic perfumes, and best of all, there are Bluebells in every corner.
Happy May! Image: Kathryn Hawkins
These beautiful Narcissi are multi-headed, each having 4 bloom heads per stalk. I took the photo about a week ago, and sadly now they are just beginning to go over. They have been flowering for a month and have been great value. The perfume is delightful.
Late spring Narcissi. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
The Azalias are about 2 weeks ahead of themselves this year, and as usual the smaller-petal varieties are fully laden with flowers. In the sunshine, their bright pink blooms are intense and dazzling. The golden yellow variety is less blousy but brightens up the partially-shaded flower-bed it lives in, and is a lovely contrast amongst the bluebells .
Golden yellow and vibrant pink Azalias. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Some of the fruit tree blossom has set since my last post – it looks like there will be lots of cherries this year 🙂 The miniature apple tree is laden with blossom, and today saw the first opening of petals on the big old apple tree. Such pretty and delicate flowers.
Early May apple blossom. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Another flowering plant that is ahead of itself this year, is the Solomon’s Seal. The bell-shaped white flowers are just opening. Each year the plants seed themselves so year on year there are more in the flower-beds. It is a truly elegant plant, and stays in bloom for several weeks.
Solomon’s Seal. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Apart from the mass of blue from the all the bluebells, just across from my kitchen window, now that the Tête-à-tête have finished, the raised bed has become overrun with Forget-me-nots. Not planted, they just appeared, courtesy of the birds (or perhaps the fairies?). No matter, they are so cute and dainty, and a delightful shade of baby-blue.
Forget-me-nots. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
It’s been pleasing to see so many bees, butterflies and other beasties in the garden these past couple of weeks, busy in the sunshine and enjoying the warmth. I discovered this wee chap whilst I was weeding the flower-bed underneath. He’s either sunbathing or perhaps he is completely intoxicated by the aromas drifting up from the geranium leaf he’s sitting on and from the bluebell above! Until next week, enjoy the sunshine if you have some!
Raised bed of spring flowers. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
It’s been a glorious week here in central Scotland and I just couldn’t resist posting another series of images of spring flowers. It is my favourite time of the year and this year the garden seems more abundant than ever, bursting with colour in every corner.
Whilst the sky has been blue and the temperature relatively warm during the day, the nights have been chilly, and only this morning the lawn was covered with frost.
Muscari and Snakeshead fritillary. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
There is plenty of blossom forming on the fruit trees, and the sprigs nearest the walls are already in bloom and sweet-smelling. The bees will be smiling.
Victoria Plum, Morello Cherry and Doyenne de Comice Pear blossoms. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
I have been in and out of the garden all week keeping my eye on the progress of the bluebells because they are exceptionally early this year. In the sunny spots, the stems are getting longer and the buds bluer, and today I discovered one wee bell-shaped flower fully open in amongst a thicket of twigs, and here it is, my first bluebell of 2019 🙂
My first bluebells of 2019. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
One of the most prolific plants in the garden is Euphorbia. This time of the year the flowers are lime-green and yellowy and look stunning in the sunlight. They really brighten up the dullest parts of the garden and make an eye-catching display with the fading pink and white hellebores in the background.
Euphorbia with hellebores. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
My last images of my post this week are of a beautiful pink Persian Buttercup (Ranunculus) with its many layers of delicate petals. I don’t seem to be able to grow them in big clusters, just the odd one comes up here and there. The other is a very “early bird” in the garden this year, a single Mountain Cornflower (Centaureamontana). Usually these thistle-like flowers grow in abundance from early summer and onwards throughout the autumn, but this fellow has popped up several weeks ahead of the others.
Persian buttercup and a Mountain cornflower. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
That’s all for this week. Have a good few days – enjoy the sunshine if you have it. I’ll be back in the kitchen with an Eastery recipe for next week’s post.
In full bloom at the end of February, white Pieris Japonica and pink Rhododendron. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Today is officially the meteorological end of winter, which means that tomorrow is the first day of spring; hoorah to that! It has been a very warm and sunny end to a month that has been one of the mildest Februarys on record across the whole of the UK. It has been a pleasure to be out-of-doors, so many birds are singing and there are many insects buzzing all round the garden.
A busy bee in the sunshine collecting pollen from a dogtooth violet. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Looking back over previous blog entries, I can see that every image I am posting this week is 2 to 4 weeks earlier than in previous posts. The snowdrops have been glorious this year, and have grown in thick white and green carpets both in the garden and in nearby hedgrows. For the first time I can recall I was able to detect their sweet and spicy fragrance as the sun shone on the blooms. I took this image a few days ago just as the fine weather started in earnest. The snowdrops in the sunny parts of the garden have gone over now, but there are a few clusters still lighting up the shady corners of the borders and under the thickest hedges.
Snowdrops enjoying the sunshine. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
It has been a good year for crocus too. The bulbs I planted last year in an old wooden barrel have put on a very colourful display. They have recently been joined by Tête-à-tête, which are also growing all round the garden, giving a sunny glow and a sweet aroma to many of the flower beds.
Large wooden barrel of crocus. Image: Kathryn HawkinsNarcissus Tête-à-tête. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Last weekend I spotted the first tiny blue dot in one of the paths which was a sign that my favorite of all spring flowers, the Chionodoxa, were on their way. Sure enough, over the course of the next few days, small electric-blue clumps of star-shaped flowers have sprung up all over the place.
Striking blue Chionodoxa. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
It’s not only the flowers that are excelling themselves this year, the rhubarb patch is very much alive and kicking. I love the bright red stems of the new shoots and curled leaves. The stems look tempting enough to eat already, but I will resist and be patient.
A fairy ring of young rhubarb shoots. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I have posted plenty of Hellebore pictures in the past, and I end my post this week with another one. This beauty was new to the garden last year and has only 3 flowers, but the blooms are delightful. I hope it thrives in its new location, and look forward to seeing more blooms in the future. Until next time, happy Spring 🙂
Double white speckled Hellebore. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Small pear and cherry trees in winter. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Happy February everyone! Any thoughts I had of an early spring have gone out the window these past couple of weeks as temperatures in the UK have plummeted. So far, there has been little snow to speak of, but there have been many a frost-laden night and day. The saving grace amongst all the chilliness is a beautiful blue-sky and bright sunshine we have been blessed with most days.
So, on with my quick round-up of what’s going on in the garden right now. The snowdrops and crocus have been in flower for a couple of weeks and seem to be coping well with the sunny days and freezing nights.
Early 2019 snowdrops and golden crocus. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
The first Hellebore of the year has now been joined by a couple of other blooms, but other varieties are still firmly in bud.
Hellebore trio. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Most of the winter pansies have been chewed. Each flower head lasts about 24 hours once it opens before some wee beasty makes a meal of it. I managed to capture this pansy’s delicate, pretty petals before it becomes part of another insect supper.
A winter bug’s next meal. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
It’s been a good season for the winter heathers. This pink heather is full of blooms. There aren’t so many pink flowers around at this time of year, so this one is a welcome burst of colour. Sadly the early flower heads of the pink rhododendron I photographed at Hogmanay have inevitably perished in the frost.
Pink winter heather in full bloom. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Perhaps my next garden post will be more spring-like – who knows? So until then, wrap up warm and keep cosy. Have a good few days 🙂
A very happy new year to you all. I wish you good health and every success in the year ahead. I hope that you have had a good Christmas holiday, and now we wait to see what 2019 brings to us all.
My Christmas holiday has been very peaceful and relaxed. The weather has been mild considering the time of year and has given me the opportunity to get out in the garden and tackle a few jobs like pruning the old apple tree.
Recently pruned gnarly old apple tree. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
The holidays started on a very chilly note with a heavy frost on Christmas Eve which made everything look very festive and sparkly in the sunshine and crisp, fresh air.
Frosty garden on Christmas Eve. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Out in the garden today, things were looking a little different from a week ago. No frost, just mild, breezy air and patches of blue in a heavily clouded sky. 2018 has certainly given us some unusual weather and I think this is having an impact on the garden now. Several plants are much more advanced than usual: the snowdrops are almost out in flower; the buds on the early spring flowering rhododendron are breaking open, and one Hellebore is already in full bloom. The usual oddities are around too: a solitary stalk of fresh flowers on a very sad-looking, bedraggled lavender bush, and a few new red-fringed orange carnation buds are about to open for a second flowering.
Hogmanay flowers. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
I’ll sign off this post with an image of some “lucky” white winter-flowering heather to bring us all good fortune over the next 12 months 🙂
Just a few apples left for the birds. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I think it’s safe to say that Autumn is over now, at least it is here in central Scotland. A couple of weeks ago it was still mild and dry, but last week it felt like there was a definite season change. The last of the leaves came off the trees in heavy rain, the temperature dropped, and the daylight hours have dwindled significantly. The garden looks quite sad now. All things told, it certainly feels like December is just round the corner.
A frosty November morning. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
It’s not all doom and gloom though. There are signs of life amongst the fading foliage and fallen leaves. Spring bulbs are shooting up everywhere: in containers, borders and flowerbeds; they seem more advanced than usual.
Sprouting bulbs. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
The late flowering heather is just coming into bloom. Such a pretty colour and delicate flower for this time of year.
Just beginning to flower, Winter flowering heather. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
As a reminder of the forthcoming festivities less than a month away (I can hardly believe it!), the Santa-red Skimmia berries and the glacial-white snowberry, give seasonal cheer.
Seasonal berries, Skimmia and Snowberry
And, here is the most regular visitor to the garden at the moment. He seems to appear whenever I go outside, and chirps away from first light. This is his regular perch, in the hollow of a large conifer, not too far from the back door.
Master of all he surveys. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
And so to my final image. This Salvia was planted back in late spring and has been in flower ever since. A truly great value plant. Have a good week 🙂
Still blooming in late November, Salvia. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
The weather has been perfect for spending time in the garden this past week. Fresh and breezy, with the sun shining most days. There are leaves everywhere, and plenty of tidying up to do before the weather changes.
This time last year, I had 3 beautiful Nerine bulbs in bloom. Sadly the snails ate the shoots from the other 2 a few weeks ago, but this beauty survived. It looks like a plant that should be out in late spring or early summer, but at this time of year, it is very welcome and a stunning splash of colour.
Another favourite with the slugs and snails is the Perennial primrose, which also looks out-of-place in Autumn. I was lucky to capture such a perfect bloom for my photograph before the beasties started their lunch.
On the whole, there is not much going on in the garden in Autumn, just leaves tumbling everywhere. However, there are a few plants having one last hoorah before the winter weather begins. All round the walls of the garden, creeping Campanula grows from spring and throughout the summer. This little patch of greenery on a sunny part of wall has just burst into flower again this past week.
Creeping Campanula. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Back in July, the cotton lavender was ablaze with tufty yellow flowers. After cutting it back to remove the dead heads at the end of summer, there is still plenty of fragrant, silvery foliage to enjoy when the sun shines on it. Here we are a few weeks later, and the plant has bloomed again, but this time, with just one solitary flower.
Cotton Lavender bloom. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I think I mentioned in my last garden round-up that I was hoping for more rose blooms this Autumn. The heat and the dry weather didn’t seem to suit them earlier in the year and the petals faded very quickly. I was delighted to see fresh buds on my very fragrant favourite rose, and now the blooms are fully open, the garden around them is smelling sweet and aromatic again.
Rosa Felicia. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
There are several Hebes around the garden. It was a good year for blooms, and like the cotton lavender, these 3 bushes have started flowering again this past week, each with only a few small clusters of flowers.
Blooming again, Hebes. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
These eye-catching seeds or berries are all that’s left of the native Iris (Iris foetidissima) apart from the green, spear-like foliage. I don’t recall that many flowers this year, but the seed pods develop and open out to form the exact same pattern of the Iris flower-heads. You can see that there are quite a few pods, so I must have missed a lot of flowers.
To round off my post this week, something suitably spooky for the end of October. With Hallowe’en just round the corner, this image fits the season perfectly. This small espalier Comice pear tree only produced 4 pears this year. The small ones fell off a couple of weeks ago, but the largest one has been clinging on ever since. Now all the leaves have blown away from the tree, the bare branches made an eerie shadow against the wall this sunny afternoon. Have a good week.
One Comice pear on a pear tree. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Still blooming, white Japanese anemones. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
When I posted my last garden round-up back on August 9th, only one or two of these beautiful white Japanese anemones were in bloom. Here we are some eight weeks later, and they are looking magnificent in the flower-beds. Having survived the storm of last week, and the breezy weather we have had recently, they continue to flower when most plants around them are dying back.
Meadow cranesbill enjoying the afternoon sunshine. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I have a lot of meadow cranesbill (hardy geranium) in the garden. I love the fragrant bright green foliage which trails over just about every wall. I cut back the first flowers when they started dying back a few weeks ago, and now there are new fresh pink blooms about the flower-beds to keep summery thoughts alive.
However, it is autumn, and these lilac crocus are popping up all over the place to remind me of the change of season. I love these strange, top-heavy flowers that poke out of the bare soil with no leaves and long mauve stalks. The rich, golden stamens smell of saffron, and on a warm day, the aroma is truly delicious.
Fragrant Autumn crocus. Images: Kathryn HawkinsOld fruiting Lord Derby apple tree. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
It’s been a fantastic year for fruit. The old cooking apple tree is laden. I’ve been busy cooking up the wind-falls while the main crop still remains on the tree. I have two miniature eating apple trees in another part of the garden. These rarely produce more than half a dozen apples, but this year, I have enough to fill a large fruit-bowl,
Mini eating apple harvest. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I am particularly pleased with the crop of Concorde pears on a small tree at the top of the garden. I have had the tree for about a decade, and it hasn’t fruited very well until this year. The pears keep very well, so I will be able to enjoy them over the next few weeks. I’m sure there will be a pear recipe posted from me in the next few weeks.
In the same part of the garden, the Autumn-fruiting raspberries are ripening. I never have very many at a time, but a few berries ripen every two to three days, and are just enough to occasionally scatter over my morning granola.
Concorde pear tree laden with fruit. Images: Kathryn HawkinsEarly Autumn-fruiting raspberries. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
It’s not been a good year for the roses in the garden. Too dry I think. However, there are a few second buds forming now, so if the sunny weather continues a while longer, I may get a few more blooms like this beauty. Until next week, my best wishes to you.
Second time around, Gertrude Jekyl rose. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
The more traditional Scottish summer weather has returned this past week. It is much cooler now; there have been a few more rain showers, and the garden has rehydrated and is greening up again. Earlier today, I was having a look back at my garden post of this time last year; several of the flowers I featured then are well and truly over by now due to the heat and dry of the past few weeks.
Goldenrod (Solidago) and globe thistle (Echinops). Images: Kathryn Hawkins
There seem to be plenty of bees (and butterflies) in the garden this year which is very good news. The Goldenrod and globe thistles were alive with sound of buzzing while I was capturing these images. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed quite so many different kinds of bees and flying insects as I waited to capture the pollen collecting action.
Vibrant-coloured poppies. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
The poppies add a brief splash of colour when they bloom. The fragile petals are like tissue-paper. Once in full bloom, each flower head looks radiant for about 24 hours before the petals are shed, on by one.
Japanese anemones. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Just as fragile looking are the Japanese anemones, but although they look so delicate and pretty, the flowers last for many days, if not weeks, and seem to be able to tolerate any wind, rain, heat and chill that a Scottish summer has to offer.
Crocosmia (Montbretia). Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Year after year, the back garden flowerbeds become packed out with the long stems and leaves of Crocosmia. The weight of several flower heads per stem means that they do appear to grow horizontally, particularly in the sunshine; in the shadier parts of the garden, the stems hold their heads higher as they reach for the light. For me, it is the bright orange flowers and lush green foliage of this plant that represents the peak of summer like no other.
My final images are of another orange flower in the garden: very tall and elegant tiger lilies. I love the way the petals fold back so neatly at the back of the bloom, just like a beautifully tied ribbon. Until next week, my best wishes to you 🙂
