Something went well in the garden! Here are some of my wonderful tulips. Before they go…
Category: garden
Garden Journal
Getting started …
I’ve been thinking for a while about starting an informal little garden journal. Just a notebook really, with possibly some of my own drawings in it when I’ve established the habit. I started on April 3rd, a day of some significance for me for other reasons, and I can tell by the handwriting that I was enjoying the process of writing it.
Nothing much has been added since, unfortunately, because I’ve had so many other things to do, but Easter weekend seems a good time to pick up the threads and start work again, both in the garden and the journal.
Wish me luck!
Gold
I’ve seen very few goldfinches in the garden; even then, they didn’t stick around for long. Just occasionally I’d hear an unfamiliar song, then look up and notice one on a chimney stack, or catch a brief flash of red and yellow as a pair took off from their precarious perch on last year’s Rudbeckias. In fact, I’ve never seen many of them, although I remember seeing a group (or charm) feasting on some thistle seeds by the dusty road I lived on when I was a child.
Last year, I bought a packet of Nyjer (Guizotia abyssinica) seed and a special bird feeder, hoping to attract some of these attractive little birds. Nothing happened. A couple of investigative visits from long-tailed tits, but they didn’t seem to find it very inspiring. This spring, though, two goldfinches started visiting regularly, always after I left for work, of course! But this morning I managed to take a quick shot of them (through the window, so not top quality).
With luck, they will become regular visitors, and possibly even nest nearby.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/g/goldfinch/
January Ends…
Some dark January shots from the garden …
but also signs of new life:
A Garden in Winter
With not a snowflake in sight (though I’m hoping for snowdrops)!
It’s so mild that I’ve been tempted outdoors to do some jobs in the garden. I’ve re-potted a cyclamen (an indoor plant, this one, so not very daring of me) in the hope of keeping it flowering a little longer. I’ve rescued some hyacinth bulbs that I put away last summer and forgot about. Guilt made me look for them and give them a new residence. They were sprouting, and therefore deserve a chance, but they’ll have to remain outside as I found a large grub in the roots of one; I can’t risk them around my avocado plants and cacti, in case any more beasties are lurking therein. The amaryllis bulbs had completely collapsed – eaten by said grub, I suspect.
Last but definitely not least, I’ve tidied up the two old sinks I use for bulbs. A few plants had decided to set up camp: marjoram, which had seeded there from an adjoining sink; Ajuga, or bugleweed, which spreads like purple wildfire; and a berried shrub whose name I don’t know. Nothing wrong with any of them, but they were threatening to drown the spring bulbs. Now I’m looking forward to the colourful return of my miniature daffodils and irises.
‘Someone’ had put a plastic pond-liner at the bottom of the garden, exactly where my snowdrops come up, year after year. It didn’t seem important in summer, when we bought it, but I suddenly realised how close we are to snowdrop time and moved it away. The shoots look pale and flattened, but I think they’ll recover! (I posted about snowdrops in February 2015.)
Definitely a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks.
Step 1 – Tulips
In a little-read post (and I can’t blame anyone for that, as it was mainly a note to myself), I outlined Four Garden Plans. One of them was to plant some red tulips, for a burst of colour in the spring of 2017.
I bought two small packs of tulip bulbs, one red, one very dark purplish-black, and, in my usual haphazard way, planted them around the garden. Now I just have to wait, and try to identify step 2!
(The featured image is of a beautiful single tulip I found growing by the roadside. It appeared on my Instagram feed sometime last year.)
Sunshine in September
Still some beautiful flowers in the garden. And the sun is shining!
