Major Pond Tidying

The weather had turned freezing cold and vicious squalls kept sweeping in followed by bouts of chilly sunshine - not an usual Saturday for us.  It seemed like that to Chris too as we read through the jobs list..........that was, until I presented him with a pair of rather fetching waders - in his size!  After some discussion, finding a pair of extra large blue marigolds and much fiddling with the straps, Chris advanced towards the pond with net in hand.  Now our pond is quite small but at 6'4" Chris makes it look like more like a small puddle!  In reality and if I was brave enough to test its waters, the deepest area would be chest height.  That said, he set to work in the icy water scooping out 5 years accumulation of dead leaves from the bottom of the pond.  I had assumed that there would be huge mountains of stagnant, stinky debris ponging quietly away on the the waters' edge but, in truth, there was not very much at all.  We do have some rud and another type of 'bottom' feeding fish (golden perch, I think) so, maybe they are responsible for such little accumulation.  In the meantime, I tip toed around the edges dragging out excess watercress which we didn't want invading the King cups just as they are about to flower and gave it to the chickens to eat.  The sludgy debris was left on the side so that any creatures (we know we have newts and dragon fly larvae) could creep back to their watery homes.  This will be cleared away next week when, hopefully we shall tidy the pond edges and border.

More Blossom - More Perfume

Daphne Mezereum

At last!  The Daphne is coming into flower and the scent is amazingly intoxicating!  I can't wait for the rest of the shrub to bloom.  Strange to know that a plant that produces such beauty and perfume is so poisonous.  I have a smaller Daphne which is actually a self set - how lucky is that?  Adding to this heady melange of perfumes wafting around the garden at present are the numerous hyacinths now in in flower and the 3 Lonicera Fragrantissima's which started to open their flower buds in early February continue to wow the olfactories with their contributions! Anosmia must be a terrible affliction for a gardener especially at this time of year! 

The ornamental cherries are coming into flower and whilst not particularly scented, they are full of even more very busy bees!  Can anyone out there put a name to this particular Japanese white ornamental cherry?  It's actually a miniature variety of Prunus and it would be interesting to know its name.

Unknown Japanese ornamental cherry

Hyacinth

Suspicious numbers of Tete-a-tetes!

There's practically nothing that Chris won't tackle head on!  No project is too big and nothing ever daunts him.  BUT if there's one job in the world that Chris really hates doing, it's planting bulbs! His second most hated job?  Planting lots of bulbs!!  With one single exception, he doesn't even like bulbs!  Why?  Because they look pretty for 5 minutes and then the dead flowers and dying leaves look awful for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks!  If the bulb is to survive, the dying leaves must be left to feed the bulb for next year's flowers.  Well, he's got a point.  His one exception is the Tete-a-tete variety and, the funny thing is, there are more of this variety evident at Pear Tree Cottage than ever before!  They've appeared in pots and tubs and urns - there are some in the Woodland Border and even some around the Acer along the Fernery Path.  Am I suspicious?

Spring Curves

With our Under Gardener out of action and yet another warm spring day, it was out with the mower to enjoy the first real cut of the year.  With my little Honda, it did take rather longer to mow the lower lawn (which is usually done by Himself!) and the orchard!  Maybe next time I should use the Under Gardener's mower which, although heavier, has a wider cut. Anyway, after a quick rush round with the edging shears, suddenly everything looked much tidier.  There's something about the scent of newly mown grass at this time of year!  Maybe it's special because it combines with the scent of blossom and spring flowers.  I gave the girls a box of grass clipping to scratch around in and 2 minutes later they had spread it to the furthest corners of their Bamboo garden!  Incidentally, Marigold has been spotted perched on the roof of their shelter in order to reach the bamboo leaves.  Hens do enjoy a bit of greenery!  Anyway....back to mowing!

There is a HUGE amount of moss after the world's wettest winter and although it's very bad for grass, it is delightfully springy to walk on so, instead of mowing in a circular pattern around the well, as has been the habit of Himself, I decided to go for springy curves!  So far no complaints!  Whilst it's looking neat and tidy and very springlike; I'm trying not to worry about the back log of all the other jobs!

More spring weather

With our Under Gardener having been on the other end of a scalpel and a sore knee to prove it, Senior Head Gardener and Chief Gardener have been on overtime in this recent spell of warm and sunny weather.  So many autumn/winter jobs couldn't be completed as it was just too wet and now we have a backlog!  We had hoped that most of the moving of perennials and shrubs would have been done ages ago and now it's a rush to do everything.  A good start was made yesterday and the geraniums which spent a year as underplanting for the roses have all been moved to either side of the Lion Steps.  They were nothing but a nuisance and either flopped on to the lawn or competed with the roses.  It was a mistake to put them there and, in their new home, they can do their own thing without being a pain! Chris cut the Beech hedge behind the roses and, after forking the border we underplanted with Golden Marjoram as Chris did in the rose border by the trellis.  A new border was also prepared and a shrub rose moved into it.  The top lawn was mowed and edged and is looking pretty tidy - and a lot less soggy than of late!  Other bits and pieces were replanted in new places including a couple of shrubs which were too close to the Wedding Cake tree (Cornus Contraversa variegata) which has really put on some growth and has to take priority!

Bees in the trees!

Considering it's still pretty early in the year, I'm really surprised by all the insect activity. Butterflies and bumble bees have all been out in the sunshine. Most surprisingly and, despite all one hears about the falling numbers in bees, was to look up and see almost swarm proportions in this Prunus.  Their sound could be heard yards away and working underneath has been quite amazing.  I'm pretty sure they are all wild bees as it's too early for hives in the apple orchards.  I only wish I could have photographed some of them - alas they didn't oblige as they were far too busy!  

 

Tedious!

Probably the world's most tedious job, but after all the rain and with the ground so compacted, Head Gardener has been aerating the lawn with a garden fork in the worst affected areas.  I know I should be brushing in some sharp sand next but at least I've made a start.  It takes so long to do a relatively small area, I was glad to have a break and cut back all the dead Scented Nemesia in the blue pots beneath the dining room windows.  It's not only very much alive but has a wealth of healthy green shoots.  This is a particularly highly fragrant variety and on a summer's day, the scent of lilac (it smells exactly the same!) wafts around the garden, into the house and across the terrace. 

The advantage of a mild winter is that so much has survived including some standard Fuchsias which I didn't bother to drag into the greenhouse.  I did get Chris to lift out a Strelitzia which has a couple of flower buds and also a tatty looking Jasmine but covered in flowers so both are now in the conservatory as opposed to being left in the greenhouse where they would have been too far away to enjoy.

STOP PRESS:  I got the sharp sand and finished the job...................now I definitely need a drink!