Frogs and Spawn

Here's our frogspawn and here's our resident frog!!  Can anyone actually tell the difference between frog and toad spawn?

Dead Frog and Frogspawn?

A fine warm day and time to finish tidying the pond.  Last week, Chris donned on waders, scooped out the rubbish from the bottom and we left it on the side for any newts etc to creep back into the water.  This week, it was cleaning out the filtration system and the pump as well as remove silt from the lights.  Rather than wading in (which would have stirred everything up again) Chris decided to do the ladder and plank trick and keep his feet dry!  In the meantime, I washed out all the bits inside the filter and then Chris washed out all the pipes to and from the filter, pond and culvert. I rescued as many pebbles as I could and dragged them back up the beach.  The trouble is; they all slide into the water when anyone walks on them! Having put everything back together again, we left things to settle before switching on the pump and went off to plant the remaining plants which had been laid in the veg patch and then Chris dug the whole lot and then raked it all level.  

It was when we returned to the pond to ensure the water was circulating reliably, that I spotted a real first. Frogspawn!!  Never before have we had frogspawn in the pond.  The strange coincidence was that Chris had found a dried frog corpse on lawn earlier - weird.  Let's hope we have loads of tadpoles and that the fish don't eat them all!!  Fingers crossed.

Easy & Effortless Elephants' Ears.

Bergenias

We have moved a couple of shrubs which we felt were just a little too close to our favourite Wedding Cake Tree (Cornus Controversa Variegata).  It's looking so pretty, it just has to have pride of place!  At only 4' tall, I can hardly wait for it to put on more height.  The base of it can just about be discerned in the background - it is still a baby after all!  Despite it looking a tad lopsided in the photo, in reality it's perfectly upright.  The Elephants' Ears (Bergenias) nearby are rather more prominent and are flowering quite prolifically.  These plants are both easy and effortless!  They flower reliably and increase without taking over and seem happy with just the odd tidy up.  What more could you ask from a plant?

Royal Horticultural Society Junk

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The Garden!

Well!  It's not very often that I have a rant!

Nature can be so cruel

Before...

...and after!

The Prunus blossom outside really suffered at the hands of a vicious hail storm which, although only 15 minutes or so in duration, it slashed down and, any flowers that the wind failed to blow off, the hailstones cut through like millions of tiny daggers!  Typical!  We wait all winter for spring blossom to appear and nature steps in and snatches it all away at the height of its glory!

Knee Cure

Meanwhile - with the Under Gardener convalescing and his knee elevated in the conservatory, he has been enjoying the intoxicating fragrance of a Jasmine (Jasminum Officinale)   As usual, this plant spent the entire winter in a frost free greenhouse with its compost left very dry.  It was pruned back hard after flowering last spring and this is the result.  The entire room is filled with perfume and it's better than all the plug-ins in the world and - enough to make anyone feel better!!

Male Humour!

Whilst gallivanting around California, my son (known more for his humour than any horticultural interest) sent me this!  Well..............

.............. it is officially spring!