Horticultural Therapy
Clematis alpina ‘Frances Rivis’
I’ve had this plant a number of years but it’s never done very much. And then this last winter its neighbour, a honeysuckle, blew down in a gale. Needless to say the gardener has taken her own sweet time getting round to removing the honeysuckle and the clematis has seized the opportunity to clamber over it to pastures new, blooming profusely as it does so in the enhanced space and light. All fine and dandy except that now of course I shall have to wait until the clematis has finished flowering before I can cut it and the honeysuckle back. The price we pay for tardiness eh?
Geum ‘Rusty Young’
Spring she is a-springing and brief moments in the garden provide a welcome distraction from the chaos still reigning inside the house. Pursuing horticulture as a hobby is far from plain sailing, as we all know, but I can’t imagine not doing it now. For three years we rented a house without a garden and I kept a few containers. Plants in transit. Of course there were losses. Not everything can adapt to life constrained within a pot. But watching things respond to the changing of the seasons and the build up to my favourite time, Spring, kept me positive in a way that little else can.
Epimedium NoID
Last weekend, at a fortuitously timed plant fair, I acquired this little beauty. The trouble is I don’t know what it is. After I’d carefully carried it home let it be blown to smithereens on the side of a blustery Cornish hill, I discovered that I have two price tags but not a single plant label. I vaguely remember a reference to ‘coffee’ but can find no Epimedium ‘Coffee’ or anything remotely like it on a google search. It is gorgeous though. And I suppose I should just be grateful I didn’t have to pay for it twice.
Epimedium x versicolour ‘Sulphurium’
This one I do know. Had it for years and it’s on a mission to take over. I shall have a go at splitting it this year.
Helleborus ‘Cinderella’
Habitually late for the ball, this is usually the last of the hellebores to bloom, seen here against the almost spent but still richly coloured flowers of Helleborus ‘Penny’s Pink’. Far from disappearing in a puff of smoke at midnight, Cinderella fades gradually and delightfully to a delicately speckled lime.
And speaking of midnight.. Helleborus x hybridus ‘Harvington Black’
Mirror, mirror on the wall, is this the blackest hellebore of them all?
Aquilegia vividiflora ‘Chocolate Soldier’
Brown rather than black, but no less lovely.
Another comfort purchase from the plant fair, Trillium cuneatum.
Trying one more time. I have killed all of her predecessors. Or something has. Was it three or was it four? Well this one is described as ‘vigorous’, so we shall see. I have given it shade, the moist soil it craves and spoken to it in my best Alan Titchmarsh: “Grow you bugg*r, grow”.
Erythronium ‘Pagoda’
Bulbs from last year. Hurray! They did grow. It works!
Erythronium ‘White Beauty’
For those of a more delicate persuasion.
Tulipa clusiana ‘Lady Jane’
Bulbs as we know struggle in the cold wet soil of a Devon winter so I have been experimenting with some of the species, the naturalising types. And this has been another success. Whether they return again next year remains to be seen but to witness a drift of tulips nudging through the earth just once has been reward enough for now.
Tulipa acuminata
I had a feeling this was going to be special and so it is. Another species but this time with only three bulbs to my name they did spend the winter safely tucked up in a pot, under the house eaves with a little rain but not a lot. Monty Don has planted many more of these in his new Paradise Garden, in amongst Stipa tenuissima. Now isn’t that going to look superb. There will be more bulbs here too come autumn.
Zaluzianskya ovata ‘Sweet Stock’
Something of a curiosity this one, the night scented phlox. Often grown as an annual in the UK but I’m hoping to overwinter it under glass. It is exquisitely fragrant. Opening the greenhouse in the morning is a delight. But by lunchtime, especially on a warm and sunny day, most of the flowers are closed. They burst forth again in the early evening and the wonderful perfume returns. Native to South Africa it is pollinated by moths.
Lamium orvala, the deadnettle
And finally… Strelitzia watch
The flower spike is bigger. Much bigger. And it has acquired red tints. Even better, look down towards the bottom of the photo.. there is not one flower spike, but two! The original is now less than an inch from the greenhouse roof. Will the night temperatures rise sufficiently for me to release the plant to the outside world before it smashes its way out on its own? It’s touch and go.
So the weekend in the garden is over and reality returns.
Progress?
At least we’ve uncovered some new beams..
“Shall we eat in the dining room tonight dear?”
Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear.
Linking to Carol and Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens (here), where you can enjoy a host of seasonal bloomers from around the world. And probably no mess..
Zaluzianskya ovata is that frustrating thing – “a short-lived perennial” so you can never be sure it will reappear after the winter. It is best to take cuttings as insurance
I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds short lived perennials frustrating. For me it normally means expensive annual. Cuttings is a good idea.
Lovely to have a wander around your garden, looking glorious in spring. I do love Helleborus but I bet they love a wet garden, so perhaps not for us..enjoy your renovations!
Sorry, Jessica, I’m hijacking your post. But I know you’d hate Gerrie to unnecessarily miss out on hellebores in her garden. Put them under a deciduous tree and they behave beautifully in Canberra, Gerrie! And Jessica, you’ve reminded me I really must get some Epimedium. So many plants, so little time/money….
I fell for Epimedium a few years back and now just can’t pass them by at a plant fair. They are slow to establish and build up for me though.
I’m definitely not enjoying it this time around. Far more disruptive than I expected it to be and stressful. I shall be very glad when it’s over.
that’s the largest earthworm ever….
Dust extraction. And much needed!
The sheer number of beauties in your garden is absolutely wonderful as are your photos. A delightful way to take your mind off the chaos inside…not that a garden doesn’t provide a chaos all of its own.
Garden related chaos is more bearable somehow! Although I may take that back when the next project starts. One year soon I hope we’ll just be able to sit back and enjoy it.
Oh my oh my oh my.. thank goodness for the garden
Thank goodness indeed.
It is an exciting moment when the garden springs to life again. Have you looked at the web site of Garden Visions Epimediums? She has an unbelievable number of them and perhaps you would see yours visually rather than searching by potential name. Our overnight lows have plunged below freezing last night and it looks like the same tonight. Just hoping everybody in the garden is able to hunker down enough to protect themselves or has not yet appeared. Though my Trilliums are up rather high so I hope they don’t mind the continuing cold.
The colour differences between varieties can be so very subtle, it is hard to make a positive ID although I certainly did look.
Your winter seems to be going on forever. I do believe my Davidia tree tried to produce blooms this year, the first time in 15 years, but they have been hit by a run of cold nights here. I am hoping there may yet be more still protected in the buds.
Oh super! Very timely post – I now know the plant by the back door is an epimedium! What sort remains unknown apart from it being buttercup yellow and very dainty! It’s been a long time since I grew Zaluzianskya and agree the scent is delicious!
And oops – lovely rubble! Or not. Amazing old beams – what are the notches – too uniform so perhaps some sort of nails in them (if it were a box I’d say staples!). Thank you for the progress update and the flowers are delightful.
Yes those are nails in the beams, we’ll remove them in due course. The amount of rubble we seem to have produced is quite incredible. It’s currently bagged up awaiting collection and pretty much occupies all the floor space in one of the rooms!
What a wonderful selection of unusual colours you have – I love the coffee ones. Tulipa acuminata is an amazing looking bulb and I love the night scented stock! I really shouldn’t read your posts as I always end up adding plants to my wishlist which has far too many plants in relation to the size of my garden! I hope you have somewhere to shelter during this recent cold and windy weather!
It’s been very cold hasn’t it, I am mightily pleased it has warmed up at last. The bedroom is directly above one of the rooms being renovated and there are large gaps between the floor boards!
Flower photography glorious; house photography terrifying
It got worse before it got better. These things always do.
Your photos are always great, but you have surpassed yourself this time Rusty! Lovely 🙂
Thanks Gill. I was blessed with some good light.
What happened to the first half of April? I was shocked when I got to the end and saw you were linking to GBBD. the Epimediums are all gorgeous. As to the ‘works’, I really don’t know how you can be living in the house with it being renovated around you. BRAVE!
I stupidly thought at the start that this project would be relatively easy to cope with because we could just shut the door on the two rooms and leave them be. Of course I forgot about the gaps in the floorboards and the fact that the bedroom is just above. I shall never again do a house room by room. I may never ‘do’ a house again..
Is the mystery Epimedium ‘Amber Queen?’ I say this like I know what I’m talking about… 🙄
‘Amber Queen’ is very similar, certainly in the shape of the flowers and the leaves. I have it as well and it’s just a bit more yellow than this one!
With so many beauties in your garden, I expect escaping to it is a complete joy. Have you considered putting up a tent there to avoid the house entirely? I adore every single specimen you presented, none of which (other than the hellebore) I can grow. I’m very tempted to try an Epimedium again even if no source I’ve consulted has any confidence whatsoever that it can be grown it in my climate.
Epimediums are said to be shade lovers but my most prolific one now has full sun for the first half of the day and appears to be loving it. It was originally behind one of the large conifers we took down and I never got around to moving it. Perhaps it might be worth a try in your lath house?
It would need to get a bit warmer for a tent. If we’re still in this state come summer then maybe!
Zalusianskya really shines in your wonderful photo!
It’s a wonderful plant! I hope I can successfully overwinter it.
Beauty to feed the soul. And then, your dining room.
If we were doing this in winter I would have completely lost it by now.
I would dine outdoors at the moment in the more pleasurable surroundings.
Looking good for Easter so that’s exactly what we will do. Up to now though it would have required arctic gear.
Congratulations on the strelitzia, the weather forecast implies you can release it into the community.
I hope you have checked all of your smoke alarms are working. It appears that restoration work leads to catastrophic fires, please try to void a Notre Duck event. Very sad news from Paris.
Sad news indeed. Windsor Castle, the Glasgow School of Art and now this. History does seem to repeat itself. I have checked the smoke alarms and the fire extinguisher.
You have some beautiful flowers. I’ve never managed to get an epimedium to grow.
They are slow to grow for me as well, most have taken a couple of years to settle in and then they suddenly go for it.
There I was thinking “what a lovely trip around the Spring garden”, how relaxing, until I got to your dining room pictures. Holy **** You are made of much sterner stuff than me, my dear. I would have moved out, or moved into the campervan. Or both.
But back to the garden, I have both the hellebore you have mentioned, they are a delight. Your ‘dead nettle’ is stunning, there was some here but it has gone . . . no idea where
One day this week I was seriously thinking about a hotel. The dust has been terrible. We’re back to having no blinds in the bedroom because they, like much else, are wrapped up in dust sheets in the ‘up’ position and therefore unusable. At least it means longer days in the garden.. we wake rather early.
Ok, the flowers are wonderful, as usual, including some that put me to a google search, but I can’t help but wonder about your photography which is exceeding all bounds. It looks like stacked focusing but I can’t imagine you have time for that. What are you using for your marvelous close-ups?
You’re very kind John, thank you. I wish I could tell you I have done something very clever but all of these photos were taken with my Nikon bridge camera (Coolpix B700), mostly using the macro function. I tend to use as shallow a depth of field as I can get away with because I like the way it makes the blooms stand out against the background. Other than that, nothing really special.
I wish I could grow Epimedium, they don’t seem to survive here! I am envious.
They take a while to establish for me too, seeming to only really get going in the second or even third year.