Saturday 15 May 2021

Excitement Early Doors

I am going to try and kick start my blog writing with a three word gardening post once a month to celebrate having a new garden. I can't simply keep showing you me and my families' clothes all the time! Gardening is never finished with a kind of rolling excitement that comes and goes in waves so each month there should be some eye candy for us all. I am feeling that green text will really get us in the horticultural mood.

The front raised bed is dedicated to hot colours. It is fun to choose plants for a specific brief. These tulips are called Cairo and are from Framer Gracy. They are on tall stems but are very sturdy.


After all of the general daffodils had faded at the end of April, I was surprised to see these delicate beauties bud up. I forgot I had put them in and have no idea what they are but I am quite partial to a Lidl bargain bulb bag so I can only imagine they were purchased instead of a bottle of wine.

These ones have come at the same time too, slightly more cup shaped but so small and delicate, I think these are called Thalia.

I have been trying to choose my foliage carefully for this bed. This Euphorbia was a bit pricey but such a special specimen that I caved in and bought it because the leaves were variegated and the centres have a deep maroon colour picking up the dark heuchara in the background.

I have a golden heuchara that sits well with the orange tulips at the moment and it will also shine with a few more plants to come later.


These Orange Princess tulips just keep on giving. They were from Farmer Gracy too and I am so glad I bought them. They have really kick started my motivation to keep the borer flowering for the whole season.

The introduction of some white flowers will soften the whole look. My MIL gave me a big Lily which she says is white (I hope so) if it turns out to be pink, I shall be hoofing it straight out!

If it is pink, I will move it to the back garden where the sweeping border is dedicated to blue, pink and purple. This border gets more of a battering than the front raised bed because we are on a high ridge and whatever weather you are having, we are having it with wind. This one is taking a bit more time to get going but there are some substantial shrubs here because we look at this border from our bifold doors constantly so it needs to be full for as much of the year as possible.


Again the beautiful tulips are from Farmer Gracy. Andy installed the old water pump which his dad gave us from their garden. It was in their garden as a working water source when they moved in around the late sixties. It flows into a stone trough we found in the field.


And just because I can't resist sharing a bit of sewing, here is my crossback gardening apron I made from an old tablecloth. This photo makes me look huge but the apron is nice and loose making it perfect for moving about and wiping my hands on. If you are interested, it was easy to make from a free pattern by Tessuti. I might make some for Christmas presents actually.

Tell me the favourite thing that is growing in your garden right now. Happy gardening. Jo xxxx

17 comments:

  1. Lovely photos. I like the way you’ve thought about the different conditions the different beds will experience. I am itching to get stuck into my new garden (recently moved house) but the weather is not helping. I have some massive courgette plants to plant out but I’m hanging in until it dries off a bit. I like the idea of a cross backed apron. I made my two children an apron each last Christmas. They make a good present. Happy gardening this weekend.

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    1. Welcome along to the gardening journey Sarah. My courgettes are just popping through. x

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  2. Lovely photos. I like the way you’ve thought about the different conditions the different beds will experience. I am itching to get stuck into my new garden (recently moved house) but the weather is not helping. I have some massive courgette plants to plant out but I’m hanging in until it dries off a bit. I like the idea of a cross backed apron. I made my two children an apron each last Christmas. They make a good present. Happy gardening this weekend.

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  3. What beautiful tulips, I dithered over Farmer Gracy offers but next year I’ll definitely buy some. I love your apron, I made one for sewing in and it’s great for stopping me being covered with little bits of thread which I don’t notice until I am out somewhere! Happy gardening, thanks for sharing your flower bed.

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  4. Lovely photos of the garden - it will be interesting to see how it evolves. I know all about gardening higher up; we used to live in Picklescott although not as exposed as you and we could see the weather approaching the back garden. Now we live just across the border and our soil is heavy clay so I grow tulips in pots. I shall definitely be looking at Farmer Gracy's site. I have a "hot bed" and one for pinks, blues, purples and whites. At the moment my favourite flowering plant is a small pink fern leaved dicentra - I don't remember planting it but it is very slowly spreading and flowered for months last year. Happy gardening! PS love the apron.

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    1. Oh yes dicentra, I don't have on of those but they are gracious. I will pop that in my notebook.

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  5. Lovely seeing your garden, it's coming along beautifully. I am slightly obsessed with orange flowers at the moment, I've put in some orange sweet peas (Prince of Orange) so we'll see how they do. They're skulking around at the bottom of the canes at the moment, which is quite usual for this time of year. I'm loving the box at the moment, it's so bright and fresh with lots of new growth. Also the wisterias. There's a white one around the window where I work which I spend quite a lot of the day staring at :) Still waiting for the rain to fill up the wildlife pond after I cleaned it out. It's almost done, so hopefully the newts and frogs have recovered from the upset. Hope you have a lovely Sunday with a bit of gardening time. CJ xx

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    1. I am dilly dallying over a wisteria - I am a bit too impatient!

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  6. It is all looking lovely, well I am waiting to see the alliums as they are getting tall I can't wait to see them open. Currently my winter pansies that I planted last Autumn are going crazy and look gorgeous, They are really big. I don't think they know what season it is due to all the mad weather we are having! Have a great week.

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  7. Something for the back border (if you don't already have it) would be 'Centaurea Montana - Centurea'. It's a member of the cornflower family (I had to look the official name up!), and I have several clumps in my rather neglected front garden which return faithfully year after year after year. They're currently giving the bluebells a run for their money in the 'gorgeous blue flower' stakes, and they would probably weather the weather on your ridge too, because they are clearly made of stern stuff!

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  8. Thanks. Fingers crossed for statuesque alliums. x

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  9. Those tulips are magnificent. You must be enjoying your new house so much, so many things to do to make it perfect and the garden is a big piece of that. enjoy!

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  10. Your tulips wow!

    My favourite thing growing in the garden - well that’s difficult. All the hostas are now flourishing, I’m on constant mollusc watch. Absolute favourite of those is Emperor Wu. My garden peony and several roses are all in bud and just need some sun and warmth for them to explode. Solomon’s seal is looking fab and the bees are wanting the flowers to open.

    Your apron is fabulous. I shall go and have a look at the pattern. Thank you for sharing.

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    1. I bought a solomons seal last week and it is looking well settled in. I will have to test a hosta for slug action, I don't know what it will be like round these parts. x

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  11. Loving the oranges and hot colours in your front bed. My front garden is orange and yellow with a touch of purple to surprise. Still a long way to go but I am happy with the way it is coming together. Looks like you have put a lot of work into your new garden already. Looking forward to seeing it progress

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    1. Thanks. Haven't popped over to your small corner for a while. Jo x

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  12. Your water pump looks like one we used to use on our holidays in Ireland decades ago. I was actually recently looking on Ebay for a replica and maybe a trough for a really boring part of my garden. They are hard to come by now.

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