david spikes

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great morning. the wonderful smell of poplar leaves just as they begin to unfurl. alyssum citrinus blooming with aubrieta audrey-glaringly obvious but nice. self sown muscari growing through alyssum alpinum. wine red lilac blooming in front of the still sparse tendrils of humulus aurea. looking at a planting and thinking that a gold leafed agastache would be nice and finding one sprouting in the gravel. i have decided to leave the fallen ivy covered apple tree as my tribute to the picturesque. my dear grandmamma used to say that fancy words don't make laziness any less lazy. whatever could she have meant? the annual battle to eradicate rosa pimpinellafolia begins today.

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long walk in the snow today-very crisp but not cold. was driven out of the house by reading john ruskin on gardening-what an ass the man was.

ornamental pears, plums, peaches and cherries in bloom-beautiful in the snow. cosmos atrosanguinea from seed for the first time, nice-not so nice, lysimachia ephemerus has once again not survived the winter-i suppose i should give it up as a bad job. eremurus bungei is not happy-when the foliage dies back ishall lift, separate and replant-somewhere.

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kolkwitzia amabilis  will bloom surrounded by lunaria- the color contrast may grate but right now the arching branches look very good in front of  the white fringed lunaria foliage. chaenomeles kingsii which was planted to bloom at the same time is a month early-ah well it is very good on it's own.

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two superb days and then snow again this morning. a friend dropped by some strawberry plants. i don't like them but will plant them because my dear old granny said one should never spurn a well intentioned gift. why doesn't anyone ever give me a night blooming cereus? the great garden remake-stonework phase-is finished. i begin to suspect that it has become too victorian looking but the tapestry garden effect is very fine i think, and it gives me at least a years room for a few hundred more plants. two of the new evergreen kniphofias survived and two did not-not great but not bad for plants so tender.

Cats

toxoplasmosis can be a problem for people with impaired immune systems but all will probably be all right if you just rake it off.

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clematis nellie moser is reaching up into weigela florida variegata- the flower colors are exactly the same and have the bluey-green foliage of thalictrum in front and an enormous buddleia alternifolia behind-the flowering times overlap just enough to be wonderful-the anchusa which added to the picture has gone so will replace it with some i did from root cuttings- some years allium purple sensation blooms late enough to add to the picture and then what joy there is. 

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seeds sprouting thicker than hair on a cats back-am working on convincing myself that they are all things i might want. three roses that everyone should have if they have the space- nevada, hugonis and zephyrine drouhin. to a friends in the foothills-although only a few miles away it is higher and at least a zone colder than my garden. hundred of hybrid roses- mutilated sticks rising out of bare earth-hmmm.

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a perfect easter morning-sunny, clear, warm. the perfect day for a ramble. nepeta and muscari blooming together bettween the cobbles in the back sunk patio.  eremurus himalaicus, which was moved about during an extensive garden remake has come back vigorously, several look as though they might reach 3 meters-yay! some plants make you glad you have them just because of their names.  two that i noted this morning are phlomis kashmiriana-what exotic visions that conjures- and nepeta souvenir d'andre chaudron, it has a reputation as a goer but not so for for me which is unfortunate because i visualized it weaving through the burgundy malva sylvestris and the artemisia guizhou-oh well, there is time

just curious

searching for seeds

Talkback: Dieback on Leyland cypress hedges

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