April is one of my favourite months as it usually feels like winter has finally receded and spring has sprung. It’s been a month full of blue skies, sunshine and warmth, and our little garden is bursting with new growth and colour.
Last autumn, I planted bulbs for some early spring cheer, though my planting was a bit haphazard so there are clusters and gaps that I’ll try to fill in next autumn. The Narcissus Apotheosis have flowered and I love the two-tone swirl of petals, but I was a little underwhelmed by Narcissus ‘Rip Van Winkle’, which are pretty but don’t last long.
There are tall, bold ‘Red Impression’ tulips in the bamboo border, and fabulous ‘China Pink’ tulips in the flowerbed, but I’m still waiting for any of my favourite fiery orange ‘Ballerina’ tulips to flower.
In previous years, we’ve filled the flowerbed with annuals and wildflowers, but last year we planted some perennials and it’s paying off as the hardy Geraniums, Geum, Potentilla and Aquilegia have all grown back and their foliage is a welcome change to bare earth.
Geum ‘Mrs J. Bradshaw’ has already burst into flower, and the first flower on the Geranium ‘Blue Sabani’ has opened with many more buds promising colour for months ahead. As you can probably tell, whites and pastels are wasted on me and I’ve filled the garden with bright tones.
As the lockdown wears on and the novelty of being housebound wears off, I feel incredibly grateful for our little garden. More so than ever the garden has become a place to sit and gather my thoughts or to lose myself in some seasonal task during these extraordinary times we’re living through. Take care. X
Lovely and Grateful 
Your garden is lovely! I envy you all of that colour. I have no colour at all yet in mine 🙁. An early- flowering clematis is doing well and is quite pretty but its cream flowers don’t jump out at me. Scabiosa and the biggest of the cat mint plants are due to flower any, day but they are pale purple. I adore bright and intense shaded but made a decision a couple of years ago that any new planting would be for pollinators, and most of those I’ve selected seem to be purple shades. I’ve sown some rudbeckia, calendula and cosmos seeds and all have germinated so fingers crossed there will be some vibrancy in the summer.
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Planting for pollinators is a very good thing to do. Pale pink and pale purple scabiosa are the exceptions to my bright colour scheme, and Calendula is one on my favourite annuals. I’m sure your garden will look wonderful when everything’s in bloom. 😊
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Your garden is looking like a rainbow of colour. Love the yellow tulips. X
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Daffodils? Thanks, now I just need to sow some annuals to fill in the gaps. 😊 X
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Ha, yes I meant daffodils. Obviously lockdown craziness!
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