blossoms – CONVENT AND CHAPEL

The Quince - this is the fruiting variety although I think I still need to wait a bit longer before I can expect a crop. — The Quince – this is the fruiting variety although I think I still need to wait a bit longer before I can expect a crop.

A pretty little Daphne Genkwa. A shot of mauve easily visible from a distance and flowers for weeks.

Spring is such an exciting time for gardeners, with the dormancy of Winter passing and watching plants spring to life almost overnight. It’s even more fascinating for me, given so much of the garden is new. For some plants, I worry that I’ve killed them. Others have been planted whilst dormant and I’ve never seen them have any sign of life. There are a few plants that didn’t seem to survive the first year after planting and have skipped a year to be resurrected this Spring

Known as a Pearl Bush, this should be a proud little upright tree, however a border collie who prefers to remain anonymous broke it. It has continued to regrow and flower prolifically from its broken horizontal position.

Right now, trees and shrubs are blossoming – albeit briefly for trees like the Manchurian Pears. The apple trees seem to take a bit longer but every day the trees are quickly changing. The Maples seem to leaf up in one or two days.

The one I’m ridiculously proud of is the self-seeded peach tree which has sprung out of my compost. Not sure how long it will take to fruit, but it is growing well and looks an attractively structured tree. The house rule is that unless something is an unseemly weed, it’s allowed to stay where it is and grow, which is making for some interesting plants in interesting places.

I’ve just finished my first grass mowing exercise post Winter – hopefully mows after this will be easier. I lost count of how many catchers of clippings I removed. But the garden now looks so much better. I’m finishing most of the major chunks of work around the garden in terms of more plantings, pruning, feeding and mulching then will move on to some of the finer details and maintenance. We’re still getting a bit of frost so new tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers have taken a bit of a hiding. Otherwise, the garden continues to develop well with the roses looking as though they’re pretty settled and kicking along with their growth. I’ll post photos when they’re in flower, which shouldn’t be too far away!

Fuchsias adding a splash of colour under the Cotoneaster.

Just a regular prunus, however this was in such poor condition when I moved in that a number of neighbours encouraged me to have it removed with the other shrubs. So glad I gave it a few more years to turn around.

… and what a beautiful day it was.

It’s now so rewarding to be working in the garden as the results pay off visibly and quickly.

Two Manchurian Pears flank the front entry path. So pretty blossoming, but please now just grow!

Here’s a few glimpses of the garden responding to the new season of growth. Remember that all these plants are very new. Most plants are only a year or less old.