Friday Evening Smiles

Hello Everyone, 

I know it's a bit late to add this to Annie's Friday Smiles, Week 425, over on A Stitch In Time, but I've had a busy few days that has stopped me posting until now. I even had to skip Wednesday's WOYWW, No. 842, post over on Sarah's Craft Shed, but what kept me so busy gave me a lot to smile about. 

Here's why.

Finally, the makeover of my front garden is done. Well, almost. All I have to do now is freshen up the pots, plant up and add a few more and place them in groups to provide colour for next year. 

My daughter and son-in-law, Juli & Graeme, took me to the local building supplies merchants on Tuesday where we choose the material that is replacing the grass that was there before. It had to be removed because the surface beneath was very uneven and difficult to both walk on and to mow. I decided that as I'm getting on a bit now, it was time to go for something that needed less maintenance. 

The delivery was exciting to watch. 

The man who delivered the bags of pebbles very kindly slit the sack bottoms for the contents to spill to the ground. Much easier than emptying them from the top. Juli & Graeme came over yesterday  afternoon and finished spreading the pebbles after Graeme made a wooden edging to prevent them spreading to under the privet hedge. 

Before the day of delivery we had to cut the hedge and clear the trimmings from both the garden and the pavement. While Graeme used his electric shears, I concentrated on trimming round the clematis that had climbed its way upwards through the hedge to bloom at the top. 

It's one that I brought in a pot from our last house. I'd forgotten the name but, after a search on Google, I was reminded that it is C. Niobe. Isn't it a beauty? Well worth moving with me. 

That's only a little of what's made me smile this week but I think it's enough for this post. I hope you all have had much to brighten your week too. 

Have a wonderful weekend and take care.

Elizabeth 

In A Vase On Monday - Three Clematis

Evening Everyone,

Today's been lovely here - warm and sunny. Perfect for enjoying the garden and right now it's time for the clematis to shine.

There are so many in bloom at this time that I just had to pick a few to plonk in a vase today. I'm not sure that they will last well once picked but nothing ventured, nothing gained. There's the pink and purple c. Nelly Moser, white c. Montana Grandiflora and one with unusual colouring that clearly wrongly labeled, c. Sunset, when bought.

I have searched and searched and still don't know what to call her.

Also in the vase is a couple of fronds of fennel and a few heads of viburnum - a shrub we inherited with the garden. I think it's reaching for the sky - it's approximately fifteen feet high so far. I'd prune it but the birds love it.

Here's a shot of the unknown clematis growing on the trellis that marks the entrance to the wooded area where the viburnum grows.

As you can see the colour changes as the flowers age.

That's my vase for today but to see more, better, arrangements, do pop over to Cathy's blog, Rambling in the Garden.

In A Vase On Monday on Tuesday - More Tulips

Afternoon Everyone,

I've had a few days away from my desk, taking advantage of the wonderful weather we've been having to potter about in the garden - cutting back and pruning, planting out new plants, and just generally tidying up. Not to mention the time taken just sitting, looking and taking in all the new growth the warmer days have brought with them.

The tulips are doing so well this year I didn't mind cutting a few more for the vase this week. That would have been the one for Cathy's meme  In A Vase On Monday if I hadn't run out of time yesterday so it has to be a Tuesday vase instead.

The three pink tulips are an old favourite 'Angelique'. They've been in the same pot - keeping a clematis, C 'Princess Diana', company - for three years now which could be the reason they are so tiny. I think the time has come to rescue and replant them.

The name of this mauve tulip is a mystery. Looking back to a post dated 20th April 2015 I'm reminded that my husband sneaked these into a bag of 'Angelique' and 'Sunlover' bulbs before they were planted into the pot. The foliage, Dryopteris atrata 'Buckler' and Polystichum braunii 'Braun's Holly Fern', was cut from the new fernery which is coming along very nicely.

This dwarf daffodil, Narcissus 'Minnow', with it's flat pale yellow petals and deeper yellow cup looks very pretty growing in a pot.

Now it's confession time. In last week's In A Vase On Monday I named the tulip buds used in the vase as 'Sunlover'.

Wrong! I've no idea what they are called, planted by my husband and so not labeled, but it is definitely not 'Sunlover'. In fact, there are clearly two different varieties, one peach, the other orange.

This is 'Sunlover'. Totally different. And as they are a late blooming tulip they might feature in another vase later in the month.

Garden update.

I know I usually show a few close-ups of plants from the garden but today I thought I'd share a couple of long shots so you can see the mess that is our garden - there's still such a lot of weeding and tidying to do!

Back garden - the herb patch and long border. The woodland is through the rose arch at the bottom of the garden.

Front garden - circular bed. The newly trimmed buddleja is down in the wild corner by the Rowan tree.

There's more but I think this post is quite long enough. If you're still with me this far you deserve a medal!

Since the weekend the temperature has taken a dip - quite a shock after the t-shirt weather we've been enjoying. While it was so nice we took the opportunity to prune the old buddleja davidii right back and plant up two new clematis, purple C 'Dorothy Walton' and pale pink C 'Hagley Hybrid', as well as potting up more pansies and bellis. There's a few outstanding jobs to do and after a trip to the local supermarket today we now have another new clematis, this time the white C 'Gillian Blades', winter windflower, anenome blanda, in shades of blue and an alpine wallflower, erysimum 'Bowels Mauve, to find a home for and plant out.

Happy gardening folks,

In A Vase On Monday - Spring Bits & Bobs - plus a garden update

Hello Everyone,

Today is the first day of spring and so to celebrate I have a vase of seasonal bits and bobs  for Cathy's In A Vase.

A wander round the garden today was very cheering. Not only was there green shoots popping up all over the place, all promising lots of colour to come, but also quite a few spring flowers - among them cowslips (primula veris), lungwort (pulmonaria 'Blue Ensign'), helleborus niger 'Christmas Carol' - ready to be picked and popped in a vase.

Cowslips - Primula veris

Helleborus niger 'Christmas Carol' and lungwort, Pulmonaria 'Blue Ensign'

I added, just because I couldn't resist it, the acid green foliage of an alpine aquilegia, not in flower just yet but it won't be long now.

For me this combination of blue and yellow just says springtime even though, dotted around the garden, there are just a few other colours, mainly from the old wallflowers that have been producing a bloom or two since January but are now really getting going. Here's a few shots of what I spotted during my wander.

Wallflowers

And here's the lungwort and cowslips before picking. According to the label for this lungwort is also known as "Blue Cowslip".

Lungwort

Cowslips

I couldn't resist taking a photograph of some of the flower buds that are popping up - here's a couple.

Clematis 'Broughton Bride'

Tulips

And there's no forgetting the many daffodils that are still brightening up my days.

The windblown flowers are cut to fill even more vases with their golden loveliness.

Cathy is celebrating five years of blogging at Rambling In The Garden so do pop over to see the fabulous vase, hand painted by her daughter, saved for this very occasion.