Blooming April + Our Wildlife Corridor

Good Evening Everyone,

Today has been glorious and too good a day to spend indoors - especially here on the west coast of Scotland, an area notorious for its wet climate. So I took a wee stroll round my tiny plot with my camera at the ready. The first thing I spotted was this auricula. Years ago the Under Gardener built an auricula theatre so that I could indulge my passion for these little beauties. Sadly, this is the only one I have - our local garden centres/nurseries don't seem to cater for auricula lovers. However, this one rewards me with it's pretty crimson and cream flowers year after year. Here are a few more of the flowers in bloom now.


Bellis in a window box



Wallflower among the poppy leaves



Pot grown Pieris Forest Flame

This Pieris has never had so much blossom on it - truly the best it has ever done in the 13 years it's been growing.


Red/white striped tulip

Sadly, I've forgotten the name of these tulips but they have survived in a pot over the last three very harsh winters. We have lost another pot and I do mean lost - I've looked all over the garden and it's nowhere to be seen. I suspect the Under Gardener got carried away with some over zealous clearing up in the autumn : (  


Golden Hop

And last but not least - our wildlife corridor.


The wild flower border

Last year we took over this unloved patch which is not strictly in our garden but borders on the communal path behind our house. It's owned and neglected by the local council but as our bins are kept there we kept it tidy. After seeing a programme on the desirability of creating wildflower areas to provide a wildlife corridor it seemed a good idea to plant this patch up with wildflowers. The soil is really poor as it is under some huge fir trees but we dug it over as best as we could - difficult work because it had been trampled on for years. I mixed up lots of packets of seeds, mostly wildflowers but a lot of annuals and even some perennials too, and broadcast them over the patch. Watered them in and left the rest to mother nature. Last summer it was covered in poppies but this is the first spring and look at the wallflower - I didn't expect that! The smell is divine and the insects are loving it too : )

If you've got this far, thank you for staying and I hope you enjoyed seeing my blooming garden!

Take care and good night.