Spring has finally sprung here in Yorkshire, after a few days of higher temperatures the buds on the trees are just starting to appear and perennials are starting to show signs of life, I reckon we’re about 4 weeks behind our usual timings. Over the last few days I’ve even seen a few big bumble bees, always a good sign!
Our magnolia stellata has finally come into flower, a sure sign that spring is here. There was just one flower open yesterday and half a dozen today, so by the weekend I think it will be glorious. It’s one of my favourite trees in the garden, it’s stunning when it’s in full bloom. The flowers are so delicate, just beautiful.
I’ve been quite busy this week putting together arches for the AA garden. I managed the basic arch on my own, putting it together and erecting it in it’s spot. The gated arch was a bit more tricky, I put it together but it definitely needed two of us to stand it correctly so the gates would hang right. I’ve put a few more plants in, mainly ones which were lodging in the bottom garden, and spread around lots of gorgeous compost from the old heap. It’s starting to look like a garden! I need lots more plants, especially climbers and about another twenty bags of gravel!
We need some new compost heaps as our last ones were totally rotten. We usually run on a cycle of two heaps, one filling and one rotting down. Having priced them up we decided they couldn’t be that difficult to build. We started gathering together spare fence posts, planks and trellis from around the garden and I think we’ve just about got enough to build a double compost heap. I think my OH sees it as his project so I’m leaving him to it!
This is the old chicken run, I’m going to plant the left hand side with a deep border of shrubs all chosen for their autumn colour, so it’s going to be my Autumn Garden. I do like to name the different parts of the garden!
The pond border is starting to green up, there’s lots of shoots appearing, hostas, Solomon’s seal, brunnera, irises, give it another couple of weeks and it will look completely different. The hellebore’s are still looking good and there is a lovely haze of blue pulmonaria under the rhododendron bush. There’s a fair few weeds appearing here so I need to work on it this week.
My Jack Frost brunnera is just starting to flower, soon it will be a haze of little blue flowers. This is underneath the camellia bush, I bought it quite a few years ago at the Harrogate flower show, I love it as it is good ground cover without being invasive, attractive variegated leaves and a haze of blue flowers in spring.
Tomorrows job is to paint the big fence onn the right as we are finally (fingers crossed!) forecast a stretch of dry weather. My Eighteen for 18 challenge of three sessions a week in the garden is working well, sometimes I’m out for several hours, sometimes just half an hour, but it all adds up. I’ve just got to keep at it 🙂
thecraftycreek 
You have a beautiful garden, love the flowers. I’d like an archway on our property, if I could find a good place for one, and plant a wisteria on it.
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Thanks Carole, I’m tempted to put a wisteria on the big fence 🙂
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What a beautiful garden! 4 weeks behind seems to be the general pattern for this year’s growing which is quite a lot really. Still, things are looking up 😊
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Thank you, I think when spring really gets going it’s going to be glorious 🙂
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I love the mossy stone walls in your garden, they give it structure immediately and I can see a summer lushness just burgeoning below the soil. My OH also built compost bins from old fence posts and planks. We have three working but I suspect Monty Don might find what they produce a little lacking!!!
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Thanks Prue, I like the moss too, I’m not sure what our compost will be like now as previously we had a constant supply of chicken poop, a great ingredient for beautiful compost 🙂
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It is a lovely garden but what I really like is that in your last picture there is a green bucket left in the middle of the circular gravel. It shows a very human side to gardening, a lovely garden does not grow by itself.
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This made me chuckle Cathy, the last picture was taken earlier, before I went out, I tidied up a bit for the photo of the AA garden, hence no bucket 🙂
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Reading your post makes me eager to get outside and work on my own garden–it’s not quite time yet but I’m growing hopeful!
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Lovely garden! You going to put climbing roses on the trellis? Yes, just a few minutes a day makes a difference! After the hardest part of weeding is done,I enjoy walking through the flowerbed to stop to pull a weed here and a weed there.🙂
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Thanks Deb, the old bit of trellis propped up is actually going to be cut in half to make the sides of the compost heap!!
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I think we may finally be close to the front end of spring here! The last snow is nearly gone this morning and while there are showers coming several days this week, only one day with snow, so maybe! I love the many different themes in your garden, it seems like it should be huge, maybe some day you will share a diagram? I love all those different plants, and enjoy your pictures so much!
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It seems to have been a very long winter here! I’ll try drawing a diagram some time 🙂
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What an amazing garden layout! Looks wonderful for meandering!
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