We’ve had a little bit of rain this week (that’s because I finally got round to buying a hosepipe!) and everything seems to have shot up another 6 inches. The garden is really filling out now and colour is popping up everywhere…
This poppy flowered this morning, yesterday it was just a tight, green bud, I thought it would be at least a couple more days, but today it looks stunning. I was pleased to see poppies at all this year as last year I had to do a big clearance due to the weeds in this bed, though I did make sure I spread plenty of the seeds around last year. This one is right next to the conservatory, so I can admire it when I’m sitting having my breakfast.
Some of the early summer clematis are starting to flower, I have two climbing my big obelisk in the AA garden, I love the big blooms of the pale purple one, they’re about 5-6″ across. Two of the clematis growing up the big fence are already starting to flower, I only planted them a few weeks ago.
I’ve spent a few hours this week trying to clear the rose bed of weeds, I’m digging up the buttercups etc and spraying things like dandelions and bindweed. You can see the big bare areas where I’ve weeded, the area to the right gives you and idea of the size of my problem!!
Over by the pond the rhododendron is taking centre stage, it fascinates me does this shrub as half the flowers are purple and half are cerise, I used to think it was older flowers and new ones, but I’m not so convinced now! Maybe it’s just reverting to it’s natural colour.
In the front garden I have a large scottish rose, it is covered in flowers this week and the scent is gorgeous, it fills the air as you walk up the drive. I’ve never worked out how to prune this rose as it’s a different habit to your usual garden roses, but it flowers so beautifully that I just cut a bit back at the sides so the postman can get past!
My next big job is to clear the weeds from the front garden and put a double layer of membrane down, I’ll then plant shrubs with shreddings on top of the membrane. It’s never going to be a cure with so much marestail, but we did it on the bottom tier of the front garden a couple of years ago and it’s certainly more manageable. You can see the size of our problem! My OH did laugh the other day when he was watching DC Banks, a detective TV drama which is filmed round here. A body was found in an attic with a piece of marestail, “Marestail is only found in three places round here” !!! Luckily he didn’t give our address out 🙂
Sometimes in a garden plantings can work by chance, the other day when I was weeding the rose bed I looked across by the fence and the alliums, geraniums, perenial cornflower and aquilegia looked lovely, all different shades of purple intermingling . It makes all the hard work worth it!
thecraftycreek 
Beautiful! Makes my eyes very happy!
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I love all of your meander garden posts! So fun to watch the gardens bloom, and you have such a variety of plants!
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Wow – loving the colour!
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So pretty
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Lucky you to have such gorgeous clematis! I’ve killed more than one, LOL!! Spring is such an awakening, the flowers lend their fragrance to the air, lovely!
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I seem to be OK with clematis, there’s lots of other things I manage to kill though!
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The garden has exploded since last week! I adore these posts!
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I love these posts so much, I look forward to them each week! Thank you for doing them Margaret!
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Gorgeous for sure! My first big poppy appeared on Saturday. Everything seems to be coming in a rush now.
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Thanks Cathy, I agree, everything is suddenly coming out 🙂
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That’s so funny about the marestail! I read the DC Banks books–love them. Your garden is a wonder to behold!
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Your garden is looking beautiful! I love the clematis, I never had much luck trying to grow it in my garden when I had one.
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Thanks Kate, I think clematis quite likes heavy clay soil, which I have in abundance!
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The entire garden looks beautiful but that poppy image was especially awesome!
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Thank you, it is a rather beautiful poppy 🙂
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Just stunning, I have two obelisks in the garage – that after reading your post just need some clematis growing up them! Our weed nemesis in our garden is bind weed 🙁
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Thanks Rose, I’ve got bind weed,but at least that responds to weedkiller, mares tail has got to be the worst, it has a waxy coating so it repels it unless you bruise the leaves first!…and the roots go down about 6′ and go through tarmac!
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What a beast!!!
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