It’s been lovely today, sunny and warm, in fact it was that warm I took my fleece off! I spent most of the working in the garden, weeding, cutting back etc. Over the last couple of weeks I finally got all the roses pruned, I had about thirty to prune, plus the rose hedge at the top boundary of the garden.
Today I’ve mainly been weeding my raised bed by the patio, digging up those pesky wild geums, self-seeded alchemilla mollis, grasses. It does look much better. It’s nice to see the beds close up too (like on my hands and knees!) as you realise just how much is starting to grow, little shoots, buds…
We’ve got quite a lot of pulmonaria around the garden, it seems to quietly spread itself about under roses and shrubs. It’s quite useful like that as it adds a bit of colour now but when it starts to get straggly it’s not as noticeable for the rose above it. One patch is a particularly vivid shade of blue…
Over by the pond I was tidying up earlier in the week, everything is growing so quickly, another few weeks and Hubert the heron will be disappearing! The brunnera adds a nice splash of colour here and the hellebores are still looking OK. As you can see the roses along the back hedge have been given a hard prune. I’ve two types of rose along here, one with dense but softer prickles and one with evil ones!
The magnolia stellata is just starting to flower, it’s covered in downy long buds at the moment,it’s one of my favourite trees in the garden.
My favourite hellebore is still in flower too with deep wine coloured flowers…
So the garden is starting to look a bit more tended. My OH has decided to do the front garden, he’s never been particularly interested in gardening, though he loves sitting in it! Anyway last month he said he would help more and I suggested he took over the front garden. He is quite surprised how much he is enjoying it. I think giving him ownership has made all the difference. I pointed out three shrubs which are ‘precious’but otherwise he has free rein. He’s dug over the large area in front of the house and is feeling very pleased as he got a big tub of marestail roots out…bless him, he thinks he’s got on top of them! I didn’t like to dampen his enthusiasm by pointing out that I dug and weeded most of that twice last year! Anyway, him doing the front has psychologically made a big difference to me, now that I’m ‘only’ gardening the back it seems more manageable.
thecraftycreek 
Hurrah for Hubby’s help! Enjoy your lighter load. I am continually amazed at how many flowers you already have blooming, while we are just beginning to see the earliest spring flowers emerge from the ground!
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We’ve had a few warmer days recently and everything is putting on a spurt 🙂
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I love the posts you do that feature your beautiful garden – I enjoyed my virtual stroll with my breakfast this morning 🙂
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How lovely to see things emerging from their winter sleep. And to have your husband work the from garden! No matter how much we love our gardens, sometimes the work can seem overwhelming.
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Thanks Anne, it’s surprising just how much this has taken a weight off my shoulders…and he’s enjoying it too 🙂
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What a delightful garden you have. Thanks for taking us along on your totter
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I always love a trip around the garden. Those blue flowers are so lovely too 🙂
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I do love those blue flowers, such a lovely shade and a big splash of colour in the Spring, I am determined to have a magnolia in our garden and the Stellata would be good as they are smallish aren’t they? Have you seen the price of a decent sized one though? I had to take to my fainting couch.
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We have a chap on the market who occasionally has something special like magnolias. They’re all very slow growing, stellata is the smallest one and they’re gorgeous when covered with flowers. I planted this one about 20 years ago!! I have a purple soulangeana in the front which has probably been in over 15 years and is still smaller than me! That one is a purple one, I wouldn’t recommend it as the colour always looks a bit muddy to me, a bit like patty’s plum poppies!
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