We’ve had a funny April weather wise, this month is usually known for it’s showers interspersed with sunshine, usually it’s pretty wet. This year we’ve had snow, hail, hard frosts and then gloriously sunny days! The poor plants don’t know whether they’re coming or going. I’ve lost a few plants with the late frosts and a few more have got very sad looking shoots. My beautiful magnolia stellata was looking more like a teabag tree at one point as the blooms are very susceptible to frost and turn a sad looking brown. Fresh blooms have come out since though and it’s scent is wonderful as you walk past.

I had a good sort out and tidy up of my pots at the weekend, working out what’s survived the winter and what needs replacing. There’s a few pots on their final warning too, start looking pretty or you’re for the compost heap! I’ve one large ceramic pot which is a water feature, unfortunately I’ve not had much success with plants in it, they either grow too big or not at all. The other day I saw an advert for a floating solar-powered fountain. Apparently birds love them for bathing in, so I’ve decided to turn my water feature into a bird bath! I emptied all the water out, gave it a wash and started putting pebbles in, I need a few more so it’s possibly a couple of inches below the surface of the water. Just waiting for the fountain to be delivered now.

We arranged for someone to come and paint our new fence (it’s pretty long so would have taken me for ever!) I asked him to paint the arbour at the same time and it does look much better for a coat of paint. My friend has one of these arbours too, we both bought them at the Harrogate Spring Flower show, I was quite surprised when she said it was ten years ago!!

Although it still needs a sweep up, the garden is looking much tidier, I’m feeling more on top of it at the moment. This arbour is where I like to sit and drink my coffee when it’s warm.

Just to the right of the arbour is Jack Frost, the first brunnera I bought. It’s a great plant, good ground cover, interesting foliage for nine months of the year and pretty blue flowers at this time of year. Even my OH commented that he could do with planting some Jack Frost in the front garden.

I’ve started sorting out the old compost heap too, collapsing all the wood and digging up huge nettle roots. The borders are looking reasonable in the Amethyst and Amber garden. This is our sunny spot in the afternoon, my OH calls it the beer garden! It’s perfect for a glass of Pinot Grigio too!

I’m planning to tidy the pond next, it’s full of duckweed and the iris are spreading uncontrollably! I’ve never seen any frog or toad spawn in there so I’m not worried about disturbing it, if I don’t tackle it now then in another month or so the surrounding plants will be so lush I’ll struggle to reach the pond, so it’s now or never!

I’m enjoying the garden at the moment, every time I have a wander round it looks like everything has grown another 3″, the ground is very dry and cracked at the moment, hopefully we’ll get some rain this week and then everything will really start to shoot up.