Blogs

above, outside a cafe on Parkway, Camden Town, below, forsythia, Park Village East, Regents Park, amazing how these bright yellow flowers suddenly cover the shrub at one instant in the spring

below, back to my garden, muscari

for some reason my camera cannot get all these muscari in focus at the same time but I spotted  bee on them this morning so posting anyway

I can't keep track of what I planted where and the snakeshead fritilary look very grass-like before the buds appear, luckily I didn't "weed" them out. 

It's finally good enough whether to go out into the garden, or at least it was for a few hours today, raining again now. I planted out my spent, previously forced, hyacinth bulbs. It reminded me that if you dig or plant in the garden, weeds will respond! I planted some small plants last autumn and I had so many creeping buttercup to dig up today. 

the buttercup have gotten into this sea holly seedling's pot, as has oxalis and the ubiquitous forget-me-not on the other side but I just leave the forget-me-not, they flower early and die back and aren't a problem (to me), the buttercup has to go - it just takes over

I also had grass, two types, one that spreads and one that appears to be self-seeding and makes a clump. I think the clump type is couch grass but I must look into them further. Another spreader underneath is snowberry. It spreads like mad.

speaking of weeds, teasels can go a bit mad, but I do like them and happy to have them in the garden but not everywhere, the small pot bottom right has a small teasel seedling

I pulled it out and one can see how it copes so well, with that long root

I didn't catch this one in time and it grew to be a monster - in one of my hosta pots so it had to come out.

It's early enough that there's some room in the garden for the previously forced hyacinth bulbs to be planted, before the green alkanet has gone mad - lots of small plants in the next 5 photos.

more hyacinths planted, some of previous years' in bloom

more spent hyacinths planted

more hyacinths planted, some of previous years' in bloom

This is my kind of Easter activity. How many plants / weeds can be identified? (this is also on Facebook so you can comment if you want)

with labels added

I think this must be the largest hairy bittercress I've ever seen. The long spiky bits are the seed pods. There is a tiny hairy bittercress in the centre of the pic above.

this is the first green alkanet I've seen this Spring, one of my favourite flowers

forsythia is magnificent for a brief period in the Spring

Hampstead Heath was a rather disappointing place to see plants this week (ground too trodden on by people and their dogs) but around Kenwood House I saw a few small bulbs including this chinodoxa. I love the intense colour of the closed buds.

close-up or one of the chinodoxa flowers

view from Hampstead Heath, Post Office Tower far right

best buys from the garden centre (free from the skip!)

I bought some plants from Peter Nyssen, Bear's discovered the nepeta (catnip). Between the cold and snow recently and Bear, they aren't looking too good.

a couple more colours of polyanthus are blooming, and that blue "zebra" one I couldn't resist from the garden centre

angelica I bought from the garden centre last year as a "wildflower", good value, it's a biennial so will bloom this year after last year's planting

the cyclamen coum has survived the slugs, campanula and other seedlings near it

I plant out my previously forced hyacinth bulbs, they do bloom again but in a very subdued way. The garden withoutdoors overlaps with the garden withindoors

I now have a huge pile of spent hyacinth bulbs to plant in the garden. I think it's warm enough now - for the moment - before the latest cold snap due before Easter.

bulbs want to grow! these tiny bulbs were on the patio or somewhere last autumn and got accumulated in this pot, I had forgotten about them and this spring started doing what they do

I love these small daffodils. Tete-a-tete as far as I know but they're only small like this in the right conditions, otherwise they can be tall and leggy. These have been outside all winter.

from a packet of mixed colour polyanthus seeds, yellow; seems to be the strongest colour from any mixed packet of seeds (annoyingly)

It's hard to believe that this bulb bowl of hyacinths,

was under snow a week ago

daffodils covered by last night's snow

tête-a-tête daffodils in the small amount of snow we had a couple days ago

I'm a bit of a bore about Chinese Lanterns but I just think they are so amazing: they look great even in winter, they've grown and spread in my front garden without any effort on my part, they are incredibly tolerant of my poor conditions.

I tried to force a lot of muscari indoors the last couple of years (see gardenwithindoors) so had a lot of bulbs to plant outside. They seem to be quite early this year.

I love moss. The bright green moss surrounding the muscari is so nice - and I did nothing to add it to this pot, it just appeared. Deadnettle seedling on the left.

Vintage terracotta pot + small flower bulb + moss =  magic.

There's been so much work along the Regent's Canal near King's Cross/St Pancras. They've moved the gasometers and built flats inside two of them and made a park in the third (black one on the left). I was interested in what weeds were growing in the wall by St Pancras Lock but I couldn't see them well enough and the towpath is closed there at the moment with all the construction. I hope to get a closer look soon.

I've been walking a lot recently and I see a number of plants and shrubs blooming, even though it's winter.

Wallflowers

Vachellia karroo (formerly known as acacia karroo).

I'd seen this before but didn't know what it was until this week when I researched it and found it's winter jasmine.

and a weed I've not seen up close and personal before, lesser celandine (the previous pic in my Weed Guide was shared by a reader, now I have my own); I'm impressed this can grow and bloom in the middle of winter, as with all the flowers I've seen recently

lesser celandine bud

another yellow flower, closer to home in my garden, mahonia

a colour I much prefer to all that yellow, purple/blue rosemary flowers

Polly Pocket venturing out on a nice day; the prostrate rosemary is covered with flowers and buds

a neighbour has naturalised crocus in their front lawn

I've been fascinated with this seed pod I saw nearby a couple weeks ago. Thinking it's thorn-apple? I didn't notice it in bloom last summer. Not sure if it's annual or perennial but I will look out for it this year.

I also collected some seeds from another pod that was brown and opening so I hope to sow those and see what I get.

my first rhubarb emerging

My first flower of 2018, polyanthus

the polyanthus seedlings are distinctive with that wrinkled first true leaf (the 3rd leaf on the seedling), I grew the plants above from seed last year so got to know the seedlings

I love buds, sometimes even more than the flowers. These are rosemary buds. My rosemary has been blooming on and off through the winter.

Happy New Year

I seem to be in St Pancras Old Church Yard quite a lot taking photos, I thought it would be nice to present it properly - and the Hardy Tree. In the centre background is the Crick Institute which is behind the British Library on Euston Rd, London NW1. On the left background is just a bit of St Pancras Station. This historical church and churchyard has survived, against the odds, extremely close to central London.

this is the west side of the Hardy Tree, in the background is a new wall they erected when working on the railway lines out of St Pancras Station, just peaking above the wall are the gasometers they've moved and re-erected as part of the canal redevelopment

north side of the Hardy Tree

east side of the Hardy Tree

south side of the Hardy Tree

an old twisty tree, corkscrew hazel? in the churchyard

I first saw butterbur in the churchyard

mahonia, unlike mine with rather flat sprays of flowers, this one has upright branches of flowers

horseweed, in the background is the coroner's court / mortuary that was built in 1886

the fatsia japonica have striking seed heads developing this time of year; this one is in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church

another burial ground, St Andrews, off Grays Inn Rd

another burial ground, St George's Gardens, and a view of what I seem to see wherever I go: the Post Office Tower

a close-up of that euphorbia; I'll go back to see it in bloom

the euphorbia with aucuba in the background

another view of the Post Office Tower, from St Pancras Lock

from the flowerbed near there, I'll check what that is but I love the cage around the bud -update- rudbeckia?

back in my garden, late scabious surrounded by spent globe thistles and sea holly

I was trying to capture the buddleja at each side of the bridge when I noticed the interesting graffiti; I couldn't fit the whole bridge in one shot

ivy seed head

(Mama Cat Trust Fox Rescue)

Cosmos on a gorgeous sunny day, 22-9-2017 first day of autumn, Avenue Gardens, Regent's Park. I didn't notice those shiny buds until I was at my pc - I love them. I must go back for another pic.

phlox, I love the colour and scent but in my garden the slugs love them too, also in Avenue Gardens

I'm not sure what this is (yet) - Bidens? can't find the exact one.

Scarecrow and the yucca flower

the angelica I planted earlier this year won't bloom until next year but it looks like it's gotten well-established

a wall of wall lettuce