mid-April 2016

the Honesty has been fantastic this year; the green alkanet is always fantastic! but compared to a neighbour's garden in the sun (shown at the bottom of the bluebell page) my Honesty flowers are sparse

They were talking on Gardeners Question Time about the difference between comfrey and foxglove. I happen to have them near each other, also with green alkanet which is sometimes confused with foxglove so all 3 for comparison, left to right foxglove, green alkanet, comfrey:

right in the middle of those textured comfrey leaves some buds can be seen

close-up of those buds

I haven't sown cerinthe seeds for years but they are appearing regularly and fabuously

these flowers are usually visited regularly by bees but it's so cold I'm not seeing many, sure when it warms up there will be lots of bees

I think these are Little Princess tulips but I must check. I guess being in the cans has warmed the roots and they are blooming earlier than the pots.

the tulips in the terracotta pots are still in bud

I see a fat ripe pincushion! I've got lots of these new scabious 'Melton Pastels' (Knautia macedonica) from seeds I sowed the end of last summer but this is the first one with buds. I'll love them as will the bees and butterflies.