frog

another frog and the latest blooms

Another (larger) frog has appeared in my pond. I haven't seen the other frog for a few weeks and suddenly this one was there the other day. I love having the frogs. My one regret is that my grandmother isn't able to share this with me. She was so interested in my efforts to attract them to my garden pond.

frog in pond

The single comfrey plant I have (from an entire packet of seeds) is unexpectedly blooming. It was at the back of the garden out of the way, looking a lot like green alkanet, and suddenly the other day I saw it had different flowers and realized it was comfrey. I was inspired to plant this after hearing Bunny Guiness talk on GQT about how great the flowers were for bees as they lasted well into the autumn when little else was in bloom.

comfrey buds

The angelica is an amazing plant. It has more flowers and has grown even taller.

angelica flowers

angelica

angelica

The lower stems are red. The plant was so massive I had to prune it.

red angelica stems

The Orange Favourite tulips are still looking great.

Orange Favourite tulips

Orange Favourite tulip

Orange Favourite tulip

This lilac has been very slow to get going but now it's blooming like mad. This pic also shows two aquilegia (to the right of the lilac) which are the tallest aquilegia I've ever seen, some foxgloves and a bit of the ceanothous to the left.

lilac

the garden coming to life

I was so excited to finally have a frog in my pond. I don't know if he found his way there or if he hatched from the last spawn I put there (about 2 years ago?) and I just never saw him before. He was out the other day when it was sunny and he came out to bask in the sun for a while. The last two days have been cloudy and he hasn't been out.

frog in my garden pond

I love squirrels. They are SO cute but wreaking havoc in the garden. I planted bulbs last autumn to have a bulb ladder this spring but the squirrels ate all the crocus and tulips so only the muscari and narcissus tete-a-tete are left.

muscari

 

These muscari are beautiful: fat ripe flowers and intense colour. The muscari I forced indoors which bloomed in December weren't nearly so vibrant. They were so unnoticeable I didn't even take a photo of them.

 

 

 

muscari

 

 

 

The sky was so blue that day. The combination of the purple flowers, the green of that shrub in the background and the blue sky was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

narcissus tete-a-tetemuscari on a plant stand

I had the idea to put these pots on an old wooden ladder but the squirrels, aside from eating half the bulbs, would have knocked them off. The narcissus pot on top is too big for them to knock off although they've already knocked off the middle one.

The plant stand on the right is more secure so they can't knock anything over. The pots in the middle are my lupins which the slugs half destroyed last autumn but now that they are off the ground away from them, they are growing again. I'm hoping the frog(s) will eat the slugs now. This past winter wasn't cold enough for long enough to kill the slugs. The previous winter was great as I didn't have slugs for weeks in the spring. It really gave the plants a chance to get going.

I've also seen a fox a few times recently after not seeing one for a while and lots of cats. Two new ones have moved in recently, added to the existing ones, sometimes there are 5 cats in the garden - it's great as I love cats. And Pussycat is enjoying the warmer weather.

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