ju1i3's blog

the muscari, end of March

new cat in the neighbourhood

Focus on the pot above filled with self-seeders: in the middle a poppy, silver grey ???, bright green very puckered/textured plant top-half that looks similar to teasel but without any roughness and muscari, of course.

muscari in the sun

I can't stop taking photos of the muscari which seem to be looking better every day. At least *something* is happening this morning as the solar eclipse was a non-event - thick cloud obliterating any solar activity.

I feel like I should know these upright self-seeders but right now I don't. Weeds or desirable plants? I don't know so far.

another plant I don't know (nigella at the bottom, hyacinth bulblets to the left and back)

it was a lovely sunny day yesterday and Polly Pocket came outside with me while I was doing some gardening in the front garden

these are some of the bulbs in bloom in the back garden

I just love these tight buds at the top of the muscari flowers.

In the front garden this year the vinca is going mad with more space - space vacated by the bluebells I removed last spring, unfortunately the attractive purple flowers are sparse compared to the greenery.

I seem to have two types of vinca, the one above and the one below has smaller differently shaped darker flowers.

the rosemary continues to look fab, love those purple/blue flowers, I have re-potted it in a larger pot, when it fills this pot I will re-pot it again

at this time of year there's some overlap with bulbs indoors and bulbs outdoors

The golden syrup tin on the right and the squirrel planter to the right of that have tete-a-tete daffodils and have been indoors since I planted them up last autumn, none of which are showing any buds whereas the pots to the left and in bloom and looking fabulous have been outside since being planted up with tete-a-tete daffodils last autumn.

Muscari in bloom having been outside since last autumn.

crocus surrounded by self-seeded poppy to the left, green alkanet to the right and vinca all around, after removing the invasive bluebells last year, it seems the environment was well-suited to the vinca going mad

the fresh lighter green leaves are new growth on the blackberries, the pink flower is a new bloom on the snapdragon

Socks and first hyacinths in bloom outdoors

This is the first time I've had flowers on a rosemary. I'm very impressed that it bloomed through the winter. I've seen quite sizeable shrubs at the garden centre last year with flowers which were a little expensive so I hope this will grow eventually to a similar size.

close-up of more small early spring crocus in bloom

all of those early spring crocus shown above

this was the first crocus in the front garden in one of the pots shown above

Unlike the shriveled shrunken hyacinth bulbs I've had in vases indoors for the past two months these outdoor bulbs are so ripe and fat. These are bulbs that I did not have vases for in September so I just popped them into whatever pots I had around.

one of the first crocuses outdoors in the back garden, probably another bulb that was surplus to requirements indoors

this warm weather is v confusing for plants

My holly bush/tree, which was in the front garden when we moved in, has never had any berries on it. I guess it's the wrong gender. It just seems to be a support for the jasmine growing up it and over it. 

I think it's finally time to cut it back seriously, to the height of the fence behind it in this photo. I think we can be reluctant to change an existing garden when we take it over but after 10 years I have the confidence to do it! And those poor crocosima are desperate for more sun.

surprise Morning Glory

After this new fence was installed, a seedling appeared on the bare ground. I've been following it to see what it turned into, initially I thought it might be Honesty but suddenly these flowers appeared today (Oct 20th). I planted Morning Glory seeds here a few years ago (Purple Flowers has a pic of them taken July 2010). Some have obviously been dormant in the soil since then. What a wonderful surprise at the end of October when plants are dying not blooming.

cyclamen coum

I bought these large cyclamen coum tubers at the garden centre as I was intrigued and had never grown one before. Since this pic was taken I have planted them properly in pots covered with soil. One from this pot had been carried off by a fox and left at the bottom of the garden. I guess he decided it didn't taste or smell intereresting.

I also don't know what the parsley-like plant is in the centre of the pot above. Will leave it and see what happens with it. The pot also has at the top green alkanet, at the bottom snapdragons, bottom right pansy and around the left nigella.

This has appeared from the large self-seeded pot, below. I'm not sure what it is. I guess it could be rosemary, the leaves look similar but I don't recall the rosemary having bloomed before. Funny this small plant decided to bloom if the much larger plant I have hasn't, it's just visible in the pic above, above the pot.

I have lots of things self-seeding in pots, both weeds and plants I want: oxalis on the left, then couch grass, forget-me-not in the middle at the bottom, pansy to the right. I think that's a delphinium in the middle but will wait and see. Not sure if some of these will last the winter but I will try to keep them until spring.

I still don't know what is on the left, also two auriculas, red snapdragon and cat nip.

I can't resist another pic of the chinese lanterns.