Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Spring Scenes in the Garden

Ahh spring, it's finally here, bliss! And the garden is actively showing so many signs of new growth and promises of a beautiful growing season that is just beginning...

New frond of Cyathea cooperi unfurling
Last weekend was a mixed bag of weather, sunny and warm on Saturday then grey and drizzly on Sunday. But despite the cloudy weather of the latter it was still on the whole bright and dry enough to be still conducive to gardening. In fact we both found such weather quite nice, a break from the wall to wall bright sunshine and dry weather we've been having lately, with the dampness in the air casting a sense of freshness everywhere. Don't get us wrong, we love and adore sunny weather but you appreciate it even more if it is interspersed with cooler, damp weather and some rain.

Clearing out of old, dead growth from last year continues and the garden is quickly becoming much more tidy
The muted lighting on Sunday made it better for taking photos too as everything took on a soft tone. Plus there was a wonderful, distinctive fresh spring scent in the air, a combination of moisture and perhaps new growth from vegetation, that makes you want to breathe deeper to take it all in. The weather that day actually reminded us of Cornwall, and it felt like we were there, in one of their gardens rather than ours.

Always love the new growth of Aesculus parviflora with its rich tones of red gradually developing into green
One of our Acers is about to flower
New flush of leaves from Fatsia 'Spider's Web'....
Looking more like brown, furry hands reaching out...
Is it a flower? No, it's a new flush of leaves from our little Rhododendron macrophyllum. It is still in our pot ghetto but it is grabbing our attention wit its new flush of leaves that looks so pretty
New growth from an Aralia elata
There was light drizzle in the morning then again later in the afternoon which made a lot of plants glow, like...

Euphorbia deflexa. I love the way it looks as it grows and gets bigger in the spring, looking more like a bunch of green flowers/daisies with its delicate foliage tightly clumped together. It can spread out a bit but not that difficult to keep in check. A small growing Euphorbia that we highly recommend!
Kalopanax septemlobus
Mahonia eurybracteata (syn. confusa) surrounded by Petasites frigidus var. palmatus 'Golden Palms'
Think pink? Shrimp pink! Aesculus x neglecta 'Erythroblastos'
Trampled to nothing late last leaf but back with a vengeance like nothing happened this year, Beesia calthifolia
Magnolia grandiflora 'Edith Bogue' makes a great glowing foil for the small growing Sorbus in front of it (the exact name of which escapes me at the moment)
As more and more plants sprout and leaf out, as well as clearing out of old and dead growth from last year are done, the garden is becoming much more tidy. Still, work is in progress...

Potted ferns start to take their usual positions on the side passage
Middle patio border replanting continues and is starting to become lush again
Twinkles always chooses the best resting places. There she is at the base of a bamboo, in a view that is usually obscured when the variegated Magnolia on the foreground is in leaf

Spring is also the time when woodland plants are looking their best and loads of them are busy emerging in the garden...

Star light, star bright...Peltoboykinia tellimoides
Asarum caudatum creeping away nicely and studiously being protected by a lizard...
And their odd looking flowers are not to be ignored either
Arum maculatum is at its peak and looks so exotic. When the foliage starts to die down in a few weeks time the ground ferns that are currently covered by it takes over to maintain the lushness on this tiny area
And its variegated form, which fortunately, although very slow it is stable and comes back variegated every year
The third raised bed, being a woodland plant bed is seeing lots of action too like this newly sprouted Syneleisis aconitifolia
I cleared out most of the tatty and old growth in this area last Saturday to reveal a mix of newly sprouted and sprouting woodland gems (Trillium, Disporum, Podophyllum, Impatiens, Maianthemum can be seen in this photo)
Chloranthus fortunei 'Domino' about to announce its presence
Disporum longistylum showing some vigour
And so is this Disporum (whose name escapes me at the moment)
The arrival of spring is always much anticipated, especially by gardeners. And a magical time of the year when all that new growth arrives, almost simultaneously after the lull of winter. Spring, one of the many perks of living in a four season climate!

Mark :-)

44 comments :

  1. Wow! New spring growth everywhere! I know exactly what you mean by the "fresh spring scent in the air" that urges you to breath deeper to take it in. I'm glad you're enjoying the first weeks of spring. I can see that you're making good use of your time in the garden.

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    1. Indeed Kris! Fortunately the weather has been cooperative every weekend so far, long may that trend continue! :)

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  2. The new growth really does look good, I love the Aralia and the 'hands' of the Fatsia. Your acer is well ahead of mine which is only just starting to come into leaf. I wish I could stop the clock at this time of year and make it last longer.

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    1. What I love about this time of the year the most is all that fresh looking growth the breaks out almost simultaneously :) Being in the west your acers will catch up soon Jessica!

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  3. Hi Mark, your guys always have the most amazing and unusual plants! It is so nice to see your garden coming back to live after the winter and all these gorgeous new leaves emerge. Everything looks so lush and fresh, like and emerald stone shimmering in the sun! I just love it! Each time I visit your blog I think I need to pay more attention to foliage (color and form) in my own garden and get some interesting plants for my little green paradise as well. Thanks for the inspiration! Wishing you a good rest of the week!
    Christina

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    1. Thanks Christina and you too! I love the description of the new growth looking like emerald stone shimmering in the sun, so true!

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  4. Everything looks so cool coming in right now. Too many lovely ones to even mention them, but has to be wonderful watching each of these grow their stems out this year.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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    1. All those fresh growth coming out in the spring is always a delight to see Cher :)

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  5. New growth is guaranteed to gladden the heart of the gardener, isn't it. It's amazing how quickly everything comes to life once you have some warmer weather.

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  6. So much beautiful growth! But at least my own little baby Cyathea cooperi in the sun room also just started putting out new fronds, though of course I have yet to get a decent picture of them. So at least on one count I do not have to be as jealous... :)

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    1. Glad to hear that spring has finally arrived there :) Your indoor plants you featured before have been a delight!

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  7. It's always so exciting to see all the new growth in the spring. I love the sight of fern fronds unfurling, so that first shot just captivated me. Love all your interesting and mostly unknown-to-me plants.

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    1. Fern fronds unfurling, there's something about them that makes you want to photograph them lots and lots, a fascinating subject! With the climate at ours very similar to yours, these plants will do well in your garden too Alison :)

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  8. So much excitement! You can wander into the garden for just a moment to look and be energized by all the new growth and bright green. It almost makes winter bearable, almost.

    Seeing your Disporum has me doubly worried about mine. Neither plant is showing any signs of growth. One was trampled by the fence builders but the other should have been fine. We shall see...

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    1. Agree with you Loree, all the freshness and spring growth makes winter bearable, almost :)

      Don't worry about your Disporum just yet, give it some time. Three of our other clumps haven't show any new growth yet either so crossing our fingers for them...

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  9. Hello Mark and Gaz:

    What promise, what excitement! And we are seriously impressed with the wide range of rare and very unusual plants which you cultivate to great effect in your garden. You are clearly true plantsmen and, we suspect, exceedingly knowledgeable.

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    1. Thank you Jane and Lance, we're very flattered especially coming from you both :) We try our best to find out as much as we could about the plants that we grow and fascinates us. The knowledge gained and the learning process is all part of the fun of gardening.

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  10. Its amazing how good it looks considering the traumas of last year

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    1. Thanks Helen! We're getting and hopefully by summer it would look lush again like the fire didn't happen..almost!

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  11. A very exciting time in the garden! Your plants are looking happy to be growing again! Hooray for another great growing season!

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    1. Indeed Peter, the growing season has just begun and it's going to be fab!

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  12. New leaves are always so exciting and beautiful! you´ve got so many woodland beauties...as usual, I like them all, a lot!!!

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    1. These woodland beauties could do well in your garden too Lisa! :)

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  13. So much drool-worthy foliage, and I am impressed with how quickly the newly planted area is taking on that lush jungly feel. Love the euphorbia, I made a note of it last year from one of your posts! I also love that Mahonia eurybracteata. Aren't fesh acer leaves magical? Mine went from swelling buds to new leaves almost over night, completely changing that part of the garden.

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    1. Indeed Janet, they grow and leaf out so quick once they get going in the spring, and they take on a very fresh colour too! Mahonia eurybracteata would look great in your garden!

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  14. Nice to see the season of promise getting a strong foothold in your garden.
    I still have not been able to figure out why your comments have not been showing up on Sprig to Twig. I have an idea how we might coordinate our efforts if you are game...maybe next week?

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    1. Sounds like a plan Ricki, happy to do so! Still a bit of a mystery why but I do remember that a couple of blogs (on wordpress) had similar problems and turned out that the comments for some reason got auto filtered into spam. Our username was marked as safe by the blog owner and had no problems ever since.

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  15. What wonderful foliage! I love all the emerging leaves at this time of the year. I am impressed with your Aesculus parviflora and A. erythroblastos. You don't see them very often. A member of our Plant Heritage Group has the National Collection of Aesculus and I am always amazed at how beautiful and varied they are.

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    1. They are indeed Chloris! It's easy to lump them all in as just a 'horse chestnut' referring to the common street tree and growing to huge proportions but there are many types out there and they look so exotic. Still an underused plant for ornamental garden planting.

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  16. It is all happening isn't it? And yes, it is jolly exciting and lovely but I do wish it would slow down just a little. I'm finding it hard to keep up! Dave

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    1. Ahh but you do have a big garden to play with Dave :)

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  17. A euphorbia I don't know! Wonder if it reseeds terribly. And I'm so glad spring is catching up with other gardens and blogs. Amazing how squared away everything looks.

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    1. It's a fab Euphorbia Denise :) It hasn't reseeded so far but it does wander away. Not that difficult to pull out and control though.

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  18. Your garden looks wonderful to these drought-stricken eyes. I'm also intrigued by that Euphorbia. I've not seen it here.

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    1. Thank you :) hope your area gets some much needed rain soon!

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  19. So many beautiful plants! It must be like greeting old friends as they pop up again after their winter hibernation. No wonder you love spending time in your garden, but it's a good addiction to have!

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    1. It is Caro :) always nice to see plants coming back from hibernation, a huge perk of spring!

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  20. You've got more promise showing in your garden than I have yet! Your Rhododendron macrophyllum has more interesting leaves than most clones. It is a 'collectors' plant - usually with less than inspiring leaves [and dare I say dull flowers?]; but it is North America's answer to the evergreen Himalayan ones. Where did you get it from? I don't think it is commercially available in the UK.

    Chad

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    1. Hi Chad, I'm sure your garden will soon catch up! We got it from Hardy Exotics. Clive had a good looking display specimen when we visited and he had several small ones for sale then. Check it out soon, he may still have some left.

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    2. Ahh, I think that explains why yours looks so much better than the name would suggest. I don't think macrophyllum would interest Clive apart form the name. I suspect you have the much more exciting Rhododendron sinogrande [or one of the closely related ones like macabeanum]. They have cross pollinated across Cornwall so much that seedlings are now usually sold as 'large leafed hybrids'.

      Chad.

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    3. That's interesting to hear Chad and it's very possible. This one however (and the bigger specimen Clive had on display) the foliage looks different from both the Sinogrande (which we also bought at Hardy Exotics) and Macabeanum that we have, although I understand that the former does have different forms. I remember taking a mental note too that despite the macrophyllum name the leaves aren't that big, or at least as big as what the name suggests. I'm curious now what flower will be like although I suspect ours will need a few more years before it does.

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