Guilty pleasures...

Few things beat the excitement of buying new plants! Some have been sitting on a wish-list for a while; others just catch your eye when you're at a nursery or event. They're all guilty purchases, but what the hell?! They look too beautiful to resist. Here's a selection of some of the newest, most scintillating specimens in my collection...

I love Jacob's Ladders. This beautiful, purple-leafed form Polemonium 'Bressingham Purple' was in the 'close-to-death' section at Sprowston Garden Centre. Its glorious foliage and contrasting lilac flowers was just the thing for my middle bed...here you can see it against the backdrop of the Berberis.

 A couple of gorgeous new grasses have also been added to our ever-growing collection. This Festuca paniculata  is very unassuming, but thoroughly charming. While the grass below is a very exciting new addition. We saw it running through the boggy section of the pond at Hoecroft Nursery, asked what it was and if they had any for sale. They didn't...cue momentary dejection and disappointment...only to be told they'd happily dig one up and bring it on for us!! So kind!! Four weeks later we went back to pick it up, and browsed other plants at the nursery first, as we always do. Then we went to pay and browsed the plants nearest the buildings, as we always do - the special plants set aside for peoples orders, the plants we're not allowed to buy, but always want to! There, amidst various little delights was this eye-catching grass. 'What's that?!' we asked. 'Your grass!' they said!! It had changed so much over the past month it was almost unrecognisable! To think our new grass goes through such a fascinating morphing process! Bonus! The grass in question is Carex riparia. It's quite a runner, so we're going to keep an eye on it, but it's a real stunner, don't you think?!

We're just waiting for the Carex to settle into its pot a little more before we plant it in - amazing how long it can feel waiting for plants sometimes!! But it's all part of the appeal! 

I've been waiting for the Foxglove below for years...always on my wishlist, but always convincing myself I shouldn't splash out on it. Well, this year I decided to just go for it and how happy I am that I did! It was another one which I bought just after it had been potted on and it felt like an age waiting to pop it in the ground...or 'set it free' in the ground as I heard somebody describe it the other day! But now, all of a sudden it seems, it's in flower! And it's just as delicate, subtle and beautiful as I always dreamed it'd be!

Also down 'the woods' is the latest addition to my Euphorbia 'collection'. I've said before on this blog that I just can't resist buying Euphorbias and this one was particularly seductive! I mean check out that variegation!! And those little red eyes!! It's called Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' and I can't stop looking at it!!

Perhaps my biggest splurge this year has been on primulas. I absolutely love them, and last winter I lost all three of mine. Their feet just weren't wet enough, especially in such a dry winter and they all just gave up the ghost. So, I'm replenishing my collection and putting them all happily merrily in my new bog! This little Primula Beesiana was a 'buy-it-and-see-which-shade-it-turns-out-to-be' purchase. And it really paid off! The blooms are such a gorgeous salmony pink, with that distinctive icing sugar effect on the buds. This is another one where I've been watching and waiting that bud form and grow and then all of a sudden it's snuck up on me and the flower's out!

Just across from this Primula Beesiana in the bog is my newest Primula bulleyana. When I first saw this shade of Primula I coveted it from afar and resisted buying one for a year at least. Then I bought one and, as I mentioned above, managed to succeed in killing it! So, this one's getting all my love, care and attention! They're just too beautiful to let anything happen to them! And they go so well with all the green in the bog...

The primula I bought above was at the Creake Abbey Plant Lovers Day. So many great nurseries there! I was doing so well all day until I finally splurged at the end! The spending spree started with the Aquilegia below. I'd been keeping an eye on it all day and promising myself that, if no-one else bought it, I'd snap it up. Sure enough it was meant to be and now it's down in 'the woods'. Shame it doesn't have a name as beautiful as its flowers...Aquilegia 'Nora Barlow'!

And, aside from all the little purchases, our biggest, most impactive buy of late is the Beech. We've been in the need of a bit more 'red' in the garden and we had the perfect space for something a little bigger (in a pot). Some prolonged tree browsing, trolley-maneuvering and boot-navigating later, we got this Fagus sylvatica atropurpurea home and it looks absolutely stunning! Especially when the sun shines through its leaves at the end of the day! And the best thing is it's not really that guilty seeing as we paid for half of it with a voucher! No guilt...all pleasure! Perfect!

Bootiful Blooms and Seriously Smashing Seedheads

It's such an exciting time in the garden at the moment! So many things bursting into flower - there are zingy new colours everyday - and lots of beautiful seed heads from plants that have done their 'thing' already. This blog is a celebration of all the beautiful plants having their moment.

Of course no blog celebrating beautiful spring plants could pass without some Pulsatilla action! Now that the flowers have passed, they're having their second glory with these wonderful, almost heart-shaped tassley pom-poms!

A slightly less common sight is Mitella. Once their discreet, little acid greeny yellow flowers have passed, their stems are covered from top to toe with these tiny goblet-like capsules of seed. Each one looks like it's almost overbrimming with shiny little seeds. The overall effect is quite exquisite!

Of course, the most obvious performers in the seed-head category has got to be the grasses! At the moment, the real star of the show is this Briza Media 'Limouzi'. Any Quaking Grass is a star in my opinion, but this one in particular, with a slightly reddish tinge to some of the stems and seeds, is a real stunner!

Aside from the seeds, there's obviously plenty of activity on the flower front. The Cerinthes I grew from seed last year have self-seeded more freely than I could have hoped. They're looking gorgeous in the front heart-shaped gravel bed...

 Not a million miles away - staying in the heart-shaped bed - is this gorgeous little perennial flax. Think I featured it in an earlier blog, but now it's much more floriferous!  This picture was taken a few days ago when I thought it was really going for it. But now it looks like every bud has opened into a vibrant blue flower, and yet there's still plenty left to open! Magic!

The other real beauties in the heart-shaped bed are the Nectaroscordums. I never get over the elegance and delightful peculiarity of their flowers! Here's one as it just finished opening... 

And, if we're talking about blooms which are doing the herbaceous equivalent of singing at the top of their voices, you can't ignore Alliums! I've lost a couple of Purple Sensations this year, but the ones that have come back are doing really well. The one near the Euphorbia Polychroma is in full flower now and looking gorgeous!

Moving from the front into the back, the first thing you clap eyes on when you wander through the gate is my Rosa Banksiae 'lutea'. Unfortunately I pruned it wrongly (still learning!) last year, so it's not as covered in flowers as it should be, but there are patches which are absolutely plastered with these wonderful little clusters of creamy yellow flowers. Fingers crossed I'll get the pruning right next time and the whole plant will look as good!

In the middle of the back garden the Cirsiums are really coming into their own (though not quite as mad as the ones in the front!) As beautiful as they are when they're in full  bloom, I find them most charming when they're in this half-way house stage - half spikey, half incredible pin-cushion of a bud!

Further down the garden, things become a bit less showy and there are lots of little woodland plants secretly putting on some spectacular displays. Here are a couple of my favourites - Viola Sororia 'Dark Freckles' and Dodecatheon jeffreyi...

Right at the back of the garden, the new Bog is looking lovely! I'm so pleased with it and all the plants I put in and around it. A few of them were moisture-lovers I'd been trying to appease elsewhere in the garden with limited success and which are now ecstatic to be in their rightful place. Others are naughty new purchases, including this flamboyant Primula Japonica 'Miller's Crimson'. 

And my absolute favourite at the moment is my Saxifrage Hirsuta. I didn't realise quite how hairy it was until I zoomed in on the picture - check out the little hairs along the stems of the second shot, each with a tiny pink tip!

So, all in all, spring has well and truly sprung and the garden's brimming with bootiful blooms and seriously smashing seedheads. The overall effect's a little chaotic, but I like it!!

Insect Safari...

The garden's alive with insects at the moment! Here's a selection of my favourite insect action over the past week...

Ever since I got my camera I've been itching for the Alliums to come into flower so I could start snapping the bees on them! And they haven't disappointed! Purple Sensation and Euphorbia Polychroma setting off Mr Bee nicely here!

Some flowers make for easier bee photography...Cerinthes aren't really one of them because the bees are never still for long enough! But I managed a to get one en route to a quick Cerinthe snack!

I'm still waiting to snap a bee drinking its fill on one of my Cirsiums (which have gone crazy this year, incidentally!), but I spotted this Ladybird snuggled up amidst the buds. 

Meanwhile this tiny spider chose to make its web inbetween some Thyme buds.

All of the above was very exciting, but you can imagine my glee when I was having an extra-long perusal of the garden on my day off and saw a Large Red Damselfly flitting about in the garden! I'm sure I've never seen them before in our little patch. I pursued it here, there and everywhere and thankfully it spent long enough on a couple of plants for me to get some nice shots!

And, just when I was thinking one Large Red Damselfly was exciting, another one appeared...and...things got X-Rated...

So hopefully there'll be the flitter flutter of little Large Red Damselfly wings in the future!

Shots from the week...

Forgot to charge my camera...d'oh! So there are no today pictures, but luckily there are lots I never had the chance to upload from the other morning (when it was actually sunny!) I'm increasingly finding in the morning when I get back from the stables, if the weather is nice I have to run out with my camera while my porridge is doing in the microwave...it's simply too beautiful not to capture!! I particularly love those early-morning slanted shadows between the white-picket fence...

As you can see from this picture, I'm in a very 'normal' suburban setting. I'm normally a fan of keeping other houses out of my shots (then I can fantasise I'm in the middle of nowhere!), but I liked the lushness of this shot, so I put it up even though the houses across the road make an appearance!

In my first post where I introduced you to my garden, there's a bleak-looking picture of the verge I dug up and planted outside our front fence. It looks a little more cheerful here, bathed in early-morning sunlight and with forget-me-nots and my one single tulip flowering away. The story behind the tulip is when I was planting up my pots I discovered I had one left over so, on a whim, stuck it in the middle of the verge! I think next year I might replant all the red tulips in there along with a sea of Muscari...should look nice without being too costly - I'm always a bit dubious of spending too much on the verge in case someone vandalises it or the council weedkills it or something!

My blue Jacob's Ladders don't seem to be looking too happy this year - I think they exhausted themselves last year - but this little lilac one...Polemonium 'Lambrooke Mauve' is ecstatically happy! It's covered in these clusters of pale purple flowers with the most delightful centres...

Really pleased with the middle bed at the moment. The Stipa tenuissima we put in last year is looking happy, especially in combination with recent additions Euphorbia 'Pery's Tangerine' and Corydalis 'Purple Leaf' (with a bit of fluffy Fennel in the background).

This is another shot of the middle bed - loving all the verticals here of Berberis, Alliums, Eurphobia and little wild Veronica things, which we transplanted from the front. All against the backdrop of the rose-covered wonky fence which divides the back garden in two.

From the backgarden, we return to the front and back to the early morning shots. This perennial flax has done better this year than ever before. In fact, I'm not sure it did anything at all last year! I've certainly forgotten about it if it did! They're such a beautiful blue and there's such a profusion of buds that it doesn't matter how short-lived they are! They hang pendulous, nodding in the breeze...beautiful!

Not a million miles away from the flax, in the front garden's heart-shaped bed, we've got a profusion of little violets seeding around. I'm so excited!! Anyone who knows me will know that a plant self-seeding freely means it's guaranteed to be among my favourite plants - I just find it so charming when plants do their thing happily merrily. Even better is that the normal Heartsease have crossed with the Sawyer's Black in the same bed to produce lots of different little dark shades, like this little delight below...

And one of my little stars in the front garden is this Calendula 'Indian Prince'. I grew it from seed late last year and it didn't do much, but now it's going bonkers! All despite the fact that it's in the driest part of the front garden, by the conifers, where nothing much wants to thrive. It's buds are almost purple before they open and then they unfurl to produce these wonderful, vibrant flowers...each petal burnished on the outside and bright copper on the inside. I like them best when they're in a little shade and so, coyly keep their petals half-closed. What a charmer!

The stars of the show...

I can't believe it's still only early May! There's just so much going on in the garden...flowers, foliage and today even sunshine! Below is just a little look at some of the real stars of the show at the moment...

Geraniums are one of those plants which are slightly underappreciated, I feel! Be it Johnson's Blue or something like this wonderful shade-loving Phaeum, there's usually at least one Geranium tucked away in a garden which is doing its thing without anyone paying it any particular attention. But look closely and you see it really has such an exquisite flower! Look at the colours, the details, the light shining through! Gorgeous!

As soon as I walk out of our back door, this wonderful perennial wallflower greets me! I wish I knew which one it was, but it's a 'rescue' from the 'End of Season' aka 'At Death's Door' section of Sprowston Garden Centre and I'm not sure it ever had a label. Anyway, it's been flowering for at least a month now and looking absolutely glorious. It's particularly well placed just beneath the Ceanothus...all that blue and orange...mmmm!

Just across the path from the wallflower is this wonderful little Geum with delightful creamy-yellow flowers. I thought I knew what all my Geums were, but I seem to not have this on my 'database' (yes, I really do have a spreadsheet of plants in the garden!) Still, really coming into its own at the moment, though still at the shy and retiring stage as the flowers slowly open. Check out all the little hairs on the stem and back of the flower, glinting in the sunshine.

Alongside all the flowers wowing me at the moment, there's lots of lovely foliage! Hydrangea 'Sabrina' is particularly impressive with its rich, red leaves.

And needless to say, the Berberis is just as stunning as ever, particularly with a bit of backlighting!

And, who could forget the brand new leaves of my bright acid-green Cotinus Coggygria 'Golden Spirit'. It's a real beauty!

The bright acid green of the Cotinus is the colour of the season, what with all my Euphorbias! In a rather divine accident I planted the Euphorbia polychroma in the background of this picture right next to this Allium...I honestly had no idea at the time! Can't wait to see the combination when the Allium (Purple Sensation, I'm assuming) is fully open...it's looking quite stunning enough already!

Needless to say, the Ceanothus is a real star at the moment. Every year that it comes back I feel massively grateful because soon after we bought it - as a tiny little thing about three years ago - it nearly kicked the bucket! Now it's unstoppable and resplendent at the moment! The bees are loving it...

 This wallflower - Erysimum 'Chelsea Jacket' - is new to me...recently purchased from the wonderful Richard Hobbs when his garden was open for the NGS. Sadly a pigeon decapitated it the other day, so the top few flowers never got the chance to open, but I'm sure there'll be more soon. I certainly hope so...what a little beauty...and it worked so well with the Acer and Euphorbia behind it, and was set to be a great combination with the Alliums!

Spring favourites abound at the moment. The late daffodils are making an appearance, though I can't remember what this one is! And the Pulsatillas have been putting on an impressive display...looking forward to the seedheads next...

And my gorgeous little Veronica 'Georgia Blue' is still looking absolutely stunning, with those purple stems and delicate, violet-tinged little flowers.