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 :-)

Posted in: exotic blog , exotic garden , exotic garden blog , Spring