Author: thepleasuregardener

Some perennials are as tough as nails, and here we are showcasing some lovely hellebores that can be relied on to please every year.  But they are sharing space with something even tougher.  You’ll see.

 

 

 

 

Lovely!

We had a great catch-up session this lunchtime with Tuesday Treats, with many of the group joining in.  It’s wonderful to know that so many of us are still alive and kicking.

Here are a series of images from two of our gardeners, all taken in recent days.  So, you are invited to take a little walk around their garden.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely!

It is Tuesday, isn’t it?  I’m losing all track of time…

So assuming it’s Tuesday, it’s time for Tuesday Treats, and I have another Nature Table for the Gardening Groups – and anyone else – to have a crack at.  Again, these all come from Dunham Massey.

See what you make of the following, and I’ll come back after Friday to edit it for the curious, and put in the names.

Edited to add: Puschkinia scilloides var libanotica, one of the group of plants that botanists refer to as ‘little blue bulbs’.

 

Edited to add: Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’

 

Edited to add: Camellia japonica ‘Lavinia Maggi’

 

Edited to add: Trillium sessile

 

Well?  Answers on a postcard, please…  :~))

Today’s little cheer-up is from a gardener who has some not-often seen plants in the garden.

First is a lovely striped and flecked camellia.

And second is the Australian Philotheca myoporoides, otherwise known as the long-leafwax flower, or the gin-and-tonic plant.

Why the gin-and-tonic plant?  Apparently it’s from the fresh, zesty fragrance.

Make mine a Campari, gin and lemonade, please…

 

 

 

One of our gardeners has created a new pond on her allotment.  Apparently, most of the digging was done by her trusty assistant, Willow, although maybe her paws aren’t quite suited to that fork.  This is the pre-pond work-in-progress.

 

 

And here’s the finished article.

Just waiting for a few frogs and toads to come hopping by.

Good work, Willow!

Sometimes, we get caught up in the events of life, and forget to look to the future.  That can happen with spring bulbs.  We need to remember, in autumn, that it’s time to plant some bulbs for the future.  This gardener was only too happy that she’d remembered to do that.

They certainly give a lift to the spirits.

What does the furnishing of your doorstep say about you, and the welcome you might offer to visitors?  Well, when we aren’t locked up, at least…

Here are some images from one of our gardeners showing doorsteps with a lovely spring welcome.

 

At the back door

 

At the front door

 

 

Is your doorstep sunny with spring?

 

 

 

 

We have today a little collage from one garden – tulips, and drumstick primulas, star magnolia and pasque flower.  There’s no season quite like spring!

Today’s  cheer-up images for those of us in lockdown are views of one of our gardeners’ spring garden.  Let’s see what we’ve got:

 

 

 

Looking lovely!

 

It’s time for Tuesday Treats again, for touching base with one of my gardening groups, and giving them a few treats for the week.  Or, toilsome tasks, depending on your point of view.  :~))

Most of that will go out by email, but I’m going to use this blog post as a nature table exercise, for the identification of, and discussion of, exhibits.

The images today were taken by one of our gardeners (who should, at least, know the answers!) at Dunham Massey, a National Trust property near Altrincham, Greater Manchester.  Like all National Trust properties, Dunham Massey is currently closed.

One of them is easy, one is moderately difficult, and the other is fiendishly hard.  I hope everyone will have a go.  After discussion, I’ll return to this post, and identify the images for anyone still scratching their head.

Here we go:

Edited to add : First, we have Iris ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ AGM (Reticulata Group)

This is said to be a hybrid of Iris winogradowii and Iris histrioides, but is often sold as an Iris reticulata.

 

Edited to add: Second is Erythronium tuolumnense, one of the Californian dog’s tooth violets.  Given another day or so, these would have turned their petals back into the familiar recurved Turk’s cap shape.  More commonly seen in the UK is Erythronium ‘Pagoda’, which is similar but different, if you know what I mean!

 

Edited to add:  Third is the really difficult one.  This is Lathraea clandestina, or Purple Toothwort, and it’s unlike most other plants.  It’s a parasite, and it grows on the roots of various trees, especially willow and poplar.  It’s found in the damp, shady places where its hosts grow.  It has no chlorophyll and relies on food taken from its host.  Its leaves are simple scale-like structures carried on the underground stems.  Lathraea is from the Greek for ‘hidden’, and clandestina means ‘secret’.  The seed capsules are explosive.  It’s a native of W. Europe, but not of Britain, being first planted at Kew Gardens in 1888.  It is now widespread but rare.

So, how did you do on these three?

Stay safe, everyone.