Darling buds
Celebrating Beltane in the Half Wild Garden
The Half Wild Garden is looking so lovely it’s as if it knows it is National Gardening Week (which is more than can be said for me as I only clocked this yesterday). The glorious sunshine and high temperatures mean that everything is ahead of itself. It is only the first of May - the pagan festival of Beltane - and already the roses are threatening to burst into bloom.
I’m so glad I bought some tulip bulbs in the sales and planted them late as they are now just coming into flower. I can’t remember the name of this peachy variety or of the double flowered magenta ones, but they are both gorgeous. In the border behind, I am pretty sure these are Negrita together with fabulous orange Ballerinas which are just going over.
There is plenty of frothy white, from the creamy candelabras of the cherry laurel to the masses of starry bloom on our Choisya ternata. Comfrey is already past its best and I will soon cut it down and use it to make ‘comfrey tea’ to feed my summer borders. I am particularly pleased with red, white and blue effect of the flowering cherry laurel next to the ceanothus and photinia - perfect for V.E. Day!
I am pleased with the black foliage of the elder (Sambucus nigra) which I planted a few years ago. It struggled for the first couple of years but now appears to have settled in. Behind it, my favourite climbing rose Madame Alfred Carrière has put on lots of healthy growth after a hard prune and training in the winter.
There is a constant battle in the garden with Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens). This year I have decided to give myself a break and leave a large patch to do its thing under the washing line. Bees love it, so I guess that can’t be bad, although only a couple of the Dutch irises have come up and I suspect it has strangled the rest.
A few weeks ago, I weeded around my mini stumpery and moved a new tree stump there from elsewhere in the garden and I am rather pleased with the effect. The hart’s tongue fern in particular seems to be revelling in its newfound space.
All in all the garden is looking very Half Wild which is just as it should be at this time of year. There is lots to be done, but for now I am going to focus on what is going well.
