Hey! Good looking!

Spring has sprung in the Monkey house so I thought I would show you what is looking good right now. Before you sigh despondently as you survey your green and brown looking patch, remember that we are a few weeks ahead of you down here in sunny Cornwall....although looking out of the window, it's more grey and misty Cornwall today! Living so close to the sea has it's drawbacks....

Just outside my back door, is a border at head height containing a sea of scented, pink Hyacinthus (hyacinth). The first year we moved here (1998) I planted three of these bulbs and I now have about fifty of them, dotted around the garden, all grown from bulblets....just wish I'd picked a more dramatic colour! Although the smell on a still evening is amazing.

 

These little chaps are Narcissus 'Minnow'. Sadly, the snails have been munching away. One of the disadvantages of a warmer winter is that many of the pests that get finished off up country, are able to over-winter quite happily. Down here Mollusk species will happily munch their way through my plants on all but the coldest of days. Backing on to the dunes also seems to put us at a disadvantage as they seem to flow over the workshop at the back of the garden. On rainy evenings you enter the garden and cannot find a spare inch to place a toe without bringing the life of several gastropods to a slimy end. No frolicking naked in the rain round here! (not that Ms Monkey frolics without a good set of thermals and a stout pair of boots, these days....not that Ms Monkey frolics at all!) In case you were wondering what the difference between Narcissus and daffodils was; the simple answer is none. Narcissus is the Latin name and daffodil is the common name...I will do an article about Latin names and why and how to use them

This beauty is Helleborus argutifolius (corsican hellebore) and belongs to the same family as Helleborus niger (christmas or lenten rose). I have planted several hellebores in my garden over the years, but they have all disappeared. They are extremely difficult to transplant and hate being moved, which is a shame as this one is grows to 75cm and I stuck it at the front of a border. It does so well that I am reluctant to attempt moving it and plants with green flowers are few and far between.

Erysimum (wallflower) do particularly well in my garden as I have an alkaline soil (we will do a bit about testing your soil in an up-coming article) which is particularly favoured by Brassica (yes, wall flower are from the same family as cabbage and broccoli...have a look at the flowers some time, identical....but they don't smell so nice). I have two different types of wallflower at the moment; the perennial wallflower Erysimum 'Bowles's Mauve' and the 'annual' wallflower Erysimum cheiri. I don't tend to treat my wallflowers as annuals, however, and just dead head them when they have finished flowering and they sit quite happily at the back of the border to come up year after year. The perennial; Bowles's Mauve, is a stunner and flowers all year round on top of a 2ft mound of silvery green leaves. With just the occasional trim to keep it tame, it grows easily from cuttings (we'll do an article about cuttings in mid-summer....I love free plants!).

Voila spring up randomly in my garden, I have bought them in the past and have a tendency to forget to dead head them and so they run to seed. Either that or they spring up in the wrong place and so get thrown on the compost heap. My compost doesn't seem to get warm enough to kill the seeds, so up they pop, where ever I dig the compost into the soil. Last year I had a vegetable patch full of them, they were allowed to stay as the flowers make a tasty addition to salads. Sadly these have been munched. Bloody snails!!

Forget-me-nots, Myosotis Sp. are such pretty little flowers, but have a tendency to take over if allowed. They are, however, annuals so are easily controlled by weeding. They don't transplant, so when they start to look tatty in mid-late spring just pull them out and shake them where you would like them to come up next. They make an excellent foil to smaller Narcissus like 'Minnow'. Shame these are growing in the veggie patch really!

Although the snowdrops are long since over a relative, Leucojum aestivum (snowflake) is out in the veggie plot (and so are the dandelions, damn them!!) I tried to get several shots of these but the camera insisted on focusing on Spitfire instead. Although she does look very regal.....Best not to look too closely, however, as she is going through her spring moult and her lovely long mane is turning into dreadlocks....which she seems to enjoy dropping throughout the house!

The tulips have been out in the parks and gardens around here for a couple of weeks, but mine are always a bit behind as they are planted in a north facing border that gets no sun until April. I've never really had a great deal of success with tulips. The garden is so exposed that the taller varieties get their petals blown off within a day. But these smaller varieties seem to be settling in....the slugs don't seem to like them either!

And finally, plant of the week goes to Corylus avellana 'Contorta' (corkscrew hazel). With it's bare branches, all knotted up, this is an really good shrub for winter and spring interest in the garden. In the spring the male catkins look lovely and if you look really closely you can see the female flowers just above, they are those tiny, red star stars.

It supposedly grows to about 4 metres in height, albeit very slowly, although mine has been in the ground for 12 years now and is still only just over a metre in height. It is grafted (the corkscrew part onto wild hazel) so does have a tendency to sprout straight hazel poles from the base. I cut them off in early spring (about now) and use them as canes in the garden. Unlike willow, they don't sprout into life when you pop them in the ground, so no danger of a hazel thicket!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed our little wander round the garden, now go and dig over your veggie plot, check your lawn mower doesn't need to go to the garage and enjoy the weekend! I'm off for a cuppa!