endlessrarities | (no subject)

They say you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, and I was reflecting on that saying as I hacked into the big herbaceous border this morning. Keen gardeners amongst you will know that if you've got a mature garden that's doing what it's supposed to do, there's only a small window of weeding opportunity each year, and that's in the depth of winter when a) the weeds don't grow anyway, and b) it's usually so cold and unpleasant that weeding goes from being a chore to an ordeal.

My garden's so densely planted that some daffodils, narcissi and primula were inevitably damaged by the digging and hoeing as I wrestled with couch grass and some disgusting little tree suckers that are sprouting up all over the joint. I don't know where these mini-trees come from - I suspect Mister Whippy (see below) may be to blame- but they're a bl***dy nuisance!

I didn't feature Mister Whippy last year because it had a Very Bad Year and didn't flower at all well. It may have been predated by bullfinches (don't care about that - if it becomes a bullfinch snack bar, that's fine by me) or it may just have been ill through a fungal attack. I suspect the latter. In case you're wondering, Mister Whippy is a flowering cherry tree that, when we first purchased it, had the vital statistics of a supermodel. Hence the name.

After a severe prune, Mister Whippy has bounced back, and is putting on a good display this year:-

And we still have daffodils. Lots of daffodils. The more the season progresses, the more interesting the range of daffodils becomes. We start off with the early flowering varieties like Tete-a-Tete and Jetfire, and an unknown pale variety with a pale lemon trumpet. Then come the weird and wonderful varieties that I've accumulated over the years. We have a few with salmon pink trumpets, which I unfortunately neglected to photograph. We also have these hefty gardenia-flowered daffodils which came from Thomson & Morgan, seen here amongst ornamental quince:-

Unfortunately, they're not very practical for the west of Scotland, because the slightest breeze tends to flatten them.

But amongst my favourites happens to be the wonderful Ring of Fire. It was a bit of an extravagence for me: again, it was a Thomson & Morgan variety, and the prices were exorbitant at the time, with three bulbs for £10. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a prima donna. It doesn't seem to thrive, and some years it just won't flower.

This year I've been lucky. A Ring of Fire has been sighted, and here it is:-

It's a beautiful flower, and I don't begrudge the money!

Lastly, a picturesque combination of double hellebore and the beautiful brunnera. I featured a similar picture last year, but it's something that never fails to please. I'm going to try and get hold of Brunnera Jack Frost again this year - the last plants were all slugged into oblivion, unfortunately, but like Robert the Bruce, I shall try, try again...

The garden chores are over for the day. I have weeded. I have potted on my daily quota and pinched out the baby petunias. I have one begonia corm left to plant - it's still not showing enough length of growth for my liking. I've been very pleased with the begonias this year. I must have salvaged about fifteen in all - some had suffered significant vine weevil predation prior to lifting, others had a spongy texture to the corm which I was concerned about. But only one has failed to grow after the winter, and while that was a vine weevil victim, it wasn't the worst by far.

Happy gardening! I'm off to do some writing...