Impressions of Bliss

April at Bliss is a wonderful time, especially when spring turns into summer so very early and we have the warmest April since goodness knows when. The birds are singing, the bumblebees are humming, the Russian Blues Sam and Pippa are frolicking amongst the daisies, and the April sun is smiling down on everyone.


The south borders are looking lovely at the moment, so much is in flower; columbines, geraniums, tulips, daffodils, ajuga reptans, chives, clematis, aubrieta, lily of the valley, lavender, saxifraga, forget-me-nots, rosemary, alliums and centranthus ruber.
A close up of a part of the south border.

Apart from Rosa Moonlight, Madame Alfred Carriere and Sombreuil, rosa Blanc Double de Coubert has also decided to join the club of June roses flowering in April. The scent of this rose is heavenly and its flowers are whiter than white.

In the ornamental vegetable garden there's an early harvest of salads and radishes. Delicious!

The bed with broad beans (in flower already) demonstrates clearly that a kitchen garden can be pretty as well as functional. On the four corners of the bed I've planted box for all year round interest and centranthus ruber is brightening up this bed by flowering its heart out and it's also luring pollinators into the vegetable garden.

This is another bed planted with box and bay leaf on the 4 corners (2 of each), forget-me-nots and chard. In the middle is a standard gooseberry that doesn't take up too much valuable space. Lots of veggies or herbs can be planted underneath.
In the Victorian greenhouse the tomato plants are growing away like there's no tomorrow. In 2 weeks time, they have tripled in size.

And look who we've got here, it's our cheeky friend robin redbreast.
The lovely lilac pansies are still going strong and bring lots of joy with their happy, smiling faces.
Last year I planted two grapes, 1 white and 1 blue and this year it looks like we are going to have a lovely harvest of grapes in autumn for the first time, if all goes well. Something nice to look forward too.
In the front garden, the Irises are in flower. This is a very pretty one isn't it? I've named it Abra, because even though I called another, this one came.

Madame Alfred has decided to take over the whole pergola and smother it with her lovely scented flowers. It's wonderful to come home and walk underneath the pergola and be enveloped in a cloud of rose scent. Truly blissful.
I'll leave you with our darling Dolly Daisy, who is expressing extremely well what we at Bliss feel at the moment; rolling in clover and daisies.

Have a wonderful weekend!

We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden. Unknown