March Blooms at Bliss

Once again it's time to show what is in bloom at Bliss. Last year Carol had this idea to show what is in bloom every month in your garden around the 15th, and many bloggers from all over the world have joined in the fun that is Garden Bloggers Blooms Day. Here is my contribution for March 2008:
Violets in white, pink, burgundy, blue, purple and yellow. Yes, I love violets.
Daffodils and lots of them. They are such cheerful flowers that I just got to have them in droves in my garden.
I have quite a collection of daffodils as shown in the pic above. That's not all of them as some are not in flower yet.
My Thalia dafs (white) are about to burst into flower, can't wait for that to happen as they are so gorgeous and scented too.
And we have daisies in flower as well, the common one and the very rare variety Dolly Daisy.
The first forget-me-nots are starting to flower,
and the Arabis is showing its first blooms as well.
The yellow wallflowers are already in bloom, for some reason the purple ones are always a bit later.
The lungwort is flowering its little heart out
and so is this beautiful Hellebore Orientalis. I don't think it has ever flowered so profusely!
The Periwinkle is covered with flowers too and
what do you think of these beautiful tulips? Great, aren't they? But I'm teasing you a bit because they are
in a vase, not in my garden. We will have to wait a few more weeks before the first tulips will flower in my garden.
But outside my crocuses are flowering like there is no tomorrow and so is this gorgeous Sweet Violet (Viola odorata). Mmmm, that scent is to die for!
The first scilla flowers have opened and I noticed that my Clematis montana is covered in buds. It won't be long before it starts to flower too.
While I was walking around in my garden hunting for blooms I discovered this weed complete with bug (yes, we have those too at Bliss). I've no idea what kind of weed it is but I like the yellow flowers so it may stay until it sets seeds, then out it comes.
I was happy to see that the little anemones had joined the bloom party too.
My Berberis hedge is in flower as well with very tiny yellow blooms.
The Bergenia still hasn't fully recovered from the beating it got last month with that hard frost, but it is flowering so I'm not complaining.

And last but certainly not least my lovely grape hyacinths.
Have a great GBBD and a lovely weekend!

copyright 2008 Y.E.W. Heuzen

Never go pruning when in a foul temper, or after a row with your spouse.
Gervase Jackson-Stops, Superhints for Gardeners

An Early Spring Garden

This is the garden that belongs to my friends Anja and Machiel. Their garden is dominated by a lot of trees which make it a very shady garden. Because of all that shade and the stiff competition their plants would get from the trees for water and nutrients Anja and Machiel decided to create a garden where everything is in harmony with each other, instead of fighting to the death.
So they created a woodland garden where many plants and bulbs flower in late winter/early spring before the trees get their leaves.
And it all looks wonderful. I took these pics from early til the end of February and as you can see there is so much to enjoy already.
Hellebores and oodles of snowdrops in flower.
Witch hazel.
Crocus
Primroses
Hellebore
Beautiful Hellebores and snowdrops
Mahonia
Some more snowdrops
In this garden there are snowdrops in flower from October till end of April as Anja and Machiel are both suffering from a severe case of Galanthofilitis. It's not an illness that is bad for your health although the same cannot be said for your bank balance. Some rare snowdrops cost as much as 30 to 50 euro ( 45 to 75 USD/CAD) per bulb.
A gorgeous Witch hazel
Corylopsis
Hellebores, winter aconites and snowdrops
Dark maroon Hellebore
Another beautiful Hellebore
Witch hazel
Cyclamen
Christmas box or Sarcococca with a heavenly scent!
It's such a delight to go for a stroll in this garden as there is already so much in flower from early February onwards; it really lifts the spirit on a bleak winter's day.
But it is difficult to show you how delightful this garden really is as I can't take any overview pics because the blooms fall away then. The planting is so subtle in this garden.
The winter aconites are very happy in this garden and they have spread like wildfire.
They also have quite a collection of Hellebores which is quite sensible of course, one can never have too many Hellebores.
I think this garden is a wonderful example of going with what is there, instead of trying to force the wrong plants to grow where they have little or no chance to succeed. In a garden like this you can't expect lots of summer flowering plants because they need a lot of sunshine and that is never going to happen in a garden full of trees.
So the highlights of the gardening year in this garden are in early to late spring and in autumn when the trees have little or no leaves.
Anja and Machiel have shown with their garden that it is possible to have a garden full of blooms in one of the most difficult situations; lots of shade and even worse, very dry shade.

copyright 2008 Y.E.W. Heuzen

Gardens are places where we can connect with the weather, the seasons and the natural rhythms of plants and animals.
Monty Don, My Roots, 2005

Danger Kitty!

You've probably heard of people in high places before, but how about this?
Danger Kitty on top of the shower/steam cubicle.
Danger Kitty on top of a bathroom cupboard.
Danger Kitty on the conservatory roof.
Danger Kitty on the roof of our house.
Danger Kitty, a cat with a mission, on the pergola!
Danger Kitty on the fence, but not really sitting!
Danger Kitty on the roof of the Victorian greenhouse. Hey, I just cleaned those windows!
Danger Kitty wiping away her paw prints, she is such a darling!
Danger Kitty, coming soon on a roof/pergola/cupboard/shower cubicle/fence near YOU! (not really)

Danger Kitty was played by the very talented Surprise of Bliss who did her own stunts.
No animals were harmed in making this blog!


copyright 2008 Y.E.W. Heuzen

March winds and April showers,
Bring forth the May flowers.

Have a great weekend!

My Garden Hero

One of my garden heroes is the late Geoff Hamilton who taught me most of what I know about gardening. Geoff presented Gardener's World on the BBC for many years and was one of the first gardeners who promoted organic gardening.He made you feel that organic gardening was really the only option if you loved your planet and wanted what was best for it and all its inhabitants and he made it sound very logical and fun too. I'll never forget his remarkable enthusiasm and passion for all things garden related; even when he was explaining how to sow seeds or take cuttings for the umpteenth time he would still be enthusiastic. No minor feat that.
Through the years I bought many of his books, which are all very practical, filled to the brim with good advice and down to earth. Geoff had great ideas about how to make things for your garden that wouldn't cost the earth.
Here he explains how to make 2 compost bins and this is what I'm using in my kitchen garden today.
They do their job very nicely, so thanks very much Geoff!
In 1990 Geoff presented a series of programmes called The Ornamental Kitchen Garden which I loved to bits. The mixing of flowers, veggies, fruit and herbs was such an eye-opener for me and I couldn't wait to create a garden like that for myself. Fortunately I was able to create an ornamental kitchen garden aka potager although I had to wait 15 years before I was able to fulfill my ornamental kitchen garden dream. But it was worth the wait!
In 1996 Geoff was working on another successful series; Paradise Gardens and once again I bought the accompanying book. I'm glad I did as it turned out to be his last one.
Unfortunately shortly before his 60th birthday, Geoff died. It was quite unexpected and came as a great shock to many. I felt that I had lost a close personal friend even though I'd never met Geoff in person.
After Geoff Alan Titchmarsh became the head presenter of Gardener's World and nice chap he undoubtedly is, he was no Geoff. I still remember clearly that sinking feeling I got when I watched Alan used some toxic stuff in his garden. I felt that Geoff and everything he stood for had truly died then. I didn't watch GW much after that until a couple of years ago when, while I was zapping, I unexpectedly caught a glimpse of GW and some chap with dark curly hair. Montagu Don had become the new presenter and after watching a few episodes it became clear to me that all was right once again with my Gardener's World as Montagu is another very enthusiastic and passionate gardener and mad keen about gardening organically. What a relief!
On the right Montagu Don who, and I have it on good authority, looks good in a vase. :-D

copyright 2008 Y.E.W. Heuzen

Low maintenance gardening is for those not really interested. Christopher Lloyd