[margaret zanoni]

More sunny spells today meant more clearing up in the garden! Under a pile of leaves I found several cyclamen and while the leaves have been blanched due to lack of light the perfume is delightful. When I cleared the crocus of leaves yesterday they were still in tight buds but this afternoon they have burst into bloom - thought you would like to see them including the native English one which was used to produce several of the more showy kind but it is the native one which the birds seem to like and this year I am determined to collect at least some of the saffron before they have the lot!

I hope the new heatwave will not affect you Yvonne or your beautiful flowers.

Kind regards to everyone............Margaret

[poochee]

Originally Posted by margaret zanoni

More sunny spells today meant more clearing up in the garden! Under a pile of leaves I found several cyclamen and while the leaves have been blanched due to lack of light the perfume is delightful. When I cleared the crocus of leaves yesterday they were still in tight buds but this afternoon they have burst into bloom - thought you would like to see them including the native English one which was used to produce several of the more showy kind but it is the native one which the birds seem to like and this year I am determined to collect at least some of the saffron before they have the lot!

I hope the new heatwave will not affect you Yvonne or your beautiful flowers.

Kind regards to everyone............Margaret

More lovely flowers!

[ymfoster]

Beautiful Crocuses & Cyclamen Margaret,

they were just waiting for you to give them light,


It wasn't as hot as they forecast thank goodness, but more expected next week,

[margaret zanoni]

The past week or so we have had a lot of gusty winds and heavy burst of rain that left behind a trail of broken stems on many of my spring daffodils and tulips - however I picked several bunches of them - one of which I brought indoors and the rest I took round to the neighbours so very few were consigned to the compost heap!

Today instead it is a beautiful spring day and the sun is so strong it is making the yellow flowers seem almost white. The warmth has brought out the perfume of the hyacinths and I am pleased that I moved some under the sitting room window. The magnolia tree is full of fat buds and hopefully there will be no more frosts until it has opened fully.

My thanks to everyone who visits this thread - hope you all enjoy your own gardens too

Kind regards as ever..........Margaret

[poochee]

Originally Posted by margaret zanoni

The past week or so we have had a lot of gusty winds and heavy burst of rain that left behind a trail of broken stems on many of my spring daffodils and tulips - however I picked several bunches of them - one of which I brought indoors and the rest I took round to the neighbours so very few were consigned to the compost heap!

Today instead it is a beautiful spring day and the sun is so strong it is making the yellow flowers seem almost white. The warmth has brought out the perfume of the hyacinths and I am pleased that I moved some under the sitting room window. The magnolia tree is full of fat buds and hopefully there will be no more frosts until it has opened fully.

My thanks to everyone who visits this thread - hope you all enjoy your own gardens too

Kind regards as ever..........Margaret

Margret, enjoyed your beautiful flowers!

[ymfoster]

Your flowers look beautiful Margaret,

pleased to hear you managed to salvage the Daffodils for everyone to enjoy, ..... I've just been planting my Spring bulbs & pruning the dieback from our Summer scorching, just getting a few Autumn roses blooming now.

[margaret zanoni]

Originally Posted by ymfoster

Your flowers look beautiful Margaret,

pleased to hear you managed to salvage the Daffodils for everyone to enjoy, ..... I've just been planting my Spring bulbs & pruning the dieback from our Summer scorching, just getting a few Autumn roses blooming now.

Hello Yvonne - glad to hear some of your plants have survived after all and are giving you a nice autumn display. Do you underplant your roses with the bulbs? I hope that your weather will return to normal and some nice refreshing showers will soon arrive.

Kind regards.........Margaret

[margaret zanoni]

A lovely spring day but heavy rain and high winds are forecast for tonight so I have taken a few pictures of some of the plants before their flowers disappear!

kind regards.........Margaret

[poochee]

Originally Posted by margaret zanoni

A lovely spring day but heavy rain and high winds are forecast for tonight so I have taken a few pictures of some of the plants before their flowers disappear!

kind regards.........Margaret

Beautiful flowers!

[ymfoster]

Originally Posted by margaret zanoni

Hello Yvonne - glad to hear some of your plants have survived after all and are giving you a nice autumn display. Do you underplant your roses with the bulbs? I hope that your weather will return to normal and some nice refreshing showers will soon arrive.

Kind regards.........Margaret

Hello Margaret,

No I don't plant my bulbs amongst the roses, I used to grow multi-coloured Cinerarias & they would self sow most of the time, but our water restrictions have put an end to them & now I have self sown 'Johnny Jump ups' then followed by self sown bedding Begonias from neighbours gardens I presume, so it's pretty naked over Winter.

Lovely flower pics once again,

[margaret zanoni]

It has been a wet and windy Easter until this afternoon when the sun has decided to pay a visit!

Every Easter Monday I take photos and this year is no exception - I like to compare one year to another to see if my old favourites are still around and this year all of them have - not withstanding the bitter winter we had.

I was so surprised to find my old Iris had bloomed overnight - there was no sign of a fat bud a couple of days ago - this bulb must be at least 10 years old and has made countless bulblets which have also developed into mature bulbs which produce flowers but this original one always opens first and usually at Easter.

My clematis are starting to put on a show now - on one of the obelisks I have an Alpine Clematis called Ruby and with it at the moment is a Macropetala type called Pauline - this latter one has dark blue buds which really are almost black and open with a semi double flowers - I like the combination of the two colours and the fact they produce masses of blooms.

The second lot of tulips are now coming into bloom - the Parrot type - but this year only the red ones have so far appeared but I am hoping the others will arrive a little later

The magnolia has shed almost all it's petals in the high winds and the remaining daffodils have had it too but the shrubs are thriving and promise lots of colour for late spring. I think nature has it's own way of deciding which plants should survive and which should not - never mind what we think!

Hope you have all had a peaceful Easter - kind regards..........Margaret

[poochee]

Originally Posted by margaret zanoni

It has been a wet and windy Easter until this afternoon when the sun has decided to pay a visit!

Every Easter Monday I take photos and this year is no exception - I like to compare one year to another to see if my old favourites are still around and this year all of them have - not withstanding the bitter winter we had.

I was so surprised to find my old Iris had bloomed overnight - there was no sign of a fat bud a couple of days ago - this bulb must be at least 10 years old and has made countless bulblets which have also developed into mature bulbs which produce flowers but this original one always opens first and usually at Easter.

My clematis are starting to put on a show now - on one of the obelisks I have an Alpine Clematis called Ruby and with it at the moment is a Macropetala type called Pauline - this latter one has dark blue buds which really are almost black and open with a semi double flowers - I like the combination of the two colours and the fact they produce masses of blooms.

The second lot of tulips are now coming into bloom - the Parrot type - but this year only the red ones have so far appeared but I am hoping the others will arrive a little later

The magnolia has shed almost all it's petals in the high winds and the remaining daffodils have had it too but the shrubs are thriving and promise lots of colour for late spring. I think nature has it's own way of deciding which plants should survive and which should not - never mind what we think!

Hope you have all had a peaceful Easter - kind regards..........Margaret

Thanks for the lovely flower show! Such a nice tradition to photo a record of the flowers from year to year!

[margaret zanoni]

The sun is really warm today and has brought out not only the flowers but the perfume of them too.

Along the side border I have the old fashioned Wallflowers with their 'flowery' scent and in front of them I have the scented primulas adding their own particular fragrance. I have to admit that I could smell the first of the Honeysuckle blooms before I spotted them tucked away on the trellis but the Bay Tree full of honey scented blooms is too big to miss! Often the bay flowers don't have much perfume because they flower before it gets warm enough over here but this year we are lucky!

This to me one of the best things about an English garden is the fragrance of the pretty little flowers which bring the bees and the butterflies - they may not be huge and often sprawl about but there is something special and rather exotic about their smell.

We have several large honey bees about today and a little cluster of red ladybirds in the rose bush against the wall - together with the pair of nesting blue tits they are keeping the plants free from aphids!

I hope you are all enjoying some nice weather and can enjoy your own flowers.......

kind regards as ever..........Margaret

[poochee]

Margaret, thanks for the lovely flower pics.

[telecom69]

Hi Margaret, Nice photos ....nothing comes close to the perfumes that flowers give off,your right that the Wallflower is an old fashioned plant nowadays,but oh that perfume they give off,used to grow them every year at one time and had borders of them in my front garden,everyone who passed by used to comment ....unfortunately they seem to have lost popularity in recent years sadly ...