Thursday 6 April 2017

Our Beautiful Garden in Early Spring

My hubby has been working so hard in the garden, and his efforts are being well rewarded as it springs into life after the doldrums of winter. Devon in the spring is the most beautiful place anyway, and our gardens reflect this, with the wild flowers.

Here is the bank separating the patio from the upper garden – even at other times of the year, I always call this the primrose bank! We are hoping that over the years, they will spread and make a lovely carpet. There are other wild plants growing on this bank, too, including wild violets and ferns of various kinds.

02 Primrose Bank from Bedroom Window

A view of the whole garden. Both these photos were taken from the bedroom window.

01 View from Bedroom Window

There’s a different view from my hubby’s study window, in this case looking over the outhouse roof to the garage. We’ve got lots of interesting bushes and shrubs, some flowering, and some with varied and colourful foliage. Last year my hubby fixed the two trellises on the garage wall and we planted a Clematis montana, which has grown enormously, and is now covered with buds. Eventually he will put wires along under the roof and train it over the window. It’s such a pretty climbing plant in the spring with its delicate pink flowers. Even when not flowering, it will provide more interest to the garage.

05 Garage from Study Window

Tilting the camera downwards a little you get a splendid view of our rock garden with its water feature, that my hubby worked so hard to clear last year.

06 Water Feature from Study Window

A couple of weeks ago he went all round the walls, below the water feature and along the path to the other end of the garden, repainting and freshening it all up and it’s looking great now.

Such a beautiful day today! I took my camera outside for the rest of the photos. Here’s the aubretia plant in the rock garden with the most flowers on it so far – the other two are just beginning. We put these in last year, and eventually we hope they will grow prolifically and cascade over the wall with a lovely show of purple colour.

07 Aubretia in Water Feature

Here are some more flowers growing in the rockery.

08 Wild Flowers in Water Feature

Moving along the path in front of the back of the house, here is our first tulip! You can see the ferns growing in the bank, both male and hartstongue, beginning to unfurl.

09 First Tulip

Primroses and wild violets growing in the bank. You can see what a nice mossy bank it is.

10 Primroses and Violets in Primrose Bank

Walking up the steps and along the path beside the garage, here is our gorgeous Cotinus hedge with the sun shining through the glorious red foliage.

11 Sunshine through Cotinus Leaves

Looking back towards the house, here is the hedge in all its glory.

12 Cotinus Hedge

Along the side wall of the garage my hubby put some trellises last year, and after the fabulous showing of sweet peas we decided we’d repeat the experience, and he has planted some new plants. Watch this space! They will climb all the way up the trellis with their little corkscrew tendrils and hopefully give us a gorgeous display of pastel colours, and that delicate scent. The more you pick them, the more they produce, so we will enjoy vases of them in the house as well.

13 New Sweet Pea Plants

Whenever we go out in the garden, the kitties are never far behind! Here they are, following me onto the lawn.

14 The Kitties in the Garden

Phoebe.

15 Phoebe in the Garden

The summer house at the top end of the garden. Last year my hubby put in two extra railway sleepers to create a usable “deck” area – we have a small wooden table that lives in the summer house and we have this out, in front of the bench, and often have our lunch up there in the summer. When the weather is very hot, it is so pleasant under the shady apple tree. It can get very hot indeed in the patio below.

16 In Front of the Summerhouse

My hubby got some help with pruning the apple tree a few weeks ago, and it is now sprouting into leaf. Last year we had a wonderful crop, which we hope will be repeated this year.

17 New Leaves on Apple Tree

Along the opposite fence, the magnolia is now in flower.

18 Magnolia

Looking back down the path from the top of the bank. The concrete path gets really warm and the kitties like nothing better than to stretch out and sunbathe here. Beatrice is getting rather shaky on her old legs these days, and I’m not sure if she’ll manage to get up on top of the outhouse again – this has been a favourite sunbathing spot for her, too!

19 The Back Path

Looking further beyond our garden, we have the benefit of our neighbours’ shrubs as well. Phoebe is still there!

21 Flowering Shrubs in Our Garden and Next Door, with Phoebe

In front of the garage, above the water feature, our rhubarb is coming on apace. We’ll soon be eating it.

23 Rhubarb Coming On Apace

Here’s the Clematis montana on the garage, full of buds.

22 Clematis Montana in Bud

Beside the steps going down towards the house, our Forsythia is starting to flower.

24 Forsythia

That about wraps up the springtime tour of our garden! My hubby is so delighted to have a small garden which is so much easier to manage, and he’s gaining so much satisfaction from making it look nice.

I love this time of year.

PS – I’ve just looked at the Scripture for today on my blog – from the Prophet Isaiah: “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” (Isaiah 40:8 / KJV) – but until it does fade, I shall enjoy it!!

4 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for stopping by my desk even though you aren't taking part this week, I really appreciate your comments. I know what you mean about the perils of WOYWW - every week I see something on someone else's desk that I would love to have in my stash - I'm resisting the Oxides at the moment though (I don't know for how much longer though as they look fabulous)!
    I have so enjoyed a trip around your garden - your hubby has done a fantastic job and it's looking beautiful. I have a Continus too and it's looking glorious at the moment, but the Forsythia hasn't come into bud yet and I'm rather thinking I've lost the entire hedge of it. Lovely to see your kitties enjoying the sunshine and the garden, and looking so well after your recent worries. A bit of sunshine makes everyone feel brighter doesn't it!
    Enjoy the rest of the week and I hope the sun continues to shine in Devon,
    Diana x

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  2. Oh what a beautiful garden! Thank you for showing me around! Everything is in bloom and your little rock garden looks splendid now it is freshly painted.
    Good to see Phoebe enjoying the fine weather with a little wander outside.
    Enjoy your garden,
    Have a good week and keep smiling,
    Hugs,
    Lisca

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovelky to see all your hard work starting to pay off. pretty Spring flowering plants.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Isn't it lovely to see nature spring back to life? Looks like the kitties are enjoying the outdoors too. I love the days when we can leave the patio door open all day, so Oreo can come and go as he pleases.

    ReplyDelete

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