A TRIP TO THE GARDEN CENTER

This morning I went to a nearby garden center , I wanted to buy some colourful annuals for my pots but I didn’t really find  what I was looking for, all though they had a lot of choice. I couldn’t leave empty handed of course ! I found some bargains and a few annuals in the right colour. One of the bargains was this nice big aeonium for only 2 euro’s, that is about 3 dollars !!!  I hope his leaves will get darker in the sun. I couldn’t leave that behind, could I ?!!

THE WHITE SPOTS ON THE AEONIUM IS JUST CHALK FROM WATERING

A WHITE AQUILEGIA IN A BIG POT, I CAN DEVIDE THIS INTO SEVERAL PLANTS, AT THE BACK IT IS VERY SOFT LILAC, ALMOST WHITE

I LOVE THIS PINK COLOURED PELARGONIUMS

AND THIS YELLOW MILLION BELLS WILL LOOK GOOD IN FRONT OF MY BLUE WINDOWS

THIS IS A PURPLE AUBRIETA, A WINTERHARDY PERENNIAL, PEOPLE ALSO CALL IT “BLUE CUSHION”, IT IS A LOW GROWING GROUNDCOVERING PLANT

The last couple of days were cold but sunny, too cold for the time of the year and always windy ! Tomorrow we’ll have a cold wet day but as of Tuesday the temps will go higher with 1 C° each day, at night the temperatures still flirt with Mr Frost so my new babies will spent the next couple of days in my greenhouse.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend !!

TOO LATE BUT…

Beautiful as always ! My amelanchier in bloom at last, 4 weeks later than usual ! This tree is about 30 years old, we have trimmed it a lot over the years. normally it is a bush but you can easily make a tree of it by cutting the lower branches off. It has never been in bloom so late in Spring, always at the 1st of April and occasionally a few days later but never 4 weeks late ! If you look at my blog I did 4 days ago you can see what the sun did in just 4 days time !

DON’T THEY LOOK CUTE THESE LITTLE FLOWERS !

We had 2 lovely Spring days with temperatures above 20 C°, we had lunch and dinner in the garden. Alas, today is cold and wet, 8 C° !!!! Can you believe this ??!!!! We needed the rain so I am pleased with it as the soil in the garden was so  terribly dry.  And my water barrels are now full again !The weekend will be cold and wet too so no gardening for me except for some jobs in the greenhouse.

I hope you’ll all have a great sunny and warm weekend full of fun in the garden !!!

SPRING PICTURES

I took some pictures in my garden today, the sun was shining and it looked very much like Spring but it was still very cold cos of the cold wind we had so I did some gardening in my greenhouse where it was lovely and warm.

MARSH MARIGOLD ( CALTHA PALUSTRIS) IN THE SWAMP PART OF THE POND, NORMALLY THEY ARE IN BLOOM IN MARCH

BUDS OF MY AMELANCHIER

THERE ARE MILLIONS OF BUDS ON MY AMELANCHIER TREE, IN A FEW DAYS IT WILL LOOK STUNNING AND ALIVE WITH BEE’S AND BUMBLE BEE’S, THIS ONE IS ALSO ABOUT 4 WEEKS LATER THAN USUAL

SKIMMIA  JAPONICA WHITE KEW, IT WAS BUZZING WITH BEE’S BUT THEY WERE SO FAST I COULDN’T GET THEM ON CAMERA AND IT WAS TOO COLD TO BE PATIENT, I LOVE IT WHEN THERE ARE A LOT OF BEE’S IN MY GARDEN, BEE’S ARE IN DECLINE, EVEN IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION OVER HERE SO I TRY TO PLANT SHRUBS, TREE’S AND FLOWERS THEY LIKE TO VISIT AND I WANT TO BUILD A BEE HOTEL IN MY GARDEN SO THEY CAN OVERWINTER THERE AND LAY THEIR EGG’S

A PRETTY DOUBLE DAFFODIL IN THE SHADE

IN THE GREENHOUSE, LETTUCE FOR CUTTING AND SPINACH, COS OF THE LONG COLD WINTER I HAD TO POSTPHONE SEEDING SO THERE IS LOTS TO COME BUT MOST IS SO TINY AND JUST COMING OUT OF THE SOIL,  I DID A LOT OF SEEDING LAST WEEK

I BOUGHT THESE TOMATO’S LAST WEEK IN THE GARDENCENTER SO THEY HAVE A GOOD HEAD START, THEY ARE DARK RED EGG SHAPED SPANISH TOMATO’S, I ALSO BOUGHT A  RED PAPRIKA PLANT

It is also very very dry, we had some rain last week but it was not nearly  enough !

I hope you are  all enjoying your gardens ! Have a great week !

 

 

 

YELLOW AND BLUE

Yellow and blue, my 2 favorite colours ! As the temperatures have gone up, slowly but surely, more and more flowers have appeared. I still have snowdrops blooming in the pond area , it is mid April !!! But finally the narcissus are in flower, I just love those little bright yellow flowers ! Last year I decided to plant Chionodoxa, a small bulb with pretty blue flowers to go with the yellow narcis tête à tête and they look like a match made in heaven ! I also have blue hyacinths, they come back year after year after year, they live at the foot of my fig tree and they seem to love it there.

THESE ARE A BIT DARKER BLUE THAN THEY ARE ON THE PICTURE

THESE ARE A BIT LIGHTER THAN THE ONES ABOVE

MY BLUE HYACINTS

As I was walking through my garden this morning I noticed some frog spawn in the pond!!! So we are going to have baby frogs ! We always have lots of frogs in the garden and I like it, they eat a lot of snails and  insects so I should say ; the more the merrier ! It is fun to see the egg’s grow and turn into little frogs.

Today our weather forcaster promised us 23 C°, it is now almost noon and it is about 15 C° with   a dark grey sky, so if we want to reach that 23 C° the sun must come out of hiding ! People are all very excited over here as it will be the first nice warm day of the year, many rushed to the seaside to catch that first sun and others ran to their butcher as they planned their first barbecue ! I did neither as I want to do some work in the garden.

I hope there are lots more sunny days to come !!!!!!

I hope you all have a great and sunny weekend  !!!!

How You Can Help Migrating & Breeding Birds

FOR THE BIRDLOVERS

Natural History Wanderings

Press Release from American Bird Conservancy

Migrating and Breeding Birds Need Your Help

Ten Ways You Can Protect Birds This Spring

(Washington, D.C., April 9, 2013) As temperatures start to climb, birds begin their annual spring migration and also begin breeding.  American Bird Conservancy (ABC) often gets asked, particularly during the spring, “How can I help the birds?” Here are the top ten things ABC recommends people do to aid or protect birds in their homes and yards.

According to Dr. George Fenwick, President of ABC, “Birds need help now more than ever. In addition to the ongoing threat of loss of habitat, staggering numbers of birds are directly killed due to a number of other human-related causes. Scientists estimate that 300 million to one billion birds die each year from collisions with buildings. Up to 50 million die from encounters with communication towers. Studies suggest that up to six…

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