Water Lily

 

Water Lily

It has been a slow start to the year as far as the garden has been concerned. The proplonged winter and cold spring has meant that everything is so late. However a few plants seemed to have held back their vigour and have now begun to show themselves in full glory. The dafs were late, but i think probably the best show for years. Tulips also did very well (pics to follow). The Columbine, geraniums, poppies, and astilbe have also been quite late, but again have given a really bright display. The poppies are very late, the early seedlings succumbed to cold and slugs, but the survivors have yet to really bloom. Astilbe looks rather stunted this year though.

But one of the best shows so far has been the water lily. It has flowered in previous years, but this year has surpassed itself, with 6 blooms so far and another 5 yet to come. Quite amazing for such a small pond.

The morning glories are well behind, I started them a little earlier, and they don’t like the cooler nights, their leaves turning white and curling over. At least I think it’s the cold that does this. Previous years have seen similar problems during colder spring and early summer nights. They have come on really well in the last few weeks, so hopefully there will be some gorgeous blue trumpets in a few weeks time.

The Hop (dwarf variety) is doing really well this year, a repotting and a bit of division of roots has really helped, it still seems to suffer from a bit of dry leaf from time to time, but has grown much higher than previous years. Fingers crossed for a few cones this year.

My son started off loads of Chili peppers in april, and he passed on the left overs after pricking out and repotting. They too have done very well after a slow start. They are now beginning to flower, so with luck we’ll have a few peppers later in the summer.

We’ve planted a few pots of catnip to keep the moggies happy., and I noticed today that a few flower buds are forming in the tips. There are a couple of pots on the go, one exposed to all forms of catty attention and another given some wire protection, just so that a good stock of dried herb will be availbale for later in the year. Meowww!

The culinary herbs are all doing quite well. The lemon creeeping thyme has done it’s creeping, and the common thyme has grown really well, which is good news as it has become one of my favourite culinary herbs. Sage, margoram, oregano, and rosemary all growing well. Nam nam…