The three A's in May

May is all about the three A's - Aquilegia, Allium and Astrantia - and I love to see them.  Above is an aquilegia (Columbine or Granny's Bonnet).  They have moved themselves about and self seeded in various places too, so it is a surprise to see where they will appear next.  

My alliums in the border are not doing so well and I assume it is because they are getting too hot and dry in the summer months.  With this in mind, last autumn I planted some in the big pots with the roses,  as I thought that roses and alliums always look good together.  These are some of the ones in pots and so far, are looking good.

I enjoy seeing them gradually open up and become fuller.

For Astrantia, here is Burgundy Manor, a lovely deep red.  It is also in a pot where I can keep an eye on it. They seem to like a little bit of shade and moist soil.  I have some of the white varieties too but they are not  quite in flower yet.  They obligingly self seed, so I have several smaller plants in pots too. 

Some of my roses are almost in flower too, which is quite early, but probably caused by the very dry Spring/early summer we had/continue to have. 

The scents of early May

 

There are lots of plants blooming at the moment as we continue into late Spring/early Summer.  Above are lilies of the valley, grown in a pot. I tried to grow them in the garden but they weren't happy.  They seem OK in a pot at the moment, so I am enjoying them.  They always remind me of my Mum as her favourite fragrance was Yardley Lily of the Valley.

image from Amazon UK

She always wore it when she went out and I remember when I was little and she would come to say goodnight - the waft of that fragrance as she went out of the room has stayed with me.

The Choisya White Dazzler is flowering away at the front door and greets me with a scent of honey, I think. (It is a type of Mexican Orange Blossom, but I can't smell any oranges!) As it is in a more enclosed space, the scent is quite noticeable.

The flowers are really pretty and bring me a lot of joy.  

Easter-ish round up

I didn't manage to post these photos before Easter, so though I would do an Easter-ish post. Above are the butterfly cakes with additional chocolate mini eggs which disappeared very quickly!

These were some of the cards I sent out this year and thoroughly enjoyed making them.

This card was for a friend's birthday and she really likes the slow drawing patterns.  

This morning, on my meander round the garden, I saw my old friend the unnamed fringed tulip.

A small Choisya 'White Dazzler' which I bought a year ago is flowering happily...

...as is Magnolia 'Fairy Blush'. I really should give this a bit of love and care - it has been somewhat ignored recently.

Finally, this morning the blueberries were a-buzz with bees, so hopefully we should get another good crop of berries later in the year.  We are due some hot (for the UK at this time of year - up to 27 degrees centigrade, which is ten degrees higher than usual for the time of year) weather this coming week, so I will be planning the watering regime for the pots carefully so that I make best use of this precious resource.

Easter in the garden - part two - tulips

I don't seem to have quite so many tulips as in other years in the borders, but this could be due to the very dry Spring we have had.  However, I do still have some to celebrate.  Above are Ballerina and Negrita in the border.

Here is Brown Sugar which I planted in a pot last autumn.

Here is Brown Sugar in the north facing border.

Ballerina again - this is a scented flower and such an elegant one.

Negrita in a pot plated last autumn.  

Finally, this is a double from a mixed selection and the pot greets me at the front door.  I think there are some other colours in the mix, so shall wait to see what they are.

  I think I need to have more tulips in pots next year!

Easter in the garden 2025 - part one

From now until mid June is my favourite time of year here in the UK.  Everything is so fresh and green and there is so much to enjoy.  A walk round my little garden brings me a lot of colour, starting with Lathyrus vernus above and Lathyrus vernus alboroseus below.

Lathyrus vernus is a member of the pea family, which is obvious looking at the flowers.

Clematis alpina Blue Dancer and...

...Clematis Frankie in flower on the arch.  When I pruned the summer flowering clematis which also grows up the arch in the summer, I unintentionally pruned some of these too,  which I was really cross with myself about, but they are still flowering, so I am really pleased to see them.

I never tire of these simple primroses, which seed themselves about and are always a delight.  They were one of my granny's favourites.

The more exotic looking Erythronium Pagoda...

...with the similar colours of Epimedium versicolor sulphureum.

These do look like lilies.

Apple blossom is also a joy - my little patio apple, James Grieve is having a good blossoming time.  

I'm not the only one enjoying these flowers as I saw lots of bees and other insects on them yesterday.  

Finally for now, there is the delicate baby blue of Muscari Manon.  I do like these paler blues but have a lot of 'ordinary' grape hyacinths as well as named varieties such as Valerie Finnis and Latifolium as well as some mixes.  These are also enjoyed by the bees and other insects.

There will be a tulip focus in my next post.

Six the Musical (Live - film)

 I haven't been living under a rock, so I have heard about SIX the musical, a modern reimagining about the wives of Henry VIII, but I hadn't actually been to see it. Travel to London and then the cost of tickets etc. means it would be a considered purchase.  I also wasn't sure that I would necessarily enjoy it.  However, I caught some of the songs on a TV programme and was intrigued, so started looking on Youtube and liked what I saw and heard.  The wikipedia entry is here and gives a good overview of the show and its creation.

image from Wikipedia

I noticed the show is touring the UK and although is coming relatively near us, again the cost would be a considered one. 

The original West End cast of Six, © photo by Idil Sukan/DrawHQ 

from What's on Stage 

When I saw there was a film of the show with the original London cast coming to the cinema, I thought that would be the best of all worlds.  Serendipitously, it was this week, so I booked up and we went last Saturday.

I have to say, we thoroughly enjoyed it! The cast were so good, with fantastic singing voices and the choreography was slick and impressive.  The four piece female band, the 'Ladies in Waiting' were also at the top of their game. 

My favourite songs?  Haus of Holbein and for a fabulous jazz version here and Don't Lose your Head, probably, but there is something in all of them to enjoy.

I would happily go again!

Wanderlust 2025

I am well into Wanderlust 2025, the year-long mixed media art journaling course which I have been doing since 2021.  This year, they have changed the format to 12 week blocks.  I have decide to choose my highlights to share, rather than each and every week, so here they are. Above was a lovely watercolour week, creating a sunset.  I really enjoyed using the big flat brushes to try to get a smooth gradation of colours.

This one took a while as we had to go through our stash finding all the collage pieces to add to the circles.  I love the happy colour-filled result though.

The final few weeks of this first section was all about books.  We had to make a journal ready to fill with whatever we wanted.  I wanted to have my journal in a pocket on the page, so made a smaller and thinner one.  As Kate Crane was the teacher for this lesson, I made my journal using my Kate Crane designed stamps and stencils and using some of the skills I have got from her other lessons and courses.

The left page was revisiting a previous Wanderlust lesson of hers. The page on the right was a repeated stamp of hers with dots of colour.

Her stamps and stencils also feature on these pages.

The mandala design on the left was inspired from one of her courses, while on the right is a gel print using her stencils and then one of her stamps.

The penultimate week of this first block was making an accordion journal and then doing some contour sketches.  I really enjoyed doing both of these and the journal I made above is again small enough to sit in a pocket inside my main journal.

The final week was making an altered book journal, which I have done, but it won't fit into the main journal, so I created a page about books instead.  I found some great quotes and again, this is a happy page.

Spring colour

Spring has sprung, so let's celebrate!  The camellias in the garden are in full bloom.  Above is an unnamed one I bought as a stick and it is doing really well and flowering profusely.

This unnamed double was a present from my Mum and has enjoyed being potted on.

Camellia St Ewe with its egg yolk yellow stamens.

Camellia Yoimachi which has had flowers through the winter.

Other flowers in bloom are Cardamine Quinquefolia which is certainly spreading through the border, but so far, hasn't proved to be a nuisance.

Prunus incisa Kojo-no-mai with its pretty white flowers.

When the sun shines, just look at the beautiful blue sky.  A lovely Spring colour.

Echoing the blue sky, I recently potted these scillas on into a bigger pot and they have rewarded me with a mass of flowers.  Such a pretty plant. I need some more of these, I think! I also have my first tulips flowering in the border.  No doubt they will get a post in the weeks to come.