Umbellifer proliferation

My rather erratic seed-sowing has been more successful this year than usual.  I tried two of the currently fashionable Umbellifers, Orlaya and Ammi, and both have given me a few plants.  Although the Ammi are still very small, I've planted out both lots in the new bed at the bottom of the garden, where I have vague notions of romantically billowing drifts of the stuff.  There's already one Umbellifer in there, Sweet Cicely, which was supposed to billow romantically under the Rugosa rose at the end of the bed; however the rose is showing more interest in suckering than in growing upwards, or flowering, and Cicely is towering over it.  A very impressive plant she is too; I've left a few seedheads on in the hope of a few more plants.  Meanwhile there's also lots of cow parsley over the fence.  Maybe I've overdone the Umbellifers.

Poppy 'Allegro'

The earlier spring flowers are now over, and the big red poppies, the Veronica, Sweet Rocket, foxgloves
and the Penstemons are coming out (also the Alchemilla mollis, of which I have far too much).  The early single roses are going and the more showy ones are starting: Gertrude Jekyll and Alba Semiplena, with buds starting to show on Felicia and Queen of Denmark.  The Wisteria is still going strong, as are the Aquilegias; a couple of new self-sown ones have come up under the hedge, a pale pink and white bicolour, and a deep purple and white which is very striking.  Need to find a better home for them.

Veronica

Clearing out and ripping up continues.  The front bed by the drive entrance has been tidied, and the 'Tutankhamun' sweet peas planted to scramble up the side of the Philadelphus (which needed a lot of dead wood cut out).  I hope that works.  The other, bigger, sweet peas have been planted on two wigwams, one down by the honeysuckle and one in what was the herb garden (for want of space anywhere else at the moment).

Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll'

Left to my own devices the other weekend, I went plant-shopping :)).  Some scented pinks, a couple of old favourites, Geranium renardii and Allium karataviense, which I used to have but lost, and some Perovskia which I fancy will withstand the cold east winds down at the bottom of the garden.  (It occurs to me that Angelica might be good here too, since it grows wild in Norway - but it might be too big, and anyway it's yet another Umbellifer ...).  I also came away with a few other impulse buys to brighten things up a bit.  We'll see how they do.

The weather went cool and windy - very windy at times - again, with a lot of showers, but the last couple of days have been warmer and bright.

Bee on the vetch

The birds are still feeding little ones and greatly enjoying their breakfast on the patio.  There seem to be more bees (and bee mimics - can't tell the difference) this year; I'm gradually working through the vetch, pulling it up before it can seed, although the bees are still very keen on it.  They do have the comfrey, though, and the cotoneasters which they also like; and there are now plenty of other flowers for them to feed on.  A couple of butterflies have appeared from time to time - whites, or perhaps female orange-tips (I've seen a male a few times) - and there was an electric blue damselfly in the garden today.  And this evening a hedgehog was snuffling around under the plum tree - the first I've seen this year.  Good to know we've got one around.

Was that summer?

The rain finally went away, followed by mostly bright and sunny weather with some pleasant temperatures, at least when the sun was shining and the wind not blowing.  The sunshine is still tempered by cool winds, though it did feel reasonably summery for a few days.  Back to mizzly rain and bright spells, and a rather fresher feel.  Was that summer?

One of the 'posh' Aquilegias

The Wisteria

Tulip 'Orange Princess'

Work in the garden has mostly been trying to keep on top of the weeds as they come into flower; there have been clear-up campaigns against the cow parsley (pretty, but lots and lots of it clearly visible in the field beyond the bottom of the garden, so I don't need to grow it myself), the nettles, the herb robert and the herb bennet.  I also need to tackle the vetch that is flowering rampantly under the dining room window, but the bees have been enjoying it so much that I've left it for them for the moment.  The bees are also flocking to the comfrey which is in full flower.  Other colour is coming from the last of the spring flowers - Doronicums and honesty, and the Brunnera (which also needs to be cut down before it seeds too much).  Coming out now are the Aquilegias, Sweet Rocket, Wisteria and the first roses - 'Mary Queen of Scots' and Rosa altaica (in spite of the hard pruning I gave it).  The last of the tulips are also still here.  Those in the big pot have taken a bit of a battering from the wind, but 'Black Hero' is continuing to stand up well; it's rapidly becoming a favourite with its nearly black, shiny, dark flowers.  On the patio, 'Professor Roentgen' was already past its best when we got back from holiday, but I've been impressed by 'Orange Princess', which has lovely glaucous leaves and has also stood up well to the weather.  'Super Parrot' hasn't been a big success; the leaves have gone over very fast, and the flower stems are too short for the flowers to show properly (perhaps lack of water?).

Another big 'tidying up' job has been cutting back the big Osmanthus, which was getting to 10ft tall and in need of bringing down to size (and into shape).  In the event I took out rather more growth than I had intended, but at least lots of light will get in there now and give it a better chance of a healthy future. 

The big Osmanthus, before pruning

I'm starting to think that this is likely to be a year of cutting back and digging out - there's a lot that needs renovation.  I would like to get some more colour in the garden too, though.

The birds are still feeding little ones; there are two baby blackbirds around, and probably more in a nest in the ivy on the neighbours' garage wall, facing the kitchen window - a hen blackbird has been taking food in there.  She doesn't seem put off by the large skip that is sitting on our drive in front of her nest (part of indoor renovations going on!), and the associated activity around it.  The sparrows' broods are also coming on well and, while we haven't seen any young starlings yet, they are being very vocal in their nest high up on the gable end.  A thrush has appeared from time to time, and a jay visited briefly the other morning, to the great concern of the blackbird, which fought it off.

We have a self-sown Shining Cranesbill in the path under the dining room window.  I wonder if I can get it out and transplant it?