Granny's bonnets

May has been rather warmer, on the whole, with some really pleasant days (and a few thunderstorms and the odd downpour, which are keeping the garden green).  The tulips are now past, with ‘Black Hero’ maintaining a bit of a last stand until a few days ago, when they were removed and binned.  Alliums are now taking over in the garden, and also aquilegias, the old-fashioned ‘granny’s bonnet’ types.

Granny's bonnets in the grass

My first aquilegia acquisition, many years ago, was one that had been supplied to the nursery as ‘Nora Barlow’ but clearly wasn’t; I liked it anyway, and bought it.  It was followed shortly after by an Aquilegia alpina, a blue-flowered species.  These two cross-pollinated, as aquilegias tend to do - they're promiscuous plants - and between them produced seedlings with colours varying from pure white (now lost, sadly), pale pink, darker pink, blue, purple and near-black.  Some are bi-colours.  They are mostly in the dogwood bed which is seriously overrun with weeds – grass, herb bennet, goosegrass, woundwort, the spreading pink geranium, the usual undesirables – but they hold their own there.  They’re a lovely range of colours, and I enjoy seeing them; they attract the bees too.

One is a rather fine two-tone pink with white edges and stamens, but very short; I hope it can be persuaded to grow a little taller!  I shall collect and sow seed from it and see what comes up.

Sometimes I cut them for vases indoors, but they’re not ideal cut flowers; they tend to drop petals and pollen messily all over the place.  Vases in the house at the moment are of the much better behaved lemon snapdragon that is flowering profusely in the greenhouse.

Yellow snapdragons

Brightening the spirits

May already, and the weather is no better.  Rather depressing, to be honest.  The great British obsession with complaining about the weather is at full throttle, with everybody saying that it has been a poor spring.  The meteorologists tell us that temperatures in April were actually slightly above normal, but with rainfall slightly above average – on top of a very rainy few months before that.  The April figures were distorted by a couple of quite warm days early in the month, but since then it has continued fairly cold, with chilly winds, and whereas there is often a short spell of a week or so of warmer weather at some point in spring, we haven’t had that so far.  And there has been relatively little sunshine, which always makes a difference, even if the weather is on the cool side.  Nothing much better in the forecast.

Cheerful - but not 'World Friendship'

So a few potfuls of tulips making a cheerful splash of colour to brighten the spirits is especially welcome.  Even if it’s not quite the colour I was expecting! – the ‘World Friendship’ tulips (so-called), which should have been a graceful soft yellow, have come out orange with a slight pink flush.  The other pots seem to contain what they were meant to contain.  The mix of ‘Dreamer’, ‘National Velvet’ and ‘Havran’ is good, but really ‘Havran’ is too dark a contrast; a brighter purple would have been better, as ‘National Velvet’ is quite a dark red tulip.  The big pot has ‘Prinses Irene’ and ‘Uncle Tom’, which are a good match in height, with ‘Black Hero’ which is lovely but noticeably taller; ‘Havran’ would have done better there.  It would also be a good partner for ‘Prinses Irene’ (orange) and ‘Doll’s Minuet’ (magenta), if I’m brave enough to put them together next time!

'Dreamer', 'National Velvet' and 'Havran'

'Doll's Minuet' in front of 'Prinses Irene, 'Uncle Tom' and 'Black Hero'

The apple cordons are in flower, with green alkanet flowering blue among some of them – another cheerful contrast.  At the other end of the row, the lily of the valley started to bloom in time for May Day.  And the roses won’t be far behind: ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ is already out.

Blue-flowered green alkanet under the apple cordons

The chilly weather doesn’t seem to be putting off the pollinators; a pair of bumblebees were on the apple cordons the other day.  Butterflies are also starting to appear.  A male orange-tip was about yesterday, and a speckled wood a couple of weeks ago.

Bumblebee on the apple flowers