Tuesday view: 18 April 2017

Tags

apple blossom, Betula albosinensis Fascination, Epimedium rubrum, euphorbia griffithii Dixter, Geum Totally Tangerine, Lily flowered tulips, Tuesday View, Tulip Apricot Beauty, Tulip Ballerina

 

Look up to the sky and see

This beautiful Spring day, I am joining Cathy with her meme to share a view on  Tuesday.  I did do this last year and found it a good way to record just how my new garden is developing. The apple tree is one of the few trees that survived living in a paddock full of goats.  Despite the abuse and notwitstanding having had chicken wire nailed into its trunk, the tree survived.  Following three careful prunings in as many Winters, it is now in pretty good shape and rewarding me with masses of blossom this year.  I had a pretty good crop of apples last year and this one tree generated enough juice for 27 bottles.  I just hope we do not get a sharp frost to knock back the blossom, a possibility as it is still only mid April.

Apple tree with early blush of blossom

Against the backdrop of Horse chestnut trees, the apple tree is coming into its own and follows the earlier blossom of the Victoria Plum.  This year I will look at a view on the opposite side of the garden to that which I shared last year.  We have not had much rain and the clay flinty ground is looking grey and hard.  I have resisted watering but the wind is drying and if we do not have a heavy shower this week I will have to give it all a good soaking.

Ground cover in the form of Tiarella and Epimediums

The border includes a multi stemmed birch, Euphorbia griffithii Dixter, and daylilies.  As the birch has an orange bark, I have used variations on this colour

Euphorbia grffithii Dixter

throughout the season.  A poor photo thanks to the strong sunshine, no grumbling please.

the first flower of Geum Totally Tangerine

The geums seem to do well on the heavy soil and Mrs Bradshaw is in bud having flowered from about April to October last year.

The Tuesday view 2017

So much is happening in the garden at this time of year as the ground has warmed a little and the light is stronger so the weeds are on the march.  The grass had its first early trim in March and cutting is now in full flow. The daffodils are beginning to fade whilst snowdrops and crocus are long gone.  They tulips however are having their moment.   I purchased some half price bulbs from Sarah Raven including Apricot beauty below and Ballerina.

Do you have a view to share? If you do be sure to add your link to Cathy

Garden visit: Turn End, Buckinghamshire

Tags

Brunnera macrophylla, Crown Imperial fritillaria, grade II*, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, Lily flowered tulips, Lunaria annua var.albiflora, Monica Young potter, NGS, Peter Aldington, RIBA, spring bulbs, Turn End, white Honesty

Entrance to Turn End

Designed and built by architect Peter Aldington in the 1960s Turn End is one of three houses which hold an RIBA Award for Architecture (1970) and Grade II* listing; there are only twelve post-war houses so designated.  I however went to visit the garden which was open under the NGS yellow book scheme on the last bank holiday Monday.  Disappointingly the weather was typically bank-holiday wet but the garden was no less beautiful and perhaps enabled me to see it without the usual crowds.

crowd free viewing

The garden is a series of places, full sun, white washed walls, gravel with pans of houseleeks, armillary sphere and an arbour covered in climbers. Not looking so ‘hot’ in the wet weather I photgraphed the other areas of the garden most suited to the grey damp day.

wonderful use of lily flowered tulips

Many areas of the garden looked wonderful thanks to widespread use of Spring bulbs, in particular tulips and Crown Imperial Fritillarias.

Crown Imperial Frittallias

Bulbs with the less seen white form of Lunaria annua or ‘Honesty’

yellow crown imperial fritillarias and yellow tulips

Blues and yellows ran around the garden thanks to Bluebells, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, Forget-me-nots, and Brunnera macrophylla. Tulips and Crown Imperial Fritillaria are used to inject the yellows.

Drawing you through the doorway to the knot garden, note yellow tulips and wall of not yet open blue Ceanothus thyrsiflorus

There is an impressive collection of pots in the garden and they demonstrate lots of ideas of how to place them successfully.

a grey day at Turn End

Trillium picking up the clay tones in the enormous pot

Pot by Monica Young

This particular beauty was made by the late Monica Young.  It brings to mind the unfurling of a hosta perhaps? The simplicity of the backdrop, wall covered in dark green ivy, appropriately does not compete with the beauty of the pot.

I really enjoyed the garden and intend to revisit later this year to see it in a different season.  I was so impressed by the use of bulbs and the thread of colour repeated around the garden.   The pots, well they were each a thing of beauty and their leafy surroundings were enchanting.

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: Springtime at Turn End

Tags

Lily flowered tulips, Lunaria annua var.albiflora, spring bulbs at Turn End, Turn End, white Honesty, wordless wednesday