We’ve had a milder week, with temperatures not going below about 5 centigrade at night. But the mild weather brought heavy skies and rain full of the most disgusting sand, presumably picked up from the Sahara and dumped here? My old white Peugot now not only has multiple dents in the side of it (I inadvertently drove too close to one of the rampart walls in the village just before Christmas), but is also so filthy that I can hardly see out of the windscreen in daylight. The bonus? It’s the first week I’ve enjoyed driving in the dark for a long time!
So – here are my six again!
One. Eremurus robustus ‘Cleopatra’ in the orchard borders. Last year was the first year of growth for the orchard border on the left of the steps as you walk down from the house (below), while the other (shadier) border had been planted up about 2 years before that. They need tidying now and I’m quite anxiously waiting to see what pokes its head above ground.
Since it’s normally so dry here in the summer, I’m nervous that our wet 2021 season, followed by a wet winter will have rotted some herbaceous and grasses – I was seized by the idea that what I had was a steppe-type habitat, summer-dry grassland and planted accordingly. But the Eremurus are poking through …
Two. Fritillaria acmopetala & F. meleagris. You can see by the slug damage how wet everything’s been.
But still, they are there.
And in bud too!
I tried to grow F. meleagris higher up in the garden in my mini-woodland when we arrived about 10 years ago. Too hot and dry, although two bulbs struggle on. Here, in the better conditions of the orchard borders, there are new plantings and I’m much more hopeful for them.
Three. Anemone blanda in the Hornbeam Gardens and orchard borders.
Blue’s always a joy. I need to start trying to naturalise more Anemone coronaria here and there, but the increasingly wet seasons are putting me off.
Four. Mini-woodland. Almost as good as it gets now, under its canopy of hazel and Cornus mas
… although the snowdrops have gone over.
I need to get that Epimedium (carefully) clipped, because I noticed the flower shoots coming through the other day. I just hang on to the warm colour of the leaves too long.
Five. Pruning the two vines on Vine Terrace. I seem to get later with this every year. When I pruned it at the beginning of the week the sap was starting to drip. And, yes Nick – I do think it’s time for a blue re-paint job next winter (that’ll get me pruning the vines early!)
Six. Hazel tripods. I seem to find this job more exhausting every time I do it. It ‘frets’ me and I’m always worried I’m not doing it very well.
But, four days later, I realise that it’s just as good (or bad!) as it was the last time. I love them in winter when there’s no clematis growth. They seem to last for about 3 years.
Number 6 was supposed to be planting asparagus – but I never quite got around to it, so that’s a job for this weekend. Also getting the sand off the white car – everywhere I see people washing their cars. Even saw a friend washing his at the village fountain – we are all on metred water, so presumably he’s saving his teacher’s pension for better things!
Have a wonderful week and don’t forget to go over to The Propagator’s blog and see the other sixes!
And the whipper-snappers won’t be stopped, Ella!
Garden Dreaming at Châtillon 
The Anemone blanda are a show. I’ve been hoping mine will spread a bit but they seem rather slow to get going, unlike my mother-in-law’s. She’s always digging them up.
Well – I guess it’s soil really – that woodsy stuff, full of leafy organic matter. My soil is so heavy (although this area is now getting leaf fall every autumn) that I’m just pleased to see them back every year. I did find some evidence of spread, but then decided it might be me, with a hasty trowel, weeding in the summer!
I love your garden! I suppose a silver lining to the dirty car is it covers up the dents? 🙂 I’ve tried growing various Fritillaria’s here – the mileagris naturalizes in some spots but doesn’t come up at all in others, imperialis will do well for a few years then just peters out to all foliage, no flowers; and F. persica, which looks a lot like your Fritillaria acmopetala, does the same thing. Although the deep purple F. persica is SO gorgeous in bloom it’s almost worth it to plant new ones every year…
Had to double-check, but you are spot in. In fact this (in the Hornbeam Gardens) is F. persica, planted a few years ago (and then added to in 2020) – I planted F. acmopetala in the orchard borders this autumn. And I’m easily confused!!! Another blogger I read starts his frits off in pots, I think, then plants them out. I keep meaning to do that with F. meleagris, since I think that it’s not so easy to establish from dryish bulbs.
Your garden is looking good and the Anemone are a lovely colour. I’m glad that the slugs didn’t eat all of your plants.
So am I – but they still could!
I love the wider shots of your garden, the woodland area looks really good despite the slug damage. I tried growing the blue Anemone blanda some years ago in my tulip pots, but they didn’t do much. Maybe I ought to try some under my willow tree as I do love the blue colour.
The slug seem to leave the woodland area alone (or maybe there’s nothing tasty enough!!) It’s down at the bottom of the garden in the Hornbeam Gardens that the frits are being eaten – but it’s also on a slop and there’s not much vegetation around at this time of year – so I’m at a loss. I suspect the foliage was actually eaten below ground, but don’t know! I think the anemone would look wonderful under your willow! I guess the catkins would still be in evidence when it was flowering?
Pussy willow forming now. I use slug nematodes in my garden to try and keep the slug population down. And look out for snails that seem to climb everywhere!
Even here in the north my car was covered in Sahara sand and I guess you got a lot more!
I have a lot of trouble growing fritillaria imperialis: several trials in recent years and no flowering while the F meleagris work well.
I only tried Frit imperialis once (I think it flowered in 2020) and then it disappeared. Where I worked previously we used to plant them as bedding bulbs. I expect the large bulbs break up – I should be looking for single leaves perhaps – there was no trace of them last year.
Spring is so lovely and the waiting is the hardest part. We get that Saharan sand in the summer sometimes (all the way to Texas) which is amazing to me and I agree nasty stuff. Love the hazel pyramids!
How amazing that it comes all the way over to you! This is the first time we’ve really experienced it like this (just traces in the past).
Those Anemone Blanda are gorgeous and I do love a cat picture (or two).
So do I!
Your spring garden looks lovely! Despite your worries a out your soil, you have such a nice variety of spring colour. 😃 I am waiting to see if my Eremerus will show up this year… they only produced leaves in their first year, so not sure if that is normal….
I think it maybe is, Cathy. Not my experience in a previous garden (flowered straight away), but when I planted them here – in another spot – I forgot about them and then (about 2 years after planting) suddenly they reared up last summer. Hopefully these new plantings elsewhere will flower this year!!!
That’s likely why, when shipped, I’ve been told to plant immediately. Good advice I guess.
The same person also wrote that after the initial settling in they were easy to spread about.
A varied and interesting Six-on-Saturday. I am impressed with how hard you have worked to get your large and difficult garden looking so good. I may have said that before, but it remains the case.
Thanks so much – I’ve been lucky this past few years because my husband has been able to help. But my holiday is over now and its back to the grindstone!!!
We all long for what we can’t manage to grow – I’d love to have eremurus grow here but they die in our winter wet but then Fritillaria meleagris thrive and seed about in great numbers. We must learn to be happy with what we have.
We should indeed. Interesting that about the Eremurus dieing. I hope mine don’t, since our winters are increasingly wetter!
Is Anemone blanda a mix? It is something that I will eventually try. I believe that I prefer only white bloom, but the blue is too traditional and pretty to not grow. I could get just blue and just white, or a mix of white and various shades of blue.
This is just the typical plant, but I believe you can get mixes now, Tony.
Yes, the mixes are sometimes available when the uniform colors are not. I do like the mixed shades of blue with white, but would prefer one shade of blue in some areas, and white in others. Pink is also nice of course, but I prefer white or blue.
Peter Nyssen always used to recommend the Frit meleagris bulbs were planted immediately which I dutifully do, adding to their numbers each year – no luck with other varieties though! Isn’t it exciting spotting new shoots emerging in our gardens?!