Clematis Frances Rivers

 This is a beautiful little Clematis it is the first one to flower my garden every year .
I'm longing to paint it but this is the busiest time of the year in the garden and usually finished flowering  before I get a chance to paint it.
 Maybe this year I may get a chance to at least start it.

Tulips

Orange Juice

Bulb bench in Greenhouse

Queen of the night

Red Tulip

Double Red Tulip

The Tulips this year have been really beautiful. Most were bought at the end of the year as reductions when the store was making room for their Christmas decorations.Some had lost their labels so I don't know their names.It gets difficult describing the many different shades of red. .As they  finish
 blooming I will plant them in the garden  ready for flowering next year.
I really love their bright loud colours they are what we need need in the spring after the grey dull dreary days of winter.

Pruning, planting ,shedding ,mulching.

A really busy weekend I transplanted all my lilies from pots into the ground around the seating area. They had outgrown the pots and the bulbs are really huge . They should give a really good show this summer.

 The lily bulbs of Regal where transplanted into half barrels 6 to each barrel they will sit just outside the sitting area .

I was unable to put them into their final  positions as a bumble bee has nested down an old mouse hole just where the right hand barrel should sit so I will have to put it up on bricks so we can both share the same spot. It will also protect the bee nest from the rain.

This may sound extreme but the bumble bee is under a lot of stress and they need all the help we can give them.

 The Early potatoes are already through in the 2 greenhouses and are ready for top dressing with compost.

I did a huge amount of pruning Saturday Today  I put all  prunings through the shredder .These shreddings then go onto the flower border ( 1) it holds in the moisture and saves me watering in the summer( 2) it smothers any weeds that may have grown ,and (3) saves me money on not having to buy bark to mulch.

So many plants are now producing flower buds , including fingers crossed the Plum trees. Five years old now and still waitingg

Cultivated form Lesser Celendine

When this little plant with its bright yellow flowers comes into bloom I always feel that spring is well and truly here.I bought it At the RHS winter show way back in 1999 when I was awarded my Silver Medal for my paintings of Solanaceae. its a well behaved little plant is neither invasive nor does it produce seed