THE WEATHER (and other stuff!) -

Considering April is supposed to be the time when we get lots of showers, it's been very dry this month. No rain at all until the 17th, when we had light showers. A brief hailstorm on the 18th (about 30 seconds!) followed later by showers, and more on the 19th, but so far, not nearly enough rain. I've been having to water my pots frequently, and as I have a great number of them, it's quite a chore. Still, unless we had rain solidly for about a week, pots still need to be watered anyway, as the average shower doesn't give enough water to do any good. A glorious spell of summer-like weather followed, which was wonderful! It all fell apart again though on the 26th, when it was dull, showery and quite cold, and remained so until the end of the month.

I've always hated using slug pellets in the garden, but up until now, they seemed the only method which would give some protection from the hordes of slugs and snails which think my garden is a gourmet restaurant! However, recently I was sent a free sample of a biological control for slugs, called Nemaslug®, and have been trying it out. I applied it on April 4th and according to the box, it should give protection for up to six weeks. Writing this four weeks on, I can say that I'm impressed with the results! Usually by now, my Ligularias are lacy, and my Petasites are paranoid! Now, for the first time, both plants have entire new leaves, and there are only a few holes in the older leaves, which were slug-damaged before the application of Nemaslug®. I shall certainly be placing an order for some more...... If you would like to find out more about this product and order some, you can visit their website at www.nemaslug.com.

Maximum temperature this month, 25°C (78°F) (yes, I know, unbelievable for April!), and minimum temperature 0°C (32°F).

In the conservatory, my Strelitzia regina (Bird of Paradise) is in full flower. I grew this plant from seed several years ago (very easy!). I read somewhere that it takes seven years to produce flowers from seed-grown plants, and guess what? it took seven years to produce flowers! It really is a spectacular plant, and its leaves are great too. You can dry the leaves for use in flower arranging, and they curl into weird and wonderful shapes. Once dried, they can be sprayed different colours, such as gold and silver for Christmas, or any other colour which takes your fancy.

In the garden, Piptanthus nepalensis is in flower. Again, I grew this shrub from seed given to me by a friend (again, very easy!). It only took a couple of years to flower this time, though! It has beautiful yellow pea-like flowers which burst forth from furry buds, and its stems are almost black on newer growth. It is deciduous, and seems hardy in my garden, but some books say it is tender, so if in doubt, grow it against a wall.

My Rhododendron 'April Glow' has a special place in my heart. This plant was one of Mom's favourites in her garden, and it moved around with her three times when she moved house. Now that Mom has moved to her final garden in Eden last December, I have the Rhododendron in a pot in my garden, where it has flowered magnificently! Mom would have been proud of it!

This Tree Peony was also one of Mom's. When I used to admire it in her garden, she always said (as Moms are wont to do!) "Oh, you must dig it up and have it". Of course, I always refused, but now I have it, because I know Mom always wanted me to! I don't know what variety it is, but it has beautiful pinky-grey foliage, and stunning deep magenta flowers with a big boss of yellow stamens in the centre.

This is a woodland plant, called Trillium cuneatum. It has unusual mottled leaves on the top of a sturdy stem, with an unusual three-petalled bronzy coloured flower sticking up from the centre of each leaf. These plants are new this month, and cost an arm and a leg, so I really hope they will thrive, but already one of them has been squashed by Toby, whose brain seems to desert him when there are squirrels about! Ho hum.......

My Magnolia stellata has been a picture this month. It started into flower towards the end of March, and at the beginning of April, it was covered in lovely sweetly-scented flowers. It's a slow growing shrub, and mine is only about six or seven feet tall, but I've had it for around 18 years. Whether it was all the rain we had last year, I don't know, but I don't think I've ever had so many flowers on this plant before. Delicious scent too......

Here's another view of the garden, this time taken from the steps of the conservatory with a zoom lens, looking down to level 4, where the pond is, (about 4 feet in front of the blue bench, although you can't see the pond from here). In the centre of the picture, there are two lovely trees of interest now. The one on the left with the white blossom is Prunus 'Amanogawa', a fastigiate (upright) form of flowering cherry. On the right of that is Acer pseudoplatanus 'Brilliantissimum', which looks wonderful at this time of the year, with its salmon-pink new foliage.

That's all for this month...... Happy Gardening!!

Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, Orange Tip, Holly Blue, Large White.

Blackbird, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Crow, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Robin, Rook, Seagull, Starling, Thrush, Tree Sparrow, Wood Pigeon, Wren.

HOME - THOUGHTS FROM ABROAD
By Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)


O, to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossom'd pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge.
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
- Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!