April 7th 2002
The first week of April has been sun all the way here, with temperatures up to 20 to 22c on several days, fortunately the nights have so far been frost free. The last two days we have had a stiff east wind which has kept the temperature down to 15c, but still sunny.
The plants have been enjoying it and are growing at speed. We have nearly completed a gravel bed to house some of our exotics, the agave should love the extra light and heat reflected from the gravel. We have brought pots slightly larger than the pot that the plant is in, and we have sunk the larger pot into the ground. When all danger of frost has gone all we have to do is drop the tender plant complete with pot into the larger pot in the ground and pull the gravel around the plant, hey presto garden finished!!. It also gives us the facility of changing the plants around easily, and come the winter just pull up the pots and drop a hardy plant back in till spring.
It just shows what a decent soil and some water
can do, after all if we didn't get enough food and water, we wouldn't
be up to much either.
A few more pics of flowers in the garden now.
From left to right Doronicum orientale, Hosta and Erythronium pagoda.
April 27 2002
The garden is running about three weeks
earlier than last year, the prunus blossom has come and nearly gone due to a
change in the weather, a month of dry, with temperatures up to 20c on a
few days, has been followed by a couple of days of rain and showers, the
front garden has been carpeted in pink "snow", the blossom of the
cherry tree, blown down with the wind and rain.
We still have most of the tender plants under cover, and we will probably wait
another two weeks before bringing them out to their summer positions.
Clematis "Guernsey
Cream"
Rhodohypoxis "Stella"