Big beautiful tulips, blossoms and more...
May has been a most wonderful month in Cheshire. After a pretty awful start to spring the first May bank holiday was bathed in lovely warm sunny weather. Apart from the odd day, this has continued throughout the month and the upcoming late May bank holiday looks set for great weather too. I may be remembering falsely, but I'm sure we rarely get good weather over two consecutive holiday weekends.
The impact this has had on the garden has been huge. Blossoms bust forth in an explosion of colour. The crab apple tree looked superb at the start of the month. Its blossom was simply stunning for about a week and then it began to set fruit very quickly. I expect we will have masses of crab apples later in the year.
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| Crab apple blossom |
Last autumn I planted some new tulips that I had ordered from Sarah Raven and I was delighted to see that they had grown, not much sign of any flowers until the good weather started but then they really came into their own. They were called the Brandy Snap Collection and are a mix of deep crimson, burnt orange, delicate pink and peach tones. The star of the collection in my view is the tulip 'La Belle Epoque' which is a lovely colour of coffee mousse, flushed with pink, with big double flowers that last for weeks.
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| Smaller Cairo tulip and the larger La Belle Epoque tulip |
As the good weather continued I delighted in seeing the tulips in the early morning, as I was heading out to work, with drops of dew sprinkled over them. They looked so pretty.
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| La Belle Epoque covered in early morning dew |
Another tree bursting with blooms is the white lilac tree. The blossoms are still covering the tree and look pure and beautiful. I was tempted to cut some from a low branch and take them indoors to brighten up my kitchen.
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| White lilac flowers |
Bluebells also put in an appearance in the garden, these are gradually increasing in numbers over the years. Mostly blue/purple in colour I have also notice a scattering of pink ones and the occasional white bluebell too. My favourite spot for displays of bluebells is in woodlands near my office and my walk in the woods recently didn't disappoint at all!
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| Bluebells in the woods |
Looking around the garden at this time of year it is easy to spot visual delights with new bright green growth and patterns made by dew or mist looking like jewels. Nature creates some incredible art...
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| Nature's art |
Just a few days ago the alliums began to make themselves known, the buds have appeared and were just beginning to burst out of their skins. Each morning I take a look to see how they are developing.
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| Allium bud |
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| Allium beginning to flower |
Meanwhile some of the tulips have now gone over, but still hold my interest having morphed into squiggles!
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| Tulip |
The broom is looking splendid in its red and gold covering, looking very regal at the top of the garden although looking closer I can tell it will soon be past its best.
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| Broom in flower |
One drawback of all this wonderful warm weather is that the weeds are really enjoying it too and the dandelions are making a play for garden domination! Looks like I've got some weeding to do this weekend.....
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| Dandelion detail |
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