What's looking good in May 2012

A few taken in my garden this evening.

The Wallflowers are coming on well this year after all the rain. I love the subtle fragrance of these old springtime favourites.



The Blubells and Cowslips in my wildflower 'meadow' are still looking good:



Forget-me-nots lining the path to the compost bins. They weren't deliberately planted there, just seeded themselves and I left them to it.

 

What a lovely group of Spring photos Trunky. Thank you - you have good dark loamy soil haven't you? Is that natural or years of dedication?
Jenny namaste

 

Definitely not natural Jenny. Our soil is very light and sandy, we have heathland about half a mile down the road.
Although heathland soil can be quite dark in colour, it's useless for holding moisture unless you constantly add plenty of organic matter, which is what I've tried to do over the years whenever possible. We've been here for 24 years now, so I guess that makes me quite dedicated!

 

If you had to choose between clay and light,sandy heathland*, what would you choose - clay or*? Is * acid or neutral?

 

At the moment I'm more than happy to have sandy, free draining soil after the incessant rain of the past few weeks!
If you'd have asked me the same question this time last year, during the driest spring for many years, I may have said otherwise!
It is slightly acid, I give the vegetable plots a good dressing of lime every couple of years, apart from that I just keep adding compost when I've got it and avoid plants which won't tolerate dry soil.

 

Beautiful Trunky

 

I gardened on Sussex clay for all of my married life and loathed it.Too many blisters!! Now, at last, in final retirement resting place, we have beautiful,loamy soil which is slightly acid so all the ericaceous stuff I love is happy. On balance I go along with you- * is preferable,
Jenny namaste

 

My favorite spring flowers....thanks Trunky

 

My Rose 'Canary Bird' has just started to open, soooo many buds to come too.

 

Is that a rambler please Simbad?

 

Lovely pics it too soggy n drizzly to take pics here at we dont get reports on ur weather sheal so hope ur having a better time of it than us x

 

No its a shrub rose Sheal has lovely arching stems and spreads around by suckers, it can get to 3metres tall, this is just over 6ft at the moment had it around 5 years, really must give it a prune this year

 

I wish Joolz! I have the same weather as everybody else, with the exception of Shiney. Having said that, I don't think the rain has been as heavy here. We're promised a dry sunny day tomorrow and 16C. Fingers crossed!

 

It's lovely Simbad! Much to big for my garden though. It looks a similar plant to Rosa Rugosa in leaf and flower type, but obviously not in height and spread.

 

I have chalky soil, which is a problem for some of the things I like to grow. On the other hand, it is light and loamy. After London clay, this is utter bliss. There, you could spend all day digging a hole, only to discover that you had created an instant water feature after the first spot of rain.