Six on Saturday 26/03/22

The weather this week has been unbelievably good – lovely warm, sunny days with the temperature reaching 20C on a couple of days. The nights have been rather chilly though, down to near 0C. I’ve had to do a lot of pot watering as they are full of bulbs at the moment. It’s reaching the time of year when the list of jobs to do grows at a much faster rate than the amount of time available.

• I removed the boxes of over-wintering bulbs and tubers from the loft a couple of weeks ago but had struggled to find/make time to pot them up. Last Sunday I spent the day doing this, trying very hard to not get distracted by all the other jobs that needed doing around the garden. Now that they’re all potted up it’s nearly impossible to move in the glasshouse at the moment 🤣. I’ve started to move some of the winter occupants outside in the day but with night-time temperatures so low they are having to go back in the glasshouse every night for the time being.

The Dahlia tubers stayed lovely and plump in their winter boxes and some have visible shoots already

• The unseasonal warmth means that things are growing at a rapid rate and I decided to deadhead the Hydrangeas (a job I normally leave until the second week in April) and also to cut down the Epimediums.

Last years Epimediums leaves behind Heuchera ‘Binoche’

Hiding under the old leaves the new flower stems are rising fast

• The patio pots continue to perform well though I think the Narcissi are later than usual this year. This is a new variety to me.

Narcissus ‘Eaton Song’. Each flower stem has three flower heads. Tulip ‘Black Prince’ is following on a bit too quickly

• In the Birch border a small group of Fritillaries are looking beautiful. They came from my dad’s garden and, sadly, don’t really multiply (this is 16 years worth of multiplying!) but they do come up every year.

I’ve since cut the Hydrangea heads off

• I’m trying to establish various bulbs in the Dahlia bed but it’s looking a bit patchy at the moment to be honest. Taking an idea from Sarah Raven’s book, I intend to plant the Dahlia tubers back into the bed when it’s warmer and then they will stay there permanently and the bulbs, mostly deep planted Narcissi, will flower through them next spring. Sounds good, I’ll keep you posted.

Anemone blanda ‘Charmer’ at the edge of the Dahlia bed.

• Mukdenia Rossi ‘Crimson Fans’ was planted beneath the Amelanchier the autumn before last. It flowered fairly well last spring and the lovely fan shaped leaves followed . A prolonged dry spell caused the plant to mostly disappear below ground so I didn’t really get to see the ‘Crimson’ part of its name in the autumn. Thankfully, it has made a reappearance this year.

The fine weather looks set for a few more days yet so I’m hoping to get on top of a few more things on my to-do list. I have to admit that I’m happier working in the garden than I am just sitting in it so it’s deliberately quite high maintenance.

Thanks for looking through my Six and enjoy your weekend, whatever you have planned. Here’s where to find our leader https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/