Seeds, seeds and more seeds. I am a bit fed up of them and I haven’t even started sowing in earnest yet. Gardens Illustrated came today with some free Cleome seeds. I refuse to show you any pictures of seeds this week.
- Crocus. Very lovely and there are swathes of them around, but the hot weather here has done for them. This is the last Crocus I will be showing you this year. Now I have to restrain myself from mowing quite a few areas where they have seeded and will seed if left to their own devices. I think this big Dutch one is probably sterile though. It is the species which are most likely to multiply from seed.
2. If you have read my blog over the last year, you know I love Euphorbia characias Wulfenii. Today, it is at its peak for the year. Give it three weeks of flowering or so, then I will cut out every flowered stem to the ground. All the attention it needs over a year of pleasure.
3. Blossom. The month of blossom has started. First out, Prunus cerasifera with its beautiful pink tinges. Then the pure white, almond smelling Plum at my allotment. Constellations of beauty.
4. The unmistakable mess of uncared-for Cortederia selloana, Pampas grass. Notorious as a suburban signal to swingers in the 1970s, many are left in a shabby state through neglect or an unwillingness to tangle with their serrated foliage. They need saws and trimmers and loppers and chainsaws to get them under manners.There are videos of Texans burning them or dragging them out of the ground with trucks. I am not really sure they are worth the effort, but we will see how this responds.
5. Not very exciting green stuff. Or is it? This is the second year from seed for Smyrnium perfoliatum. It takes three to flower. I was very chuffed to see it come back in a shady spot under my apple tree. There are three little clumps. Next year in early Summer there will be pictures of acid green umbellifers to show off. Get in!
6. Bog garden making. Last Saturday morning’s exercise was the digging of a big hole in the churchyard. Ten keen beans made a right royal mess. It looks like it will be more of a pond with bog attached, but don’t tell the vicar. The RHS is sponsoring it and are coming with sand, butyl and plants next week. I am moist with anticipation of all the marginals I can now grow.
Tim Hewitt, Gardener 
I think your crocus is ‘Pickwick’. Yes, the crocuses that were out when it was warm do seem to have gone over quickly, but suddenly there is so much going on! I know what you mean about seeds. It’s like having eaten a selection box all at once.
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Thanks, Ali, I didn’t plant it, but it is an eye catcher.
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Wow, your euphorphbia characias w. is tall! They were one of the first things I planted in my new garden and I love them. How old are yours? Lovely blossom and looks like a great time was had making the bog garden – keep us posted on the progress.
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I got it as a mature clump about five years ago. It is regularly my favourite thing in the garden.
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Lovely blossom on the Prunus cerasifera. Mine’s just going over now and I’m hoping to give it a bit of a prune before the leaves get going.
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Lovely now, it is a suckering mess the rest of the year!
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My cherry plum is in full bloom here too and the bees love foraging the flowers. I could rest under the tree for hours to look at them …Like you, euphorbia is one of my favorites and yours are very big.. Superb!
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It could be a very good fruit harvest this year!
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Sounds like you are very rigorous in your approach to Euphorbia!
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I talk the talk, but will I remember to walk the walk?
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Seeds? Fed up with them? Does not compute!
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It’s a passing phase.
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What is it with pampas grass? I only recently learned of the association with swingers. Brent planted one in front of his home fifteen years ago, and thought nothing of it. His is a dwarf of course. Cortaderia jubata is an aggressive naturalize exotic here, and a serious problem. We do not even plant the sterile ones where the weedy ones are a problem. Where we do grow them, they are rarely burned. Neighbors are so sensitive to smoke and such.
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I don’t think we could get away with burning them here either, Tony, but it’s tempting!
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They respond to burning very well. It cleans them more efficiently than I could do myself, and it is so much easier where there is space to do so.
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