It’s been a very dry couple of weeks here in the North West. Very chilly nights and not that warm during the day either but that is changing again from this weekend I think. I’m starting to water every couple of days, but for various reasons I’ve not planted much new stuff this year. The spring bulbs are pretty much over, the alliums are not quite there yet so there’s a bit of a gap. But I found six things to share with you – maybe you have six things in your garden you’d like to share with the Six On Saturday gang? Thanks as ever to our host Jim, whose blog is here, and the particpant’s guide is here if you wish to join in.
This is pretty much the only allium that has flowered so far. I have a few other pots I planted up dotted around the garden and I’m hoping in a few weeks they will all be in flower. This is a bulb I planted in 2023 and it’s come back much smaller than last year but still very pretty. It’s the only one in the pot that has regrown so I’m guessing the bulbs are not very long lived and I’ll be replacing them later in the year.
I took this photo at the very beginning of the week. Sadly the bed does not look like this on Saturday morning. We’ve had some very cold nights this week and it was a little bit windy, so the vast majority of the tulips in this bed have lost their petals now. This was the first time I’d ever grown tulips in a raised bed like this and I loved the effect so I will be taking up the bulbs to store for next year and trying this again. I feel like I could have planted them even closer together than I did and packed a few more in. Definitely need to make a note of the red parrot variety as I take them out as they were supposed to be in the middle of the display as the tallest blooms but I must have mixed them up with the purple ones.
I planted these strawberries last autumn and covered the bed they were in with membrane in an effort to deter the local cat population from doing what they do in raised beds. It worked for the most part – I did catch one cat trying to manoeuvre it’s backside into the holes in the membrane, but since I left another bed uncovered they’ve left the strawberries alone for the easier option. That other bed will need to be emptied of a lot of its soil before I plant anything in there. I have failed completely trying to find a solution to the problem. Most of my raised beds are still covered as I’m not having my usual early start to the growing season.
These are my pride and joy right now. I’ve had foxgloves in my garden for about 5 years now – sometimes just in pots, sometimes like this in one single raised bed. This is my preferred way to grow them – they just look amazing all packed together. They are considerably shorter than they were the last time I grew them in this bed, no doubt due to the cold, dry weather we’ve had here for the last few months. I grew these from the seeds I’d collected in previous years and the range of colours is as beautiful as ever. I try to influence the colours by separating the seeds when I collect them.
I added more of the white/light pink this time and the whole bed does seem to be coming in with lighter hues. There’s just one stubborn one determined to be dark pink! I know I could just buy commercial seeds and get exactly the right colour but there’s something so satisfying about gathering seeds and growing your own plants. It’s my own little dynasty of digitalis.
This is the hydrangea that I cut right back this year. You can just see the others behind that weren’t pruned quite so hard. I think it’s fair to say I didn’t kill this one off and hard pruning is the way to go. Maybe next year will be the year I’m brave and cut them all back to two inches! No sign of any buds on any of my hydrangeas so far. I have three hydrangea paniculata that didn’t really flower in their first year and they are looking very healthy so far, I’m very excited to see how their flowers come in this year.
My other great success are the lupins. From one plant back in 2020 I now have 5 or 6 big plants. This is the first one to flower and it will definitely appear in future Sixes as I am obsessed with the leaf patterns and the way the flowers open. I’ve just noticed in the photograph that there is another flower stem behind this one!
That’s all for this week. As ever please visit Jim’s blog, and check out all the other blogs in the comments.
The Garrett Garden 
A “dynasty of digitalis”, I like that and they look stunning, no wonder they’re your pride and joy. The lupins are going to look spectacular, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🥰
LikeLike
I love foxgloves and looking forward to their show soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Alliums, Tulips, and Foxgloves blooming at the same time–lovely! Our Tulips are starting to fade, but most of the early Alliums are at bud stage. I used to grow Lupines, but I haven’t in years. They are fun flowers with special character. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
My foxgloves are weeks away from flowering. Supposedly the ones with absolutely no purple colouring in the petioles will flower white and can be selected as seedlings. I’m hoping I can put that to the test with self sowers on my allotment.
LikeLike
I must try that later in the year.
LikeLike