Six On Saturday – 12 April 2025

I’m starting with the cherry blossom again because the forecast looks like rain for the next couple of weeks so I fear this might be its last hurrah. The leaves are on their way and still have that red tinge to them when you catch them in a certain light. I have noticed the odd petal floating around so the end is definitely nigh for this display for another year. The tree will go back to its hated status as it shades my raised beds and deprives them of sunlight! I do genuinely have a love hate relationship with this tree – my raised beds are in the only place we could practically situate them but the compromise is their proximity to this tree. On the odd occasion we get extreme heat up here in the North West I’m sure the raised beds have been grateful for the shade, but for the most part I think it’s a hindrance we have to live with. This tiny window at the start of spring when it looks so beautiful though almost makes up for my frustration with it the rest of the year.

I’m desperately searching round the garden for my collection of aquilegias but so far have only found this one. I’ve had a variety of colours over the years, my favourite is a very pale yellow one that self seeded itself from my neighbour’s garden. I have some gorgeous deep purple ones too. Hopefully the other plants will reveal themselves as I sort through my pots (I’m very late with my spring tidy up this year – life has a habit of getting in the way). They are prolific self seeders and I find them in amongst a wide variety of plants, sometimes it feels like they put themselves in a pot where the original inhabitant is on its last legs and the aquilegia moves in like a little memorial, to make sure the pot doesn’t stay empty. Fanciful nonsense on my part, but I like to think of them that way – benevolently moving around the garden bringing life to emptiness.

I’ve shared the vinca before but it seems to be having a flush of flowers this week. This is my original plant (I bought 9 more last year which are in a variety of planters now) in a corner planter with a home made A frame behind it to encourage upward mobility. I know people call these plants thugs but I love them. I have a soft spot for any plant that adapts to its habitat, finding ways to grow and flourish even if it’s stuck in a corner and not in any way a star performer in my displays. This plant just sits there getting on with climbing and flowering. I think the planters will contain them and they’re not near to any beds or soil to get ahead of themselves!

I have a full raised bed of foxgloves and this is their flowering year, after living in the bed (and protecting it from the marauding neighbourhood cats) all winter. The seeds came from previous generations and I hope this year they get to the same height and magnificence as previous years (well over 6 ft the year before last). If I had to pick only one plant to grow in my garden, foxgloves would be very high up on the list for me. There is nothing better than listening to the sound of happy bees in and out of foxglove bells in May and June. The variety of colours and their beauty are a joy I never tire of.

The bluebells are finally out – they were in the garden before we moved into this house and I’m sure they’ll be here long after we leave. They are not prolific spreaders here, they’ve contained themselves to one small part of the garden (including through the ground and up into the corner of a raised bed!). They’ve taken a bit of a battering this year due to issues with the hedge they live next to but they’re looking beautiful right now.