Walled Garden Volunteers' Blog April 2024
/Even as I write this news from the Walled Garden, it is out of date! – it’s that time of year when the Spring sunshine persuades petals to open and plants to shoot up….
You may still catch some of the tulips in flower if you visit this week, but after that, they’re gone. It’s ‘On with the Show’ time!
We had decided to cut back the tulip bulb order last autumn- we have always bought in new bulbs each year, to ensure a good show of blooms in the Spring- but this time, we decided to invest more in some species tulips, smaller but with a promise of returning year after year and bulking up.
Below is the ‘Rare and Fine’ species tulip, ‘Little Beauty’ in the Bonkers border, the ‘Praestans Fusilier’ and the yellow/red Orphanidea Flava:
Look carefully and you may still spot more of these smaller tulips in the borders, in shades of lilac, yellow and white. However, the larger tulips do make such an impact at a time when there is not a lot of colour.
Below is the pretty pink viridiflora ‘China Town’ in the background; the deep purple ‘Queen of Night’ with maroon-black hellebores behind; and the ‘soft creams’ in the white border:
Last Monday in a biting wind (though the drizzle had stopped, and we had a little sunshine) the Gardeners tackled jobs that needed to be sorted, whilst we could still get to them. Here’s Ruth, Sue and Penny in action:
Meanwhile, the peas are doing well in the raised beds. Sarah tells us that peas are tough! They will grow early in the season. And Nicola is giving the herb beds a makeover:
In between digging and weeding, though, we remembered to stop to admire our/your lovely Walled Garden.
Visit soon! It’s changed, already!
