Natural rhythm

Throughout March and April the garden has been some three weeks behind where it should have been due to the cold.  The race is on to catch up and the garden seems to change before our eyes from one moment to the next.  Now we have more seasonal temperatures and lengthened days, growth abounds everywhere and a more natural rhythm has started to return.

Good job too for we open the garden gate for the very first time in support of the National Garden Scheme in less than a month's time. 

We have Allium leaves everywhere, sharp blades of green sticking up in rivers of planting most noteably in the central round bed that occupies the very centre of the garden.  This has the tall white Allium Mt. Everest along with Purple Sensation and another white Allium, Nigrum.  I cannot wait for the raspberry ripple display to finally arrive. 

But for the time being, Tulips of all kinds dazzle and catch the eye.  Hummocks of green testify that many plants are twice the size they were last year and reassure that the Summer display will be better than ever.  The Lavender is turning a fresh green and preparing for its flowering season while buds on trees have burst into leaf.  The orchard is awash with blossom from Apple to Cherry and Bluebells nod their heads gently.  The frothy green serrated leaves of Papaver orientale 'Patty's Plum', dot themselves around the main herbaceous bed biding their time before they throw out their exquisit and wildly exotic flower heads   It's a time of promise and trembling expectation.