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Happy gardening!

Tuesday 11 May 2010

So busy with gardening and not enough hours to blog...

There comes a point in the spring every year when my work just takes over and leaves me with v. little time to put into my blog and I can only apologise to everyone who's supported and followed my blog over the months and years now - you're all very patient!

Up until recently we've been having some wonderful weather which has spurred the garden on no end in terms of growth and development - it's been one of the best years for the Lilac that I can remember since we arrived here - most other years the blooms have been badly damaged by late frosts and the spring flowers have been fantastic... the daffodils now almost completely over leave the stage open for all the other wonderful plants to follow!

We've also been busy adding one or two changes to the garden - the latest project was adding some steps down from the garden into our woodland which make life a lot easier as well as giving me another opportunity to plant as well!  As you can see from this photos our hedging is already needing a trim but am hoping to hold back for a few weeks if I can as don't want to disturb the many nesting birds who currently have young families.

The garden is changing a great deal at the moment but here are a series of photos I've taken over the last few weeks...



The plants are also ever changing with so many almost there but here are some of my favorite shots over the last few weeks which I hope you'll enjoy too.  The Aquilegias have been amazing!
This is the Cornus Alba which I planted along with the Ribes and the two together a quite stunning!
Some of our woodland plants...
I'm not quite sure how we ended up with the pretty mix of both white and blue Forget Me Nots but they're lovely.
This is the first year we've had flowers on Magnolia "Susan"
I love the young ferns unfurling in the sunlight!
Prunus padus another woodland favorite with very fragrant blossom which sadly doesn't last very long :-(
Returning to the main garden these Pansies are always a cheery sight!
I couldn't do a posting at this time of year without the tulips...
Two other favorites are the Rubus which I purchased in Cornwall - "Olympic Double" which produces some beautiful double magenta/pink flowers and the other is Prunus Kanzan.
The final pictures I cannot help but leave you with a these really cute shots of the baby Dunnocks that I discovered in a client's garden - the nest had sadly been blown from the Leylandii trees and they'd found themselves in the big wide world slightly too early... do hope they survived okay...

This leaves me with one final view out from our woodland and with that would like to wish you a good rest of the week, happy gardening and hope that it's not too long again before I can post some more from our garden and beyond - I will try and get to look at some of my favorite blogs and there are many now so do be patient and please don't take it personally if it takes me a while...

14 comments:

Liz said...

Hi Miranda,

Lovely photos, so much life and colour plus there's always the promise of yet more to come!

So exciting.

Those poor little Dunnocks, I would've been tempted to put them high in a tree or dense shrub somewhere and hope to god there are no cats/foxes around.

Rosie@leavesnbloom said...

Good Morning Miranda
I knew that you would be busy at this time of year but I was delighted to see on my blogroll that you had written a new post and just had to get over here at breakfast time to say hello.

Glad to hear that all is well in France and that your garden is giving you so much pleasure especially getting your first magnolia flower and making a new area with steps. I love doing new projects too and that area will look beautiful once its completed.

I think we all struggle to get around everyone's blogs as often as we did during the wintertime. Take care and have a great week and we'll catch up soon again. Rosie :)

Cheryl said...

Hi Miranda....the dunnocks look very vulnerable. I do hope your client has not got a cat or hunting dog.

I guessed you must be extremely busy....it is that time of year.
The steps to the woodland area are lovely....and another space to plant is a dream.

It is still cold here....we had a frost again last night. It does not feel like May, more like March.

Rebecca @ In The Garden said...

Wonderful post! It certainly is a busy time of year. Your garden looks terrific. I especially like the dark tulips. :)

BrittanyGirl said...

Good to see you posting again, Miranda! Lovely photos - I especially liked the dunnocks. It's a beautiful day here today after a very, very cold night, but everything is growing which is brilliant. x

Brittanygirl said...

Hello Miranda! I love the photographs, particularly the dunnock - really sweet. It's been so cold at night this last week, with frost on the bathroom velux in the morning, but in spite of it the plants seem to be growing thank goodness. Sandra x

debsgarden said...

It was worth waiting for! I knew your garden would be very special this time of year, and all of your plantings are beautiful. I, too, love the aquilegias, and yours are gorgeous. I like your new steps. And a new planting area beside them! Happy gardening!

Chrissie said...

Hello Miranda. I agree, everything is growing and changing so fast! I had wanted to post a different plant each day but its hard to keep up. Love the aquilegia, I don't have that colour in my garden.

Kimberly said...

Miranda, what a beautiful property! I understand your dilemma with blogging...there's just not enough hours in the day! I posted about the same thing today. Oh well...it's the nature of the beast, isn't it?!
I love the little birds..I have baby birds (mockingbirds) in my yard and am waiting every day to see when they attempt their flight. How wonderful!

Miranda Bell said...

Thank you so much all of you for your lovely comments and for taking the time to visit when I've been rather out of touch - I promise you it's not because I've lost enthusiasm - literally a huge lack of spare time!

Liz - thank you and you're totally right about so much more to come - with all this warm weather many flowers are coming into bloom which is lovely - wish I had more time to post right now! Hope you're doing well - I think I did ask you once about the camera you have - could you remind me as looks like a new camera is more likely!

Hi Rosie - thanks so much for taking the time to visit and for your kind comments too - I much look forward to visiting your blog very soon as I'm sure your garden will be looking great too.

Hi Cheryl - time is certainly not of the essence these days which is a shame and so appreciated your comments but at least the weather has warmed up considerably - I bet your garden is looking gorgeous right now - must pop over to your blog v soon - have a lovely weekend.

Hi Rebecca - many thanks for popping over and glad you loved the tulips - must admit I'm quite a fan of dark coloured blooms and foilage - they make a nice contrast to the rest!

Hi Sandra - I can't believe that it's coming up towards the end of May and what a contrast in the weather... sorry I've not been in touch - would love a bit of spare time at the moment! Hope you're enjoying your garden and all the animals too - take care.

Hi Debs - thanks so much for popping over and for your lovely comments - the garden has come alive this past weeks and even more in bloom now that the warm weather has suddenly appeared - 26 degrees this weekend! I bet your place is looking fabulous too.

Hi Chris - sorry it's been so long since I last visited your own blog - so many things still changing in the garden and not enough time to enjoy... I do try! Hope you've got this lovely warm weather that much of the UK is enjoying.. take care.

Hi Kimberley - thanks so much for visiting especially as you also seem to be pretty busy too - baby birds are always cute and exciting - our swallows are back with various nests so hope I can post some baby swallow pics soon :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thank you all again - take care Miranda x

Alice Joyce said...

Hi Miranda
I'm waiting, as you are, to prune because of nesting birds! Such magic in the garden.
Your garden looks wonderful. And the lilacs! Arriving in London very early, we took the tube into the city and the entire way there were lilacs in full glorious bloom, lining the tracks. What a sight!
(Have just found your comment, the very first on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz! 3 months now & I think it's taking shape. Thank you again for stopping by to 'christen' the comments;-)) Now I'm fantasizing about visiting a 'gite' in France.
Cheers!
Alice

A wildlife gardener said...

Hi, Miranda, I feel I can echo your sentiments about being so busy that there's no time to blog... :)

I have had family to stay and have been on holiday myself as well as busy in the garden, i have hardly had time to blog over the past two months... :)

I must say you have a very beautiful garden with lots of variety..and those baby dunnocks stole my heart away :)

Happy August :)

Miranda Bell said...

Alice - thanks so much for dropping by - I'm so behind with my blog at the moment - so much to post and so little time - so hope you're having a good summer and will pop by v. soon.. take care Miranda

Miranda Bell said...

Thanks so much for your visit Wildlife Gardener - finally a moment to do a posting - and to catch up a bit - am working on one of the garden here so keep an eye out for this in the next few days... glad to hear that I'm not the only person who finds it difficult to juggle the garden and blogging at this time of year... take care Miranda x