It’s Spring and the garden is lovely. The seasons are clearly out of whack though with everything a few weeks ahead of time.

The crocus and daffodils came and went along with the camellia and magnolia and the pear blossom. The blue muscari and white anemone (a good buy last year) have worked well and led into the tulips. After two years, the iris finally started to flower though not all of them. The white clematis is in full bloom and the glory of the wisteria and the bluebells are currently dominating.

The tulips have just gone over, except under the maple tree where the yellow flowers planted last year are looking good. I shall have to plant more of them, and maybe some of the orange ones. The latter are a lovely shade but only around 10cm tall so really only good for the very edge of the bed.

At the moment I’m waiting for the alliums to burst into life. A couple of sprinkles of slug pellets seem to be keeping the worst of the snails at bay. Hopefully the roses will follow straight after. Even though I am totally sure they were measured out very precisely, the soft pink roses seem to have broken into three groups of three rather than a consistent hedge of nine. My gardener seems to have cut back the penstemnon a bit brutally – I’ll be cross if it means I’ve lost it.

Hopefully the baby white roses in the front will grow more evenly. The salvia planted between them looks to have survived but the bed is still a bit overgrown. I wonder if the foxgloves from last year have self seeded – as a biannual they’ll just grow green this year so it will be tempting to dig them out.

I have already planted up pots and tubs with geraniums, begonias and lobelia. And possibly for the last year I’m attempting to keep alive two hanging baskets. I know the answer is to water the beggars, but despite my best intentions, I never make it much past a month.

In a few weeks I shall have to buy some more white bedding, snapdragons maybe or alyssum, to replace the anemones at the front of the bed but right now, I’m busy watering and generally babying some pots ready to distribute them around the darkest and driest bits of my garden.