spring | Cardesque Garden

Ahhh sunshine at last – it makes such a difference. The birds are singing and there is lots of colour and fragrance in the garden now. In the stumpery the sarcococca and the winter flowering Lonicera fragrantisima are smelling lovely, as is the viburnum in the raised bed and the skimmia japonica on the patio. In the front garden it is the mahonia giving the very strong scent.

tiny bright yellow floers on a background of prickly dark green leaves of Mahonia shrub. — Mahonia

Dainty yellow flowers held on a wiry stem of the epimedium sulphureum plant. — Epimedium sulphureum

The leaves on the possibly dead witch hazel have finally tuned brown and shrivelled up. There are flowers appearing everywhere now. The epimedium sulphureum out the front is covered in tiny yellow flowers and although the big yellow daffodils have gone over, the bright yellow mahonia is taking the spotlight. The white periwinkle under the front hedge is covered in flowers and the odd little grape hyacinth is still hanging in there. Out the back the pieris is looking good with all its little white bells, all the hellebores are in full flower now as are the fritillaria, some tulips, some narcissi, berberis, corydalis, wood anemone, pulmonaria and pink flowered heather. The hebe always has a few flowers open.

Tiny white bell shaped flowers of the Pieris shrub. — Pieris forest flame

Bright peachy orange coloured tiny flowers of the berberis shrub with tiny prickle dark green leaves. — Berberis darwinii

Dark pink tulips in front of white hellebore flowers speckled with dark purple. — Tulips in the sun.

White wood anemone in front of a log on a woodland floor. — Wood anemone

Narcissi Actaea with large pale petals and tiny dark orange corolla in the centre. — Narcissi Actaea with only one eaten so far.

Narcissi Segovia pale petals and small pale yellow corolla. — Narcissi Segovia in a pot.

There used to be three wood anemone plants there but now only one is left. I have a few little ones growing in a pot so once they are a bit bigger I will plant them out.

I learned the other day that the beautiful colouration on fritillaries is known as tessellation – a geometric pattern and they don’t have petals or sepals but instead has tepals like tulips and lilies! They come in completely white versions, pale, darker and very dark version and I have every variation in my garden somewhere even the pure white ones.

Mostly white with purple checkered pattern fritillary flowers. — Pale coloured version of fritillary.

Dark purple version of the fritillary flower against grey milk churn. — Dark purple version of fritillary.

I t hasn’t all gone according to plan though as it looks as though the choke berry shrub has died and the beautiful flowering cherry (Shiroto Mount Fuji) is not looking very happy. One whole limb is dead and I think it is very waterlogged and there may not be anything I can do to bring it back.

Large dead branch on a cherry tree Shiroto Mount Fuji. — Cherry tree Shiroto Mount Fuji with one dead limb.

The geum mai tai, which is in a sunny position, is looking lush whereas the orange flowered geum, which is in a more shady site, has been eaten down to the leaf margins. One of the huge cyclamen out of a row has rotted so has left a large gap in the row. There are smaller ones that I can put in its place but I am not sure why that one rotted yet none of the others did – they are all planted at the same depth and are slightly proud of soil level so they shouldn’t get waterlogged in theory.

Something – possibly pigeons – has been eating the marsh marigolds.

Yellow flowers of marsh marigold been eaten been by something. — Eaten march marigold.

In the conservatory my ponytail plant has 3 branches and one of them suddenly dropped all of its leaves and I don’t know what to do about it. I do know that it is pot bound and that may well be the cause but it is welded into that very large pot so it probably wouldn’t come out without damaging it further.

Ponytail plant that has lost its leaves from one branch out of 3 branches — Ponytail plant (Beaucarnea recurvata).

The good news is that in the conservatory my seedlings are doing ok and hopefully they will be big enough to sell at the plant sale in early May. Our Duddingston Kirk Garden Club is folding but the Jock Tamson’s Gairden will be taking over the plant sale.

There are a few plants just gone over, and many plants almost in flower, but right at this minute there are plenty of spring plants that give lots of welcome colour. In my back garden few of the shrubs that are in flower now are the Spirea Arguta ‘Bridal wreath’, Pieris japonica ‘Forest flame’, Prunus Shiroto ‘Mount Fugi’, Osmanthus burkwoodii, Viburnum x Bodnantense Dawn, Corylus avellana contorta catkins, and Berberis darwinii
or x lologensis apricot queen. In the front garden is the Mahonia Wagneri pinnacle. I won’t photograph them all but here a few:

Pieris japonica Forest flame

Pieris with fresh leaves

Spirea Arguta Bridal wreath

Prunus Shiroto Mount Fugi

Prunus Shiroto Mount Fugi close up

Berberis Darwinii or x lologensis apricot queen

The Pieris will have to be lopped off once it has flowered I am afraid, because it is leaning all the way over to the right as it is very top heavy. The good news is that around the base is lots of new growth so it won’t be long before it gains height.
The spring plants are dotted around the garden: Anemone blanda white, Brunnera macrophylla and Jack frost, Fritillaria meleagris snakes head, Hellebores (various), Lamium hybridum, Lunaria annua, Myosotis, Narcissi (various), Oxalis acetosella, Primulas (various), Pulmonaria Lewis Palmer, Vinca major and minor, Viola, Corydalis solida pink, Dicentra formosa, Cymbalaria muralis, Epimedium sulphureum, and Tulips Mystic Van Eijk. There are quite a few just ready to come into flower soon.

I am sure the pink tulips were darker last year.
I managed to decapitate one of the tiny Narcissus Segovia as my wheelchair spokes just caught the flower head. Some of the other Narcissi have succumbed to slug or snail damage. Only one Anemone coronaria Bordeaux is in bloom just now. I love the combination of the purple hellebores with the purple stems of hebe, just as the flowers go over on the hellebore, the hebe flowers bloom, although there are a few hebe flowers out just now. The Pulmonaria has lovely pink and blue combo flowers and pretty spotted leaves. Don’t you just LOVE spring!!
The pond however is rather bare as the lockdown due to the coronavirus meant that the pond edges had been tidied up and the overgrown grasses etc taken away, however, the company could not work during lockdown so I am still waiting for the new plants. Only the yellow marsh marigold is in flower at the pond edges.