Making plans. Worcestershire.

I love this time of the year. My garden looks a little scruffy in places as things start to die back. Tidying up in the garden is so satisfying as you know it will stay looking great for months.

On top of that the spring bulbs and winter bedding are in the shops. Lidl is particularly brilliant for bulbs this week. A very satisfactory morning spent planting bargain bulbs means I am looking forward to more hyacinths, tulips, crocus, and allium next spring. Deep joy.

Beauty. Malvern, Worcestershire.

Allium, poppy and fritillery display

Poppy and allium display

 The early spring flowers colours have disappeared but still many of them are beautiful. I love the fat seed pods and find a real satisfaction in collecting the seeds once the pods brown and split. There is nothing like knowing next year there will be even more beautiful flowers because you collected the seed and prevented it from being wasted on the path or in the lawn. Some flowers though bring even more joy as once the seed is gone and the remains have browned and dried, they are perfect architectural wonders of nature, eco friendly flower displays which don't need to be watered, just put somewhere safe and admired for months to come.

Allium with fat green seed pods

Poppy flowers

Garden looking gorgeous, Worcestershire.

Purple clematis

Hosta

Poppy and allium

The bright abundant flowers of spring are

 over,replaced by summers flowers, jewel

 bright and deeply fragrant blooms vying

 with one another for attention.

Scabious blue

Deep orange lily

Light blue allium

Yellow honeysuckle

Fragrant pink honeysuckle

May's garden treasures. Malvern, Worcestershire.

Tulip tarda

Tulips

Tulip and daffodil display

 May is the month when the garden really starts to come into its own. Colour appears everywhere, blossom on trees, clematis climbing, flowers in the tubs and flowers beds. The sights and smells are a treat for the senses.

Cherry blossom

Not only is the overall effect magnificent, but each individual bloom is a work of art in itself.  The detail is particularly easy to see in the detail of the aqualigias structure and contrasting coloured petals.

Clematis

Aqualigia purple

Aqualigia pink

Hosta

Purple tulip and allium flower bed

London blue

Yellow poppy

Brilliant bulbs, Great Malvern, Worcestershire.

Daffodils in Rose Bank Garden, Great Malvern

Crocus

 Bulbs are brilliant. No matter what you throw at them bulbs seem to flower regardless. The snow and record cold temperatures this country has suffered have not dimmed them. As the first brilliance in the year they are more valued than ever this year. A stroll around my garden this morning I found daffodils and crocus looking like fallen solid sunshine. The hyacinths are not quite there yet but soon they will not only be adding their bright sparkle, but perfuming the air around them with the sweetest of floral scents.

Hyacinth, almost open

In Great Malvern the early daffodil bed are also in standing in perfect brilliance. The later flowering examples are not quite there yet, but as they stand in front of a wide rhododendron bed I am rather hoping the two will flower together.

There are bulbs not just for spring, but for summer and autumn too. In my garden there are many tulips, allium and lilies. Although I have many brighter colour tulips, I find the deep purple of the variety Queen of the Night, the most long last flower and robust of the tulips. It combines in late spring and early summer, with my allium to look fantastic. I also love the sheer spectacular variety and deep intense perfume from the lillies that are datted around my garden. 

Purple Allium, (2012)

Never, however hot or cold and/or wet or dry a year has been, have any of these wonderful bulbs failed to put on a most beautiful display. 

Tulip Q of N (2012)

White Allium (2012)

Yellow Lily (2012)

Daffodils, not quite open, with rhododendrons behind.