The Garden in May - Experiments and New Arrivals

 

I missed taking a photo of a robin in the bird bath, so a thirsty pigeon will have to do.

I will start with the Calendula seeds planted in fibre pots that can go straight into the garden or into pots, and in normal plastic pots.

This is how there are now.

The ones planted in the plastic pots have already been transplanted into pots outside and are are doing fine.

However those in the fibre pots seemed to have stopped growing. The seeds were planted six weeks ago so the single use fibre pots below have been a failure.

The Penstemon "Heavenly Blue" arrived and are still how they came and growing in the conservatory.

The Hosta "Fire and Ice" went straight into the pots outside. Two have survived but the third is missing in action.

The three new Astrantia Venice below seem to be OK. The tips are changing colour.

The new Agapanthus  below is thriving in the conservatory. Time I moved it outside.

Some of the bulbs I planted as an experiment (se posting 15th October 202) have done better than others. New post to come soon. The six new Verbena plants I also bought online are doing OK next to the side patio. I will have to keep an eye on the Aster you can see at the top of the photo as they are quite invasive. I have just dug up a huge batch in the main border where they are encroaching into my best perennials. 

I have taken bits of roots and leaves from some of the existing Astrantia and moved them around the borders. Update to come when, hopefully, in bloom. 

Same with some Penstemon.

On to the other borders. This is the Potentilla "Goldfinger" that has been in the long border for maybe twenty years. I cannot ever remember giving it a good prune, but as it seemed to have died, I tried what was recommended and chopped away. It had covered what is now shown as bare earth. There are signs of something happening, more in time.

I thought i had lost the Heuchera "Spearmint", but here it is with the first pink flowers. Is that quite early?

The Verbena Bonariensis(below) that I only planted last year that I thought was dead was just resting. I cut off all the dead stuff to reveal the new growth.

 

The Clematis "Montana" is always a good show in spring, although it is hidden round the side patio. 

I thought I would end with Betty on an old piece of carpet next to the compost heap.