What's new in the garden in April

 

I keep telling myself to calm down and not buy any new plants for the garden. And what happens? More this year than ever. But mostly experiments. Like the two bare pots on the left which now contain the remains of the Freesia corms or bulbs that failed in the coco coir mix in the conservatory. I'm advised they will do nothing this year. In the far corner is a brand new Salvia nemorosa Cardonna. I have never tried a Salvia in a pot so this could be interesting. Next to it in leaf are the yellow Iris I transplanted from the border last year, and the Agapanthus which has also survived the winter. Last week on Gardener's World, a lady who just has containers in her garden suggested that keeping a few pots together works really well as a kind of micro climate. 

Again, I have never grown hardy geraniums in pots. Above is one of the three loose roots Geranium Versicolour that is already showing signs of growth.

Below are three of the five Lilium Forever Susan. These are tiny bulbs so nothing to see just yet.

Below are the five bare root Penstemon Cambridge Mixed which are in the far border where I had dug out a massive plant which someone must have given to me and that had become quite invasive. However, only one has leaves that have sprouted. I had lost nearly all my Penstemon due to the hard successive frosts during the winter, including the marvellous Penstemon Firebird from which, in previous years,  I had successfully taken pieces and replanted. 

Next are the six Echinacea Purpurea which I decided to bring on in pots rather than planting in the far border where the wonderful red Lychnis Chalcydonica again disappeared after the frosts. I'm not sure if they all survived their transport.

At least two did.

There was some room in the main border so I bought Gladioli purple flora bulbs from Wilco (£2.50 for ten) which I have never grown before. Amazing to see they are sprouting already.

The Cosmos seeds are still doing fine (see previous post). 

On the subject of frosts, I'm not sure why the extremely hardy Hypericum Hidcote (in the middle of the round border) nearly died after all these years. I have chopped off all the dead branches and there are shoots at the base, so we will see. 

Similarly, the beautiful Gypsophillia Festival Pink below has only just survived. Again I pruned all the dead stems and can see some new growth lower down. It looks a mess but will hopefully look better soon.