A pair of Mandarin ducks have visited the pond on numerous occasions over the last few weeks. Since adding a few clumps of geraniums and logs to the island it has become a little less exposed and therefore more attractive to the passing ducks.
As is typical for most gardeners, March is much less of an ease into Spring as it is a fraught rush through the last of the Winter bulk jobs. There are wonderful signs all around however, that indicate the season of rebirth and intense colour has begun, and we’re midway through the age old procession of common bulb blooms; from crocuses all the way to alliums. I’ve watched the snowdrops and aconites fade, giving way to anemones, daffodils and Iris’. The tulips are now waving with full heads in the wind and soon there’ll be fritillaries in the woodland glade. Further steps in the succession of Spring bulbs will bring muscari, cammasias and bluebells, and this reliable story told annually through the specific make up of these flowers is unlike any other I can think of in the calendar.
But returning to the tasks at hand, and with an improvised deadline of Easter Sunday, I have still yet to finish the pond and the car park beds. These are both areas of the garden I have not spent a great deal of time working in, and I am determined to have them up to scratch and looking their best by the holiday. The race continues..
Hard frost this morning, walking to the shed passing frozen remnants in the pond reminding me that it still hasn’t been attended to. Great quiet that comes with the cold on a clear morning like this.
g muscari, cammasias
The Orange Tip 