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Just back from the Dorothy Clive Garden Plant Fair and despite the cold wind the crowds certainly seemed to enjoy this brilliant event.  We met lots of old gardening friends and of course came away with some new plants. Brian and Steph from Avondale kindly fetched us some new plants for our Centaurea collection. 

Centaurea bella "Katherine" has lemon yellow splashed leaves to complement the the pink flowers - this is a plant introduced by Brian a few years ago and rarely available. Centaurea montana Amethyst in Snow is white with a purple centre and looks suspiciously like Purple Heart in the pictures we've seen of it. Now we can grow them side by side and see if there are any subtle differences. 

April 5th: Not such a hard winter!

I've been on tender hooks the last few weeks hoping that our Lobelia tupa had come through the winter and today I spotted the first few shoots coming through the soil. 

Other surprise survivals include Belamcanda Freckle Face a fairly tender plant from South Africa. 

We had the first really warm afternoon, although the wind was still keen and cold and I thought it was about time I started on some real gardening (after potting a couple of hundred Heleniums in the morning!). 

I decided to tackle the sunny end of an island bed in our front garden that has been planted for a several years now. 

Some of the planting works well - like the combination of Kniphofia Brimstone, Achillea Terracotta and Lonicera Baggesen's Gold. But other parts around the Acer davidii George Forrest were less successful.

I'm not one for designing on paper I prefer to picture in my mind how a planting will look.  Some people tell me that planting a bed from scratch is a daunting task.  Here's what I do to make it easier. First I think about the back drop - the general colouring and sunnyness of the bed.  For this bed the backdrop is the deep bronze foliage of the Physocarpus Diablo and the pale gold of Lonicera Baggesen's Gold. This sets a tone for the colour and I'm imagining deep reds, scarlet, bold orange and apricot set off by these two background tones. I already have Helenium Luc in the bed. I can see a large drift of the short red Helenium Kupferzwerg extending beneath the Acer picking up the colour of the new shoots on the Acer. 

Now is the time to think about flower shape to contrast with the Heleniums. I already have Achillea Terracotta in the planting with its large flat heads of flower. I repeat this affect further across the bed with the similar Achillea Inca Gold. For deep red I add Centaurea atropurpurea with their small globular heads of burgundy flowers. 

Now I have the main players the next stage is to think about flowering time and then looking for plants to add the right amount of height. More about this later in the month. 

April 8th Flower of the Moment.

Christopher Lloyd had a way with words and often found apt names for his plant introductions. Ranunculus "Brazen Hussey" is one such.

The bright yellow flowers perfectly compliment the red-bronze heart shaped leaves. 

Lovely but invasive!

April 14th Flower of the Moment.

Not so much a flower but lovely fresh leaves on Heuchera Chocolate Ruffles with the low rays of spring sunshine making them glow ruby red. 

Now is a good time to give your Heucheras a spring clean, removing all the old worn leaves at their base to show the fresh new ones at the their best.

April 28th Geums make their entrance.

We always look forward to the first Geums of the spring. This year they are about 2 weeks late but the lovely show has been worth waiting for. 

Here is Geum Tangerine planted along side the main path through our garden so we can admire it every time we go up or down. Tangerine has the added bonus of re-flowering in October.

April 30th More Geums.

Geum rivale Barbra Lawton was selected because of its flower power. This hot dry April (no one is complaining after the winter we've had) the stems and calyces (the still bits that clasp the backs of the flowers) are really red, highlighting the very pale peach of the flowers. 

Rivale type Geums love a very moist soil but get what they're given in our garden.

They spread slowly to form mat of leaves and stems and these can divided at any time to produce new plants . Carefully lift with a fork or spade and pull apart or on older plants cut into sections and replant at the same depth. Keep well watered for 2 or 3 weeks even if it rains.