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Click to take a pictorial tour of our garden:
| The Garden in May
After the cold March and April a warm spell in the middle of May has been most welcome. Blackbirds are raising young and the house martins are rebuilding their nest at the apex of our gable end. What strikes us most every morning is not only some new flower opening but also the interplay of light and shade on the fresh foliage of plants. From left to right: Iris Quechee, Centaurea glastifolia, Maclayea Kelways' Coral Plume, Cynara carduncularis, Verbascum bombyciferum.
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| Centaurea cheiranthifolia
(below centreground) looks fresh and clean in May. Carex testacea in the
foreground continues to show off its rust-coloured leaves.
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Aethionoma grandiflora
(left foreground below) is smoothered in pure pink flowers in May. It
tomes brilliantly with Centaurea
From Turkey (right) and Stachys byzantina
(Lambs Ears) (left centre). Allium Purple Sensation (top centre) was one
of the stars of Chelsea, but watch out it is a prolific self seeder.
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 One
of our favourite plants in May is Euphorbia griffithii Fern Cottage with
its orange foliage and floral bracts. Behind it a large block of Lonicera
nitida Baggesens Gold provides the ideal backdrop - much derided because
of its use in commercial landscaping this is a very useful, tough and
attractive evergreen. |
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| May is also the month for the first flowers of Centaurea. These photos were taken on the 13th. | |
| Top down: C.triumfettii
stricta, C.montana
Carnea, C.montana Purple
Form, C.montana Purple Prose.
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Top down: C.cheiranthifolia,
C.montana Purple
Heart, C.montata
Alba, C.triumfettii
Hoar Frost.
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