• Barn House Garden
  • Blog
  • The House
  • Gallery
    • Summer
    • Spring
    • Autumn
    • Winter
  • Links & Photosets
  • In The Press
  • Garden Plan

Barn House Garden

~ A garden set in the Wye Valley

Barn House Garden

Tag Archives: Aina’s daffodils

April is the sweetest month ….

16 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by kate@barnhouse in Spring

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

Aina's daffodils, NGS day 2016

Sailing merrily through April, Chaucer’s uplifting take on spring burbles away in my thoughts like the comforting murmurings of an old and dear friend.

View of mist iver the valley

Vernal wind and rain seem gentler on the senses, the valley’s morning mists a passing, soft caress.

Tree peony bud unfurling

Tree peony bud

Meanwhile below ground there’s a gathering crescendo, each day a little more growth unfurls in response.

Greenhouse and bamboos April 2016

As the season ratchets up a gear I weed and dig, divide and replant with a greater sense of purpose. Last week, I rejigged the greenhouse to accommodate 18 pots of hastily purchased then speedily planted dahlia tubers, having never grown them before, I followed Sarah Raven’s How to plant dahlias. The tubers, Bishop of LLandaff, came from Avon Bulbs, they’re destined for the late summer/early autumn display of patio pots.

View of front garden April 2016

Stripped back to the bare bones of its design the front garden resembles a stage set, finally it’s starting to look as though the garden is ready for the year ahead.

Mia the cat and the grasses terrace

Mia inspecting the terraces prior to the morning’s work.

The last job was a shrubby one I’d been putting off until the very last mid-April minute : coppicing the jaali screen of red, lime-green and orange Dogwoods, they line the winter garden on the upper terrace in front of the house.

Pruning cornus mid April 2016

Helping hands busy in the thick of it.

However, this week I’ve been enjoying some very special company in the garden, my father and his wonderful wife are visiting all the way from southern Ontario. Extra pairs of happy helping hands are most welcome at this busy time of year, between us we’ve cleared the thicket of multi-coloured cornus in no time at all.

Multicoloured cornus prunings

Cornus prunings.

When they set out from home there was still snow on the ground – the late winter sort that quickly turns to salty brown slush. In early May I’ll weave the prunings into supports for the rudbeckia hedge, by then I’ll be wondering if their garden is fast-forwarding to high summer.

A chain of violets in the paving

Which reminds me to celebrate the fleeting springtime blessings bestowed by our mild and gentle temperate climate while I can. At such a busy time of year it’s easy for me to overlook the demure charms of wild violets lacing their way through the cracks in the paving at the foot of the Lonicera nitida hedge.

Carpet of crocus leaves studded with celandines

Grassy crocus leaves and celandines.

Here on the rural Welsh borders my so-called ‘lawns’ are verdant pools of mossy green studded with tiny treasures. Between the shady double set of main gates, the patch is densely packed with Crocus tommasinianus, I see the adventurous lesser celandine has crept in amongst them.

Daffodil
Tete a tete
Daffodil
Daffodil

In spring 2006, when we viewed the property, the garden was a riot of blowsy blooms. We tease each other that we’d made our minds up before we reached the front door. Aina’s exuberant mixtures of daffodils, planted with ardour in the 1990s only to be corralled by me a decade later, are still the hallmark of the season in my garden. Among them, the paler or daintier ones are my favourites.

Orchard daffodils

Only those in the orchard are as my predecessor left them, perhaps this year I’ll find time to move some aside to create a navigable path through the orchard.

Dog in a patch of wild daffodils

Daffodil loving dog.

Moving the masses that once filled the dogs’ paddock left me with a green swathe of grass, not to mention a seasonally sore Achilles’ tendon. The shorter, sturdier wild narcissus pooled under an old red leaved cherry tree bounce back from this treatment better than our furry tank’s ancient football.

When in April the sweet showers fall
And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all
The veins are bathed in liquor of such power
As brings about the engendering of the flower ….

This is the poetic earworm of opening lines from Chaucer’s The General Prologue, translated by Nevill Coghill.

The first of several pre booked groups of NGS garden pilgrims will arrive in several weeks time in search of flowers, foliage, tea and cake. This year our ‘big day’ is Sunday 26th June, we’re delighted to be joined by Greenfields, a beautiful new NGS garden created by Jackie and Fintan Healy who live just down the lane. Spring is nature’s prologue to another busy, thrilling, and, paws crossed, successful gardening year.

Postscript

This morning’s brief flurry of plump snowflakes was a lovely surprise!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Garden Journal

  • Wordless Wednesday : Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Pink Glow’ August 16, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Hedychium spicatum from Tibet August 2, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Self-seeded Nasturtiums July 26, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : A Misted Spider’s Web July 19, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Sanguisorbia tenuifolia var. alba July 12, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Clematis ‘Etoile Violette’ July 5, 2017
  • NGS Open Day June 2017 and Plans for 2018 June 30, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : A Bit of Light Relief June 28, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Fascinating Fasciation June 21, 2017
  • ‘Lamprothyrsus hieronymi!’ A Grassy Magic Spell for NGS Day June 19, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Clematis ‘Pangbourne Pink’ June 14, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Paeonia x lemoinei ‘Souvenir de Maxime Cornu’ June 7, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Raindrops on a Favourite Rose May 31, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : A Tiny Teatime Treat May 24, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Iris sibirica ‘Tropic Night’ May 17, 2017
  • The Many Charms of a Fine Old Apple Tree April 30, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Tulip Brown Sugar April 12, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Magnolia x soulangeana ‘Rustica Rubra’ April 5, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Magnolia stellata March 22, 2017
  • A New Look for the National Garden Scheme! March 17, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Greeting the Sun March 8, 2017
  • Sesleria autumnalis : A New Grass for the Little Meadow? February 17, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Fluffy Seed Heads February 15, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : A Little Bit of Cheer February 8, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Hydrangea paniculata ‘Pinky Winky’ February 1, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Frosted Phlomis January 25, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Windswept January 11, 2017
  • Wordless Wednesday : Crystal Flowers January 4, 2017
  • Getting Ready for a Christmas Break December 19, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Sticky Seedheads December 14, 2016
  • Morning Walks in Helsbury Park December 7, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Persicaria vacciniifolia November 23, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Wind Dancers November 16, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Vitis vinifera ‘Rondo’ November 9, 2016
  • Surprisingly Blue Roundhead Mushrooms November 5, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : An acer and its grassy friends November 2, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Something Nasty in the Woodshed October 26, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : The Remains of the Day October 19, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Touched with Fire October 12, 2016
  • Westonbirt Arboretum : Walkies in Silk Wood October 4, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Shadows and Sunlight September 28, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Red Head’ September 21, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Curiouser and Curiouser …. September 14, 2016
  • A Room with a View …. September 6, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Moody Blues August 31, 2016
  • The Chatty Gardener August 27, 2016
  • Exciting News from the BBC August 15, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : A Sleepy Bee August 10, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Stipa gigantea Going for Gold August 3, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Glowing in the Twilight July 27, 2016
  • Nearly Wordless Wednesday : Ladies in Lavender July 19, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Nasturtiums and Summer Showers July 13, 2016
  • NGS Day 2016 July 5, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Papaver somniferum June 29, 2016
  • NGS Day June 26th 2016 : Gates Open Today from 1-5.30pm June 26, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : The Common Spotted Orchid June 22, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Siberian Iris ‘Silver Edge’ June 15, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Hanging by a Thread June 8, 2016
  • Wildlife Wednesday – A Perfect Storm June 2, 2016
  • The Cedar Stump : A Happy Ending May 31, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Happy Wanderers May 25, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : After the Rain May 18, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Coming in to land …. May 11, 2016
  • Springtime Sport in the Meadow May 8, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Tulip ‘Orange Emperor’ May 4, 2016
  • A Walk in a Bluebell Wood May 1, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Anemone nemerosa April 27, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Epimedium pinnatum April 20, 2016
  • April is the sweetest month …. April 16, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Viola odorata April 13, 2016
  • Evergreen grasses : to cut or not to cut? April 8, 2016
  • Replacing the Vine Pergola April 3, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Spot the difference March 30, 2016
  • Bringing In the Sheaves March 24, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Hedgerow Treasures March 23, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Soaking up the spring sunshine March 16, 2016
  • Chionochloa : A Case of Mistaken Identity March 12, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Catkins March 9, 2016
  • The story of the big blue cedar February 27, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Welcome signs of Spring February 24, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : snow drops February 17, 2016
  • The plight of the honey bee February 14, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Cyclamen coum February 10, 2016
  • Pennisetum alopecuroides : a late winter friend February 6, 2016
  • Wordless Wednesday : Yellow crocus February 3, 2016
  • Touches of Frost January 23, 2016
  • Happy New Year January 3, 2016
  • Pinetum Park and Pine Lodge in winter December 21, 2015
  • Eragrostis curvula : African weeping love grass November 28, 2015
  • Tall purple moor-grass : Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea November 7, 2015
  • Autumn musings : Lofty cultivars of Miscanthus sinensis October 30, 2015
  • Filming Barn House garden for BBC Gardeners’ World 2016 October 21, 2015
  • Choosing a dwarf miscanthus October 14, 2015
  • Oudolf Field in Autumn October 7, 2015
  • A Tale of Two Himalayan Fairy Grasses … October 1, 2015
  • Patio pots September 23, 2015
  • Rudbeckia fulgida : flower power September 16, 2015
  • Persicaria great and small September 9, 2015
  • Splendour in the Grass September 2, 2015
  • Pennisetum macrourum : perfect picked, dried or simply left on the plant …. August 26, 2015
  • E.A. Bowles and The Riddle of the Pheasant’s Tail Grass August 19, 2015
  • Hakonechloa macra : Japanese Forest Grass August 13, 2015
  • In search of the perfect pennisetum August 6, 2015
  • A peaceful spot : sitting, staring and drinking tea. July 30, 2015
  • The pot in the seed raised meadow July 23, 2015
  • “A garden isn’t meant to be useful. It’s for joy.” July 16, 2015
  • Misty morning treasure July 10, 2015
  • Learning to love The Pink and Orange Patio July 2, 2015
  • Bamboo : taming the dragon June 26, 2015
  • NGS Day : reasons to be cheerful June 22, 2015
  • NGS open garden day : Sunday 21st June, 2-5.30pm June 6, 2015
  • A seed raised ‘meadow’ May 15, 2015
  • Calamagrostis : a great grass for all seasons May 9, 2015
  • Low maintenance grass-like plants April 19, 2015
  • Miscanthus sinensis : “queen of the grasses” March 14, 2015
  • Easy evergreen grasses February 15, 2015
  • Grasses’ terrace in winter January 26, 2015

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Barn House Garden
    • Join 204 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Barn House Garden
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: