In early Roman times March, named for the Mars the god of war, was the first month of the year. I’m not sure that we shouldn’t go back to this. It’s really the first month when you get a proper sense of life really kicking off. Suddenly there is a riot of colour and all manner of promising buds and shoots promising even more. Bees and butterflies (and more annoying biting items) start buzzing around and the birds go into overdrive…just a world of possibilities unfolding.
Now that project sofa is complete, and project curtains remains an inchoate thought, I have finally had the chance to indulge in my usual seasonal activity of moving everything around. My dodgy hip is undermining the efficiency of my digging leg, so the process is slower than I’d like, but the desire for a spring reshuffle is not to be denied…..
So far I’ve scored several plants from the garden of mum’s new house (on the basis it’ll all be dug up and totally rejigged after she moves in (she’s even worse than I am)) and dotted them here and there. (I dug out a lot of red lysimachia this year and that has offered up several tempting spaces). Some of the delphiniums I grew from seed last year have made it through the winter so these have been plugged into the greenhouse border in the gaps left by the removal of the irises (now rehomed along the orchard path). Keith grew a whole load of dianthus from seed last year (I think the seeds came free with the cabbages or something) and then just plain up abandoned them so I’ve been trying to find nooks and crannies for those too. I think they are tall florist’s ones so rather fear they’ll go all floppy on me as I never have enough staking, but they deserve a chance at least. If they look incongruous I suppose I can always pick them. A hydrangea grown from a cutting which had been quite lost in the tangle of roses at the back of the library bed and has now been given a billet in the sun by the top pond, where it should like the disgusting clay which has proved deeply resistant to all improvement. I also have my eye on several baby shrubs in odd places (self seeders, layers or cuttings that have struck) and on the next good leg day these are destined for the back track, along with some donated rosa rugosa. It’s been a wonderful month for primula and they are still flowering for all they are worth so splitting the bigger clumps will need to wait for a bit – but it’s on my list too. There’s still some room under the old plum trees.
Talking of which, fingers crossed, the plum trees seem much blossomier this year and I’m hoping that we will be back to the giant crop of yore after a rather sad offering last year. the winter fungicide treatment also seems to have done some good to the patio peach, which is looking much less crinkled about the leaves. Could this be year of the peach….? Another March success has been the pulsatilla in the back of the library bed. I’ve struggled to grow these in the past (all munched as soon as they emerged) but this last spot seems to have been overlooked by the gastropods. I’m sorely tempted to get more in different colours. ….
Anyway, I thought I would just do a little round up of the photos from the back end of March so as to clear the decks properly for tulip season….
lovely bust of colour