The Delargo Gardens - May

Hello me dears.

Here we are at the end of May with a little tour of our back yard.

What a month it has been. Both the hottest and sunniest on record.

When May started we were very much in Springtime -

As May comes to a close we are very much in Summertime.

These giant Pelargoniums are outside our drawing-room widow and give as a blast of colour as we draw the blinds in the morning.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, or we will miss out these rather fabulous Dwarf  Dutch Irises

Allium 'Purple Sensation'

The delightful Auriculas

Two plants neither of which I could imagine a garden without:

Nicotiana mutabilis 'Marshmallow'

and Thalictrum aquilegiifolium

The greatest joy this month has to be our Jasminum polyanthum.

It produces a mass of reddish-pink flower buds in early winter and then tries to hold on to them till  Spring. Every year the buds are blasted by frost and it has never managed to flower well.

With such a mild Winter, this year it has managed to flower to spectacular effect, and with a perfume that could blow your socks off.

Begonias like roses

A Regal Pelargonium looking like a rhododendron

And another - all heralding Summer:

Tradescantia

We have gone a bit mad with Ipomoea purpurea 'Kniola's Black'. 

We have planted loads.

So we should get some  'Morning Glory' every morning.

We love Geraniums here at 'Delargo Towers' - this is  endressii 'Wargrave Pink'

Geranium pratense 'Purple Haze'. This looks similar to the next photo but is more erect and has deeply-lobed leaves which are dark reddish-purple to bronze in spring,

Geranium x johnsonii 'Johnson's Blue'

Geranium 'Rozanne'

And this is the desired effect.

Before we start the tour of the grounds here is a bit of a news flash!

You may know we are surrounded by trees, giving unwanted shade and depriving us of our sunshine. Well me dears, one has just blown over in the last gale. You can just see it behind our back fence.

We have Foxgloves in the front garden

And a surprise in the back passage. Lilium martagon 'Arabian Night'

and Lilium martagon 'Nicotine'. Both have a delightful scent.

Tomorrow will be June, and Summer proper. We have Dahlias already:

We will have more of those next month I  am sure.

Along with the long awaited return of the fuchsias [above = 'Caroline']. We have had a few in flower already, it is true,

but I think June will be the start of them truly strutting their stuff. 

There are a few other 'stars' in the wings, waiting their turn too...

 We hope to see you back in our back yard next month for a look around and a virtual cup of tea

There tiz me darlins. 

Hope you enjoyed your visit.

ttfn.

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The Delargo Gardens - April

Here we are then me dears at the end of April and I am posting this on time for the time in yonks.

I would like to thank everyone for the amazing response I had to last month's post mainly due to the kindness of Mistress Maddie. I was tickled pink and no mistake.

April too has been very kind, giving us some lovely warm and sunny weather so everything is a little ahead of itself. Our bluebells flowered and are all but over.

I know it is only a handful in a pot but we both love them so, and they remind me of my childhood in Devon where there are vast carpets of them.

A few stars have kept on going from last month 

Ipheion uniflorum “Jessie” and “Rolf Fiedler” with the first of the auriculas. The other auriculas are just coming on now.

A second flush on the wallflowers.

The tulips looked amazing last month...

...and they just kept on keeping on. 

Then unexpectedly they were joined by a later flowering yellow.

Pure joy in a pot

Last year I bought a root of Lily of the Valley as a way remembering my Mother. It is now flowering for the first time and smells heavenly.

A great surprise to us both was finding a Snake's-head fritillary 'Fritillaria meleagris' in flower up in the top field.

We had brought some from the old garden when we moved but thought they were all lost. Hooray !

We have never had 'Forget Me Not' - Myosotis in the garden before. 

We will from now on though.

It's delightful:

As is our very tall and graceful Aquilegia which is just starting to flower.

Now then last month I gave you a tour of the grounds leading up to 'Delargo Towers' and so as not to disappoint here we are again

All rather similar to last month

but with a bit more flower dispite being rather neglected

In the main garden the surrounding weed trees are coming into leaf and the top of the garden is reverting back to a woodland garden.

All our dearly beloved plants are gathering towards the kitchen to get the sun

You can just see  what we call the top field in the distance in this photo. 

it is now a retirement home for the hyacinths and polyanthus that served us so well through the winter and early Spring

The amount of growth this month is staggering. 

Early on this month, it all looked much the same as March.

By the end of the month we are definitely heading into Summer.

Our Thalictrum is heading for the stars but it is almost impossible to photograph.

'Summer is a cummin in' and it is not even May yet !

This is Begonia "Angelique". 

Its flowers look like a rose and it actually smells like one too.

All the Pelargoniums are starting to kick in too.

and the first of the Regals is in flower complete with disco balls !

Well there tiz then me darlins.

We have been a bit busy trying making everything look like a garden rather than a old derelict nursery.

Dahlias are potted on, seeds are sown and pricked out. 

Rather difficult now in these odd times, as we are now completely without compost, even with re-using the old stuff from last year.

Hey Ho 

I am sure we will find a way. 

Pop in in May and find out. 

It would be lovely to see you and I will pop the kettle on...

Till then me lovelies

ttfn

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