‘The Mad Month of May.’

03 Thursday May 2018

Posted by Brian Skeys in Gardening, General Interest, Our Garden@19, Plantlife

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March is usually considered to be the ‘mad’ month of the year. Here at Brimfields.com, May qualifies due to so many ‘events’ taking place.

This weekend the Hanley Open Gardens takes place over the three days of the bank holiday weekend. Our Garden@19 will be open on the Sunday and Monday. (Spit and polish between the showers).

The following weekend is the RHS Malvern Spring Show described on their website as “Set against the magnificent Malvern Hills, our spring festival is packed with flowers, food, crafts and family fun.” A good introduction to the ‘Gardening’ content can be found here on the Chatty Gardener Blog We will be there, one day, helping on the National Garden Scheme (NGS) stand.

Winchcombe Gardening Club have invited me to give a presentation to them on the 16th, this is my sixth visit, they either enjoyed the talks or are trying to get their monies worth!

The following Saturday our gardening club, The Black Pear Gardening Club, is holding a Gardener’s Market, there is also a Worcestershire HPS meeting that afternoon which I would like to attend, timing will be tight!

The last weekend in May is another Bank Holiday and friends of ours are opening their garden in Worcester, for the NGS on two days, where we will be helping with teas and plant sales.

(Plant propagation has been an on going process for some time, preparing for the garden openings sales table).

June is a much quieter month, we only have our NGS opening to organise on the 9th and 10th June. (More spit and polish). It all adds up to make life interesting!

What is keeping you ‘active’ in May?

Daffodil delights & Narcissus narcissism.

27 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by Brian Skeys in Gardening, Our Garden@19, Photography, Plantlife

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Daffodils, Narcissus, spring

Narcissi are one of the delights of spring. Here are some that brightened the spring in Our garden@19, from the smallest…

Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’

Narcissus ‘Jetfire’.

Narcissus ‘Jumblie’

…to the weird.

Narcissus ‘Rip van Winkle’

To the big and blowsy…

Narcissus Pseudonarcissus subsp. obvallaris. The Tenby Daffodil.

King Alfred.

Narcissus ‘Thalia’.

The next few pictures are of unknown varieties.

To seeing double. I don’t know where this one came from, it could have been among plants that came from my Great Aunt’s garden.

Version 2 Narcissus admiring his reflection in a pool in a Hanley Swan garden.

Have you had some lovely narcissi to admire this spring?

An Alpine Spring Welcome.

11 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by Brian Skeys in Gardening, Our Garden@19, Photography, Plantlife

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Alpine, Arabis, hepatica, Ipheion, Narcissus, spring, tulips

Welcome to Our Garden@19.

Alpine boxes and Pots

Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’

Narcissus bulbocodium var citrinus. Hoop Petticoat Daffodil.

Ipheion ‘ Alberto Castillo ‘

Arabis procurrens ‘Variegata’

Arabis procurrens ‘Variegata’.

Arabis procurrens ‘Variegata.

Tulip clusiana

Hepatica Triloba

All we need now is some Spring weather!

Tulips. (From Hanley Swan).

30 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by Brian Skeys in Gardening, Our Garden@19, Plantlife

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Alliums, Dahlias, spring, tulips

I am, sadly, old enough to remember Max Bygraves singing the cheerful song ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’.

Tulips along with Dahlias are a vital element to providing year round cheer and colour here in Our Garden@19

The dahlias are all now lifted and safely stored in the small greenhouse, this one is kept frost free. There are two electric tube heaters in here, with a new heated propagating sand bench, at the rear, containing some seedlings which I am hoping to carry through the winter. These have been joined by the Aeoniums, Cotyledon Orbiculata, Colocasia ‘Black Dragon’ and Pelargoniums.

The dahlias on the bench are labeled and waiting for the ‘head gardener’ to box them up in compost similar to the ones you can see on the shelf below.

The raised beds that edge the patio have been home, during the summer, to the dahlias and annuals, it is my nod to the Exotic Garden at Great Dixter. I wrote about the dahlias I grow here.

Tulip ‘Abu Hassan’, now follows into the raised beds along with a few Erysimum x allionii (Siberian Wallflowers) and Myosotis (For-get-me-nots.) Hopefully these will be putting on a show for the early May Bank holiday open gardens.

Raised Bed 1

Raised Bed 2

The pots contain more tulips to dot around the garden in the spring, they are wintered on the patio to help keep the squirrels away.

The Tulips carried over from last year are Tulip clusiana ‘Peppermintstick’, Tulip ‘Calgary’ ,Tulip ‘Orange Emperor’, Tulip ‘Prinses Irene’, Tulip ‘Red Riding Hood’, Tulip ‘Spring Green’, Tulip ‘Tres Chic’ Tulip ‘Queen of the Night’ and Tulip ‘China Pink’. These were lifted or emptied from their pots after flowering and laid out to dry in the small green house rotating with the dahlias.

Tulipa ‘ Ballade ‘ is left in the main borders.

These bulbs are new for 2017, adding to the ones already in the garden.
Allium ‘Beau Regard’, Allium Karatavience ‘Ivory Queen’, Iris reticulata ‘Polar Ice’,
Muscari ‘Siberian Tiger’, Scilla siberica, Narcissus ‘Thalia’ and Tulip ‘Angelique’.

Some tulip pictures to show what we are hoping for.