Through the Garden Gate March 2018


This month's post I am concentrating on close ups of the spring flowers rather than wider views of the garden. With two snow storms and lots of rain there hasn't been that much opportunity to get out in the garden and sort things out after winter!




We are loving our spring border under the hazel bushes, it has been giving us so much to look at, over the last couple of months. The primroses have grown so large that we have managed to divide them and repeat the same planting scheme over a longer stretch of border. I previously wanted to fill the garden with as many different plants as possible but now with a smaller garden we are trying this different approach. I am also tending to favour the plants that aren't so attracted to slugs and snails but are loved by other wildlife such as bees and butterflies.



Our blue pulmonia has only started to flower this week. I'm not sure what varieties we have as they are such a promiscuous plant and can interbreed. I always enjoy discovering old names for plants these are also known as Spotted Dog,  (after the leaves), Lungwort  (as the plant was used to treat ailments of the lung) or my favourite name Soldiers and Sailors- the blue flowers represented the sailors and the pink ones represented the soldiers! They, along with primroses, are a good early flower for nectar.  They used to grow wild in Dorset although we haven't ever come across any plants on our walks. Do you have any good varieties of pulmonias growing in your garden? I think the pink variety below is Dora Bielefeld, as I used to live in Bielefeld it had to have a place in my garden!


The vegetable garden still has a few leeks remaining, the broad beans and chard have also survived the winter and the snow. The flowering border is quite flowerless at the moment, hopefully by next month it will be looking very different.



These rock plants, the white arabis rock cress and pink saxifrage, produce a colourful addition in March.



 

The onions are already to plant out and I had a mammoth seed planting session - see all the seed packets below! I'm not sure where all these plants will go if they grow, but I'm sure I will find them good homes if we can't accommodate them!




What is happening in your garden this month? If you would like to join in with Through the garden gate each month please let me know in the comments below and I will add your site. 

Elephant's Eye on False Bay

Coastal Ripples

Margaret's PatchMargaret's Patch

Rusty Duck

Urban Vegetable Plot




Wishing you a Happy Easter, until next time.

Sarah x

Comments

  1. Wow it looks like your spring garden is off and running. I have pulmonia - but it is not sharing yet...been a wee too cold here. Such a delight for my winter eye's to see all those pretty blooms your garden is giving. Please have a wonderful Easter.

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  2. Your Spring border is looking stunning Sarah! But that's nothing to how colourful the garden is going to be come the end of summer if all those seeds do their job.
    I have the blue pulmonaria but the pink is so pretty too. They last for ages here and the bees do love them. A rock solid Spring plant.
    Happy Easter to you both.

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  3. Sarah your borders are looking lovely. Our pulmonaria is in deep shade so only just flowering. I love all its names. You will be very busy with all those seeds. Looking forward to seeing the results. Have a good Easter. B x

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  4. Your garden looks lovely. I like the photo of the Robin.

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  5. There's lungwort growing wild in one area along the Rodwell Trail in Dorset. However, because it used to be a railway line and stations used to have gardens I wouldn't know if it's descended from cultivated kinds rather than being truly 'wild'. I don't like them very much; though for a moment I thought your picture was an out-of-season borage. I do like borage.

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  6. A lovely collection of photos, lots of spring colour :)

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  7. Nice to see more gardens joining us.

    Dusky pink and golden yellow is perfect to say spring.

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  8. What you call a primrose is different from ours in the US. Yours have much larger flowers. You Spring border looks beautiful. I'm finally getting daffodils and shoots of other perennials are appearing,

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  9. Dear Sarah,

    Love the pretty daffodils and sounds like you have had a lot to contend with the snow storms and rain. Also how sweet the Robin is.
    You have a wonderful selection of plants seeds and I look forward to seeing your beautiful garden.
    Happy Easter to you and your family
    hugs
    Carolyn

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  10. The wild Dorset version apparently has long leaves. I will have to try and get over to Weymouth and have a look, thanks for telling me. Sarah x

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  11. So great to see all these flowers already blooming! I'm living in the Black Forest in S/W-Germany and it was still cold the last weeks. There are only some daffodils and cocus blooming.
    Happy Easter!
    Best wishes
    Calendula

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  12. You are a light year ahead of us. My garden is under half a meter of snow. Yours is looking beautiful already, Sarah.

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  13. Hello dearest Sarah! Happy Easter to you and your family. We went out yesterday in spite of the fact that it had SNOWED and left us with at least 6 inches. The snow did start to melt, however, so we went to a flower show at one of the shopping malls. It was glorious, and like you, I concentrated on close-ups of the gorgeous colors. Here's to a beautiful spring!

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  14. They are so beautiful! Wish I had a big flower garden! We just had a snow storm. We are covered in snow and more to come this week. Your photos brings cheers to my heart! Happy Easter!

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  15. Dear Sarah - you must be delighted with your garden. It seems that in no time at all you have made it your own and very pretty too.
    I like the new look to your blog - it is uncluttered, refined, and looks smart.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Rosemary for the comment about the blog. I decided to refresh the blog and used the solo template which I hadn't noticed before!

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    2. Soho template is also the one I chose. Option has been there for about a year?

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    3. After I had changed the template I realised it was the same as yours!, I remembered you changing yours it must have been a long time since I looked at templates. I always envisaged stopping work would give me so much more time for blogging and gardening, instead the opposite has happened!
      Sarah

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  16. Lovely new look and lovely garden! I have a rich blue pulmonaria Blue Ensign I think, but no sign of flowers yet.

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  17. HI Sarah, I sent a comment earlier today, but I had the feeling it didn't quite get through so if you have two of mine by tomorrow, please delete one!!
    I loved looking at your spring border plants because we are preparing part of the back garden for a border in our spring, and surprisingly we can plant quite a few of the ones you have in your garden. I loved the old names of some of the plants, and will look out for some Australian ones. Isn't spring a wonderful time, so full of colour and flowers!

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  18. Ooh new blog theme! I like it! My daffs are about the only thing that's flowering in the garden so far this year! The warm weather encourage them, but the last 2 days have turned cold and wet again! x

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  19. I have some pulmonaria in my garden which I brought with me from our old garden, but I don't know what variety they are. I was quite surprised too that they started flowering weeks ago. I love the colours of pulmonaria.

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  20. I love viewing your garden via the blog and enjoy it vicariously. Around here, my Lenten rose has been blooming and of course the California poppies are lighting the hills and valleys with bright orange.
    Happy Easter to you!

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  21. What a beautiful garden you have. Lovely colors and your vegetable garden is look amazing. You and your husband have done a great job and it is nice to so color outside when those rainy cold days arrive. At the moment, I am trying to get my summer garden going. I have bush beans, container tomatoes and lemon cucumber seedlings. So far so good. Roses are doing amazing but a few needs some attention. Damp days are not so good for them. I need to look and trim away the infected leaves with rust. Thanks for sharing and have a great day.

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  22. How wonderful to have such beautiful spring flowers at this time of year! I love reading your blog and feel inspired although my own garden is still hidden under a layer of snow. Your pictures are fantastic too. I hope you had a great Easter with your family!

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  23. What a beautiful Robin picture. Your garden is lovely and a real inspiration. Think I will do a spot of planting seeds tomorrow. Wowsers that is an impressive collection of seeds. Xx

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  24. Wonderful colourful spring borders, I look forward to seeing the results of your seed planting.

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  25. I love the colour combination of hellebores and daffodils, it's so pretty! I've recently planted mini daffs between self seeded hellebores in the middle garden here and it worked really well. For next year I've added clumps of snowdrops and cyclamen which I'm quite excited about. Now I just have to get on with sorting out the rest of that garden! I've tried to be good about seeds this year but have still got far too many - dreams vs reality I think! Looking forward to seeing your garden progress. I've written about my March gardens, if you want to add to your list. Caro xx
    https://urbanvegpatch.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/the-real-end-of-month-view-for-march-in.html

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  26. Lovely pictures again! Best wishes for a great and sunny weekend...
    Titti

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