Activity in the Garden

 The weather has been Spring like over the last week and it has stimulated both the gardeners and the wildlife. We were so pleased to hear the Barn Owl who lives in the top of our pigeonnier calling for a mate. We feared that he no longer lived with us as we had not seen or heard him for months. We do hope he finds a "wife" so that we can listen to the hungry cries of baby owlets later in the year. In contrast the daylight hours are full of the cries of pairing buzzards and we have seen a couple of kestrels in the trees in the alley. We can only assume that it is the pair that have nested in our wall for the last few years. However not all nature is full of new beginnings. As we planted the eucalyptus trees a Sparrow Hawk flew past at incredible speed and plucked a tit from the adjacent thicket. He needs to eat as well.

 I continue to attempt to establish a lavender hedge in the old iris walk. I tried a new supplier this time to replace the losses which seemed to regularly occur, fingers crossed third time lucky. In addition to the lavender plants the hostas for the "trunkery " arrived. I have chosen different varieties but they all have leaves that have a mixture of yellow and green. We were delighted with the quality of the bare root plants but of course it is now a waiting game. Hopefully wonderful pictures of the feature will appear later in the year .... hopefully!!

This winter the very vigorous bamboo which we planted in a pot when we set up the Japanese Garden told us that he was fed up with living in this pot and had no intention of staying there. Initially we thought it was the frost that had affected the pot but as the cracks got bigger and the pot fell apart we realised that it was the bamboo trying to escape. The intrepid bargain hunters found a new pot in a sale when we bought the pots for the trees. There were 2 pots in the sale but we only wanted one......until we got home and decided that we could use two. Somehow the second was cheaper!! Today we repotted the bamboo. It took all morning as much sawing was required. I now feel that we need an appropriate rock or ornament adjacent to them to set them off. Watch this space.

 

 

Having got into the swing of things we subsequently moved two large hydrangeas. No mean feat as the woodland bed, their new home is just a bank of rocks with a light covering of soil. Needless to say the UG managed eventually to excavate deep enough holes.

Meanwhile the daffodils are blooming their heads off.