Today the sun is shining, but if you had asked me on Friday morning, I would have given you quite a different answer, when the rain pounding on the roof woke me up during the night. Yes, another week of spring weather with strong winds (120km per hour), pouring rain and warm sunshine all featuring. As a result, a few things have taken a bit of a battering (one of our chairs blew onto some of the daffodils for example, and a large branch fell of one of the ferns). Anyway, thanks once again to The Propagator for allowing us to share what is going on in our gardens. Check out the participant guide if you want to join in.
And so to the last few daffodils brightening up the front of the house. I have so enjoyed our display this year, and am so tempted to get even more bulbs next year…maybe! The jonquils are still standing strong and firm, despite the wild weather, and will definitely be on the look out for more of these next year (space permitting…we don’t need to sit outside, do we?).
The first of the ajuga are flowering, providing a lovely splash of blue in amongst the green. We have a decent patch at the side of the house around the base of the mahonia and in between the clumps of hellebores.
In the same area of the garden, a word I hesitate to you as it often looks like a bit of the surrounding bush, the hellebores are still looking so beautiful. I just love them.
To the herbs….lots of thyme, parsley and mint, and signs of life from the bee balm bergamot that I had kind of forgotten about, sitting in its corner. To be frank, I need to take a week off work and spend the time repotting, sewing new seeds, and generally having a spring clean of everything outside. Would have to hope for good weather of course! Oh and the spots on the leaves? Dust from the storm
At number five, rhododendron buds. Actually, there are a couple in flower but high up and far away so no chance to take a picture. Most of the ‘rhodos’ in the Botanic gardens and round and about are either in flower or coming into flower, but this one is always just a bit late. It isn’t the most healthy of plants, but I love it and it is an old and well established tree.
Finally, I hope someone can identify the plant below. It covers an area at the back of the house, and I think probably an invasive weed, but it does look quite pretty. The area it is in couldn’t be used for much else I don’t think as it does not get a whole lot of sun. Anyway, whatever it is, it has very pretty yellow flowers. Actually, I think someone did identify this a while back, but a search through old posts didn’t uncover anything.
So that’s it for me this week. As usual, I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s beautiful gardens in other parts of the world. Hope you are all well and enjoying your gardens in whatever the season is with you.
You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram@thistleandkiwis. As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com
Thistles and Kiwis 
I love the bulbs. They’re beautiful. Especially the cream and salmon pink variety.
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This is their second year. Come the autumn, I am going to be looking out for more!
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Your plant with the yellow flowers is Yellow archangel..which I find a great plant for early spring.
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Thanks! I think you are spot on. A weed here as it is non-native. So glad I have a name for it.
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The mystery plant is very pretty. More bulbs are inevitable!
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Oh I know….and daffodils always look so bright and cheerful and just say ‘spring’.
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Wow, your weather sounds crazy! Loving your daffs, I am very fond of the jonquil. Such a great word too. It is planting time here, I am sure you will be inspiring people to get to the bulb shop. Stay safe.
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Yes – jonquil has a certain ring to it!
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Yellow archangel is a native wildflower across Europe but the silver blotched version you have is a garden escape and becoming very common here. I find it is extremely invasive and try to keep it down, with limited success.
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At the moment it is confined to one area, but I fear it will take over a particular area at the back of the house.
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The almost orange shade of these daffodils is really pretty ! I was just cleaning the flower beds where there are ajugas because they kindly take up space …. yours are in bloom and mine don’t arrive until next spring.
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The ajugas actually fill a dull spot, so I am quite happy to see them. We are surround by bush, so hard to always keep space for things!
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I had some ajuga in pots a few years ago. Was very popular with the bees for the early part of the year. The salmon daff looking nice. Going to make a start on getting new bulbs in today.
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Hope you get lots of bulbs – I’ll look forward to seeing them bloom when it is autumn here. The ajuga does spread, but it helps to fill in a particular corner.
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I haven’t gone overboard yet. I can wait for cheap bargains later in the season. Alice chose a pot for her tulips and I got a few primula and viola seeds. Going to try to grow more of my own bedding plants.
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Great garden!Plants with beautiful flowers and bees are humming over the little flowers .Thanks a lot for sharing.Take care.🌷👍🙏
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We have all this to look forward to after, what I imagine will be, a very difficult winter.
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Gorgeous daffodils, my favourite being the cream and salmon one. You have featured it before and I just love it! A lovely Hellebore too. Mine still has not flowered!
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I love the blue of ajuga. I have two small patches, but it propagates so easily I’ll make more. Oh, that yellow archangel is lovely! I’d be sure to find some if I had the shade area it needs.
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I can’t think of those first flowers as members of the daffodil family……they look pink! They are beautiful though. I hope your weather settles down this week.
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They are white with pale peach – quite unusual but I do really like them.
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Love the daffodils and you made me realize I need Thyme, now! I had the Yellow Archangel in another garden – we called it Aluminum Foil Plant! It will take over, especially in clay soils.
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I have a few different thymes and find they grow quite easily in pots. And so useful in the kitchen too!
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I love to cook with Thyme, Lemon is my favorite. It rarely lasts through the summer here.
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Last year I bought a variety called pizza thyme – it has a really lovely fragrance and good for cooking.
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The narcissi in the first photo are so pretty with their peachy coloured trumpets, a very welcome addition to your garden, I should think.
Dear old Wellington, turning on 120km winds!
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Ah yes…it does sometimes get a bit windy here! Though not as bad as people from Auckland make out 🙂
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How wonderful to see spring colours and flowers just as things start to die off here! Definitely get ore daffs for next year!!!
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Hoping I might get inspiration from northern hemisphere gardeners in choosing bulbs!
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Every year I say the same thing about planting more bulbs! I love that cover shot, the pink is so sweet. Lovely roundup of what’s happening int he garden at this time of year 🙂
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Things were a bit late in being planted this year thanks to Covid lockdown, but I have had a lovely display and yes…more next year!
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Phew! Your weather sounds wild. Your daffodils were magnificent this year.
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Yes…we have had some wild and some beautiful weather this week!
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Lovely to see your continued show of spring flowers. Bulb planting is due to begin here within a week or two.
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What a delight to see daffodils at this time of year. We don’t get them until around February here in Wales.
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Yes spring here in the Southern Hemisphere!
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love the daffs, your posts are a nagging reminder that i have to plant mine! and of course, you know the answer to the “should I plant more?” question. course you should.
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I screenshoted your mystery plant and used Plant Net phone app. The result indicates that it is lamium galeobdolon. Hope you’ve had a good week, Barbara and that no more chairs went flying. I’m very late catching up on all my SOS reading this week.
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