It is the last day of April…. we’ve had 4 or 5 beautiful sunny days that made us all think summer wasn’t far off….
And right now there is torrential rain falling… I mean monsoon like… there’s probably going to be a huge surge of growth after all this rain.
I don’t know what put it into my head but yesterday while the sun shone I thought I’d do a little tour of what’s in bloom in the garden right now.
I should explain that I’m not really a ‘flower’ gardener. I much prefer plants of the edible variety and spend way more time dealing with the vegetables and fruits rather than the flowers. Most of the flowering plants have been gifts from friends or neighbours with only a handful being bought! Hence there are quite a few I don’t even know the names of, and quite a few planted in completely the wrong place! If you can identify them… I’d love to know.
Our ‘flowers’ are kind of divided between three areas….. there’s one bed that stuff was just plonked into and badly needs to be culled… way too much ‘grass’ type plants in it.
Purple Aquilegia
Pink Aquilegia
On the other side of our stoop we have a rockery, but again there are plants in there that are really not suited to a rockery.
Borage
Borage is everywhere here. I bought a plant once, thought I’d killed it, so bought another, and now during the summer I have a borage forest…. but hey, the bees are going to love it 🙂
Beautifully scented broom
We have two broom plants. One doesn’t come into flower until later in the year, but the sweet scent from this is amazing.
This stayed flowering all through the winter…. and has just come back in full force this past week.
Cowslip
Primroses
And then down under the trees there’s kind of a wild garden section.
Bluebells
Wild Garlic in flower
I’d love to do a meadow garden…. but that’s still only a dream.
How does your garden grow?
A Year In Redwood 
I love all the flowers, but like you I favour edible gardens. The flowers are great for the bees, so that’s a bonus 🙂
Lovely flowers! Again, I’m all about the food and don’t know a heck of a lot about flowers. I do love how they look and smell, though, and the life they bring to a garden.
Thanks June… my flower gardening is very haphazard but yes, they do bring such lovely colour, and I do love having fresh flowers in the house 🙂
Lovely photos, Margaret. I am paying a little more attention to my flowers this year. Photography has given me a much bigger interest in all things floral. It really makes me far more appreciative of their exquisite beauty.
And they are much easier to photograph than people!!!
M
That is a different skill entirely and definitely way beyond my scope. I am sticking to flower shots!
Hi Margaret, The first photo- the yellow globe shaped flower is a shrub called Kerria japonica. They are a lovely splash of colour for that time after the daffs and before the tulips arrive! The following photo is a ground cover plant called ajuga… I think the variety you have here is ajuga repens ‘Catlin’s Giant’. Have just found your blog… Its great!
Oh Eimear,
Thank you! Friends and neighbours give me flowers that I just pop into the ground and hope for the best…. and never know the name of them!
Margaret
Hi Margaret – we met last week at the Food Tourism Workshop. Just wanted to say that I love your blog. And those flowers you are asking about? The orange one looks like a marigold to me, altho’ a bit hard to see the leaf which would clinch it. And the one below that is a South African daisy or Osteospermum. Great to meet you – and hope to see you again in June.
Lorna,
Thanks so much for visiting the blog! And for identifying the flowers…. I am totally hopeless! Just like the look of them. Will definitely see us in June.
Margaret