A day in May

I see myself as the sort of gardener who is very interested in individual plants and rather less interested in the overall composition. That said, I am not indifferent to it and to group plants by their cultural requirements often leads to a visually harmonious effect. I don’t have a large garden and in order to fit in all the things I want to grow I don’t have a lawn or much by way of patios or garden structures other than to grow plants in or on. Today I went round with my camera and this is what I found in flower.

When I say that I have been round far larger gardens and found less to take pictures of, I am merely saying that my garden is providing me with what I want. I recognise that we are all different and for other people my little patch could be seen as an uncoordinated mish mash of plants thrown together with no regard for design or colour or a dozen other aesthetic criteria.

Am I bovvered? Nope. I still like to see what other people do in their gardens, online or in the flesh as it were. I am always open to ideas, even design ideas, but for me the plants will always come first.

There are people about who seem to look much harder for the things they can find fault with than for the things they like. Perhaps they are afraid to admit to liking something in case it attracts scorn from someone else. I don’t know, I don’t understand that sort of mentality.

Camellia ‘Nightrider’

Camellia ‘Spring Fling’

Daphne ‘Eternal Fragrance’. One of the best new plants for years.

Camellia seedling from ‘St Michael’. Similar ones abound, I’m not going to make my fortune with it.

Dicentra formosa form, invasive but lovely.

Disporum cantoniense ‘Green Giant’

Daphne ‘Eternal Fragrance Pink’

Aquilegia vulgaris, a weed but tolerated.

Magnolia ‘Ann’

Maianthemum racemosum

Magnolia ‘Heaven Scent’

Lunaria ‘Corfu Blue’. A glow in the gloaming

Dipplarhena moraea. Nice compact form.

Dicentra spectabilis ‘Valentine’

Camellia ‘Bob Hope’

Camellia ‘Spring Festival’

Ajuga reptans, usually treated as a weed, by me at least.

Uvularia perfoliata

Azalea whose name I have forgotten

Wulfenia schwarzii

Malus domestica ‘Holstein’. German Cox hybrid.

Disporum sessile macrophyllum BSWJ4316

Primula vulgaris.

Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’. Some inferor seedlings have come up, most I have weeded out.

Corydalis ochroleuca. Seeds about a bit, I’d be happy with more.

Iris, bought years ago for the Hesperantha that had seeded into its pot.

Libertia, the hybrid between formosa and ixioides. Excellent plant.

Bluebells. Could easily become a nuisance.

Rhododendron ‘Merganser’

Chaenomeles speciosa

Lamium orvala. Seeds around modestly

Papaver atlanticum, I think. Seeds about.

Rhododendron atlanticum seedling.

Camellia ‘Adorable’

Chrysoplenium davidianum. Slugs are not touching it, a good start.

Stylophorum lasiocarpum. Easy woodlander.

Camellia ‘Annette Carol’. Like Adorable, a pitardii cross.

Cardamine trifolia. Very good ground cover IMO.

Libertia formosa

Muscari ‘Blue Spike’, still flowering after the rest are gone

Leptospermum rupestre