Rhododendron

This week our family weekend trip was replaced by an Easter week away, coming back to spring after a week in the Norwegian mountains was all the more striking given the contrast with the snow and sub-zero temperatures.

A cup of tea and some Easter eggs to enjoy, walking round the garden and experiencing the spring.

The spring border is now at it’s peak, with small tête à tête daffodils, naturalising hyacinths (all planted from bulbs bought in flower at various supermarkets) and scillas as well as budding shrubs, including a small edible cherry.

This year there are fewer pinks and dark reds, the hyacinths appear to be changing their colour as they naturalise, something we need to rectify next year.

Spring bulbs in flower in what we call, only slightly facetiously, the ‘spring border’.

Flower bud on an edible sweet cherry (variety unknown).

The small potted flowering cherry by the front door was almost in flower when we left, other buds on the same plant have now caught up with the earlier flowering twigs close to the wall and it’s now a race with the tall columnar flowering cherry (prunus amanagowa) to see which opens first. I hope to have a spring garden party when they are fully open! (Hopefully in good weather).

Flower buds on a dwarf flowering cherry (variety unknown) against a warm brick wall.

Japanese flowering cherry buds on Prunus serrulata “Amanagowa”

The pear tree has also clearly enjoyed a warm week with buds also starting to burst.

The last of the winter viburnum bodnantense flowers are still glorious while the leaves are now also fully out and the faint scent is more.marked.

The red flowering currant is also at it’s spring peak. I really like the raspberry red flowers, but it’s an undeniably scrappy shrub in shape and the rather unfortunate cat pee smell makes it unappealing as a cut flower. However, as with previous years I’ve taken the risk and cut a few branches for a base in combination with the first opening (and by contrast deliciously scented) skimmia blooms, some ivy with black berries, corkscrew hazel and a fully in bloom camellia. It will be interesting to see how these all survive in a vase…

A skimmia flower head, just starting to open. The flowers have a beautiful scent.

Alpine flowering currant – it has rather small and indistinct green-yellow flowers but makes a fine dense hedge with bright green leaves in spring.and is a good foliage plant for a vase.

I love having fresh flowers in the house and growing your own is undeniably better for the environment than buying often imported or greenhouse grown blooms.

Other shrubs in flower currently include this box.We have several in the garde that seem to be affected by either or both of box caterpillar and box blight, but so far at least this one has remained unaffected.

Box (Buxus) flowers, a small but vibrant yellow.

In the back garden, the waves of the chionodoxa are really at their peak now, they must spread by themselves as we are now starting to see them in our peony bed cleared 2 years ago.

This spring time is a good opportunity to plan for new plantings in the autumn.

These daffodils are rather lost here. I plan to put in a few hundred crocus for earlier in the spring, but perhaps I should also consider some new narcissus too? I really like the pheasants eye varieties but would like some to flower in early April.

Same bed looking the other way. The tulips are not really right for this bed. Their leaves are too dominant. There are also alliums and red peony shoots in this bed so perhaps less room for narcissi than I’d like..

Similarly, the plum and pear border have a few rather lost daffodils and many tulips that may not flower this year. I’m keeping an eye on this bed for the rest of the spring to see if it needs to be refreshed next autumn too.

The camellias are all in bud but this red flowered shrub is fully out and covered in bright red flowers. It is incredibly beautiful, but I always feel the rose like flowers and glossy green leaves are somehow a little artificial or don’t really belong in the bright Scandinavian spring.

Our second rhododendron is also out now, and after removal of some tree branches shading it and a renovation prune last year, it’s looking magnificent.

Also now coming to a peak are the hellebores. Although breeding has made the flower stalks a bit more upright, many of them still nod downwards, but a few sacrificed to float in water and the flowers are an exotic revelation…

Helleborus flower heads floating in water.

Like this they last a surprisingly long time indoors.

Anyway, that’s enough of a spring update for now. Time to go and plan the next holiday!

Our back garden has a very well developed Rhododendron and azalea them. The structure was put in by the previous owners but since then we’ve added quite a few ourselves. That means that May is a month where the back part of the garden reaches peak loveliness.*

So today a guide to the currently flowering Rhodies.

Let’s start with a couple of my favourites, and they’re favourites because of their scent as well as colour.

This luteum is now out in full. And has a lily like fragrance

The bright orange contrasts beautifully with the “Astrid” variety next to it, which isn’t scented but has a gorgeous lush colour.

Astrid is the dark red colour next to the orange – I’m not sure what this variety is called

This blue variety, ramopo, also has blue tinted leaves, the flowers aren’t scented but the leaves and wood have an astringent herbal scent when rubbed. It’s very refreshing and makes.mw wonde if it would repel insects.

Then we have the favourite I’ve mentioned before. Our wonderful polar bear Rhododendron – the fragrance is wonderful, but look as the silky billowing white flowers that open from pink buds. It’s a good 3m high and laden this year. Fantastic..

It’s neighbour, also a luteum has only one flower this year and I fear it will need to be replaced, but again a beautiful lily scent and I love the delicate petals.

A smaller orange luteum flower over beautiful bright green leaves

We have many Cunningham’s white in the garden. They are sometimes dismissed as EasyDendrons and you can (and should!) trim them like a hedge, they always spring back and are super reliable. I sometimes think they’re a little boring, but look at those delicate markings on the flower! And the dark green foliage really shows the contrast well. There’s a reason they’re popular.

A streak of Cunningham’s white flowers across a well pruned shrub.

Also white flowered and unscented is this wild form Rhododendron which has very attractive pink buds that open to white cup shaped flowers. The leaves are furry on the underside too. Also a favourite and not very commonly seen.

Furry leaf, pink buds, white cups shaped flowers. Check.

Helen Moser is another pretty common variety that is also at its peak now. As the flowers age they get very attractive markings inside developing. I assume some kind of landing strip for bees?

We have several other pink azaleas but I don’t know what varieties they are. This one has very small leaves and builds a low shrub (1.5m high max) with an attractive structure too. No no

These are a deciduous azalea, we have a couple of them, just starting to open

The small leaves on this königstein are also very attractive and now it’s covered in beautiful star shaped purple pink flowers.

I also love the star shaped purple flowers on this one. It’s another standard variety that is pretty commonly seen. I think it’s the Rhododendron catawbiense species and is very tough.

This is a low growing variety in a darker corner which looks luminous at this time of year, I think it is called Connie

We have a number of very low – less than half a metre high Rhodies that are not really my favourites- I think they’re too low and don’t really add structure, but they’re smothered in flowers at this time of year:

The reds rather clash with the rest of the cool pinks and purples but they’re undeniably bold

This cool yellow was an enormous mound and got cut back hard a few years ago. It’s recovered very well (unlike some of our others), but the flowers are now starting to fade. This is an earlier flowering azalea.

The yellow flowers work well with both the red and the pink nearby.

There are several more coming into flower soon, and several that have ended. May is a fantastic month, but there’s so much to see and appreciate it can be a bit overwhelming.

Tomorrow I will cover the lilacs, also getting close to their peak!

*kinda. I think there’s always something beautiful to look at here and that’s sort of the point of this year’s attempt to write a diary.

downbythepond

The old pond– a frog jumps in, sound of water. – Matsuo Basho

East West, Home’s best…

Nearing the peak: 18th May