Springtime Awakenings!

29 Mar '07 7:34 am

Faith!Thank you so much for your comments! Well, that standard plant in the pot , at the entrance garden , is a lovely Viburnum (Yesss! Dixie!) . It starts blooming by late November and is still in bloom! I placed it there, in order to lighten up that corner all winter long.. The tiny babies at its base , are -- apart from the pansies-- a yellow Erissinum, and a miniature Rose bush (40-50cm tall), with brilliant red flowers.

Concerning the Violas are -- miraculously!-- self seeded at the right places, all around the edge of the heart border! And I love so much this border, because it has plants , that there are nowhere in the other borders, like Gauras, Agapanthus, light-blue coloured Salvias blooming later in the season (compared to May Night), white Floxes, Veronicas Spicata , Lobelias Speciosa, tall red and orange Galliardias, pink and purple short garden Geraniums, etc. In the middle , and left to the Lilac of the photo, there is the tall and large Queen des Violettes Rose, my only Rose Ancienne! Now I am waiting for the tulips (Darwins) and tall Daffs to bloom! They are planted just last Autumn.

And , I would love so much ...Canada Geese visiting our garden!

29 Mar '07 7:42 am

Dixie, dear friend!Yes, that standard plant in the pot IS a Viburnum, like I wrote to Faith. I know how we both love the blue in the garden! Your deck/balcony is so beautifully painted blue, and your Fairy Garden has lots of lovely brillliant blue! Your blooming borders are not a...blue exception...Love them! Very Happy

29 Mar '07 8:11 pm

Wow! My dear Liza, it's pure joy seeing all your springtime awakening beauties! Moving on from your frosted and wintery garden appearance and now to see a festival of springtime colours in your garden is simply captivating! As I delight in all that you've displayed and ponder on the amazing changes that have taken place through all the seasons and the wonderful work you've done and achieved in your garden, I can only exclaim "BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!" Thank you soooo...very much, dear friend for sharing all these! Love all your gorgeous pics though the dwarf red tulips and blue violas truly captured my heart! Very Happy

30 Mar '07 2:03 am

Liza my friend, how silly of me! Of course there are so many more varieties of daffodils than I know - even the plain yellow ones must have lots of different names, not to mention the white ones, or peachy ones, or....! Embarassed

And, of course, they would all have slightly different growing and blooming schedules. I suppose because they're such a common flower, in my mind they tend to get pigeon-holed a bit, despite my love of them as Spring heralds!

With regards to my garden being sheltered, you're right to a certain extent, being surrounded by other houses, but we are right on the top of a hill and the wind can come whistling through, I can tell you! Shocked

My main daff bed is rather full I think, I've been toying with the idea of moving some of them to the front garden as I have a little patch of grass surrounded by a wall at the front and, next season, it is one of my plans to make it prettier. I think it would be nice to be welcomed home by a bright display of daffs, don't you?

I simply MUST get some more tulips too - I only have a few and they are being swamped at the moment (I took some pictures the other day but can't get them off my phone at the moment as I don't have the right software here at work Rolling Eyes

). So, my jobs for the autumn are starting to pile up already!! Hee hee Very Happy

30 Mar '07 2:25 am

Yes, Liza, I went back and enlarged the picture to full screen and I can now see that it is indeed a Viburnum. I have never thought of doing one in a pot as a standard. Very pretty! I agree with Dixie about the beautiful blue pot with orange pansies? next to the blue gate. Such a beautiful combination. You have a real knack for doing small vignettes. I also noticed when I went back to take a second look at all the pictures, the broken jar with pansies growing in the hole. I love that as well. There is so much detail in your garden that I think it would be necessary to spend a couple of hours trying to take it all in.

2 Apr '07 7:42 pm

They're all lovely but my favourites are the forgetmenots and the violas. Ooh and the Chionodoxa.
I love blues! Can't go wrong with blues. Smile

3 Apr '07 7:49 pm

Hi, dearest ones! Hi, Anna!

Yes, indeed , Anna, I think I can't imagine any garden without the colour blue! It is the best friend of ALL the other colours!

Yesterday, I was gardening hard during the whole day! And the day was SO lovely! At the lunch-break I took the following photos of the Heart Border, which has started implementing the painting colours of my... Spring imagination for it! The dwarf tulips at its edges are all in bloom, and almost all the daffs! I'm waiting now for the tall tulips and the Lilac to bloom ! And then, it will be the apotheosis of the...Spring border!

I'm leaving for Easter to Athens today, and I wish to everybody a happy Autumn and Spring gardening! See you next week!

3 Apr '07 11:10 pm

Gorgeous, Liza! I simply love the tulips (and your macro shot was wonderful, the way you can see the little dusting of pollen right inside it!) and the way you've got one or two daffs just dotted around creates a lovely effect. Everything's looking so happy in your heart border, plus I love the little daisies in the grass alongside. I know they're considered a weed, but I've always thought they were so pretty - much nicer than the dandelions that are trying to take over my lawn! Rolling Eyes

4 Apr '07 1:52 am

Isn't spring wonderful! Except of course for the itchy eyes and runny noses. Pollen counts have been extremely high here of late, with no rain to wash clean the air. I love your awakening heart border, Liza. On closer inspection I see that the self sown violets you mentioned earlier are actually what I call violas. So pretty. My violets are different. They are the ones with fat rosettes of leaves and many purple blooms that seed rampantly. Also very pretty, but needing heavy restraint.

Springtime Awakenings!

Impressive Awakenings!

Viburnum

Heart border's Spring progress!

Spring!