Putting on a spurt...

It's a mild showery day. I can almost hear the plants putting on a growth spurt as the rain falls.

Every day I notice differences as I meander up the path to the potting shed. Our hens are all looking a bit "droochit" (wet). If it gets too bad they go and perch in the hen house and look miserable. It's something to do with the body language and the fact they are wet rather than any facial expression. But then hens did originally come from warmer climes such as South East Asia. No wonder they look happier when the sun's shining.

Even in a garden the size of ours the micro-climates vary quite  a lot. The giant cabbage with the froth of white flowers Crambe cordifolia, ) looks very different at the top end of the garden from the one planted nearer the house.

 

The Clematis alpina "Constance" is ready to put on a great show again this year. It's getting big and a bit straggly. Maybe I'll have to give it a haircut this year.

The teasles and the thistles cirsium rivulare (below) at the back of the borders have formed great rosettes of leaves.

The spears of the Soloman's Seals (polygonatum odoratum) are coming up all over the shade border in among the hellebores and friillaries.  The arching stems and drop flowers of Soloman's Seal are so elegant. It's a plant that I would never want to be without.

So what else is putting in an appearance in the garden?  The deep white buds of the peony Jan Van  Leeuwen have pushed their way through the protective mulch and get bigger by the day. The clumps of the black iris Chrysographes are appearing through last years foliage. They will never be black but a deep velvety purple. There's a rash of seedlings round the clumps of astrantia major. Even though there are no true leaves showing yet that is what they are. Lots of weeding to be done at a future date... I always keep a few to pot up for friends and plant sales.