Carol's Blogger Bloom Day

Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" said the White Rabbit.
I hope I shall not be too late (well just a day) to post on Carol's Blogger Bloom Day! I had intended to do it but didn't remember until I saw other blogs this morning. Blame the visitors and the chocolate mousse - it addles the brain.

 This first photo was taken looking up the garden form the shade area.

 Lets start with a very special little hardy geranium that we have a connection with.  It's called "Tanya Rendall" This was bred by Richard Rendall in Orkney and named after his daughter. We knew Richard when we lived there and bought plants from him. This is the first flower this year.

There are several epimediums in flower at the moment. The leaves of epimedium peralchium themselves  are very striking.

The flowers of epimedium younganum "Niveum" so tiny and delicate. No wonder they are also known as fairy wings.

 Two cirsiums ruivularis are in flower and as you can see from the photos these vary slightly in colour.

 The elegant arching stems of the Solomon's Seal with their white and green bell flowers have been gracing the garden for a few weeks now. They look so effortlessly graceful. You can never have too many clumps. Ours are in the shade part of the garden with hostas, and gunnera for company.

 

My favourite Rose "Canary Bird" is not finished yet. It's been covered in blooms for the last few weeks

 

 Likewise the tree peony.

The only clematis in full flower at the moment is this white montana. It grows from a crack in the  wall between out neighbours and ourselves. So we have adopted it.

Life in the Scottish garden would be incomplete without at least one photo of mecanopsis sheldonii. This one is a real electric blue and lights up the shade.

 

 Our garden is probably at it's best in June. These buds are a prelude to that.

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.