Garden Notes – Spring

What a spring. The blossom was superb though short lived after the very hot Easter. No one to share it with sadly. I have one late magnolia that comes out with the apple blossom. It is a large flowered yellow with a pink flush at the base called Sunsation. I only got it because it was in a sale at a garden centre and a cousin urged me on. It was still expensive!! It is now about 12 ft high and still going and is covered with flowers. The best things about it are that it flowers late and misses the frosts and unlike many other yellow ones the leaves come after the flowers.

Though the garden centres are closed we can still get plants and seeds by mail order. It takes a bit longer than normal though. I have just had a delivery from Rosie Hardy’s nursery. They offer free delivery in a twenty mile radius and we are just in this. Rosie’s husband Rob brought them and unloaded them safely.

My old cosmos seed did not germinate so I had to order more. The usual types had sold out so I shall be growing doubles and bicolours. It does us good to try something new.

You may be sowing things late but they often catch up or just give you later flowers. Have you noticed that instead of precise instructions about how to do things in the garden the experts are now saying what we have known all along. Use what you have, do it your way and it will still work.

I really miss being able to see other gardens and share mine, but this is an ideal time to do that project that will make you garden look a mess for a while so that no one will see it until next year when it will be looking good.

Stella Strachan

[Please note that this message is not posted on behalf of Bentworth Parish Council and does not necessarily reflect the Parish Council’s policy]