Every Thing is Blooming Lovely.

I think it has to be more pictures than words today. Everything has started to flower all at once. I’m sure it will be all over by June !!!

       Dicentra Spectablis Alba.

       Akebia Quinata.

           Stylophorum Lasiocarpum.

       Peony Cambessedesii

       Ramonda Myconi

   Peony Lutea Ludlowii

        Lonicera Ledebourii

    Rosa Banksiae.

     Rosa Fruhlingsgold

I cannot keep up with each days new blooms. Many years ago I tried to sketch or paint every type of flower that opened in the garden in one year, I gave up that May. Once it starts there’s no stopping it. So this May Bank Holiday go out and savour all the new fresh growth, be it trees or plants or even just the green of the grass. It does the senses good.

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Calke Auricula Theatre.

It was a lovely morning so we decided to take a drive to Calke Abbey to see the Auricula Theatre. I wasn’t disappointed, in fact a very nice guide, Tony Wood, took us behind the scenes of the the estate. We were taken into the new greenhouse that has been built to house the auricula during the winter months. In here there are the auricula and lots of canna and dahlia waiting in the wings.

All the auricula were in alphabetical order. The plants in the theatre don’t have labels for aesthetic reasons.

The blue of the shelves is ‘Calke Abbey Blue’. Fragments of it can be found on the walls in one or two of the gardeners bothys.

Another passion the Pelargonium.

Old brick walls covered in wisteria.

  Barrels of comfrey tea. Ideal as a feed or sprayed on the foliage.

A really good pale Akebia Quinata.

Cowslips in the grounds around Calke.

I hope you are inspired to go and have a look at the auricula, but be quick as the warm weather is bringing them on faster than normal. But for me Calke grounds and garden are never a disappointment. Rain or shine.