21.03. More clearing up

Hello, hope you haven’t been here too often the last week looking for a new post from me; I have had a very busy week and just haven’t had time to write anything. But here I am, back with an update :-) One of the things I have done the last week is to continue with clearing out the garden next door. I have filled up 15 large plastic bags with ivy, brambles and bluebells so far! The bluebells are the hardest to remove, as they have deep, large bulbs that have to be dug up. Simply removing the foliage won’t be enough, they will just come up again next year. 

But here is the garden as it was before I started today, compared to last Saturday it’s really coming along now. It’s been a lovely day today with 17-18 degrees and some sunshine so I managed to do a couple of hours work before I had to give up for the day.  It’s hard work though... really hard work, and my back is starting to complain so it’s good I don’t have time to do this every day...at least I get a few days rest in between :-)

I took some photos of my own garden today too, it’s all happening at once now with the temperature getting up in the high teens during the day. The camellia looks lovely already, but there are hundreds of more flowers to come if the frost stays away during the night. At this time of year that’s no guaranty, and I have had frost damage to the camellia almost every year. 

I planted some more hyacinths last autumn, as I think they have such a nice scent. They also last for a very long time once they start flowering. These 3 white ones are 5 years old and keep coming back every year, bigger and bigger, although the one to the left is very small this year. That’s my fault though, I chopped the bulb in half when I moved some of the other bulbs that are scattered around in that area, earlier this year! It was just an accident, I didn’t think that this hyacinth was going to survive such a butchering at all, but not only did it survive, it even produced a small flower! Amazing. I assume next year it will be back to normal then.

These hyacinths are the new ones, the pinks seem to be earlier out than the purple, but I will take another picture when the purples are completely out. I wish you could smell them though, they have a really strong scent which can be smelled from metres away! Would you like some history behind the hyacinths? In Greek mythology, Hyakinthos was a young man admired by Apollo and Zephyr, but killed by a discus in a jealous fight between the two gods. The flower was allegedly named after him when it sprang from his blood. Nevertheless, the ancient plant Hyakinthos is nowadays known as Gladiolus segetum. So now you know! :-)

Well, that’s it for tonight folks, I am off to have a long hot bath to soak my aching back and sore joints. I’ll try to be back here a bit sooner next time, even though this week is going to be rather busy too. See you soon, take care.