here be bushes

you get to hear the loveliest comments from visitors. I was tootling through the west garden today when i heard this little exchange between a woman and her daughter - only about three or four years old.
"this is a magic garden!" said the girl.
"yes it is a magic garden," said her mum. "what do you think lives here?"
i was a expecting the girl to say lions or dragons or macca pacca. but she thought for a mintue and then declared simply: "bushes!"

Plants of the moment

 Love this little woodland combo...

Ajuga reptans, Borago officinalis and
Dicentra formosa 'Alba'

Myosotis scorpioides

Matteuccia struthiopteris

 

Epimedium grandiflorum

one week old

I suspect our chickies may be eating too much. Either that or they're meat birds specially bred to put on weight - FAST. They're a week old now and have, I think, doubled in size! They certainly sh*t a lot.

Today I am drawing designs for a chicken house, based on the hall. It's going to be jacobean in style, with two service wings and a little bell tower. Love my job!

easter chickies!

There's an easter event happening in the garden this weekend, and someone thought it would be a good idea to get in a few easter chicks for the kiddies. This someone knew someone who had a chicken farm, and before you could say 'Simnel Cake' a box of eight day-old chicks arrived (they were the lucky ones. The rest are on their way to Sri Lanka packed 50 to a box).

I've wanted chickens in the garden for ages. So I swooped right in and claimed them. I went to the pet shop and got them a little heat lamp and some chick crumbs, and spent the rest of the day taking pictures of them.

As long as there are cute little cheepy chicks in the world, I reckon life ain't bad.

a monday morning prowl-about

I think this one is Magnolia x soulangeana 'Rustica Rubra' but am trying to find out.

This one is Tsuga mertensiana - or "Mountain hemlock". When the cones are young they are a lovely pinky colour...

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Gorgeous fern fronds unfolding

Physalis alkekengii

combinations

I'm going to be snapping pictures of plant combinations that I think work well, and will stick them up here. Mostly to jog my own memory, but maybe someone else will get some inspiration out of them too!

Here are two spring combos that I just adore. The Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' and Pulmonaria longifolia ('Blue Ensign', possibly?)

This lime green Euphorbia wulfenii against the red stems of Cornus alba 'Sibirica' are fab for early spring.

In love with Hellebores