As Rodgers and Hammerstein so succinctly put it, “June is bustin’ out all over”. Indeed, much of the garden is now a dazzling display of glorious technicolour. But this month has a lot to live up to. Let’s not forget the slightly more subtle splendours of May. Here are my highlights, re-lived in pictures.
My garden in early May
Delicate tree blossom …
A young apple tree smothered in delicate pink blossom, hinting at the abundant autumnal harvest to follow
The only large tree in the garden, a mature hawthorn, smothered in frothy white blossom
Nesting blue tits made the most of an abundance of insects amongst the milky white petals
The last of the Spring bulbs …
Guaranteed to make an impact: vibrant red tulips
Rather less showy, but no less resplendent, bluebells added a touch of quietly under-stated class
New growth in shady areas …
Down at the shady end of the garden, hostas started sprouting …
… and ferns unfolded
The attractive early foliage of shrubs …
The spirited new growth of Pieris ‘Forest Flame’ escaped the frosts this year
The first leaves of this Cotinus ‘smoke tree’ glowed like embers in the Spring sunshine
In the vegetable garden …
The chives were starting to bloom in the herb bed
And there were signs of sweet things to come in the strawberry patch
In the pond …
A proliferation of lily pads across the surface sheltered the fish from the attentions of a visiting heron
And last but by no means least, the Spring-flowering perennials …
Clumps of Centaurea montana (Great blue-bottle) were the first to emerge
Swiftly followed by glorious spires of lupins and ebullient mounds of Johnson’s Blue geraniums
Up popped the self-seeding aquilegia, usually at the base of another perennial(!), but they were forgiven when their nodding granny bonnets began to emerge
And my absolute favourite, towering over the other border plants, a fanfare of trumpeting foxgloves to take us into June