Flora,I loved your photos and the color of those tulips. I would love to see more photos of your garden and about. How far away are you from Charleston House?
I love your country. I have never been so dwarfed as I was amidst those hundreds of year old trees at Kew Gardens. Simply amazing.
Please post more...

Jim

Hi Flora~ Thank you for your pretty photos from your earlier post, and this set of photos is fantastic as well!!! My favorite are the potted apricot tulips, underplanted with the purple viloas, I think---but they are all beautiful!!! Your climate in England is so conducive to gardening, everything seems to be thriving---how lucky you are!

Here in Southern California we are having a record-breaking heat-wave at the moment:( They say relief is coming by mid-week--thank goodness! Almost all of my daffodils are fried, but hte roses are finally beginging to open.

Happy gardening, everyone! Becky

Really charming Flora, thanks for giving us a peek. I love, love, love your planted chimney pot.

Annette

Flora, I've been enjoying all of your photos, they're just beautiful. Can you tell us what the name of the apricot colored tulips are? I love the how long and slender the blooms of them are. Most in my area bloom short and squatty and much more vividly colored. Your's are so much more romantic looking. It looks like you are having a lovely spring over all. Please enjoy it as much as possible.

MeMo

Jim - did you see the Golden Pheasants???

Nancy.

Flora, love the pictures. Thanks for showing us.

Sue

Flora,

I don't have a chimney pot, but I did find an old terra cotta sewer main pipe and am using it as a substitute chimney pot. I've had it for several years, but finally got around to setting it up and filling it with soil. I just planted coral pink & white Diascias that I wintered over in the greenhouse, blue-violet Violas, and Verbena in it this past week. I love your Easter flowers. I bought 3 big pots of colorful blooming Tulips for Easter. They are finished now, sad to say, but I will save the bulbs and maybe set a few into my "chimney pot" come this Fall.
I love the violets in between the paver stones. Delightfully charming.
Lovely images of your lovely garden.

Now, I'm off to bed!
~Annie

Oh my! Your photos are wonderful! Thank you for sharing. I love the tiny violets in between the pavers.

Thanks for kind comments as usual. It's nice of you to appreciate my tiny little patch. My entire garden is probably smaller than a single flower bed for most of you.

Annie - I use my 'liner' trick with the chimney pots, like the window boxes. They are not actually full of earth but have cheapo plastic pots sitting in the top so I can change the displays easily.

I'm afraid I have no idea what the tulips are. I just picked them by the picture and flowering time info. in the garden centre and threw away (composted actually!) the label. As you can probably surmise I am a very low energy gardener. I don't make notes or plans and I let things grow where they want to and just remove them if I don't like them. That's how the violets got between the paving stones. When I actually tried to grow some Campanula portenschlagiana there of course it wouldn't take, even though it grows by itself out of all the walls round here.

I had to google Charleston House. It seems I am about 80 - 90 miles away. I've only been to Kew once many years ago. There are so many gardens to visit that you don't need to go far to find one. There are some wonderful old trees in our local parks, many planted in the mid 18th century so now very large.

Best wishes

Flora

flora, we have had company so I just now got around to seeing these spring pictures. They simply epitomize what I think of when someone says Spring flowers! I do love the pot in the chimney pot and that you can change it out when something goes by. Good idea.

Thanks for letting us see your little corner of the world.

Flora,

You are such a smartie! I wish I had thought of the liner pots. Darn! That makes perfectly good sense.
I changed out some of the plants today. I bought some Lobelia and put those in with the violet-blue violas and pink Diascia. It looked a bit boring, so I spiced it up with one Johnny-Jump-Up with vibrant yellows and dark centers. It looks much better. I think it needs something, but not sure what. Maybe when all the surrounding plants start blooming it will be enough. I will just watch and see how it looks next month. The joys of gardening - being able to move things around until you are satisfied with the outcome...for awhile.

I planted creeping lemon thyme in between my pavers last fall. It has filled in nicely, but I do LOVE the dog violets between yours. I have been collecting violets for several years. I now have four colors or varieties. I have no idea what their proper names are; I just dig them up when I find a new color or size. I just love their colors and variations. I allow them to grow willy nilly where they will, and only cull them out where I want to plant a new flower.
So, you can see why yours growing between the pavers would especially appeal to me.

You wrote:
"I don't make notes or plans and I let things grow where they want to and just remove them if I don't like them."

I garden the very same way.

~Annie
who loves violets

I guess you can include me in as another violet lover, we've allowed white violets to grow in the front (lawn) along with the dreaded creeping Veronica and I intentionally planted English Daisies in it last year, two or three plants survived. Crocus have also seeded themselves there, it will be interesting to see what else pops up.
My neighbor brought in a load of soil to level out her front yard, she planted grass seed just so she could mow it to keep it tidy. This spring there's patches of the little wild dead nettle blooming all over it. I know a lot think WEED but it looks so pretty I'm going to see if I can snitch a plant or two for my 'lawn carpet'.
I have lots of violets, white, purple, mauve and rose growing willy nilly in places all over, I just pull when they get to be too much in any one spot.

Annette