It's April...and that means Epimedium. Little bobbing butterflies above heart-shaped leaves...what's not to adore? It's hear-stoppingly gorgeous and deserves to be in a delicious bed under the dappled shade of an apple tree. Sadly, it's not there yet and has joined the ever-increasing ranks of my 'Ladies in waiting'. The culprit is, of course, bindweed. Here it is:
If things work out like they are in my head, then I will have tackled this by the middle of next week and then I'll be able to plant all my ladies in waiting. Apart from the epimediums, there are these lovelies:
...and so much more...waiting waiting (I feel like I'm in a Chekov play) - which brings me to the vast CRIME I discovered that I had committed today. I found several raspberry canes that i had ordered back in FEBRUARY, utterly forgotten about and still wrapped tightly in plastic. They had fallen victim to 'the move'. The poor things had tried to put on some growth, which was flaccid and completely anaemic. I almost threw them out, but there was a half hour of daylight left, The Hunk was babysitting and I dug a quick trench, added a bit of manure and planted them anyway (without even soaking the dry roots). Honestly, I don't hold out much hope for the poor little blighters in terms of fruit....but I'm sure they'll survive okay, and perhaps next year I'll have raspberries.
This was one of those days when the garden seemed to change dramatically as a result of my efforts; mostly due, I think, to the addition of lots of vertical elements which give the impression, not only of growth, but of seclusion. I've put hazel tripods in the lawn borders, and peasticks in my skinny trenches, creating an instant 'hedge' through which I shall grow sweetpeas or runner beans...who knows:
