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I’m spending a long weekend with my mother in Badachro in the NW Highlands. The garden here has developed over the last quarter of a century from when Mum & Dad moved in. The first thing they did was to plant over 100 trees to try and create a bit of shelter. The resulting garden at the back has three main areas merging into each other - the bottom is where Mum has an alpine bed, the bird table and the pond as main features; the middle layer has perennials and shrubs leading up into what becomes the woodland garden.

Bottom level back garden

Middle level back garden

Middle level back garden

Woodland garden

There are two glorious lenten roses which are at their best at the moment in the perennials. I love their hanging heads & particularly like the deep ruby version.

The frogs are still cavorting in the pond with lots of frog spawn already. I spotted some newts today too but didn’t catch them on camera

The mahonia is a survivor - the deer almost destroyed the original plant. Once its head had been chopped of it has re-sprouted and is now rewarding with flowers. The other is hidden away in the wild patch.

St Gertrude’s Day

St Gertrude is the patron saint of gardening and cats so is I suppose the patron saint of Ben’s Magic Garden. I’ve come home for a long weekend so am worrying about the Magic Garden and my seedlings & baby plants already. I hate being away at this time of year but have promised myself a trip to a local plant nursery to compensate in advance from any losses incurred through my absence!

I can still plan for the future & I would love to have some erythroniums & more pulmonaria

Pulmonaria ‘Mawson’s Blue’

Plants for Free

Tidying up the Magic Garden yesterday I found several welcome progeny of plants. I took some wee ‘cuttings’ and potted up other youngsters that were not quite where I’d want them. I hope the achillea will take. I will probably give away some of the dusky cranesbill as I do have rather a lot of it in the Magic Garden already. I will try and establish a patch in the front garden too although strangely its never done as well out there.

Its been tipping down with rain today so it was almost okay to spend the day at work. At this time of year I get itchy fingers wanting to get outside as much as possible. Ben is perhaps beginning to agree with this as he was determined to go and sit in the arbour seat & watch the rain this evening. I sat with him for a bit hoping to do a bit of moon worshipping as it is a Full moon by tomorrow morning.

Busy Tuesday

Its been mild and occasionally sunny today. I was so engrossed in working in the Magic Garden this morning that I nearly forgot to go to a hospital appointment. My Magic Garden is one of the key components to keeping me well, that with photographing it and being with Ben-cat. Today, amongst other tasks, I was planting out some more of the perennials that I’m using to fill up any gap I can find. Today’s mainly went into the western quarter of the Magic Garden’s centre.

Penestemon Dakota burgandy

Campanula persicifolia caerula

The ranunculus however has gone under where the asters will come up. Its yellow flowers will stand out against its wonderful deep coloured leaves & I love the fresh green of its stems. I think I will try and find another of these for under the hazel arch.

Ranunculus Brazen Hussy

Salvia ‘caradonna pink inspiration’

More of the daffodils are coming out into full bloom now including the yellow ones with orange trumpets & the earliest of my white ones

Ben has become overly enthusiastic about the latest additions to his catnip collection so this afternoon after this demonstration of love I have now put some protection in place - suspect I will have to buy a replacement white-flowered Nepeta before long though! Still, the 50 pence heucheras might survive.

Working Monday

Another sunny day outside while I was working. At least the mornings are getting light now but the evenings are still dark by the time I’m leaving work again. Its pretty mild here and I think the season may be slightly in advance of last year. Its strange now to look at a photograph from a year ago today and to see how the old fence looked with its curtain of greenery. The arbour seat looks less worn too - I shall need to get a new set of prayer flags out & perhaps a replacement solar star mobile.

Ben was a little less inclined to go out than a year ago perhaps because his archenemy the blackbird was in full possession of the fence.

A Bit More Planting Out!

Another day which improved into sunshine this afternoon & I spent the afternoon in the Magic Garden. I planted out the echinacea into the border in front of the fence & the six foxgloves that I reared last autumn & another of the catnip plants - this one is a white flowered one.

Echinacea is used by herbalists to boost immunity & is often used to try and shorten the symptoms of colds & coughs. In the Magic Garden they are to attract more pollinators.

Ben is liable to over love the original catnip plants & burrows his face into it. I will keep an eye to see if it will need protection from him to survive.

Heuchera

I have had a busy time in the Magic Garden today planting out some of the heuchera that I have been amassing before they take over the dining room floor.

Heuchera ‘Timeless Night PBR’

Heuchera ‘Charlotte’

Heuchera ‘Red Lightening’

Heuchera ‘Walnut’

Heuchera ‘Tapestry’

Heuchera ‘Peachberry Ice’

Heuchera ‘Frilly Lizzy’

I’m not sure Ben is entirely happy with my planting them out in the corner where I’m making the new beds & where the majority of the catnip is planted.

Worrying about my Goosegogs

I planted a gooseberry bush really early on in this garden, about 17 years ago, and it got its feet down & grew. I’ve been picking more than 10 kg of fruit annually. I always think of my grandmother when I ‘head & tail’ the fruit as I remember her sitting happily occupied doing this in my parents’ garden in Edinburgh.

I am though very worried about it. Last summer I was away during a period of heat and drought and when I came back , the leaves were just wilting on the bush around the crop and the twigs just appeared dead. I have been anxiously waiting to see how it grows this year.

The smaller birds find shelter & safety within the bush & I am seeing the odd sign of life around them with a few leaves opening out but I’m conscious that the bush is not greening up as it did last year. The photo with Ben in it from one year ago does look as if the bush is greener (in the far corner) than in the other from this year. I’m hoping that most of it has survived but will cut out what transpires to be dead later in the spring to allow the rest to sprout back.

Coltsfoot

My mum has been telling me all week about the coltsfoot that has sprung up everywhere at home in the last week or two. It has here too. Coltsfoot is so-called because of the shape of its leaves but its flowers which are little beacons of yellow at the moment come before the leaves. Coltsfoot is Tussilago farara, tussis being latin for cough and traditional coltsfoot was used in herbal medicine as a cough remedy. It is though toxic so I don’t think I’ll be trying it out!

Optimism

I love this time of year in the Magic Garden because besides the sudden eruption of crocuses, irises & daffodils, this is the time when I over-optimistically start off seeds galore. I have already a reasonable germination of Rudbeckia marmalade & a less good germination of Echinacea. The seeds were freebies but if I succeed in raising them they will be lovely additions to use in my bee photographs.

Meantime I have pricked out some pelargoniums and some snapdragons. I love snapdragons & they usually go into second years in the Magic Garden so represent good value. I strongly suspect that my pelargoniums will be still a bit on the wee side come summer but if I can get them through next winter then I might have plants of a reasonable size to put in the borders and pots. That’s the ambition anyway!

Tuesday March 8th

Been busy today so just a quick post about my witch hazel, Hamamelis Intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’. Its now in its probably forever position in the Magic Garden behind the two dogwoods and next to where my white monkshoods are sprouting with vivid green leaves.

Together with it are two perennial foxgloves - ones white and the other rose pink. The crab apple hedging plants will eventually grow too big for this space.

Cold Monday

Its bitterly cold here today and we had a proper frost with temperatures down to -5C. The wind is beginning to get up again too making it feel colder still. I’m not sure how many times I’ve put the solar lit windspinner back up right & I’ve given up for the moment trying to get the sundial wing to stay in place.

The basic structure of the Magic Garden is easy to see at this time of the year. I need to get some more white gravel /stones for the central paths. I like the effect of having my cross of paths running north to south and east to west. At each corner there is a piece of slate giving the compass point

It is also as difficult as normal to see the patio as its always covered by troughs and pots. Besides the fruit bushes in their growbags, the troughs contain a mixture of flowers, & vegetables. The kale has been steadily cropping through out the winter and the salad crops had been doing ok until this last month where its lack of protection has taken its toll.

Sunny Sunday

Its been a beautiful day here with a real feeling of spring. Its not been warm but the sun has been out most of the day. The Magic Garden is really beginning to wake up from its winter sleep. Ben and I enjoyed some time sitting in the sun before I did some ‘instant’ gardening after a bit more impulse buying.

I’m going to gradually fill up the space in the back under where the jasmine used to be with perennials but went for a bit of instant colour with some new snakehead fritillaries and anemone blanda ‘blue shades’. There are 2 more catnip plants in there now too but Ben hasn’t noticed yet.

Anemone blanda means charming windflower which seems a good description of these cheerful winter flowering plants. They used to be used medicinally to treat gout which seems a bit surprising as they are quite toxic.

Working Saturday

Bit sad today to have missed out on the daylight being at work, so relying on old photographs for tonight’s post. I endeavour every year to take decent photographs of daffodils but am never that satisfied with the results. I have a lot of different types of daffodil in the Magic Garden but these are the most ‘traditional’!

I like the simple elegance of the snakehead fritillaries. Like daffodils, the bulbs are poisonous but in Chinese medicine fritillary extracts are used as cough remedies.

This final picture is of snowdrops in the front garden which are precious to me as they were transplanted in the green from home in Badachro.

Friday 4th March

Its been a tiring day & I’m working tomorrow so it was lovely to come home to a big parcel as the next contingent of plants has arrived. I was entertained by Ben’s response - he obviously realised that besides the heuchera & the salvias, there is a Nepeta for his collection. I have removed it from cat level (quite low in Ben’s case). I’m working tomorrow but am hoping that on Sunday I will have an opportunity to start planting out the heuchera carpet I am gradually developing .

Outside one of the oldest parts of the hospital I work in there are some mature magnolia trees which are always ahead of the one in the Magic Garden in budding up & flowering. I think the trees opposite the entrance are pink bird cherries. They are beautiful & I was lucky to have a short break in the rain on the way home to enjoy them. My bird cherries are part of the native hedging I have planted this year so is about 2ft tall & not yet flowering.

Day Off

Off today so after an initial lie-in & run, I decided that even if it is grey & damp, I would start doing some maintenance work in the Magic Garden. I decided to first clear the black plastic raised bed sides at the back and slightly re-jig the way the borders work. I bought some new wooden edging on Tuesday so I have now laid it out where I want it to sit. I need to encourage it to settle in & I will need to fill behind it to get it all the same sort of level - I will buy a mix of top soil & compost to do this & will need to lift somethings to get them to the right height. I think the two dogwoods will be the main things needing moving a bit..

The edging is of different generations as I already had a couple of rolls but the newest is the same colour as the fence. When I paint the fence I guess I will now have to think about painting the edging at the same time. I need to buy a wee bit more as there is still a gap at the hedgehog house end.

Ben was not entirely impressed with the activity although he was somewhat mollified by re-finding one of the catnip plants that is re-sprouting & clearly is back to making for a major attraction for Ben. I have more catnip plants to add to this back border so he should be pleased with the end results!

Ash Wednesday

Another day where I get home from work well after dark & we’e returned to having heavy showers.although not particularly windy. Remembering the saying that if March comes in like a lamb it’ll go out like a lion, I wonder what fresh storms we will have. Tonight I will just enjoy the best of yesterday & an early night!

It was so beautiful yesterday that even Ben wanted to be outside all day.

Shrove Tuesday

In complete contrast to yesterday, it was gloriously sunny today. I had all sorts of good intentions including putting new edging round the raised area at the back of the Magic Garden. I have at least now got it so you never know I might get round to it before the summer. What I actually did this morning was sit in the arbour seat in the sunshine and listen to an audiobook while watching the birds.

I couldn’t resist taking photos of the daffodils for Sr David’s day - I seem to have some of the shortest in the Magic Garden. Along the west fence they are a mix but more are of a normal height, if now horizontal.

I am particularly fond of the long-tailed tits which come into the Magic Garden as a boisterous noisy family.

Wet Monday

Occasionally its as well to be at work . I didn’t see daylight today, arriving at work in the rain and arriving home 12 hours later still in the rain. Ben shot out for use of the bushes and managed to get fairly thoroughly wet. Definitely a day to look back at the past with favourite photos from an earlier spring and looking forward with my slowly growing carpet of plants indoors. I have a cold-frame that’s crammed too but I wasn’t about to get wet to take a photo in the dark to prove it!

My first sowing of rudbeckia are up & I have a slightly mysterious seedling ready to grow on for identification. Ben has been trying to hatch my beetroot for me outside!

Sunny Sunday

Its been a lovely sunny day today - another day in which to catch my breath & enjoy what I have already got in bloom and to do some judicious cutting back & pulling up. I ‘planted’ more solar lamps in the central plot as well making it bright at night. Ben spent some time supervising me and enjoying the sunshine.