Our English garden in spring

This has been a funny spring and as you know we didn't think we'd be back for it, but due to everything that's gone on with the Coronavirus it felt like the right thing to do to return. It has meant though, that as well as spending time with my family (albeit at a 2 m distance) I've also been able to experience a pretty British spring again (and possibly a summer) before we go back. It's been largely beautiful weather and I did lot and lots of planting, I was even ordering seeds on the plane on the way home!

Collecting elderflower for cordial

Anyway, thought it would be nice to pop some here so I can remember it all and have it one place, and also thought some of you might like to take a look too... As always I'm a little late as we're now quite firmly in summer, but better late than never! 

I will also warn you that this post is really quite photo heavy! It's also a mixture of iPhone pictures taken in the garden alongside some camera ones I took of flowers I'd cut and taken inside 

March- April 

I'll try to work roughly in order of what appeared when, on return in late March we had narcissi, tulips and muscari already growing and popping up all the time. It was the most lovely promise of what was to come. I picked a little posy immediately and kept replenishing for the next month or so. 

The multi headed daffs came, starting with two heads and then the heads became more and more until I almost couldn't count them any more...

The muscari had self seeded like crazy and was popping up everywhere

and I couldn't stop picking it!

Pretty ice cream coloured tulips 

And some brighter ones 

Lily of the Valley, we didn't have very much, even though I am still thinking about planting some indoors, I did manage to get some from our local farmshop though

May 

The peonies starting sprouting in April, coming through red at first before turning green and starting to flower in May

I thought they looked especially nice next to the blue delphiniums

I gave the borage a little corner of it's own to self seed and do it's thing in, I planted both white and blue varieties to make sure I had a healthy Pimms supply!

The strawberries started flowering and getting ready to fruit. We planted loads, including little baskets like this for the table, I keep thinking that strawberries will be one of the food/ flowers/ things that really reminds me of quarantine/ lockdown, as we ended up having so so many! I really wanted some pink flowered ones, for no good reason really other than I like the flowers, but they'd sold out of most things everywhere. 

Here's the same plant a few weeks later 

The ranunculus started really budding up and producing

Quite quickly I was collecting huge bunches every few days :) 

Pretty purple rock cress, strictly speaking a weed, but lovely for little jam jar posies and already out when we got back in March. 

More seedlings, just starting to sprout and get ready for summer. These were more ranunculus and anemones...

The chive flowers started budding up

And then popping open 

The delphiniums began to pop 

Followed closely behind by the first sweet peas which started at the end of April

More sweetpeas ready to plant out 

I tried my hand with scented geraniums 

Which quickly started to flower, I have gone quite mad for geraniums this year, their smell is so evocative, it really reminds me of being young and I think I've craved that sort of nostalgia during this weird time. 

The love in a mist started, one of my very favourites 

Of course the foxgloves had popped up everywhere, I had planted a few last year and they had self seeded like mad so there was loads this year

I planted lots of salad leaves, a few weeks apart to make sure we had a steady supply

We also did lots sowings of radishes, they pop up so fast, I really like these heirloom varieities. 

The poppies started, I really wanted some of the fluffy peony like poppies but didn't manage to get any. I was happy with these though!

The laburnum began flowering which was just beautiful, I love it against a blue sky and especially when there's some wisteria close by 

 Hello aquilegia! These weren't  around for long but super pretty whilst they were 

Also lupins, they're only just stopping now, I did have some greenfly issues with some of mine and ended up giving up and cutting some back as it was so hard to move them on. 

The start of the wisteria, this is cheating slightly as it wasn't in the garden, but down the road, but you can't talk about flowers in spring without including wisteria?!

Also, the blossom <3

And of course the magnolia blossom

The apples started, they look like little olives as they're growing! 

The bluebells started, we are so lucky to have a bluebell wood really close to us and I was there every day whilst they were out 

Towards the end we got the elderflower which made it feel very much like summer was on it's way, that smell is just heaven. 

And of course, how can I forget the lilac, I was desperate for this to bloom as i wanted to make all things lilac such as gin and cordial. I did make lilac infused water and had it most days that the lilac was in bloom. 

Phew, well done if you made it this far! I know a lot of these pictures are just the flowers and not so much the garden as a whole. Please do comment if you'd like to see that? If I have a spare several hours I might repeat this with a sort of summer version!

In the meantime I have done a little post showing the dahlias in July if you'd like to see which ones came first!