5th April 2020

Everything is enjoying this lovely warm sunshine.

The later daffodils are beginning to flower and the early are dying back. With favourable weather they flower from February to the end of April and I now have 40 varieties. As I have some time this year, I am going through my daffodil catalogue to identify them. With 11 divisions I am having to identify by size of trumpet / goblet cup / flat eye / corona / split corona / perianth / petaloids / doubles / flateye / reflexed and that’s before we get into height and colour!! My Gold medal daffodil supplier has 400 varieties- I wonder which was the one Wordsworth immortalised in his ‘host of golden daffodils”?

The wild garden is a picture with a sea of blue and yellow. There are primroses and primula along with stunning blue anemone blanda and scilla. If you look carefully there are white, pink and mauve fritillaria and years of lifting and dividing has paid off with a 3ft wide border along the Moat of white Leucojum-the Spring snowflake. The vegetable garden is waking up and the potatoes are appearing through the soil and will need earthing up next week. Tomorrow we hope to have our first asparagus picking – butter at the ready.

The white swan seems to be settled on her nest and is surrounded by masses of bright yellow Caltha Palustis, or marsh marigold, which is benefitting from the high-water level in the Moat. A Mallard has had her first brood – 12 yesterday but I only saw 10 tonight and the Hebridean are still going strong – 10 lambs from 6 Ewes …and they are loving this weather.

Stay healthy and good gardening,
Lynda Tucker.