In the garden: rescue missions

[callmemadam]

At the end of last summer, which had been such a poor one for the garden, I bought a cheap basket of violas (Waitrose) to brighten the place up. The apparently dead contents later ended up on the compost heap. A couple of days ago I saw flowers growing out of the pile a few layers down, as seen above. Potted up some roots this morning and hope to have a flourishing pot for a while. I love such rich, dark colours and have some self sown ‘Blood Red’ wallflowers already out in a couple of sheltered spots.



Those pesky deer! In this garden, tulips will only grow in pots. One morning this sight met my sorrowing gaze:



‘Abu Hassan’, too, one of my favourites. So I’ve had to put poke-your-eye-out sticks in the pot to protect the other stems. The trouble with deer is that they choose a different favourite kibble each year so you never know which plants to guard.



The garden is crying out for more important jobs to be done (get those nettles and brambles early!) but one thing at a time and weather permitting. I'm already deadheading daffodils. While I had the camera outside I should have captured the snakeshead fritillaries, which are in their pomp just now. From April on, something new every day.