Magical Mystery Garden

We only moved into this house in November last year. The garden at that time was looking pretty bare, except for one "perpetual" primrose.










The fun began when spring arrived. Every day there was something new to discover. A few early crocuses (very welcome), some hyacinths, a couple of snazzy red tulips under the cherry tree, daffodils and narcissus everywhere and, best of all, a carpet of sweet-scented violets over by the herb garden.

Things settled down come summer but it was still nice to have a succession of shrubs come into bloom.

I haven't done much with the herb garden this year - early days yet - I just tidied up the established plants and cleared out the rubbish (like the huge mound of mint that turned out to be lemon scented, ick!). If something interesting came up in the bare patches I just left it.

I was quite surprised when one such specimen, which I suspected was probably just a weed with fancy leaves, turned out to be this chrysanthemum. Well chuffed I was! The magenta flower behind it belongs to a blackcurrant sage - so named because the leaves smell of, you guessed it, blackcurrant. Actually, that was another semi-surprise. The plant itself was a housewarming gift from my friend's mother so I knew it was there (!) but I had no idea it would have such vibrant flowers. And so long-lasting - it started blooming in late May, put on a great show even through the month-long heat wave we had in July and is still going strong.