Diary Of A Wild Country Garden

Magnolias are simply beautiful! The tree itself is lovely and provides us with gentle shade in the summer and the blossoms in April and May are stunning. From the tight buds with the promise of flower in March to the slow reveal during April to opening up to their full beauty, they are a Springtime delight I will never tire of.  I am lucky enough to have inherited a gorgeous mature magnolia in our garden. It has the most beautiful pale pink and creamy white cup-shaped blossoms. The blooms are very soft to touch and surprisingly strong. I have seen birds take them away to their nests, no doubt they make a good soft and secure base for eggs.    Now anywhere I go I will if at all possible plant a Magnolia. Most take several years before flowering but one or two like the Black tulip a deep pink bloom does flower early in their life. They do not generally like sandy soil or alkaline soil - do not put mushroom mulch on them. Leaf mould is good to mulch with.  ...

Springtime always sees the birds busy nest building. I have seen many birds gathering nest building materials from around our garden. This woodpigeon in the photograph found a nice large twig to start the nest with! I always find its a bit of a balance for me in the garden at this time of year. Part of me has an inclination to tidy everything up and get it looking nice after the winter.  However, the larger part of me wants there to be habitat and materials for our garden visitors to use.  I know many of our neighbors keep a very tidy garden so especially at the front I do keep things neater there, but the back is very private and can be more for wildlife. I have written a post earlier you may like to read about Are We Too Tidy In Our Gardens?  I know that nature likes and needs a bit of untidiness and that is useful to the birds and animals that visit and live in our garden. So, in general, our garden is a little on the untidy side or as I like to think it on the ...

In between lots of things in life things going on I have still enjoyed our garden. In fact, a garden is often a place of solace, of peace and quiet for me.   In the winter, I have to admit my time in the garden is much less, usually to fill up the bird feeders!! So when I emerge in the Spring the birds do chatter at me and my hubby. It is as if the garden is theirs and we are intruders, but of course, it is really their garden after all.     So it is good to take in the Spring garden, to look, to listen, to evaluate and we have been doing all of that and doing all the necessary after winter work. It is lovely to enjoy the Spring, the new shoots, the blooms, the new life emerging from the earth. In the trees and shrubs, birds are busy nesting and the beautiful sound of birdsong fills the air from dawn to dusk now. A Bird In The Bath Postcard by RaintreeDesigns Make your own postcards custom at Zazzle We continue to feed the birds as it is a busy t...