Humidity is rising, barometer’s getting low…
Not for the first time this month
It’s gonna start raining – AGAIN
Apologies to the Weather Girls
I am not sure if I am ever going to get the garden ready for summer this year. After almost two whole dry days – I managed to move a few plants on Sunday when the soil was almost not sodden – heavy rain overnight has made the garden a bog again. And the forecast is rain all week. But I did take a few photos on Sunday. And I caught a total of seven mice in the (humane – non-killing) traps in the greenhouse so although I will not rest on my laurels, I hope any new seeds sown will stand a chance of germinating. And I will scuttle into the greenhouse to transplant some seedlings later today.
I have posted about Vinca major subspecies balcanica before but it has done so well in the past year that it is one of the few things in the garden that actually cheers me up. It is not terribly effective ground cover and has not been able to smother the creeping buttercups that have to be extracted from time to time but it does create an attractive carpet of flowers. The arching stems root along their length and then send up shorter flowering stems, spangled with pretty, intensely violet flowers.
I still have two, slowly spreading, clumps that are creating interest and make a good backdrop to ‘wild’ daffodils and the effect is pleasant enough. Though a ‘form’ of Vinca major it is less dense, lower and less rampant in habit than other forms I have grown.
Primula ‘Avondale’ has appeared on these pages before too, in fact nine years ago. I have found it the most useful and ‘tough’ of the Irish Primroses and I have divided it regularly so it appears in many parts of the garden, always delighting me with its small and charming blooms.
I have mentioned the plums already this year but things are looking good at the moment with ‘Jubileum’ plastered with blossom, like the rest. I hope this wet weather will not damage the blossom as much as the usual frosts that limit pollination. I am pleased to see that the bumblebees are flying, despite the deluge, and are busy on the honey berries so I hope some take an interest in the plums too.
This weekend will be the fourth of the year selling flowers for charity. The daffodils are still supplying the majority of the bunches. Picking is slower than usual because so many flowers have been chomped by slugs and snails. Even if half-eaten they look OK in the garden but can’t be put in bunches.
But the tulips are starting too. The pink daffodils are proving popular. I was not sure if they would sell well because they are a bit unusual. But people seem to like them and a lot of people have not seen them before.
This weekend there will be lots more tulips in the bunches if we get a little warm weather. There are plenty coming along in the two raised beds.
The Biking Gardener 
I despair of the garden as I have watched the water running along the surface with no possibility of soakage in the waterlogged conditions. That’s a good blue on the Vinca!
I think I said last year that I have the same Vinca which I thought is ‘major Balcanica’ and you confirmed for me. I had looked out for one for sale for some years after seeing in a garden in Wales. Loved the violet colour. Finally begged a root from a garden I visited here! They had a huge patch in a small wooded area, so I knew not to plant in a flower bed and it’s in a wild area outside my garden boundaries. You might be well advised to do similarly judging by how it’s spread! Fantastic tulip buds. Similar slug damage on my few daffs like never before – same for my gardening friends. it’s so well drained here no bother with gardening here all winter! No wonder drought is such a problem in summer.
Although I do have it in the garden but in two areas where it won’t do too much harm and it can run free. I envy your free-draining soil! When I was in the East Midlands and had Fen soil I could go and dig it almost in the rain. But it was dust dry in summer. I can cope with heavy soil but this rain is testing me severely. And there doesn’t appear to be a let-up in sight.
apologies, That comment came up as anonymous and this one might too – the format seems to have changed and no box for name & email address. It’s Meriel!
I did wonder who it was ! I hope all is well with you. The fuchsia ‘Lady Bacon’ are coming along so you will have some later in the spring
I was unaware of subspecies of Vinca major. Because the species is an invasively naturalized exotic species here, I am more concerned with removing it from landscapes than studying it. I know that ours blooms blue, but one cultivars blooms white, and another blooms purple. That is all.