Dahlias 2013.  The most flowers from the big shaggy pale orange one we can't identify. A bit floppy as a cut flower. New Baby and Glorie van Heemstede didn't produce a lot of blooms. Karma Fuchsiana didn't either. Hillcrest Royal was good, and so was the large dark purple pompom. Taratahi Ruby was also very good. My favourite this year was the unnamed one we got from Hazel. It makes a very good cut flower, lasts well. They all responded very well to a liquid feel of tomorite at the end of August. Do more of that next year.

This year the plants grew much higher than ever before and needed more support. Remember that next year.

Our replacement dark blue plum sucker put on a reasonable amount of growth this summer, the best for years, though that's not saying much.

Department of good resolutions and new beginnings:
I have planted 10 Menton tulip bulbs in the bed by the Rosa Mundi. Six precious Sprengeri bulbs have gone into the "meadow", well marked and protected from squirrels by mesh. Sorbet which is like Marilyn should go in a pot. I have 40 lily flowered bulbs: Aladdin, Jacqueline, Elegant Lady and Ballerina for the bed beside the shed.
Along with them will go Toronto, Quebec and Girlfriend, but I'm afraid I've made a mistake in getting Greigii tulips: they might be too short for the size of the flower. We shall see.
Fifty allium sphaerocephalum (I think) have been put in everywhere, each one with a label, as well as 10 white allium in the north border of the conservatory garden.

I've started cutting down the dahlias and must remember to get some tubers of the orange one to Corinne in the spring.

Dahlias are starting, the consolation of August. Taratahi Ruby first off the mark, five foot high. Hillcrest Royal and New Baby both have flowers. Chat Noir is opening. We will finally see what we have after the hard winter for the tubers in the shed.

18 April.  This is how far we have got. The siberian-sourced hawthorn on the roadside is green. The larches show a green haze. The viburnum mariesii has small leaves. The hornbeam leaves are just sprouting. The native hawthorn is still bare, as are the birch, sycamore, oak, ash, beech.  This on a date when normally the countryside is fully green.
Daffodils haven't been stopped, thank goodness.

Spring. Not.

Garden news for 2013 so far. After a few pleasant days in Feb, January returned. March was a story of frost and bitter east winds.  No change so far in April.  Some roses are beginning to sprout a little and that's all. No sign of a leaf on a tree.  The daffodils have struggled up, brave souls they are.  In an average year, mid April sees all the shrubs and trees in leaf except the oaks.
The camellias at the top of the garden are flowering though. We're waiting for them to grow 8 feet high and wide like the ones at Bodnant. Fine feathers rhodo in that same border is looking well also.

Rhododendron 'Choremia'

I bought this Rhododendron maybe 30 years ago and it has grown slowly to about 3ft and the same across.  It flowers in February most years but is early this year. The silver indumentum is a feature and the deep scarlet-crimson is particularly good when the sun catches it. This clone came from Bodnant and is a cross of R. haematoides and R. arboreum ssp. arboreum. I don't know if it is the Tower Court clone that has an AGM.