Hello and welcome to this weeks blog about my gardening exploits when I have been furloughed.

This blog is lighthearted view of my gardening exploits that will include a few mishaps, failures and successes.

The weather has been great over the past few weeks with warm temperatures and sun most days. The highlight of the week has been taking time and looking at the wildlife in the garden. On Sunday I actually saw 2 Peacock butterflies flying around together. I can’t remember seeing butterflies in my garden this early in the year but that’s probably be because I have been that busy with work in the past. As always the Bumble Bees this time of the year are the size of the small birds and fly around clumsily looking for food as they have just woken up from their winter slumber, they remind me a bit when I used to many moons ago go out in the town and at the end of the night look for a Kebab shop.

Here are 3 Highlights of the Garden.

1. Sempervivum Bronze Pastel

This was one of the first names hen and chickens I bought last year and TBH I thought I had lost it to the cold the winter of last year. So imagine my delight when I noticed it looking healthy in a corner of one of the seed trays I use to grow some of the plants. It really is putting on a show as you can see and you can also see why it is called Bronze Pastel. I have now put it into a terracotta pot, labelled it up but I have also taken a couple of offsets and put these back in the seed tray.

2. Sedum Palmeri

This is one of the most spectacular plants I have in the garden and the moment. The buds as you can see the bids are just about to burst open and show the spectacular yellow flowers which displayed on stalks that look like chandeliers. The leaves also turn a rich red colour at the bottom of the stalk before they die off and the lush green leaves will make sure new rosettes are produced. It can get a little bit leggy so after flowering I will probably trim some of the stems back and plant them directly back into the soil in the pot to make new growth.

3. Unusual combination

As any novice gardener knows sometimes the best combinations are made quite innocently. The picture shows Sempervivum Noir beside a flowering Aubretia and the unusual contest works as you can see. I always have to pause and have a look at this when I walk past.

That’s it for this week. The weather is a Lille bit cooler and cloudier today but that will not stop me going out in the garden.

Stay safe everybody and please look out for my Six on Saturday this week.