One of my pleasing observations of the garden during my trip home last week was the progress of the bluebell walk over the past 5 years. Spring has sprung, the rain has come, the bulbs are out and all the deciduous trees are starting to sprout!
When we first planted up the walk 5 years ago it looked like this:
There were a couple of winters of transplanting the lines of trees, widening the walk, doubling the number of rows of birches, raising some mulched bulb beds and sowing hundreds of bulbs...
Above: Year 2
Below: Year 3
Below: Year 4, End of Winter
Below: Year 3
Below: Year 4, End of Winter
Below: Year 4, Summer
Below: Year 5, Early spring
Below: Year 5, Mid Spring (Last Week)
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How long do the bluebells flower for, each year? The massed blue-purple colour will be sensational.
ReplyDeleteHi Hels,
DeleteThey should flower for at least 6 weeks each spring. Each bulb will continue to divide every year until the walk is a dense carpet - each plant can produce 100 little bells each season!
Wow, things are growing very nicely and you must be terribly pleased to see the progress. The trees look splendid and how delightful to have room for a bluebell walk. Those were my favorite bulbs when I lived in Kent. We'd enter the woods across the road from my house and pick bunches and bunches of them to fill every room. Their scent was intoxicating, but would make my mother sneeze.
ReplyDeleteIt is bulb planting time here and your walk has inspired me to get cracking.
My grandmother speaks with great nostalgia about the bluebell woods in Kent where she grew up. The woods are now specifically protected in the UK.
DeleteHow wonderful to see the progress over the years - I do enjoy the progress of nature, and especially when it's so well documented. And it is now looking terrific. Well done chaps.
ReplyDelete