Highlights of my Garden Year

The exact time of bloom or harvest depend on the weather

January	At the front, Garrya Elliptica dangles its catkins in the Eastern corner. Viburnum Bodiensis “Dawn” displays pink vanilla scented  blossom in the back garden. Snowdrops  create a white  stream in the ‘mini-wood’.
February	Pale yellow primulas,  which may have been  flowering spasmodically  since November or earlier  are more conspicuous in the  front garden. Snow drops continue in the back. Leeks  add variety to winter vegetables.
March	Hellebores, purple, pink and white, flower by the path in the  front garden.  Early daffodils  herald Spring.
April	Bees venture out to visit cherry, plum and pear blossom. Forsythia flaunts flowers on leafless branches. Late daffodils and mid-season tulips welcome Easter.
May	Tall fluted tulips rise from a sea  of blue   forget-me-nots.  Pink and white apple blossom looks down on  scented narcissi. 'Purple Sensation' stands to attention. First lettuces. Last leeks.  A black bird sings from the tip of a holly tree.
June	Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’ flaunts fragrant blossom .  Allium ‘Star of Persia’parades  gigantic purple globes above now fading forget-me-nots. Delphiniums declare summer  and so do strawberries.
July	Crimson Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’  standsout against the greenery  of lawn and shrubs. Hanging  baskets of surfinias grace walls.  Runner beans and courgettes  provide their first produce. Tomatoes ripen. For fruit we have loganberries,   the first flush of Raspberry  JoanneJ and the intense  taste  of b lack currants.
August	Yellow daisies, (heliopsis, helenium, coreopsis and  rudbeckia) along with the first dahlias brighten bed. Plums and damsons ripen, as do thornless blackberries and first apples.
September	Dahlias are now in their prime.  Michaelmass daisies add variety. Mid-season apples clutter the ground if left unpicked. In the green house peppers hang red and yellow.
October	Coneflowers and dahlias continue Spiny Pyrecantha startles with   brightorange fruit. The second  flush of pJoanneJ raspberries  will continue into November.
November	Stately Mahonia Japonica  creates a spectacle with fanning yellow  blossom.  Late eating apples  promise to last until strawberries  ripen next year.
December	Blackbirds leave the tiny  fruits of humble cotoneaster but   strip flashy holly berries. The first fragrant flush  of  Viburnum Bodiensis  “Dawn” appears if weather  is dry.Dangling twigs of a birch tree glow orange in  low winter sun.