THE NAKED AND THE DEAD

That made you look didn’t it?  But I can assure you that there is no naked gardening going on down here in ‘sunny’ Bournemouth, well at least round our house – I can’t vouch for the neighbours round these parts.  There is however, plenty of evidence to suggest that my blueberry bushes are dead! 

Looks like a goner to me

At first it looked like a bad case of over-sleeping vegetation.  Let’s face it, I’ve only just switched the heating off thinking that spring has finally arrived and thought that perhaps blueberries also waited until warmer climes too before bursting into growth.  However, looking at the sorry state these bushes are in, no amount of TLC is going to resurrect them from what appears to be an early grave.  I think a trip to the garden centre for replacements may be on the agenda (no change there).

Loch Maree blackberry plant

On the other hand, my blackberry plants are certainly not letting the grass grow under their feet.  The Loch Maree variety is already covered in flowers, a good sign that fruit may be on the way later and the Oregon Thorn-less is pushing out new branches all over the place.  Father-in-law’s raspberries are also reaching for the skies. I definitely feel a fruit salad coming on.

Now that the drought has been officially declared as over in Dorset, we’ll either be facing monsoon conditions or an incredible heatwave for the rest of this month as weather never seems to do anything by halves.  Thanks to the ‘drought’ my garden is lush.  Vibrant azaleas are peeping out between the rhododendron bushes, many of which are preparing to flower and the aquilegias are like a miniature rainforest.  Next door’s passion flower which I’ve trailed along the top half of the wall is an explosion of pale pink blooms.

Lush vegetation

Passion flower power

 It’s all coming up roses as they say – in fact, I noticed that the climbing rose I bought last year has a few pink buds forming and is already twice its size without any intervention from me.  Amazing!

My collection of charity shop ceramics