Early April at Sarah and Mike’s

Here at Swan View the wildlife and garden is providing a great source of enjoyment and pleasure to us.

Over the winter Mike carried out renovations to our bird box and it was very pleasing to us when we saw that our blue tits had selected it as their nesting site. The box is visible from our conservatory. It is positioned with some screening from a twisted hazel tree which provides a useful perch for the birds as they check for danger before going in and out.

Lovely, low-growing and evergreen Lithodora is full of bud and promise. I’m looking forward to its vibrant blue flowers and we’ll take pictures to share once we have them.

Here we have another picture of the delicious Lily flowered Tulipa Sarah Raven and to describe her here I hand over to the Sarah Raven catalogue description. ‘What a fantastic tulip – with the best colour of true, rich crimson and the most elegant flower shape. A very long flowerer’

The Amalanchia at the front of the house is in full bloom with a delicate ethereal beauty. We especially like to see it in the morning sun and with the red brick of the house behind it.

The front garden looks its best at this time of the year with the perennial wallflower Bowles Mauve’s rich vibrance and the cheerful polyanthus peeking out underneath the rosemary which softens the edge of the brick work.

The yellow Coronilla valentina has been in bloom since January and has a sweet gentle fragrance, so lovely as one passes by to come in and out of the house.

I have loved the ‘tear drop’ violas in the hanging basket and I will certainly look for this variety again next year for my Autumn planting.

Observant readers may have noted two rather beautiful pots and it is an opportunity now to explain their rather interesting back story. These pots have actually twice travelled through the Suez Canal and survived without a blemish and are cherished in the garden with this history close to mind. They were actually a gift from dear friends who once lived in Amberley and when they went to live in Singapore the pots went with them. They returned several years later and back the pots came. When our friends finally left West Sussex to return home to Maine they kindly left us these pots.

How blessed we are to have a garden with incredible wild life to bring us joy during these troubled and uncertain times.

Sarah and Mike

4th April 2020