What suprising or unexpected delights do you have in your garden this year?

[taffetacat]

After 3 years with no success, I have finally managed to grow a cephalaria gigantea from seed. It popped up from nowhere a few weeks ago, and my heart lifted. It looks big and healthy, as opposed to the sick, yellowy, spotty things I have managed in the past.

We also moved a Geum Rivale from the front garden where it had been for over 10 years,when we had a big renovation last year, to the back, where its a lot hotter and drier. Its doing really well, has beautiful tiny nodding red flowers.

I have loads of tomatos and poratos growing as weeds ...

The DC's veg patch is covered in dill and coriander where I grew it last year, forgot about it as we weren't there, and its seeded everywhere. It looks gorgeous but is choking the broad beans and carrots I put in. I need to move some of it.

My giant pink scabious thing is definitely pink. Its not a knautia. Can you get pink giant scabious?

I want poratos....

please may I have some dill - can't grow it for love nor money.

Mine is just germinating in my smug trug. It also contains some rather pristine beautiful lettuse, too pretty to eat.

Had abject failure with my basil though.

Whatever you do, don't ever ever plant bronze fennel, and if you already have it make sure you cut the flowers off the second they appear. Don't even give it the chance to self seed. As an invader it is wose than the Nazis, the Mongols and the Romans all rolled into one, and the roots are cemented in all the way to the core of the earth.

I'm seriously thinking about hiring a mini-digger to bulldoze mine out.

lettuce - sorry.

Made the fennel mistake in another garden...also with a Rubus, although I can't remember which one.

I seriously thought the harsh winter had killed off our Gunnera but was thrilled that it patently has not. It is about 3 yrs old now and still a 'baby' but starting to reach impressive proportions now.

I don't know about the scabious Tiggy.. I lost mine (one of the field ones) . They are so pretty.

My garden is predominantly shrubs. It is separate from the house and difficult to maintain after the DC's are in bed so shrubs take slightly less maintenance.

This year's surprising unexpected garden delight is my son. He's grown a sudden overwhelming interest in growing veg and has planted carrots, lettuce, roquette, chard, tomatoes, beans, radishes and fennel all by himself. Yesterday he went and cut lots of lettuce for tea, again, unasked. He's only seven and I'm just hoping the obsession lasts.

Wish mine would. He's ten. I keep trying but he just looks at me like this. And goes of to eat crisps and play PS3.

How lovely racing

DD (1.5) has just picked all of the flowers from my strawberry plants. I would be angry but she has this look of happiness on her face - she loves flowers

bits of slow worm

dead moles/birds!!!

racing - how lovely. I would love DD (3) to study at Kew and be a botanist. Knowing my luck she'll choose something I have zero interest in though...vicar or WAG perhaps.

I think my mystery plant is a scabious. I say giant because nothing ever grows big in this garden and its huge. Maybe its that rare plant like lavender that likes it here.

Kitten - I'm in Kent if you want some dill!- have more than we can eat and I eat it every day. Vair good for the digestion. It seems to grow much better in the ground or planters outdoors than in pots inside. It will all bolt in a few weeks I expect but the flowers are pretty and taste yum too. Have the opposite with basil - it loves it indoors - have growm greek, ararat, cinnamon, purple and lemon basil this year, all doing well indoors. The testers I've planted outside are looking a bit grim.

bits of slow worm, piratecat? and dead moles and birds? what is killing them?

lol, my cat. gone mad i think. it's the sun!

Poor slow worm! We have a few here - now recovered from DH's onslaught. When we first moved here a few years back he came in from the garden looking visibly shaken, saying he had speared an adder he'd found with the garden fork. On closer inspection it was a slow worm. Much tsking from me and an internet lesson for him in their differences.

Our kitten is still indoors, not yet been snipped only 3 months old. A bit worried about the ensuing wildlife carnage.

I have slow worm . We have something that lives in the compost bin and eats it It never fills up. I suspect a rat as we are next to a bit of 'spare ground'. Although I also think we are on a foxes path.

Cats are great for catching rats. As long as you don't mind rat entrails on kitchen floor brought in as gift.

I don't worry too much as it is so far from the house, and the neighbours have cats.. so we do get the entrails .

I think the harsh winter , (and although here in Bedfordshire, we didn't have it as bad as the North) has done some good for the gardens.

I put a Californian Poppy in last year, it was a pathetic little thing, it has now taken over one of my small borders and I have 3 large flowers with 10 buds still to come out.

My Montana Clematis's are full to bursting with flowers, as is my Ceanosis.

My Tea Roses are full of bus, loads more again than last year.

Veggies are doing well, we're already on our second lot of lettuces , my beans and peas are going mad.

My favourite and unexpected surprises though are a small potted fir , my Mum gave me has beautiful new bright green growth all over it, my Hostas are full of flower spikes, and as of yet (touch wood no slugs have munched them- it's in a large copper pot) .

Last but not least, Bees!

Last year we had Bumblebees nesting in the lead flashing above our downstairs bathroom- I loved laying in the bath in the evening hearing them humming and buzzing in the nest, and we were sad to see them leave in the Autumn.

We've had another nest built in the same place so my comforting buzzings back.

Also we have a old fence post hole in the Garden which has been taken over by some quite rare Solitary bee's, which are very cute. They rarely sting and don't swarm so we love sitting in the sun watching them come and go.

Last Bee is a Hairy Footed Bee Female who adores one of my mystery shrubs in the Garden. She's all black with a long nose and she pops in the trumpet -like flowers and comes out buzzing loudly and covered with pollen.

All in all a great year in our garden so far.