W/C May 14: 21 alliums, apples, bees, an iris

Which one's your fave?

All 21 Allium Purple Sensation pics taken on May 17, 2018

Last October, in a bid to quite simply copy what Monty Don has done in his Jewel Garden at Longmeadow, I pumped the garden full of Allium Purple Sensation. He has what looks like 100s of these, but he a has a lot of space. I found it a bit of a struggle to squeeze in 21, but I'm well pleased with how they've turned out. I will, I reckon, be able to get a few more in this year. I've split them between the front and back garden, and I love the way they're all a bit different: inconsistent shades of purple, differences in flower head size, some much further ahead with the flowering than others. I also love how they're all dealing with slightly different conditions. One or two of them are having to battle their way through a bushy rose that is putting on loads of new growth every day. Others have a similar issue with a boisterous Persicaria Polymorpha. Others are having the time of their lives in full sun, in a nice open space. It's not fair really. There's something about alliums, though. The way they hover like some kind of spacecraft is mesmerising. And they sort of don't make sense to look at. The stems are long and thing, but obviously stronger than they appear because they manage to balance to balance these big purple pom poms with no drama whatsoever. My favourite bulb, easily. Here are some of the 21 in situ:

Alliums with an in-bloom geranium I don't know the name of, a yet-to-bloom rose I don't know the name of and a Persicaria Polymorpha in the background. Pic taken on May 18, 2018

Alliums with a Welsh poppy and a couple of geraniums. Pic taken May 18, 2018

Apples of my eye

Been on a bit of a journey with this apple tree. Bought it, three years ago, as a patio fruit tree to go in a pot, but it didn't like that. Possibly because the pot was too small, possibly because I didn't water it enough, possibly both, possibly because it was just a young tree. Transferred it into the ground about two years ago, but it's taken a while to get going. I honestly can't remember if there were any apples on it in 2016, but last year there was... ONE. It was quite big but, y'know, ONE. Sad. This year, though, the blossom on the tree was great, and there are dozens of tiny little apples forming. Here's how the blossom looked a month ago:

It's very satisfying when a tree hits its stride, and nice tangible proof that you've given it a good life. I'm fairly confident - because it's a patio tree - that it will never get too big for the garden. And now that it's happy, there should be loads of fruit every year. I'll do some kind of taste test in the autumn. Exciting!

Loadsa bees

This is Olive. She is my daughter. She is two. She is cool. Here, she is having a great time watching some bees, and describing the scene in great detail.

"Another bee!"

99% sure she's a genius.

A fabulous beard

Just this second realised I didn't include the allium in the bottom left hand corner of this pic, or the one out of shot next to it, in the great allium count. Don't tell anyone. Pic taken May 21 — Just this second realised I didn't include the allium in the bottom left hand corner of this pic, or the one out of shot next to it, in the great allium count. Don't tell anyone. Pic taken May 21

Two years ago my Dad gave me a clump of the bearded Iris Braithwaite. I plonked it at the base of the wisteria, because it gets super hot down there, and those guys are getting on great. The flowers on the Iris are quite ridiculous really, all showy like plumage on a bird. Mostly I like simple flowers, and anything too complicated makes my brain hurt. But I like the beard on these, even though it quite clearly looks more like a tongue than a beard. And I like that the yellow bit looks like A/ a caterpillar B/ the meat you get in a sea urchin. Ever eaten that stuff, with spaghetti, in Italy? You definitely should. I sent this picture to my friend, and it reminded her of the art of Georgia O'Keeffe. What she means is: it looks rude.