One job that has been on hold until better weather was replacing the trellis on the wooden arch in the front garden. It has been dodgy for a while as some laths have dropped and our attempts to glue them back into place don’t last.

We bought willow trellis. At £8.99 per panel, they were cheaper than replacement rigid panels.

Mr O painted the arch on Saturday and we fitted the willow trellis on Sunday morning. By stretching it out and making sure it didn’t stick out at the sides, we could fix it onto the support posts rather than in between.

It looks delicate, and wouldn’t take a lot of weight without additional horizontal supports, but it would be fine if fastened to a wall or fence.

The climber is a honeysuckle. We brought it back from France in 2011 as a tiny cutting. It has a lovely scent but few flowers, and those are very small – nothing like our standard honeysuckle. It probably needs a bigger pot and new compost.

The old trellis panels will be cut down and re-used to close off a gap by the water butt at the side of the house.

While Mr O removed the broken trellis and painted the bits he missed on Saturday, I dug up my hellebore – which was bought as ‘Christmas Carol’ (2 bought in 2019) but – now I’ve found the rather grubby label, it turns out that it’s ‘Advent Star’.

In the process of some rather vigorous digging with a hand trowel (I had mulched around it a few weeks ago), some pieces broke off, so I split it and have potted ten pieces and placed them in a shady area in the Tiny Greenhouse until they start growing.

Last year, the nectaroscordum, fell about all over the place and were generally unruly and badly behaved. On Friday’s Gardeners’ World, Monty advised that plants supports should be put in before they are required. Not having any plant supports, and unwilling to buy any, I’ve made use of the ‘ends’ we cut off the metal garden arches from the raised beds.

A recent delivery of flower seeds consisted of hardy annuals, half hardy annuals, and perennials. With most of them sown direct, only two required starting under glass and transplanting – golden rod and achillea.

solidago/Yellow Springs Golden Rod 17 April 2022
achillea Cloth of Gold 17 April 2022

These and the annuals should extend the flowering period in the front garden into September or later. I’ve found that by the time the alliums, iris and peonies have finished, there’s not a lot of interest apart from the grasses, so a few of these dotted around will brighten things up and get away from the blue/pink/purple palette I’ve ended up with.