#dalstoncurve

[easterncurvegarden]

The sun has been shining today, the official first day of Spring, after a week of rain and even hailstorms, so it seems a good time to share a snapshot of the plants we are enjoying in Dalston Curve Garden right now. 

Today is St David’s Day, a day of national celebration for Wales, and as Daffodils are the Welsh national flower, first on our list is Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’. This is the earliest of the Daffodils that emerge here and this year they’ve been flowering since the beginning of February. We aim to have Daffodil varieties in flower one after the other, right through to the end of April, planted in the ground and in tins and containers. 

Our tins of yellow Daffodils look good next to purple Crocus. As well as planting them in containers, we grow Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’ under trees, and in our ‘Bee Bed’. We love the way Crocus open their ‘faces’ when the sun is shining, but as we’ve had so many overcast days of late, sadly they’ve remained more closed than open this year!

Several years ago we planted a tiny clump of Dog Violet (Viola riviniana) and have been happy to see them spread more and more ever since. Although the pretty little flowers are not scented like those of Sweet Violet, they are attractive to bees and as their leaves are evergreen, Dog Violets do a good job of covering bare ground all year round.   

The Hellebores have started to clump up nicely in our ‘woodland’ bed. Lovely as they are, their downward facing ‘sulky’ flowers are best appreciated from a low crouching position. Alongside them, we are enjoying the spotty leaves of Pulmonaria (Lungwort) Their strange bi-coloured, pink & purple flowers are a good source of nectar for any Bumble or Solitary Bees emerging from hibernation on warm days in early Spring, when there are not many other flowers available. 

Although Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) can take over if not kept in check, it is another Spring flowering plant that’s good for several bee species and other pollinators, so we are happy to make it welcome in some parts of the Garden. Bees are also supported by the unusual dusky pink Primroses that were donated to us last year from a garden in Wales and are settling happily in their new Hackney home. 

With so many beautiful flowering bulbs and plants emerging after winter, this really is an uplifting time in the Garden. Many thanks to our hard-working team of volunteers who planted hundreds of bulbs last Autumn that are now bringing so much joy to Dalston in early Spring.  

All photos by Sandra Keating and copyright Dalston Eastern Curve Garden

[piecesofreiss]

The musical perspective. #viewfromthebus #london #streetart #dalstoncurve #eastlondon (Taken with Instagram at Big Red Bus)

[easterncurvegarden]

It’s bulb-planting time at Dalston Curve Garden! Every Autumn we plant thousands of bulbs to bring colour and scent and nectar for bees in the Spring. After several weeks of planning and getting very excited about our choices, we started the first of our planting sessions with our hard-working volunteers early in September. We will continue with this marathon task every week until the end of November. 

We try to have flowering bulbs popping up in the Garden every month from January until the end of May and we also fill containers for inspiration, even if you are limited to a window-box. 

We wrote about some of our favourite bulbs in a previous post earlier this year but we can’t get enough of Sandra Keating’s beautiful photos, so if you are still planning to plant your own bulbs, here are more to inspire you. You can continue to plant right through until the end of November or even later, if the weather is not too cold and wet.  

One of our favourites is Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’, Summer Snowflake, which last year we planted under trees, on banks and in beds.  

We loved our continuous display of Narcissi (Daffodils) every month from February until early May with varieties ‘Pipit’, ‘Tete a Tete’ ‘Thalia’ ‘Hawera’ ‘Pheasant’s Eye’ and ‘Baby Moon’ under trees, in beds and in pots, tins and boxes. 

Muscari latifolium (Grape Hyancinth) is always popular with bees and every May visitors and bees love the drifts of giant purple Allium ‘Purple Sensation’. 

‘Abu Hassan’ is one of our all time favourite tulips, but every year we also like to try out new varieties. We plant thousands of tulips in pots throughout November and will be sharing some of our other favourites in a blog post coming soon...!

[easterncurvegarden]

This weekend we are holding our 9th annual Dalston Pumpkin Lantern Festival - our most magical time of the year - and we are inviting you all to join in and carve a pumpkin. Everyone can carve a pumpkin - we welcome children, young people and adults. We’d love you to help make this year's Pumpkin Lantern Festival our most spectacular yet! We've been taking a look back at some of the people that carved their pumpkins in 2017 - let us know if you have spotted yourself or friends or family and its made us really look forward to the weekend ahead!

Here are some things you need to know to help you plan your visit:

⁃ Pumpkin carving sessions take place on Saturday 20 October (12 noon - 4.30pm) and Sunday 21 October (12 noon - 3pm) 

⁃ We supply the pumpkins, which we source from a pumpkin farm. It’s free to take part, however we do ask for donations to cover the cost of the pumpkins. 

⁃The first light up of all the pumpkins will take place on Sunday 6pm - 8pm This special light-up is only for the pumpkin carvers from the weekend. From 8pm - 10pm we invite everyone else in to enjoy the spectacle! 

All of the carved pumpkins must stay in the Garden to come alive from 6pm every evening over the next week, when they are lit up together in every corner of the Garden. Children must be accompanied by adults. 

Why not come carve your own pumpkin for this year's Lantern Festival?!

 Photos by Alex Bogdan, Alex Sutherland and Sandra Keating Copyright of Dalston Eastern Curve Garden