New Growth

 There are all sorts of things coming out in the garden now that it's spring.  We have taken out a lot of trees and shrubs, but we decided to leave the Rhododendrons until we found out what they looked like.

 So far we have 3 different colours.  The first to flower was Christmas Cheer, pink - 2 separate plants

Then, a plain red one, 2 plants,

and another very spindly plant produced a red with a white middle.
Most recently we have a yellow one, which looks very attractive when first opening because the buds are slightly orange/peach, but a it's bit boring once the flowers are all open.

 This wee thing was a pleasant surprise

And this flowering cherry (?) is beautiful

 Mum gave me a bit of Rhubarb - I thought I'd killed it by letting it dry out too much but it has bounced back.

 

There is a rose jungle up the back, Bryony found this in it.  It's due to be cut down though as we'd rather have fruit trees than roses.

We've made some progress in cutting them down,

and have huge piles to be mulched.

 There was a hedge right up this fence but now we have apple trees, 6 planted, 3 to go.  Hopefully I have a couple of weeks before they start to wake up.

Dad cut down a tall conifer here and has taken a slice off each side of the trunk so we can use it for part of a retaining wall or maybe a seat or something.

Lots of work done, lots to go!