I do have a nice view from the garden - one more garden, a road (which I can't see) and then countryside. That's a farm in the distance. Next door has three trees and you can see that I get great benefit from the birch particularly which hangs over the end of my bit and gives pleasant, dappled shade.
There's trees the other way too which gives a surprising amount of privacy for an estate. I love trees.
The arbour looks a bit forlorn. Apart from the wonky left hand pot (which I will adjust) the plants in them haven't done that well. The one on the left is still alive but the one on the right has died. They were fine until the really cold weather.
I have a cucumber that needs to go out so I think I will try it in the right hand pot and see what happens to it. It will look odd as it will need cane support, but worth a try, just for this year, and then I can ponder. Maybe bedding plants from now on - what do you think?
I have a cucumber that needs to go out so I think I will try it in the right hand pot and see what happens to it. It will look odd as it will need cane support, but worth a try, just for this year, and then I can ponder. Maybe bedding plants from now on - what do you think?
I MUST get the seat cushion covered and maybe make some smaller cushions too!
Isn't that just lovely? The first clematis I have managed to keep alive. It seems very happy where I've put it and there are lots more buds. It brightens up what was a very dull corner too.
The 'Is It A Passion Flower?' is several leaves taller, fighting its way bravely through the hostas that surround it. I need to cut back the bush behind it to give it more light, I think, and then keep my fingers crossed. I love garden surprises - the nice ones, I mean!
Almost luminous, aren't they? I can see why the Elizabethans grew them as flowers rather than vegetables.
Small and very pretty.
The first flower ever from the lavatera. It takes me right back to childhood when we had several in the garden. Such an attractive, olde worlde flower. It will outgrow the pot it's in soon so I need to look around for something bigger.
Ah - I wonder if it would be happy by the arbour. I'd need something the other side to balance it though.
Gardeners delight - doing so well, growing inches every day and looking extremely happy with loads of little fruit appearing.
This always makes me think of A A Milne.
Geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue)
Geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue)
and
It's a beautiful blue (but it hasn't a hood)
I was brought up proper, wasn't I?
Thank you for the tour of your garden. As you say, it is lovely to have that amount of privacy on an estate. I'm impressed that you've got the lavetera to flower - I've had no luck with mine at all and I don't think the current ones will make it through the summer.
ReplyDeleteWell, I bought two (it was a sort of BOGOF) and the other is like Marley - as dead as a doornail!
ReplyDeleteI'm really pleased with it - there are loads more buds too so my fingers are crossed (I seem to do this an awful lot where my garden is concerned) for mine and for yours too.
Love your photos, such a beautiful garden. Don't think you need to worry too much about the passion flower, it'll soon outgrow the euonymus. ;-)
ReplyDeleteDo you think so? That's great, maybe I will wait and see then. Anything for an easy life. :-) Thanks, Annabeth.
ReplyDeleteNice to have a tour of your garden. I agree a few cushions would look welcoming on the arbour. Wrapping your plant in fleece over the winter does protect the sensitive plants.
ReplyDeleteMy Lavertera grew to seven foot - so beware! You can get a beautiful dwarf variety - Barnsley - I think it is called which would look gorgeous against that blue in the tubs.
Did you have a Passion Flower there before or have one nearby that has seeded? I lost ours at the cottage in the frosts many years ago. We don't usually have frost by the sea but that year it was -16C and we lost our huge Escallonia hedge as well.
PS You probably know all this but just in case some Clematis tips to ensure strong plants - they like cool roots so need them covering with a stone if the ground is in the sun to protect them from drying out. They also like a good rich planting soil as they have deep roots - plenty of compost and mulch with manure - and when you plant them I think you have to plant with about 2 inches of soil above the stem of the plant. (All according to Helen Yemm - Gardening in Pyjamas - which I follow and have Clematis with abundant flowers).
Happy gardening.
Whoops typo - meant Lavatera!
ReplyDeleteIt's supposed to be a container variety of lavatera so here's hoping. If it does decide it wants to be a tree, it will have to suffer the consequences!
ReplyDeleteYes, I tried a passion flower there ages ago but it never came to anything - in fact I tried another one a few years later too and that also failed so I decided it just wasn't the right spot. And then, hey presto, look who's here!
The nice thing about where the clematis is, is that it's a very shady spot most of the day because of the tree and the shed. The tips about the soil are great, many thanks. There's room in the pot for more soil so I will make sure I top up and then keep replacing the top layer each year.
Gardening in Pyjamas sounds like a blog? I will search for it, thanks.
Hi Joy - just to let you know it is a book not a blog. Helen Yemm is a garden expert and writes a column for the Daily Telegraph but has been on TV - Gardening from Scratch and Gardening Week amongst other things - I like her advice it is quite sound. Her book Gardening in Pyjamas does not have pictures so be warned!
ReplyDeleteAh, thanks. It looks as if she did have a blog but stopped posting in around 2013-ish.
ReplyDeleteJoy, I have to say again how wonderful your garden is looking! What an absolute joy it must be for you! Absolutely gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteAll your hard work and thought is really paying off here! :)
Glad that you can enjoy it with all the hot and lovely summer weather you are having.
Love, S. xxx
Aw, thanks, S. It does give me a lot of pleasure and it's nice to have the time nowadays. xxx
ReplyDeleteYou've inherited the gene and passed it on too!
ReplyDelete