Through the Garden Gate--July 2023

July has been a very wet month. After a spell of very hot, dry weather in June we went to constant rain, which the gardens needed. But the rain has hardly stopped and I now feel it's overstayed its welcome. We have done a lot of dodging showers to try to get our garden and allotment jobs done. There doesn't seem to be any sign of fine weather yet. 

The borders always look a bit dull at this time of year when most of the flowers have died down. I've been out when the weather allowed cutting back the earlier flowering plants, deadheading and tidying up the beds. We get a lot of mare's tail weed in the garden and I've spent quite a bit of time pulling this up. Once I'd done all those jobs there were quite a few gaps in the borders so I thought I would  buy a few summer perennials to fill up. These all went in the big raised bed which gets a lot of sun.

I bought a lovely Rudbeckia called 'Sunbeckia Sarah'. I had to get it when I spotted the name as one of my daughters is called Sarah! 

The bed looks much more colourful now with the Rudbeckia, a Gaura, Verbena, Echinacea, Penstemon I also have a big pot of pink lilies which are in flower now and I just plonked it in the bed still in the pot rather than planting it. It was a bit heavy though and Richard had to help me. It took a few moves around the bed before I was satisfied which was the right place for it, so I wasn't very popular when I kept changing my mind. It has a very strong perfume which we can smell even in the front garden. 

The Hydrangea in the front garden is full of pink blooms which I have been cutting for the house. I haven't had to buy any flowers for weeks now, the garden has provided me with plenty of flowers for cutting. Even just a few little stems can brighten up the house.

At the beginning of July we had a few days away in North Wales. We stayed in Betwsy Coed which was not far from Bodnant Garden. You can read all about our visit to Bodnant on my blog here.

We seem to be always complaining about the weather, we still want rain of course to keep the plants happy, but as we move in to August I'm hoping we will get fewer rainy days and some more sunshine so we can sit and enjoy our garden more. 

I am linking this blogpost to Sarah's blog at 'Down By The  Sea ' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Through the Garden Gate--May

May and June are lovely months in the garden, everything is fresh and green with new colour popping up almost daily. If we are lucky we get plenty of sunshine too. Well we did get plenty of sunshine and warm weather in May and we've really enjoyed watching the garden grow. 

May has been lovely for flowers.  The first of the Clematis appeared , I don't know its name, I lost the label. I even forgot it was there until it started flowering.  It's growing up the archway mixed in with the Passion Flower which flowers later in the summer. So it's good to have an early flowerer there.

The hardy geraniums started flowering, there are several different varieties, most of the names I don't know. One lovely one has planted itself right at the front of the shed border. It's tall, blue with a white eye. It isn't seeded from any other in the garden. I'm wondering what it is, maybe Johnson's Blue? 

In the last week the Gertrude Jekyll rose has started flowering. It grows up the wooden arch next to the patio, it gorgeous scent wafting across to us as we sit out there. There are plenty more buds so we should be enjoying the blooms and scent for a good while yet.

Down in the damp border the Candelabra Primulas which I planted last year are putting on a good display of pink and purple. I bought two more this year, one to plant with this clump and the other to plant next to the pond. So I'm hoping for an even better display next year. They are Harlow Carr hybrids, bred at RHS Harlow Carr. The display there along the streamside is beautiful, we often visit at this time of year. I don't think my display will ever get so good!

The Alliums in the raised bed have had to compete with the Geum 'Totally Tangerine' and the pink cow parsley both of which have grown quite tall this year and although this bed is looking a bit crowded now, I am enjoying all the colours and the untidyness of it. And of course the bees are loving it too. 

I am linking this blog post to Sarah's blog at 'Down By the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

 

Through the Garden Gate --February 2023

February came with more sunshine, but quite cold at times.  I did  have to keep reminding myself it was only February, but I think a lot of gardeners like me are longing to get back to doing their gardens whenever there is some decent weather.

There are signs of new life all over the garden and little pops of colour as buds open up.  Gradually over the next few weeks more of this new growth will be bursting into flower. The snowdrops have continued to delight me and are still flowering away.  The pots of tete a tete and tulips from last year are showing buds so I brought them out of the corner where I store them over winter and put them out ready  to brighten up the patio.  I got a lovely surprise early on in February when I spotted these little irises in flower, later on in the month as they died down the tete a tete popped up.  

We wondered if we would get any frog spawn in the little pond we made last year but all I've seen so far is a dead frog! No new life there then.

I've been out in the garden, tidying the beds of dead plants, they look a bit empty now but soon they will fill out as plants come back from their winter rest.  

Last week we bought bark and soil improver. The bark has gone on the hosta bed in the front garden and more will go in the back garden on the woodland bed. It looks lovely now as the tete a tete and crocus are starting to flower. I bought some cyclamen coum plants for this area as they grow well in shade and under trees.  They should spread about more each year as they get established.  The soil improver I will use as a mulch for the other beds.  I've started spreading that in the back garden, not finished yet, it will take a few more bags of mulch to get around all the beds.

February is the time to cut the old growth from the grasses which die down in the winter. We have a few big, tall clumps in the back garden and I have been working on them.  They create a lot of mess when they are cut down.  There were grass stalks all over the place. I'm hoping that the birds will make use of  some of it when they start nest building. 

One really big grass we have is a Miscanthus Zebrinus. It's a really lovely grass and provided us with a lot of screening when we were on the patio, but it had grown too big and it was time to dig it up and divide it. It caused more mess with grass stalks all over the lawn which Holly enjoyed playing with. Now it's been split up I will plant a smaller section back in the bed it came from.

The garden is looking good after it's tidy up and I'm feeling happy that at the moment we are fairly on top of our spring garden jobs.  

I am linking this blog post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate'   post

Through the Garden gate--January 2022

It can sometimes be difficult to find anything to good to say about the garden in January.  It's a pretty bleak and dismal month.  I often sit at the window looking out at the garden for colour and signs of life and nothing seems to change much.  But really, there is colour and interest.  There are shades of brown and green from fallen plant material and tall gangly stems with seed heads still clinging to them, providing homes for wildlife. Sometimes I've seen little birds balancing on the stems trying to find food from the remaining seeds.

The grasses are giving colour too.  Some are straw like now, the evergreen ones giving splashes of bright green along the border. Down in the woodland bed the Witch Hazel is in flower. This one is Hamamelis 'Jelena'. The spidery flowers are a bronzy, orange colour, but I have to get close up to really appreciate it. I'm always a bit disappointed in its colour which seems a bit dull. I may have just planted it in the wrong place to show it off.

In the border alongside the path near the kitchen door is a Sarcococca (Sweet box). Its little white flowers giving off a delicate scent which wafts around this area. It has taken a few years for this to get established and produce these scented flowers.  This year it has excelled. It was growing in a pot at our previous house and we brought it with us to plant up here.

On finer days I have been out walking round the garden, looking closer for signs of life and spotting little bulbs just poking through the soil. Last year I planted more snowdrops, these are always the first to appear. It's always a delight to spot them--the first flowers of the new year and a sign that Spring will soon be with us.

After not being well and fit enough before Christmas to do any gardening, I am now feeling a bit better and  trying to keep active. I am aware that with Rheumatoid Arthritis there will be times again when I won't be able to do any gardening, so I am making the most of this time whilst trying not to overdo things. I have been slowly pottering around the garden doing jobs. I started clearing soggy leaves and plant material from the front garden flower beds and was pleased to find more spring bulbs underneath. When last year's bulb pots had finished flowering I stored them down by the side of the shed out of the way. I thought they might have rotted but after clearing the weeds out of the pots, there were the little bulb shoots coming through. So I have set these out on the outside potting bench, hoping for another good display soon.

In September we had a holiday in Cornwall and I bought some Cornish daffodil bulbs--St.Keverne and Fowey. I planted them up in the autumn into big pots and then forgot about them, but these too are now coming through.

So really there's been plenty of interest in the garden in January--even if I've had to search around for it. And there 's much to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Hope your garden is coming to life too.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at ' Down by the Sea'  for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Through the Garden Gate-April 2021

 

Only a few  weeks ago after I had mulched all the garden beds, I was thinking how flat and boring they looked. But now they are filling out and looking greener and more colourful day by day.  Everyday as I walk around the garden I can see more new growth and buds appearing on trees and shrubs.  All this new growth seems to creep up on us giving lovely surprises as we spot something else which is now in flower or has filled out a bit more.

The tulip tubs have been in flower.  I am more of a pink and purple person when it comes to colour in the garden, so I was surprised when two tubs which I had planted up in the autumn produced orange tulips.  The colour on the label must not have been as true to life, but I really like them.  I moved them away from the pink pots so they wouldn't clash then I spotted  pink tulips coming through in amongst the orange pot. I don't know what went wrong there!

I planted up a lavender hedge either side of the archway with some free lavender plants which I got from an offer in a gardening magazine. I was really pleased when they arrived to find that they were good sized plants. There were ten so five on each side of the arch fitted nicely. I'm looking forward to seeing and smelling the result later in the year.

My husband fitted a wooden edge to one of the borders in the back garden to neaten it up.  It should help to contain the plants which flop over and had been damaging the lawn.  

Holly seemed to approve of the new development!

There was a Ceaonothus shrub in this border which I bought a couple of years ago and had grown way too big for its space, next to the Liquidamber tree. We decided to move it and checking its label I read that it could be grown as a wall shrub or a tree. Not surprising it had grown so big then. What a job it was moving it, with branches all over the place and heavy roots! Its now in its new place further along the border with more space. I have pruned it into a tree shape and its blue flowers are starting to open up. We had to do quite a bit of moving plants around to accommodate the Ceanothus, but the border should look better now.

There has been so much blossom about in April and many trees are still opening up with their blossom. We have blossom trees on the grass verges outside our house and they are looking lovely at the moment.  

Our Amelanchier tree has blossomed and gone over but the crab apple is now opening up its flowers.

There is so much to enjoy now in our gardens and much more to look forward to.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.