Yes, the last remaining conifer of the three that Vic Smith planted in the sixties is finally gone. We took out the main stems last year, and today the four self-layered pups (10-footers) went. That leaves us with new views up and across the garden and a big open space in the middle of everything to be planted up with--?? The holly seedling that's now a tree in its own right (and with berries this year, hurrah!) will take over the job of the old conifer standing beside the rose arch.
Our new Scharlachglut is amazing us with its super-saturated red velvet flowers. Nearly all the roses are full of flower, even American Pillar, one of the latest.
Sunday 5 June 2011
Thursday 2 June 2011
Too much action and not enough talking
Since we got back in mid-May, it has been all systems go in the garden, full steam ahead and don't spare the horses. Even though the wind blew hard and it was pretty cool and wet.
Never mind, Katherine Havemeyer flowered for the first time in the bed behind the rose arch, giving us a fine tree-ful of heavenly fragrant lilacs and also leaves that stood up to the blast. Unlike the roses, which are looking a bit sorry for themselves.
Now, early June, the roses are in full flower. The earliest started a month ago, with lemony Agnes. She never used to overlap with the lilacs. This evening we sat in the new garden and enjoyed Alberic Barbier on the whitebeam with back-lighting from the evening sun. Can it get much better?
The moles were desperate over the winter. I've spent a fair bit of time this spring cutting squares of turf to patch the grass in the new garden, and also remade the lawn that runs up to the poly tunnel, removing a lot of the non-flowering iris sibirica to new beds in the new garden. That's made room for new turf up there. Now you can walk up to look at the sweet peas (currently4" high) without struggling through a jungle.
The sweet peas are trying out a new home in front of the poly tunnel. I hope they will be visible from the house, and I hope they will eventually hide the poly tunnel, at least for a few weeks in late summer! They have been provided with a rustic hazel framework, all cut by hand from the plantings near Henfaes.
In the back office, as it were, the compost heaps are doing their thing. I've started using the one-ton bags from builder's merchants for the grass clippings and other garden waste, and they work well. I've just emptied one around the garden, have another in hand, and four in various stages of making. The way the grass is growing, I'd better get down to Huws-Gray and snaffle another bag with a hole in it from their skip.
Never mind, Katherine Havemeyer flowered for the first time in the bed behind the rose arch, giving us a fine tree-ful of heavenly fragrant lilacs and also leaves that stood up to the blast. Unlike the roses, which are looking a bit sorry for themselves.
Now, early June, the roses are in full flower. The earliest started a month ago, with lemony Agnes. She never used to overlap with the lilacs. This evening we sat in the new garden and enjoyed Alberic Barbier on the whitebeam with back-lighting from the evening sun. Can it get much better?
The moles were desperate over the winter. I've spent a fair bit of time this spring cutting squares of turf to patch the grass in the new garden, and also remade the lawn that runs up to the poly tunnel, removing a lot of the non-flowering iris sibirica to new beds in the new garden. That's made room for new turf up there. Now you can walk up to look at the sweet peas (currently4" high) without struggling through a jungle.
The sweet peas are trying out a new home in front of the poly tunnel. I hope they will be visible from the house, and I hope they will eventually hide the poly tunnel, at least for a few weeks in late summer! They have been provided with a rustic hazel framework, all cut by hand from the plantings near Henfaes.
In the back office, as it were, the compost heaps are doing their thing. I've started using the one-ton bags from builder's merchants for the grass clippings and other garden waste, and they work well. I've just emptied one around the garden, have another in hand, and four in various stages of making. The way the grass is growing, I'd better get down to Huws-Gray and snaffle another bag with a hole in it from their skip.
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