That conifer

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.

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.

Our visit to Brussels

We went to see Lynn and Phillippe who are on a two-year secondment to the European Commission.  EuroStar was smooth and Lynn was there to meet us.  Our long weekend was full of good conversation and sights with lots of gardens and plants to admire too.

The back garden at L and P's house.  Just look at that cheese board.  And the sweet little China on the wall to the right - Climbing Cecille Brunner - see below.

Belgium

The take-home message for Corby was to have a lot of huge alliums in future. The botanic garden of Louvain showed a dark corner throbbing with big exciting dark purple alliums.

The view from the kitchen sink, end of April 2011

The rose in the foreground is Roseraie de l'Haie, one of the best. Never before seen in the month of April with bluebells, daffodils and azalea. The very earliest rose this year was lemon yellow Agnes by the sunny back wall. Rosa altaica was not far behind; this is another yellow rose.
April was as dry as March, excepting the stormy spell at the beginning.  Not especially warm but good and sunny, enough encouragement for the roses to get started a month early.  In the 1990's only a few roses flowered here in May, Rosa persetosa being one of them. (With its tiny  pink flowers, it was known as the "threepenny bit" rose. Its new home is the bottom of the drive, where it seems to be doing well.)



Looking east from the roof

 On the left is a leafless beech which used to be in the hedge. It will soon be a big tree, The white blossom in the centre foreground is the ancient damson/plum. Rhododendrons behind it are all doing their thing at once. Penjerrick is the pale yellow hybrid with large bells and the red is a Chinese form of R. arboreum.  The pink on the right is R. davidsonianum that China Wilson named after his surgeon, Dr Davidson who sorted Wilson's leg in Shanghai.  The blue one behind is a Bodnant selection of R. augustinii. Click on the image to see the detail better.
In the middle of the picture you can see the path to the woods with the new white gate. Moving right, you look into the new garden with its new lawn and a few herbaceous plants just coming up. The bare area behind the chairs is where the old ivy-covered Wendy house used to be hidden away. Dense planting up there will increase the protection from wind.  Eventually that little garden will be nicely sheltered. One will enjoy one's g and t in the summer evenings.

Top of the garden, Moel y ci in the background

With scaffolding set up for access to the roof, it was a grand opportunity to look down on the whole garden. On the left a big sycamore has just come into leaf.  The new garden beside the wood is a good spot for summer evening sun.   In the middle, Lord Lambourne apple tree, with possibly a few blossoms left after the usual ravages of the bullfinches. The poly tunnel on the right is full of raspberries, and behind the tunnel Corby in a pink hat is doing something in the vegetable garden. The bare space in front of the tunnel will be a bed of high-octane dahlias later on. On the far right, the beech tree in the hedge still holds on to last year's leaves. Click on the image to enlarge it.