Here, the garden always gets going before the gardener. But last weekend’s gentle weather was put to good use. It was evident that the garden was gathering momentum, weeds of course but encouraging signs of more snowdrops opening, the first leaves of spring bulbs emerging and plentiful growth on the roses. I had some jobs to do so the weeding has to wait. Here’s my six for the week.
One
The major job for the weekend was the taking down of the rose arch and two side trellis panels. I think it was only the rose that had kept it upright through the recent storms. All the legs of the arch and the panels were rotten at the base and it was a relatively easy job to pull it to the ground and dismantle it. I might be able to salvage the trellis panels for elsewhere in the garden but for the moment everything is propped up against a fence.
Two
Taking down this structure opens up the view of the long border and I have decided to leave it open to see how this outlook will work over summer. I’ve bought two rusty steel obelisks for the clematis to grow up. I managed to salvage them but a honeysuckle was collateral damage. The climbing rose will be dug up and relocated further along the wall on the left hand side. I’m hoping it won’t object.
Three
The lemon tree is no more. The scent of the foliage as I cut it back was wonderful but it was in a very sorry state so I have no regrets. I bought some compost to use for refilling the pot which now houses a hydrangea that has moved around the garden three times now. The compost was left outside overnight and the foxes swiftly moved in to investigate. Thank goodness they didn’t do too much damage.
Four
On to some flowers! The birds freely seed iris foetidissima around the garden and here they are working well with the blue of pulmonaria officinalis. These complementary colours on the colour wheel provide a great splash at this time of year.
Five
I’ve decided to include this slightly artistically out of focus shot of a hellebore because it is also a self-seeder. One that I transplanted last year and I am delighted to see it in flower this year.
Six
These are the flowers of sarcococca hookeriana ‘Purple Stem’. A new addition to the border, this is a shorter growing variety which the RHS describes as being tolerant of dry shade and neglect. Sounds perfect.
The weather is holding fair for this weekend too. Jobs to do: begin cutting back the grasses, sprinkle some Fish, Bone and Blood around the apple trees, of course some weeding and I will spread some leaf mould around the soft fruit areas. I hope you enjoy your weekend and don’t forget to stop by Jim’s place to catch up with all the SOS news. Happy gardening.
n20gardener 
The obelisks look good, I’ve been hunting for some myself.
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A chance find at the garden centre where I was buying compost and cheaper than those I was looking at online.
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Too bad this arch is broken and dismantled. I actually think that the trellis panels could be reused. Very pretty rusty iron obelisk: it gives a pretty colour and it will go perfectly well with a clematis. Finally, sorry about the lemon tree, but maybe you can find another smaller one that you can protect (here, I have a small Meyer lemon, which produces wonderful juicy lemons and for overwintering it’s much easier because it’s small – for a while )
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Love the obelisk! Metal is so much more suitable in our climate. I’m astonished to see your pulmonaria in flower is that early? The leaves on mine always rot away during the winter, though lasted longer than usual this time, I am glad to see new leaves appearing, but it will be a while before any flowers. I’m a bit wary of using Fish, Bone and Blood in the garden in case it attracts foxes and rats. Do you have any issues?
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I was sure I replied to this last week, so forgive me if this is a duplicate. I had said that the foxes are already roaming the garden so I don’t worry about them too much. I always use it just before there is a good rainy day coming so that it doesn’t sit on the surface for too long.
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I left some bags of compost out a few weeks ago. I think it was raccoons that raided mine.
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Racoons sound wilder than foxes but perhaps they are the same – here the foxes are pretty bold, often seen out and about during the day in urban areas.
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Sorry to hear about your Lemon tree, at least you got some pleasure from the scent. We used to have a huge Valencia orange tree in our garden, and the scent of the blossoms was very heady. I would grow them just for their blossoms alone. I now have many replacement citrus in our new garden area. It’s a shame the rose arch rotted. One hopes garden structures have a great lifespan.
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I would love to have kept the lemon tree for the scent of the foliage and flowers but it suffered every winter. Sometimes you have to accept the limitations of the garden.
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I love rusty plant supports – that’s a nice one and your clematis will look great when it’s growing through it. Sorry you’ve lost your wooden arch, we’ve had to take down our little summerhouse for the same reason – rotting wood. It was felt it wasn’t safe any more.
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I also love the rusty obelisks. Views changing in the garden are always exciting and time is needed to assess whether to live with the change or not.
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If it is any consolation, I planted a ‘Bearss’ lime last week, and might plant a ‘Ponderosa’ lemon this week. Now that I think of it, I just plugged (ungrafted) cuttings for ‘Marsh’ grapefruit.
Iris foetidissima is naturalized so prolifically here that I thought it was native. Is it native there?
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IF is native here! Your climate is perfect for citrus so I will enjoy your successes from a distance!
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Citrus (trees) was my primary crop in the early 1990s. We produced about forty cultivars. I miss them very much. I grow only a few now, and only for my own garden and landscapes.
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