Things always take longer than you think. I could have shared six photos from the one gardening job I had to do this week but I didn’t have the phone with me. It started well. The two roses I had bought from Thomas Stone arrived. Thomas had suggested Rosa Madame Isaac Pereire for a sunny south facing border. I’ll just put them in before it gets dark I thought. No need to change I thought, this won’t take long. There were a few trips up and down the path to locate the fish, bone and blood and the spade, oh and the hand fork for a few weeds, and then the trug for the weeds to go in but then I was ready. Suddenly that space didn’t seem quite big enough. The fennel had to come out and those penstemons. Down the path again for the fork. Two penstemons, the fennel and a hollyhock later the rose was ready to go in with a sprinkle of FBB and some mycorrhizal powder. On to the next one. Again the space didn’t seem quite big enough so there were more penstemons to be moved. Two found places in a new location but one had to be heeled in. The verbena bonariensis also looked a bit close so that came out too. Time to dig the hole. The rose was going into a spot that turned out to be quite near the dead tree (which has been cut down and buried by mulch). So back down the path for the loppers to cut through various tree roots. Turns out this spot is also where I squeezed in several spring bulbs. So they were relocated. Finally time to put the rose in. Darkness is now descending. Where is the mycorrhizal powder? Oh yes, under the heap of soil I dug to create the hole. Rose goes in at last. Tools collected up and put away, shed is very dark now and clearly full of spiders. Jeans are filthy. Hurrah, the roses are in. But in the night I think Tony Tomeo flew over from the West Coast (into Heathrow). In the States they plant their roses differently – with the union at soil level. Here, I do as I’m told and plant the union about 2 inches below soil level. The next morning this greeted me!
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My heeled in plants joined several others in a spot I am trying to keep clear for onions. It now houses several delphiniums relocated to make way for the gaura and penesetums, a hebe from the front garden, a polemonium – recovering from slug attacks, and now the fennel and penstemons. They’ll have to find new homes in the New Year.
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In all the trudging up and down I did notice the first of the white hellebores – just in time for Christmas. It is being photo-bombed by primrose leaves.
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Fat balls have been made for the birds. One part fat, two part whatever is around – dried fruits, bread and some oats. Of course the squirrels get to them first!
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The blackcurrants have gone! I kept four for myself – heeled in around the garden and the others have gone to good homes. The smell as they were dug up was wonderful. Now I have a blank canvas on the north border for my white shade loving plants.
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Time to wish you all Happy Christmas. Decorating the house has just begun and my small contribution to seasonal light pollution is the wrapping of a string of lights around a bay tree.
It’s a busy time of year but if you need a moment of peaceful relaxation then drop by at Mr P’s. He maybe playing a bit of Slade but everyone is welcome!
I’ve planted the same group of plants either side of a small path.. The Agastache ‘Alabaster’ were in the garden already and they have now been joined by Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’, Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’ and Pennisetum villosum. Fingers crossed for next summer.
On the diagonal opposite to this area is what was fondly known as ground elder corner. After three summers of digging it out I think I have the upper hand and so I am beginning to put in some permanent plants. First to go in is Trachelospermum jasminoides, a firm six on saturday favourite. I’m hoping it will very quickly cover the great expanse of unattractive brown fence.
Also adding some late colour are these Lillies. Yet more naming debates: are they now Schizostylis, or Hesperantha? I know which one I prefer. These came from the old garden and are bulking up nicely.
And since repetition is allowed and because the late colour is so fabulous, I give you again the Salvia ‘Amistad’ and the Rose, Darcy Bussell. The Salvias mooched along all summer but they have really established themselves in the last month. Darcy Bussell just keeps on putting out new buds.
Cutting back plants after flowering really can work. The alchemilla mollis which were sheared to the ground have come through again and at this time of year they look beautiful with their dressing of early morning dew.
This is Geranium ‘Brookside’. It roamed through the garden in early summer, knowing no boundaries and so cutting it back when it finished flowering caused me no stress. The plant needed to be tidied up. This week I noticed it was flowering again.
Also starting up again are the seedlings of Nigella, love in a mist. I have a carpet of them which I should probably be thinning out and sharing around the garden. But I might just leave them all here to keep the weeds down and see how they come through next year.
In the greenhouse I have managed to keep a tray of foxgloves and echinacea pallida seedlings alive and it looks like some potting on needs to be done. Temperatures are on the up next week so they I hope they will put on some good growth once moved into a pot.
Encouraged by the good example of others I decided to try some winter vegetables. I rescued a tray of rainbow chard and perpetual spinach from certain death and planted them out a few weeks ago. The pesky slugs made straight for them but they have pulled through and growth looks good.
Last November I planted out bare root roses in a new border and Darcy Bussell is still flowering. I am impatiently waiting for the roses to become fully established but even in the first year the flowers have been rewarding.
Here’s the largest fig tree. This was tentatively pruned back early this year but I can see it really needs to be brought down in size. Ruthlessness is a gardening skill I am beginning to develop. Cutting this tree back will give the summer borders more of a chance to keep going through into autumn. I will be able to bear any loss of fruit as I don’t see much of it anyway!
Because the PO’s interest were in fruit and veg the flower borders had been left to their own devices and I have been reclaiming them from the weeds. One corner was in the grip of ground elder and I spent the first two summers digging it out. I think I am now at the stage where I can plant this corner up. My dreams have recently focused in on a white hibiscus and a Trachelospermum jasminoides to cover up a fence. That’s my dream for autumn or spring planting. For the moment this is how the corner looks now. Each summer I plant a group of annuals to keep the ground covered. This year it was Zinnias which are filling out now.
A close up of that corner showing the convolvulus cneorum bought at the Beth Chatto garden now in situ among the erigeron karvinskianus. I’m happy with the front and I hope I will be happy with the back, now I need something mid border to bridge the gap. I have persicaria on the wish list so maybe there is an opening for it here.
Three 9cm pots of Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Album’ were planted out earlier in the summer. I have to be patient but next year I am expecting these diminutive plants to transform into dreaming spires of late summer interest. They should reach 1.2m. Some way to go then!
In my dreams, particularly in my day dreams, I see a luxuriously verdant garden seamlessly moving from one season to the next. At this time of the year I find myself struggling. The summer border becomes increasingly shady as the big fig tree branches out. There is just enough sun to encourage the roses in a second flowering and this one is Gertrude Jekyll.
A long term dream has been to fit in a water feature. My original expansive daydream of putting a rill down the middle of the lawn was strongly vetoed and probably rightly so. Instead I have in mind a much smaller feature to replace this laurel bush. It also shades the summer border and doesn’t add any great interest to the garden. Taking it out will leave a large hole – the first step towards the pond.
