Readers’ gardens
Without doubt, the most striking plants are the Japanese tree peonies with their voluptuous, frilly, pink and purple blooms. They’re very sensitive to wind and rain but with flowers the size of dinner plates, boy, do they turn heads! They’re well worth including in a sheltered border, if you don’t have them already!
The fence is clothed in a cascade of Clematis montana, the apple blossom is buzzing with bees and self-seeded aquilegia are starting to open.
This month we brought a cytisus ‘Golden Cascade’, which is like a yellow firework, attracting a wide range of insects. Our epimedium plug plants have flourished in the shady area. Also, the first rose bloom of the year emerged from ‘Golden Showers’.
My latest quest is to find the best camouflage for browning daffodil foliage. Having made some lovely drifts of daffodil ‘Tête-à-tête’, I now have large areas of unattractive dying leaves. I already have sedum emerging over them and I plan to add some hostas. I’d planted daylilies, but they haven’t survived.
The bulbs and plug plants in pots of Coco Coir produced such vigorous root systems that they’re already filling gaps in the borders. There are plenty of other seedlings to come that will replace the forget-me-nots when they fade.
I was totally deflated to find an overgrown allotment, but after a few days of commitment, things are much better. We did some serious weeding, planted onions in our home-made tunnels and discovered garlic growing well among couch grass! The potatoes are in and we’ll continue weeding, then sowing various crops over the coming week.