Everything is coming up roses!
Over the Jubilee bank holiday weekend I was able to catch up in the garden. After so little rain, I was relieved David could fix the irrigation system where I’d inadvertently cut through the pipes!
Rose ‘Étoile de Hollande’ bloomed prolifically through May, however, intertwined with rampant akebia, it became top heavy and threatened to bring the trellis down, so out came the ladder and it was off with its head! We discovered one of the old branches of our ancient lilac that was leaning through the fatsia was dead so David cut that down. Very soon, the green bin was full.
I’ve added more astrantias and pulmonarias to the shady border under the apple tree and skirtpruned the overhanging mahonia ‘Soft Caress’ and sorbaria ‘Sem’ to provide more light for the understory. The borders are rapidly filling up with new plants, creating exciting new combinations. Despite dividing the daylilies in the central bed last autumn, the clump is still too big and has produced no flowers, while sanguisorba ‘Lilac Squirrel’ is humongous, eclipsing its neighbours, and the Clematis montana is casting shade over half of the Catio. There’ll be more heavy work to be done but it’ll keep until autumn; in the meantime it’s time to enjoy the fruits of our labours.
Narcissus leaves have finally died away so bulbs can be stored until next September for planting in the Horticultural Society’s Centenary Bed. Greenhouse toms have flowers and I’ve added a couple of cucumber plants and two different courgette plants outside. Some strawberry runners I relocated from the allotment are bearing fruit. The front garden needed some attention. After clearing away the spent bulb leaves, I pruned the contorted hazel and removed last year’s fern leaves to reveal shiny new fronds underneath.
It’s all about the roses right now – on the fence, over the arches, in the borders; in particular climbing rose ‘Summer Wine’, ‘For Your Eyes Only’ and ‘Mutabilis’. A friend who has hostas to die for has given me some prolific divisions that have livened up displays at the shady end.
New additions to the purple and white border include soft yellow baptisia and sisyrinchium.
A huge ash tree two doors down, which has dominated the landscape for the 25 years we’ve lived here, finally had to be felled due to ash dieback. I used to love watching the antics of all the large garden birds and squirrels, chasing up and down its huge bows. It took tree surgeons two days to bring it down.