Readers’ gardens
A family garden in Astley Burf, Worcestershire, with recently developed beds and borders.
There’s nothing I like better at this time of year than getting wrapped up in warm clothes and going out into the garden with a specific job in mind. With fewer daylight hours I find it possible to achieve more by being completely focused.
I’ve cut back the old hellebore leaves in the spring borders and mulched thickly with leaf mould and compost. As the hellebore shoots grow through they should be set off to perfection and, hopefully, it’ll keep weeds down.
A contorted hazel in this area is looking good, especially on mornings when the low sun shines through the branches. I’ve also mulched borders at the front of the house and completely emptied one compost bay. I don’t like the look of bare soil but somehow a cosy layer of mulch looks much better.
Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is coming into flower. The scent is wonderful, very cheering on a winter’s day. Also just flowering is Lonicera purpusii. It’s such a straggly shrub and I keep regretting planting it. However, at this time of year it’s forgiven – the flowers, although small, have a lovely strong fragrance.
I’ve been bringing roses back into order on the trellis. At one end ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ had sent up a very tall shoot that was scrambling into an adjacent cherry tree. This has been retrieved and tied securely along the trellis. At the other end ‘Belvedere’ – a rambler with trusses of small, pink flowers – had also sent long shoots in all directions. Wearing thick leather gloves I’ve managed to tame all of them, wrapping them back along the trellis and tying securely down. Dead wood has been cut out and hopefully we’ll enjoy a mass of flowers next summer. l Read more about the garden at www.talesfromacountrygarden.wordpress.com.