My gardening DIARY
MONDAY We’ve been busy po ing up bare-root peonies. In big pots, they’ll make new roots and in late spring we’ll plant them out. ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ (pictured) is over a hundred years old, ‘Festiva Maxima’ is even older, with very full white petals touched with crimson. ‘Bowl of Beauty’ has pink outer petals encasing creamy white petals. All have potent perfume.
TUESDAY The best time to prune laurel is in late spring, but sometimes you need to cut it back earlier. On the lower part of the track laurel grows along the bank that separates us from next door. If we don’t prune it now it grows right out over the track.
WEDNESDAY
the shu lecock fern, has to be one of the most entertaining. Not only do the fronds curve inwards at their tips like big green feathers, but in late summer fertile fronds appear. Our plants have turned brown but are erect, while the old fronds collapse outwards like a tired tutu.
THURSDAY The paperwhites we’re forcing for Christmas look as though they’re going to flower prematurely. If our fridge were big enough, I could put them in there to slow them down, but it’s not.
FRIDAY Pulling down the remnants of a purple-flowered morning glory, probably
‘Grandpa O ’, I realised there were several seed pods clinging on to the old stems. Initially seeds came from the garden at Berryfields where we used to make
Under foot the garden has transformed from dry and dusty to wet and muddy in quite a short period of time. However we’ve been busy as there’s still plenty to do.
The pond had its annual tidy to remove debris that’s accumulated. I also removed old growth from the Iris pseudacorus and then removed some of the tubers, otherwise come summer it will take over the pond. It’s a job that has to be done carefully so as not to cut the liner.
Pete has been busy pruning a very large Elaeagnus pungens 'Maculata', which forms part of our front hedge, and he’s finished reducing the height of all the various buddlejas. He’s now working his way through the shrub roses, in particular a large Rosa canina which has, in the past, suffered from root rock following winter storms. Its thorns are vicious and it put up a real fight, however, he got the better of it!
We have an area of lawn which has suffered from being under the canopy of our remaining large conifer, so we decided to remove the turf and slightly enlarge our shade bed. Pete removed the turf but some slabs that form part of a path across the lawn remain: so the path now runs through the border. The soil underneath the turf was in poor condition so we’ll improve it over winter and then plant it up next spring by dividing plants which are already thriving in that area.
Another area to get a makeover is a border surrounding our summerhouse. We’ve removed some Viburnum davidii, which were suffering there, and used them as an underplanting among the buddlejas and shrub roses. I then bought some daffodil and tulip bulbs that we’ve added to those already established in the border. We’re looking forward to seeing the result next spring.
The most significant development has been the long-awaited erection of the new fence between us and the building plot next door. When we saw the machinery arrive and begin ripping out the old fence it was horrifying and by the end of the day we were left with no fence
Our stunning climbing hydrangea at all! Early next morning two men turned up and before we knew it, new posts and rails were in place. The following day the overlapping upright boards were added and we were left with a beautiful rusticlooking bespoke 6ft fence that’s very much in keeping with our garden. It’s more solid than panels, which hopefully also makes it more wind resistant! We’d been concerned that, being double the height of the original fence, it would block out too much light conifers taken down in height, the garden is open to the sun more than ever. The only problem now is I can’t curiously watch what progress is being made with the new property.