Sunshine on a rainy day...

Gardening is good for the soul.  Even a walk around between showers to take some photos has lifted the spirits on what is a 'rest day' in my phased return to work. 

As the Viburnum flowers fade, wallflowers are coming into bloom with their unmistakable spicy scent.

Within the plant support below are Peony buds. Perhaps 2016 will be their year to begin flowering... To the right is one of the pink dicentra clumps.

And below clematis Montana.

I moved the pot of muscari and laid down some logs to create a damp spot in the hope of encouraging some critters to the pond.  I also added a couple more rocks to the sloping side to help any aforementioned critters access the water.

I plan to scrape this side of the pond back, add a liner, replant it with bog plants and thicken the planting up somewhat to create a better route for any wildlife to enter/exit the water in privacy...I have been researching ways to make our little pond more attractive to wee beasties.

Round to the front garden and things are filling out once more.  We've had a couple of very cold nights recently, waking up to frost which may have had an effect, but on a good look around it seems the only reaction is a sharp intake of breath against the chill.

The osmanthus has loads of scented flowers this year.

I'm thrilled to see the clumps of aubretia are not only surviving, but thriving - finally!

Sambuccus nigra has suddenly put on growth and forming flower buds.

Beneath which are clumps of tulips.

The acers next door are coming into leaf already, but ours are still in bud.

Fresh new growth of both pieris above and photinia below delivers a shot of bright red.

Swelling buds of rhododendron. The one below still retains the previous spent flower which I won't remove just yet. It's still a wee bit chilly.

It does appear pretty bare still, but a closer look reveals everything seems to have survived the mild if wet winter, even the hibiscus!

More rain is forecast for the next few days. It'll fill the waterbutts back up - and afford The Man That Can some much needed rest before he returns to the latest project.

I never expected that!

To be perfectly honest, I thought the city council had completely forgotten to plant a new tree to replace the beautiful gnarled old flowering cherry tree outside our house they unceremoniously ripped out in May 2014.

I say ripped out...what I actually mean is chopped off leaving a 3.5ft stump.

Well over 15 months later after numerous emails, complaints and excuses I managed to 'encourage' them to remove the stump along with several others along our street in a similar state (and the unsightly plastic bright orange barriers that instead of preventing people coming a cropper by bumping into the stumps caused more issues every time they blew over in the wind!)

So finally, almost 2 years after the council removed all the lovely mature trees in our road, may I present Jeff? I've named the tree after my boss at work - upright and bold (the human recently left the military as a L. Colonel) who never fails to surprise me. I'm hoping this whippy will be just as stubborn!

I'm not much of an arboriculturist and have no clue what Jeff actually is.....yet. A further surprise awaits, but I'm hoping it has pink blossom (now there's an image!)

Time rests for no Man That Can

2016 is our year for the garden. We want to get the bones of the garden completed this year so we can really start to enjoy it. Of course a garden is never 'finished'; it's a living, breathing being. It is constantly evolving. Plants die and need replacing. Seasons come and go. Pruning, dead-heading, moving...and so on. 

The front garden was the first to be 'done' as it is what greets us after a long day at work. This time of year it is light at both ends of my working day. I almost always pause on the drive mid-reverse to take a quick glance at the plants to see if anything needs attention once I have parked. If so I often nip back up before going indoors (which drives the dogglies crazy because they're eager for my attention too).

The pond has been installed, and the 'pink garden' has been planted up. The patio of course has been completed and plants added.

Our final design has been discussed at great length, and almost everything has been sourced. 

 Since Bumblebee is becoming a teenager, he no longer has the time or dedication to devote to his plot. We have therefore decided to decrease its size somewhat, and open up the area of what is currently a very dull gravelled space. It does have a little white bistro set, but despite it being in sun (if we have some) for pretty much all the day, no-one tends to sit down there!

This is the final draft of our plan. However like most things in a garden (and in my mind) it is subject to change.

We managed to purchase most of the plants from one garden centre, but we were not particularly taken by the choice of containers and they did not have a particular tree we were after.  The second (and our favourite) garden centre had the tree, the containers and what's more they delivered later the same day as our car couldn't manage the tree or the weight of the containers.

So while I pruned the clematis and honeysuckle on the top arch...

...The Man That Can began the hard graft to decrease the veg plot.  He took out a large amount of the soil to reach ground level at this end...

and transferred it to some tarp beside it. The soil will be used in another part of the design later.

He then removed the end sleepers and after digging a trench at the other end of the plot, attached the sleepers to create a far smaller plot. This contains the apple tree, both rhubarb crowns, the rosemary and a selection of strawberry plants.

We're really rather chuffed with the result!

I raked the gravel away from the areas next to be worked on. There will be a raised bed coming out from the corner where the flowering cherry (prunus 'Kanzan') will be planted, and a long bed created where the climbing rose 'Dawn' grows. 

Awaiting completion of the landscaping we have the flowering cherry, two acers, a wisteria, various grasses and low growing alpine type plants.

Finally, The Man That Can spotted this sign in the garden centre that I thought was rather amusing:

April Powers

The Lesser Spotted Toad visited the garden this week, but was not interested in the garden whatsoever and certainly wasn't for having any photos for the blog. At 20 years old now, there were better things for him to do during his visit.

Therefore The Man That Can and I have had a very productive Sunday morning, having returned the Toad home to the Midlands once more.  Thankfully the weather was more obliging.

Keeping my shoulder recuperation in mind, I pottered gently about and let The Man That Can do all the heavier and more awkward tasks.

I tied in the new honeysuckle, along with the clematis and the rose 'New Dawn'...

...while the Man That Can set up the trompe l'oeil mirror in what is the shadiest part of the pink bed. The plan is that the fence will eventually be clothed in green and the mirror will appear more like a window into another part of the garden. The idea works as long as it is looked at from an angle to prevent seeing oneself

He tidied all the potting/working area

Under the watchful eye of Angel.

The smallest butt was positioned ready to be connected to the downpipe of the bottom shed. We have to replace the guttering before it will work properly so for now we'll keep the lid off.

The wooden seats have been moved into place to catch some sunshine.

The tall cape fuchsia stems have been cut back hard behind the box hedging, and the huge potted rhododendron given to us last year by our neighbours has been top dressed, given a good drink of water from the butt and mulched with bark.

Since there were a few pavers left over from the new patio, we laid them in the gravel to create a path to the Folly. 

I have a good few ideas rattling around for this gravelled area of the garden. 10 weeks' sick leave can have some benefits, particularly the hours spent on Pinterest!

Finally the pond was given a spruce up, clearing all the sludgy weeds away in preparation for a visit to the water garden centre later this month.

Happy April - I hope it's a warm and sunny one in your patch of the world!