How many gardeners actually rest in their garden? I bet you sit with your favourite tipple to hand for just a couple of minutes before your spot something needing your attention. I also bet that you don't just make a mental note to do it when you're next pottering around either. No, you have to leave your comfy seat and pull the weed, deadhead that flower or pick off that snail and dispose in your usual manner immediately, otherwise you whittle about it until it's done.
One or two jobs however aren't the kind you can do immediately, whether it's due to time or the weather. A couple of dry hours is all it took for The Man That Can and I to protect these couple of fence panels on the patio from the impending summer rain. The aging bench got a lick of paint too, and a new home at the bottom of the lawn by the new bed.
In its place we treated ourselves to a new companion set. We looked at (and sat on) a great deal of benches before we settled on this. It's just perfect for that after-work cup of tea.
We also treated ourselves to an Easter Island Head. Say hello to Ernie. We're unsure where to place him at the moment, but for now he shades himself on the bottom shelf of the companion set above.
Butterfly heaven...
The newly planted box hedgelings.
The previously planted hedge is now beginning to take form. It shall receive its first trim shortly.
The passionflower is a strange one. It was badly hit by two harsh winters. Hacked back to reshape and this year is full of flower buds.
I have given up trying to kill the plant below. It's some sort of arum lily I think. It came with the property. The leaves looks attractive, but then suddenly collapse. The flowers are nondescript, but are followed by these vivid berries. Something is eating them. Perhaps our blackbird who lives in our conifer hedge?
Everlasting pea...scrambles through the confer hedges behind the garage. They stayed until we trimmed the hedges this week. I tend to wait until August when I know the blackbirds have fledged along with any other birds that may have chosen our garden to nest in.
The weigila has found it's feet and is romping away. It shouldn't take too long to fill out its spot. Maybe I should have given it more room. I usually cut back hardy geraniums after flowering, but this one is still to settle in, so I shall leave it to use its energy for roots. I'm absolutely certain I bought a pink hydrangea for this spot...
Nope, definitely blue. I will let it stay for now. Perhaps the soil will make it pink in future years. I'm pretty sure it's not acidic enough to keep it blue. But boy, what a blue! Even the blue ones in my front garden are not this vibrant!
My much-wanted greenhouse stands empty and unused this year. I have been so busy with my new job that I haven't had time to use it. It will need a really good clean and a bomb in it before I use it again.
With the fence now dry, the maroon viticella clematis that once grew beside the garage has been attached to it. When the time is right, I will prune her. In the 3 years I have had her, I think she has only had a single flower. I hope that this spot will be more suitable and she will repay us with more flowers. The other pots contain the ruined lilies.
The garden is never finished. There is always something changing or needing change. There have been a great many changes made to this one. We filled in a pond. We removed a dirty great dog house and added a greenhouse. We cut back the massive hedges by a good third in the back and in the front gardens. We have planted trees and removed trees. We have made flowerbeds and moved them. We have had a go at growing our own fruit and veg and kept chickens. Plants have died, been replaced, divided and added. And all the time we are planning the next change.
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