The foxglove above is one of the plants which I bought from the St Andrews Botanic Garden, so it’s a bit posher than the wild bog standard ones, the bees and hoverflies love them all equally though. The acer which you can just see on the right is one which I was given on my birthday which was in June, it seems to be doing well.
I’m annoyed with myself because I thought I had taken more photos of the irises against the bright yellow/lime green of the physocarpus but if I did take photos I can’t find them, so I only have this solitary bloom, as you see the others weren’t so far forward. They looked great when they were all in flower too.
I also put some iris bulbs in a pot and they were useful for filling in spaces in the border. There’s also a salvia in the photo but I can’t remember the name of the wee green leaved plant with purple blotches, it’s another bulb though.
Above are lilies and my one lonely agapanthus flower which I’ve had in a pot for years but I dug it into the ground in the garden, I think that might have been a mistake but I don’t have a greenhouse in this new garden and I’m not going to bother getting one, my old one was handy for over-wintering tender pot plants though.
More lilies in a pot. I got about 10 lily bulbs for the princely sum of £1 from one of the many ‘pound’ shops which have sprung up since the financial world went into a spin. They are very good for gardening things.
As I said – it was my birthday in June and as usual I told the family that there was nothing that I needed but they bought me various plants for the garden, always the best sort of gift I think – for a gardener anyway. The delphinium above was one of my many birthday plants. The plant which is snaking along the fence to the left is a Tayberry bush, no fruit this year but I live in hope of some next year.
The summerhouse is still a work in progress as you can see, we have to get edging wood to finish it off before getting on to the painting.
And above is the view of the other side, you get quite a good view of the garden through those windows.
I’ve realised that although I usually concentrate on reading one book at a time, unlike so many folks who have about 5 on the go, to match whichever mood they’re in – I have about 5 house projects on the go, multi tasking maybe but in reality nothing is progressing far with the house and many things are half done. I’m really just not in the mood for doing much beyond gardening and reading. I’ll just plan to finish everything off during the bad winter weather which no doubt will be with us sooner than we would wish. I’m sure I heard the weather forecaster today mention the word ‘autumnal’ – what happened to summer?!
Today I was trying to construct a sort of rockery but it’s a right mess at the moment so no photos of that for a while, it’s hard work too, nobody needs to spend money on a gym membership when they have a garden, that’s for sure.
The summerhouse looks fantastic! What a lovely place it will be to sit in and admire your garden and to read, although I think there would be too many distractions for me with all those windows.
I’ve never used potted plants in the garden, but that’s a great idea. I like that you can move them around if you want, much easier than digging things us and replanting them.
You and Jack have done tons of things with the new house and garden since you moved there! I’m impressed!
Joan,
We still have a lot to do, in fact it feels like we’re going backwards at times! I’ve always grown some things in pots so that if there are any unexpected gaps in borders I can pop the pots onto the gap site.
Just love the photos–all of them. Is the acer a Japanese variety, by any chance? I adore maples–we have loads of acer rubrum, which are popularly known as swamp maple and red maple. And of course acer sacrum, which is sugar maple. Unfortunately sugar maples are failing somewhat in the northeastern U.S., which is called “sugar maple decline,” caused by a variety of factors, most of which are related to climate change, though not all. We also have mountain maple here, which is an understory tree. I guess my garden is the wilderness because the soil at my house is all rock with scarcely any topsoil. I tried gardening for a few years, but it was too hard, so I do love and admire other people’s gardens.
Judith
Judith,
Poor you, I’d hate to have land which is un-gardenable! Yes it’s a Japanese maple, I have quite a few different varieties in the garden, a few of them I brought with me from the old place.
A lot of trees here are getting fungal diseases because of climate change. There’s ash dieback which eventually kills them, that was last year’s disease, there seems to be a new one every few years and strange beasties are now able to get here and survive to chomp through our native trees.
You have some lovely plants in your garden, Katrina! I love your foxglove and delphinium in particular. I used to have loads of wild foxgloves but doing things to the garden over the past 11 years seems to have done for them! I bought a couple this year but will have to wait till next year for the flower spikes. Slugs get the delphiniums, unfortunately. I tried opening up a pub for the slugs (they’re attracted to beer of course) but that didn’t work too well! I don’t like using slug pellets but I think it’s going to be “needs must”!
Evee,
I thought I had very few slugs in my new garden but I have recently discovered a lot, after they got at my lupin seedlings. I have reluctantly started using slug pellets but I’m thinking about a wee pond to attract frogs, I think you have water features though so maybe they don’t help out with the slug situation.
Unfortunately my garden pond isn’t really a wildlife pond, more of an ornamental one, but you are right. A wildlife pond would be just the job! Puddocks would soon make short shrift of your sluggy things! Maybe I’ll try and incorporate a puddock pool too.
Evee,
I’ve seen pollywogs in a puddle here so I think I will have no problem attracting frogs, maybe I would be overrun with them though!
You r summer house is looking so snug and pretty! And is your maple changing color already?
Stefanie,
I just said to Jack today that I’d have to take more photos as things are changing colour, not so much the maples yet but the liquidamber is looking much redder now.