It’s ages since I posted any photos of my garden, these photos were all taken in early May. It was such a slow, late spring and it seemed that the place would never green up, but it did eventually as you can see.
But now nearly three months since then the garden is looking much fuller, although after the very hot dry weather we’ve been having it’s only the clover in the grass that is keeping it looking green as the actual grass is yellow/brown. Below is heather, a type of sorbus, a small rhus and a silver birch. I must admit that I’ve planted a lot of things too closely together in my impatience to have something that looks like a garden quickly. I’ll have to move some things before much longer.
The metal archway in the photo below has blown down several times in the strong winds that we get and Storm Hector turned up a couple of weeks after the photo was taken and flattened a lot of the garden as well as wrecking the arch completely, so we’ve since erected a much stronger wooden one. The garden is so different now though as the hot weather made everything explode into growth.
The photo below was taken from the guest bedroom window.
The photo below is of an ornamental quince, I have two others, one white and the other apricot. The ‘bug hotel’ in the photo has been completely ignored by all bugs as far as I can see.
The Princess Irene tulips lasted quite a long time, I presume they were named after a Dutch princess given that they’re a gorgeous vibrant shade of orange – the Dutch royal colour.
The rockery below is even more congested looking now. my hope is for most of the garden to be covered with plants, hoping that there will be fewer weeds to deal with if there’s no bare soil for them to get a hold in.
Below is a photo which I took in mid June and the warmer weather has worked wonders for the growth of everything. The cat seems to have adopted our garden – mainly to snooze in. The raised bed on the left has a lot of strawberry plants in it and we’ve had a real glut this year. I never thought I’d get fed up with strawberries – but I did and I ended up making jam with some of them.
He’s known as Big Hairy Cat to us, but he lives in a house not far from us, although I suspect he’s trying to move to a home which has no dogs and children to contend with! I’m not encouraging him though.
I love your garden and always enjoy new picture of it. The tulips are gorgeous. And the hairy cat is nice too.
tracybham,
Thanks, it’s looking a lot fuller now though, despite the dry and hot weather.
I always love seeing photos of your garden. I wish I had one tiny bit of your talent with growing things.
Jennifer,
Honestly, I dig holes and plant things in them and water them while they settle in – easy peasy!
The garden looks great. I love the color of the quince and Princess Irene is one of my favorite tulips. I’m just getting read to order some. I recently read an article on mulch in which the gardener said that the only time you should see mulch is in a brand new garden. He said you should take the recommended planting distance and divide by three. That way your garden gets fuller faster and the plants crowd out the weeds. I agree with him. I’ve always overplanted my gardens, mostly out of greed for more space for plants!
Joan,
It’s pure greed with me too, I’m just a plantaholic although I am being more sensible about it nowadays and being careful to buy only plants that will suit my soil. I plan to move a few things in the autumn, just because they’re blocking out the smaller things behind them.
I bought my parents a bug hotel and it has been completely ignored by the bugs as well! It has become a garden ornament instead..
Jo,
I suspect they are all garden ornaments, the bugs much prefer natural nooks and crannies I’m sure.
I’ve just been learning about Bug Hotels, having never come across them before.
I must say they look very attractive.
I wonder if the little critters prefer a shady aspect? I can’t work out where the sun would track in your garden because it goes the opposite way there to what I’m used to!
Your garden looks delightful as always and I’m sure the cat appreciates a safe haven. My own garden is neutral territory for up to five neighbourhood cats: one once attempted and thankfully failed to enter by an open window so I keep the windows open only a certain distance now!
VAlerie,
You’re exactly right about that I never thought about it but of course they will prefer shade.The back garden is more or less south facing so gets a lot of sunlight – when we get the sun. I imagine that your garden is really big compared with mine so cam accommodate multiple cat visitors. Big Hairy Cat has tried to get into our sun room via the patio doors, but he had second thoughts when he saw Jack in there. In the old house we had to chase a big ginger cat out in the summer when decided to snooze on one of the beds. That one was definitely avoiding the four small kids and golden lab that lived in its real home! I’m surprised you don’t have screens on your windows in NZ as I think they do in the US.
That’s an interesting thought: I’ve never been in a home with insect screens.
Some homes have a screen-door to keep house-flies out, and leave the main door open for extra breeze on hot days; I think the automatic insect-spray dispensers are fairly common these days.
Different window styles – usually awning or casement windows here – and no insect-borne diseases, mean screens are inconvenient or unnecessary.
Thankfully not all cats are cheeky enough to attempt to fly in the windows!
Valerie,
It’s the same here, we don’t often get insects flying in and it would only be house-flies or the odd wasp, not often enough to merit installing screens anyway. I do have a fairly ghastly white nylon curtain that I can pull across the patio doors when I open them. I think that put the cat off too.