End of Month View – May 2012

Another month over and it couldn’t have been one of more extremes.  Nothing but rain and low temperatures at the beginning and then no rain just unseasonably high temperatures the last few weeks.  There seems to have been no transition from one to the other, one minute we were wearing jumpers the next T-shirts.  The plants have soldiered on some flourishing in the temperatures and some, like the Delphinium, seem to have ground to a stop.

The main garden has been somewhat neglected as I have been concentrating on seedlings and potting up whenever I have had time to garden and the weather has allowed it. The patio/spring border is really burgeoning and looking very lush.  Strangely I seem to have quite a few Aquilegia which I have had to stake this year.  I don’t know whether it’s the weather or my heavy footed cat who loves to hunt in the borders especially now the foliage has filled out.  It is increasingly hard to find her in the garden.  I have a little tweaking to do in this border as there is a Japanese Painted Fern just behind the gap you can see above.  It is completely swamped by the surrounding plants so needs bringing forward at some point.

The Cottage Border is coming into its own.  I had hoped that the Delphinium would be flowering the same time as the Peonies  but it isn’t to be.  However, the Aquilegia and Foxgloves are adding plenty of height.  I’m not sure about the yellow Welsh Poppies which seed themselves all over my garden.  I think I need to remove them from this border and I must remember to deadhead the ones I let remain in the garden before we are completely awash with the yellow peril.

I have been wondering about my step over apples for the last month but today I noticed that they have suddenly sprouted lots of leaves so I have to get in there and do some rubbing off of unwanted buds.  Once the branches start to form I shall put in some canes to support the branches.

I am really pleased with the Allium cowanii (those are the small white flowers along the front of the border).  They are doing really well and adding some front of border interest.  This is something I have been trying to get right blending the planting at the front and the back of the border with planting in the middle.  I don’t necessarily think that all the plants have to be low at the front of the border but I do like to try to have plants to hide the stems of the taller plants.

This is the view from the other end of the border.  Those pesky Welsh Poppies can be seen ruining my pastel ensemble!!  Thalictrums are just opening so hopefully they will still be flowering in  months time for me to share but maybe that is asking too much with the weather we have had.

If you would like to join in with the End of Month View you are very welcome.  Just post a link in the comments box.

Wordless Wednesday 30/5/12 – Meconopsis ‘China Blue’

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Cotehele – a Cornish Gem

Visiting a garden when it is 28C is not really ideal but needs must and all that.  This Friday I drove down to Plymouth to pick my youngest up from University.  He will be home now until September and as he will be in a new house  then everything had to come home.  My poor little Peugeot was full to the gunnels.  Anyway, it is a good 7 hr round trip and having done it once in a day I am in no hurry to do it again so we stay overnight in a Premier Inn which is basic but comfortable.  As he is always keen to get out of the student house I go in the morning and we have a nice afternoon out.  At Easter we went to the Garden House and I had hoped to visit WildSide this time but it was closed so the good old National Trust came to the rescue and we went to Cotehele Manor.

The journey was interesting up and down tiny Cornish lanes wondering if anything was coming the other way but it was worth the effort.  A quick picnic lunch and we went off to explore the grounds and to find some shade.  Sadly the Tudor house was shut on Friday (in fact it is amazing how many tourist attractions are shut on a Friday in Devon and Cornwall!) but the grounds were more than enough for us.  The house, like so many grand houses in the area, sits at the top of a valley this one leads down to the River Tamar.  You can just see a viaduct in the distance if you peer.

Whilst the formal terrace gardens looked very nice and were performing well despite the heat we really needed some shade so we headed down to the Valley Garden.

To be honest I think if there had been somewhere to sit in the tunnel down to the Valley Garden I could quite happily have sat there for the afternoon admiring the view glimpsed below.

The main features of the Valley Garden are the medieval stewpond and the dovecote.  The stewpond, I believe, was use to keep the fish for dinner in so I wonder if the dovecote was used for doves to eat?  Unlike Heligan, Cotehele doesn’t have lots of statuesque tree ferns.  The planting in the Valley Garden is very much rhododendrons, azaleas and other similar plants.

There is what appears to be a natural stream running down the Valley Garden and I suspect this was dammed in the past to create the stewpond.  We came across the stream further down though became aware of it well in advance due to the smell.  I suppose given the heat and also the low water tables at the moment it is hardly surprising that the water isn’t running that freely.  However, the gunnera were looking very healthy and I am sure that with the rain they had the following day everything will now be smelling fresher!

We managed to make our way up and down the Valley Garden and it was surprising how many people on such a warm afternoon were as mad as us.  We then made our way to the Upper Garden and lay on the grass for quite some time in the shade you can see in the photo above.  It was lovely, peaceful, with the birds singing, a breeze stirring branches overhead.  We had fun putting the world to rights but in the end decided that there must be a Cornish Cream Tea in the offing somewhere so finished our tour of the Upper Garden.  We gave the orchards a miss as they looked rather warm so we missed out on the living sculptures mentioned on the National Trust website but there is always another day.

We had a very nice afternoon in an extremely well maintained garden.  The gardens are interesting since there is a range of styles from the formal terrace garden, through the relaxed and shady upper garden to the lush and intriguing Valley Garden.  I suspect we will be visiting again at some point over the next two year – and the cream tea was delicious!

A Walk Around The Garden

A daft conversation on twitter where we were tweeting views from our back doors this morning has led me to do a photographic tour of the garden.  I am really pleased with how the garden has bulked out since last year and beginning to look much better.  It is probably partly due to all the rain we have had especially when you compare it to the dryness of last spring.

Anyway my garden slopes and to get to the main part of it you go up a flight of stairs.  When you get to the top of the stairs you are facing the gravel border.  It is called the gravel border simply because there is a gravel path in front of it.  I struggled with this area all last year partly because of the shade from next doors shrubs and also because it is quite dry at the back again because of next doors shrubs.  However, my neighbour has been pruning aggressively and the light has flooded in and the plants seem to get more moisture when it rains.

Rising up from the gravel border is the bank or daisy border.  It is looking very green at the moment and to be honest only green.  The planting is predominantly late summer but there are some phlomis coming into flower and the odd self-seeded foxglove.

The gravel path turns (badly) into a woodchip path – I need to sort this out. and you walk along what was the back of the old pond.  On the left is the new big garden (aka the old pond). The ligularia is really thriving this year from its new location and of course from all the rain.  The bank on your right is a continuation of the bank above but is more shady here so planted with foxgloves, honesty, primulas, hostas etc.

The messy stone edging is temporary as I will be using the stone elsewhere in the Autumn if we finally get around to finishing the steps off near the patio.  Anyway at the end of the woodchip path you can go one of two ways.  If you go right you go up a couple more steps.  You will see the compost area on your right.  Looking very tidy for a change but that’s down to my eldest son not me and also because I have been taking garden waste to the allotment.

Carry on round and you have the original woodland border which has all sorts of interesting things in it like Trilliums but it is such a mess and on the ‘sort out’ list as is more plants to grow up the horrid fence.  The path then goes straight across the back of the garden at the top of the slope.  The border on your left has 3 bamboos planted in it which I am hoping will grow to create a screen not only to hide the fence but also to obstruct the view of the neighbour at the back – long story. I have a few shrubs in here as well but again I need to ‘sort out’ this border to give it an identity.

The path is a dead-end – I know you aren’t meant to have these in gardens as they affect the flow of the garden but there we go, so about turn and we go back down the path and to the steps alongside the bog garden.

Ahead of you is the new woodland border which went in last year and which is filling out nicely. From here the border runs along the top of the wall and this is what I call the cottage garden border and which I am showing each month on the End of Month Views.

A quick trot across the ‘lawn’ and you are back to the steps and down to the patio which I’m not showing as it’s a mess at the moment.

I hope you enjoyed a walk round my garden.  It may not have the perfection of a show garden but its my garden, with my favourite plants and I am beginning to be a little bit proud of it.

Wordless Wednesday 23/5/12 – Astrantia

Greenhouse Year – May 2012

I have lost track of the date and I wonder only thinking this morning, whilst weeding at the allotment, that it must be nearly time to do the monthly greenhouse post.  I pondered on the date and realised that today is the 20th and therefore the date for monthly post.  So here we are.

Lots of small seedlings still mainly due to the cold temperatures and lack of sunshine to bring them on.  I have only this weekend started hardening off the courgettes and tender annuals whereas last year I think they were already out and growing on.  This weekend hasn’t been that much better although the temperatures are creeping up so I have spent quite a few hours pricking out and potting up.  Both the cold frames are full and the patio is beginning to get crowded.

It isn’t all seedlings in the greenhouse though.  One of the  scented leaved pelargoniums is smothered in flowers and it really packs a punch when you open the greenhouse door.  I also have three small passion-flower and they all have big fat flower buds which are on the point of opening.  These flowers are also heavily scented so I think it could get quite heady over the coming weeks.  But what I am most excited about is that there are definitely flower buds coming on my Watsonia, I grew them from seed about 3 years ago so having them flower will be a real achievement.

The biggest problem in the greenhouse at the moment is the number of slugs and spiders.  Last year we had a resident frog who obviously kept the spiders and slugs in check but he moved out when I cleaned out the greenhouse.  This is probably a good thing for the frog as I now have a cat who loves hunting and who would no doubt torment the frog but it’s not a good thing for my pest control.  I have to clear out the staging on one side to make room for the tomato plants so I will have to give the whole greenhouse another clean then.

I have today sown the last of my perennial seeds but I now need to start sowing the biennials – it never seems to end especially as I want to have lots of wallflowers, sweet-william, sweet rocket and honesty next year for the garden and for the allotment.

I finally have some dahlias coming up and some gladioli.  Last year all my dahlias, which weren’t cheap failed so this year I bought some very cheap ones from Wilkinsons as well as growing some from seed.  To date progress both from the bought tuber and the seeds is definitely better than last year, although to be fair that isn’t that difficult.

That’s my greenhouse in May.  I will do another post on the 20th June.  If you have a greenhouse and would like to join in with this monthly meme you are very welcome – just post a link to your post in the comments box.

Brunnera hyacinthoides – a new species?

Having been amused by James (Lost in the Landscape’s) rare lavender flowered Californian coffeeberry I thought I would share my Brunnera hyacinthoides.  Is it a new species combining the large and decorative leaves of the Brunnera with the attractive and very English flowers of the Bluebell?  A winning combination I think.

I am hopeless with names so had to ask my twitter friends for a clue as to what the leaf might be off.  Brunnera they said.  Arh but what Brunnera?  I thought it might be Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ as the name rings a bell but looking at images on google I am not convinced and think it might actually be Brunnera macrophylla ‘Dawnsons White’.  Either way it is a lovely plant and I shall be looking to see how I can divide it.

Oh and these are what the flowers really look like!!