One Fine Day!

And please can we have some more?

I’m so sorry, I have no idea where this past week has gone, all I know is here we are a week later catching up in the garden! A mixture of fine days and appointments and suddenly – the days have passed!

Following a lo-o-ng cold spring the garden has erupted into flower, with pinks, roses, sweet peas and Shasta daisies. Sage (Salvia officinalis), catnip (Nepeta cataria), in full flower, bees, heavy with pollen, visit the fragrant blooms. Hard to believe this bed was planted up in May 2014 but will need to do something with the rampant wild strawberries! But it is nice to harvest them and the chooks are yet to discover their deliciousness.

Having cut this bed out last winter, piling on leaf mould and hoeing off the fresh weeds, it was eventually planted up late spring and nothing happened. Everything stood still until the recent warmth and rain showers. Our first summer here (2012) herbs were planted wherever there was a space but now some have outgrown their home and have been moved to new areas more suited to their needs. Lady’s mantle will be enough to harvest next year as this years baby plants mature…

Bargain violas edge the bed as the lavender hedging (Lavandula compacta) begins to settle in and flower. The sea hollies (more bargain plants) are budding too, in panic at the lack of growth,  I planted Borage (Borago officinalis), to add height Cardoons  (Cynara cardunculus)  – grown from old seed – are putting on leaf. Apparently they can be cooked like a vegetable. While in Sweden I loved the way herbs were planted in swathes so I’ve tried to mimic that with silver leafed plants.

Sweet peas, another “bargain” buy, they too stood in the ground looking unhappy but at last have flourished and come to flower. Not as fragrant as Cupani, but wonderful shades and marking. Each bed has a cane wigwam, most with sweet peas but last years circle has nasturtiums instead.

I’ve allowed myself more flowers for cutting this year adding Zinnia (I grew lots in Africa but they are not very happy here) and Cosmos. More Borage in here too – I may live to regret that 😀

Wild roses flower in the hedgerow gently perfuming the evening air. Heavy with blossom, the Apothecary’s roses droop to the ground, the still air filled with their fragrance. A little rabbit has moved into the garden not a problem yet unless he invites his friends too.

Thanks for stopping by today

A Little Smug?

“A garden is never as good as it will be next year“

Thomas Cooper – Horticultural Magazine January 1993

Sometimes I need to remind myself how far we have come over the past three years; in 2012 the garden was a tangle of brambles, weeds and feral flowers. By summer 2013 flower discoveries were a weekly occurrence, old roses, red-hot-poker, lilies and hosta – inspiring this blog! Slowly plants have been propagated, new gardens dug, old plants removed – but not before cuttings have been taken. Pots of shrubs, waiting for a permanent home, have also multiplied. I’m sure there is a faster way to restock a garden but I imagine it comes at a price!

So we took a trip to the “Ninety Nine Pence” store. On a recent programme Bob Flowerdew (gardening guru) entreated all gardeners to buy new string as old string harbours all sorts of nasties – four balls for 99 pence seems a bargain and well, there were seeds too! The memory of the evening garden filled with the fragrance of sweet-peas (Cupani) still lingers. Seed compost warming as I write…

Growing up at the family home; on a warm summer’s evening, the heady perfume from the Philadelphus (mock orange) trees could be overwhelming. Needless to say one found its way into my basket along with a Sea Holly – which turned out to be three plants – bargain!

Ever since my sister sent me a copy of “Harrowsmith Country Life Reader”  I have wanted an Adirondack chair. So when I saw this Muskoka chair reduced at Francis bay – I succumbed! (So thank you, dear Canadian sister, somewhere for T to sit away from the cat!) Quietly pleased with myself but remind myself that “a bargain is only a bargain if its something you need.”  I needed them – honest!

May your garden bargains be needed and enjoyed – thanks for stopping by!