Another week has flown by, and in the garden, just a few days sees different plants coming to the fore. These weekly posts help me to keep note of what I am up to and what is doing well in the garden. Those of us who have managed to take pictures and have time to write something, gather over at Jim's to share a few matters horticultural.
1. Exactly still in situ where I planted some cuttings straight into the ground the lovely white flowers of the perennial are just behind the garlic chives. From the house these are very nearly obscured, the jobs to do list after flowering is finished is to move them to a better place.
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| Iberis sempervirens 'Snowflake' |
2. Another late spring plant which I like and have managed to easily propagate to give several patches is this Polemonium reptans Lambrook Mauve. This is a plant that had been recommended to me by Anna, and then I found shortly afterwards at Yeo Valley in 2021. From a low tuft of leaves in a matter of a couple of weeks it has thrown up its flowers. |
| Polemonium reptans Lambrook Mauve |
3. Over in the gravel garden another pale mauve flowering plant is looking rather attractive to us and also to the bees. Jekka's Thyme is also excellent as a thyme for cooking. If I want to get another plant for elsewhere in the garden, I do this by topping some gravel across one of the extending shoots, and in just a few weeks it will have grown roots. I've also been using some of the propagations as interesting ground cover in the front garden where I have planted out mainly plants from Mediterranean areas. |
| Jekka's Thyme |
4. Over the past few weeks I have come to the conclusion that I need to alter my attitude to the garden and gardening. I need more time to share with my hubby on outings and holidays, and my other hobbies, and not allow the garden to control me. I need to be able to allow the garden to tick along and therefore one way is to abandon my very small vegetable area, reduce the pots drastically, and not act as if I am a 'nursery' propagating every little plant to pass on or to sell for clubs etc. I have been true to this in that I have already passed on all my packets of vegetable seeds, shared tools, netting etc., and this morning I shall be taking over this stack of pots to my friend Alison who has a flower farm, who will also be planting up pots for sale at her village plant sale. Of course I shall be 'open' for sharing plants to friends who visit, or may wish to have plants that I can post bare rooted. These are just some of the pots what I am getting rid of!
5. Another star in the garden is this little Phlox. It really shines out and has been in flower for about three weeks. This was a new plant to the garden this week bought from the excellent Rob Potterton who came to the early Rare Plant Fair at The Bishop's Palace this year.
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| Phlox bifida 'Alba' |
6. I enjoyed varying the trimming of the Golden Lonicera balls in the front garden this week, and hope they make a few people smile. I didn't have time to do them all, so I gave all of them a partial trim. In a few weeks I shall give it an all over smooth trim, when the grooves which are now green will the golden and the rest green.
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| Lonicera nitida 'Baggesen's Gold' |
A little broom work pushing the cuttings under the mounds will be east enough to do later today.
Lovely plants today Sis, I could just list them all and be done with it. I understand the compulsion to propagate every plant that sits still long enough. I wish you luck with resisting! I'm off next weekend for a few days and already worrying about the greenhouse, it is a tie, but in the best possible way. Enjoy the "heatwave" x
ReplyDeleteI have a friend coming over this afternoon, and I shall dig up plants for her, and she can take them hope and pop them straight in the ground. I probably ought to announce an 'at home' and willing to share plants to my whole WhatsApp WI Blooming fun group and see who turns up. Primulas need to be divided and there will be loads spare as well as Pulmonarias etc!
DeleteJekka's Thyme looks lovely in the gravel, I might have to borrow that idea!
ReplyDeleteGrowing the thyme in the gravel keeps it nice and clean too.
DeleteSuch a pretty thyme and you have been creative with the Golden Lonicera balls.
ReplyDeleteYou’ve given me food for thought when you mention ‘not allowing the garden to control me’. I think I do that too. I grow more than I need to pass on to others, but my greenhouse becomes overcrowded and then I get stressed. Time perhaps to rethink - I don’t need to pass on everything I grow. And perhaps I also need to grow less for myself too. Like you, I have other things I love doing, but the garden now dictates when I can do them. The garden is mostly capable of looking after itself for a while if we decide to go away for a week or so. But to your plants - Iberis ‘Snowflake’ is a pretty little thing and I hope that you can move them successfully. Jekka’s Thyme is so colour-rich and it looks perfect in the gravel. Finally, that’s very clever pruning of your Lonicera balls - I"m impressed. 😀
ReplyDeleteI think we all come to the point when we have to reconsider what and how we do things. I am now feeling more positive after a little time 'grieving'.
DeleteWhat a fun trim of the Lonicera shrubs! I had to chuckle at your #4, because it rings true. I try not to let the garden rule my life, but there are times of the year (including now) when it definitely dominates. Good luck, best wishes, and happy "Six"!
ReplyDeleteThanks Beth, I do like a bit of topiary.
DeleteWhat a job pruning these balls of Lonicera : topiaries are an art! Well done. The gravel path that runs alongside the thyme 'Jekka' must be very pleasant to walk on, it must smell wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks Fred, it is fun to clip, especially these free form styles. At the moment the scent from another pot of flowers is my favourite and more about that next week.
DeleteThank you for sharing your spring treasures today, Noelle, and I really like what you have done with the lonicera...it looks so effective. It sounds as if you have made a wise decision to cut down on your gardening tasks - I must admit, I have thought recently about what it will be like when I am no longer opening the garden and therefore propagating plants for sale...won't be quite yet though
ReplyDeleteKeep on going Cathy, I only wish we lived closer. Then I could bring all the little plants for you to sell.
DeleteI really like the Lonicera topiary - that's far more adventurous than me. I thought I was being radical when I went cubist rather than ball-shaped one year with my old (now defunct) box plants a few years ago! Iberis is such a good, long flowering plant.
ReplyDeleteThanks Graeme, I'm not sure the box plants grew back as quickly, these can be changed within a couple of years but going from round to cubes is more challenging, and the geometry has to be exact, hence for me too trickly. Free form is far more forgiving!
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