PotsandPlots

This week has been gloriously dry and sunny. We had a frost one morning, too, which made me worry about some of the more tender plants I’d put outside. Fortunately, they’re tucked up against the house wall, so they seem to have come through unscathed.

The dry weather has been great, but I am starting to worry about a dried-out garden. April showers we have not had. I’ve added quite a few new plants this year, and I have needed copious cans of water this week to keep things fresh.

The garden has grown a lot in the last seven days, but not much has changed. I have, however, made some new additions and cut some out-of-control bushes back.

SixOnSaturday is curated by Jim at Garden Ruminations, and you can find the participation guidelines here.

1. I bought a beehive compost bin when I first moved into the house, almost 20 years ago. It made an attractive centre piece for the bottom of the garden. During my garden wilderness years, it became overgrown with ivy and lonicera. That (blue) one is still (just about) going, but I added a second last year, which I painted purple. I loved it so much with a pot set inside (photo is from last year), I decided to buy another. This time I went for shocking pink. They’re not very far apart in the garden, and the idea is to fill both with complementary/contrasting annuals to hopefully create something visually appealing.

2. To the right of the purple compost bin is a patch of recovering wisteria. I planted it about the same time as I added the original blue compost bin. Then it too became overgrown. My original idea, inspired by a trip to Wisley with my dad around the same time, was to grow it up a neighbouring beech tree. I never gave it the space or attention to grow, but yet it hung on.

Last year, in a frenzy of activity, I cut back all the swamping lonicera to reveal a denuded holly and the wisteria. (One of the photos above is the old choked state.) With space to breathe, it’s growing nicely. And while I’ve given up hopes of growing up the tree, hopefully, I can train it to go to interesting places!

3. Keep turning to the right, and you’ll find a Viburnum plicatum Kilamanjaro Sunrise (I think). This plant is very special. It came from a cutting from my dad’s last garden, which in turn had come from a succession of bushes from each house we lived in as I grew up. It was one of his favourite plants, and some of his ashes are scattered beneath it. (I’m sure he won’t mind having some old pots under there, too) I hope one day to give cuttings to my sons, should they ever have gardens of their own.

4. The other side of the garden room has also been a mess until this year. This week, I took huge amounts out of a forsythia, and just to the left of that, is what I think is a viburnum davidii. It has seeded itself there sometime in the last few years and had two branches towering 10 or 12ft into the air. I cut them back, and hopefully, can grow it into a nicer shape, although it may be too close to the forsythia for that.

5. Last weekend I went to Wisley, which, unlike my local garden centre, did have some aquatic plants out. My rustic pond, now with added ranunculus, doesn’t look quite so forlorn. (The slug rings are protecting Hosta and Rodgersii). This is underneath the forsythia from photo number 4.

6. Directly oppostie, across the lawn from the pond, are a few geum “totally tangerine.” Just one flower so far, but it was looking rather lovely.