...and wider views....

Long View

The view from the balcony yesterday ........ or rather Wednesday before it rained! You can see parts of all 4 terraces... just !

New Day New Header !

The new header is one of several pics taken in the past few days.... ... so busy out there, no time to upload.... but any time now !! First a long Town Council meeting to attend. Then, if it continues to rain...( well we are coming up to a bank holiday weekend !) computer time and more long views to show you. And for when the header changes... as it will... here is the pic minus irritating title !

Leaves and more leaves

I just love this time of year when everything is full of new promise.. another fern unfurling and the fresh new leaves of one of the more unusual non-yellow flowering Mahonias Believe it or not this is the leaf of a species of willow.. Salix magnificum if I remember correctly The leaves of Brunnera 'Jack Frost' the flowers are small insignificant like forget-me -nots .... also blue I took this at the weekend.. I swear this leaf is 4 inches bigger today. This likes moisture... but not wet...... looks very sad when it dries out

Some Flowers

......from garden plans to blooms. A damp weekend in the garden... but still plenty photo opportunities .......first the last few blossoms on a cammassia...which, see below it, just 10 days ago were in full bloom .. though the trees, please note , were almost leafless ! Then an evergreen geranium/cranesbill .... whose name I remembered a moment or two ago.... it will return.... and the clump ... this has a grey slightly furry leaf..... and is next to a srping flowering one which competely dies down in summer and so lets sun light through to the bearded Iris rhizomes next a thalictrum tall and airy... then something that came for free in anther plant pot .. name eludes me right now...... Then two of the three honeysuckles in bloom right now and smelling wonderful and the highly scented bright yellow Hemerocallis lilio-asphodelus .. this one grown from self collected seed.. the parent plant is sulking as it got too big for its slot and I moved it.. last year smothered in bloom .. this year.. well, sulking with two flower shoots !! Final shot of this group Paradiseum liliastrum..... a new plant to me.....its been growing on in the greenhouse overwinter ans this is the first bloom ... in the centre is a lacewing gobbling up pink greenfly.. .. more later

A PLAN - by special request !

I got carried away on the pc with this..........would have been quicker to draw and paint it!..........but good practice at finding how some of the new progs work..... to make sense of it you may need to click and enlarge !! This is the view I get form the house and the balcony I had built over the utility room which I can access from where I type this. I'll start at the very bottom of the garden [at the top of this] post.... the wildlife pond and composting area..... the 3 bins got a bit out of scale !! then 3/4 feet higher up, the veggie garden....under the shade of the huge copper beech on the left as you look ! two seats there. And the old outside earth toilet....no longer functioning!!! another 3+ feet up and the meadowy bit with Plum trees and greenhouse etc. seating for 4 facing south. Some Bamboos Up again to the 'Pond/oriental/foliage garden ..... often shady and my favourite space. 2 x 2 seater benches here and a 3 foot high wall to the top terrace And at the bottom of the plan is the back of the house..... with big french windows from the living room and a back door from the utility room..... the back gate goes onto the public footpath which runs down alongside the garden - useful on open days ! This terrace is decked on different levels and has two water features and - not counting the steps.... seats for 10 ! The plan is not to proper scale but is roughly right.....each terrace is about 10 metres square thats about 35 x 35 foot ... you could fit my old garden into one of these terraces. When I arrived, just under 6 years ago, the top two terraces were mostly grassed, the lower two covered in black plastic ....... but there were some very good plants dotted about.... and wonderful soil ....from a much earlier owner and keen gardener who did the terracing.. otherwise it would have been a rolling hillside !!!. there are odd bits of ornament, sculpture, statuary etc about the place... which will no doubt all appear here in time. Open Days are the 14th and 15th June 2008 if you fancy a visit ;)

Happy Hostas

As you may by now have gathered.. my passion is for foliage not flowers, and much of it evergreen so that the garden is of interest all year round. I have lots of hostas in the ground on the pond terrace..... favourite slug and snail food... but I'm organic !! Many flower and smell delicious in late summer One of many hostas in pots on the top terrace, as yet not savaged !! I must get that copper tape around the pot before it is too late !!

Easter Island Man

Another of my reduced price bargains -this time from a local shop- he had a chip on his chin!! He has a few more now !!! Somewhere I have a pic of a sparrow settling down for a sleep in the moss on his head... I'l add it when I find it !

Geisha Girl

this shows the 'meditator' by the tiny pond.. she's reconstituted stone , reduced price, out of a catalogue and I recall was actually called 'Geisha'..... cant think why !!! Those pondside plants behind her are planted in a bit created with a punctured pond liner..... but the huge leaves do droop in summer without extra water !

Pea Green Primrose and Peeling bark

the bark of the tree paeony peels in a very enticing way - though sadly the stem doesnt stay that wonderful white throughout the season. So I enjoy it when it appears This rather extraordinary primrose/primula Helen and I found at a local nursery....fascinating though not 'pretty ' .... and couldn't resist buying it. Up till recently I had it planted on the 'primrose rock bank' with teh other white.cream/yellow ones.. but it looked totally out of place... here under the maple I think it works... do you agree?

More Maple

Continuing the idea of bringing the overpowering ( already- so early in the summer too !) dark purple of the huge copper beech nearby down into the garden so the eye stays anchored low and moves around..... here are some shots in and around that lovely dissected purple maple by the pond . Note the stone meditator by teh far pond..... the bamboo brought in its pot from my cottage in Blakesley, the tree paeony to its left and the green primrose newly transplanted to under the maple. They will figure again! The overall shot is taken from the bench over by the hedge........ more to follow.. loading one at a time now !!

A couple of birds

Its now 2.00am and I'm giving up for the night !! I have discovered the preview screen looks TOTALLY different from the actual screen !! No wonder Im having problems !! I shall leave you for now with these two birds... one picked up for pence from the charity shop... .. the other youngster thinking that if he stood perfectly still I wouldn't notice him !

Green and White

Right, here we go again and this time I'll try not to delete all the photos and even try to post them in some sort of related order ! I daren't try and remove the strange gaps..... thats how I lost the lot last time !..............and its just happened again... I deleted one space in the text and six photos disappeared , so what is left ? An unusual Astrantia, named Margery or Marion something-or-other..... I do have the name somewhere! Convallaria / Lily of the Valley, which grows like a weed here and smells divine, and one of my favourite Ferns unfurling ....I have a large number, most names forgotten as they've been moved around so often ... but this might be Woodwardia ? All these three plants are either the top or second terrace.. or both. Although the three non-veggie-garden-terraces have different characters I like to link the plants through and repeat them.

One Day in May

Loads of pics from yesterday in random order!! Having a tough tme getting the text to sit with the correct pic !!! but learning what happens all the time. though suddenly nine have vanished !! So let me start over again with a new post ! Meanwhile, here is a different view of one of the decks on the top terrace.

Mellow Yellow...

After all that purple the artist in me needed a complementary colour !! Though it does remind me of a garden I visited when studying for my garden design diploma ... a much publicised small garden which was stuffed FULL of yellow and purple foliage and flowers..... hardly any green or white to counterbalance......I found it quite sickly and have been careful to limit both since then..... ...... but these are now both blooming..... Tree Peaony Ludlowii (bought it when I first moved here in 2002 'cos Ludlow was just up the road.... though I dont think that has Anything to do with it !) and the scented azalea.... name forgotten.. Both have been moved around ENDLESS times..... and even the tree peaony doesnt seen to resent it .... suprisingly ...... The do work quite well with the golden bamboo stems at this time of year.. ..I have about 17 different varieties of bamboo scattered about all four terrace levels !!!

A Paint Job....

Brilliant sunshine all day (Monday) so decided to finish painting 'white' bench to match the dominant Copper Beech and neighbouring trees...... and the plants in the garden that link through and bring the eye down. one of these is the acer near the pond I showed recently. I deliberately shaded the paint ( which I mixed from red and blue) so it dint look one solid shade.. I imaging folk will think its a bad paint job !!! Note the watering can painted to match... well it was a fluorsecent metallic blue when I bought it from eBay While I was at it turned the black metal table tops and chairs into a dark denim colour ! I should have known better than to try this at temperatures of almost 90F ....... the chairs in particular dont stand close inspection.. but then they are to sit on !!! Also spent 4 hours watering..... ridiculous in early May .. but a mini heatwave was doing the transplants no good at all !