Round and Round the Garden

View from patio bench looking south, August 2008 - click to enlarge image if needed

There's three benches on the patio for you to take a pause to admire the view from the top of the garden as well as the walls to perch on. We're on the middle one, so you can just see into furthest corner at the bottom of the garden where the shed is. I have two similar large planter groups placed by the two benches facing away from the house. One of these is on you right and has a large topiary box, bedding dahlias and a vast bowl of lavender to scent your stay. To your left is a small bed sheltered by next door's garage wall housing 3 Clematis, various herbs, strawberries, a fig tree plus some of this year's tomato crop. Ahead of you is a large planter in the brick/stone circle surrounded by some of the larger specimens in my geological collection. There's also a stone bench to your left surrounded by planters containing Hebe and scented Surfinias. The small pot on the bench itself contains variegated lemon balm. The walls in front of you are the boundaries of the terraced beds that take the garden down to its next level.

View from the top of the eastern steps - August 2008

I'm always seeking ways to brighten up the vast amount of fencing we have that has no soil below it in which to grow anything. This year I have a large number of pots containing Busy Lizzie 'Spellbound Cranberry Cauldron' lined up along the top of the wall rather like Mediterranean gardeners use assorted tins as containers for Pelargoniums along their walls and steps. I've also started to train a Clematis montana var. Rubens 'Elizabeth' from the lower garden - for once I want something that's a rampant grower to clothe my fence. I use a Rosa 'Rambling Rector' on the opposite fence for the same reason and to also provide some security against any curious children who may seek to climb the fence from the public land bordering the house. On the whole I love having the public land next door as the woodland provides a feeling that the garden extends well beyond its boundaries.

View from the lower garden - August 2008

I've tried to have a feature in one bed echoed elsewhere in the garden, whether it be another cultivar of the same species or a similar shape and/or foliage. Here the Crocosmia 'Amberglow' of the single terrace bed are picked up by the Crocosmia 'Lucifer' in the lower garden bed. Both beds also contain Stachys byzantina plus different cultivars of Fuchsia. The single terrace bed has flowers for every season except winter, but is at its best in late summer/autumn where Echinacea, Sedum 'Autumn Joy', Eryngium and Perovskia are stars of the border. Bees, butterflies and hoverflies love it there.

View from the 'shed with windows' - August 2008

Until summer last year, the shed side of the garden was a shady, woodland area - at its best in the spring with snowdrops, daffodils, then Dicentra spectabilis making a last hurrah before the shade from the overhead canopy set in. Then two of the ash trees on the public land were felled by last year's summer storms. They fell into the area on the left of this picture and a further two trees were deemed too dangerous to remain. This year, it's a lot brighter there whilst the shrubs make their speedy recovery from having had their tops taken off when the trees fell down. And it's not so much a woodland garden any more - there's a lot more scope for the planting. A project for next year, I think.

On the other side of the patio, the double terrace bed has a mainly yellow theme. The perennial Helianthemum are spreading themselves out, echoed by the deeper, more orangey yellow of Dahlia 'Moonfire'. On the lower terrace, a new planting made this year of Helenium autumnale 'Helena Gold' is just coming into flower. The silvery Teucrium fruticans is beginning to reclaim its central spot in the top terrace after being hard pruned in the spring. It'll be a welcome sight from the kitchen window this winter and its early blue flowers will have some of the first food for the emerging bees in late winter/early spring.

Eight years ago the view was completely different - see my article on the garden's design for more information...

Update - September 2008
I've started to add illustrated planting lists for each garden bed at the end of this blog. A list has been started in the sidebar under the heading Garden Plant Lists for those already available and a full summary is also here.

Update - October 2008
I've also added the garden slideshows I've created since March 2008 after the Garden Plant Lists. They're listed in the sidebar under the heading Garden Slideshows and a full summary is also here. I'll be adding further articles and slideshows on what's looking good in the garden during the next few months, to give you something fresh and new to look at for your future visits.