It’s been nearly a month since my last blog post and I’m in catch-up mode. Jiri the builder has gone to my neighbour’s to finish her project before returning here, so there’s been very little happening on the garden construction front. But! I have at last managed to sort out the gable end of the house where there was still a patch of old render that needed to come off and then the stone pointed underneath. I had to get scaffolding, but we took full advantage of it to paint the windows too, and also take some birds-eye view photos of the valley surrounding us as it becomes lush and green.
The weather has been rain, rain and a bit of shine. During the ‘shine’ days I gave the Anne Hathaways shed two coats of Ty Mawr Limewash Red Tint, to give it a soft pink colour. I may give it one more coat, but I’m pleased with the result so far:
The plants are loving this inconsistent weather, and they’re doing quite well. The Dahlias are growing great-guns, and I’ve kept to my purple, white and pink colour scheme. I had to cover the beds with mesh and wire to keep the cat off them, and I’ve been out picking slugs and snails every night to protect them as much as possible. Quite a few frogs have moved in around the Dahlia beds, so that’s good news in dealing with the slug problem.
I’m very pleased with how the Aliums have grown. They are actually supposed to be purple and white, so I don’t know what has happened to the white ones! But they’re on my shopping list for the Autumn and next year I’ll try growing at least 3 times the amount. I’ve planted them in troughs in the ground, hidden behind the sleepers. This means I’ll be able to lift them out after they’ve finished flowering and store them. I’m not sure what to replace them with yet though.
Behind the single sleeper platform that I created to the right of the bank (that isn’t yet painted black because I ran out of paint), I’ve put in two rows of Verbena. They’re also doing tremendously well and you can now see them peeping over the sleepers. (apologies for the quality of this photo, it was raining!)
The Lupins were doing well until yesterday, when the strong winds took one of the heads off and bent another. I’m hoping I can save the bent one, and I’ve moved it into the folly for shelter and added supports. These winds have wreaked quite a bit of havoc around here in the last few days!
I’ve done a bit of work on the bottom bank. Turned over the hard clay with a pick-axe, filled the steps with chippings, and planted the Buxus in groups of three, then further groups of three (in a sort of triangle shape). These will eventually become triple box balls in front of each of the urn platforms. They look tiny at the moment though. I’ve also planted the Choisya either side of the Alatus that is place in the middle between each urn. Jiri needs to make two further urn platforms and hopefully he’ll be here next week to do that.
In the middle of the Choisya, I want to plant a Phormium Back in Black. This is a special variety that was found in North Wales by Seiont Nurseries. It only grows to 60cm and it’s quite hardy, but I have no doubt I’ll have to over-winter it. To make that easier, I’m going to plant the pots in the ground, and then lift them up before the first frost in the winter. I’m having a hell of a job finding the plant though. I’ve contacted Seiont Nurseries who told me to buy them from Burncoose, but Burncoose aren’t making them available until November and that’s too late because I want to see how they perform here. Seiont seemed reluctant to sell to me directly, despite the fact I’m based quite near them and I could easily collect. I’ve managed to find one company that does them and they are £30 each and fully grown – not what I wanted really because I think they would benefit from growing a bit here in this climate. I did consider a few other black plants but it’s the difference in foliage I’m after – I don’t even like Flax that much but I think it will work in the bed. So I probably need to bite the bullet, pay the £30 each and then promise myself I won’t buy more plants for a while because I need perhaps 5 of them.
I’ve got the black Heuchera growing in the growhouses that will go at the front of this bed. They seem to be doing ok at the moment. And although I had originally planned to put Lavender between the Phormium and the Heuchera, I’m now thinking either Nepeta (catmint) or purple Salvia. I’ve bought 5 Nepeta Walkers Low already, but as soon as I got it home, the cat threw himself in the bag of plants and it was a bit of a job to get him out – he was clinging to the bag like his life depended on it. These could therefore cause me a bit of a trouble in the bed, and I want to try to keep him off it if I can. So it may well be the Salvia route! I decided not to use Lavender because I can never grow them successfully here and they tend to die after the first year because the sticky, clay soil seems to be too compacted and water-logged around their roots.
So fingers cross a bit more activity next week, and I’ll leave you with a photo of what’s growing in the grow-houses at the moment:
Welsh Wellies 