Every time I wander round the garden at the moment I seem to spot another plant in flower, or another perennial appearing. I’m keeping up with my weeding with a big session by the high fence and round the roses.
This week some of the irises have started to flower, these are the bearded ones, I just love them, they’re both delicate and in your face! One of my favourites at the moment is one I bought at Thornton Hall gardens a couple of years ago, it has the most beautiful deep purple, almost black petals, it looks like velvet!
At this years Harrogate Flower Show I bought three irises with variegated leaves, it was the leaves that attracted me to them. They have now flowered and I love them even more, they are a gorgeous soft purple, they are so pretty and delicate.
The aquilegias are all flowering too, the other names for these are columbines or Granny’s Bonnets, they seem to like my soil, they make a good clump too so I’ve bought several over the years in different colours and sizes. This pretty cream one is one of the taller ones, it’s in the bed by the conservatory which is mainly creams and soft blues.
Some of the aquilegia flowers look really complicated, these white and blue ones are alot shorter, you can just see them in the background of the photo above…
They also love to cross-fertilize and self seed, this beautiful little one in the palest blush pink is in a crack on the side of the path!
The raised bed by the patio always surprises me, it always looks pretty empty during the winter with just a few bare shrubs and a couple of evergreens, but come spring all the perennials suddenly appear and fill it, here you can see geranium at the front, spirea goldflame with it’s yellowy leaves, an allium or two, magnolia, roses and box…and of course a dandelion head!
I have a bit of a love hate relationship with alliums, I love them peeping through the beds, dottied here and there, but one year, having seen a rather nice show garden at Harrogate flower show, I planted a circle of them round the patio. They went crazy and I very quickly seemed to have dozens! When I cleared the beds last year I must have dug up well over a hundred bulbs, I only planted six!!
The other day as I came back from walking the dogs on the back lane I suddenly realised how pretty it looks from the gate… this is how it looks as I walk through from the back lane, under the arch which now has clematis growing up it! To the left is the pond, summerhouse and the lawn, with the rose and shrub bed opposite…
To the right is my Amber & Amethyst garden with my new arbour. I sat on my bench this afternoon with a cup of tea with my walking buddy, recovering from almost a 10 mile walk! Just in front is the newly planted autumn bed and our lovely compost heap! The obelisk in the corner is almost disappearing under the rose and the clematis, you can just see the top peaking out!
I’m really please with the back garden at the moment, I just need to keep on top of those pesky weeds and keep my fingers crossed that the mole that has been digging hills just a couple of feet into the garden doesn’t decide to explore further!
