I’ve managed to work on the garden a fair bit over the last couple of weeks, just clearing and weeding, but at least I can see some progress…

In the AA garden I’m completely redesigning it and trying to get on top of the weeds as well, I’ve now almost cleared the 7th bed out of 8 and all the footpaths in between. This last bed had a large clump of crocosmia, I decided to replant it on the back lane in the hope of smothering some of the weeds there too. As I dug it up it seemed to get bigger and bigger, coming up in decent plant sized clumps. I think in the end I had over a dozen clumps, so I planted half on the back lane and half behind our summerhouse. Even if they don’t do much this year I’m hoping the bulbs will survive and flourish next year.

I’ve just got a large day lily to move now and then I’m onto the final bed. To give you an idea of size, this area is about 16′ by 20′, I’m being pretty meticulous about weeding it as it’s got a lot of marestail, bindweed and couch grass. Once I’ve cleared it I’m getting some young muscles to help me level it and dig in a split log roll to support the raised beds. I’m thinking of a 12′ circle of gravel (with about 6 layers of weed suppressant material underneath!!!)  so I’ve got deep beds either end for shrubs etc and beds at the side deep enough to put an arch over the entrance to the garden. This corner of the garden gets the evening sun so we’ll have some seats and a few pots to break up the gravel.

I’ve saved a few plants from this area and temporarily housed them either down by the conservatory or at the other end of the AA garden, its looking quite pretty down there at the moment.

I’ve also refrained from trying to move some poppies, I’m sure these are annual poppies as they come up all over the place, I’ll let them set seed and then dig them up. They’re beautiful shades of purple, quite often only last a day, but so pretty.

Our nextdoor neighbours are putting a new fence up which will be great (more room to put climbers up!!) but there’s been somewhat of a delay so weeds have taken over. I started clearing it and actually these were quite satisfying weeds to clear, things like nettle and buttercup where you can be pretty effective in clearing it. It’s quite a big area behind the summerhouse and over to the lilac. There’s a big philadelphus here which has turned into a bit of a thug, the neighbour has promised me his digger will dig it out, then I can choose some more manageable shrubs! I popped a big clump of crocosmia down here to look pretty and keep the weeds down.

I weeded in the rose bed too, this is more what I call cosmetic weeding, it’s over run with perenial weeds but at this time of year it’s hard to get in with weed killer without risking all my other plants. The bed does look a lot better and at least the plants have room to breath!

For those of you who think my garden is beautiful all over, here’s the reality check, I can be very selective about where I photograph! This is the other end of the rose bed…

…and the gravel path in front of the pond!!

This is why I started taking photos of my garden, so I can appreciate the nice bits and turn a temporary blind eye to my constant battle with weeds. These are some candelabra primulas flowering next to Hubert the Heron. I bought some more at Harrogate show so hopefully next year I’ll have a good show of flowers.

The patio is looking very colourful at the moment, we quite often sit out here with a cup of tea or a glass of wine. The geraniums and the roses are all starting to flower. The deep pink geranium is lovely, big and blousey, it can be a bit of a thug too but the soil there is so awful I’m glad of anything that thrives, it’s in a contained area so it can’t spread too much.

At the other side of the patio is my pots area, the purple sambucus at the back is looking glorious at the moment. I usually cut it back hard every couple of years, and when I say hard, I mean to about 12-18″ tall, I then get a year of beautiful foliage and the following year I get flowers and berries, without it getting too big and boisterous.

Our drive is getting a bit narrow at the moment, it always does at this time of year, my OH starts to mutter about his car, but he knows what my answer will be, as soon as the ceanothus has finished flowering we can prune everything…apart from my rose!

I picked up this rose in a sale a few years ago, it’s called Celsiana, it’s what’s called an old rose (in style) the blooms are pretty but nothing to write home about, they are easily damaged by wind and rain too. But the scent…Wow! it’s a really heady perfume which fills the drive as you walk past. It’s worth growing just for the scent. When the time comes and we have to widen the drive, I will definitely be buying another Celsiana.