Well I think there’s a chance I’ll be ready for the open garden this weekend, I spent yesterday doing a final tidy up of the top part of the garden, the beds round the lawn, the pond, the autumn bed and the Amber & Amethyst garden…

Many of the roses are over and they’ve had a lot of blackspot this year, maybe due to the weather earlier on, however my Champagne Moments rosebush is looking amazing! We planted these when we got married in 2007 and they flower their socks off every year!

The deep bed by the big fence has filled up this year, there’s quite a few shrubs at the back which I’m hoping will in time make a good backdrop.

If there’s a gap I pop a pot or a wire mesh sculpture in it! I’ve got four sculptures which I made a workshops a few years ago, I’ve a chicken, a goose, a duck and a heron. I move them round depending on where the gaps are.

Hubert the heron has just moved forward a bit to cover the area where all the Solomons Seal was. The crocosmia are all starting to flower, this one is called Lucifer, it’s a bit of a thug and every year I say I’m going to divide it, but it’s intermingled itsself with iris which i like!

The Amber & Amethyst garden is looking respectable, There’s a few roses out, Lady Emma Hamilton has been hit with blackspot, but Port Sunlight is a bit floppy but otherwise OK. Alstromeria, day lilies and crocosmia are all adding a splash of colour, I’m just hoping the echinacea will open their flowers in time.

I planted a pot with annuals last week, a bit late I know but I think it’s looking very pretty, just got to make sure I keep it watered!

I even managed to do little jobs in the summerhouse which have been waiting nearly a year – I put two new panes in the door, hung the pictures back up, screwed the candle holders to the window sills and washed all the candle holders, made it look pretty again.

Today I need to tackle the patio garden, decide how much of the geraniums I need to cut back, dead head roses and generally tidy up. The clematis over the arch is going to look beautiful byt the weekend, fingers crossed!

Today I’d already made two cakes by 8am, six to go 🙂