A Meander Down the Garden

My garden is very long and very narrow but it is not as it would first seem; it is full of twists and turns, of dark and light, of colour and texture.  Come with me on a journey, a journey from one end of my garden to the other and you'll see what I mean.

Our journey starts with roses (as you might expect). Around the first sitting area are roses planted by me

Rosa The Generous Gardener

and a rose planted over 20 years ago, with tiny and delicate sprays of flowers.

Rosa Dorothy Perkins

Clematis also abound, again some planted by me and some planted by previous owners.

Clematis Venosa Violacea and Clematis Betty Corning

It's a nice area to sit, to eat, to think.

But that's not all, it might look as though the garden ends here, but it doesn't.  There's a little gap in the 'hedge' under the naturally formed rose arch, can you see it?

Come with me and explore further.

The path winds round and there's a change of feel now. It's darker and shadier now and the shrubs reach skywards trying to find light. The Deutzia and Cornus meet overhead as though they're holding hands above the path.

The verbascum

and newly planted silene fimbriata are thriving here in the shade.

Silene Fimbriata

Another twist, another turn and the path goes through the semi shade under the snake bark maple where more roses, delphiniums and grasses are flowering.

It opens up here, you can stop here for a sit by the pond if you wish (you'll just have to ignore weeds in the patio!).  There's sun or shade here depending on the time of day.  There are more clematis, roses and lilies.

There's a frog wearing a water forget-me-not flower over there!

Another arch of roses and we're through to the veg garden where roses and foxgloves grow through the runner beans and squash.

We're nearly at the end - welcome to my favourite bench under the paper bark cherry.

Prunus Serrula

If you sit quietly no-one knows you're here.

I hope you've enjoyed your meander down my garden, but before you go just sit for a while and smell the roses.

Rosa Chinensis Mutabilis

It's Spring!

Spring has definitely arrived in my garden now.  The chaenomeles blossom is just about out

and the lilac buds are slowly emerging.

The ferns are uncurling

and the epimediums are just beginning to dance above the ground.

Viola freckles has appeared this weekend too

as have the grape hyacinths

and the snake's head fritillaries.

The pasque flower that I thought I'd lost as it didn't appear at all last year has decided to grace us with its presence 

and the self sown cerinthes are nearly in flower too (seems very early to me!).

All in all I think we're about 3 weeks behind last year as this clematis was in full flower on 4th April last year and looks as though its got several more days before it opens this year.

And the frogs have now finished spawning - what a noise they made!

I hope spring has arrived for all of you too.

Pond Life

When I moved here I wasn't bothered about a pond at all - now I think I'd cry if I lost it.  It has given me hours of pleasure and I'll often be found kneeling quietly beside it watching the wildlife.

It's only small and is very much a wildlife pond (apart from the inherited goldfish and his friend), and has lots of rocks and ivy around it where the frogs, and probably other creatures, like to hide.

The tadpoles hatched several weeks ago and were really lively in the warmth of the sunshine today - I love how they twist as they come to the surface (sad I know!)

(I'm not sure why the video ended up so small, it's probably because I took it and edited it on my ipad and then had to transfer it to the pc to upload it, it all gets very complicated at times!)

But the star of the show at the moment is Mrs Newt who appeared a month ago.  I was getting rather worried that she'd left but I saw her again today (she's rather camera shy but can just be seen relaxing on the weeds)

 

It doesn't look as if she's laid any eggs in the newly planted water forget-me-not, but I'm hopeful that she's decided to take up permanent residence so we might have newt babies in the future!

The sun has come out here today, but sadly I seem to have hurt my back rather badly this afternoon so gardening is out of the question - I think I'll take a cuppa back to the pond instead.  Enjoy the sunshine if you have it!

Sunsets, Froglets and a Blackberry.

I was told today that I had a "random brain".  Personally I don't think it is random, it's just that other people can't keep up with my train of thought (which is totally logical to me).  However this post is slightly random so maybe they have a point!

I thought I'd share a beautiful sunset that we had here the other night.  The change from orange to pink was quite stunning.

A few evenings later this little fellow appeared outside my patio doors.  He looks big in the photo but was actually only about 1.5cm long (the leaf he's on is a tiny wild violet).  He must have jumped all the way from the pond (about 150 feet away) and didn't appear to mind my neighbour and I watching him for ages.  We were fascinated with his tiny, perfect feet!  

But I haven't just been watching the sky and baby frogs, I have been a little bit constructive too.  Courtesy of my day job I'm now the proud (?) owner of a blackberry - not the edible kind, but the phone kind!  As we've all got identical ones I needed a case to identify mine and rather than buy one I thought I'd make one.  Following a little research on the internet I decided on a design and after a lot of trial and even more error produced this one:

Even if my brain is "random" at least it livens up meetings, and if it doesn't then my blackberry case does instead!

About my garden - part 2

When I bought this garden it also came with a pond, (as well as a large shed, a dog run and a small greenhouse, which I'll blog about another time). In spring the pond has suffered from "green soup" syndrome for the last 2 years, which although the frogs and fish don't seem to mind, doesn't look very nice.

Look closely - there's a frog lurking in the rushes

I'm hoping to avoid some of the "green soup" this spring as last year I bought a small waterlily  to provide some shade -  Nymphaea Walter Pagels.  I bought it from Waterside Nursery.  I was slightly concerned about buying pond plants by mail order, but as I couldn't find this particular water lily locally I decided to risk it.  I needn't have worried as it arrived in perfect condition and even flowered once last year - this year I'm expecting many more blooms.

 Walter Pagels in flower last September