Two areas that I have replanted recently are now starting to look like I envisaged. There is still a long way to go with both of them, but already they are an improvement on what was there before. The border by the field next door was the first of the two areas to be redone and I will start with the left hand section.
Start of the border by the field.
Mainly Hemerocallis
I moved Hemerocallis Stafford to this border a number of years ago, and split the clump into 3, as you can see, there is far too much repetition of the day lily foliage and therefore not much interest apart from all the flowers. Two clumps of Stafford can go to another home, but the rest can stay for now. I am growing some cuttings of Plectranthus argentatus so should have 2 domed plants with silvery foliage to plant out next year. I’m also growing on some cuttings of salvias, these should form some vertical interest, along with some veronicastrum. I think a grass or two would be nice here too but I’ll have to think about which one I want.
Malva moschata alba with daylilies.
This section, coming up to the centre of the border where it is at it’s narrowest, is a bit better with Malva moschata alba weaving its way through this part. A verbascum has put itself at the front of the border, where it has been allowed to stay because of its contrasting foliage and further on you can see the jagged silvery foliage of my cardoon. This area also has tall campanulas which have already been cut down. I keep trying to grow echinacea in this border but they just dwindle away, never to be seen again, which is a pity, maybe I could try growing some from seed.
Close up of daylilies.
A close up of this section of the border with yet another red daylily, this one will go as it is quite a lot taller than the yellow one behind, I’m sure I can find something smaller for the front of the border.
Feverfew.
As well as the white malva which seeds itself along the border, feverfew also seeds itself along, mingling with everything else in the garden, I think it is in most of the borders. If I need space to plant something more interesting, usually it is one of these two plants which get sacrificed, as I have so many.
Centre of the border.
This is the worst bit, the centre of the border. At each end the border is quite deep, about 10ft, but here in the centre it is about 3ft. This is where a campanula has run riot and I think choked other plants that I have there, I really will have to remove most of the campanula, to give the other plants a chance, even though they did look so lovely when flowering earlier. Grass has seeded in between the campanula so the whole area looks such a mess, a lot of digging out is needed.
Berberis, phlomis and euphorbia.
This next bit is a tiny bit better with a bit of contrasting foliage, berberis, phlomis and Euphorbia Dixter both of which which flowered quite a time ago. But it is a jungle in there, a lot of sorting out is needed urgently and something flowering at this time of year needs to be planted. I leave the seedheads on the Phlomis through the year because I have found loads of ladybirds like to overwinter in all the little spaces.
End of border
The end part of the border, which joins onto the pergola which goes through to the fruit and veg, I’m quite happy with. It seems to have ended up with a lot of blue and yellow so I might as well go with the flow and keep this area to these colours. Flowering at the moment are the blue buddleja, clematis and hydrangea with yellow Crocosmia Solfaterre, and Lilium African Queen. Soon there will be Rudbeckia flowering here along with Aster frickartii Monch. There is a problem with a pink flowered spirea which thinks it can take over the border, that will have to go, as it is even coming up in the middle of the pampas grass which is on the left out of shot.
Blue Lacecap hydrangea.
The blue lacecap hydrangea marks the end of the border by the field, the flowers are coming through a deeper blue each year, it must be the leaf mould I mulch it with!
Clematis Perle D’Azur.
Planted right next to the Hydrangea is the Clematis Perle D’Azur which climbs up the pergola, keeping company with the white rose Mdme Alfred Carriere who is out of sight on this photo. This end of the bed can be seen at the left hand edge of the header photo which was taken at this time last year.
This border doesn’t really get into it’s flowering mode until the Day lilies start flowering. This autumn I will plant daffodils at the back so that their dying foliage will be hidden by the perennial foliage. I will also try some tulips as the soil in this border is quite well drained, it being on a slope. These can be followed by some alliums and agapanthus could follow on from the day lilies. I also intend to plant more Michaelmas Daisies for later on, so hopefully by next year, this border will be a lot better. I always feel it takes about 5 yrs for a border to come together and reach its peak, so according to that, I have another 3 yrs yet to fiddle with the planting!
We managed to rescue Crocosmia Lucifer the other day, between showers.
Crocosmia Lucifer
These two photos show how the flowers were battered by all the rain we had.
C. Lucifer
C. Lucifer
At least now, the flowers won’t be cut off when the undergardener cuts the grass in the next few days. When he is riding round on the lawnmower, anything lying in the way of the machine just gets cut away!
C. Lucifer.
I didn’t want it to be trussed up like the Sunday chicken, I don’t think it looks too bad from a distance. Maybe I ought to have something permanently in place so that this doesn’t happen again.
Long distance view.
From the house, it looks fine, still the centre of attention!
Unwelcome visitor.
Excuse me! I don’t provide peanuts for the squirrels of the neighbourhood.
Unwelcome visitor.
Yes, that’s you I’m talking to, I also didn’t provide the planter for you to sit in while you are stealing the nuts! The only way that the squirrel can get to the nuts is to climb onto the roof of the house and jump down, we quite often see him flying past the window, I think we will have to move the feeders!
With thanks to Helen at The Patient Gardener for hosting this monthly meme where we can see what other gardeners have been up to over the last month, do please pay her a visit.
a peanut seems a fair reward for an acrobatic performance ;~)
but then, we don’t have squirrels in our garden
If it was just one peanut Diana, I wouldn’t mind, but they can clear the lot in no time, then there wouldn’t be any left for the birds.
What a lovely garden! Thank you for showing your less than perfect areas. It’s always nice to know that one is not alone in having garden spots that need help.
Thank you Linda. The garden is rather large, so there is always somewhere that needs improving, we try to do one or two areas each year. I think most gardeners have an area that could do with improving, I hope I’m not the only one!
You done a fab job rescuing Lucifer Pauline. I now have visions of your OH charging around the garden on his mower daring anything to get in his way.
I have a narrowing in one of my borders that always seems neglected no matter what I do and look forward to seeing what you achieve in your ‘wee problem’ corner.
Yes Angie, you are right, that is just what he does! It has been known that when clipping the edges, hosta leaves are sliced in two if they dare to overhang the lawn!
Most of the borders here are quite deep and they are easier to plant so that they look quite , I’ll have to get my thinking cap on to sort the narrow bit out.
What a wonderful border, with so many eye catching plants.
I agree, narrow spots can be tricky, maybe a good place for a mower-resistant clump of evergreen grass with good winter presence like Stipa gigantea or a cultivar of colourful Chionochloa?
Thank you Kate. I love Stipa gigantea and have 2 already, one almost opposite the narrow part of the border and another by the house so that we can see the sun shining through the flowers. You weren’t able to see from the photo, but at the very narrowest point, there is a sculpture, so I wouldn’t really want anything in front of it. Looking at all my gardening books for inspiration is part of the joy of gardening to me, a lovely way to spend a cold, wet winter’s day!
I love visiting your garden Pauline. Your planting combinations and long views are so good. I’m finding that the camera really shows up areas in my garden that are a bit gappy but I’ve learnt so much since first joining in with the EOMV in April this year. C. Lucifer is so leggy I often see him falling over and I have never managed to keep echinacea going from one year to another.
Thank you Sarah! It’s true, the camera sees where we need to improve our borders, better than the naked eye. I’m so glad I’m not the only one who can’t grow echinacea, there are annual varieties, maybe I should try those from seed as I think they are beautiful flowers.
That squirrel is too cheeky!
I love that lace-cap hydrangea next to the clematis arbour…it is really nicely balanced with the acanthus on the other side 🙂
The grey squirrels are a pain Matt, I wouldn’t mind if they were the native red squirrels, in fact they would get their own feeder why! I love the blue lacecap hydrangea too, it seems to become a deeper blue as the summer progresses, glad you like the combination in the header photo.
I laughed at the ‘mower’ problem… exactly the same here. On the basis that it’s never going to change (however much I nag) I now don’t have plants anywhere near the lawn edges. Not that there’s a lot of lawn to mow.
Echinacea is tough to establish I’ve found. I’ve never managed to keep one over winter and usually lose them long before then anyway as slug fodder. It’s a shame, there are some really beautiful ones now. I’ve tried growing ‘White Swan’ from seed. It germinates well enough but as soon as it gets in the garden encounters the same problem as all the others.
Change isn’t about to happen here either Jessica, I just have to keep one step ahead when someone is thinking about cutting the grass, rushing out and propping a few plants up! I’m so glad it isn’t just me that has problems with Echinacea, maybe they just don’t like my improved heavy acid soil.
What is it about echinacea, I wonder? I nearly succumbed to a pretty one the other week but wisely decided against it as they have never survived here either. I have been using hazel ‘whips’ for a lot of my staking this year – it blends in so well and I should have done it years ago. Now need to make sure we have an ongoing supply of thicker and thinner stems although they will last a few years I guess, just losing a bit of flexibility. It’s really good to see your long sweeping border, something we don’t have here, and to hear your thoughts about its progress. Is your African Queen quite reliable? My new lilies have done well this year but I have no idea whether I will see them next year, and the three Asiatic varieties I bought don’t seem to have been troubled by lily beetle, unlike others. Thanks for sharing
I’m beginning to wonder if Echinacea like a lighter soil than ours Cathy. Thinking about prairie planting, maybe the soil is stony and therefore well drained, which unfortunately is the opposite of ours!
I wouldn’t have enough hazel sticks to prop plants up, but I have loads of red stemmed Cornus from the 9 Cornus in the front, I’d better get weaving with last years that are still sitting there!
African Queen has been in for about 5 years which I think is excellent, non of the others planted at the same time have survived. I now plant my lilies in pots and then just drop them into the borders where extra colour is needed. I overwinter them under the arbour in the corner of the back garden. There is a thick honeysuckle over the arbour, I have found that they stay relatively dry over the winter and this helps them to survive, it’s winter wet that they hate. Don’t mention lily beetle, I’m still killing them!
Your garden looks wonderful all year round Pauline. I am not a great fan of Daylilies, but yours look great. There are several in my garden too and they are useful at this time of the year.
There are so many gorgeous new Echinacea hybrids around, all very tempting but they just don’ t come back. Good old Echinacea purpurea is reliable though and even seeds around. They need good drainage though.
Thanks Chloris, I’ve tried to make the garden so that parts of it have their moment of glory in succession, like the flashing lights on a Christmas tree, it’s never all going to be looking good at the same time! I find that Daylilies are so good at providing colour through July into August, along with Hydrangeas.
Thanks for the information about Echinacea purpures, that is the one I will go for and not be tempted by the lovely new ones! I’ll make sure I plant them on a bed of gravel.
Thanks for this lovely walk around your garden, Pauline. Yet again, you’ve reminded me of plants that would look nice in the gardens here (Verbascum and Acanthus) as I’m constantly thinking what to put in my hot/dry border under a Cordyline tree. Interesting to read the comments re echinacea; I have a large clump of echinacea purpurea which reliably comes up every year but am also growing E. White Swan this year. So far, so good but I’ll be keeping my eye on it now! I always admire the Phlomis in the glasshouse borders at Wisley, interesting to note that it provides a home for ladybirds – that’s made it even more appealing to me. A wonderful inspirational post, thank you.
The Phlomis does look a bit of a mess Caro, but I feel it is more important to provide winter homes for the ladybirds. One year I found so many hiding in there so the seedheads have been left ever since then.
I’m so glad I have been a help in choosing plants for the garden where you are, I’m lucky that plants that like a dry soil survive with me, as we are heavy clay which I improve all the time.
Hi Pauline,
Your garden is very beautiful and it must be wonderful a walking there!
Cheers, Sandra
Thanks Sandra, I have to admit, I do like wandering round the garden, enjoying the flowers and the birds, bees and butterflies!
Squirrels make me smile with their antics, but I confess we gave up bird feeders, except for the hummingbird feeder, because the squirrels and chipmunks got most of the seed. Your Lucifer looks great, and I can’t tell from the photos that he is trussed up at all. Gardens are always evolving, and yours is doing very well, thanks to the skilled hands and creative mind of its gardener!
The grey squirrels Deb, were imported from USA sometime in the 19th century, why, I just don’t know. They carry a squirrel pox which doesn’t affect them but they pass it onto our native red squirrels which die if they get it. There are only a few pockets of red squirrels left now, it would be awful if they become extinct. If I had red squirrels in the garden, they would get their own feeder!
Lucifer is still strutting his stuff, nice and safe now from the lawn mower!
I like the mass of Hemerocallis in the Field border but I know they don’t flower for very long so your proposed additions will prolong the season of interest and add structure. Do try echinacea from seed; its very easy and germinates well, maybe they don’t have enough sun in the bed you have them, have you tried them in other parts of the garden? Mine have done surprisingly well in the heat here this year but I have been watering them but not copiously.
I will certainly be sowing some Echinacea seeds this autumn Christina. Strangely, this is the one border that I have which is in sun all day long. When I have lots of plants from seed, I can try them in other borders where the soil is more moist, as the field border is on a slope and must be the best drained border that I have!
I loved your squirrel picture and was laughing re the mower problem, hubs always mows my plants no matter how far away they are from the edge of the lawn.
Everything is simply gorgeous, what a beautiful garden you have built, a real credit to all your hard work!xxx
Thank you Dina for your very kind comments! I think I must just be thankful that he cuts the grass, I feel if the grass looks ok, then the whole garden looks fine. It has taken a long time to get the garden as it is and there are always changes that need to be made, a garden is never finished!