Time to blitz

After yesterday being yet another wash-out, I decided that whatever the weather had to throw at me I would just take it on the chin, don my wellies, do up my coat tightly and work through it.

Nature waits for no man, and despite this awful weather, the garden is marching on. The snowdrops are out in full force, hostas are starting to break ground and buds are starting to show. So with this, I decided it was time to start tackling the front of the house. We have plans to revamp the borders a little as it is starting to look tired.

The gardens were designed by a world renowned designer over 15 years ago now. Most of the plants are still there, but a lot are past their best now. The borders are mainly yellow, so to keep the essence if the original design, I started last year by planting early daffodils and winter aconites which have come through a treat this year.

I removed the cistus that were in the urns by the front door and replaced them with saracocca’s (Christmas box). Their scent is heavenly and also has the advantage of being in flower over winter when the boss and her guests are here. The cistus I then split and added to the borders in various places where there were gaps. Just doing that made them look ten times better.

The next step will be to bring in the laburnum tree which will be a focal point as you go in and out the drive. Then to underplant. I am still in two minds as to what to put in. I am tempted with small euphorbias, but I’ll see how I feel once the tree is in place.

Something else that I was excited about was the arrival of three tree peonies from the specialist nursery. We have some established yellow varieties already, but these are blush pink, purple/red and a richer pink. I will decide tomorrow where their new homes shall be. Oh I love this time of year….despite the weather!

AKASHIGATA – JAPANESE TREE PEONY

WU LONG PENG SHENG – CHINESE TREE PEONY

YIN HONG QIAO DUI – CHINESE TREE PEONY