As they often say on the TV crime dramas I love “Theres nothing to see”. Though I suppose that is really an exaggeration since if you really look there is something to see such as the daffodils with nice fat buds awaiting to open but overall there is a predominance of soil albeit nicely mulched soil.
This year I have decided to focus the End of Month View posts on two parts of the garden that I havent really focussed on before. The first is the newly named ‘Cottage Garden Border’ – rather a grandiose title for such a humble notion. Last autumn I moved a lot of plants around to try to make the various borders more cohesive. The ‘plant plan’ is typical cottage garden plants: Delphinium, Rose, Hollyhocks, Foxgloves, Geraniums. So far I haven’t bought additional plants as I want to see how the plants moved into the border look and what gaps need filling. I have also planted a lot of tulips in the border although now they are emerging I reckon I haven’t planted enough. As per Fergus Garrett’s instructions at the talk I went to last year I have put the tulip bulbs close to shrubs and perennials so they shouldn’t be disturbed.
As you can see the border is along the top of a wall with the patio on the other side so it doesn’t really have a front or back and this has really bugged me. I have decided to create a back to the border but I didn’t want anything too solid so I am experimenting with step-over apples. Three have gone in; you can’t really see them as they are only short whips at the moment but hopefully they will provide a nice light backdrop and also be attractive from the patio. I shall under plant them with geraniums.
The other area I’m showing this year is the Patio/Spring border which runs along the patio. In fact it is at the bottom of the wall on which the Cottage Garden Border sits. The greenhouse which you can just see in the corner of the above photo divides the border but I am featuring only one side as they have quite different characters.
I say it’s called the Spring Border but this isn’t very appropriate at the moment. This time last year the border went right to the far fence and the area where the bike store is was full of snowdrops and bluebells. However, the bike store was important to make more space in the garage for my eldest’s expanding woodwork workshop so the bulbs have been relocated up the garden. I realize now that the bulbs seem to stop half way across the border which surprises me as I would have thought I would have noticed this before. As the size of the border has changed and I have had to relocate plants I want to watch this border as well during the year to see how it develops and what I need to improve it. You will see that I have also butchered the jasmine along the wall – unintentionally – but luckily this has resulted in a more floriferous plant and I will have to make sure I don’t let it get out of control again.
So those are the End of Month View Borders for 2012. Please feel free to join in, you can use the meme however you like, just post a link to it in the comments box on the last day of the month.
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