I had a sudden panic today when I realised that tomorrow is the last day of March and I had forgotten all about the End of Month post, not very good when you are the host of the meme! I am on annual leave this week and have managed to get a few hours in the garden between rain and decorating the living room. The grass lawn has been cut and edged and its amazing how it being neat makes the rest of the garden appear neat, which I can assure you it isn’t.
The border looks alright but I have plans as part of my bid to color up the garden this year. I have this week bought a Rosa ‘Hot Chocolate’ which will go in the border here. I saw the rose in a garden somewhere between Dublin and Cork last year and have been looking for the plant for a while only to find it in a plant retailer just down the road. It is a sort of orangey red, hard to describe, and I think will work well with the Amenthalea lessonia which also has orange in its leaves. I will also be adding some red lupins and oriental poppies although I worry it might all be a little too much but we shall see. I probably need to find some different, lighter tones of red or orange to lighten the planting and provide some depth.
Prunus incisa ‘Kojo-no-ma
The Prunua incisa ‘Kojo-no-mai’ which is the main structure in the border is just beginning to bloom. I love this shrub with its pretty delicate spring flowers and then in Autumn the leaves color up before the slightly twisted stems provide interest during the winter. Today I have added Galanthus ‘Flora Pleno’ around its stem to provide interest early in the year.
The other end of the border continues to perplex me but there is a niggle in the back of my mind that I might have a lightbulb moment. The border used to be quite shady and I have sort of planted along those lines but it isn’t as shady as it was since the willow had a significant haircut. There are a lot of ferns in the border and the signs that the Cardiocrinum giganteum is returning, maybe it will flower this year. I want some color at this end of the border aside from green but I want to also improve the textures. I think some hostas would add a good contrast to the ferns and maybe some pale foxgloves but I can’t think what to add for color later in the year – more pondering to be done.
You can see what the border looked like in February here
All are welcome to join in with the End of Month meme and you can use it as you wish; maybe focus on a particular border, or do a tour of the garden whatever you find useful then you can follow its progress through the year. All I ask is that you link to this post in your post and leave a link to your post in the comment box below.
