I have to say, and I never thought I would say this, but I am rather pleased with the front garden. I actually like being in it. You can see in the photo above that we have filled in the top corner; my son’s turf laying skills are not quite up to the standards of his turf lifting skills so we shall see how it settles in. The Ballerina tulips have been wonderful, flowering for weeks and only just starting to go over now. They are being followed by a mix of Alliums that I have been planting in this side border for a few years now. You can’t really appreciate it but I have added a Cotinus to this border which is just unfurling its leaves and the deep burgundy works very well with the orange tulips and purple alliums.
Rather too much grass in this photo but it was raining so they were taken quickly. I think the border at the end of the lawn is filling out and it seems more cohesive now I have added the shrubs. There are peonies in this border and red flowering shrub salvias. There were meant to be some deep red irises but unfortunately the ones I bought last year mail order haven’t taken at all. I wanted to buy some replacements at Malvern Spring Show but the late spring meant that irises were absent so I will have to keep an eye out in my travels. I have lined the sides of the lawn with Alchemilla mollis which hopefully in a few weeks will add a lime yellow froth to the scene.
As I am so chuffed with my garden at the moment I thought I would show you some views of the back garden. Above is the view from my patio of the back/front of the Big Border. The border is edged by three step-over apples which are growing along the top of the retaining wall. This is their second year and there is blossom on two of them which is very pleasing. The blossom is echoed, unwittingly, by the erodium planted underneath.
Above is a view of the woodland border which runs off the Big Border. This view is also from the patio – I did say it was raining. I am really pleased with how this border has filled out, it was planted two years ago and now needs a little thinning and rearranging. I marked out a path through it back in the winter and now everything has appeared it is obvious that I will have to rejig the line of the path and also move some plants this Autumn. I also need to remove the flower heads of the hellebores.
So this gives you a little bit of an idea of my garden at the end of May. If you would like to join in this meme you are very welcome. There are no rules just post a link to your blog post in the comments box and include a link to this post in your post.
