A stunningly beautiful day today; the sun is shining, there is a light breeze and the birds are singing. Well for some of the day but with the sunshine comes the fair weather gardeners and the peace is shattered by the sound of lawn-mowers and strimmers and no doubt later the air will be full of the waft of BBQ smoke but at least its not raining and it does actually feel like June.
I popped into the local garden center on the way home from work yesterday just to buy a bag of compost and a hanging basket. I came home with two bags of compost, a bag of horticultural grit and a bag of sharp sand, fertilizer, a hanging basket, three heathers (don’t laugh), two trays of bedding dianthus, two salvias and an eryngium. But in my defence they were all considered and planned purchases. The compost, gravel and sand were needed so I could sort out the pots on the patio and also my succulent collection which is in desperate need of tidying up and potting on. The dianthus are for a couple of shallow pots to add some color by the front door and on the patio and have already been potted up and are on display. The salivas and eryngium are just want I need to add to the Big Border grassland style planting (I use that term very loosely) and fill the gaps left by the oriental poppy which I removed last week and the heathers are an experiment for under the big field maple to add some interest in the summer.
The salvias and eryngium have already been planted and I think the top photo shows how well the salvias have blended into the existing planting but lifted it a little.
The heathers aren’t planted yet as I have to do quite bit of preparation work in the area before they are planted and I think I want to mulch around them so I need to get some wood chip ready. Its meant to rain heavily in a few days so I might take advantage of the ground being wet and put the mulch on afterwards to try and retain the moisture.
Here is another view of the Big Border from the other side and end. I really like how full it is and I am enjoying the combination of the baby blue geranium with the unopened flowers of Anthemis ‘Sauce Hollandaise’. I have no idea what the geranium is. I have quite a few which I have acquired over the years as I feel I should like geraniums but they have never really performed that well until this year. I think it is a combination of the neglect of the last few years, the fact that the poor things haven’t been moved for a while, and the significant rain we have had. They are really looking great at the moment.
The final photo is of my patio which I spent several hours sorting out this morning. It needs a weed but everything that needs to be planted out has been planted out; everything that needs to be potted up has been potted up and its all neat and tidy. Tomorrow the plan is to get up early and tackle the greenhouse before it warms up too much.
For the triumphs and tribulations of other gardeners this week check out the links in the comment box on The Propagators weekly meme –
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