'Willpower & sheer idiocy combine in harmony'
Diary of a garden revamp
MAY: Annuals
SWEET pea Royal Family Mixed and Antirrhinum Purple Twist F1, both grown from seed, were transplanted and flowered from June until the first frosts.
Nasturtium Crimson Emperor joined them later in the season (it had self seeded into the recycled grow-bags).
The sweet peas' space is now taken up by the rejuvenated Clematis montana.
LATE MARCH: perennials go in
THE herbaceous perennials arrived either as starter plants or larger garden ready ones from Plant Me Now.
6 x Shasta daisy Aglaia: white, frilly daisies, yellow eye, flowers May-October (height 100cm).
3 x Veronica Atomic Silvery Pink Ray: spikes of pale pink flowers from June-September (h. 40cm).
3 x Heuchera Silver Blush: silver foliage, purple veins and undersides, feathery sprays of pink-white flowers, May-July (h. 30cm).
4 x Geranium Rozanne: voted RHS Plant of the Century. Sky blue flowers from May-October. (h.45cm).
3 x Euphorbia polychroma Purpurea: purple foliage and stems, lime-green flowers from April-June. (h.40cm).
Top left: Shasta daisies and Mahonia; top right, Heuchera Silver Blush; above, Veronica Atomic Silvery Pink Ray and Euphorbia polychroma purpurea.
GOODBYE concrete, hello gravel, raised beds and planting pockets - how the drive area of my garden progressed from February-October 2014.
EARLY MARCH:
raised bed challenge
AFTER the builder finished our emergency fence in October 2013 and the new raised bed was filled with a rotted-down turf/Dalefoot Compost/growbag mixture, it was time to think about planting.
Despite being hacked down, Clematis montana, Buddleia and an everlasting pea survived.
I tried to restrict myself to a pink/blue/purple/white colour scheme, with some gold. I decided on climbing scented roses - two James Galway (www.davidaustinroses.com). The flowers are warm pink in the centre, fading towards the edges, with a medium old rose fragrance. The stems are almost thornless and grow up to 8ft.
The centrepiece is the spineless variegated holly x altaclerensis Lawsoniana, a female with bright golden variegation. My plan is to clip it into a pyramid when it reaches the top of the fence for winter structure.
For foliage accents, there's a globe artichoke and a golden hop (Humulus lupulus Aureus).
Sweet pea mix Royal Family (pinks, purples, white) climbed up the fence, along with a bit of everlasting pea that didn't deserve to be there.
Golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia Aurea) underpinned a couple of Rodgersia divisions at the shady end.
FEBRUARY: L-shaped dilemma
MY long, L-shaped garden will be familiar to anyone living on the end of a street - how to disguise the shape without it looking like two chunks?
The easiest method was creating a continuous surface. There had been a brick-edged border, against an expanse of concrete, then paving slabs, all of which reinforced the straight lines.
Now there's a curving brick path through gravel with planting pockets. The border has been incorporated into the pond area, so the whole area flows around the corner.
The big Fatsia japonica, Spirea japonica, and the old apple tree stayed put. A white/cream repeat-flowering rose, Claire Austin, was added to climb the tree.
Weigela Bristol Ruby, Sedum Autumn Joy, Helianthus Lemon Queen, Coprosma Pacific Sunset, Campanula carpatica, Achillea mollis, Eryngium The Hobbit, Lysimachia, variegated lemon balm and Aquilegia were moved/divided.
Additions included Angelica gigas, a cup-and-saucer vine in the blue ceramic pot, a giant Himalayan lily and Sambucus niger.
The drive bed cleared of its dead wood in February 2014.
MAY:
planting pockets
PLANTING pockets were created in the gravel at the shady end.
These now house soft shield ferns (Polystichum setiferum), hosta Big Daddy, foxgloves and Dianthus deltoides.
They've been planted with plenty of home-made composts and loam. At the sunny corner, there's a selection of thymes, planted in autumn 2013.
Soft shield fern (Polystichum setiferum), hosta Big Daddy and a tub of honeysuckle in a shady corner.
A BARE patch of ground can be daunting, but the new bed's full in just four months, thanks to a mix of new herbaceous perennials, divisions, plus a few survivors that shouldn't have made it from the rebuilding work.
The two most remarkable are the pink everlasting pea (a piece of root must have been left in the concrete under the bed - it burst forth in May) and the Buddleia, which wasn't in a pot and was hacked to a stump. Even the old Clematis montana has sprouted again.
Divisions of Rodgersia, golden creeping jenny, golden hop and a globe artichoke have come up trumps.
Annuals to bump up the display, Antirrhinum Purple Twist F1 and sweet pea mixture Royal Family have really earned their keep.
There's also two thornless James Galway climbing roses from David Austin, and the variegated holly, which have been fabulous.
In the other bed, divisions of Helianthus and Angelica gigas were the stars.
AUGUST-OCTOBER: Full bloom!
From top, the new raised bed in August; everlasting pea, golden hop and holly; rose James Galway; geranium Rozanne; golden hop with hops in October; Helianthus Lemon Queen; Angelica gigas.