This post continues on with the theme of pictures and short stories. Here is another set of five; again, in no particular order with no particular pattern we have foliage with hostas, something to look forward to with a growing army of Delphiniums, striking foliage colour in our first acer for the new garden and we finish with a pair of flowering shrubs that we inherited. Scroll or slide for your five-course horticultural banquet.
Enjoy:
The hostas have all emerged and are in full leaf now, with their endless combinations of various greens, whites, stripes, bands and what-not. I have tried to keep the leaves hole-free but when the snail-eye view of your dinner looks this sumptuous, it’s impossible to resist! Many of the hostas are still in pots on the patio and – after this growing season – are due for an autumn divide and possible plant-out depending on what areas of the garden are ready. I’m not precious about holes in hostas and it’s a good thing too – given how many slugs and snails I’ve come across hiding in the most unlikely places.
Here’s a group of Delphinium seedlings that were sowed last summer and have come through the winter. They’re so tiny right now but it’s amazing how quickly they will grow and form substantial plants in the next few years. I have enough here for an impressive display; the only trouble is that I don’t know where I want that display to be. I hope these seedlings don’t grow away too quickly as there isn’t anywhere in the garden ready of for them yet! This was definitely a case of “sow now, think later”.
This strikingly coloured Acer is a new addition to the garden. The froth of blue forget-me-nots in the background is by accident but it looks like such a good combination I think I’ll keep it. Curtesy of the local supermarket, there may be more Acers to follow to create a small “Japanese Zone” in the garden – somewhere. For now though, I’ll probably pot it up into something more comfortable and set it among the patio pots, meaning it effectively joins the back of the queue for plants waiting to be domiciled out in the garden.
This stout Choisya Ternata (Mexican Orange Blossom) shrub is an inherited plant and one of the original garden inhabitants. It is covered with a profusion of fragrant white flowers, but I don’t think it is altogether happy. The soil in this original border is an untreated, incredibly heavy clay that is always wet and airless. You could make cannonballs from it and I think the roots of this shrub are having a hard time trying to breathe in it. Attempting to move it might just finish it off so when it comes to treating, reclaiming and re-jevenating this border, I could be gentle and work around this shrub or be brutal by ripping it out and trying to re-plant it. Choisya is a common garden shrub and I’ve no sentimental connection with this particular one so I may go for the latter – just to make the job easier.
In a scratty and very overgrown border at the back of the garden, well beyond my sphere of influence and outside my attention are these two magnificent red and white azaleas growing among the brambles and self-seeded trees. They put on a stunning show given the conditions they grow in. I look forward to this display, I’ll just have to ignore all the mess around them but with a display that’s as eye-catching at this, that’s easy.
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