Garden Snippets

With so many things going on in the garden all at once I’ve got snippets of pictures and tag lines; almost like the news headlines.

We start with a daylily; the clump of daylilies that we inherited in the garden are somewhat choked under a camellia and large rose but they are bravely trying to flower. If I’m honest though, they still really don’t do it for me.

I have an aversion to this orange-salmon colour and I’m trying to like it but it’s not working. I find the colour mix revolting. There were probably just a few daylily plants at the start but they have spread in the border over the years. The border they’re growing in is third on the list to be rejuvenated; our attentions are currently elsewhere. We’re unlikely to get round to starting work on this border this year but when we do, I’m planning to pretty much clear the border and whether I consign these daylilies to the compost heap or carefully replant them is still undecided. It would be interesting to hear what you think on this – should they stay or should they go?

While you ponder on that question, let’s take a closer look at the – what I call – raspberry and custard lilies that have opened up as part of the “mixed” lily border:

These look really stunning and the deep, dark lilies that stand behind them only accentuate how bright these are. It is such a shame they don’t smell and I can’t understand why anyone would want to breed lilies that don’t but there you are. Make sure you’re wearing a disposable top if you’re around flowering lilies as the pollen won’t ever come out. It’s a good job these are four feet away from the washing line, it’s much further away than where we had lilies in the previous garden.

It’s now time to move on to the non-hanging hanging baskets. They’re very much grounded right now but fully planted up, they’re just waiting to be suspended from hanging basket brackets that don’t yet exist. I could pull my finger out and just get a set of brackets from anywhere, but I’m after a particular type. I’m after the swan-necked hanging basket brackets and after receiving one set that simply bent under the weight of these baskets (and so had to be returned), these non-hanging hanging baskets remain waiting on the ground for another blacksmith to get round to making them.

These non-hanging hanging baskets may have to wait until September before they’re hung aloft. While they wait they’ve been busy flowering away. Planted with trailing lobelia, marigolds and training begonias, they’re a floribundant – if grounded – addition to the patio pots. The baskets themselves are a lovely spiral tear-drop shape, unfortunately that’s hidden by the plastic pots they’re in to stop them from rolling around.

Next: a quick update on the Clematis Chantilly that was cut right down to the base due to wilt and now only exists as a root ball. As I wrote in the particular post about Clematis Wilt, everything above soil-level was thrown out. The clematis root ball was taken out of its pot and planted into a freshly prepared section of a brand new border.

The only positive thing to come out of this experience with Clematis Wilt is to know that the root ball is big, it’s almost 50 cm across and deep, it completely filled the pot and is heavy. I haven’t brushed a great deal of soil off the root ball but you can see fresh clematis roots looking for a way out. This engine was about to power the greatest flower show on the patio before the Wilt put an abrupt stop to it. It’s now released from the (generous) confines the pot and planted in the border. The roots have a vast amount of rejuvenated soil to get to grips with and if I don’t see this clematis again this year, then I should definitely see it next.

Finally, the various inherited hydrangea dotted about the garden are coming into flower. The flowers look lovely in the early stages and I managed to take a good shot of this particular one. I like the pale lime-green colour with the petals at the edge tinged with a soft pink.

We’re too busy restoring borders at the moment in a race against time before the growing season comes to an end and moments like these are passing almost un-noticed before our very eyes. One year, I’ll have restored all the borders, they will be planted so heavily that I won’t have to weed, the border edges will be neat and the pests will be under control and then I might have a moment to sit down and take a bit more time for enjoyment. This is not that year.