It’s been a wet and windy week so work has stopped on the new gravelled area, though turf has been removed. And I have been considering a few more changes.
Towards the back of the garden in the raised beds area there is a lot of yellow and purple, which made me look around my garden to see what colours dominate at this time of the year.
(1) Hebe / shrubby veronica grows like a weed around here! I have several clumps in the garden, most from cuttings, including this one near the raised herb bed which is now too big for its boots! After flowering has finished I will cut it right back or possibly remove it altogether. Though it does look nice right now.
(2) Origanum majorana ‘Aureum’ or Golden Marjoram – as usual this plant sprawls all over the herb bed during the summer months, despite my pulling out clumps of it each year. Perhaps this would be better in a container! When spikes of tiny, tubular light pink flowers appear in mid-summer the bees love it and it really does have the most wonderful floral/woody scent when you pick the leaves.
(3) Clematis ‘Night Veil’ is a viticella type of clematis meaning it is hardy coping with temperatures into the 30’s during summer and as low as -15 in the winter. The slightly reddish-purple blooms have a hint of white at the base of each sepal and almost black anthers. It will bloom from around the middle of June right through to the end of September. This is a new clematis so I am pleased to see it flowering so well in its first year even though it has climbed horizontally instead of upwards!
(4) Leycesteria ‘Golden Lanterns’ / Himalayan honeysuckle has golden yellow leaves, which emerge in spring with a bronze-orange flush, and then, throughout the summer and into early autumn, pendulous racemes of white flowers with burgundy bracts are followed by red-purple berries.
(5) Euphorbia oblongata / Eggleaf spurge was planted in the second raised bed and took a while to settle in. It is a short-lived perennial, but I’m not sure what that actually means as this is into its 4th year. A lovely acid green it makes a nice backdrop to the blue flowers in this bed. My other euphorbia is Euphorbia x martinii which normally I cut back after flowering in early spring, but this year I noticed the bracts turning a rather lovely red so I have left them for now.
(6) Geranium phaeum ‘Lily Lovell’ (Dusky Cranesbill) is a new addition to the garden and has been planted in the dappled shade bed. She is an exceptionally beautiful geranium with slightly reflexed, dusky purple flowers with a white heart. I really hope she enjoys her location and forms a decent clump in years to come.
Casting a critical eye over the garden in its 5th season I have reached the conclusion that less is more and I need to begin to cull a lot of things, mainly to give plants some space to grow properly. Like many gardeners I hate to see bare earth, but come this September I shall be removing/dividing/composting a few plants that have possibly outgrown their location. I think a kind of horticultural decluttering is required!
As always, if you want a peek over other people’s garden walls then please pop over to our host, the lovely Jon, AKA ‘The Propagator’ where you find links to many more wonderful garden enthusiasts from all over the world.
See here for the participant’s guide.
Envy you the clematis, and that geranium looks like a passionflower in miniature. Happy weekend, Jude!
My favourite colours! Out for lunch today before all the hordes arrive. But it’s another cloudy, dull day ☁️☁️☔ how’s life over there?
Sticky and hot but I think it will get better. We’re off to Lagos tomorrow. Adventure by train, in aid of Mick’s birthday on Monday.
Lagos is nice. Enjoy!
Hopefully not too full of England fans, though we will watch the match somewhere.
We’re not football fans – all this hysteria you’d think it was the world cup they were playing for! I am, however, looking forward to the men’s final at Wimbledon. Hopefully Berrettini is ready!
I thought the same about the geranium, very like a passion flower. Have a good lunch.
It’s true that you have very well chosen a mix of colours that goes well together: and the photo of the Geranium phaeum is really a success! (Just like your flower beds…bravo )
Thanks Fred, the geranium colour is fab, I just had to have it when I saw it in the nursery even though it wasn’t exactly on my list!
It all looks very pretty together. And yes, the lime green really makes the other colours pop.
My eye is taken by the lupin in the background. I’ve always loved them, but haven’t had success growing them. We’ve had Cornwallian rain here, the back garden is boggy and I fear my bulbs may not reappear!
Bulbs are more resistant to the wet than you’d think. I am constantly astonished by how many come back here.
So difficult isn’t it in the early days of a new garden, we add plants upon plants to create colour and texture, and then 5 years later we think oops!
I am intrigued about Eggleaf spurge, I am sure that is what I have – it turned up unannounced a few years ago and is giving the ground elder a run for its money!
oh crikey I just realised i never said how gorgeous both this post and your bed are
Gorgeous colours, but way too prolific! Just picked off half a dozen huge snails from the lupins this evening! All is not what it seems…
yikes!! Do you know snails seem to have disappeared from our garden this year despite the rain – I presume thanks to the hedgehog.
I could do with a hedgehog or three. I suspect in rural places they have no need of gardens, if they exist at all.
ah yes that is probably true – we had not seen one for years here, but saw two the other week. So hopefully a few of us around here are keeping sufficient wilderness sections, or in my case the whole gardnen!
Yup! Reached that 5 year mark and things have to change! Fortunately they are mostly easily removed perennials.
that’s good 🙂
The weather continues to confound me. On Thursday and Friday, I spent time with friends at Wells and Holkham, only 16 miles from Beetley. It was dry on the coast both days. However, while I was away, we had hours of torrential rain in Beetley, enough to saturate everything, and cause some localised flooding. Now our garden is soaked and muddy, so no chance of mowing the grass.
Best wishes, Pete. x
I have come to think you must have chosen the wettest spot in the driest county 😂
Everyone says it’s a ‘micro-climate’. I didn’t see that coming when we bought the house in 2011! 🙂
Perhaps you could move just a little way to get out of the effect!
Unlikely to happen, I’m afraid. x
Not even closer to family? I assume they don’t live in Beetley?
Three of Julie’s children are in Norfolk. They live in Attleborough, which is 40 minutes away by car. (28 miles south) The fourth one might move there too. I only have cousins left, and they are scattered around from Lincolnshire to Essex and Kent.
Is Attleborough a nice place to live? Drier? Or would that be a bit too close.
It has a train station and various shops, but some of the people are a bit ‘rough’. Not sure about the weather to be honest. 🙂 x
I am loving watching the garden change 😀🌻
Not finished yet! Will it ever be?
No gardens are always evolving
Absolutely beautiful, Jude… a gardener’s work is never done!
I agree about the ‘less is more’ approach to so many areas of life. That’s why I love the plant sales at National Garden open days – people often sell their surplus stock, which, as it’s locally grown, is likely to do well in neighbouring gardens – a lovely way to share the successes!
I know that, at times, plants must be thinned, but I do love a tangly garden, and yours is lovely.
A bit too tangly! I hardly dare get past that Hebe to dead-head the rose and calendula as it is always so full of bees! How I haven’t been stung this year is a miracle.