Don’t you love May? Possibly the best month of the entire year in the gardening calendar and I’m not even talking about the Chelsea Flower Show. After months of truly dreadful wetness and the onslaught of S&S, our gardens battle forth and produce the most wondrous of shows.
So many to choose from this week so I shall start with another long look at my garden. This area is two thirds down the garden between the gravel and herb gardens. (1st third is patio, 2nd is the gravel garden/lawn and the final third is my herb garden). On the fence is a vigorous Clematis montana and my Gertrude Jekyll rose which are in the feature photo.
As you can see the lawn needs edging, but because of the foot injury I have been unable to do much work. Also you can see where I have made a start clearing the Bee & Butterfly bed which is full of cinquefoil. I’m leaving the rest of the bed until the late spring flowers and bulbs finish flowering (Alliums, Dutch irises and Foxgloves). My intention is to use it for annuals, but maybe not this year. What has amused me is that Sparrows use the earth to dirt bathe! I wondered what the little hollows were until I saw them doing this. I guess usually I don’t have any bare soil.
(Please click on an image to scroll through the gallery – the first camassia shows a bee heading for it, a belated photo to celebrate World Bee Day last Monday)
I am also linking to Becky’s Squares | Moving Forward Day 25 where you use photos (square format of course) to illustrate one or more of the following:
- Move forward
- Reconstruct
- Renew
- Burgeoning
The garden is definitely full of renewal and burgeoning now! And I have a lot still to reconstruct. As many of you know, my garden is my happy place and it is certainly helping me to move forward.
Jim of Garden Ruminations is our host now and as a former nurseryman has a lot more than the SOS happening over on his blog so well worth following. As always, if you want a peek over other people’s garden walls then please pop over to his site where you find links to many more wonderful garden enthusiasts from all over the world. See here for the participant’s guide.
Cornwall in Colours 
We do too. It turned out to be a lovely day today.
Sunshine, wind and showers here!
A fabulous six this week, with so much sunshine in your photos! Love the Geums of course, and the irises too. I am slowly discovering a few irises that like the drier conditions here… and then we have an exceptionally wet winter and spring! LOL!
It’s becoming harder to know what to plant. I think one of the key points is to have good drainage. Then at least roots don’t rot.
Your garden is looking amazing – such wonderful plants
Thank you. There is certainly a lot more colour now, not necessarily in the right combination!
Cinquefoil – I was trying to remember what it was called. Those tap roots are very hard to get out, so you have my sympathy. On the plus side, Rosa Gertrude Jekyll is looking wonderful in your header photo. Sorry to hear about your foot injury and wish you a speedy recovery.
Yes, the cinquefoil is very difficult to get out, the roots break off like bindweed, which is why I have to empty the bed so I can dig deep. I’ll never get it out of the cracks in the wall though.
Wow, your garden is thriving! It really looks like a garden should look! And if the bees and birds hang out there (even though the birds just taking a dirt bath), you definitely have a garden that is alive and well.
I’m almost tempted to leave the soil bed, the birds are really enjoying it.
Love the rose and clematis combination – so pretty!
A lucky combination.
It’s always interesting to see the longer views of your garden. I too like the rose and clematis combination (and am now wondering about doig sometjing similar!) and the geums among the grasses. I now have a replacement G Tangerine but it has very quickly been overshadowed by a sprawling geranium and I may have to rethink its position!
Ah, those sprawling geraniums have killed off several of my plants, including the astrantia. Now though I have given them an entire bed to wander through. Any other plants are tall enough to cope. I think!
I am desperately trying to discreetly stake mine where required (rusty metal arch shaped supports) – in some places other plants can cope with them if they are something sturdy