New garden: with silver bells and cockle shells?
None of those here, when I moved into my new home last summer. The garden was just a big neglected mess.
The first job was to clear out the weeds and paint the wall. When I say “I”, I confess I called upon the lovely Robert, who got to work with a some serious tools and, once he’d cleared the bed, a paintbrush.
All he left were a few plants hardy enough to survive the neglect. (I’m trying not to think about the huge store of weed seeds lying in wait for my hoe!)
There is a large deep pink hydrangea, a couple of buddleias to attract the butterflies and a well grown Clematis montana. It was in full bloom when I viewed the property last year and is just about to give me joy.
To begin at the beginning…
And up they came!
The new garden plan…
The first to go in was the winter-flowering evergreen Clematis urophylla ‘Winter Beauty’. It’s the one with small white bell-like flowers. It will be next winter before it blooms but it will be worth the wait.
That is what gardening is all about. Patience.
I’m enjoying the plants that someone planted when the garden was new about fifteen years ago. I want the garden to be a joy for whoever comes after me. And for the people who walk past to visit the chiropractice in the house next door.
All year round interest in the new garden…
A sprig of myrtle is always added to royal wedding bouquets. I left a couple behind when we moved from Wales, and it’s wonderful to have one again. The scent is unbelievable.
And there’s a Pieris forestii ‘Flame of the Forest’, another favourite. White panicles of flowers in spring and then the new leaves are bright red.
In the mid-range I’ve planted euphorbias, geums, hellebores, salvias, scabious and roses. There’s a peony, too. I’ve never had any luck with peonies in the past, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this one is going to be a joy.
Wildlife…
I have lavender to plant, too. It’s been a bit cold to get out in the last week and I’ve been putting it off. Hands up to being a fair weather gardener!
I’ve put bird feeders high in the buddleia, because ground feeding attracted the kind of wildlife I can do without. I’ve just spotted a very fat pigeon having a nose around beneath them!
Because that’s the other wonderful thing. The garden is raised and it’s at my eye-level as I look out of my study window.
Colour…
Along the edge of the garden I have planted creeping phlox, Anemone blanda (love that electric blue), heuchera, saxifrage and snowdrop anemones (Anemone sylvestris) which I’ve never grown before but are pure delight.
Every week there is something new to see as the things I planted last autumn (and had in some cases forgotten) start to do their thing.
There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray love, remember:
and pansies, for thoughts.
And, because a garden is a place not just to sit and plan, but to think and remember, I have pansies and rosemary (which I’ve always planted by my garden gate).
Liz, this sounds absolutely gorgeous! And brilliantly planned, too.
Oddly, I too have a wintersweet. For many years, my partner and I used to visit Oxford together in late winter/early spring and we would wander round the gorgeous gardens of his old college. The wintersweet there always had lots of pods on it, and I would collect a couple and try to grow the seeds. (I just love growing stuff from seeds and cuttings.) Just one wintersweet survives. I repotted it last year and hope that its new pot is big enough to keep it happy for the rest of its natural life!
How lovely, Sophie. There is something so special about a plant you’ve grown from seed and has a memory attached.
It does sound gorgeous, Liz. I loved my Montana, but in the garden re-design 13 years ago it went. I’ve never managed to grow another one. And I’ve wanted a Myrtle for ages, but haven’t got anywhere to put one.
That was the joy of starting from scratch, Lesley. I’m choosing all my favourites.
And I had my myrtles in pots when I lived in Wales. Just a thought. 🙂
Thanks for this lovely post, Liz. It’s come just at the right time for me, as we moved into a new house last month. The garden is a weed- and rubble-filled wilderness. I love your suggestions, especially the myrtle and the wintersweet, and I’ve bookmarked this page for inspiration. Wishing you much joy in your garden.
Good luck with your new garden, Helena. I wanted plenty of evergreen plants to keep winter interest and was salivating at the television coverage of Chelsea this year. So much inspiration!
Have made notes of some of these, Liz. May have to grow your Clematis Winter Beauty in a pot though, so I can bring it in in the winter as it’s too cold for it here. Then again, a clematis flowering in my conservatory in winter would be a delight. Thank you.
It does get big, Joanna. We had it scrambling over a fence in Wiltshire.
Delightful.. I wish you many happy hours in your buzzy, colourful courtyard
Thank you, Moya. It’s finally getting warm enough to sit out. ?
Great post, Liz. I’ve never heard of a winter-flowering clematis – it will be perfect for my garden. Thank you for the tip, and I hope you enjoy your little haven of flowers and peace.
Sorry – Sophie! I’d had too much birthday cake = suffering from a sugar rush when I typed my reply. 🙂
Thanks so much, Claire. Enjoy your clematis!
I am really looking forward to seeing how this garden develops.