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May 2023
To be completely honest we spent most of May basking in the glory of last month’s Pond makeover. As the last month of Autumn, its where the garden starts to really look bare, and you can begin to see the structure of the plants within it. We have been lazy over the years, not intentionally, things have a way of being let go if you’re busy or distracted. But not this year. This seems to be the year of strong action. Of being decisive. Limbs have been removed from trees, plants transplanted (but there’s nothing new there), garden features being moved (and moved again) and the resurrection of pathways. I…
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January 2023
It’s funny when you have grown up looking at European (specifically English) garden magazines where Summer is the pinnacle of the gardening year. Images of full, boisterous garden beds, plants fighting for their time in the sunshine. Foliage and flowers are abundant. And green. So very very green. We were lulled into a false state of confidence last year. We had so much rain and forecasts predicted a wet Summer. But it was lies. All lies. Don’t get me wrong, the rain meant that our trees had a wonderful growth spurt which has increased the shade in the garden, and protected many plants than previous years but once it dries…
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October, November, December 2022
Sometimes things get away from you. Like the last three months. Our Open Garden went ahead on the 30th October, amid wild rainy weather, which, thankfully held off the actual day leaving us with some much needed sunshine. Our preparations for the actual day were constantly thwarted – the ground was sodden leaving us unable to weed and generally inclined to do nothing. Sometimes natures forces your hand and we had to reconcile ourselves to the fact that visitors were going to have to take the garden as it was – warts and all. Pavers were placed on the walkways that had disappeared under water, the entrance to the parking…
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May 2022
The last month of Autumn was a stunner. Crisp but full of golden sunshine. In a dream world it is the time to sit, bask in the light and have a cup of tea (or mulled wine). Reality is very different. The weeds keep growing, there is always something to clean up, trim, prune, wood needs to be cut in the bushland and all needs to be done by at least 4pm because it gets too cold and too dark to be out beyond then. The shining light within all these ‘chores’ is that magical word ‘propagation’. Autumn is the perfect time to take hardwood cuttings and sow seeds. Jenny…
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March 2022
March rolls in with cool mornings and evenings, which means the watering frenzy is slowing down, thank heavens. Despite this, the garden is not really slowing down, the Lasiandras are starting to flower as is the lovely Plectranthus ecklonii. The Crocus and Colchicums are nearly at their best. Even more exciting, the bulb catalogues have started to arrive. There is nothing like buying plants by mail. The impatient waiting, the fear they may be left in some post office somewhere too long, the excitement on their arrival. Bliss. We made some purchases from Tesselaar this time – Cottage Gladioli Mix for cut flowers, Tulip Turkestan because it’s an unusual shape…
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December 2021
Well, December has come and gone. We had quite a bit of rain and it’s been cool so the garden is looking ok. This is evident by the generous growth on our Cercis ‘Forest Pansy’ and Cornus collection, who usually have started showing signs of crispiness by the end of the first month of Summer. Earlier in the year we planted a hedge of Hydrangea ‘Blueberries and Cream’, one of our better moves. Unfortunately, we forgot that it is near a group of Clivias, orange flowering ones. Not the best combination. They were given to us by a friend and at the time we were grateful. We would never have…
