The Borders

On close inspection I don't think we have lost much over the winter and some of the plants I tugged out a month or so ago, because they looked dead, seem to be appearing again in fresh new growth from the roots.  I did pull up the very cheerful Tickseed (coreopsis) - bright yellow daisy - and I rather hope that doesn't rejuvenate.  My original mixed colour plantings last year were lovely and gave a great show for year one, but I would like to work my way back to my more modest colour palette of pinks and whites and blues.

Our gardeners came to do their first cut of the lawns and weeding and, as usual, managed to leave more weeds than they removed!  On their second visit I got my other half (I am a coward) to point out the areas they had missed.  I preempted their desire to pull out plants that aren't weeds by marking any new growth with sticks. They are not not very pretty in the borders but they help prevent plants disappearing.  Note, I said help.

I hate 'not-gardeners' being any where near my stuff.  My poor other half has to work alongside me, now I am not fit to do the stuff I once did, with me constantly chirping, 'don't put your foot there', 'look out for your elbows', 'that's a weed' etc etc etc.  The deal is that I go around marking where I want the planting holes, describe how big, then supervise his size tens and large hands as he works.  I then do the actual removal from pots and planting to prevent his enthusiastic plant crushing.  Sadly it would be embarrassing to do this alongside the people we 'employ' as actual gardeners.  After their second visit I prowled the borders and discovered that where they had weeded, they had also managed to snap off the newly burgeoning delphiniums right at the root.  Much wailing was heard in the land.

Hey ho,  never mind I had plants to plant.  The next two photos show some decent size perennials from Dobbies - three for eight pounds.  It doesn't look like eighteen plants here in these two trays but there are.  So, with these and the moving of a dozen plants forward in the new deeper border and putting in some sweet peas round the obelisks I had enough work for a few days.  I honestly would have cracked that lot off before lunch in my glory days.

As for the lovely trays of sweet peas.... I had a bit of a brain blank when shopping.  I knew I needed a dozen plants and there were six pots to a tray so off I trot with two trays -you can see the thinking and the maths involved there.  It would have been useful if I had registered the obvious; each pot contained at least ten plants.  After fifty years of gardening I kind of knew this.  So, where I thought I had my twelve plants, I actually had something like a hundred and twenty.  I gave away a box to a neighbour which halved the problem.  I then over-planted the remainder round the pergolas and put some in a couple of other places too (may prove to be a mistake) but I still have some left.  I am considering trying them as hanging plants rather than climbing.  I have no idea if that would work and suspect not as I have never seen it done. (Note added later - don't try this apparently it really doesn't work unless you buy the miniature ones bred for the job)

These are the other plants which have been dotted around the new, improved, wider borders.  They are all old favourites which I have had many, many times.

I thought I would add in a couple of pictures for the labels seen in the above photo.  Those six plants were bought from Crocus with a gift voucher my daughter wasn't able to use.  I really don't shop at Crocus any more as their prices are way beyond my budget these days.  I remember when they first started and their prices were fine and the quality excellent.  

The first is a picture of Bowles mauve (a perpetual wallflower) - a real 'doer' - in flower from May to first frost.  Simply glows in the border and has a nice perfume too.  It will make a plant this size in its first year in the right place.  It is perpetual but it tends to go a bit scruffy by its third year.

This one is knautia.  I had already bought some mixed pastel colour ones from Dobbies for one of the borders but I love it so much I thought it might be nice to have a single colour one in the other border.  It just flirts around mixing itself in amongst other plants without being too bossy.

This is the east-facing border after planting.  

looking up the garden towards the house

east facing top third

east-facing bottom third

east-facing centre

This is the west-facing border, still waiting for a handful of plants to go in

looking down the border towards the gravelled area

west facing top third

west-facing bottom third

west-facing centre

I came to realise when taking pictures that I have actually planted both borders in thirds.  This was quite unintentional but actually works well.  The top and bottom thirds are pretty much identical and the centre third differs slightly.  I was very focussed on having a different left and right hand border but each with echoes of the other so they looked harmonious but not the same and by default I have actually done that and something else as well.

The clematis in the centre of both borders is 'Early Sensation' and is one of my all-time favourites.  It is evergreen so it gives you something in winter and a lovely backdrop in the summer after it has finished flowering.  If its happy it really lives up to its name.  In a couple of years, with luck, it will be fabulous.

Meanwhile this is what it is doing for me right now.

I am pretty pleased with the planting so far and can't wait to see them fully flushed out in the summer.  Watch this space.

I am happy to say I can still see room for more little gems.