Transplanting and more bulbs

This week we were mainly working on the Mercury bed at the front of the house. The circular bed is the centre piece of the driveway down to the front door and had been neglected for a while being quite weedy and a variety of plants which did not really look happy together. Andrew and I cleared the beds and transplanted and potted up anything we thought needed saving, hairy Carex, Gaura with its wispy flowers and Salvia hotlips.

Carex are fab plants that are great to handle, they are pretty sturdy. We were running out of compost and pots for such large plants so re-housed a few in our holding bay of a veg bed til we need that space for our veg next year.

We planted the bed up the following day to Andrew's design and it is going to look great. We were working on the curved line of each bed so used a cane and tape to measure the arcs. We planted alternate Tulips and Anemones around them in three arcs. We are going to plant Box and Lavender for the rest of the bed. It is good to see some formality in the bed and see an improvement.

We removed a huge old Rosemary from the walled garden which required a saw so you can imagine how woody it was. Onto the bonfire it went, smelling wonderful!

I had a look around the garden and found some Old Man's Beard Clematis which I used to love as a child in the hedgerows. I also checked on our Rose stems we are propagating in the long border and they have new shoots! Hurray! I had a peek at the Orchids at the mo and their colours are stunning. Some of the succulents are a real joy as well and Andrew spotted a Bird of Paradise displaying 2 flowers looking lovely against the blue sky.

Trying to use all the bulbs we have, we planted up some urns and pots we could think of, all to add to the Spring colour, once the Gardens are open from March 1st.

I also had a go at hollowing out some of the ornamental Gourds we grew this summer, Swan Neck and Yugoslavian Fingers to put food in for the birds. Great idea!

We seem up to speed with things right now and as a result you get a sense of the place and how to handle the different areas. When I arrived in June, with everything in full flow, it seemed a never ending task ahead but somehow with the leaves gone from the trees and the bare roots of the garden showing it seems much more approachable. Happy days.