Whoosh

Everything is going crackers right now, sun and showers make for perfect conditions. The best time of the year for Wisteria and Peonies and the borders are waking up from their sleep. There are several Wisteria at Heale and they are all beautiful, racemes hanging down like rain falling, long, flowing, and the scent! The one on the house has been trained over the door, under two windows and is stunning. In the kitchen garden an arbor over a walkway is dripping with yellow Laburnum and Japanese Wisteria floribunda 'Multijuga'.

This week I helped edge and weed the Peto pond lawns, a private area of the garden with regular visits from one of the family dogs, sitting at my feet.

I also helped to plant our Dahlia tubers in the kitchen garden. Multi varieties left over from last year. We measured and cut canes to size, evenly spaced them and dug a deep hole for each. We gave some bonemeal to help revive the shrivelled tubers and planted them, not too deep and watered. They will be glorious when all in full bloom.

We erected a Raspberry support too, single wire, for Summer fruiting varieties. A brilliant idea is to use screw in eyelets into the post, attach the wire and when the wire becomes slack, tighten it off by turning the screw. I want one for my allotment! Now I now how to go about it. We planted out several varieties of Raspberries and will mirror that with more planting the other side of the Strawberry cage.

I got to work a bit in the Pool borders too, planted into gravel are Alliums and many Grasses. Wisteria of course hangs over the pool shelter and a magnificently strange Magnolia has been placed near the river, the 'Germolene' Magnolia as it shall forever be known to me. A beautiful white/cream flower, with tightly packed tiny pink insides and such a strong fragrance; Magnolia x weiseneri.

The wild banks and wild triangle in the garden are freely flowing with Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor), having been planted by Michael and I have never seen this plant before so it is great to see.

I noticed Astrantia major in the kitchen garden this week, a lovely delicate pale green flower and also the self seeded Euphorbia lathyris (Caper spurge), with an interesting leaf and caper like seed.

An Abutilon and a Choisya flank a walkway to the Peto ponds and are both in full flow.

I know nothing about Roses and Michael introduced me to some on the walls of the house, Rosa ayrshire 'Splendens' a white/pink with the scent of Myrhh, Rosa pom pom de paris, a little pink rose and Rosa alchemist, yellow.

Another lovely week, spending time at Heale doesn't feel too much like hard work to me, maybe I am mad but even when the rain comes the garden has a lot to give and I enjoy seeing the rain soaked plants. Change is daily, a Magnolia in bud one day, out the next, gone the next.