Roses

It was all about Roses last week, dead heading in three different gardens to promote second flowers and admiring our pruning work at Heale; the Roses are in full flower now in the hybrid Musk Rose border and elsewhere in the garden. The Roses we pruned on the Balustrades at Heale are looking wonderful, arched and flowing full of flower.

 Fading Rosa 'Prosperity'

I spent a day in some borders in the veg garden at Heale. Big borders planted with Astrantia, Macleaya, Veronicastrum.... After weeding we had some space and the owner asked to fill it with Digitalis 'Pam's Choice' and a new one for me, a fennel-like plant with acid green flowers -Ridolphia segetum - which should attract the Bees and produce lots of flowers. (It is also called an annual weed in the Med!)

Plenty of work to continue in the veg garden and cropping has begun in earnest. Beets, Artichokes, Salads, Beans, Peas, Sweet peas and tiny kid-friendly Carrots. Cukes are coming along nicely.

Lots more successional sowing done too - Beets, Radish, Basil, Rocket, Parsley. Some of the Beets are stripy Italian ones, Chioggia,  fab red colour when pulled up - kapow!

A plant which was striking in the border last week was Eryngium or Sea Holly. What a structure and colour. The Bees reckon it's alright too.

Sweet pea heaven

It has been a busy old time in the gardens I work in and I am loving being out and about - what a way to spend your working life - surrounded by nature, nurturing life.

I have been busy attacking weeds at every turn, Thistles, Dandelions, Rose bay willow herb, Bittercress, Nettle, you name it, I have been weeding it this week. Plants are in their element in the heat now. I have been staking, tying in, pulling out, planting up, controlling nature the way we want it to look. It is never ending and nature always wins. Turn your back and it has grown, crept, tumbled and found its way into every nook and cranny.

I planted out quite a lot at Heale this week, Ipomoea 'Heavenly Blue' and Gourds over arches, hoping they will tumble and scramble their way to the top. I planted some over willow wig wams too. I planted out Orlaya 'Grandiflora' into one of the cutting rows. I am looking forward to this one. A gorgeous delicate white flower which appear to float above its foliage.

Lots and lots of Roses at Heale strutting their stuff. Some I really love in the veg garden are patterned and fragrant : Ferdinand Pichard, which had striped crimson and pink flowers. Rather like Rosa mundi, which is also in the garden. We have a border devoted to Hybrid Musk Roses, with Nepeta to the front. Right now, the Bees are going crazy for it. These Roses are gorgeous and in full bloom, they include, Moonlight, Buff Beauty, Felicia and Prosperity.

Only working two days at Heale, you notice the plants coming and going and which ones are really standing out from the crowd, which were not a week before! This week every visitor and I, myself, have stopped in awe of the beauty that is Chinonathus virginicus or Fringe Tree.

Native to America, I have read that the native Americans used the root and bark to treat skin inflammation! It is such a beauty when in flower, soft and delicate and quite unusual.

I have had the pleasure of working with Sweet peas this week, my very favourite flower, for colour and fragrance. As I spent an hour or so, tying in stems, removing tendrils and side shoots, listening to birds and bees, I could smell the fragrance wafting up. I picked the long single cordon stems and we had 257 stems! HG had picked only on Tuesday (66 stems) and so all of these flowers had appeared in less than 3 days! Astonishing. What a job, one of my favorites. A lot of worry at the beginning, the sowing, the care to make strong plants and then watching the plants go off into the wilds of the garden, hoping they make it through. 

A joy to be out there, despite, Ticks, Stout flies, unruly Sheep (we moved them from field to field today) and heat. The veg garden is a wonderful place to be pottering and I am lucky to be the one who gets to do it!

Summer is finally here!!!

A great week out and about this week. Summer seems to have arrived. I spent a blustery day on Tuesday, re-potting lots of established plants, giving them a new home, new soil and Osmocote. It is as if the plant breathes a sigh of relief when you give it this treatment. Ah, space and food, now I can get on with growing and doing my thing!

In my Tuesday garden, Swifts have made a nest in the barn and flitter about going in and out all day. Clematis are in flower and drifts of Orlaya grandiflora nestle in amongst the borders. It is the prettiest addition to an established border. This garden has a very cottagey feel and looks gorgeous right now.

My little veg plot in another garden is coming along, Broad Beans shooting up now, Potatoes at full height and Carrot tops and Parsnip leaf appearing.

At Heale the veg garden saw a lot of work this week. We planted out more Salads, Courgettes and Cabbage and Caulifower. The Cauliflower we have grown from seed is called 'Graffiti' and will have a purple head (if it makes it alive past the various pests we battle with).....very striking.

We also spent a lot of time planting out Dahlia's in the cut flower plots. 35 plants, some stored from last year, some new.

Exciting to see what flowers are produced from this little lot. I do love a Dahlia. Bold and brash both in style and colour.

I am really pleased with the veg garden. It is established now and planting out the Courgettes is the signal that the weather has turned and we can expect some produce soon. All that hard work digging in Winter is paying off. Worthwhile stuff. And visitors are so pleased to see our work too!

Lift your head above the parapet and you have the rest of Heale pootling along around you.

HG and I took a stroll at the end of the day to appreciate some of the plants that are showing off in early June. There are some Fox tail Lillies in the garden (Eremurus) and these white ones are already at least 6 foot tall. Stunning plant with fantastic structural qualities.

In the same border is Dracunculus vulgarism or Voodoo Lily (great nickname) which is a deep purple color and smells horrid in order to attract flies!

A visitor was asking HG about a specific Cornus in the garden. It is flowering right now, white and delicate. Cornus x venus

This little flower is pretty - Philadelphus 'starbright'

Magnolias at Heale have been on the move now for a while. This one -Magnolia x wieseneri - has such a strong smell which we think is like Germolene/Deepheat. It really whiffs! Some say medicinal and some say Pineapple scent. 

This one has the most enormous leaves and flowers. Some are going over now and I think I prefer these. The faded burnt paper look is stunning.

Orchids are out and about in the wild triangle area as you enter into the garden. Common spotted as in this photograph

and Rosa roxburghii catches the eye as you pass through the garden. In flower now

with beautiful single pink flowers. A right cracker.

Photographs by me as usual, plant identifications from the very knowledgable HG (Michael Maltby).

See you next week......