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!
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