Over the FENCE
REAL readers' gardens!
The bareroot shrubs and roses I bought last month are thriving. I’d given them some protection against the frosts but now their bin liner ‘cloches’ have been removed and there are very healthy shoots. I’ve trimmed the woody stems to the top growth and started planting them out.
In the borders, primroses are flowering cheerfully. I’ve been grouping them into colour combinations for the last couple of years: yellow and purple in one border, bright yellow, red and orange ones in the ‘hot’ border, white at the back and pink and purples down the other side. There are still plants of the ‘wrong’ colour in some beds but I like reinforcing these combinations in the plant choices I make from now on, such as planting white philadelphus ‘Virginal’ and spiraea ‘Vanhouttei’ in the back border.
We recently replaced some fence panels, meaning we’ve lost our young ceanothus. I’ve replaced it with a hibiscus ‘Syriacus’ for a blue/purple backdrop. Also, I’ve added the sprouting bareroot shrub roses in yellow (‘Garden Princess’) and lilac (‘Purple Bush’) to this border, as well as some more Forsythia Intermedia – I love its golden sparks!
We call an old tree stump the ‘Fairy Tree Stump‘ because it has a fairy bird bath, little door and ceramic toadstools around it and a gorgeous crowd of stunning snowdrops. It looks fabulous at this time of year, whatever the weather.
I pruned several very leggy red acer stems, fashioning them into plant supports. I arranged branches in the lawn, tied the tops with string, then moved them into the borders. They do blend in so nicely and were a very satisfying recycling project.
My Mother’s Day flower pot for my mum started with a bareroot rose ‘Purple Bush’ resembling a stick. Now it’s sprouting with spring bulbs. I hope she’ll love it.
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Bad weather – but it can’t stop the flower power!
It’s not been the best start to the gardening year. First, we had snow that stayed for nearly a week, followed by a couple of storms. Two fence panels were flattened but
