What's your favourite bit of the garden this month?

by freebird 1st May 2014, 4:32 pm

Gardens are ever-changing through the seasons. I thought it might be nice to share some of the things we enjoy the most each month.

My spring flowers are pretty much over now, and not a lot to take its place. But I have a narrow border in the front that is looking especially nice right now. The colour theme is silvery and greeny blues with dark purply reds - and other dashes of colour as and when they happen.

This is my favourite little bit at the moment. The Pretty Flamingo dianthus has been rather battered by today's rain.

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Front_10

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Front_10

Rain's not all bad though - loved these leaves anyway, and especially with the rain drops on them.

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Front_11

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Front_11

This is most of the border. The lime green euphorbia flowers don't exactly fit with the colour scheme, but they are so vibrant you just have to forgive them.

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Front_12

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Front_12

by Ploshkin 1st May 2014, 5:07 pm

Should have started this last month - my garden best bits tend to be in the spring & it goes downhill from there. It's just too late for my crab apple tree that has been groaning under the weight of the blossom this year (I hope I will be able to say the same for the apples later on) and all the primrose & primula type things. If the rain stops I will see if I can find a bit to take a picture of.
I love the heucheras FB - mine are quite weedy in comparison.

by Dandelion 2nd May 2014, 4:09 pm

Beautiful colours, FB. And that's what I love most about the garden in May - all the blues and fresh greens, and patches of unexpected colour.
What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Garden10

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Garden10

by Ploshkin 2nd May 2014, 5:53 pm

Well, you made me look at the garden with fresh eyes. I'm always cross with myself for not putting wallflowers in - it's a pity we can't smell them Dandelion. Anyway, there's only one bit of garden where anything happens - a big, crowded patch of shrubs & anything I can get to grow. It's a riot of greens at the moment & the hostas are looking particularly good so here goes:
What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? P1000912

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? P1000912

by Dandelion 2nd May 2014, 6:21 pm

That's just beautiful! What's the plant in the front right?

by Ploshkin 2nd May 2014, 7:57 pm

It's a Tiarella Cordifolia, Dandelion. Grows well in the shade of which I have plenty & spreads itself about but not too invasively. I've got it filling all sorts of gaps. The flowers are not particularly striking but look good sticking up above things when there's not really anything else in flower.
The person who had the garden before me (who was actually Charles Dickens' great (great?) grandaughter really knew what to plant for shade & I found odd bits & pieces lurking amongst the 10' nettles & brambles when we moved in. I've got loads of huge hostas that just magically reappeared when I cleared the ground and a gorgeous lilac primrose with dark purple leaves - I found a tiny little piece amongst some rubbish & have kept it going for 15 years now

by freebird 2nd May 2014, 8:12 pm

That looks absolutely stunning Ploshkin. The hostas are magnificent. I was quite pleased with my hostas until I saw that! It's given me some new ideas about quite a difficult bit in my garden though.

by TamaraNicole 3rd May 2014, 9:16 am

Wow beautiful gardens you have!

I actually don't have much besides the vegetable patch, except a rosebush and a hydrangea in a pot by the front door.

by Ploshkin 27th May 2014, 9:30 am

I know it's not June yet but my current favourite bit of the garden will be past its best by the time we get there. My garden doesn't have any fences or walls so I don't have much I can grow things up. This clematis has been in situ for at least 12 years, never fed & only occasionally given a shearing. It's reliably good but this is probably the best it has ever been. Actually it is the flower in my avatar & yesterday it was a magnet for my bees. For some reason I remember that it is called Asao. The little white star flowers are Star of Bethlehem that I rescued from a non flowering position elsewhere & they seem to like their current spot. Here goes with an attempt to post a picture.
What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? P1010010

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? P1010010

by TamaraNicole 27th May 2014, 10:08 am

Beautiful!

by freebird 27th May 2014, 1:47 pm

Oh that's just stunning. I've always preferred the earlier spring flowering 'Montana' clematis, but I think you have just changed my mind!

by Chilli-head 27th May 2014, 1:59 pm

That's a nice clematis. What I really want to know though, is how you save the hostas from the slugs and snails. Mine vanished, and I like in a dry part of the country ! Well, I do normally. It is very wet at the moment, and very green. My seed swap calendulas are still flowering nicely, and have been continuously since last summer - funny weather we are having these days !

by Dandelion 27th May 2014, 5:07 pm

Following advice from a friend I've grown hostas in earthenware pots for the last couple of years, with a thick layer of grit covering the soil. It works a treat - I rescued my poor hosta from the border, which had virtually been eaten, potted it up, and three years later it's three beautiful slug free plants. That's actually one of my favourite bits of the garden at the moment, apart from the dark purple flag iris.

by Jaded Green 27th May 2014, 7:11 pm

OOooh - what a good idea for the hostas. i love hostas, but so do the slugs!

by Dandelion 28th May 2014, 7:40 pm

Will get a photo when the rains stops. It's been relentlessly miserable today - one of those days when someone is bound to shake their head and say 'Ah, it's set in for the day.'

by Dandelion 31st May 2014, 5:25 pm

Right, here we are - the hosta.
What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Spring10

by Dandelion 31st May 2014, 5:28 pm

...and the Flag Iris
What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Spring11

by freebird 31st May 2014, 9:37 pm

Oooh, what a beautiful colour iris.

by Dandelion 1st June 2014, 8:38 am

It took about four years to actually bloom, but was worth it in the end!

by freebird 1st June 2014, 6:43 pm

Well I hate to be boring, but the front garden wins again this month. The dianthus are in full flower, and I just wish you could smell them.

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Front_10

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Dianth10

This next pic shows the shared boundary as well, where my neighbour plants blue geraniums because she knows I like them!

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Front_11

And lastly, the top tier of my new planter, with the lamium and fern

What's your favourite bit of the garden this month? Plante10

by TamaraNicole 1st June 2014, 7:16 pm

Dandelion, the hostas are wonderful!

Freebird, wow! Beautiful garden!

by Dandelion 1st June 2014, 10:14 pm

Yes, I particularly like the lamiums - lovely picture

by Chilli-head 28th August 2014, 2:32 pm

Dandelion wrote:Following advice from a friend I've grown hostas in earthenware pots for the last couple of years, with a thick layer of grit covering the soil. It works a treat - I rescued my poor hosta from the border, which had virtually been eaten, potted it up, and three years later it's three beautiful slug free plants.

Thanks to Dandelion for this tip. I gave Mrs C-H a hosta and a big terracotta pot as part of her birthday present, and it seems to be thriving with no slug damage.

by Dandelion 28th August 2014, 11:07 pm

hooray!!

by Dandelion 31st August 2014, 10:52 am

I can tell you what my least favourite bit of the garden is at the moment - a few years ago we went to a area of wilderness in Wales (Kenfig) and Mr P saw hawkbit growing wild there. He thought it was lovely with its orange flowers, and I hunted down some seeds. What a mistake - after cossetting this wretched seeds and then the little plants as ifthey were fragile, I planted some around the garden in flowerbeds, never expecting them to spread so fast, then choke other plants. I've been hand digging them for the last few years, but this morning as I saw them approaching a lovely crocosmia which I bought from the garden at Great Dixter I snapped, and sprayed them with weedkiller. I hardly ever use the stuff, but this was a cause for grave concern.

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