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Simply..a mature garden....

13/6/2015

12 Comments

 
I find it hard to believe we have gardened here for 15 years.

It's the longest I've ever lived in one place.

I've created a lot of gardens from scratch but looking after a quite mature garden is a different skill, and fascinating. A mature garden has a mind of its own, and on the whole I like to let it have its way...(though some thugs have to be kept in check.)

Picture

Iris sibirica has made a sizeable clump now. A completely low maintenance plant its fleeting flowers are a source of wonder every year. I have enough to pick a few buds for the bedside table or under the lamp in the sitting room.

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Because we are a country garden I like to let wild flowers have their place. The mini-meadow has never had as much pignut in it before, and I've left it where it has spread into some of the flower beds. So pretty. (The root is a nut-like tuber presumbably loved by pigs.)

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Another wild flower which has spread itself around prettily is pink campion. It flowers for quite a long time and is easily removed if necessary. I collected seed from it last year and am growing about 80 plants to add to Coronation Wood next spring.


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The acer just to the back of Astrantia 'Hadspen's Blood' is in a pot. Someone misheard me and said 'Husband's Blood? That's a strange name for a plant!' I'm just deciding whether to plant it in there or not...maybe they are a bit too similar?

What do you think?

Picture

There are just two clipped shrubs in the front garden. This one is lonicera and we keep trying to make a perfect ball out of it (it's very wobbly - I'm just showing you the best side here!) I love the contrast with all the frothy mounds and lofty spires. This is over 5 feet high now. The other clipped one is box - it is cut in an oval shape. It's a soothing job clipping them once or twice a year. 

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The three cornus controversa variegata (wedding cake trees) will eventually, if they survive, be the stars of this garden. They have been slow to grow and have only flowered in the last couple of years but I love them for their horizontal layered form and their fresh colour.
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These lovely lupins are about 5 years old now. They often only last 3 - 4 years and I wasn't expecting much of a show this year especially as there was quite a bit of slug and wind damage earlier, but they are covered in stout buds. I will be growing some new ones on from seed for next year, though it occurs to me that basal cuttings in early spring might be a good option as they have proved to be such robust specimens. I've not done this before - I always seem to miss the moment.
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Centaura montana, the perennial cornflower, is spreading too far and too wide! The leaves get badly mildewed after flowering and I cut it to the ground and wait for fresh foliage.
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All our hostas have grown into large clumps now and their beautiful foliage really makes an impact (we try to get slug pellets down as soon as the leaves appear and once they have unfurled they don't need any more protection.)


I took all these shots at about 7am yesterday morning and it was interesting to see them in the morning light. My usual time to photograph the garden is in the early evening light slanting in the opposite direction.
12 Comments
Swissrose link
13/6/2015 08:02:31 am

We, too, have been here longest - 9 years and hoping for many more. The garden was planted 25 years ago when the house was gutted and renovated and some things now need replacing (lilac), plus we have extended the planting to suit our taste and, hopefully, the house, picking up the red window frames with a few red-leaved plants such as a cotinus and some heuchera. Next comes a Japanese maple, a broader leafed one, and to this end we've just cleared a whole corner of about 10-12m2, removing a dying fir, forsythia and cornus all smothered by ivy and leaving a sole large viburnum "tree" and a lot of blank canvas to think about before we begin replanting!!
I didn't discover perennial cornflower until I came to live here and am delighted the neighbours' poke through to our side of the fence and are taking hold :)
You're lucky your hostas are so hardy - despite many blackbirds enjoying our slugs and using pellets as soon as shoots emerge, some of our hostas are suffering badly, which is a shame because I love the varieties of hosta.
I haven't tried lupins in this garden, yet, not having had much luck in the last garden: skewy logic, I really should listen to myself and my excuses ;o!

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Freda
14/6/2015 05:01:45 am

I love your linking of the colours of the house with the colours of the plants - this works really well.I think, and that is a nice big area you have to play with!

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Cathy
14/6/2015 12:22:09 am

Irises are 1 of my favorite flowers. I have several different colors, (white/purple, yellow/maroon, purple/lavender) that are all the more special to me now. Jim's sister gave them to us when we moved into this house...she died last October after a long fight with cancer.

15 years is the longest I've lived anywhere in my adult life. Not there, but at 10 years, we're working towards it.

Reply
Freda
14/6/2015 05:04:33 am

It is a lovely thing to remember people by the plants they gave you. 10 years is a nice length of time to get an established look in your garden, and your irises sound beautiful.

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Lotta link
14/6/2015 04:24:20 am

I enjoyed my virtual walk round your garden! I like the acer where you've put it - the extra reddish tones create even more of an impact with your yellow gate.

Reply
Freda
14/6/2015 05:06:19 am

I also have an acer (in a pot) with larger leaves of the same colour - will consider that too...such fun wandering around trying things out!

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Lotta link
14/6/2015 05:29:36 am

Ooh, I think larger leaves would be even better!

Cornflower link
14/6/2015 04:47:51 am

Every picture is the perfect combination of plants and setting - so lovely!
(I think the acer is very good with the astrantia).

Reply
Freda
14/6/2015 05:07:19 am

Thank you Karen! I look forward to photos of your new garden...

Reply
Simple Happy M
14/6/2015 06:45:46 pm

What a lovely garden! Mine is dormant for now. Luckily for me there are plenty of beautiful gardens on the neighbourhood , (and on-line!), so I can delight on their beauty!

Reply
julia
15/6/2015 04:46:31 am

what a creation of love! your garden is beautiful, freda...this is our 24th summer in our wild, natural forest in ontario. one big change this year is that a favorite tree which hangs over the shoreline has finally died...still hanging on, but completely brown...it has been hanging lower year after year, and we always knew this time would come.
over the years so much has evolved in nature and it has been truly a marvle to observe.an ice storm in 1998 blew many of the tops off the pines and downed hundreds of trees...but since then, all the pines have new tops, and we have literally thousands of new maples everywhere...new wildflowers have moved in where we had cleared a bit of forest.....nature healing itself.

Reply
Freda
15/6/2015 07:25:37 am

Wow! After 24 years you must know it so well. And clearly love what you see and know. We do love our garden as it matures and blends even more with the forest behind. Nature is a marvel. You will be sad about your favourite tree (the computer is correcting my non-American spelling of favourite!)

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    An artist seeking a simpler life - (but not too simple!)

    All words and images copyright Freda Waldapfel 2010 - 2020

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