Bright and Breezy

A beautiful day; at long last, a beautiful day. We have had plenty of rain in the past week, several rather miserable days when we were confined indoors; days completely unsuitable for gardening or even for walking. But, ’tis an ill wind, as they say, and that rain has lead to an astonishing burst of growth.

Hydrangeas are coming into flower. Of course, they enjoyed the rain of the last week.
Dahlias are fully into flower by now and are giving great colour. The pink plant to the left is Diascia personata, a great grower and the very easiest from cuttings – cut and push into the ground!
Dieramas are at their best. The yellow daylily is Hemerocallis ‘Korky’ and the red flowers in front are on Phymosis umbellata which is growing in a pot as we take it in for winter protection.

There were some bare patches on the front lawn which I scarified and reseeded and they are suddenly green again. It is still quite light but it is wonderful to see the germination on the grass seed and a sense of relief that it has happened – though we know it will happen, there is always a certain holding of the breath and anxious wait until it actually does.

The bare patches on the lawn are greening up, thanks to the rain all this week.

Of course, grass growth means I had to take out the lawnmower today and there was an incredible amount of grass to pile onto the compost heap. In fact, I held half of it back – the collection box of the ride-on mower was filled five times today so adding it all at once would simply be too much green material at one time. By coincidence, I had cut down a large upright yew which had become far too big, too wide and too sprawly, rather than remaining upright and neatly columnar, as its type promises and so have a big heap of brown material but I need to shred this first and will mix it with the rest of the grass before adding all to the compost heap tomorrow – another day’s work ahead!

Before and after shots. This shows the “upright” yew in April of last year. It is an old tree – I reduced its height by almost two metres in the year we had that very heavy snow because the snow lodged right in the middle and the branches splayed in all directions. I then had to put several loops of wire around it to hold the branches in shape. However, it had become unruly again and needed to be tidied up. After two hours of tidying up I decided that drastic action was the only way forward – see below.
Now, that’s what I call a good cut-back! It will grow strongly again but I will be careful to not leave it get out of hand again.

Watsonias are looking especially good in the garden at the moment as is an excellent Leucanthemum. We have several very old watsonias in the garden whose names are lost to our memories but they do especially well for us such that we have to lift, divide and discard a great deal every few years. The leucanthemum is from Kilmurry Nursery and named for Paul and Orla’s daughtrer, Hazel – Leucanthemum ‘Hazel’s Dream’. It has semi-double flowers which shimmer and shake in the lightest breeze and is a healthy, strong-growing plant. It is tall and this year I made a super structure to support it and am delighted that it was worked perfectly for it came through this past week of rain and wind and remained perfectly upright, without damage – not a floppy stem in sight.

A good stand of watsonias which do very well for us here in the garden. The pink flower in the centre is an Achillea with a red/burgundy penstemon in the right foreground. Diascia personata, pink, is peeping through on the right.
Watsonia ‘Mount Congreve Coral’ catching the evening light.
The grass is looking tidy after today’s cut. A view across the back garden with Mary’s White Garden to the right and Leucanthemum ‘Hazel’s Dream’ showing well.
The White Garden with Leucanthemum ‘Hazel’s Dream’