The past, the future and good friends

Where I grew up, there was no garden. We had a couple of balconies, and my mum filled them with pots and troughs of colourful flowers. There was a playground between the blocks of flats, with a bit of grass around the concrete paving and a few evergreen shrubs dotted here and there. The year after the building work finished and we moved in, the council finished the landscaping and planted a young silver birch sapling. That tree grew with us kids, and as we matured so did the birch; the tips of its upright branches now almost reach the top of the 4-storey buildings surrounding it. It is known that silver birches attain maturity around 40 years of age, and can live for 90, sometimes even up to 150 years. Seeing that I am now "around" 40, I sometimes wonder which of us is going to outlive the other...

Although we have dispersed throughout the world, I still keep in touch with some of the friends I grew up with, around that silver birch. But sometimes they still surprise me! For my recent birthday I received a package from the States, containing (in addition to a marvellous cookbook) a collection of seed packets from the Jefferson Monticello plantation near Charlotesville. Apparently, the plantation has some of the most beautiful and special flowers and plants that Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers of the US, collected on his travels or from friends. It certainly sounds like a place I would love to visit one day! Thank you so much, I., P. and little A.! :))

Here is a little picture with the germs of the future:


In the middle are the Monticello seed packets from the US (allowing me not to buy any more ornamental plant seeds for a couple of years); the tulip bulbs I bought on a recent Amsterdam trip; the clay pots are filled with crocus bulbs and winter flowering white cyclamen; the black pot contains an olive tree sapling that was growing in a friend's garden in Nice, France, and which he generously gifted us; there's a little envelope in the bottom right corner with my mum-in-law's nasturtium seeds. The future is likely to be bountiful, indeed.

Or, in words of my favourite Zen teacher - master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda:
Yesterday's history
Tomorrow's a mystery;
Today is a gift. That's why we call it present!

Midsummer Dream

Whilst the English rose "Gertrude Jekyll" is still flowering its pretty socks off, the first bloom has appeared on "Zephirine Drouhin". In this picture, with dew drops from the hosepipe, you can see the Bay laurel and lobelia cardinalis in the background:



The flowering racemes of the butterfly bush have started to open too; they have an intoxicating scent of honey:


Here is the Phygelius we recently bought, already in flower - the plant info says it should continue to do so throughout the summer:


Finally, here's the veggie border with the mounds of courgette and squash plants, and the Jerusalem artichokes taller than my 6'4" SO!

New perennials

Appropriately planted on the full "Planting" moon today:

- French Lavender "Silver Anouk"
- Scabious Barocca
- Phygelius Candydrops Red
- Astilbe Red
- Lobelia Queen Victoria

Now, the last three additions have red flowers, nominally. Only the phygelius is actually in bloom, and the colour is more of a shocking pink. The lobelia has purple foliage, and we'll see if it actually flowers in this garden - I've tried it before, and it never thrived enough to do so. The astilbe, we'll see - should be shaded by the angelica enough to hide the redness...

In addition, we planted my old rosemary that I raised from seed a couple of summers ago. I also changed the entrance hanging basket plants (and the compost too - this one got some gel crystals to help with retaining water) and now have mini petunias in there, still to produce buds. Finally, I planted my Gardener's Delight tomatoes into halved growbags stood on the edge. Oh, and today I trimmed the grass, and it was fun! :))

Pictures of everything to follow!

Early summer

Here are some pictures of the first summer flowers in the garden. The rhododendron is particularly spectacular, owing to its size (and age).

More updates

This is the box of radish and kohlrabi seedlings, sowed a few weeks ago:


Jerusalem artichokes have sprouted too (both pods look much the same at the moment):


Here's a bay laurel with a clematis behind it, against the garage wall at the far end of the garden:


In the corner are some foxgloves, which look like slugs or snails have been at them:


Finally, a look at some new acquisitions that are yet to be planted :):