After the wettest April in 100 years, and the coldest in 23, May was not much better either, until 10 days ago. Then, temperatures suddenly jumped to the upper twenties, and the clouds vanished - and all the plants suddenly burst into life again!

The colour pink

... and a little bit of purple as well! ;)

In addition to the soft, blush pink colours of a couple of rose bushes, some sweet peas and trailing geraniums, there is also some stronger colour in the garden.

The new oleander shrub - very short at present, but they tend to grow quickly. In a few years I expect it to be taller than me.

The pink Zephirine Drouhin and striped Ferdinan Pichard roses next to each other, showing off the limitations of my phone camera.

Foxglove. I like the little blotches, like freckles on a fair maiden's cheek.

Two tall herbs - angelica already going to seed, seen through a mist of bronze fennel. OK, they are not actually pink, but there is a purplish quality to the tips of the fennel fronds and the stems of angelica.

More roses!

The old shrub is taller than me at the moment, and the blowsy flowers are bigger than my fist:

Another leftover, a small rosebush that didn't flower last year. There goes my "no yellow" rule! :D It's too beautiful to dislike...

The first stripy bloom of Ferdinand Pichard - and it's facing the garage! Still, plenty of buds on there to look forward to...

Late Spring Blooms

In addition to the roses from the previous post, there are a few other flowers currently on show.

The rhododendron, underlined by the new door paint:

Strongly scented pinks:

And a close-up of a Zephirine Drouhin rose:

Roses - First Flush

Four of our rose bushes have already burst into flowers.

The unknown large shrub, left over from the previous owners:

Heavenly-scented Gertrude Jekyll:

Thornless and sweet-smelling Zephirine Drouhin:

Another leftover shrub, from the front garden:

Those flowers are perfectly velvety:

Entrance Plans, Please Help!

No, I haven't actually scanned my drawings of the front garden. But I can tell you all about it!

What we have in a small rectangular plot is a fairly well stocked side border: 3 red roses, a variegated shrub and some bulbs. I will be adding a rosemary shrub at the gate, and some sweet smelling white alyssum to soften the path edge.

Around the front door, we already have a hanging basket (still with the winter pansies, which are in flower again, see this post), and I want to put an attractive container on the other side. It will hold the olive tree sapling, surrounded by bee-beloved (see what I did there!;)) thyme and with orange nasturtiums tumbling over the edge. The nasturtium seeds are again from France, from my lovely Belle-Mère's Mediterranean balcony.

There is a narrow border alongside the street (low) wall fence, which only has weeds in it. I want to plant a lavender hedge, punctuated by tall globes of purple alliums. Similar to the third picture in this post, from the previous garden.

Finally, there is a small square bed near the dining room bay window, which used to have a spreading grey-leaved plant that was either senecio greyii or brachyglottis. Either way, I didn't like it, and it died last winter (no connection!). I want to plant a scented English rose there, and surround it with an evergreen herb - probably thyme again. The only problem is, I can't decide which rose to go for!

I think I want a pale pink or blush variety, like Wildeve, A Shropshire Lad or William Morris. But then, I see the brighter Strawberry Hill, which even won a Grand Prix for fragrance... Ah, I wish we had a huge garden with space for as many rose bushes as I could wish for!

So, this is where you, my faithful readers can help: which rose is the prettiest? Please let me know what you think, in comments or email!

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!

More roses and some comparisons

I just love these! I've realised that they do have a scent, however it is faint and only noticeable once the flower has overblown. Whilst the central petals are still tightly wound, no fragrance can escape, regardless of the magnitude of sniffing! ;)





Here is also a picture of the whole garden from the window above - especially for a secret follower of this blog! ;) It's not completely up to date, though, as it was taken a couple of days ago. Since then, I've planted the courgettes and squashes next to the right hand side fence, and my SO constructed a compost bin/enclosure in front of the rhododendron.




The first garden picture (though taken from the ground floor) can be found in the very first post on here. In the following post, I wrote about planting Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and here's a picture of those now, at about 1.5 high. Bushy, eh? :)

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).

Old garden pics

In the absence of fantastic pictures from our little garden, here are a few from the old house.

The profusion of tea-scented yellow blooms of rose Graham Thomas:


Pink, sweet smelling rose Gertrude Jekyll, with an oddity in the foreground - New Zealand Flax (phormium) in flower. I'd had it for about 8 years and it never produced those exotic looking flower stalks before!


Globes of Allium Christophii visited by a bumblebee:


Finally, red rose Lily Marlene in the foreground with white Iceberg Climbing on the obelisk behind. They look beautiful, but have unfortunately no scent, so will not be a feature of our new garden.

Ta-da list (thanks to FlyLady)

Here are the things I have already accomplished in the garden:

1. Removed 2/3 of the hated bramble. This is what is left of it:


2. Bought 2 rosemary shrubs and planted them in terracotta pots

3. Bought a copper-flowered witch hazel, Hamamelis x intermedia 'Jelena'

4. Ordered three roses from the David Austin website: Gertrude Jekyll (pink), Zephirine Drouhin (pink, thornless), and Ferdinand Pichard (pink striped). All scented. And all pink. I'm not a great fan of pink, actually, but I want the garden to be restful, so only calm colours. Pink, purple, white. Some blue. Hmm, I may need a white rose too, but a scented one, not Iceberg which is otherwise beautiful. More research is needed...

Here are a few pictures of GJ roses from my previous garden: