Last night the rain came. The parched earth greedily soaked up luxurious droplets; the same also gently brushed petals from flowering anemones, creating a dusting of icing sugar on the garden floor beneath.
Easter break has provided a bonus time in the garden this year; so much to be done, now completed. We’re almost ready for winter. The maples are changing colour, not as fiery-red as the oak-leafed hydrangea but delicately beautiful in their own way. Bulbs, now chilled are ready to find new homes both in the garden and within terracotta walls; they’ll fill our little world with both colour and perfume come Spring. Can’t wait.
A new raised bed has just been constructed with recycled planks, hinged together and put into place; just waiting for compost and soil to go in before the green crop is sown. Heirloom poppies, and Forget-me-nots will bed down with a crop of broad beans on the side.
The huge purple saliva flowers bravely on, heads weighed down with the prolific flowering; they’ve provided a safe haven for the magnolia this summer and kept the base of the tree well sheltered. The newer magnolia, flowers as yet unseen and name unknown (one of a few left behind in a closing -down nursery sale, ‘anybody’s guess, love’) was desperate to survive and grows well on the bank alongside black-leafed Wegelia with lavender at its feet.
Time to collect kindling for the fire from the bush, deadhead the hydrangeas, remove a little more of the wandering tradescantia from the forest floor and feel a sense of satisfaction. The weeding’s mostly done, the skip is filled and gone, winter awaits. Time to give the hands a well earned rest.
