And she's back.

Right so I was leetle fed up with blogger for a while there. And at our builder. I have no desire to mention any more details about our new house except that we now live in it. It is ok. And I don't want to talk about the joys of building. Are you getting that building sucks?? So let me start afresh and talk about something I AM enjoying... planning my garden!!

As I have never owned a home I have never been very interested in gardening. Everyone said "It will be different when you have your own place." And of course they are right. I never really doubted it. I have looked forward to having a garden of my own for a while now. I used to enjoy the few plants we had at our old places but spending money to improve a place you are renting is frustrating and there is no scope for imagination in that. But NOW... HAHA! I have a whole yard to turn into my kind of Eden. And I'm only limited by the heavy clay, the building litter, the shallow pipes (who knows where they all lie?) and deep shade all along one fence line and the service side of the house except in Summer when it is sizzling in parts of it there, lol.

Well we have started with a retaining wall all the way along the rear of the property. Half of it is overhung with trees so it gets a fair amount of shade during the day. It is a bit of an experiment to see what likes living there.

Currently planted in it and mostly doing well are:
Copper purple osteospermum (daisy)
Walker's Low nepeta
Dusky Bells correa
White Nancy lamium (beautiful)
1 strawberry plant (yep just the one)
Some ugly ground cover thing I have forgotten the name of and want to rip out
Rosemary prostrate
Basil
Pink verbena (was spendid now is half eaten)
Oregano
Lemon Thyme
Purple verbena (flowering well)
Pink dwarf lavender (not flowering but looking ok)
Stevia
And a couple of pea shoots that have sprouted from the pea straw and are growing peas! They have pretty pink flowers.

That sounds like a lot when I list all the plants but it doesn't look that busy IRL. There is still room along the back for more plants or veggies. Veggies were the plan up the other end but I've run out of enthusiasm for them. I only want to grow rhubarb and I don't think it will fit, the retaining wall is only about a foot deep.

We also have some lovely lawn out the back and in the front garden. In the front beds we have planted a row of dwarf box hedge and a row of pansies behind that. Near the letterbox in the front are 2 blue margeurite and a yellow paper daisy. Baby tears are planted down the service side of the house in the deep shade. There is a pink zantedeschia in a shady corner at the front, and some bulbs in planters for the front garden are just started to send up a few teensy shoots.





Waiting to find their place in the garden are:
Hydrangea x2 unknown grown from different cuttings
Azalea - Mrs Kint
Camellia - Fuji No Mine
Flowering quince
Erica - Ruby Shepherd (pictured right)
Purple Osteospermum x4
Coreopsis - Limerock Ruby
Pineapple Sage
Duranta Repens - Geisha Girl
And a few little succulents and various other thingies.











And then there are the roses... I have ordered a selection to trial (all bush roses and all David Austins unless otherwise specified):

White/Near Whites
Summer Memories x6 (Kordes floribunda)

Yellow
Charlotte

Apricots
Ambridge Rose
Crown Princess Margareta
Jude the Obscure

Pinks
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Jubilee Celebration
Mary Rose (already purchased from the bargain bin)
Pretty Jessica
The Alnwick Rose
St Cecilia
Wife of Bath (already have as a gift from MIL)

Red
Benjamin Britten


Ok so I may have gone a little overboard and ordered too many but ever since Big Daddy gave me the beautiful pink climbing Pierre de Ronsard I have discovered I love roses. My parents have always grown hybrid teas and I was never really interested in them. I have discovered more out there in the rose world. My favourite are the big old fashioned romantic cupped shaped blooms. I'm not fussed about the scent as much as visual appeal (and all *true* rose enthusiasts shake their heads and roll their eyes). I have never been a fan of the hybrid tea scent so it is a pleasant surprise to find that I do very much like the scent of the PDR blooms. I am just opening up to the idea that they might not all stink like toilet spray. The Mary Rose I bought 3 days ago has one full bloom today and her perfume is quite nice, stronger but not as nice as PDR. It is very sweet to my nose, maybe too sweet.








Wife of Bath is pretty tiny but she has a couple of buds on her that I'm looking forward to seeing open.