Saturday, 12 July 2014

Saturday Saunter ...

... round my garden.

Evening Everyone,

I hope you are having a great weekend so far. Here, it's been a dull and dreich day so no lounging around topping up the sun tan for us today. Instead, I took a wee saunter, with camera, round the garden and thought I'd share a few of the photos taken.

Our garden is divided into two - the front garden and the back. The following photos are from the front.
Our front door surrounded by pots of pelargoniums, primulas, pansies and hanging baskets of surfinias.
The EM's pride and joy :)
These hanging pots were planted up with pansies until recently ... they didn't do well there at all. We're hoping the red and white pelargoniums will fare better.
To the left of the front door and in front of the dining room window is this wonderful rose. Inherited with the house, it has no name but I think it might be Queen Elizabeth. It's vigorous, the blooms are large peachy coloured and the perfume is divine. If anyone can put a name to her we would be delighted.
Much of the garden that is directly in front of the house has been gravelled - before our time - leaving a small border running along the fence which the EM has planted up with roses, lupins and nasturtiums. The lupins are slowly recovering after being attacked by an army of slugs and snails!
We brought this pot containing a smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple') and Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) with us from our last house. I plan to free them from the confines of the pot eventually and plant them in one of the borders. I think the smoke bush would benefit from being able to spread its roots again.
On the other side of the front path, and therefore to the side of the house, there's a lawn with a shrubbery on two sides. The butterfly bush (buddleia) is another plant inherited with the house but the lavatera is one we planted just a few weeks ago ... stunned to see it flowering already :)
Finally, because I think you might have seen quite enough by now, here's a last shot of the butterfly bush growing just in front of one of the two Rowan trees (Sorbus) in the garden. It was pruned quite drastically in the spring and has now repaid us by growing purple panicles that are at least a foot long. No butterflies on them today - but then, sigh, it's not really butterfly weather.

I hope you enjoyed this little saunter round what is only a fraction of our garden. And that's only the front! I'll leave the back for another time.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

3 comments:

Sandra H said...

Hi Elizabeth................Wow your garden is so colourful and thank you for sharing this we have had some lovely weather but it ended up raining later this afternoon but l'm pretty hopefully that it's just clearing the air for the next two weeks are supposed to be gorgeous so a little rain at the moment seems welcome take care and take in the lovely scent your garden xx

Di said...

Beautiful garden there Elizabeth! Everything looks very happy and settled. Your rose could well be Queen Elizabeth, in real life perhaps a 'pinker' more sugary pink? Ours is in full bloom here right now, going great guns this year. Butterfly bushes are also just blooming, but no butterflies here either - which is strange. For some reason the snails and slugs have fled - might be Spike doing his work?!

Hugs, Di xx

Bobbie Lynn said...

Hi Elizabeth,
I love your containers. They are going to look amazing when they are fully grown. Hope you will show us them in the later weeks.
Your butterfly bush is beautiful.
Happy Gardening. : )