Spring

Our Cottage Garden

Spring

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One of the things I immediately spotted as we came up the drive of the cottage on our first visit was the greenhouse. "Look, a greenhouse, we've got to buy it!" The under gardener thought I was joking. You cannot buy a property just because it has a greenhouse, but then he did not understand that this would be the powerhouse of the whole garden. It was in very poor condition and one of the first things he did was to renovate the inside with a new floor and new staging. I would have loved one of those Victorian styled jobs with the cold frames. When the undergardener found they were about £10k he went about the renovations with renewed vigour!

The Holding Pen!

The "Holding Pens" at the side of the greenhouse. The pens were built out of brick left at the cottage by the previous owner and have been put to good use. This picture shows this area newly tidied. It does not always look this good!

Beaky's Garden Spring 2009

The VERY tidy greenhouse!

Terraced garden 2010

A view of the terraced garden taken before the large holly tree, in the background, is taken to task.

Varigated Weigela in full bloom.

It has been a wonderful year for the Weigela. The blossom gives off the most wonderful fragrance which is very like apricot. The clematis also has a perfume all of its own. At this time of year as you walk all around the garden, especially in the evening, there are the most spectacular perfumes coming from the plants. It is such a treat.

The gravel garden, Spring 2010. The first year with the new Birch tree. I still miss the old tree but the Birch is beginning to establish itself and will make a good impression on the garden this year.

The straddle stone.

A gift from a good friend.

The straddle stone you can see in this picture was a gift from a friend. Getting it here from his cottage in Warwickshire was quite a challenge and then getting it into its new position also gave us a big problem. It was slid out of the car and as the under gardener put it "it is stopping where it lands".

Spring 2010

The panels surrounding this part of the garden are due to be replaced next year. You can see those on the extreme right are new and this coming winter the rest of them will be replaced. This is not a job I am looking forward too. Untangling the plants will be a BIG problem I think.

A wonderful year for lilac

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View from the Arbour Seat

Late Spring 2009

I love this view, it happened quite by chance. This was done before "The Chelsea Garden" was completed. I think that this looks quite cathedral like, and draws the eye right to the boundary hedge.

The new water feature

My lovely new (that is new to us) granite bowel. As you can see it is on a plinth in this shot. We have since taken it off as we were worried children might tip it over and believe me when I tell you that it weighs a ton!!

The new rose walk

This rose walk was put together at the end of 08. The BIG problem turned out to be rabbits who made a meal out of several of the roses and they had to be replaced. The under gardener shot three of the rabbits, this would normally upset me very much but at this point I had quite lost patience with them.

The Woodland Walk - In Spring

The path into the wood had just been covered with fresh chippings. The Under Gardener had plans for this path and it has now been completed. This area now look much better and will be planted up later in the year to add more interest to the path.