GARDEN PROJECTS
A new circular bed that encompasses the stump of an old apple tree - 2016
Milo is doing the hard work
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Another circular bed next to the one above. This has evolved over the past 4 years.
Initially it was a circle of fruit trees with a centrepiece of a large trunk of wood that had been in the barn when we arrived. The idea was suggested by Patricia Elkington, to reflect the other circles in the garden - eg the pond, and particularly the Horse Chestnut.
However, for some time I'd been wondering what to do with all the baby Cayeux irises that I had, so in 2020 I decided to turn this bed into a gravel bed with just irises in it. Shane dug this and laid a membrane that, in theory doesn't let weeds grow. (Not 100% successful)
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Although I think the iris leaves work well when there are no flowers, I've put a lot of Erodium Spanish Eyes amongst them. I don't think they are strong enough to take away from the impact of the irises but they slightly soften the overall effect
Although I think the iris leaves work well when there are no flowers, I've put a lot of Erodium Spanish Eyes amongst them. I don't think they are strong enough to take away from the impact of the irises but they slightly soften the overall effect
These Cayeux Irises on the right are the parents of the irises in the bed above. They were my wages from working for Richard Cayeux at Chelsea in 2015. They are very happy!
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A small pond, by the grassy knoll
In the far corner of the garden is a little hill with a sycamore growing on it. It's a grassy knoll, and sitting on it you can see across the fields to Mere or back across our garden. It's where the field meets the garden and needs to be treated as such. I decided to create a small, rough and ready pond and have plants that would looks though they were naturalised, even if they weren't. I dug it and the boys brought the stones over.
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The planting is tricky because the pond is surrounded by either the field or rough grass so anything too 'cultivated' won't work. In the pond itself there are yellow and blue irises and behind it there are forget-me-nots and camassia in the spring and nepeta, valerian, Siberica irises and white rosebay willow herb in the summer. I've just (Sept 2020) put in some cistus and some stipa gigantea which I hope will be happy. To try and make sense of it I've mown a path from the grassy knoll round behind the little pond which, if nothing else, is fun for our granddaughter to run round.
