The front garden is divided quite neatly through the middle by the path to the gate. On the other side, of course, is the kitchen garden and pond; this side is destined to be purely ornamental. The photo above, by the way, was taken on 12th May this year would you believe! Thankfully the snow didn't last long but it was certainly a surprise to have snow in May.
Quite frankly, my lovelies, the "ornamental garden" is a mess. Granted, the border on the left of the photo did look rather pretty from a distance when all the wild flowers were in bloom but it's now looking rather sad and unloved. I believe the white and shades-of-purple flowers on the left are sweet rocket. They have self-seeded and smell lovely. The bees and butterflies adore them; I was in the garden one sunny afternoon and the sound of the bees buzzing on the rocket was almost deafening!
The border on this side is particularly full of bluebells. In fact both the ornamental and kitchen garden sides have masses of the bulbs, although I have culled those on the kitchen garden side quite considerably. I think these may actually be Spanish bluebells rather than our native British variety. There are lots of blue ones, but also a few white and lilac/pink plants too. The yellow flowers on the left of the photo are ~ I kid you not ~ on a turnip that somehow self-seeded in the border!
Actually, the turnip flowers were very pretty and the bees loved them.
I'm amazed that this peony managed to survive, given that it was hemmed in by a tree (which I think may be a white hornbeam) and the old hedge that we had removed. Once the hedge was gone, the peony just popped up as if from nowhere and has grown considerably since last year. It obviously likes this spot cuddled up to the garden wall 😊
The tree had been rather badly cut back in the past which is why we had it cut down in the first place. We didn't get around to doing anything with the stump and it is now regrowing ~ we have accidentally coppiced it! We've decided to let it grow and see how it goes. I'm hoping that the peony will still be happy once the tree is growing properly again.
The wall seems to give the peony some shelter from the wind.
The blooms are just so beautiful!
As well as "ordinary" daffodils we have masses of these narcissus that resemble the variety Pheasant's Eye. Since they were already in the garden I have no idea if that is indeed the variety. They flower in May and are scented. I dug up loads of the bulbs that were in the kitchen garden border that runs along the path from the gate (I will be replanting some of these back into the border), and from this opposite border on the ornamental side. I gave a carrier-bag full to a friend, have got about 50 or so of the bulbs ready for sending down to my Mum and have already planted many more clumps in the other three kitchen garden borders! Once I get the ornamental borders sorted out, I'll be able to spread these narcissus about a bit more.
I spotted this plant when Adrian was digging out the weeds over in what will eventually be our fruit cage. I think it's a feverfew, the leaves certainly smell like it anyway. It doesn't seem to mind that I moved it and has been full of pretty daisy flowers.
Lovely fluffy dandelion 😊
I have made a start on tidying up the ornamental borders.
I rescued this holly (along with three others) from the over-run border; it's so much happier now that it's got a bit of space to call it's own!
Iris sibirica are another of those plants that look delicate but are pretty tough.
This variety, Butter and Sugar, is very pretty.
I moved everything that had been in this bed ~ not that there was an awful lot, to be honest ~ out to the kitchen garden borders as I wanted to make an alpine bed.
Instead of rocks, I made use of chunky pieces of tree trunk/branches to make planting pockets. It needs a few more plants to fill it out but I'm really pleased with how it's looking already. When I've finished planting I will top it off with some grit.
I found quite a few clumps of this little ground-hugging plant in the garden ~ I've been told that it is called procumbent pearlwort. I thought it was a very sweet little plant, so dug up the clumps that I came across and planted it around one of those holly bushes I rescued.
And finally, a photo that I took earlier in the year of some fungi growing at the back of the pond 😊
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