Water lilies in the Water Garden. These are pink but, as each day passes, they bleach more and more until they end up completely white!
Echinopsis ‘Shirley Pink’ bought from Abbey Brook Cactus. Stunning trumpet flowers.
Some of the carboniferous limestone boulders with alpines on them in the West Garden.
Pineapple Guava flowering.
A miniature conifer from Korea, flanked by pink Cordylines and Black Mondo Grass.
Crepis incana, a pink ‘dandelion’ from Greece, in one of the wall pots.
Yes, for a couple of days the daytime temperature reached 28.5°C, which is unusual for Coolwater in May here. Strolling through the garden, this is the upper entrance to the coombe in the West Garden.
And this is the lower entrance to the coombe. The pergola is made from Douglas Fir with reinforcements at the two corners to stave off the fierce winds that we get here.
These are Silver Saxes in one of the troughs. The silvers can take full sun.
Two Thujas guard this archway, which is made from sleepers from the Great Western Railway.
A bronze-leaved Rodgersia coming into flower.
The Thuja guarded path leads across to another pathway flanked by these Victorian cast iron columns.
A Trachycarpus fortunei with its imposing yellow flowers. This palm takes the cold and wind here with nonchalance.
Two sandstone urns, hemming this path, lead up by the Japanese Maple Bed in the West Garden.
And from the other direction, going down to the Maple Bed through this sleeper archway and showing one of the steel canopies protecting those trees from excessive sunlight.
A beautiful flower on one of the Carpobrotuses.
Apparently, according to the Met Office, April was quite a warm month, although it didn’t feel so. The nights weren’t cold, though, so that would have brought the median temperature up. The more tender plants appreciated the lack of frost.
Above is part of our Japanese Maples area and below, a Viburnum plicatum in all its finery.
In the Water Garden, Darmera peltata is rising and conspicuous, with its new foliage in its pot, is Alberta Globe.
The bottom three pictures are in order, Scilla peruviana, a Dodecatheon and believe it or not, a white dandelion. We now have pink dandelions and white dandelions in Coolwater but, thankfully, no yellow ones. 🙂 🙂 🙂
We have had rain every day since the 28th of December last year until it finally stopped (for a bit) on the 20th this month. But standing imperious throughout were these fritillariars.
A reputedly ‘difficult to keep’ plant is this Sebaea thomasii ‘Bychan’ from the Drakensbergs. It has to have sodden peaty soil and will vanish forever if it gets too dry.
The winter berries of Nandina domestica come to the fore this time of year.
A Dionysia from Iran growing in our limestone section of the Alpine House.
And a lone Iris displaying its beauty in the Water Garden.
A recent visitor to the garden from Spain in February took these interesting pictures, so I thought I’d show them instead of my own.
Avril in the evening sun.
The Floating Pagoda in the Water Garden.
Penny Hardy sculpture in the Water Garden.
Sunrise behind a bamboo grove.
Yep, it was a very wet January with a third extra rain than an average January although it felt it was much more.
The winter flowering heather is starting to show around the garden.
An intoxicating scent pervades the front of the West Garden and the reason for it is this, Daphne bholua “Jacqueline Postill”. One of the very best shrubs you can get for your garden. The scent is amazing, very strong.
And, of course, the hellebores make a great show everywhere. This is “Ice & Roses”.
An interesting plant, this Dudleya from Santa Catalina Island is showing a little winter wear but the new foliage later on will overcome that.
We’re still open by appointment for most of December but will close for Christmas and the New Year on the 21st.
This is Morina longifolia from the foothills of the Himalayas. When not in flower looks very similar to a thistle.
Another Petrocosmea from Yunnan, thermopunctata.
A white “Lily of the Incas”, alstroemeria.
Fatsia japonica always puts on a show in the garden in November and December.
Another in our Australian garden, Correa pulchella.
We’ve put up these curtain rails, purloined from our home, in the Alpine House and they seem to be working well for those very small plants that could otherwise be overwhelmed elsewhere. The spandrels came in handy here.
During the month, we received our annual supple of manure from a friend in a neighbouring organic farm. There’s never been a weed in his manure, as he stacks and heats it in a tall pile reminiscent of a volcano in order to cook the seeds. It’s the best fertilizer for any garden.
A fabulous little Correa, Marion’s Marvel, in our new “Australian” garden. We took out our boulder till and replaced it with Ph 6 soil instead to make the ‘down under’ plants happy.
Lithops growing at an extraordinary rate. We had been expecting to wait forever to see some growth.
Progress coming along on our “Tuffeau Rock Face”. The Silenes, in particular, seem to enjoy their situation. I’ve installed a misting system to keep them happy when the weather makes the rock bone dry. The pots at the bottom are us harvesting saffron.
The months roll on in the garden and the end of September has arrived. The view looking out over the coombe from underneath one of the cherry trees.
One of the redesigned troughs with saxifrages. As you can see, we’re going higher by using a steel plate at the back.
A star on the smaller patio in the Water Garden is this dwarf variegated Arundo donax. It really “lifts” this area.
On the other side of the patio, in the Xeric Bed, is Bunny Ears. Bunny Ears is emulating its namesakes by proliferating in this bed.
Petrocosmeas are doing well this year in our Alpine House: this is P. sericea starting its blooms.
At the corner of the house, we have five re-purposed piston liners, possible from a large marine engine. With no bottom, they have acute drainage for these alpines.
And last but not least, the view towards Skule Hill from our Mirador.
Martagon Lilies took up the successional planting in the bulb pots in the West Garden in August.
Farfugium japonicum with its lovely leaves in the Water Garden.
Aeonium Velour is supposed to be summer dormant but has gone against the grain.
Two new beds for alpines; one of rain-eroded carboniferous limestone and the other, pyroclastic rock.
One of our Trachycarpus fortuneiis. They seem to take the wind well in our windswept garden.
Replacing coal in this coal scuttle! 🙂 Agapanthus “Charlotte”.
