Trimming brown Cordyline leaves.
One of the Japanese Maples in its Autumn glory.
Namurian rock pathway in the West Garden.
Some of the circular concrete troughs under a Flowering Cherry tree in the West Garden.
Steps up to the Mirador in the Water Garden, to look at a view of Skule Hill.
Pic above is of a Brugmansia, which resides in the copper pagoda. Below is Mina lobata, an exuberant climber, which unfortunately won’t survive the winter in our garden.
And this is Primula viallis, which can’t stand dryness.
A Stokesia. This one is Mega Mels, with a couple of Small Tortoiseshells slurping some nectar.
This little Agapanthus, Charlotte, is a good doer, always flowering in the second half of the year.
A shot of some Aloes, which always put on a show at various times throughout the year.
Plants jostling for position on top of a limestone mini dolmen. Hard to imagine that this rock originated 10° south of the equator, 350 million years or so ago and now sees the light of day in Coolwater Garden.
And last but not least, an early morning shot of part of our water garden. Native Purple Loosestrifes are magnificent plants.
Our Titanopsis calcarea, the concrete leaf plant from South Africa, flowered in August with its beautiful flowers. We keep this plant in the Alpine House in order to avoid it getting too wet outside in the garden.
Gaultheria “Pearls”, a dwarf gaultheria, growing in a trough with acidic soil in the rear garden. It won’t tolerate lime.
A Ladybird Poppy, Papaver commutatum from the Caucasus, which flowers for a fairly long time. It’s a prolific bloomer.
Various sedums colonizing the top of this limestone boulder in the West Garden; they exist with only a tiny film of soil. These two boulders came from the same strata as rock in the Burren.
A view of the Water Garden, taking in the armillary, “Penny” the engine parts statue and the Floating Pagoda. The flowers in the foreground are Alstromeria “Indian Summer & Ligularia.
We received 200% of the normal amount of rain this month; it seemed to rain nearly every day. Obviously the plants in the garden loved it and it saved us setting up sprinklers and lugging watering cans around the garden.
When the rain did stop for a bit, butterflies like this appeared: this one was on a Sildalcea.
One of our Pineapple Guavas flowered for the first time this year, a striking flower.
Hollyhocks were resplendent, despite the rain.
Agapanthus “Charlotte” giving a good show. Charlotte always performs well.
Needless to say, Astilbes loved the wet and are still flowering as we write this at the end of the month.
Alongside the Astilbes but sheltered from the rain by a glazed overhand, the Agaves give a more exotic look to the Water Garden.
June turned out to be a blisteringly hot month with he temperature well above the normal average; the hottest since 1940 actually. A lot of watering of the troughs and pots had to be done with the dry weather; even so, we lost a few plants in the period of drought. These Sedums below, carpeting a limestone boulder, didn’t seem to mind.
Armeria maritima (Sea Pinks) sheltering underneath a blue Atlas Cedar.
Edraianthus from the Balkans growing in tufa.
Western Marsh Orchids now colonizing various parts of the garden.
Asahi Zuru with its tri-coloured leaves.
A rather nice freesia, Joan Evans.
And in the Water Garden, the water lilies now come to the fore.
Above is a view of the walk up beside the Japanese Maple bed and below a view of the Wedding Cake tree alongside it.
In the Water Garden, there is lush foliage around the Floating pagoda.
Beside the Floating Pagoda, Bog Cotton has appeared.
And further on, this Trachycarpus wagnerius is making great strides in the Fern Dell.
And last but not least, this fish is overseeing the flower display between the pond and the Alpine House. 🙂
Just a note for garden visitors, Coolwater Garden has no availability now from the 10th to the 13th, on the 17th and on the 20th of May. It’s always best to book in plenty of time.
Below is one of the tulip pots in April. They increase every year in their pot.
Japanese Acers coming into leaf in April. The two on the left were badly damaged by wind in the Autumn and had to be shaped. It’ll take a couple of years for them to get back to normal. 🙁
Fritillaria acmopeltata: not extremely colourful but I like it. This was the first one out in April in the garden but was then followed by loads of others.
This is one of our Hanami players. The flowering cherries in the West Garden are starting to recover back to their former glory after being hit for the last couple of years by some unknown disease. They’re nothing if not resilient.
And as you know, Coolwater likes “small”. This is one of the Cassiopes with its tiny white flower bells.
Yes, the weather was pretty wet in March. Here’s hoping we get a better April, weatherwise for the garden. The cover picture above is of Dionysia “Norlynn Heather” and below, is Camelia “Black Diamond”.
This little Andromeda has been flowering its socks off during March. The best things sometimes come in small sizes. 🙂
Some more alpines in troughs in the garden, Saxifrages, Armeria maritima, Hutchinsia, Lewisia, etc.
And towards the end of the month, Fritillaria imperialis burst into flower in the West Garden.
More colour starting to arrive in the garden in February with lovely displays of Hellebores, including this brilliant one, Madame Lemonnier.
And this Draba, which I moved into the Alpine House. seems to have appreciated its move. 🙂
We have quite a few Saxifrages in the Water Garden growing in Tufa rock, a soft limestone into which you drill a hole and place the plant.
Another shot of the Tufa: you can see some holes that blackbirds have pecked the plants out of. 🙁
Tete-a-tete daffodils, together with Pulmonarias, growing under a beech tree in the West Garden. Later on, there’ll be Bluebells coming up.
Some dismal pics of the damage caused by the cold spell last month. (Well, we can’t always be bright and cheerful, can we?)
The above is one of six Red Star cordylines that have perished in the garden.
Bulbine frutescens is no more.
All our Hebes have sustained major damage but will likely come back from the roots..
Coprosma has bitten the dust and I don’t think it’ll arise like the Phoenix. 🙁
And these Karo Kiris from New Zealand look rather the worse for wear.
