Rewards

Snatching half an hour of occasional sunshine before the expected gloom set in for the day, I wandered around the garden with my camera.

Rose pink climber

Two retrained pink climbing roses are in bloom along the front garden trellis.

Geranium palmatum

We have masses of geraniums palmatum. Jackie took cuttings last year, and distributed some in the front, where they are thriving and will soon replace the wind-blown crab apple blossom from above.

Libertia and red Japanese maple

Similar division has been effected with libertia. My method is described in the linked post. I would have been happy to write that the libertia here frolicked solely with alliums and bluebells against the red Japanese maple. Unfortunately when I put this picture up on screen it revealed the clinging velcro strings of lady’s bedstraw, a pernicious weed we have spent two years eradicating. That put a halt to my proceedings while I assisted The Head Gardener in its immediate removal.

Red Japanese maple

The maple’s red foliage appears to be extended by a rhododendron on the other side of the grass.

Snapdragon

Snapdragons are now fully out, this one fortuitously planted within sight of one of the residents of the Dragon Bed.

Shady path

Walking straight on past the dragon leads to the Shady Path, so named because of its original state.

Gazebo path

Running roughly parallel to the right of this is the Gazebo Path.

View from shady path

This is the view through the gazebo across the grass patch.

Roses red climber

Continuing along the Shady Path, red climbing roses now reward Jackie’s training.

Gladioli

When we arrived here, some very poorly looking slender red gladioli struggled in poor soil outside the kitchen door. Our resident expert lifted the bulbs and replanted them in the boxes she arranged at the head of the back drive. They are standing proud and coming into flower.

Rhododendron

A mature rhododendron has been rescued from the choking jungle,

Clematis Doctor Ruppel

and nearby, similarly hued clematis Doctor Ruppel proliferates.

Hawthorn 1Hawthorn 2

The hawthorn along the back drive has responded to pruning.

This evening we dined at Lal Quilla in Lymington. My main choice was Goan King Prawn, and Jackie’s sag chicken. We shared an egg paratha, special fried rice, and onion bahji; and both drank Kingfisher.

59 comments

  1. Lady’s Bedstraw – although Wiki says it is “naturalized in New Zealand”, I have never laid eyes on it! Nothing worse than a persistent weed. Love the Doctor Ruppel and the flowering hawthorn.

  2. Liking the snap dragon, with the dragon statue in the background. The garden is really beautiful in the various settings, Derrick (and Jackie)! I enjoy how you have arches and perfect framing devices of nature here. The pretty pinkish peach rose was delightful, too. 🙂

  3. The weed you call Lady’s Bedstraw looks a lot like the one I know as ‘Cleavers’ or ‘Sticky Willy’ – it has that velcro feel to it 🙂 I even have some in my teeny tiny courtyard garden and it just keeps coming back! The garden is looking stunning! Just the one owl and a dragon today 🙂

    1. Many thanks, Pauline. We call it Sticky Willy, too, but I wanted to keep the post reasonably clean. There is a white owl in profile half way up the tree on the left of the shady path picture; and two on the gazebo path – one half way along on the right, and a terra cotta one at the far end. You can be forgiven for missing these very difficult ones.

      1. I’ve never heard of any of those names – of course down in the Scottish Dunedin where Pauline comes from – they use words the rest of us have never heard of – e.g. couch (I believe) for example is called twitch. Clearly couch and twitch have the same linguistic source coming from somewhere!

      2. I enlarged the photos again and then found my trusty magnifying glass – the one I use for reading minuscule instructions on tiny containers of potentially lethal glues and suchlike – and found them all. You are making my owl spotting activities rather challenging Derrick I shall have to put my reading glasses on! Also please advise dear Mr Goodman as I can’t reply to his reply, to please remember, I am an immigrant down south and I called that stuff cleavers and sticky willy [titter] up north 🙂 

  4. Come into the garden, Maud,
    For the black bat, night, has flown,
    Come into the garden, Maud,
    I am here at the gate alone ;
    And the woodbine spices are wafted abroad,
    And the musk of the rose is blown.

    – Alfred, Lord Tennyson

    Thought I’d add some lovely words to you beautiful garden in full bloom!

  5. Lady’s bedstraw, In Norse mythology, was named after the goddess Frigg who oversaw women in childbirth, because it was used as a sedative.. called.Frigg’s Grass. But you’d probably rather call it “that friggin’ grass.” Beautiful photos of the garden, as usual.

  6. Could you access a drone one day and take us for a bird’s eye view of your jardin?

    I had to go and see what TanGental ad to show us. You folks are neck and neck, I reckon.

    1. Thank you, Yvonne. Praise indeed. Did you know TanGental grew up not much more than a mile from where we live now; and I grew up and spent much of my life in London where he now lives? Our paths keep crossing, for example I featured the church in which he got married.

  7. The way this garden is evolving, I believe you will be spending many a day walking around with your camera. Kudos to the Master Gardener and her loyal handyman!!

  8. Beautiful garden, Derrick! You have put a lot of work and love to your garden. 🙂
    Thank you for sharing.

  9. Lovely hues from your garden. It’s the tenderness and affection that goes into making it bloom that held my attention this time around. Kudos to the head gardener.

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