Multiple Occupation

Although a little drier than expected, today remained largely overcast. Just before lunch Jackie took me on a tour of what she has achieved during the last few days in the garden. It struck me that I have never really shown the packed multiple occupation of our beds.

While listening to the men’s Cricket World Cup match between New Zealand and South Africa, I rectified that this afternoon.

The Kitchen Bed is faced by sweet peas, foxgloves and others beside the wall. Fuchsias, day lilies, antirrhinums, erigerons, ferns are all at home in the bed.

The Butler’s Sink beside the Patio contains petunias, foxgloves, geraniums, heuchera, and bidens;

one view of the bed includes a pink diagonal of fuchsia, geranium palmatum, and clematis.

Bees were investigating the orange poppy sharing the small triangular Wisteria Bed with day, lilies, fennel, and roses.

Geranium palmatums and fuchsias are among the occupants of the Dragon Bed.

Ferns, day lilies, and geranium palmatums, fuchsias, alliums, and more pack the Palm Bed.

Spirea goldflame, penstemon, bottle brush plants, day lilies, ferns, etc all wake in Margery’s Bed.

Youthful hot lips and an ageing rhododendron occupy the Cryptomeria Bed on the opposite side of the Phantom Path.

A pot containing fuchsia, geraniums, and others stands beneath the Westbrook Arbour

and above the West Bed where we find astilbe, pulmonaria, and lamium among others.

Erigerons, aruncus, lamiums, geraniums, fennel are among the residents of the Weeping Birch Bed.

Fuchsias and feverfew are found in Elizabeth’s Bed.

The Oval Bed has its share of Day Lilies.

The Rose Garden contains more than roses. Heucheras, lavender, and fennel are examples.

It is a year or two since we created the New Bed, but, like the thousand plus year old New Forest, it retains its name. Erigerons, solanum, clematis, and ferns are there maturing nicely.

It is hard to remember how overgrown with brambles and crowded with rocks and detritus was the back drive when we arrived. These previously non-existent borders now contain roses, poppies, hostas, geraniums, foxgloves, and viper’s bugloss among the many plants at home there.

This evening we dined on more of Jackie’s superb sausages braised in red wine; served with creamy mashed potatoes; crunchy carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, with which she drank Hoegaarden and I drank Cono Sur Bicicleta Reserva Pino Noir 2017.

106 comments

  1. Such a fabulous garden, my late mother would’ve loved it. She was a great gardener like your other half. I see the slugs have been at your Hostas, they were the bane of my mother’s life. She’d collect buckets of them from the garden.

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  5. How pretty! I am still pulling weeds and will have to plant some flowers when I’m finished. This morning I saw a little bunny in our backyard and I later discovered that it had my pansies for breakfast!

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  6. Our place when we bought it was a local dump spot for people to lazy to haul it properly away. We cleaned it up and have added to it. My first flower bed stays pretty low maintenance. I have two other beds the same way. I have one that takes a little more maintenance. But my vegetable garden is where the majority of my maintenance goes to

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  11. I love how Jackie overplants and mixes varieties and colours – I learn a lot from viewing your photographic record and studying her art! This is the time of year when I look forward to seeing a garden in full perfection!

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  13. I am deeply impressed not just be the density of the planting and the excellent photography but by the fact that you know all the plant names too.

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  15. With your photos, you bring your readers into the midst of your glorious garden, Derrick. You are so lucky to be able to enjoy this profusion of beauty (gorgeosity, as they say in the “Clockwork Orange”)! My compliments again to the Head Gardener, AKA the Culinary Queen.

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    1. Some are perennials, but not all – in the baskets are mostly annuals. I did most of the heavy work when we first arrived five years ago – it was all overgrown and full of rubbish, e.g. a buried bath. Having had two knee replacements since May last year, I have done very little, which is why we have help every Sunday morning. I hope to get back to normal next year. Thanks very much, Judy

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      1. One of the many things I love about Mexico is that I can afford to hire regular help.. something we did only rarely in California. This includes a gardener for 13 hours a week. Ah luxury.

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  24. I was able to watch the first half of the cricket live (it was after dark here). Unfortunately it did not finish till around 2am by which time i was long in the land of nod! A close game!

    Such a glorious showing -a compliment to both your skills! 🙂

    I saw an Australian Paperbark tree (Melaleuca rhaphiophylla) in full bloom today while on my walk and the flowers were remarkably like your bottlebrush! 🙂

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    1. Thank you very much, Ribana. I am honoured by your nomination, but I am afraid I cannot do justice to the requirements because I already spend many hours on my own daily blog, responding to comments, and reading and commenting on those I follow.

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  29. I’ve looked through your pictures and am now completely smitten with your (wife’s?) garden. Very jealous, in fact. I’m lucky to have a few perennials and buy annuals to decorate the verandah, but having a completely pragmatic husband who won’t grow anything we can’t eat keeps me flower-deficient. 🙂
    Plus, I looked through your comments and determined you may not have any Canadian subscribers (certainly none from Nova Scotia!) Consider it now represented. 🙂

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  30. Pingback: Multiple Occupation — derrickjknight – Dwells Journey

  32. I can’t imagine how much work you and the Head Gardener put into it, but your garden is so beautiful. I love how you have all those different named beds and paths through it.

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  34. Lovely garden tour as always, and it was nice to know the name of the plants. I will be researching a few of them to see if they will thrive in my part of the world. Thank you.

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  37. Thank you for taking us on a tour of such a fabulous garden, Wow! the variety is unbelievable and all looking and blooming wonderfully! I notice your sweetpeas are flowering, mine are not doing so well at all and have not even got buds in them. Your garden is an inspiration to me. Bravo to the architect 🙂

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      1. That may just be the secret Derrick, the gravel, or rather poor soil, maybe I have sown my sweetpeas in too rich a soil and am keeping them too well watered.

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  38. The love and hard work Jackie gives to the garden is so evident! And all of the plants and flowers seem to smile their thanks! Please give her a hug from me and thank her…because she brings me joy! 🙂
    HUGS!!! 🙂

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  39. How long have you lived in your current house? I’m thinking of how long it took you (Jackie) to establish the garden.

    It’s great to see such a mix of plants.

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