Tag: trailing antirrhinums

The Monet Arch

Oscar, that fine blogging poet of In So Many Words, recently expressed wonderment that I got any work done with all the photography I did in the garden. I wonder, did he know that the camera is a preferred delaying tactic; and that a new rose arch has stood in the hall porch for the last three days, awaiting assembly?

Rose arch at front

The arch leading into the front garden was such a ramshackle structure that it was being held together by the roses, honeysuckle, and clematis it was meant to support. I therefore ordered a replacement from Agriframes. Today we decided to substitute the new metal Monet Arch for the existing rickety woodwork.

Anyone who remembers our last struggle with an Agriframes Arch may well understand our reluctance to begin this project, and Oscar, in particular, will understand my need ramble round the garden first.

The overnight rain had once again left sparkling gems on the flowers:

raindrops on geraniums

on geraniums;

raindrops on begonia

on begonias;

raindrops on trailing antirrhinums

on trailing antirrhinums, less their tails battered by the winds;

raindrops on hollhock

on Margery’s long- lived hollyhocks;

raindrops on giant fuchsia Pink Marshmallow

on a giant fuchsia Pink Marshmallow;

Raindrops on rose Mamma Mia

and on the rose Mamma Mia, to name a few.

raindrops on apple tree

The ripening apples on the tree also benefited from a wash.

The two beds Jackie has planted up in the last week welcomed the nurturing rainfall. These are

Former ficus bed

the former site of the ficus,

Triangular bed

and the triangular bed linking the Pergola and Brick Paths.

View across triangular bed

Having removed some overgrown shrubs from the latter opens up the view through to the Agriframes Gothic Arch.

Japanese anemones

At every corner the sun lit hosts of grateful blooms like these Japanese anemones.

That little wander was just one of the ways we managed to defer tackling the arch until after lunch. Spelling mistakes in the instructions didn’t inspire me with confidence; neither did the fact that the suppliers had equated 1.2 meters with 4 feet.

Monet Arch Parts List001Monet Arch Instructions002

This was the paperwork.

Before anything else, we decided to take step 2. It seemed rather important to make sure we could fit the four posts into gravelly soil with concrete and stone embellishments. This meant heavily pruning the plants in situ, then piercing four holes in the right places. Every time I extracted the hole maker, bits of gravel fell back into it. That was rather frustrating. Next came step 1. We then applied the top section to the four posts of step 2, to check we had them properly aligned. After a bit of tweaking we found we had.

Step 1 was then removed so we could build step 3, and apply it as in step 4.  Eventually, that worked. This meant we were ready to put step 1 in place.

Monet Arch

I trust that is all very clear. The next time we need an arch it will come ready-assembled from an architectural salvage outlet such as Ace Reclaim.

Did I mention that it rained during this procedure? No? Well, it did.

This evening we dined with Giles and Jean at her home in Barton on Sea. Jean produced an excellent meal of Sea Bass, new potatoes, broccoli, and mushrooms; followed by a succulent autumn pudding, being a seasonal variant on my favourite summer pudding. I drank a rather good mourvedre, while Jackie drank Peroni. Naturally we had our usual stimulating conversation.

The Shed In Situ

Brick path view This morning, whilst Jackie went shopping, I wandered around the garden waiting for delivery of the garden shed. Clematis Mrs N Thompson and honeysuckleHoneysuckle, calibrachoa, and nasturtuimsNastutium Now that the pink roses on the front trellis have died back, their places have been taken by clematis Mrs N Thompson, honeysuckle, calibrachoa in a hanging basket, and two varieties of trailing nasturtium. Butterfly - Marbled white on verbena bonarensa

A marbled white butterfly, swayed on a wind-blown verbena bonarensis

Rose - ballerina

The Ballerina now dances freely at the cleared entrance to the rose garden.

Succulent

Ground cover, like that provided by this unnamed succulent, is important,

Hanging baskets on kitchen wall

but it is hanging baskets that lift a garden.

Hanging baskets from brick path

Here is a view from the brick path.

Antirrhinum trailing

This trailing antirrhinum sits nicely above the patch of grass,

Petunias in hanging basket

and these petunias lead us to The Head Gardener’s Walk,

Heligan Path through hanging basket

as others, enlivening the dead Snake Bark Maple, overlook the Heligan Path and beyond.

Orange and red symphony

Sometimes, as with this symphony in orange and red, serendipity intervenes. The orange sunburst beneath the cut plastic container is a clever little device with a thread that fits two litre supermarket water bottles, thus keeping a supply flowing for two days.

Petunias and shed

As can be seen from this later shot of The Head Gardener’s Walk petunias, Jackie’s shed was delivered and erected this afternoon.

Two splendid Wimbledon tennis matches were televised this afternoon. I watched them both. Serena Williams took just over an hour beat her sister Venus in straight sets. This was closer than the score looks. Andy Murray then had to battle it out for three hours and more, with Ivo Karlovic, to win a four set match. Murray is by no means a small man, but, slugging it out with the six foot eleven Croatian must be the tennis equivalent of a boxing contest with the giant Italian, Primo Carnera, of the 1930s.

122814primo-carnera-boxeo--644x362

This evening we dined on Jackie’s superb sausage casserole (recipe); creamy mashed potato; and crisp carrots, cabbage, and cauliflower. In celebration of her new shed, Jackie drank one of the small bottles of P. Desroches & Cie Brut Champagne Alison had given us. I drank Teroldego Rotaliano superiore riserva,2011.