It's a balancing act

It's taken me a while to figure it out but there has been an imbalance.  It has played on my mind for some months and only recently could I recognise what it was.  The central axis of the garden was ever so slighlty lopsided.

Right in the middle of the garden is the central round bed and in this bed sits four rather lovely Hawthorns.  I planted these a year ago and they have grown and matured into quite beautiful specimens.  The right trees in precisely the right place.

But rising on their northern side is the house while on the southern edge of the garden is the long, relatively low, wooden seat.  It has taken me until now to realise that is the problem.  We need more height behind the seat. 

Having identified the problem I chose to rectify it by planting two more common Hawthorns, crataegus Prunifolia.  It's a good time to get them in the ground and they should do just as well as those planted in the central round bed one year ago.  In fact the visual connection between the two groups of trees should work well.

It has also resolved my incessant and nagging imbalance problem and that can only be a good thing.

Hazel hurdle making

I have always enjoyed weaving hazel rods to make a simple, rustic hurdle or fence.

Today I had some hazel rods delivered so that I could get to work making a small hurdle fence to divide the new border we created on the steep slope from the grassy mound at the western end of the garden.

I enjoy the process of making this kind of fencing.  Drive in some chestnut stakes at regular intervals and then weave the hazel rods in and out.  Simple, easy and really effective.

The rods should last around three or four years and then you simply repeat the process.  The rods are also relatively inexpensive and once laid the overall effect is pleasing to the eye and in keeping with an informal, rustic planting arrangement.

Then it was on to plant Allium bulbs.  We planted 100 x Purple Sensation in front garden and around central bed in the back garden.  We also planted a further 25 huge Mt. Everest bulbs and another 100 x Nigrum in this same round border.  Late Spring next year and we should have a wonderful display of white and purple for these bulbs have supplemented the many bulbs we planted in December last year and which looked great in late May and June this year.

But overall, we are on the slow descent into Winter now.  Later in the Autumn we will start to cut back the borders but for now they cling on still displaying a wonderful array of colours.  Long may it continue.