Welcome back Jack

A decent frost this Winter has been as rare as hens' teeth!  From last November well into this January we have had wind and rain sweep, almost daily, across the garden.  So the recent cold snap with below zero temperatures has been a change for the better.  Welcome back Jack Frost!

The garden needs the scouring effect of frost to rid it of mould and blight.  But on a clear, glistening morning the garden does look lovely and bejewelled.  The monochromatic feel of the garden on such mornings is hugely atmospheric and creates a beautiful composition.

We have been busy dividing and moving plants to ensure that the beds and borders do not become crowded with more dominant plants.  The Achilleas are just such an example and Achillea 'Mondpagode' and Achillea 'Cerise Queen' both appear to have spread and become congested in some areas of the main herbaceous bed.  But this is good news for we can divide and create new plants at no cost, replanting them in parts of the garden that can accommodate these lovely plants.  That's what I call a good return on an investment.

Adding value

I always tend to be drawn to plants, shrubs and trees that add value. Plants that flower longer, have extended seasonal interest and which come and come again.  At this dreary, dull, dank and gloomy time of year there is no better example of adding value than a Viburnum.  We grow Viburnum Tinus around the garden as a backdrop to beds and borders, but we also grow it as standards.  These lolly pops, dotted around the garden, are now bedecked with abundant clusters of deep pink buds opening to small starry white flowers.  They are lovely and penetrate the dark days of winter.

My favourite is 'Eve Price' whose flowers are followed by perfectly formed small dark blue berries.  But the great value is that Viburnum Tinus looks good all year round as the leathery dark green leaves create a perfect hedge or standard which in turn provide punctuation marks and eye catchers around the garden throughout the year. 

We have grown them in our old garden on heavy clay and north facing and now here at Ordnance House, chalky and sharp draining with a south facing aspect.  They are terrific value and completely adaptable. 

I have also been using the flowers to add interest to our Christmas wreaths as their delicacy sparkles alongside the berries of holly and other evergreens.  There you go, the perfect gift for Christmas.  A plant that is long lived, does well on all soils and all conditions.  That's what I call adding value.  Go buy one as a gift for someone this Christmas or why not treat yourself?
  

Every cloud

They say that every cloud has a silver lining.  Well, it is hard to imagine that the leaden grey skies and sullen clouds of the past weeks have any kind of silver lining.  It has been dank, dark, wet and windy and getting out into the garden of late has been difficult.  But if there is a bright side then our sharp draining soil has helped provide small windows of opportunity to be able to enjoy the garden and work in it.  When these windows open, we are able to cut back and clear the beds and borders allowing in light and air flow which provides good ventilation.

All the hedges have now been cut and shaped and look sharp and neat.  There is a feeling of order and good housekeeping.  All the bulbs are in the ground or potted up.  Everything is put to bed to sleep ready to awake again in Spring. But even with such slumber I can see the buds appearing and the shoots showing.  Sure signs of a new year with the promise that brings. 

Amazingly out Nepeta (Walker's Low) still looks lovely, forming the edge of our central path that disects the garden.  The ornamental pears (Chanticleer) still look great with their green leaves clinging on and extending the season.  They seem almost evergreen and are amongst my favourite trees.

But my tonic for these dark short days are gerdening magazines and books supplemented by the moving feast of colour from gardening programmes on television.  These vibrant jewels on dark Winter evenings are a real treasue for me.  They are the injection of horticulture that helps me survive the long Winter.

Time travel

The clocks have fallen back, the leaves are beginning to fall.  The nights are longer and the time we have to work in the garden has become short. 

We are busy planting bulbs - Tulip, Narcissus, Crocus, Anemone.  But at this time of year you really do have to visualise what these small bulbs will look like when in flower next spring.  We plant them in drifts weaving their way through beds, borders and established plants.  Not everything has died back or been cut to the ground so a picture is possible to develop in your mind.  But there is a feeling of transportation from now into next Spring when planting bulbs.

But the garden has certainly shifted.  The rain blasts the leaves, the wind strips them away.  Such is the change of seasons.  However, the garden still has colour and on a sunny day a most pleasant place to potter and enjoy.  That is the great thing about gardening.  It takes you outside when instincts seem to want you to stay indoors.

Weather patterns

The seasons are shifting and the autumnal weather patterns are setting in.  The nights are extending, the days shortening.  The garden moves with the seasonal change like a vessel upon a sea.

We are cutting back the last of the Lavender, the x intermedia varieties such as Grosso, Sussex and Edelweiss.  The Lavender angustifolias in beds and pots are done and form nice crisp balls now reacting to the clipping by a flush of small new grey leaves.

The next big job is the cut back and shaping of the hedges and shrubs making them clean and crisp for Winter.

But the abundant crop of fruit is a real bonus.  It is the best crop of fruit we have had here by far and a feast of apples, pears and plums.  We have gorged ourselves!

Living in the moment

The Lavender still looks lovely, the colour palette of later Summer mixes the vibrant and the subtle.  But times are chaning again in the garden and the days imperceptibly shortening.  It is time to live in the moment.  No planning for next year, no point looking back at earlier times.  It is a time to simply sit and watch, stroll and gaze at the garden.  Everything is as it is and should be accepted as such.  This is a time to sit back and relax.

Soon enough we will be cutting and shaping, pruning and clearing.  But I rather like the relaxed feel of the garden at this time of year and its sheer abundance of produce.  We have so many apples this year and for the first time pears too.  I am surprised by the amount of fruit we are now producing.

But we must do something about the soft fruit and create a proper fruit cage that is easy to get into and out of.  Our rather feeble frames and netting is ineffective and unattractive.  A job for the future I think.  But for now we will enjoy out long labours as Summer greacefully fades away.

Afloat on a sea of Lavender

We look out over a sea of Lavender.  Above it flutter moving clouds of butterflies while in and about it, busying themselves, is a humming, hurried workforce of bees of all sorts and kinds.  Our main Lavender bed washes right up against the house like a sea against a coastline.  This was entirely deliberate for we wanted to look out over a Lavender field from the very heart of the home and enjoy the vivid feast of colour and delicious scent.

To extend the season as long as possible, we grow both angustifolia and x intermedia varieties.  So we have Lavender in flower from the end of June to mid September.  The angustifolias tend to flower earlier and are going over around mid August which is when I cut them back.  The x intermedias flower later and are going over by mid-September when they too are cut back hard.  This allows the plants to put on around 3cm of growth before Winter which I suspect insulates them during the colder months.  But key to the survival and wellbeing of Lavender is the conditions which must be sharp draining, sunny and very dry.

Our list of Lavender plants is now a very long one. The list includes the predictable angustifolia Hidcot but includes more unusual varieties such as Beechwood Blue which I prefer.  We also grow Folgate, Felice, Bowles Early, Imperial Gem, Elizabeth, the pink Miss Katherine, the small white Nana Alba and many, many more.  The x intermedia range includes Grosso, Sussex and the white Edelweiss.

As well as growing Lavender in beds and along pathways we have many in pots dotted around the garden.  If you have problems growing Lavender due to the wrong aspect, soil or outlook then you can always plant up a pot and place it in a sunny spot on a terrace or patio.  It should do just fine but do remember to water it.  Lavender, even in pots, does need some water to survive.

In Winter I like looking out over a Lavender bed which is dotted by the cobbled effect of the Lavender plants which look like box balls once they have been cut back.  On a frosty morning the effect is lovely.  In late Spring and before the Lavender flowers, the bed looks like an array of grasses so fresh and green are the shoots.

The fact that Lavender attracts so many insects into the garden only adds to the benefit of growing it and helping to maintain the delicate balance of a healthy garden.  Such is the beauty and benefit of Lavender.