Planting Lavender in the rain

It's a rainy Bank Holiday Monday and time to plant the last of the Lavender.  On the weekend I had planted a Lavender intermedia called 'Sussex' along the rusted arch walk but today it was time to concentrate on the parterre.

This area lies next to the main Lavender bed with its many varieties all planted late last year.  It contains a round seating area defined by limestone sets enclosed by Box hedging and balls dotted around amongst a grove of Portuguese Laurel standards all finished off with Cotswold stone chippings.

But it was always the intention to plant Lavender in this area in amongst the Box balls.  This would create colour while also maintaining a link with the Lavender bed next door.

I have taken a while in selecting the right kind of Lavender for this bed as I wanted a variety that kept a tight ball shape and did not sprawl.  The variety I chose was 'Folgate'.  This has a vivid blue when in flower while also having the natural tendancy to keep a neat ball shape.

These small plugs of Lavender will soon thrive and increase in size to fill the space.  But this was the last of many tasks completed this weekend - edging, weeding, grass cutting, creating wigwams of hazel for Sweet Peas to grow up and planting more plants in the bed next to the vegetable garden to name just a few.  The bed adjacent to the vegetable garden needs colour and height.  It needs to be pretty too as the orchard provides a lovely backdrop.  The planting I chose was:

Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl'
Verbascum 'White Pixie'
Origanium Herrenhausen
Aster frikartil 'Monch'
Cephalaria Gigantea
Campanula persicifolia
Delphinium Magic Fountain dark blue dark bee
Oriental Poppy 'Perry's White'
Hollyhock 'Double White'
Hollyhock 'Single Black'

We also managed to plant two Weeping Birch in the Orchard and the soft folliage creates a lovely effect.

Even though it has been a weekend of changeable weather we have made progress with the garden even if a little sun and warmth would have been welcome.