Time for a trim

Our Lavender has been flowering for approaching three months now but all good things come to an end and it is time to cut it back.  By trimming each plant now should enable some growth to be put on before the Winter.  But a trim also makes the border look neat and tidy too creating a lovely arrangement of balls and bobbles.

All our Lavender was small when we planted it a year ago.  Just 1L and 2L pots.  All have more than quadrupled in size and are healthy and robust.

We have in excess of 200 Lavender plants in our main Lavender bed alone plus around 50 at the front of the house and a further 50 or so in the Lavender Walk.  In all we have some dozen or more varieties made up of Angustifolia and Intermedia's. 

Cutting each plant back and neatly shaping it took me all day and was truly back-breaking work.  Thankfully this is a task I only have to do once a year but the Lavender will benefit and look great through into Winter and beyond.

We have also been adding to our stock of plants by taking huge numbers of cuttings.  Asters, Penstemons, Verbena Bonariensis and Roses to name but a few, have all been donor plants and now massed ranks of pots containing plants grown from these cuttings line our nursery area and beyond.  They are also supplemented by our seed grown plants.

So although this may seem the end of Summer it is, to some extent, just the beginning of a new gardening year.   

The slippery slope

There is a bank on our western boundary which we have pondered on for some months now.  It is just grass on a steep and somewhat slippery slope.  But what should we plant in this awkward spot?

It is a backdrop to the Parterre which is obviously formal and can be seen from most parts of the garden.  Because of the slope and sharp drainage I had considered planting another bed of Lavender and been pointed in the direction of such a planting scheme using Lavender at the Eden Project in Cornwall.  My worry was that for Winter it would look a little dull and we already have a large Lavender bed quite near by and which it would compete against.

In the end we have opted to plant three Hawthorns - Crataegus Prunifolia.  These are pretty much natives and we have four in our central round border which have thrived in the last year since they were planted.  They should complement these and add to the display of white blossom in Spring.

We also decided to underplant these with Portuguese Laurels which also have a fine display of white flowers in late Spring.  They are evergreen and once established will provide a thick carpet of dark green under the Hawthorns.  I have seen Laurel planted under a canopy of trees at Rousham in Oxfordshire and the effect looks lovely.

The Hawthorns we purchased were container grown not rootball.  They were more expensive but are all in leaf and we can see what we are buying.  It is still a little early to plant but we will keep them well watered and to ensure ease of watering I installed irrigation pipes on each of the trees.  This ensures that the water goes straight to the roots which is important on such a steep slope.  To finish off we laid a mulch of bark chippings.

So one of the final segments of the garden plan is in place.  All we have to do now is have the patience to wait for the planting to mature.