June 22nd

Getting ready for our NGS open day

We’re now looking forward to our NGS opening on June 22 and 23.   We have separate ‘to do’ lists and seem to add more jobs rather than cross them off!

John is concentrating on mowing lawns and cutting new edges around the flower beds, along with trimming the box topiary, while I take responsibility for weeding the borders, deadheading and planting.  I still have some cosmos plants grown from seed to find a home for.  Most of our pots have been planted up, many with scented leaf pelargoniums grown from cuttings taken last autumn.  However we’ve matching large terracotta pots by the front door which we felt needed to create an impact.  We’ve decided on a ‘hot’ colour scheme and have put a cordyline in each, along with begonia ‘Glowing Embers’, coleus ‘Campfire’, calibrachoa and French marigolds; hopefully these will fill out quickly.

Bearded iris are a favourite of mine, in one bed we have ‘English Cottage’, ‘Jane Phillips’, ‘Sable’ and I’ve recently planted ‘Indian Chief’ to join them.  The purple-leaved elder is currently flowering with lovely pink blooms, which have a sweeter fragrance than the native elder.  Roses are just coming into flower: one particularly pretty moss rose is covered in bloom, but it’s identity is, sadly, a mystery.

On Bank Holiday  Monday, John and I had a day off gardening here and helped out our friends John, Philippa and their son David at their NGS garden opening in Malvern.  They have a beautiful, tranquil garden on the northern slopes of the Malvern Hills, and at the moment it’s full of colour from bearded and Siberian Iris.  They had a really successful day, welcoming over 130 visitors and we thoroughly enjoyed manning the plant stall.

My Highlight

A dragonfly landed on my hand – it was absolutely beautiful and stayed for ages!