Garden Update

134/365: after all the pots were planted up (but before I swept the patio!)
 

M arrived as promised and three hours later all the annuals have been planted, the garden weeded, roses sprayed, and some of the climbers tied to the trellis where needed. The new wooden trellis planters have been given M's seal of approval and we had a bit of a chat about planting ideas for them, but more about that later in the post.

For the summer planting, four of the pots have been filled with the plants which are sold in trays as hanging basket/container mixes, each tray being filled with 12 different varieties. I chose two of the pink selections, 1 of the white selection, and 1 of the yellow/purple selection. It doesn't actually detail the plant names but I can see there is nemesia, lobelia, bacopa, fuchsia, petunia, plus lots of others I don't know the names of. The fifth pot has been filled with calibrachoa Eclispe Lilac, a white marguerite, an Ivy leaf geranium Temprano Butterfly, some Nemesia Wisley Vanilla, and a silver Helichrysum. Pot 6 has a pink osteospermum and pot 7 has a pink impatiens as the feature flowers and in both pots they are surround by a mix of burgundy petunia and white lobelia. The only disappointment was that I couldn't get hold of any cosmos for this year.

I also bought two new perennials, a fuchsia Dark Eyes and a campanula Catharina, and for now they also have some white lobelia planted with them as there were spare plants and we didn't want to waste them. Still on order are the plants for the four hanging baskets, a hardy fuchsia Dollar Princess for the remaining pot, and a gaura lindhermeri The Bride for the centre bed.

The soil level in each pot was sorted out using the soil from the pots I don't plan to use this year so that means that, as well as planting up all the summer pots, the pot area in the garage has been cleared and is now ready for when blue bulb pots are put away. M was also suitably impressed with the organisation in the garage! 😊

We chatted about the planting for the trellis planters but really it's just ideas and none of the plants will be bought until the pergola structure is finished. There will be three climbers but the variety depends on the height of the structure and whether we want to restrict the growth to the vertical trellises or allow the climbers to grow over the pergola ... it's all to do with how easy it will be to maintain any growth over the top of the pergola as both M and myself are on the short side. I have a step ladder but there is the added complication that the path to the side gate which the ladder will have to stand on is sloping and I don't know how safe it will be. The ideas at the moment include a climbing fuchsia Skyrocket (have you guessed I love fuchsias?), a pink rose New Dawn, and some small lavenders, possibly Blue Spear, but I'm really still in the early stages of planning.

We also chatted about any future planting for this year in the garden. I may add some more gladioli and crocosmia but really we need to wait and let things grow on, so we came to an agreement that I wouldn't buy any more plants for this year (not including the trellis planters). Then she was on her way and I went back indoors. Thirty minutes later she was back with a couple of trays of dwarf cosmos Sensation Mix which she'd bought for me from one of the pensioners in the Alms Houses who sells plants really cheaply for charity. We'd managed to stick to our 'no buying plants agreement' for all of thirty minutes! They're now planted in the spare pot and in the centre bed.

Yay, I have cosmos plants!

This means that I'll need one more pot when the other fuchsia is delivered, not that I'm complaining ... I have cosmos in the garden so I am a very happy bunny!

Comments

  1. The pots are looking fabulous. All the fuchsias you have bought are lovely and I'm a big fan of fuchias too but have none as pretty as yours. How wonderful you have the cosmos you really wanted and that must be a record for breaking an agreement not to purchase :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm pleased with my plant selection for the pots this year and they should look good in a few weeks when they've had time to grow on a bit . I'd be perfectly happy with a garden full of fuchsias but sadly don't have room for the bigger varieties. I'm over the moon about the cosmos ... we broke the agreement last year as well in much the same timescale!

      Delete
  2. Some agreements are meant to be broken! :D I'm glad you were able to get your cosmos plants. :)
    Your patio is looking really pretty and have I mentioned that I really like your trellises? They give such a nice finished look to the fence. Looking forward to lots of garden pictures in the coming weeks and months!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. M bought the man's entire stock of cosmos and we had half each 😊
      I'm liking the trellis even more now the climbers are starting to grow up. I'm glad you like it.
      I promise there will be lots of photos!

      Delete
  3. The garden is looking amazing. I can't wait to see a pic of the Dark Eyes fuchsia. I've heard that they're gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As soon as the buds open I'll post a photo 😀

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts