A rather nice wall

I know I haven’t shared pictures of our new house yet, and while I will we’re still getting ourselves straight and settling in. This week we spent some time tackling the boxes in the garage and trying to find the tools we needed in the house, and to pot on a nectarine plant which my dad has nurtured for me. We’re making progress there, but in the meantime I thought I’d share some pictures of one of the most striking features in our garden - the wall, and it is rather nice.

It’s an original feature on the small development where our house is, and acts as a boundary for a number of the properties. The section in our garden is full of character, and a few remnants of its previous life remain.

Aren’t they fantastic? I’m sure the wall has seen plenty of history, and if only it could talk…

One section appears to have had a cross section removed:

And my favourite addition is the Nottinghamshire Police sign, which says ‘For a safer rural community’ and warns that it’s a ‘protected area’ - I think that might have expired!

There’s a heavily laden crab apple tree in one corner of the garden, which looks great with our cream garden furniture and the wall for company.

See, it really is a rather nice wall!

My garden in June

If May was the month for fresh new grass (and dandelions) then June has been all about the flowers. Throughout this month we’ve seen a procession of flowers come (and in some cases go) and it’s been glorious to watch. It’s been especially poignant as as we suspected it might be, this was our last month in this garden and it really put on a show for us.

The month started with the froth and flowers of the pyracantha, and ended with the agapanthus starting to pop out. Though the plants are very different, they both start with little white dots of flowers, and there were many on the pyracantha which has spread to cover almost two entire fence panels over the past year or so.

Then came the march of the roses. The pink Gertrude Jekyll’s are always a favourite and this year even more so, they threw up so many more flowers than ever before. The distinct winter that we had is supposed to have made this year a good year for roses, I’d go further and say it’s rebooted a lot of plants.

The white roses against the very blue sky was a view we often had looking up from the patio, and the swathes of deeper pink roses popped over the fence from next door bringing colour to a part of our garden that was later to be filled with jasmine.

The hydrangeas started to bloom, but as you’ll see by the end of the month they’ve lost their greeny-white and become a more creamy-white.

I also set MOH a challenge to upgrade our secateurs, and neither of us realised quite how blunt they’d become. The ones we had came with a spare blade and spring, which we’d shoved in a drawer never to be thought of again, or at least for many years.

After resorting to watching the YouTube video the blades and springs (for the ratchet) are changed, and they are like new. This has been especially good news to a getting increasingly bored me following my Carpal Tunnel op, and I’ve been able to prune and garden (mostly) left-handed.

On the patio the roses were joined by the rich velvety flowers of the clematis, and our best in a long time showing of honeysuckle. It’s like the plants were showing us their best just when we needed it.

And then the sweet peas started. Their delicate pink slippers quite quickly becoming the bright fuchsia flowers - I’m so glad we had another time to see these, they have been such a mainstay of our patio and come back unaided every year. A few years ago I planted some of the seed into a pot with some pink jasmine, and while they’ve grown they’ve never really flowered - most likely due to where they were in the garden. I was so glad I’d done this though, as that pot has come with us to our new house, time will tell if they’ll like their new surroundings.

I mentioned the jasmine, but wow. It starts like this, which does nothing to prepare you for its scent. We have jasmine in several places around the garden, and as the sun warms up the spot it’s easy to see which section will flower next. It has also been amazing this year, and our neighbour said that she always enjoys our jasmine when it flowers, as some has popped through the fence into their garden, which she’s very grateful for!

Just look at how the hydrangeas have come on over the month. Nature really is amazing.

This photo of the agapanthus is about three weeks into the month, and by the end of the month another flower stem had appeared and the buds were breaking out of the tightly packed pointed packages. We had two pots of agapanthus, which we haven’t brought with us as the pots were big and likely to be too unstable, but sadly only one of them survived the winter. By the time I’d given up hope on it springing into life it was too late to even the pots up, even though there’s plenty of capacity to do this.

And these two have been making me smile as the month progressed. As it became clearer that our move date would actually happen I started to gather the pots and ornaments we’d be taking, and had unintentionally placed these as if they were peering out from behind one of the pots like they were curious and anxious about the changes ahead.

I know now, that they needn’t have been!

Some of my highlights from Gardeners' World Live

* I was invited to the press preview for and provided with a pair of tickets to Gardeners’ World Live so I’m marking posts from the show as 'Ad’ - as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

We had a brilliant overnight trip to Birmingham last week for Gardeners’ World Live. I’d not been to the press preview event before, and it’s definitely something I’d do again if I’m invited. It was so nice to see the gardens with fewer people about, and to really chat to those on each garden. We had tickets for the show the next day as well and that made for a more relaxed viewing of everything to see - usually getting to see everything in a day can be hard work.

Overnight we stayed in the Fredericks Street Townhouse in the Jewellery Quarter of the city (paid for, not gifted) - an area we’d not visited before, not to stay or even wander around. It’s a great part of town, and it’s on my list of places in Birmingham to explore further - the buildings alone must have so much history.

But back to the show, here’s just some of my highlights - I’ve so much more to share but am still trying to take it relatively easy while my hand is bandaged. Though the bandage is much grubbier than it was, which I’m taking as an indication that my hand is healing and therefore I am naturally using it more.

Fontana Garden by Kim Parish

For me the tree top room in the Fontana Garden by Kim Parish is the iconic image from this year’s show. At the awards ceremony on the Wednesday, where garden designers learnt of their award, we also learnt that Monty would be opening the show from here, and he did.

This garden celebrates Cornwall and Cornish gardens with inspiration from the sponsor’s own garden, Fontana - wouldn’t it be a dream to have a garden just like this?

The garden right next door had a completely different feel bringing a touch of industrial charm using reclaimed materials. I loved the screen made of scaffold planks for its impact, and heard others also say - it’s got a shelf - but I’m sure it will also attract wildlife, a good thing, but I’m less keen on sharing it with the spiders.

Path of Renewal by David Negus

The Newson Health Menopause Garden by Ruth Gwynn was stunning, and very worthy of its Platinum award, and the best in show. It was designed as a safe, tranquil and comfortable space for women to reflect on their health. Ruth and Dr Louise Newson spoke at the Wednesday ceremony about their garden, and both were just so inspiring, saying that menopause was something that directly affects 51% of the population, and indirectly affects 49% of the population. That brought a wry smile from the women present, and a slightly delayed one from other members of the audience.

The Newson Health Menopause Garden by Ruth Gwynn

When we saw this garden the bath looked so inviting, that for more than a moment I wasn’t sure that MOH wasn’t going to actually try it out or not (he didn’t!).

Escaping Seasons of The Mind by Lilidh Matthews & John Tallis

I loved the structure of the Escaping Seasons of The Mind garden, and I’m a big fan of corten steel, but when I spoke with Lilidh about the garden and what the posts and the journey through the garden represent, it was clear how much thought went into this garden design. Much more than I can do in a short paragraph, so watch out for more on this one, but until then enjoy the decorative corten and planting on display.

It’ll be no surprise to anyone that I was drawn to Sue Kent’s In the Pink Beautiful Border, and it was just as pink as you thought it might be, and then some. It was also a well deserved Plantinum winner.

In the Pink by Sue Kent

A fantastic display by the National Allotment Society

I’m a sucker for vegetables growing in ordered straight rows - most likely because it’s something I’ve never and ever likely to achieve! But I admire those that can, and I’d expect nothing less from the National Allotment Society to be honest.

Also in the floral marquee it was good to see the Barnsdale Gardens stand. They are celebrating 40 years - Geoff Hamilton moved to the current site of the gardens in 1983. I don’t remember him as a Gardeners’ World presenter but we have visited the gardens and they are amazing, and we’re glad that we will soon (hopefully) be living much closer to them to visit again.

The final beautiful border that I’m sharing is one that’s something quite different. It also won awards, including for the best interpretation of the theme, which this year was ‘My Garden Escape’. And no doubt for the best name (if there was an award) as despite its name - Keep Off The Grass by James Fenneberg - had no actual grass.

Keep Off The Grass! by James Fenneberg

The garden transports you through the use of plants and materials - the agaves, and volcanic sand were stunning as were the yellow red hot pokers (another favourite of mine!). James was also one of the few garden designers perpetually armed with a hose or watering can too, and given the weather and increasing temperatures with our changing climate, it’s something more of us are no doubt likely to be giving more thought too.

There’s still so much more to share though, and over the summer I’ll be dipping back into my Gardeners’ World Live photos and sharing more of the gardens with you - as well as the wheelbarrows, always a favourite of mine. If you can’t wait, then I’ve saved a highlight onto my Instagram profile, so pop over there and see more.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live this year, it was fabulous.