24 February 2008

A Garden For All Season's


Be gone you horrible virus that has made so many fellow bloggers unwell !
This is just the guy to frighten off most things, he hangs about under my pergola!

He watches over my garden and I have asked him to scare of this bug that keeps re-appearing in everyone lately.
I thought that you may like a little tour of my garden which is just starting it's Spring Season.
I love a little peek at your garden photos, I find them so inspiring.
I have been so tired of being shut in feeling a little grotty most of the time.
Getting out and in my garden really did work wonders!
A trip to the garden centre always cheers me enormously.
I could buy so much more but are fast running out of space.
Although some of my beds look empty, there is much lurking under ground and waiting to pop out soon - that is the bit I love the new fresh green shoots.

This view is from the very back of my pond looking towards the house.....Nigella is in the background and has her own little spot in the garden.

The pond does look very boring this time of year as most of the plants have been cut back.
The waterfall looks so much better when the Baby Tears are full of new growth and form wonderful lush little cushions on the rocks around the pond.
The water is not clear but I guess the Koi prefer a little shelter from the Heron's.

I tidied the boarders and gave them a trim.....

I felt so much better for a breath of fresh air and all the bending actually made me loosen up!

I have lots of Hostas hidden in this bed.
Shrubs and evergreens but not an awful lot of flower yet.

My precious pot of Moss is always beautiful and squashy to touch.

The stems of a yellow Acer with Forest Flame behind.
The long thin leaves are yellow Day Lillies.

My Olive Tree and the lovely orange smelling Choisya.
If I have made any spelling mistakes I am sorry !

Two new plants for the garden Thyme and emmmm ?


Another new plant a mound of White Saxifrage which may be put in a little gap between slabs on the new patio.

These fresh new leaves are so beautiful they are Lupins, I chose white and lemon. I have become very fond of white, lime and lemon in my garden colour theme.

My new collection await their new home.

Beautiful Hellebore...a winter rose.

Tiny bright daffodils in clusters.
I always forget where my bulbs are planted and often find them sleeping as I try and plant something in their little spot!
And the new patio is now started....at last.

This will be a nice place to sit in the afternoon sun by the pond.
I have an Indian Bean tree here with big lemon coloured leaves and long white flower which form pods and a variegated maple, oh and a Gleditsia and a Golden Maple and a Maidenhair Tree.

This is a sunny spot and has dappled shade fro the trees which I clip to keep them under control.

Hellebore's again.....A dark variety called Niger.

A small fence around the garden to keep dogs off my plants! and grandchildren away from the pond!
I have divided the garden into different area's.
I have two pergolas one is small and can be seen in the background of this photo and the other is a very large one that has Grape Ivy, a Grape vine, Wisteria, Clematis Montana and an evergreen Jasmin growing over it.
This photo is from last summer and is the small pergola.

Hub gets stuck in....
I love to watch him working happily!
with a lot of help from me of course!!! I love a little mud on my hands too!
This patio will have little quirky inserts of green coloured bottle bottoms, pebbles, terracotta tiles on their ends and maybe even some shells............

An old pot with a plant that grows like a weed, I cannot remember it's name but the foliage is so delicate it is a must for any spot that finds it hard to grow anything.

Now this is a Geranium - a huge one that survives the winter! Its leaves are the most attractive part of it I think.

The stem is an Acer Palmatum.

Early Spring Tour over.
I hope that you enjoyed it.
I will follow it up with Late Spring and patio progress.

31 comments:

Sandi McBride said...

Oh the garden is so beautiful, looks as though Alan Titmarsh has been busy in there (or is it Allen?) I love your pot of moss...we call that Walk on Me...I had it around the pond at the other house...just lovely lovely, I'll bet that being in the garden did make you feel better!!!
hugs
Sandi

Grand Life said...

Katherine-- thanks for visiting my blog again. I think your yard is so beautiful. I have 2 feet of snow in my yard right now so I was really wondering where you lived. Then I picked up at the bottom of your blog that it's the Midlands in England. Now I understand why you can start gardening so early. I have made 3 trips to England to see gardens over the past 12 years. Gardening has been my therapy for 18 years. Probably would have been cheaper to just pay for the therapy but then the yard wouldn't be so beautiful. Although I've had to scale it back a bit over the last 2 years because we spend summers at our mountain cabin in Colorado. We would come home for a few days and couldn't even play with grandkids because we were so busy pulling weeds and cutting back. I have 60 pots at the cabin and 200 daffodils and 7 huge hanging baskets (that the moose nibble on) that bloom until July but it's not the same. Thanks for sharing.

Grand Life said...

Suddenly dawned on me that you ask where I was based. I'm not where the 2 feet of snow is right now. We spend spring and fall in northern Utah (that's where the 2 feet of snow is) and 2 months in the winter in Oceanside, Calif. and summers in Colorado. Hence the pictures of the beach. Sorry about the confusion.

No one is you ...& that's your power said...

Hi Catherine
Your garden looks so lovely, I particulary like the pergola area(I want one now!).All peacefull & quiet . It looks very green and very tidy too.I havent shown the edges of my garden or the fences!. They need a lot of fixing & tidying ! Lovely plants
take care x Dominique

No one is you ...& that's your power said...

ps meant to say the sound of water from your pond trickling down is a lovely sound too.x

Curlew Country said...

What a lovely treat, you've got a beautiufl garden even this early on in the year - how fantastic! I'm looking forward to watching it come into bloom, please keep popping up more pictures, I need a lot of inspiration for my bland patch. Lovely hellebores and good luck with your lupins. Any tips for keeping the slugs off them? They devoure mine!
Stephx
P.s. I love the look of your patio and the glass inserts sound great, love to see pics of them too.

bj said...

Oh, your garden is so pretty. Just lovely. I know you enjoy it so much. Keep us informed of your new patio as it progresses!!
hugs, bj

Curlew Country said...

What a lovely space you have and so green and lush already. Do post some more pictures of it soon, I'm looking forward to seeing it come into bloom. Lovely hellebores and good luck with the lupins, any tips for keeping the slugs off? They always devoure mine!
Stephx
P.S. Smashing patio on the way too, I'd love to see those glass inserts you mentioned, they sound very pretty.
Stephx

Ragged Roses said...

Lovely photos Carol thank you, your garden looks gorgeous. My primroses are just beginning to open so I'll photograph them this week. I hope you don't get the dreaded lurgy!
Kimx

Deb said...

Your garden looks absolutely beautiful Katherine. I love your pond & have wanted one of my own for ages - it is definitely on the top of my "garden wish list" :-} Your new patio will be a wonderful spot to sit and enjoy your pond.

Cowboys and Custard Mercantile said...

Oh Carol... I am a certain shade of green seeing your beautiful garden..
You have such an orderly plot and some wonderful plants..
I find garden centres irresitible.. I can never just buy one plant.
I spent several hours in my garden this weekend but with nothing much to show for it..
Would you like some of our frogs... they are everywhere!?

Much love
Michelexxx

The Nostalgia Fairy said...

What a lovely garden, so many areas of interest. I love the pot of moss - how unusual!!! It is so nice to walk around and see everything starting to grow again.
Good luck with the new patio.
Sandi x

Anonymous said...

I loved the tour immensely. Your garden is so neat and tidy. I took a stroll on our property over the weekend and see the tulips and daffodils are up a couple on inches so Spring is not too far away for us. :)

Sandra Evertson said...

Such lovely gardens!
Sandra Evertson

Louise said...

Carol, your garden is as immaculate as your house, it is lovely. My mum loved gargoyles, she would have loved yours. What a great selection of plants, but I was also going to mention slugs on your lupins, and they may like those fleshy campanula too, I have to use slug control on both of these plants, but they are both well worth having. Your mystery plant in the old pot looks like a corydalis to me, one turned up in my garden from nowhere, probably a seed blown in from a neighbouring garden. x

~~♥ Mamma Millan ♥~~ said...

Hello, Sweden here!! What a lovely blogg you have...so svit!!So nice things!

Thanks for the visit!!

God Evning Millan

Rhondi said...

Hi Katherine. I am just stopping by to see what you have been up to while I have been away. I am a gardener too. Isn't spring wonderful? I have hellebores, daffodils, crocus, hyacinth, pulmonaria, candytuft, camelias and a cherry tree all blooming right now. I love digging in the garden this time of year because there is so much promise in the ground. Your garden looks charming and you are lucky to have a koi pond. My friends who have koi have problems with herons too.
That plant in the pot looks a bit like corydalis.
Your patio looks like a very ambitious project. Can't wait to see how great it looks when it's done. Rhondi xo

Rhondi said...

Hi Carol Me again. I just realised I called you Katherine in my comment!! Rhondi xo

Pretty Practicals said...

Hi Carol, beautiful photographs (again), your garden looks lovely, I can't wait to see it in high summer.
Liz

Carol said...

Thank you Louise for naming the Corydalis....I am usually pretty good with names!
I will be saving all my egg shells from now on...I crush them and put them round the base of all my lovely fleshy plants that the Slugs seem to find irresistable! or crushed sea shells seem to work too ! I confess to using the ugly blue slug pellets as well....
Carol x

~~♥ Mamma Millan ♥~~ said...

Thaks for vistit my blogg...thev gardn are beaitiful!!!

So are the littel puppy to!!!

Hugs Millan

Country Cottage Chic said...

Your garden look beautiful! I feel very ashamed of my shabby plot - I will wait to share photos until it looks a bit more presentable again. We did pick a big bunch of daffodils today though!

:-)
Jayne

Anonymous said...

Hi Carol,
Can you ask your gargoyle to have another go? i felt great yesterday and now today i feel awful ughh!
Your garden looks gorgeous...i love baby tears and i'm going to get some to grow around our waterfall,i didn't know it would grow there so thank you for that x
Mmmmm that new patio looks like its going to be a beauty with dappled light flickering and shimmering over it...i think its just lovely that you have a little pot of moss,i love that!
Kisses Kristina XxX

Farmgirl Cyn said...

It's a good thing I don't know where you live, or I'd hop on a plane and high tail it out there! Just looking at your greens brings jealousy and envy rearing up their ugly heads!

Pondside said...

What a treat to tour your garden and to see all the signs of spring. Over here the daffodils are just breaking the soil and the crocuses that came up last week were eaten by the deer. I was interested to see your pot of moss and to reflect on the beauty that each of us sees in different things. I am surrounded by moss - on the lawn, over the trees, on the rooftop,on the drive - enough for all of us! I, too, love the cushy, soft and springy moss!

Mia said...

What a lovely garden you have! I have really enjoyed the tour, and can not wait for a new one once it starts to bloom. Even so, I can not believe how much more lush and green your garden looks at this time of the year (well, I am sure any time of the year really!) than mine. Even though we do not have any snow, things are just not happening here yet. But within a couple of months I am sure that has changed.

Lucy Bloom said...

Hi Carol, thanks for your well wishes, the bug is still lurking but not so bad now. Loved the tour of your garden, you wouldn't care to swap it for mine would you?
Lucy x

jessica daisy said...

I'm glad you like the cushions Katherine, but I haven't finished adding them to the website properly, just got to finish the description and prices and upload some close up pictures.
Let me know if you wanted to reserve one.
Jessx

Anonymous said...

What a lovely garden...you've got so many interesting plants and corners. I love all the spring flowers and fresh green leaves.
Margaret and Noreen

Unknown said...

i love your garden, i think i can stay there for a very long long time, its just beautiful, tks for sharing :)

Sandi McBride said...

Missing you Carol, hurry back
hugs
Sandi