@Songbird-2 I have had the one or other plant in the garden that died (annuals for example) and I just leave them as they are, because the decaying roots contribute to make our clay soil better. Also, we know that bulb plants are better off if the leaves can die naturally, and they do spread and get more over the years. When I left the garden in Autumn and didn't do anything. I noticed that I had hardly anything to do in Spring. I just cut the Rudbeckia, Echinacea and some others in February/March. Slugs and snails eat what is decaying and birds eat the flower heads of the Echinacea. Seeds covered the ground. Without any interference from my side, they started to germinate and are growing now. I will observe what happens with the like a Geranium looking plant, because there are different heights here.
We are now leaving the time when the front garden looked "manageable" from a point of a viewer. It's harder to find the plants that evolved earlier and were easy to spot. The weather hasn't changed. It rained less in the recent two weeks but it's still cooler than average and sunny days are the exception. The weather forecast was optimistic that the pattern will change in early June, but they lose confidence that this really happens.
When passing the front garden, plenty of green, and the blue from the cornflowers are the dominating colour.
Do you remember when I asked if a particular plant was Japanese Knotweed, and you said, it's an Euphorbia? Can you see it here? It was also here in that part by the corner near the wall to the right in the picture above. I can count 6 different plants, literally packed.
It's the Rose behind the Cornflower that caught my eye. If we have a picture of a rose garden in mind where nothing else grows than roses on blank soil, this is the opposite.
Two weeks ago I said I will keep an eye on the Geranium.
Last time, I took a picture of this plant which appeared now on many parts of the front garden. I still wonder what it will look like once it flowers.
A Maple tree has grown next to the Peonies which now gets flower heads.
The green plant in front of the Bluebells is that plant that I gave number 4 on the 10th of February if I'm not wrong. It's much harder to find the plants that evolved earlier.
The next update will be at the end of May. Hopefully the weather will turn to the better, but something tells me that this will be a cold, wet and cloudy summer this year.
As May closes by and we enter mereological summer today, we are still waiting and have to be patient. It's not as warm as we would like it. Night temperatures are around 2C less and day temperatures just meet average. The ground is still wet after all the rain in March and
April. We have for days strong gusts of wind, which makes is hard if not impossible for taking pictures. I needed to change the lens because an overall image would have just confirmed what we already know. Some flowers appear sporadically in the front garden. The feeling of being cramped and some plants are taking over is not wrong.
When I started taking pictures of the stages in January, I mentioned that it will be also interesting to see what has changed compare to previous years. Everything what we see didn't mind the minus 7C in winter, and survived last year's drought. Last year, when I passed the front garden, the plants were in stress. The trees along that road were visibly struggling for life. Last one was in particular heart-breaking to see in September.
Linaria starts to flower, Poppies and cornflower are flowering. and the Geranium is looking good.
The Peony is on the way to open its buds.
One of the Geranium plants.
That is in the Buddleia corner.
Lysimachia Punctata as Busy-Lizzie said, and indeed, looks nice but behaves a bit like a thug.
Seeing the front garden from the other side. The Buddleia corner is is to the right.
@Simone_in_Wiltshire Your photos are so beautiful and you have explained things so well. Maybe you have heard of Blurb books? You could put all these images together, there are lots of ideas. My brother who is a photographer made a book as a gift when my daughter got married. You can have just one copy or more.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
@GardenerSuze No, I haven’t heard of that but will have a look.
I think this front garden is a very good example how to get a low maintenance garden and we can observe how plants go through an entire year. And how healthy they look!
I’m so glad that the owner is sharing this experience with us.
I had my tele lens used and didn't expect that my panorama image really worked out, but it did. You wouldn't see much as the forum doesn't allow to show bigger images and so I try to attach it. The original is 8700 pixel wide, the attached one is 1600px wide and can be seen best on Desktop systems. PS: the forum software reduces it to 1000px.
Posts
When I left the garden in Autumn and didn't do anything. I noticed that I had hardly anything to do in Spring. I just cut the Rudbeckia, Echinacea and some others in February/March. Slugs and snails eat what is decaying and birds eat the flower heads of the Echinacea. Seeds covered the ground. Without any interference from my side, they started to germinate and are growing now.
I will observe what happens with the like a Geranium looking plant, because there are different heights here.
I ♥ my garden.
We are now leaving the time when the front garden looked "manageable" from a point of a viewer. It's harder to find the plants that evolved earlier and were easy to spot.
The weather hasn't changed. It rained less in the recent two weeks but it's still cooler than average and sunny days are the exception. The weather forecast was optimistic that the pattern will change in early June, but they lose confidence that this really happens.
When passing the front garden, plenty of green, and the blue from the cornflowers are the dominating colour.
Do you remember when I asked if a particular plant was Japanese Knotweed, and you said, it's an Euphorbia? Can you see it here? It was also here in that part by the corner near the wall to the right in the picture above.
I can count 6 different plants, literally packed.
It's the Rose behind the Cornflower that caught my eye. If we have a picture of a rose garden in mind where nothing else grows than roses on blank soil, this is the opposite.
Two weeks ago I said I will keep an eye on the Geranium.
Last time, I took a picture of this plant which appeared now on many parts of the front garden. I still wonder what it will look like once it flowers.
A Maple tree has grown next to the Peonies which now gets flower heads.
The green plant in front of the Bluebells is that plant that I gave number 4 on the 10th of February if I'm not wrong. It's much harder to find the plants that evolved earlier.
The plant in front of the daffodils by the brick wall was this on the top right side just two weeks ago.
The next update will be at the end of May. Hopefully the weather will turn to the better, but something tells me that this will be a cold, wet and cloudy summer this year.
I ♥ my garden.
I ♥ my garden.
It's not as warm as we would like it. Night temperatures are around 2C less and day temperatures just meet average. The ground is still wet after all the rain in March and April.
We have for days strong gusts of wind, which makes is hard if not impossible for taking pictures. I needed to change the lens because an overall image would have just confirmed what we already know. Some flowers appear sporadically in the front garden. The feeling of being cramped and some plants are taking over is not wrong.
When I started taking pictures of the stages in January, I mentioned that it will be also interesting to see what has changed compare to previous years. Everything what we see didn't mind the minus 7C in winter, and survived last year's drought.
Last year, when I passed the front garden, the plants were in stress. The trees along that road were visibly struggling for life. Last one was in particular heart-breaking to see in September.
Linaria starts to flower, Poppies and cornflower are flowering. and the Geranium is looking good.
The Peony is on the way to open its buds.
One of the Geranium plants.
That is in the Buddleia corner.
Lysimachia Punctata as Busy-Lizzie said, and indeed, looks nice but behaves a bit like a thug.
Seeing the front garden from the other side. The Buddleia corner is is to the right.
Let's see what June has to offer.
I ♥ my garden.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I ♥ my garden.
PS: the forum software reduces it to 1000px.
I ♥ my garden.