wendyswonderlandgarden

So since I last wrote, winter seems to have appeared here in the north west of England where I live, we’ve had our first frost this week and some parts of the country are forecast snow. Its not a time of year I enjoy, although the colder it gets the better it actually is for the garden as it will kill all the bugs. Fortunately for me at the moment I don’t actually have to go out each day if I don’t want to!

In an October post I wrote a short to do list of jobs and bar one I think I have completed them. I cleaned the greenhouse inside and out, and all the pots and trays have been cleaned. Its also been insulated with bubble wrap and the plants that live there in winter – the dahlias, and half=hardy plants in pots have moved in.

I’ve also planted most of my bulbs, just waiting for a few more pots to come before I finish that task. I’ve spread compost around the garden, well spread is probably a little too precise, I’ve chucked the compost at the beds and hoping the worms do the rest. Today, I have taken out some cosmos that have finished flowering and planted wallflowers in place of my dahlias in the 2 troughs (picture below). These particular dahlias I grew from seed but the tubers that grew were amazing and I don’t know whether to try and over-winter or just sow the seeds again next year.

I have struggled a little with my challenge of finding something new in flower for November, so I’ve pictured some things which are either new to the garden or have pretty leaves or are simply still flowering.

Just a quick blog to show some pictures of the trees and plants in my garden going orange and red for autumn.

On Saturday, Mum, Daddy and I went on a rare outing to Arley Hall gardens in Northwich/Warrington area. They are famous for their amazing long herbaceous borders still full of colour even at this time of year. They also had sculptures in the gardens and plenty to look at.

I took lots of pictures and hope you enjoy looking at a selection of them, it might even encourage you to visit the gardens and house for yourself.

This is apparently my 50th post to my blog since I began last year!

So, anyone who knows me and/or has been following my blog for a while will know that for the last year (yes, really that long), I have been project managing the updating/refurbishing of my late grandparents house and finally the garden. I am not going to talk about the house on here as its a garden blog, but just to say that this is complete now taking a lot longer than planned and costing way more too, but that is always the way I believe.

Reversing about 60 odd years ago, my grandparents (Daddy’s parents) bought the house off the plan if that’s how you put it. He loved gardening and so wanted a big garden, they bought a single detached house on a double plot. Until about 4 years ago he grew fruit, veg, flowers and more on this garden and it looked lovely. He then was less able to walk or see so started to build raised beds so he could reach easier. He had a glasshouse full of tomato plants dug into the ground and attached by a complicated support system – still in place when we came to clear it in 2015. There were ponds and much grass – although not as much as now. They moved in when Daddy was about 6 and he build his own shed and planted an ash tree. The shed was sadly falling apart and so had to be torn down and the ash tree huge so it was removed last year, but not before it could seed all over the garden – we are still digging them out now. Sadly, Grandpa died in 2014 and the garden hadn’t really been touched since earlier this year. I would love to have cleared the site myself but it was way too big a project for myself.

Before I continue here are some ‘before work started shots’.

weather induced pond in the back

Front garden

As a lover of gardening you may think the challenge of this garden would be right up my street and if I was to move in to the house, which I’m not, it would have been, but planning a front and back garden for people who I am never likely to meet (it will be rented out and managed by the letting agency) and likely don’t want much work is pretty difficult as its the complete opposite of me.

The drive, pathways and patio were done first in July/August and then the landscapers with their little diggers set to clearing the site and installing new underground drains to deal with the excess water on the site.

Some halfway point pictures – drive being done, little diggers on site and new top soil put down:

They also prepared and laid the new turf and lots of it too. So glad I don’t have to mow that lawn. When it was finally done, delayed due to the poor weather conditions on numerous occasions I was then free to plant up the borders, oh and did I mention that bearing in mind I was waiting til the lawn had been laid before I did this I was then informed I couldn’t walk on the lawn for 3 weeks. The landscapers left me some boards that I need help manhandling but on with the job I went. I had been buying plants since earlier in the year and keeping them in containers and well-watered but they were desperate for the ground. In total with some help I reckon 60 plants were put in and there is room for so many more. I do still have bulbs to put in and some tidying to do. I was excited to be doing this as I have never had the opportunity of planting 2 gardens from scratch before. I’m not sure the pictures do it justice but here we are:

continuation of the side garden

back garden

contination of the side garden

front garden

side garden

Sad to say, I am not likely to see how it grows for more than 6 months now depending on how long the tenants stay. I shall just have to visit the lovely next door neighbour and peep over the fence.

UPDATE: since writing this blog it occurred to me that I made no mention of the plants I used. So, in the front garden there are lavender planted between the 2 hydrangeas (2 of only 3 plants kept from the previous garden). Also in the front are Japanese anemones, they are pretty white or pink flowers and will soon grow to fill the space allotted to them.

In the back garden (in the last picture) there are 4 flowering currant bushes, 5 heucheras (the pretty coloured leaf plants) – they do have flowers, but I grow them for the leaves. Also in that bed are 2 loosestrife which are pink flowered and relatively tall.

Then in the other borders in the back are a mixture of perennials and bushes – including 2 cornus (dogwood), a Eucalyptus tree, a small acer, a yellow potentilla, a lilac (very small at present), 2 laveteras, 2 mock orange – they have a lovely white flower and strong scent – one which I don’t really like and many other plants.

At the end of summer, probably the main flowering season in my garden I like to think about what has gone well and what has gone less well.

The weather has been a bit odd to say the least this summer which has been good for some plants and not others.

Fruit wise, the raspberries have been brilliant. The tomatoes less so, we’ve had 2 beefsteak tomatoes although I was advised they wouldn’t ripen outside and they did. (1 picture below) The other 2 were very unsuccessful especially as one wasn’t what it said on the label and so I didn’t know what was ripe when.

My sweetpeas have been amazing but I need to give them something better to grow up next year rather than the next closet plant – they just didn’t like their bamboo canes) The cosmos and dahlias (some grown from seed are pictured below) have had mixed results – some have flowered for months and others haven’t yet flowered. They need to hurry up otherwise it’ll be too late! I keep trying to persuade them – it’s supposed to be good for plants if you talk to them! Presumably they breathe in what we breathe out. 

The roses especially the ones against the fence (climbers I think – again pictures below)  have also been great. They like the rain. I also have an alstroemeria (lily) that has flowered for months although it’s sister in the back garden only really flowered once and has been resting ever since!

There are other successes and failures but that will do for now. I’m interested to know what has gone well and badly in your garden this year – so do leave a comment. 

Well there isn’t much new in flower in my garden at the moment. The cosmos that are flowering are doing well and some still haven’t started flowering so I fed them with miraclegro a few days to encourage them on. I hope it works.

I have bought some new tulips and daffodils to put in pots for next year. I find growing them in pots better than my clay soil. I also don’t remove them as some people do when they’ve finished flowering. I just hide the pots away somewhere they can’t be seen.

So my pictures are of rudbeckia, a rose, a dahlia called ‘tiger eyes’ – orange and pink. Then lastly one of the new bulbs I’ve bought.

So I start another blog with an apology! And that is that I’m sorry we are over half through the month before I get round to my monthly ‘what’s on flower in my garden’ post. My only excuse is that I have busy painting (not as in painting pictures)

Anyway there is quite a lot flowering at the moment although things are ‘going over’ quickly probably due to lack of rain. Hoping we get some tomorrow to fill the water butts and water the thirsty garden.

My sweet peas of which there isn’t a picture this month are doing really well and smell amazing even when you aren’t right next to them.

So, here are my pictures including cosmos grown from seed in the  greenhouse earlier this year.