Seasonal Succession

What a delightful time of year this is in the garden. A gardening must, in my humble opinion, is to have perennials, shrubs and trees which hand the baton of colour and interest seamlessly from one to the other as the seasons progress.

Thus in late winter the white carpet of snowdrops takes over from any real carpet of snow, followed by the nodding whites and mauves and greens of hellebores; the purples and whites and yellows of crocus; the blues, pinks and whites of the delicate windflowers and the pinks and whites of cyclamen, perhaps an understorey to the red and yellow and green naked stems of cornus and salix. 

Soon to follow will be the yellows of daffodils, forsythia, gorse and broom, the multi hues of tulips, the soft purply cobalts of bluebells and the whites and deep reds of hawthorn; with these also come the white and purples of wisteria, the pinks of clematis Montana, the yellows of laburnums and the rainbow of colours which are the gift of rhododendrons and azaleas. 

Frankly, the list is endless and I will go on no longer. You get the picture: an artistic palette of ever-changing moods. For whatever sadness you have that the seasonal blooming of one plant is over, another should soon whisk you away to new areas of sensory delight. 

I have been lucky in the garden I inherited. It's structure of mature trees was sound, giving it the permanent bones all good gardens need to endure. Mature shrubs also abounded together with well-stocked beds of perennials. Over the years I have had the pleasure of taming those that have outgrown their spaces and removed those that have passed their usefulness. I have further stocked the borders, re-balancing the abundance of perennials and stuffing in as many appropriate ones as the earth will take to continue the theme of permanent interest and ever-changing palettes of colour. The large lawns and the many trees mean it is all too easy to become overly green, so I am always trying to manage that balance of nature in the most light-handed way possible. 

I will give you a quick tour of how things were in early June. The photo quality is not marvellous as they are snapshots taken with my ipad, but they give an idea.

The wisteria has been beautiful this year. The alchemilla mollis is starting to take over the terrace as it does every summer. Some of the Aucuba have mysteriously bitten the dust. Time to fill the gaps with new planting ideas.

Doronicums and daisies add a burst of colour to the late spring/early summer border.

Welsh poppies start bursting up through every nook and cranny and will always remind me of the day we moved here 12 years ago (31st May 2003).

Wallflowers amongst the ferns. Always a favourite.

The bright new leaves of a young pieris.

The lupins are splendid this year - thick strong stems and hearty flower spikes.

More bright bursts of daisy colour.

Welsh poppies mingling with the geum.

Clematis Broughton Star.

The Stipa gigantea, planted last year, finally taking off a bit.

The large, old shrub rose.

There's nothing like a rose bud...

Alliums happily increasing their numbers over the years by self-seeding.

This beautiful Ravenswing (purple cow parsley) has finally taken off this year...

More lovely wallflowers.

Orangey-red and purple - I always love that colour combination.

The acid green vibrancy of new foliage punctuated by the blue cornflowers and purple pom-poms of the alliums.

And here we have white pom-poms on the Guelder rose (viburnum opulus) - another favourite.  

Clematis montana scambles through the hedges with gay abandon.

The copper beech leaves are still a light shade of burgundy rather than a deep shiraz.

The ponticum is getting going. Often an unwelcome intruder, but always colourful.

Orange erysimum and blue forget-me-nots hob-nob under the Rhododendron luteum.

The sweet-smelling luteum, also a heady reminder of our arrival 12 years ago.

Bold red blooms of a well-established rhodi...

More elegant white, living side-by-side with the red like an old married couple.

New plantings of azaleas.

Euphorbias catching some sunlight and brightening up a dark corner.

Nothing better than mown paths through long grass.

I've been adding planting around the stream: candelabra primula, wild garlic, hostas, ferns and tiarella.

Dappled sunlight through the dell.

Lily waiting ever hopefully and patiently for her red frisbee to be thrown...

Dappled sunlight on a hosta.

Bronze fennel blowing in the breeze and adding a contrasting featheriness to the uprights of the alliums (and excellent for cooking and infusions).

Green wall punctuated with colour.

The old rose again.

Fabulous flowers on the clematis this year.

The beauty of a new lupin spike.

And back to the beginning again....