End of Month Review May 2018

May has been  mainly warm, a bit rainy, lately rather thundery and at times a touch on the cold side.  The outcome of this is that the garden is looking GREEN.  Really GREEN.

The Knot Garden is heading for its first cut of the year, (not before Derby Day).  From this year it does not look too bad, if I was to show you the lavender edging you would see a sorrier story.  I cut the lavender back hard and it is sprung back rather well, it remains weed infested though and I need to do something about this sooner rather than later.

Around to the back garden and the pots are looking quite good at the moment.  I had a lot of plug plants this year rather than sowing seeds and so there are a few containers just starting to get going nicely.

The Long Shoot is looking, well, GREEN and lush.  The roses are just starting to flower and flecks of colour are appearing in the borders.

This view does not show very well that there is a branch now connecting one side of the Gap to the other.  This gap was caused by the removal of the pergola a year or so ago that unfortunately rotted away.  You can also see to the right the tail-end of the standard wisteria that has flowered fantastically this year.

The Four Sisters are looking good, particularly the Carol Klein Acer which is shining every time the sun comes out.

The Wild Edric rose, that climbs the apple tree overseeing the Dancing Lawn is flowering really well this year.  The cold start and rain has suited the roses it seems. The Dancing Lawn would usually be getting its first mow around about now, but the addition of tulips to it has meant I am leaving it a few weeks before doing this.

Meanwhile the Wild Garden is a sea of Cow Parsley.  I will take that in hand soon, but it is so beautiful when it flowers I will leave it be for a while yet.

In the Exotic Border the main colour is from Tulip Sprengeri.  This is probably my all time favourite tulip.  The one bulb I bought a few years ago is now bulking up well.

I like this view over the Woodland Border, its shows how GREEN the garden is looking.

Whereas the Spring Border is looking quite pink, blue and yellow.  It will soon take a step backwards to let the other borders take over, but it is not called the Spring Border for nothing, this is its season to shine.

The Conservatory Border is doing well.  The dark peony, which I think is Buckeye Belle, is doing well.  There is a fluff of thalictrum and just in the foreground you might see the echium that overwintered in the greenhouse successfully.  It is now planted out and it is growing taller fast.  I am very hopefully it might flower, very hopeful.

The Pond Border has flecks of red from the geums that are now flowering.  This border is now very full, which has taken a few years to achieve.  I like the mix that it has in it of roses, crocosmia and hollyhocks.  In a few weeks it should look good.

The Courtyard is full of pots.

Full, full, full.  It works really well for plants that like shade and also for some of my smaller plants that need a bit of cossetting before planting out into the garden.

I am quite pleased with how the garden looks at the moment, it does make me happy.

The vegetable borders are a bit in transition.  The sweetpeas are planted out and there are some potatoes, courgettes and a sweetcorn (yes singular) are now all in the ground.

I end as ever on the pond, which is a bit overgrown at the moment and actually not as full of water as I would have thought after all the recent rain.  The very warm weather has evaporated it away almost as quickly as it lands.

Thanks as ever to Helen for hosting this meme.