The bad winter prevented me from doing many of the routine and necessary tasks in the garden. However, I was able to prune some willow shrubs and took the opportunity to play with the willow stems weaving some into a small fence. The colours of the branches that I used are striking. The orange-stemmed Salix Alba Chermesina does very well here and is a nice contrast with the deep purple Salix Purpurea. The green-stemmed willow was a gift from a friend. It is fast growing and has provided a good windbreak in my field. Every visitor to the garden has given it a different name so I call it ‘Gun’s willow’ in her memory. Sadly, the latter does not produce many stems after coppicing. I am unlikely to ever have enough stems to weave a proper fence but hope to buy some next year (and get lessons in fence making).
Good news – my five pheasants have survived the winter! The two males were pretty vocal over the last few months and set up in the upper garden and horsefly heaven where the feeders were. They were easy to distinguish by their size (maybe father and son) and strutted about as if they own the garden. The three females, a mother and two daughters, were much shyer and generally kept to the to the hedgerows in the middle of the driveway. It was impossible to tell how many there were as they never came into plain sight. Today, for the first time all appeared in the open to my relief. It is always good news if there are no casualties over the winter and I like to think that the regular food supply has helped them to survive a particularly difficult winter.
I bought this Kerria japonica before I moved here and never expected that it would survive in such an exposed costal site. In my childhood home it grew on a south facing wall in full sun and was fully protected from the elements. In this garden it has settled in the partial shade of a Spirea where they wind around each other quiet happily. The fact that it has survived for over thirteen years says a lot for its resilience.
I have mixed views about this lovely Camellia Bushfield’s Yellow. It flowers profusely as seen in this picture but can turn a rather ugly yellow/brown very quickly. This year this particular shrub has retained its white blossoms for some weeks. In the next photograph its relative – living in similar conditions a couple of hundred yards away – had only a brief moment of white and quickly donned the ugly brown persona.
Bushfields Yellow – now not the prettiest sight.
I have continued with the planting of the field below the house despite the ferocious winds that swept through it during the winter. The trees that I grew at the bottom of the field a few years have been doing very well and provide some shelter in that area but the top is very exposed. You soon see how robust each tree is. To my surprise the eucalypti to the forefront of the picture are still standing while their relative in the bottom corner was blown over thanks to an unplanned wind tunnel.
When I first moved here the house was separated from the fields by a very shaky dry wall. I did not have to worry about it for long as it tumbled to the bottom of the field one stormy night. I think that the replacement will last for ever. I am gradually planting part of the steep field in front of the house and this wall. It was a tough task given the weather this winter and walking up and down a steep incline is a good a workout as you can get. I have planted Scot’s pine, Italian alder, oak trees, Eucalyptus and silver Birch to name a few. I am trying to ensure that the shrubs and trees that I plant enhance rather than hide it.
A Camellia japonica which is closer to peach colour than pink but I can never capture it accurately.
Both the red and white Chaenomeles (Japanese quince) are in their element at the moment and have benefited from a hard pruning.
Details of the Chaenomeles as seen against the new flagstones in the fruit garden.
I love the contrasts between some of the formal plants in parts of the garden and the more rugged landscape in the background. I have tried to manage all the hedgerows that I planted over ten years ago to give me glimpses of the surrounding land as you walk through the garden. The trick is doing this without creating yet another wind tunnel.
The few hellebore blossoms that escaped the recent flooding were attacked by a creature either with scissors or a beak that can be used with scissors like precision. As this bullfinch was hanging about in the Italian alder near the stolen blossoms I am pretty sure that she is the culprit.
I have come to appreciate gorse over the years. Not many shrubs give such a burst of cheerful and scented blossoms during the winter. I do try to control them in the garden proper but am happy when they provide such lovely backdrop to my camellias from my neighbours property.
Rosemary ‘Fota Blue’ has got over its January huff and is in full bloom again. It usually flowers all year long but I can forgive it taking a break this winter. I know I did. It looks so good against the neighbouring Pony Tail grass that I have decided to try and find a spot for a small bed of both even though the garden seems full. Where there is a will !!!!!