< Here was the garden in August 2000.
Here we are 2002. The ivies, cotoneasta and berberis are growing up the garage wall nicely.>
< This was the same view in April 2001, aligned a bit higher to show the forsythia in blossom.
And April 2003.>
< Here is the corner with the Euonymous fortunei Blondy in a pot, Aucuba japonica Marmorata, Hypericum Hidcote, Mahonia Charity and the Pulmonaria Officinalis in August 2000.
And in August 2001, having moved the Euonymous in the tub to make way for a small Holly Ilex aquifolium Golden Queen. The Hypericum, although it looks much the same as the previous year, was actually covered in flowers only a week before the photo was taken.>
< The Hypericum has really grown now and the lily of the valley has taken, though slug chomped!
This is the other corner, with another Euonymous (fortunei Canadale Gold)in a tub, with a Pachysandra terminalis Variegata, a Skimmia j.Veitchii Foremanii, a Choisya ternata Sundance (it was supposed to be bright yellow, with white flowers, but it's too dark for it) a Sarcococca Ruscifolia, and a small Berberis darwinii. The silvery Euonymous fortunei Harlequin also needed more light, and gradually died. Dad grew the pelargoniums for me, which partially hide yet another Euonymous fortunei Silver Queen Yes, I like Euonymice.>
< Here we are in April 2001. The pelargoniums have been replaced with winter flowering Violas, and a few dwarf daffodils are out too. I'd planted a few Lilies of the Valley in the autumn (Convallaria majalis) but they came up blind.
And again in late July 2001, with more of Dad's geraniums, another basket of Impatiens like last year, and the failed Euonymous replaced by a Lamium matriculatum White Nancy. As you see, nobody told the Violas they were winter flowering, so they just carried on. >
< Last winter, the Canadale Gold euonymous succumbed to a heavy frost, so I moved the other pot into its place. Dad came up with some more pelargoniums.
When we started receiving visitors after our return from Egypt, they kept saying "This patio could be lovely", which gave me an inferiority complex. So I started planting it up. Again it was a case of some things didn't do too well in the insufficient light, so there have been a few changes. >
< I originally planted Thymes and Sedum acres amongst the Saxifrages and larger Sedums, but they really hated the position, so this year I got more Saxifraga. The Cuneifolia Variegata in the round pot and one trough has done well both years, but for some reason the Cloth of Gold, though flowering well, always gets eaten from the roots. Two of my pupils bought me pot plants (a begonia and one of those flame things) so I planted those instead, along with a yellow Stock, which has done very well. As have Mum's Semper Vivems, both years.
The alpines again got eaten, so this year I've chosen various pelargoniums, for a change. I quite like the colourful effect. >
< This is the end near the back door. In 2000 I had a stupendous display of Busy Lizzies in my big pot, plus some Begonias, Petunias and African Daisies, to provide some white flowers. The conifer is a Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana Ellwoodii.
In 2001, knowing we are away on holiday a lot in August, I went for semi-permanent foliage colour, rather than flowers, with a Pieris japonica which was lovely in the early Summer and a Spiraea japonica Goldflame which I'm not sure that I like much. A little potful of Forget-Me-Nots flowered their heads off till July. Mum gave me a small Buxus, with a view to future topiary, and Dad gave me an apple mint, which I've used in the cooking and enjoyed. The tub of ivy, Hedera Adam and Mint Kolibri I moved from the hanging pot on the fence. >
< The same frost that got the euonymous also damaged the ivy, so this year I've added to last years pots with more pelargoniums.
Last year the wild ivy on the fence had not grown so much, or the Hedera Golden Kolibri I put in the pot with the dwarf conifer, but this year I thought a change was needed, so I planted some dwarf violas Blue Moonlight. >
< The Autumn fern Dryopteris erythrosora has been a big success - it was about 6" when I bought it and is huge now. I'm also very proud of my Hosta sieboldiana Elegans which I've managed to keep virtually hole free, with flowers this year.
I shouldn't have boasted - the fern got eaten, so this is a new one, and although the hosta is thriving, the slugs got to it before I got to them this year! >
You will have been wondering what the garden looked like in 2004 - OK, you perhaps haven't, but I'll tell you anyway. It was a mess, because I decided, rather on a whim, to do something different with the patio. Although it has looked well enough over the years, with a selection of pots of flowers to decorate it, nothing could disguise its smallness. And the fence was falling down. So we've had it decked and refenced, courtesy of our next-door neighbour Alan the builder and his company. We are thrilled with the result.
And here I am reading the Sunday papers, under Ed's red sunshade!
