Helen's Garden Renovation Project

The Coronilla seems to like being planted against my house wall.

Coronilla grown big and with takeover ambitions

The reason I have a Coronilla is that Burncoose Nurseries accidentally sent me three when I ordered something else, and didn’t want them back. I gave away two of them, and planted the third against my house wall because it is very sunny there and that is what it is supposed to like. I got it in January this year, after the freezing cold December last year, and so I don’t know how it will do if we have a very harsh winter again. But for now, here is a close-up of some of its flowers.

Coronilla flowers close up

I have dug a hole in the marjoram patch and put Alice Hoffman in it, as I am worried about her getting cold. Although she is a hardy fuchsia, there’s a difference between being hardy in the ground and hardy in the pot. All my other plants have survived two severe winters so I am reasonably confident that they will get through whatever this winter throws at them.

The apple trees have lost only a very few leaves. Some of them are going yellow, more on Charles Ross than on Discovery. I reckon three weeks should do it.

While waiting for the apple trees, I went to Wisley last Friday. Here is a picture of a Euonymus alatus, otherwise known as a Winged Spindle or a Burning Bush. I wonder if I can find the space to squeeze one of these in.

Euonymus alatus or Burning Bush

And now I am stalking the apple trees, ready to pounce the minute they go to sleep. While I am waiting, this is a good time to take stock of what I have achieved so far.

Overview at the end of the growing season for 2011, left hand side

The hedge at the back is now about two feet taller than the fence at its highest point. I expect it to have grown another two feet by this time next year, and of course it should also thicken out considerably.

Behind the pond are stacked 20 bags of organic compost from The Compost Centre, ready for my autumn/winter planting. If you are wondering why I have put them around the Pieris, it is because the Pieris is a big plant in a lightweight pot, and it keeps getting blown over. The compost should put a stop to that.

The raised pond still contains only a dribble of water. This is because it has hardly rained at all since I painted it. The shallow pond also contains only a dribble of water. This is because I gave it a thorough cleaning after painting the render around the edge, so I could remove all loose bits of mortar and mortar dust. This involved also removing all the water that was in there at the time, in case it had lime in it.

Overview at the end of the growing season for 2011, right hand side

Over to the right hand side of the garden, the lawn looks surprisingly verdant, as if it hopes that I will decide it would be a shame to dig it up and re-seed it. Nice try, lawn.

And the apple trees are still very leafy. My current estimate of digging up time is about a month from now, so 13th November.