Hamamelis Intermedia Jelena

In amidst the torrential rain and flooding, we have just had a spate of glorious days with wall to wall sunshine.  We awoke this morning to the most beautiful layer of silvery frost and clear blue sky as far as the eye could see.  Unfortunately, due to another late night following more Christmas celebrations, we didn't manage to get up and out in time to make the most of it, but this afternoon I managed to grab a couple of hours in the garden, in which I removed some turf to extend the new bed, chopped down an elder tree, cleared a couple of barrows full of nettle roots, and took a few moments to admire my hamamelis intermedia jelena, which is the first of my witch hazels to flower. 

Delphiniums in December

I love the Autumn.  It's my favourite time of year.  The muted colours, the light, especially at dawn and dusk, the crunch of leaves underfoot and the cool clean air with the occasional whiff of bonfire smoke.  I love the fact that the garden slows down and you no longer have to race to keep up with it.   I love clearing away the detritus of a year's spent grown, in anticipation of the new life to come in the spring.  When the spring comes I know I will be torn, and could well declare it as my favourite season.  But right now, today, in my garden, Autumn has it. 

Pyracantha teton

Autumn at Sunnyside

Dahlia twinings after eight, between the clematis tubulosa and pale blue asters, giving some welcome autumn colour.

 Echinacia purpurea and evening primrose

 Sedum, no clue which variety

 pyracantha teton, just coming into its bright orange autumn berries

the new beds are still blooming with rudbekia and dahlia bishop of llandaff

Foxgloves

There is a sea of foxgloves in the woodland garden, which have just come into flower this weekend.  The colours vary from deep pink to purest white, with varying degrees of spottiness on their tongues.  And the amazing thing is that none of them were planted, they have just appeared here because they like it.  

June at Sunnyside

 The Sunnyside lupins are as monstrous as ever!  The colour pallet has changed a bit after moving some of the paler blue ones which were obscuring the climbing rose.  I might have to rearrange them next year.  I always look forward to these flowering, and they look fabulous in a vase too.

 Aquilegia William Guiness, bought from Wilkos for under £2 last year, they look absoulutely stunning, my favourite aquilegia in the garden. 

Persicaria bistorta 'superba', bought after being inspired by huge swathes of the stuff at Great Comp Garden. My little plant will be ripe for dividing in the autumn so I will be attempting to create my own swathe in the outhouse border.

This has been on my wishlist for some time.  Acquired this year, thalictrum delavayi, loving it's position in the dappled shade of the woodland garden.

Springtime at last!

it's been a long time coming, but Spring is finally in full bloom.  The garden is looking amazing, and is buzzing with bees. 

Lily of the valley

 Clematis Doctor Ruppel (should be Miss Bateman, but they sent the wrong one, and I have only realised now that it has flowered.  Happily they have replaced it, but now I need to find a new spot for my Miss Bateman!

 Dicentra Spectabilis Alba.  This is new to the garden this year.  I was never particularly taken with these before, but now I'm hooked.  Can't get enough of them.

 Lupins from Wickens Place.  I adore this colour, and love the veining in the petals

 My new Centaura Montana, the perenial cornflower

and the yet-to-be-planted Viburnum Opulus 'Roseum', taken from a cutting of a cutting from "Goldings" around fourteen years ago.

Tulips

The tulips this year are quite specacular.  I think even more so than last year, perhaps because they are a little more established.  These are White Triumphator and the pink ones at the back are Ballade

The woodland garden

The woodland garden has really filled out this year, and the weeding has actually become easier as the brambles are beginning to surrender their battle for survival.  A huge pile of hellebore white lady spotted was salvaged from the original garden when we bought the house and split and replanted in the woodland garden.  It has been joined by a native stinking hellebore from Sally-Ann down the road, a black hellebore from Hadlow College and a small double pink hellebore from Christine next door.  We also have a mass of leucojum vernum (snowflake) and loads of dafodils, both also salvaged from the original garden.  The bank has started to break out in primroses, totally by accident of nature, and I have introduced natives, pulmonaria, lily of the valley and red campion as well as non native snowdrops, tricyrtis and lamium.  The foreground is carpeted in foxgloves, all of which have seeded themselves just because they like it here.  And I have just sown a tray full of sweet woodruff and put them in the fridge to break their dormancy (much to Mab's disgust) and look forward to introducing them to this happy place.  This is my favourite part of the garden today. 

New border

A little more digging, and working in manure today, and then the highlight of all - planting!  Today I planted five geraniums, three dwarf sarcococca hookeriana humilis, hamamelis jelena, hamamelis mollis, vibernum bodnantense "dawn", hollyhocks of unknown colour (self seeded in the lawn lower down), blue lupin, lemon balm (also salvaged from the lawn), dicentra spectabilis alba, eryngium gigantium "silver ghost", a tree peony from Christine, and leycesteria formosa salvaged from the garden before building works began.  It's been a busy day.  As usual, Maisie helped with the weeding!

And most glorious of all, the only thing flowering, heleborus niger or the "Christmas Rose".

Betula Jaquemontii

After two days of digging and clearing away stinging nettles and bindweed, we finally have a section of flowerbed to house my new plants.  The first to get settled into their new home were the Himalayan Birches, Betula Jacquemontii.  These will look splendid with beautiful white bark, when they have growed up a bit!

Happy Easter to me, Happy Easter to me...

My Parkers order has arrived, and I potted them up by torchlight with great anticipation.  This means I need to get digging my new beds so that they have somewhere to live.

Snowdrops

Despite planting dozens of bulbs last year, the snowdrop display at Sunnyside is still a little wanting, so these little beauties were snapped at Hadlow College.  We will aspire to greater things next year.