Changes are afoot!

Managed to get a real good day in the garden today from about 10am til it got dark around 5pm only breaking briefly for a bit of lunch. As well as going through existing trees and shrubs and pruning and shaping, I have also been working on a new area in the garden. What used to be Monty's garden is now going to be a new scree bed with a small crevice garden built in. A few weeks ago I was able to go and purchase some nice pieces of slate which compliment the new watercourse beautifully. I bought quite a few decent-sized flattish pieces which I wanted for the crevice area. This weekend was even more excited as I took a trip to Ashwood Nurseries to purchase some 'true' dwarf conifers for the new area. I also came away with a lot of other things such as a superb specimen of Larix kaempferi 'Robertsen's pyramid', Daphne rollsdorfii 'Wilhelm Schacht' and another Berberis thunbergii 'Hellmond's pillar' to mirror the existing one in the garden. Last but not least I think I had a great buy with the above Tom Chambers obelisks. The set of three for only £29.95! Working out at £10 each and all the same height at about 5ft, they were a goo find. I already had a job for one and that was to use it to train the Dregea sinensis over and around which, up until now, had grown through a large trellis that divided Monty's garden form the circle garden. You can see the new obelisk complete with Dregea on the left of the photo below.

As you can see there's a lot going on in this area of the garden at the moment. This was how things looked about 3pm this afternoon. I think it's always a good idea whenever you're planting a new area to position all the plants on top of the earth and then take a step back. Whenever i'm doing this the plants can be moved around three, four or even five times before I finally decide on their permanent position. The time taken is well spent and can prevent the excavation of plants at a later date. That and soil preparation are the keys to success if you ask me. The new scree bed has had a lot of sharp sand forked in first to provide the sharp drainage that most of the plants need and then I have topped up with some of the compost mix I use for the Hepaticas . The mix consists of peat, loam and a lot of pumice.

One of my favourite winter plants has started to open this week with its gorgeous purple-pink flowers which Bob Brown reckons smells like coconut shampoo- I'd agree to some extent. Daphne mezereum 'Rubra' seems to flower when little else is making it an ideal subject for adding interest to a four season garden.

I grow it at the front of the rockery where it gets sun from late morning onwards. The warmth of the sun is what brings out its scent so plant it where it will receive sun (preferably not first thing in the morning) and mine is next to the path that leads to the greenhouse so it can be enjoyed each time I walk past.

A great Hellebore just thinking to burst into flower at the moment is Helleborus (Rodney Davey marbled group) 'Penny's pink'. Brilliant in a border but as you can see I grow it in a container. In fact this pot has three plants in it which I find gives a better show. Most Hellebores have their old foliage removed around Christmas but the marbled grp I tend to leave them on longer as they are still quite attractive.

I just want to leave you with a couple of photos from which I gather great enjoyment every time I look at them. They are two paintings which a friend of mine completed after visiting us on one of the garden open days. She has really captured the fresh planting of the garden in each painting. They are of the patio area where all the plants are grown in containers. It is things like this that we treasure forever...