Sunday 28 June 2009

Lavender Everywhere and More

The garden is forever changing colour and shape as the weeks go by. The main beauty and fragrance at the moment is from the Lavender with Clematis in abundance and the later flowering Roses. With the roses generally the first flush, which is always the most prolific, has finished and the shrubs need time to come up with their second main flowering.




White Lavender





















We visited the Gardens of the Rose last week while visiting Janie's (more in my next post) and Jane and I both bought this lovely creamy yellow minature bush rose. When I got home I found I had no room anywhere to plant it. So...........off to the garden centre to buy a pot (this rose also does ok in a container). I ended up paying twice the price of the rose in order to be able to plant it. One of the hazards of being a gardener - difficult to resist buying another plant.






This is a 'groundcover' rose.







Beautiful Thyme in several places






This has inadvertently become my current garden project. Around one side of my pond and waterfall I had a Juniper Horizontalis that had spread for about a metre and recently had begun to die back. I thought it would be just a matter of cutting it back and digging it out. What I had forgotten was that when we built the pond some decades ago this shrub was planted in amongst the rockery sides that were holding it all together.
It became a matter of partly dismantling the structure which has now entailed clearing of a lot of ivy too.



So when I have finished I will be replanting this area from scratch




For now it has become far too hot to continue today and we have a severe heatwave forecast for the coming week, at the end of which we go on holiday so it is going to look a mess for a while to come.
The Centre Court at Wimbledon registered 104f last week - wonder what it will register this coming week



A shaft of evening sunlight highlighting a single Peony, bought for me by one of my guests at a dinner for 7 that I organised here last Monday.

Janie will be here for the day tomorrow with Oliver and Rebekah so we are waiting to see what the temperatures are. We planned to visit a children's theme farm but if it is too hot then we will do something less active. Today after several hours of severe storms yesterday, it is extremely hot and humid.

23 comments:

Elizabethd said...

Absolutely beautiful. But where are your weeds....?

Vee said...

Your garden is doing so well. I laughed to read that the cost of potting the rose was greater than the cost of the rose itself...happens to me all the time. I don't care for that aspect of it. Have declined walking about in the garden shops because I am already running out of room for things...such a shaded yard...and it's impossible for me to just look.

Hope that your visit with Jane and the children is a wonderful one. It's wonderful that the children will happily go along with any last minute changes to plans. Hope that the weather moderates soon. (I hope that it will here as well...it's been so rainy and miserable for weeks with very few hours of sunshine.)

Lynne (lynnesgiftsfromtheheart) said...

I just discovered your beautiful blog. Your gardens are amazing..what beauty and serenity they have.. Have a great w/k..
hugs ~lyne~

Anonymous said...

First of all I love the lavender. I would love to find a lavender ground cover. I got a call yesterday from our local nursery telling me everything was 1/2 off. Well I guess they know me well enough. I know what you mean about running out of room. I have plenty of room, but HH has asked me to keep things within a boundary. Okay I understand. I am worried about my pond also. Things always take up more room than you think. Vee says the same thing. Great minds. Blessings
WMM

JC said...

Lovely photos
I adore lavender
I brought my peonies in the house due to a rain storm that put them on the ground
They smelled delic

RoyalTLady said...

How I wished I live near to you... enjoy reading and looking at them, beautiful pictures.

Elizabeth said...

Such a beautiful blue theme at the beginning of the post --then branching out.
The vibrant blue pot is exactly right with the delicate yellow rose.
I know what you mean about buying on thing and then having to buy other stuff to go with it.

Martha said...

Your lavender is lovely -- mine is blooming well now too -- the roses are also pretty -- and I do that too -- spend more on a pot than the plant!

Sue said...

You never cease to amaze me with your beautiful gardens! At every season, and every turn, there is a new wonder!

Hope the heat wave breaks...we are having one as well...for your upcoming visit with your loved ones!

Sue said...

forgot to say, this is Sue from "love His appearing". I signed in under my other blog, so I was afraid you wouldn't "know" me.

PS...Per your request, if I could send you some veggies from my Dad's garden, I would. He was stationed in England during WW II.

Patsy said...

I didn't know there was white lavernder I have grown lavernder some over the years. We have moved so much it never had time to do like your beautiful garden. Thanks for your comment on the loss of my son.
Patsy

Needled Mom said...

The flowers are all lovely. Yes, why is it that the pots cost twice as much as the plants that go inside of them?

That is quite a heat wave. I hope it cools down a bit so you can enjoy the children's theme farm.

Anonymous said...

Glorious glorious lavender, Barbara. Your garden is beautifully designed with lots of interest year-round. I've seen lots of lavender in my vacation trip and am feeling the urge to plant more.
(p.s., our unusually mild June weather has ended and Real Summer is here -- we, too are in the 90s and 100s)

a woman who is said...

Lots of post to catch up on here. I think I am going into "summer mode blogging"...very relaxed :]

I love the variety of lavender you are growing. Believe it or not I think our gardens are syncing right now. My lavender is blooming at its peek.

So funny about the new rose. I loved the color by the way. I purchased a new rose a few weeks ago that had to be potted up too. It looks just like your dark pink ground cover rose.

Have fun on your outing with Oliver, and baby Rebekah.

Anonymous said...

Your lavenders are looking so lovely Barbara. Yes we had thunder here too yesterday afternoon. It felt so muggy before hand though that it really needed the storm to feel fresher.

The new rose is very beautiful. I don't blame you for being tempted.

Kate said...

Very pretty as usual - I love clematis but cannot keep them ...now lavender I CAN grow but I don't like the smell! I think it reminds me of those little bags of lavender that we had in all drawers when I was little.

Winifred said...

I love lavender but mine is so straggly. I'm just grateful it survives at all. Yours is beautiful and I love the smell.

Strange but we are not getting the heatwave that was forecast for the UK. It's warm but not hot and according to the BBC weather doesn't look like we will get it this week. Don't know where the Met Office is coming from.

Lorrie said...

Your garden is beautiful - I love the lavender bushes - mine are blooming now, too. And your clematis bushes are gorgeous.

Lorrie

Deanna said...

Dearest Barbara,
Blessings to you from good ole HOT Kansas.

Your lavender is beautiful. I've never grown it before and think next year I'll try.

I had heard that mice don't like lavender, so I bought some lavender to place in furniture drawers where the little mice wanted to play in. It seems to be working. Hallelujah.

God Bless,
~D~

Unknown said...

It looks fabulous. All of your hard work has paid off.

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Barbara, your weather is hotter than ours! Your new little potted rose is so lovely, and prolific.

CT has been watching Wimbledon...

By the way, I much preferred YOUR traditional English dinner with the roast chicken, roast potatoes (I must look for some goose fat and try that myself), and Yorkshire pudding!

Sharon's Cottage Quilts said...

Dearest Barbara,
I planted Lavender in my gardens this week! I thought of you as I was putting them in! (smiles) And here you are posting your glorious lavender!! I hope that mine will grow to be half as beautiful as yours. Our Lord has blessed you with a green thumb for certain!! Your clematis is just heavenly!!
Bless you, Sharon

IngunnBW said...

What a beautiful garden you have! I love your lavender and have a lot of them in my own garden. They manage the cold norwegian winter in soil with much gravel.