I have been a bit hesitant to show you our garden around the house as it's been destroyed by the renovation works and I have to start it from scratch. We had almost a year of heavy machines working on the house and the grounds too, digging deep holes for drainage, cable work, and new pipes, so it took its toll on the grounds. We had some soil brought in the garden, but most of the property is still waiting for its plants.
The plan is to build a cottage garden, so let's see how it goes. For now, I'm studying a lot and creating a plan as the biggest work will be done this autumn (hopefully). I thought it would be nice to share this progress here, also for me to see how the garden develops as I tend to forget how something looked like as soon as they're finished.
But let me show you what I've done so far...
I'm not a big fan of tacky garden decorations, but I couldn't refuse this stone snail from my mom. And now I kind of love it! It got its place on top of the stairs, next to the terrace that will be placed in a month. If it would be up to my husband we would have the garden full of dwarfs, stone mushrooms, birds and other things that I cannot stand. I'm scared that one day he will bring all those things from his father's garden, but that's a problem for another day.
The first plant that I ceremonially put in the soil is Kamchatka honeyberry. It was a gift from my aunt, another one that I couldn't refuse. For now it's just a tiny twig, but it should grow to 1.5 - 2 m. I can't see it right now, but this is what I was told. It could bring some berries next year, but it should reach its potential in the 5th year, so I have to start training my patience. The berries should be sweet-sour and great for juices, jams or compote. However, knowing me and my husband we will eat them straight from the bush.
I don't know what variety this is though. My family is great in growing interesting plants, but the variety name is not so important to them, so alas, I might find it out once I have some berries.
A part of our garden goes steep down, and this is where I'm going to plant my herbs. Not only, it's next to the kitchen, but they will also grow bigger and stabilise the soil. I can't wait when all my herbs will cover that area. This will be one of my proudest moments.
My first choice was Thyme. I don't have it in my second garden, so I couldn't miss it here. I placed some stones on the side that goes down to help the plants grow without sliding down the hill.
This Sage will survive everything. It was removed from the ground and replaced several times during the renovation, always without putting it properly in the soil. It looked so poor after winter that I thought I lost it, but it started shooting some new growth and couldn't make me happier. I even found one tiny baby sage in its original location, so I'm taking care of it now and hoping that it will survive and grow in a monster size like its mother.
In my other garden I have tons of lemon balm, but I always wanted to have Lemon Verbena for its healing properties. I must say that I didn't expect it to be so difficult to grow. It is such a dramatic plant. When it is a bit dry it looks like it was dying, its leaves turn yellow and it makes me feel guilty for forgetting it. This is of course not true, but I only water it in the evening and during the day it dries out when it's 31 degrees outside. They say that it's a hardy plant, but I can't imagine this tender fussy thingy to survive winter. I might change its location. It should be in full sun, but it is apparently not handling this heat well. It looks plump and lush on the photo as I took it right after rain.
I have 3 Agastache varieties as it's one of my favourite plants. They are easy to grow and produce fragrant flowers which attract pollinators. I also use them for syrups or simply sprinkle young leaves on desserts. It's difficult to describe how they taste if you never tried them as they are so special.
I've been seeing Veronica plants for years, but never got my hands on them. I found 3 varieties this year on a market and I had to buy them all. They require a bit of love to grow, but I can't wait for them to flower. It's going to be pretty!
I've been very successful with growing Lady's Mantle in my other garden, so I decided to bring a couple of them home. They spread easily and cover the grounds, so it's a perfect plant for the purpose that I dedicated to this particular spot. This one came with a Columbine which will reseed like crazy.
Lady's Mantly has pretty leaves with tiny hair, so the water stays on them after rain.
Salvia is another plant that I dreamed to have. There are way too many varieties to choose from and all of them are pretty. Mine was a surprise one, so I didn't know what to expect, and I must say that I cannot complain.
I planted 5 Lavender plants along the border and I expect them to cover it completely one day. They are tiny, so I don't know when this day will come 馃槉
I also planted one special Lavender which is called white. I think I got scammed as I believe those flowers will be purple, but I'll give them a few more days and maybe will be surprised.
There were a few surprise plants on the market and this is another one. It is a Linaria, but it said that the colour would be a surprise. At first I thought I would get an orange one which is ok, but well, not the best...
However, 4 days later and look what I got! They are so beautiful!
This Spiraea is hidden under the trees which is strange as they should require full sun. I didn't even know I had it until it started flowering. Part of our garden wasn't damage, so we still have the plants from previous owners.
I've been watching this plant since early spring. It started as a carrot, so I kept it, but soon I was not so sure. At some point it started flowering and I immediately fell in love. They started popping everywhere and I'm enjoying them. They are easy to remove, so I'm not concerned that they will take over because I can easily pull them out.
Tiny purple bells will grow out of any tiny gap in concrete. I hope that they will spread along the fence.
Nature is so strong!
Centranthus is a real eye-catcher. It spreads easily, but it's even easier to pull out, so I can keep it contained. It produces these stunning flowers that stay nice for weeks. They are great cut flowers too and keep in a vase for more than a week.
We have many trees in the garden which comes with a lot of shade. This fern loves it!
Well, when I say many trees I do mean many trees. The last tree in the back is also on our property. This part of the garden is overgrown and I will only enter it when my husband cleans it a bit as I'm sure there are spiders hanging everywhere and I don't think that our neighbours would appreciate me yelling when they would fall on my head.
I'm not a big fan of conifers, but this one is so beautiful in spring. The new shoots are yellow before they turn green...
Those fresh shoots are pretty on every tree I guess...
Our biggest pride is the Linden tree. My husband always wanted to have a huge tree in the garden, and now we have it. It's taller than our house and it provides so much privacy in the house as nobody from the street can see inside through the windows.
Don't forget that the garden is a 'work in progress', so ignore the mess please 馃槉 It will take some time, but I'm convince that we will build our dream garden!
Thank you for reading!
Until next time...
