finish the front garden

.. but it is now! Hooray, I’m so pleased.

Of course it’s not completely finished – what garden ever is! But I’ve done what I set out to do and now we have some splashes of colour throughout the winter and into spring.

Today I planted some christmas roses, some bugle, some tricolour violas and some beautiful vibrant heuchera. I potted up a bunch of tiny cyclamen in a terracotta pot on the porch and crammed a wicker hanging basket full of violas so dark and purple that they look almost black.

I also planted 2 dozen crocus bulbs: 12 each of yellow and purple. As I couldn’t remember which colour was in which bag it will be a surprise when they bloom in the new year! (Note to self: label the bags in future.) Together with the narcissi and tulips I planted earlier we should have a lovely spring garden.

... this goal will have been achieved!

Yesterday I finally visited our local nursery. And I mean ‘local’: it is just the other end of our small village. We’ve met the people who own and run it; it’s a family-run venture – not a large faceless chain – and yet it’s taken me 5 months to visit. I am getting better at pushing myself through the fear of the unknown barrier but sometimes it’s the little things like this, that slip under the radar. I have been fearful of visiting. What if I don’t like the place – how can I meet the owners regularly at village events and not be giving them business…. it’s so easy for me to over-think and fret about ‘what ifs’ instead of just getting on and discovering the reality of a situation through direct experience of it.

Anyway, yesterday I visited the nursery. And it was absolutely charming :) And very well-stocked. And extremely reasonably priced. And I got to know C & G a little more too.

I shall be back on Saturday to buy the plants I need to finish the front garden!

.. of those little cyclamen yesterday. The local shop in the next village (we don’t have a shop) often has some lovely plants on the bench outside. I couldn’t resist these little fellows: robust and delicate at the same time. I still need to buy a few more things but these are a start.

.. to say I’ve achieved this! I’ve done what I set out to do really, but the more you do the more you notice to be done and I think 1 more session will do it. Plus now it’s all tidied up I want to plant things. So I can’t say I’ve finished quite yet but progress is good an’ strong :)

... then my neighbour came round asking me to sit with her poorly son whilst she made a dash for the shops. i was happy to help and so pleased that she asked. Poor Fionn – hope he’s feeling better tomorrow.

I did get the aquilegias and ladies’ mantle planted. They’ve been languishing in pots all summer since Mum dug them up for me and brought them over to get us started with filling our large (and largely empty) plot.

Tomorrow I’ll carry on: get the bulbs in and finsih weeding and tidying and finally – finally – prune the wisteria. It’s about 6 weeks late but hopefully it will forgive me.

I will upload a pic soon

Looks gorgeous, japanese maple, chartreuse grass, black river stones, ornamental grasses. Looks very zen.

This little area is currently used by all the neighborhood cats as their toilet. I have the grasses, the groundcover, the black beach stones, and the soil amendment. I need a japanese maple and a buddah. I need to just get out there and work for a couple of hours.