My Open Garden – A Sneak Preview

It’s just a few hours until my garden is open for scrutiny. And frankly I’m exhausted! I’ve been weeding, feeding, moving pots around and deadheading all week. The lawns are edged and the garden is looking as tidy as it’s ever going to look. So I thought I’d capitalise on this moment to give you a sneak peak of some of my open garden before the visitors arrive.

Read more: My Open Garden – A Sneak Preview

Patio

The first thing people will see when they arrive at my open garden is the patio area. Hopefully I’ve managed to keep its sense of wildness, while giving it a bit of a tidy up!

The daisy-like, erigeron – one of my favourite plants – is looking really pretty growing among all the cracks. I’m just hoping it won’t put visitors off tip-toeing through the space to take a closer look at the patio-side of my sunny border. It’s tough as old boots so it won’t matter if a good number of people step on it.

The clematis are looking ok, some of the taller ones have scrambled to the top of their obelisks. While the lower growing varieties have managed to break into bloom without mildew or some other catastrophe assaulting them.

Indeed, as I look around my soon to be open garden, I must say that my plants have sensed that something is expected of them today. Like good children told to be polite to granny, they’ve all decided to miraculously behave. Things are blooming that normally don’t perform. And plants that were in bloom ages ago still haven’t ‘gone over.’ All in all I’m mightily relieved.

Open Garden – Patio Pots

For instance, I created this patio container with my lovely friend Kay. She showed me how to cover an old chipped china sink with this funny stuff called hypertufa to make it look like a stone trough. Well, I’ve filled it with a geranium (I divided up a clump I had growing elsewhere in the garden) plus I’ve popped in a couple of my heuchera cuttings from last year. I think it looks rather good.

I did think I’d have to hide it round a corner somewhere but no – it’s proudly on display.

It’s not just this container that’s performing. I’ve kept the slugs off my hostas.

My container of achillea Moonshine has never looked fresher or fuller.

While, as if on cue, my ensete has sprung back to life having over-wintered in my shed. He is looking very handsome.

This is particular feels like a minor miracle. Not least because I’d never grown an ensete before. So when I chopped him back in October to store him in my potting shed wrapped in an old mothy blanket I wasn’t very confident about his future. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing! I’d researched how to over-winter them but got conflicting advice and was in a complete tizz about what to do for the best. Add to the mix the mice/rats and birds heading into the shed, who all decided to make a bee-line for him (I think they liked the smelly blanket) and you can imagine why I wasn’t hopeful. So to see him back feels like I’ve hit the jackpot! If I could, I’d kiss him!

I particularly like how he’s combining with the heuchera fire chief – one of the many heuchera cuttings I took last year.

Open Garden – Hot Corner

There are miracles happening in the hot corner of my garden too. The containers there have decided to perform pretty well. The acers are fluttery and the grasses don’t look too scruffy (well they’re a bit borderline to be honest.) Even the ferns are fresh and vibrant.

And as if to confirm that the plants are definitely hearing my prayers, the rose Lady of Shallot, who has been in bud and promising a flower for days, has bloomed this morning!

My Open Garden Sunny Bed

The sunny bed in my garden is usually where most of the flowering action happens. Here the real risk is black spot on the roses. However, thanks to lots of feeding (and pulling off the offending leaves) the roses are looking fine.

I have deadheaded all week religiously. As I removed them I did worry that the blooms might stop coming. And then yesterday’s winds added to my worries. Would there be any flowers in my open garden?

But as I look at the sunny bed this morning I’m breathing a huge sigh of relief. There are lots of roses to see. Hurrah! My pruning will no doubt not impress any rose experts visiting the gardens today. And there’s still black spot on leaves here and there. But you’d have to be pretty hard hearted not to find the four ladies in my sunny bed – Wildeve, Little White Pet, Natasha Richardson and Jaqueline du Pre beautiful today.

The oriental poppies – Coral Reef – are also still serving up blooms. I planted them five years ago and this is the first time they’ve flowered. Talk about patience. That said, it’s been worth the wait. They look lovely and I’m absolutely chuffed.

Shaded Bed

I planted the north-ish facing shaded bed two years ago and it’s just properly filled out.

The border gets a bit of dappled sun first thing but otherwise it’s bathed in shade. So I planted it with plants for shade which are predominantly white. They are meant to ‘pop’ in the gloom.

Again, as if sensing the pressure to perform this year in my open garden, the white foxgloves in the border are flowering for the first time.

They are so pretty. I rather like the way they rise up past the bird box. I wish I could say it was planned, but it’s a happy accident. And the yellow rose behind them, which normally barely raises a flower, is romping away!

Open Garden – Semi Shaded Area

My semi-shaded bed is a bit of a hit and miss affair. It looks great in May when everything is very fresh and the alliums are in full bloom. But once you get later in the season it can start to look tired.

Fortunately some bits of it are looking ok. I particularly like its shadiest side, where Stipa Tenuissima , a lime green hosta, Heuchera Lime Marmalade and a white-pink Astrantia all create a rather lovely, floaty, feathery effect. I’m going to divide all of these plants to create more of this look in future years in this part of the border, as I think it works.

The heucheras, like tiarellas, also neaten the edge of the border.

Elsewhere in the bed the Nepeta Walkers Low is at full throttle and that will hopefully distract visitors to my open garden from the mess in the rest of that bed!

I think the nepeta looks particularly good combined with this hosta – which again has kept the slugs at bay.

Miscellaneous Areas!

I’ve tarted up the green shed by planting up our home made planters. You can see how we made these pots from packaging here. Hopefully they will disguise the ugly shed a little!

And my four containers running in an arc across the lawn are looking a bit more filled – thank goodness!

Indeed two of the clematis in the containers – Kitty and Sarah Elizabeth – have decided to start flowering, having looked ropey for weeks. Again another gardening miracle!

Clematis Sarah Elizabeth is a lovely, slightly raspberry pink. While Kitty is just a beautiful exotic, creamy- white.

Well that’s it folks. I really need to dash as I’ve gluten-free brownies to make for the teas being served during the open gardens. I’ve also got to get the washing off the line – not sure anyone visiting my open garden today wants to see mr F-W’s pants!

So wish me luck. I hope to see some of you at the gardens today. To the rest of you – happy gardening x

Read more: My Open Garden – A Sneak Preview