A New Project

At the end of the garden we have our first pond, built in the summer of 2008, and featured in this post. That pond was originally planned to be a goldfish pond, but soon upgraded filtration allowed the birth of our love for koi, resulting in the large pond many of you are familiar with.

As it looked in 2008

Roll forward to 2020 and with lockdown limiting travel we decided that it was time to upgrade the pond and give the area a makeover.

How it looked last summer

The initial focus was on replacing the old fences and clearing the somewhat ramshackle old shed adjacent to the pond. The shed was inherited when we moved into our home in 2005 and has had various repairs over the years. Sadly it was beyond saving, with woodworm and rot overtaking the timbers. 

Read More

After Snow Falls

Yesterday Mark wrote about the garden being before the snow falls, well this morning like much of the country it fell, so I guess the title of this blog wrote itself.

Looking out of the front of our house, and the world is now all white, being on a side road we tend not to see much through traffic so the road usually remains fairly snowy and then icy in cold weather.

The view from the back of the house is pretty much the same!

Read More

Before Snow Falls

We're now on the latter stage of January and so far we have remained unscathed without having some snow fall. That may be about to change this weekend so before we get covered with the white stuff, I'd like to share some of our 'spikies' permanently outside all year round, with no extra protection (we don't do rain shelters in our garden).

Agave gentryi 'Jaws'

Agave gentryi 'Jaws' - can be a tad sensitive to winter wet and on particularly wet winters it can mark substantially but still recovers and looks really good again come summer

Agave geminiflora

Agave geminiflora (?) - I had to put a question mark on this one as I'm a tad suspect as to whther it really is something else. However all my attempts to get it identified, points to species Geminiflora. It doesn't have discernible filaments but the best thing about it is it's been remarkably hardy, being out unprotected all year round for many years now. Geminiflora tends to be on the tender side.

Yucca  schottii

Yucca schotti - the photo doesn't do it it justice when it comes to how blue those leaves are in person. And also how architectural it is with its long and rigid leaves. The sharp tips that can cause quite an injury with one miscalculated move near it, hence they get snipped off regularly.

Yucca thompsoniana

Yucca thompsoniana - we nearly lost this one after it flowered and looked really worse for wear many years ago. It has since recovered but being pot grown is perhaps holding it back from forming a spherical head.

Yucca rostrata (tallest), Yucca linearifolia (centre), and Yucca linearifolia 'Galeana' (right)

This clump of Yucca continues to looks good all year round, perfectly hardy in our location planted on a raised bed.

Yucca recurvifolia

Yucca recurvifolia - one of the hardiest and underrated Yuccas out there that glides through wet British winters gracefully. 

Sedum NOID

Sedum - planted on a large and tall planted, rather generous for it but love the way it just cascades down.

And last but not the least, a not so spiky vignette...

And this marks my soft return to the world of garden blogging.

Mark :-)

Read More