The holidays seemed way too short this year. We swam, sat on the beach, had encounters with a tree snake and bluebottles, saw Christmas bells (Blandifordia nobilis) in the bush and generally wound down. This was followed by the Australia holiday and hot weather and the garden got away on us a bit. We have been working hard this last week reining it in and tidying it up in preparation for our first wedding of the year this weekend. The lawns are causing the most stress of course as we try and supply them with their required 25mm of water per week in very hot weather. The garden has emerged looking lovely for the wedding and as long as the afternoon storms hold off it should be a beautiful ceremony in the deep shade under the Linden and a cool reception in the gazebo with all the blinds rolled up for a change!
The iceberg rose has been planted in between a camellia hedge, the Fuchsia and a large Buxus sempervirens. It would not be a recommended planting but has proved very successful here. The rudbeckia are putting on their usual bright show but are not particularly long lived. I have been delighted to see quite a few seedlings appearing this year for the first time so we will pot them up in preparation for autumn replanting.
The tiger lilies seem to be naturalising in this spot among an old planting of Nandina domestica. I have not had such success with all the lilies I have tried. We replanted our entrance driveway bed with nicotiana this year despite warnings that it may not do well, susceptibility to powdery mildew I think was the fear. We planted them well apart and they have been giving a summery show. We did spray once with spinosad after finding a couple of caterpillars. There are a few of the Cosmos bipinnata “Velouette” down the middle and more recently we have added in the magenta Celosia argentea. So far so good!
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