'TIME FOR A CHANGE!!'

 Well, it came as no surprise - sniff.  The much loved Costco Acer bought by Himself no less had been looking poorly for quite some time.  We decided to cut out the dead wood and all the die-back but it looked worse than ever.  Time for Chris's chainsaw!!  Moments later, a whole new view opened up.  I liked it so much, we also took out Kay's Blue Ice which was always far too close to the remaining Acer.  Suddenly, things have opened up around the pond.  I did have this idea though - long pause.  I have a self seeded Yew and an Osmanthus both of which are evergreen so no leaves in the pond.  Better watch this space again in the autumn

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Some Saturdays, the ideas just keep coming!  A genius idea from Chris was to move the old sun dial into the sun!! I know what you're thinking!  Sun dials NEED to be in the sun!! For so many years, we couldn't seem to find the right place for it so it spent much of its life in the shade - not ideal for accurate timekeeping! Now it sits in a gap in the Lavender and is deadly accurate on G.M.T!  It really was 'time for a change!'

Of course taking out a couple of trees wasn't going to take up much time - well not in Chris's case.  It so happened the the circular Box hedge around the well was in need of a trim.  Say no more!!  A  quick swap of the chainsaw for a hedge cutter and, as if by magic, it was totally transformed!!  As if that wasn't enough, Chris went on to clip all the Euonymous and Box in the Lower Border, the Berberis, Weigela, Lonicera and Snake Bark Maple in the Sofa Border and then the Philadelphus by the summerhouse.  

 

LILY MONSTER

 Whilst the lilies are blooming in the posts and looking fabulous, down in the pond lurked a different kind of lily. A monster Lily!  A giant of a water lily which had grown SO huge its roots had lifted up the pump and its leaves covered every square inch of surface water.  It was so enormous there were far too many leaves to sit  flat so they grew upright and sat above the surface. It was a regular forest of   leaves! I wish I'd taken a photo of such congestion!

It was time for Chris to don on his waders and to go into battle!  It was a massive undertaking and he had to cut off sections of the monster root system in order to  be able to lift them out.  Sadly, this was when he discovered that he had mistakenly picked up the old leaky waders - not the shiny new pair!  He filled 5 wheelbarrows (2 of which were very large wheelbarrows) with its weighty root system. All of the barrows were too heavy for me to lift. 

Normally Chris rehomes plants but on this unique occasion, he decided that the compost heap was deserved along with invading Lysimachia & Symphytum - much of which I had removed from around the pond margins.

Once removed, a massive clear up job ensued, the pond was topped up and the muddy water is being allowed to settle and clear before the pump is switched back on.  The last job of the day was to remove a dying Acer Platanoides columnar so we has laft a bit of an unwanted gap around the pond margin.

Upon hearing of yesterday's exploits, we were contacted by our neighbours.  To cut a long story short, we invaded the compost heap and retrieved most of the water lily root sections filling large numbers of plastic trugs, loaded them into a car for rehoming in their newly dredged lake!!  The monster lives on!  We look forward to James sharing pictures of its new home.

Trimming the Yew Sofa

The last job at the end of a VERY busy and exhausting day!! (Oh - and in case you're wondering; a metal frame sits inside the Yew enabling it to be sat upon!)
 

Above & Beneath the Soil!

Having finished mowing, today was the day for lifting our very first new potatoes or, to see if there were any there at all!.  These Arran Pilots were planted nearly a month late due to a freezing cold and wet spring.  The first root yielded just enough for us both to enjoy for dinner and \I promise: they were truly delicious! 

On the way back to the house, I just HAD to stop and admire these lilies (Lilium regale) which are just at their very best exuding their magnificent perfume! They were first introduced from China in 1903 and grown by both my father and grandfather.  I think we have the great plant collector: Ernest Wilson to thank for these.

Just June!

 

I've been SO busy with preparations for Open Gardens, blog posts have been few!  The garden just carries on doing its seasonal thing.  This year the roses are a real show despite lack of rain and the odd vicious storm.  

Chris's Pauls Himalayan Musk is a show stopper and nearly every visitor commented!

Pelargoniums have been planted in the dahlia border as I feel it's just to dry for dahlias.  Instead, dahlias have been planted in a row in the vegetable bed.  It will be very interesting to see how they do compared with previous years.

This week Chirs took out our little willow.  It was shading out a Berberis and we'd almost lost sight of our old Victorian tree guard.  The path to the swing seat now looks immaculate with shrubs in better proportion. 

Meanwhile, Noah the Mower is still enjoying his sabbatical as we're bothing finding time to enjoy proper stripes!  Maybe he'll be re-emplyed when we've mowed our meadow grass?

THE GARDENS OF WICHENFORD 2023 - SUCCESS!

 We're so thrilled to have participated in such a successful event!!  A HUGE thank you to every one who helped to make this even possible.  If it wasn't for neighbours and friends lending tables and chairs, making cakes, washing up, looking after parking, it just wouldn't be possible.  Maybe we should ALL give ourselves a MASSIVE pat on the back!!

RECORD BREAKER!

We were SO lucky with the weather and enjoyed 240 visitors raising a whopping £1897.00 - as a late cheque was received!  A record breaker for Pear Tree Cottage Garden!

A HUGE thank you to Gabby, Paul and Lindy who were all absolutely ran off their feet!!  We hope you've all recovered from you labours.  Thank you also to Brian & Pat Finsh for the loan of the tables and chairs!  We couldn't do it without you!

Lastly, thank you to the 10 clarinettists of Barrels & Bells who came and played so delightfully for us all serenading our visitors.