New Borders

Meanwhile, back in the borders more work to be done. Having cleared out all the random wild trees and self-seeded nut bushes we are left with a few gems previously hidden amongst the overgrown jungle!

All dormant now but hopefully if they survive the winter we will have some lovely Spring blooms to look forward to.

Buddleja-Globosa

A very long time ago when I lived in London I had one of these and the bees love it. We've cut ours back right to the base - seems drastic but you can do this with Buddleja and it will happily regenerate new growth. Situated at the top of the garden in the newly laid veggie plot it will provide a pretty feature next to the patio area.

Tree Peony

At this stage not sure what variety we have but the leaf looks very much like the photo below. We've cut out the dead wood and given the poor thing a bit of support. It was so starved of light it was leaning forward into the garden, desperate to grab sunshine where it could so it's a bit spindly at the moment but there are some promising sticky buds that look pretty healthy so fingers crossed.

Magnolia Tree

Another tree that has survived the purge but only just! Looking a bit tired and weary at the moment but hopefully now that it has space to breathe and light to feed on it will thrive.

The only thing is I'm not sure that these trees are too keen on limestone and ideally prefer acid soil - so the fact that it has survived this far is interesting.

Might have to get the soil testing kit out soon...apparently we have 2 types here as we are borderline limestone so maybe that's why the Magnolia is still hangin on in there!

With the final addition of leaf mould which is in abundant supply thanks to our enourmous resident ash tree, the planting up of a few more shrubs and trees and our border is finally taking shape.

Neatly edged with log roll and ready for the next phase when we re-lay the lawn!