Hello again.
After my little review of the veggie patch earlier in the week, I thought a check in of sorts of the rest of the garden wouldn't go astray today either.
Its been extremely dry here the last two months and parts of the garden have faired much better than others. Obviously watering enough in February and March was a major factor but I think the choice of plants has played a role in how it all looks now at the end of the season.
My most successful planting was in the driveway round-about where it has been awash with colour for months with plenty of Dahlias, Roses and Salvias. The garden on the south side of the house as pictured below, whilst going ok, has been a bit slow on the growing side of things, however it doesn't get as much sunshine here and it probably needed a lot more watering and fertiliser as it is so dry. As you can see there are plenty of gaps to fill in preparation for the coming Autumn and Spring and coming into Winter the section near the bird bath will also slowly get less and less sunshine so I need to think about what I plant here.
The border of Mondo grass has been an excellent choice and is growing really well across the entire side of the house. It should thicken up stand out more by next summer. The Clivias are shooting new leaves and Im hoping for more flowers next Spring.
I planted a few Sedums in early Spring which were from Aroona and I think the garden could use a lot more of these as they have taken off and Im hoping they self seed as the flowers are lovely and they fill the spaces really well. They will look good growing in and amongst the Clivias to thicken up the border.
I tidied up a fair bit of the weeds, pulled out some of the native violets which grow really well in this garden, cut back the Hellebores and de-headed the Hydrangeas which has revealed a lot of gaps and spaces. Already I am being rewarded with new hellebore shoots. One of the Hydrangeas (below) hasn't faired very well which I transplanted from our old place so Im hoping that if I give it a good prune and feed it well as it cools down it'll come good.
Cam pulled out a huge shrubby bush which was growing on the corner of the garden bed below by the front door and this has left a huge space to fill including huge craters courtesy of the dogs. I dont think Ned was too happy that we removed his hiding canopy.
I kept the Weigela which has pretty pink flowers in Spring and I will tidy this up and am now researching ideas of a smallish feature tree that will cope with the hot western afternoon sun here in summer. Its a double story high wall so something 3-5 meters tall would be suffice here. Im thinking ill also put in some Roses here too for some colour and blooms to pick for inside.
As I mentioned before the round-about in the driveway has been the most successful garden here over the summer. The Dahlias and Salvias have been amazing and at their peak have filled the spaces really well, however as they have died off and become messy I have pulled them out and this has left plenty of gaps. I will be digging up the Dahlia tubers when they die off and will be setting them back into the middle of the garden bed rather than the front. This will leave plenty of room for more plants and Roses next Spring and Summer. There will be lots of colour!
The Salvias also took up a heap of space and though spectacular with their purple flowers, I will be moving the one amongst the Roses to give them some more room next Spring and Summer.
The Acacia and ground covers underneath have also been lovely and I love the different colours and foliage it brings to the garden.
A pretty good effort when compared to the garden's beginnings in October 2016.
We also have much more of the view after clearing a heap of paperbarks (bottom left) on Sunday with the chainsaw.
Have you got a favourite garden bed growing at yours?
Thanks for visiting today
Elisha xx